Is the Trinity really tritheism?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Tritheism claims there are three individual gods who are separate in being and nature. The Bible, however, teaches that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-6). At the same time, Scripture reveals that the Father is God (John 6:27), the Son is God (Hebrews 1:8), and the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). These three are distinct Persons, each fully divine, yet united in the one divine essence.

The Trinity is not three gods acting in cooperation but one God existing eternally in three Persons. The three Persons are coequal, coeternal, and inseparable in being, will, and purpose (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). While they carry out different roles—such as the Father sending the Son, the Son redeeming, and the Spirit applying salvation—they do so in perfect unity. The idea of the Trinity does not violate monotheism; it is the way Scripture reveals the one God’s eternal nature.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one,” clearly affirming that God is one. That statement emphasizes monotheism, not numerical simplicity. The Hebrew word for “one” (echad) can refer to a unified whole, such as one cluster of grapes or one flesh in marriage, allowing for complexity within unity.
• While God is clearly identified as one, as early as Genesis 1 we see hints of the triune nature of God. In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” and then follows it with, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). This pattern of a plural pronoun followed by a singular one also appears in Genesis 3:22, 11:7, and Isaiah 6:8. While some explain these as examples of royal language, the surrounding context consistently limits the reference to God alone.
• The Spirit of God is described as present and active from the opening lines of Scripture (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 104:30). He is later seen speaking and acting with divine authority (2 Samuel 23:2-3; Ezekiel 2:2). In these cases, the Spirit is both personal and divine, pointing to His identity as the third Person of the Trinity.
• The Angel of the LORD also appears throughout the Old Testament as a distinct Person who speaks as God, receives worship, and yet is not the Father. In Genesis 22, for example, it is God who commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-2), but when the Angel of the LORD stops Abraham, He says, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12). God gave Abraham the command, yet the Angel of the LORD said that Abraham had obeyed Him. Thus, He is somehow distinct from God yet also identified as God. Most scholars believe that the Angel of the LORD is a preincarnate appearance of the Son, later known as Jesus.
• Isaiah 48:16 provides a rare passage where all three Persons seem to be present: “Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And then it continues, “And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.” The One speaking is Yahweh, who says He was sent by Yahweh along with His Spirit. Though subtle, this passage strongly anticipates the clearer Trinitarian language of the New Testament.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• The full clarity of the Trinity is revealed in the New Testament. At Jesus’ baptism, all three Persons are present: the Son is baptized, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven, affirming His pleasure in the Son (Matthew 3:16-17). This scene shows that God is three Persons acting at the same time.
• When Jesus commanded His followers to baptize others, He said to do it “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The use of the singular word “name” followed by three Persons underscores both unity and distinction within the Godhead.
• Jesus is explicitly called God. John opens by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1; c.f., John 20:28). The “Word” is a reference to Jesus. Jesus also claims divine authority, forgives sin, receives worship, and shares in the Father’s glory (John 5:23; 14:9; Matthew 14:33). For example, in John 8:58, He uses the divine name “I AM” for Himself, which provokes an immediate attempt to stone Him (John 8:59; c.f. Exodus 3:14). These claims only make sense if Jesus truly is God in the flesh.
• At the same time, Jesus operates in submission to the Father. He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). His mission was unique: to live a sinless life and die as a substitute for sinners (Philippians 2:8; John 19:30). As the eternal Son, He shares the divine essence; as the incarnate Messiah, He fulfills a distinct role in the plan of redemption.
• The Holy Spirit is also revealed as a divine Person. He teaches, guides, speaks, and can be grieved (John 14:16-17; Acts 13:2; Ephesians 4:30). In Acts 5:3-4, lying to the Spirit is equated with lying to God. The Spirit, then, is not an impersonal force. Rather, He is God, having the distinct role of dwelling with and in believers all the while pointing them to Jesus.
• Though distinct Persons because they are of the same divine essence, they always work together in perfect unity. For example, passages like 2 Corinthians 13:14 and Ephesians 1:3-14 include all three Persons working together in salvation. The Father chooses (Ephesians 1:4), the Son redeems (Ephesians 1:7), and the Spirit seals (Ephesians 1:13). Each Person is fully God, fully personal, and fully involved.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

The doctrine of the Trinity will never be fully understood. As finite creatures, we cannot get our mind around an infinite God. Every heresy in history has started with the assumption that God can be “figured out.” That is why some say there are three gods while others claim that a single god is changing modes to sometimes be the Father, sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Spirit (a heresy called modalism). These and other heresies all explain “God” by making Him weak, small, and understandable.

However, the true God is eternal, omnipresent (everywhere), omniscient (all knowing), and omni-powerful (all powerful). Each Person of the Trinity shares these attributes because they share the same essence. Yet, each Person also has unique functions. All three worked together in salvation, yet Jesus had the specific task of living and dying to be the sacrificial Lamb that turned away His Father’s wrath for all who believe in Jesus. Today, the Spirit is opening the eyes of unbelievers to show them who Jesus is and living within believers to help us grow to be more like Jesus.

We may not understand how the Trinity can possibly be, but it’s a glorious truth. Though we’re infinitely different from God, out of love, the Father sent the Son so that we can be united with Him through salvation. By thinking about who God is and realizing that we are joined to Him, we will grow in humility.

Consider God for who He is. Accept Him as He has revealed Himself. Marvel at His unknowability. And praise Him for His great kindness in revealing Himself to us so that we can know the Father, through His Son, and by His Spirit.

UNDERSTAND

• Tritheism is the belief in three separate gods, a teaching that drastically differs from the Trinity, which is the doctrine of one God revealed in three, eternally distinct Persons.
• Scripture teaches that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God, co-eternal and co-equal.
• Attempts to fully explain God will fail because human beings are finite and limited.

REFLECT

• How do you understand the roles of each Person of the Trinity?
• When encountering those who equate tritheism with the Trinity, how do you explain the difference?
• What analogies to explain the Trinity have you encountered? How have you explained the weaknesses?

ENGAGE

• How might Christians explain the truth to those who accept tritheism?
• What religions might be particularly resistant to the idea of the Trinity?
• When speaking about God’s triune nature with unbelievers, what are the most significant areas of misunderstanding?