Vol. 6, No. 11, 1989

Articles on Jehovah's Witnesses

David Henke

The concept of the Trinity is a difficult one for anyone to grasp but especially for Jehovah's Witnesses.

What is the Trinity?

"A word not found in Scripture, but used to express the doctrine of the unity of God as subsisting in three distinct Persons.... the propositions involved in the doctrine are these:

"1. That God is one, and that there is but one God.

"2. That the Father is a distinct divine Person - distinct from the Son and the Holy Spirit.

"3. That Jesus was truly God, and yet was a Person distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit.

"4. That the Holy Spirit is also a distinct divine Person," (Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1893).

What Do the Jehovah's Witnesses Say About It?

Jehovah's Witnesses will object to the Christian that the word "Trinity" is not found in the Scripture, the doctrine is unreasonable, it is of pagan Babylonish origin, it was introduced as church doctrine in the fourth century, is a `complicated, freakish-looking, three-headed God,'" and finally, they will call it unscriptural. (Let God Be True, p. 83)

Is the Word "Trinity" in the Bible?

One of the easiet objections to answer is the charge that the term "trinity" is not found in Scripture. True, it is not. The term was first coined by Theophilus, who lived from 116 to 181 A.D., to express the Biblical teaching of three (tri) Persons in one (unity) God. If Jehovah's Witnesses insist that this point is important, point out to them that the terms millenium, theocracy, and rapture are not found in Scripture either. Will they stop believing their doctrine on these subjects because of the absence of these words in Scripture?

The Watchtower Society has a long history of raising superficial, or, "strawman" objections fo Biblical doctrine. This objection is a classic example. They have regularly used this argument in their books and door-to-door proselyting. How many people have been swayed to disbelief because of something that has no significance whatever? Continued use of this argument when it is known to be meaningless is an evidence of weakness in their position.

Is the Trinity Unreasonable?

Watchtower doctrine is very rationalistic and so gives rise to another of their objections, which says "The trinity is unreasonable." How can one be three and three be one? This is a serious objection.

It must be kept in mind, and repeated often to the Jehovah's Witness, that the sense in which God is `one' (His nature) is different from the sense in which He is `three' (Persons). As Rev. John S. Banks says in A Manual of Christian Doctrine, "The combination of the two elements involves no logical contradiction, because they refer to the Godhead in different respects, one to nature, the other to persons. The mere fact of incomprehensible mystery is no objection, every truth respecting God being no less mysterious," (p. 108).

God is an infinite being and man is a sin darkened finite creature so by definition man is unable to comprehend infinite perfection, regardless of whether it is the Watchtower god or the Biblical God. We know the nature of God to the extent we do because it is revealed, not because we thought it up. C.S. Lewis said in Beyond Personality, "We can't compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How can we? We're dealing with Fact," (p. 13).

Is the Trinity A Pagan Doctrine?

Jehovah's Witnesses recoil at the Trinity as a Christian would recoil at idol worship. They think the Trinity is a "Babylonish triad of gods" according to their book, Babylon the Great Has Fallen..., (p. 82).

It is true there are pagan "trinities" which date back to Babylon, but rather than this fact supporting the Watchtower contention it actually is an evidence in favor of the Biblical triune God. Augustus H. Strong's Systematic Theology quotes Robert Watts (?New Apologetico, p. 195) as saying the pagan triads are "residuary fragments of the lost knowledge of God, not different stages in a process of theological evolution, but evidence of a moral and spiritual degradation," (p. 152.)

If we keep in mind the tendency of man's sinful nature to corrupt the image of God (Romans 1:23), and that Satan uses counterfeits and half truths to mislead, then we might safely assume that the Adamic heritage of monotheism was so eroded that when we arrive at the book of Exodus we find the pagan triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus holding sway in Egypt. Thus, from Genesis to Malachi, we see God reaffirming monotheism in the minds of His people (Deut. 6:4). Israel had dwelt four hundred years among the polytheistic Egyptians and acquired a taste for additional gods. For this reason, the Trinity is not clearly revealed in the Old Testament.

This view is presented in the book ?The Two Babylonso by Alexander Hislop. Hislop says concerning these pagan trinities, "All these have existed from ancient times. While overlaid with idolatry, the recognition of a Trinity was universal in all the ancient nations of the world, proving how deep-rooted in the human race was the primeval doctrine on this subject, which comes out so distinctly in Genesis," (page 18).

In their tract, "The Trinity - Divine Mystery or Pagan Myth?", the Watchtower quotes a portion of this statement by Hislop. Under the subheading of "Pagan Origin" several pagan trinities are discussed and then this quote, "According to the historian Hislop: `The recognition of the trinity was universal in all the ancient nations of the world.'" End of quote. No evidence is given to indicate that Hislop believed this was an evidence of the corruption of the true doctrine. The quote ended with a period, whereas an accurate quote would have used an ellipsis (...) to show there was more to the statement though not quoted. This tract by the Watchtower has Hislop saying the opposite of what he intended. That is dishonest!! Why? Does true doctrine need such a defense?

The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967 edition, Vol. XIV, page 306), said, "The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught in the OT (Old Testament)." Jehovah's Witnesses latched onto this statement and tried to make it sound as if the encyclopedia was denying the doctrine had scriptural support. To the contrary, the opposite is affirmed when the encyclopedia points to those Scriptures that indicate a plurality of Persons in the Godhead and says of them "that the minds of God's people were being prepared for the concepts that would be involved in the forthcoming revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity," (p. 306).

Is the Trinity A Fourth Century Invention?

Jehovah's Witnesses charge that the doctrine is of late origin, a fourth century product, hence an invention of men. With the advent of Jesus, and the writing of the New Testament, God reveals clearly the plurality of Persons in the Godhead. What we see in Church history from that point until the fourth century is a growing controversy over the person of Christ, and not whether three Persons comprise the one God. For the most part, this was a disagreement over his true humanity, not his deity. The Gnosticism of the day, which influenced many of the Chruch Fathers, did not see that God, who is pure and holy, could have any real contact with matter, which they saw as evil. Thus, the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ (Emmanuel, meaning "God with us') presented many Church Fathers with problems over Jesus' true humanity.