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).
