Dr. James White, The Doctrine of The Trinity

This message on The Doctrine of The Trinity was preached by Dr. James White on 9/28/21 at Twelve 5 Church in Jonesboro Arkansas.

[ranospiteri]

1 Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

[Diegocurt]

Excellent. The trinity is a concept that has never been difficult to understand for me. And, I see it all over the Bible. Most people error in thinking it needs to be a teaching in the Bible to be something we should believe in. The doctrine of the Trinity is simply an explanation of the revelation of the Being and relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit which most definitely is expressed in the Bible.

[lightbeforethetunnel]

Wait, near 11:10 he is saying that Christians "can't have fellowship with" other Christians who aren't Trinitarians? This is one of the most unbiblical, divisive ways of handling disagreements among believers I've ever heard spoken by a prominent Christian. It's unbiblical because the Bible specifically tells us to NOT act like that way when handling disagreements among believers. It says to do so with love, tolerance, and *understanding of the differing views*

Now, how are we supposed to obtain an understanding of the differing views if even just fellowship isn't allowed with fellow Christians who don't believe exactly as you do for every single issue like this?
Or does he genuinely believe that Trinitarianism is a salvation issue? If so, I would question if he's understanding a word written in the Bible to be honest.

[tongakhan]

(1 Timothy 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus,

The last I checked, a Mediator cannot be part of either party he mediates BETWEEN.
Thus, neither could Jesus be God nor the chosen ones among humans.

Jesus' words to show that he was never God.

(John 8:40) But now you are seeking to kill me, A MAN who has told you the truth that I HEARD FROM GOD.

Then again, what would Jesus know about himself. These video charlatans seem to know better.

[geotruthnz]

At least this preacher admits there is an issue with the understanding of the Trinity. Surely the fault is in the teaching though and not in all the believers. Faith in one God should be a simple thing & the teaching of the Trinity is filled with confusion. What most Christians have in common is that we believe in God the Father who empowers us with His Spirit who sent Jesus His son as our messiah and sacrifice for our sins. As soon as we bring in other concepts such as co-equal & 3 persons one being confusion comes in and it doesn't need to be that way.

[Mike]

Trinity is false doctrine/philosophy. How can you say Jesus is fully God and fully man, but claim that he's not the father?? That would make Jesus partially God.

[bosse]

There are no Trinity. That is a post-biblical idea and doctrine that arose in the Catholic Church long after Jesus and the apostles had gone. As history shows us. The 3 Gods pantheon was not fully established before 381 AD as I have come to understand it. In the Catholic Church.

Jesus, and the Apostles, all said that the Father is the only true God. John 17:3 / 1 Corinthians 8:6 Clearly they know the eternal truth.

Ask yourself this question and ponder it, is there any contradiction in God and His word? Was what Jesus and the Apostles said the truth? Or did they not know the truth?

If we cannot receive what Jesus said, and embrace and stand with that, how are we Christian(followers of Christ) ? Aren't that what Christians are supposed to do? To receive what Jesus said and taught.

"Hear O Israel, YHVH our God is one Lord." (Deuteronomy 6:4) And the Israelite Jesus confirmed the eternal truth, Mark 12:29


"And Scripture cannot be set aside." John 10:35


At the Council of Constantinople in AD 381, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict defined "Christian" orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical. ...And so the horrific persecutions began in earnest. What a horror story for the ages.

[Jazzfestn]

STOP calling GOD a MADE UP NAME that is BENEATH HIM AND INSULTING in your puny efforts to "understand" HIM! We are NOT called to "understand" GOD as much as to TRUST GOD...MYSTERIES and all. "I AM THAT I AM"!

[maggief]

He has a good doctrine that is not explained these days in Christian churches. I, as a Christian who at some point studied with the Jehova Witnesses, was very confused on this subject for many years and only found the explanation of trinity on YouTube after much study and prayers because many Christian pastors not only don't know how to explain it, but also feel scandalized when a relative new christian is confused about the deity of Christ. My only advice to Dr. White would be to be more direct on his explanation, and not to jump back and forth out of the subject because instead of making my attention on him, it was getting me lost. His explanation (at least for me) required all my attention, and every time he would step out to talk about the sandwich store, Florida, etc, I just got lost. It took me about 6 hours to listen to this video repeatedly in order to undertand some details. It may be a simple speach fir theology, but for people who are not, it's not simple at all. Thank you.

[lightbeforethetunnel]

Who is Jesus Christ's God? The Bible has many verses in which Jesus Christ is referring to his God.

[michaelbruce]

The trinity is not taught or explained anywhere in the Bible.

[Project-OriginalReiteratedHoly]

Your trinity is only found in Revelations 16:13. All apostles baptized in the Name of Jesus. Acts 2:38; Acts 4:12; Acts 10; Acts 19:1-5; Romans 6:3-4. Nobody in the New Testament was EVER baptized in your false titles. Nobody. Further, if you do some research, we do find ONENESS in Ephesians chapter 4. Strongs Reference will refute this false doctrine of trinity (yes, lower caps).

[rogerclyde]

The Trinity is a Catholic invention. Though shall have no other Gods before me.
The Lord our God he is one.

[elnewPC]

The trinity can be found in John 17 1-26.

Side note, the Holy spirit is omnipresent because it's God's spirit and it's present in all life forms.

