Is Trinity essential for salvation?

 

(Note: This is a peer-reviewed article. I'm thankful to everyone who has reviewed this article.) 

Have you ever heard any of these statements?

1. Jesus is a lesser god[1],

2. Jesus is a created being[2],

3. Jesus is brother of Lucifer[3],

4. Jesus came to India and learned from Eastern enlightened teachers[4]^{, [5], [6]},

5. Jesus advocated Sun-god worship to king Shalivahana[7],

6. Jesus survived crucifixion and later went to Kashmir and died there[8]^{, [9]},

7. Jesus was never crucified (Surah 4:157)

 

You must have probably heard these bizarre claims that has been circulating worldwide since centuries. The evangelical churches have been fighting against these weird claims. These are labelled as "Heresies" propagated by heretical religious movements and groups such as JW, Mormon, Islam, Bhavishya Purana, work of Nicolas Notovitch, etc.

Now, the main question is: what shall be your response when your unbeliever friend encounters any of these false views of Jesus and begins setting his/her mentality accordingly? Your response is obviously negative! Why? It’s because you know that's not even the true identification of Jesus whom you believed and got saved! Believing, trusting and following a false foreign Jesus doesn't lead anyone to salvation (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Early Church fathers, theologians, apologists and polemists, throughout church history, fought hard against heresies which continues till today against cults!

Understanding the Gospel isn't possible without understanding Jesus. Understanding Jesus isn't possible without understanding God's nature. These statements are frequently conveyed when someone shares the Gospel: "God became man to redeem you from your sins", "God sent his only beloved Son to die on behalf your sin". Next, fresh believers would probably hear three names or titles equally emphasized during prayer, worship and sermon: "The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit". Addressing Jesus includes two important terms: "Son of God" and "Son of Man". Hence, every believer hears these statements right from the phase of their life when they hear the Gospel, when they accept Jesus as Savior and when they attend church service and prayer. This shows the essence of Trinity.

Christian life isn't about salvation alone but about our commitment to follow Jesus and live a new life in relationship with God.[10] Salvation in Christian life doesn't just complete at the point when we receive Jesus but it actually begins from there![11]^{, [12]} We have a big journey all throughout our life with our commitment to walk with Jesus. Forget about walking with Jesus, one must know him precisely to accept him in his life. A wrong identification can lead to wrong turn (2 Cor. 11:3-4; Gal. 1:6-8)!

Trinity isn't a matter of opinion and space for an open mind as in secondary doctrines.[13] This is entirely about God and his nature. Without Trinity, the understanding of kenosis, hypostatic union, and incarnation becomes blur. It’s a house built without any foundation!

A respected theologian, philosopher and apologist William Craig thinks Trinity isn't necessarily important for salvation.[14] He gives some examples from Old testament characters such as Moses, Abraham, etc. He gives other examples like gentiles and insane believers at church with simple faith. I wouldn't adore much to comment on a learned scholar like him but his premises are pushing excuses towards negligence. Meanwhile, even he does admit the Trinity as cornerstone of our faith, but he doesn't seem to admit Trinity is essential for salvation. Perhaps, James White seems to have seriously acknowledged the significance of Trinity. He identifies rejection of Trinity is something like unwillingness to know about God which ultimately leads to worship of false god.[15]

Making excuses weaken our honesty, sincerity and seriousness. This leads to a greater tendency of compromising rather than improving and progressing. Usual excuse concerning Trinity lies on its mysterious complexity. There is no way we can understand and take a complete grasp of Trinity. However, just because complexity and incomprehensibility are an excuse, then one must give up studying science and mathematics as these subjects also have complexity that can sometime burst your brain! None of the NT authors had ever shown their perplexed mentality regarding God's nature. If they hadn't any issue with Trinity then why should we think we need to have it provided God is same God with us?

Regarding certain believers who hold to erratic view of trinity, it is a matter about their personal context of insane faith. Ignorant view of Trinity is better to be said rather than erratic view. This isn’t equivalent to denial of Trinity. Not every believer is equipped with theological knowledge but it is sincere responsibility of the church to manage fellowship and Bible study to teach and improve their knowledge! Their context is situational and deprived of proper education on theology. The Trinity was already a firm historical cardinal doctrine churches had been admitting, teaching and fighting against heresies. The theology began developing throughout thousands of years. The missionary works was already flourishing. This also flourished the wave of theology. Hence, there is no need to worry even if certain believers don't fully understand Trinity. Indeed, nobody does understand Trinity in its full extent! Even today, there are different probable models of Trinity formulated such as Psychological and Social models in an attempt to illustrate the Trinity.[16] They aren’t without drawbacks either!

An important point to be noted that, Old Testament characters should not be taken as excusable example since God used progressive revelation about his identification[17]. If we are to use Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc. as excuses, why not also reject Christ and demand a great political ruler? Since Israelites had a political Messiah in their thought! Why not also celebrate all Old testament festivals? Why not we wait for the Messiah to come like them? Why not try to justify ourselves with laws? This is using the Old Testament beyond the relevant periphery.

