Is God really “One God” in three persons? Or, is He Three Gods?

What is the so-called Trinity? Is it a Biblical doctrine?

Let’s answer these questions by using only the Bible, not from some denominational handbook or commentary.

The term “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, but the word “Godhead” appears three times in the KJV (Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:20; Col. 2:9), but modern Bibles, unfortunately, either omit or water down this term. I use the term “Triune,” meaning ‘consisting of three in one.’ It is used especially with reference to the Trinity, or “the Triune Godhead. One of the strongest and most succinct claims in the Bible for “One God” existing in Three Persons is seen here below.

“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word [this refers to Jesus, cf. Jn 1:1], and the Holy Ghost: and These Three Are One.” (1 John 5:7 (KJV)

Unfortunately, most so-called ‘modern’ English Bibles, such as NIV, NASB, NRSV, ESV omit most of 1 John 5:7, saying only “For there are three that testify” (1 John 5:7 (NIV). This is also true also of the awful Jehovah’s Witness “bible,” that plainly denies the deity of Jesus of Nazareth!

I’ve used the correct KJV (1611) English Bible translation of 1 John 5:7 (above) as the most reliable for Bible study.

You might ask; Why do these ‘modern English Bibles, ‘omit’ the full text of 1 John 5:7?

Actually, the issue is not just a matter of translation, rather this is due to the fact that they ALL the modern translation are translated from the very same corrupt Greek Text developed by ‘Westcott and Hort’ (1881). This corrupt Greek text was used by the Bible translators as their underlying reference text. That corrupt corrupt text was created by Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort, as published by Harper & Brothers, N.Y., in 1881.

The root problem is the modern translations come from a different Greek underlining manuscript than the King James Bible. The KJV is derived from the Greek ‘Textus Receptus,’ while the so-called modern scholars reject this manuscript of which we have the most and oldest copies. The result is that in the modern translations they’ve change many words and phrases such as “only begotten Son” into “one and only Son,” suggesting that Jesus was not “begotten of the Father.” Most of these modern translations have also stricken the name ‘Lucifer’ and deleted the mention of the precious “blood of Christ” over 40 times. There thousands more of such problem with these ‘modern’ Bibles that disqualify them from use in serious Bible study.

It should be noted that even the Old Syriac Text (A.D. 170) and the Old Latin Text (A.D. 200) do in fact contain 1John 5:7 in its entirety and over a dozen of the early church fathers and writers quote it (as seen in the KJV) between A.D. 150 and A.D. 550, all long-predating the corrupt modern Bible’s Greek manuscripts that mostly ‘omit’ 1 John 5:7. This error an attack on the ‘Triune Godhead.’

The entire verse of 1 John 5:7 belongs in the Bible; it’s an important verse!

Obviously, 1 John 5:7 speaks of three Persons and all three being ‘one.’ Notice that the Godhead is not three Gods; but three Persons in the “One” Godhead. We have; 1) God the Father, 2) God the Son (Jesus Christ, (cf. “the Word,” cf. John 1:1, 14), and 3) God the Holy Ghost (Spirit). 1 John 5:7 plainly says they “Are One.” This then is somewhat reminiscent of what Jesus said in John 10:30,

“I and my Father ‘are one.’” Then Jesus said; “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He That Hath Seen Me [Jesus] Hath Seen The Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? John 14:9 (KJV)

The fact is that only Fathers beget children who possess their very own life and nature.

“To wit, that God [the Father] was in Christ [the Son], reconciling the world unto himself…” (2 Cor. 5:19a).

The Apostle Paul clearly declares that there is “One God” and “One Spirit” (Eph. 4:4-5). John 4:24 (KJV) says “God is a Spirit” (KJV) The translators were honest enough to italicize the word ‘is,’ meaning ‘is’ was added. The fact is that John 4:24 is actually saying “God, a spirit” - that God consists of a non-material ‘spirit.’ The Godhead also includes “the Holy Spirit” as the third ‘person’ of the ‘Godhead.’ Jesus’ resurrected glorified ‘body’ that ascended to heaven was beforehand seen and touched by humans such as doubting Thomas who touched His wounded side. Jesus’ resurrected body is a ‘spirit-body’ and we also will have the same kind of body in our resurrection.

“For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: ²¹ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body [a spirit-body],…”  Philippians 3:20-21 (KJV)

There’s much more in the Bible to support the doctrine of the ‘Triune Godhead.’ Consider these few verses below.

“¹In the beginning was the Word [Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

¹⁴And the Word was made [in human] flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only BEGOTTEN of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

Jesus always existed, and according to “the determinate counsel” of the Godhead (Act 2:23), He became “begotten” of the Father,” meaning He was born as “Jesus of Nazareth” out of the spirit-loins of Father God, whose Spirit conceived Him humanly in Mary, a 14 yr.-old Jewess. Thus, Jesus came to earth bearing the grace and glory or expression of the Father’s life. Being the “express image” of Father God, Jesus Christ is called “the Word” in John 1:1 (cf. Heb. 1:3, Rev. 19:3)

By noting the wording here above and below we learn that Jesus Christ is “the Word,” which is God.  

“And he (Jesus the Messiah) was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.” (Revelation 19:13)

God the Father expressed Himself, by His life and nature in the Son as “the Word of God” in human flesh, giving full expression to the will and nature of God the Father.

According to John 1:14 (above), “the Word became flesh.” Unquestionably, this refers to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, as the “Son of man” in a human body, referred to in the Four Gospels as “Jesus of Nazareth.” God sent His “Word,” the “Son of God,” by the work of the Holy Spirit humanly conceiving Him in the womb of Mary, a 15-year-old, virgin, Jewess.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God [the Father] sent forth his Son, made of [by] a woman, made under the law [the ‘natural law’ and Israel’s Law],” (Gal. 4:4)

John wrote: “In the beginning was ‘the Word [Jesus, the Son of God],’ and the Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God.” (John 1:1) Therefore, in the beginning, Jesus Christ “was WITH God,” indicating He is identifiably separate from God the Father. Yet also Jesus “WAS God,” indicating He is one with (equal with) God the Father. Jesus is called “the Word.” Just as our words are used to express ourselves; Jesus “is the express image of His person [the person of God]” (Heb. 1:3).

The wonder is that the invisible Triune Godhead was made visible in the person of the God-Man, Jesus Christ! Even after His death, burial, and resurrection; “… he [Jesus] was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:6 (KJV)