Testing the Trinity
What if the Trinity isn’t the only way to understand the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — and a simpler, more biblical way has been hiding in plain sight?
I spent 20+ years assuming the historic Trinity was correct and searched the Scriptures for the evidence…but the more I followed the evidence where it actually led — trusting that Scripture could and should speak for itself — what emerged was a different picture.
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- Why does this matter?
The Trinity is treated as non-negotiable in most churches. But if the Church has been wrong before on central doctrines (think Luther and the Reformation), we should be willing to test this one too — with Scripture as the final judge. - This isn’t coming from ignorance.
I have studied this historic doctrine inside-and-out: the creeds, the philosophical roots, the heresies it fought. As such, my subsequent objections to it have come from a place of deep respect, careful study, and a healthy dose of “fear and trembling.” - There’s a good historical reason it developed.
Early threats to the faith (Gnosticism, Arianism, etc.) pushed the early church to articulate a doctrine that protected Christ’s deity while affirming God’s unity. Unfortunately, they adopted Greek philosophical constructs and ideas to “fill in the gaps” where Scripture was silent, in much the same way that “Jurassic Park” scientists spliced amphibian DNA with “dino-DNA” to bring dinosaurs back to life…with unintended consequences and perils. - But here’s the pivot…
Those extra definitions created problems the New Testament never had. When we set the later scaffolding aside and let Scripture speak on its own terms, a clearer picture emerges: the Filium framework.
The Alternative – In Plain English
The historic Trinity essentially grapples with a singular question — “How does God relate to Himself?” — in order to explain the meaning of “Father, Son, and Spirit”. While this might be an interesting question, it certainly isn’t one that the Old Testament ever poses or even suggests.
In short, the early Church invested three centuries of time, energy, and blood trying to answer a question the Bible was never asking…
The alternative (which I call the Filium view) brings the focus of the “Father, Son, Spirit” relationship back to the whole reason that God gave us His self-revelation to begin with. And unlike the Trinity, it’s the relationship that the entirety of the Old Testament seeks to help us understand: “How does God relate to human beings?”
Because now, with the arrival of Jesus onto the stage of human history, mankind’s relationship with God — a relationship which seemed to be hopelessly and irreversibly fractured — has been made new and forever restored! God’s chosen mediator has arrived at last, He conquered sin and death, and has finally taken His rightful place at the heart of humanity’s relationship with their Creator. He had always been there in God’s perfect plan, He’s the One to whom the Old Testament has always pointed, but now He’s actually accomplished His mission: the Son, the Christ, the Lord Jesus!
This singular relationship is the key that unlocks how God relates to the rest of Creation. Jesus’ mission and position as the Son drive everything the New Testament says about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Why this matters: Instead of starting with abstract philosophical categories about God’s inner being, the Filium view stays grounded in the concrete, relational story of Scripture. It lets the Bible speak in its own terms — focusing on how the Father has always related to humanity through the centerpiece of His plan: His Son.
In short: One God who relates to all humanity by and through His Spirit, has been finally reconciled to humanity because of the perfection and sacrifice of His unique Son. For those who embrace the Son as Lord, God communes with us by His Spirit and gives us the right to call Him our Father; those who reject the Son remain estranged and outside of His Kingdom. This is the heart of the biblical story.
Quick Comparison
| Question | Historic Trinity | The Filium Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| How many persons in God? | Three co-equal, co-eternal persons | One God, one “person”. Incidentally, the idea of more than one “person” in a “Godhead” is an idea we continue to talk about only because the Trinity introduced the notion in the first place. It’s not a premise that the Old Testament ever establishes as fact. |
| What is the main question being answered? | How does God relate to Himself? | How does God relate to human beings? In short, God’s relationship with all of humanity is what we know as the “Holy Spirit”. And the essence of whether that relationship is one of “Father” or simply “Judge” comes down to whether we receive or reject His Son as Lord. |
| Nature of the Father-Son relationship? | Ontological (same substance) This is the philosophical “glue” that was borrowed straight from Aristotle to make the doctrine of the Trinity hold together. |
Jesus’s unique birth and sinless life make Him the first and only human to be fully and completely indwelt by the Holy Spirit – which we refer to as the Incarnation. We are not told how it actually works in practice, just that is it true, and so any speculation on the “how” of this union may be interesting, but it cannot be considered doctrine. |
| Jesus’ humanity | “Fully God and fully man” | Genuinely and completely human — the physical Incarnation of God in time and space, yet the “fullness of deity” through complete union with God’s Spirit which sets Jesus apart as the Son |
| Philosophical roots? | Heavy Greek influence | Scripture-first, grounded in how God relates to humanity through the Son |
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Testing the Trinity • Socratic Christianity
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