Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 1. God in Christianity
What the doctrine of the Trinity actually claims
In short
- 1.The creedal formula itself is post-biblical: the word **Trinity** (Latin *trinitas*) is first used by **Tertullian** around 200 CE, over 150 years after Jesus.
- 2.The Athanasian Creed concedes the doctrine is **incomprehensible** — 'the Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Ghost incomprehensible'.
- 3.Ask which of the three Jesus was praying to in Gethsemane, and what was being addressed when he cried out on the cross.
- 4.Islam's alternative is not a simpler version of the same claim — it is a different claim: one God, undivided, unbegotten.
The claim being examined
Christianity confesses one God in three co-equal, co-eternal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit — three who are each fully God, yet not three Gods.
The Islamic position
Islam affirms that God is one in essence and in person. The Qur'an addresses the Trinity directly and calls believers back to an undivided oneness that needs no philosophical qualification.
Analysis
The Trinity as it is confessed today is the settlement of a long fourth- and fifth-century argument, not a formula found on the lips of Jesus. The New Testament writers use 'Father', 'Son' and 'Spirit' in Jewish idiom; the metaphysical vocabulary of *ousia* (substance) and *hypostasis* (person) that makes the doctrine coherent comes from Greek philosophy and enters Christian discourse only in the councils. Even the Church's own creeds present the doctrine as a mystery to be accepted rather than a proposition to be understood, which is precisely the point of the Qur'anic critique: revelation should clarify God, not obscure Him.
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 4:171
لَا تَقُولُوا ثَلَاثَةٌ ۚ انتَهُوا خَيْرًا لَّكُمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا اللَّهُ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ
Do not say 'Three' — stop, it is better for you. God is only one God.
Qur'an 112:1-4
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
Say: He is God, the One; God, the Eternal Refuge; He begets not, nor was He begotten; and there is none comparable to Him.
From the Bible
Mark 12:29
ἄκουε Ἰσραήλ, κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one — Jesus quoting the Shema as the first of all commandments.
Read it in their BibleJohn 17:3
ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν
That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Read it in their BibleSources
Abu Zakariya, Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · Tertullian, Adversus Praxean · Athanasian Creed · Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God · Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah — ch. 1, pp. 5-8
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