[franciscogutierrez]

The Bible says that Jesus is the son of God, not God the son, and not God the Father, The son of God! There's plenty of evidence that the doctrine of the trinity is pagan

[celestialknight]

_”O people of the Scripture! Do not transgress in your beliefs, nor speak about God but the truth! The Messiah Jesus son of Mary is only God’s messenger, and His Word which He cast into Mary, and a spirit from Him! So believe in God and His messengers, and do not speak of ‘three’ (a trinity); Stop—it is for your own good! God is one sole divinity, who is far above having a son! He owns everything in the heavens and everything on earth. And God is enough to sustain all things on His own!”_ ~ The Qur’an 4:171

[Nolongeraslave]

I can't believe this very important message has only 500 views!

[S.R.M.]

Dr. James White offers "The three foundations, " which are presuppositions.
There are other alternatives
The Biblical Foundation of The Centrality of Christ as God.
Foundation One: Monolatrism "God is the God of gods..." (Deuteronomy 10:17).
Foundation Two: All things have been given to the Son of God from His God and Father. And He alone is our Rock (Isaiah 44:6-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4).
Foundation Three: "You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father, ’
for My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28).

[pper]

Most Christians are not passionate about the trinity, because deep down they know its not true. It's historical but not part of the history of the teaching of jesus or the apostles. It's confusing, & no wonder because it doesn't make sense nor is it taught in the bible! The doctrine of the trinity turns people away from belief in Christianity because it is a mystery to the teachers of Christianity, let alone the church goers! Time to get rid of this ridiculous doctrine & find out the truth & power of the word of God in jesus christ the Son of God!

[S.R.M.]

I think History bears this out. Trinitarians dominate Christianity so much so that they would have you believe that if you are not a Trinitarian, you are not a Christian. This is not true. Historically, Christianity has not always been controlled by the Trinitarians or their Doctrine. There was no defined Trinitarian doctrine for the first three hundred years of the history of the Christian Church. But to listen to Trinitarians, you would think Christ taught His disciples the Trinity, or at the very least God revealed the Doctrine of the Trinity to the church from the beginning. No such teaching or revelation from God was ever given, nor was the Trinity made essential for believers according to the Bible.
Yet, according to Trinitarians, the doctrine of the Trinity is considered sacred and fundamental, and most Trinitarians view it as the litmus test for defining who is and is not a Christian. Only ignorance would allow such a thing. The audacity of the Trinitarians to threaten one’s very salvation! James White has publicly stated, “We (Trinitarians) hang a person’s very salvation upon the acceptance of the doctrine… We must know, understand, and love the Trinity to be fully and completely Christian” (The Forgotten Trinity, pp. 14-15). And yet, no one can understand the Trinity. Scholars have acknowledged this, “The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who has tried to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind; but he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul” (Harold Linsell and Charles Woodbridge, A Handbook of Christian Truth, pp. 51). This Trinitarian Doctrine produces confusion, and this confusion is not from the God of the Bible (1 Corinthians 14:33).
Where did this doctrine of the Trinity come from? “The term ‘Trinity’ is not itself found in the Bible. It was first used by Tertullian at the close of the 2nd century but received wide currency and formal elucidation only after the 4th and 5th centuries” (see “Trinity, ” New Bible Dictionary, 1996). “Precisely what that doctrine is, or rather precisely how it is to be explained, Trinitarians are not agreed among themselves” (see “Trinitarians, ” A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge).
Biblically, God never revealed the Doctrine of the Trinity, then how did the church come to accept it? From history, we get the answer, “The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and many controversies…It was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three and their unity were brought together in a single orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons” (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 11, p. 928, 1985 ed.). “There is no evidence that the apostles of Jesus ever heard of the trinity–at any rate from Him” (H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, Vol. 2, p. 499, 1920). Over 3 hundred years after Christ, this doctrine of God being Triune took over the church as essential to our salvation! What of all the believers who accepted Christ before the 4th century, but had no idea that belief in the Trinity was a requirement for their salvation?
Is the demand by Trinitarians that one must believe in the Trinity to receive salvation a form of legalism? What is legalism? Have not Trinitarians laid down the law that one must believe in the Trinity to be saved? In Christian theology, "legalism" is a pejorative term applied to the idea that "by doing good works or by obeying the law, a person earns and merits salvation." If men, whether by popular belief or by group or clergy, place a prerequisite, a stipulation, or insist upon a certain belief upon one so that they would receive salvation is this not a form of legalism? Only Christ, by the will of the Father, can place prerequisites, stipulations, and beliefs upon one to receive salvation without falling under “legalism.” Therefore, Christ made no requirement that one must believe in the Trinity to receive salvation, then it follows that the stipulation that one must believe in the Trinity would be a form of legalism caused by Trinitarians. There is no requirement by Christ that one must believe in the Trinity to receive salvation.
Where did the idea of the Trinity come from since God never revealed the concept of the Trinity? Edward Gibbon, a noted historian, gives this answer, “If paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians…was changed by the Church…into the incomprehensible dogma of the Trinity” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. xvi, 1883). The Trinity finds its birth in the West according to Pagan Greek philosophy. Were we not warned about this by the apostle Paul, who wrote, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). Rise up in truth all Christians and throw off this heavy yoke of Trinitarian bondage to a false doctrine never revealed by Christ. It is false that one must believe in the Trinity to be saved. Christ is God because His God and Father gave Him all things, and all things are committed to Him. Christ said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).