 

Hence, for the concluding segment:

1. Salvation is entirely based on work of Jesus. We are offered salvation freely when we put our faith in Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9),

2. The salvation is only offered by Jesus who Pre-existed eternally as God the Son, emptied oneself and put on human flesh, was prophesized in OT, born of virgin, died on cross and resurrected on third day and will return again to take us. There is no salvation in any other counterfeit Jesus apart from this Jesus of Nazareth.

3. We receive Jesus only after hearing the Gospel and that Gospel already includes the great story of Triune God (Rom. 10:8-14)!  

4. Jesus cannot be Savior unless he was fully Man to make atonement on our behalf and unless he was fully God to fulfil laws, live perfect life and take the wrath and justice of God the Father upon himself. Unless we understand trinity, we cannot see this picture!

5. The complexity of Trinity should never be an excuse. Otherwise, there aren't any subjects that are easier to comprehend such as science. If this wasn't any issue for disciples and apostles, why should we make excuse who are living in a far advanced world?

6. We cannot take examples of OT characters since there was a progressive revelation from God and now, we have a complete revelation of God. He wants us to know him as much as we can (Hos. 4:6, Col. 1:10; 3:16),

7. Trinity is associated with everyday Christian life regarding how we relate ourselves to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Insane and unintentional Erratic/Ignorant views of Trinity might be considerable but the excuse should never drive us to weaken our knowledge and conscience. The more excuse, the more risk of negligence.

Therefore, Trinity is not just essential for salvation but also the basis for salvation. God is faithful to provide us with all adequate revelation and resources to understand him, to know him and to relate with him as much as we can!

 

Bibliography

Boyd, Greg. “What Are the Different Models of the Trinity in the Christian Tradition?” Greg Boyd - ReKnew. Last modified January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2022. https://reknew.org/2019/01/what-are-the-different-models-of-the-trinity/.

Kaiser, Walter C., ed. Hard Sayings of the Bible. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Richard, Raj. “Reasoned Musings: Jesus Christ A Hindu?” Reasoned Musings, May 23, 2016. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://rajkumarrichard.blogspot.com/2016/05/jesus-christ-hindu.html.

“Are Jesus and Satan Brothers?” GotQuestions.Org. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Satan-brothers.html.

“INDIA - Did Jesus Go to India as a Child and Learn from Hindu Gurus? - ChristianAnswers.Net.” Accessed September 2, 2022. https://christiananswers.net/q-eden/rfsm-guru.html.

“Is Jesus Christ a Lesser Deity?” Witnesses in Transition. Last modified December 5, 2018. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://wit.irr.org/jesus-christ-lesser-deity.

Is the Doctrine of the Trinity Essential?, 2020. Accessed July 21, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWvgdHXgqm8.

“Jesus Mystery! Did He Learn in Hindu Gurukula?” Tamil and Vedas, February 5, 2015. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://tamilandvedas.com/2015/02/05/jesus-mystery-did-he-learn-in-hindu-gurukula/.

“Jesus Predicted in the Vedic Literature.” Accessed September 2, 2022. https://www.stephen-knapp.com/jesus_predicted_in_the_vedic_literature.htm.

“The Forgotten Trinity | James R. White | Download.” Accessed July 21, 2022. https://book4you.org/book/2647029/528501.

The Story of the Bible, 2017. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_CGP-12AE0.

Theological Topics: Old Testament and New Testament Articles (English - Nepali). 2nd Edition in this format (January, 2018). Kishor Offset press (P.) Ltd. Galkopakha, Kathmandu, Nepal: Samdan Publishers, n.d.

“Was Jesus the First Created Being?” Accessed September 2, 2022. https://www.str.org/w/was-jesus-the-first-created-being-.

 

---

[1] “Is Jesus Christ a Lesser Deity?,” Witnesses in Transition, last modified December 5, 2018, accessed September 2, 2022, https://wit.irr.org/jesus-christ-lesser-deity.

[2] “Was Jesus the First Created Being?,” accessed September 2, 2022, https://www.str.org/w/was-jesus-the-first-created-being-.

[3] “Are Jesus and Satan Brothers?,” GotQuestions.Org, accessed September 2, 2022, https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Satan-brothers.html.

[4] Raj Richard, “Reasoned Musings: Jesus Christ A Hindu?,” Reasoned Musings, May 23, 2016, accessed September 2, 2022, https://rajkumarrichard.blogspot.com/2016/05/jesus-christ-hindu.html.

[5] “INDIA - Did Jesus Go to India as a Child and Learn from Hindu Gurus? - ChristianAnswers.Net,” accessed September 2, 2022, https://christiananswers.net/q-eden/rfsm-guru.html.

[6] “Jesus Mystery! Did He Learn in Hindu Gurukula?,” Tamil and Vedas, February 5, 2015, accessed September 2, 2022, https://tamilandvedas.com/2015/02/05/jesus-mystery-did-he-learn-in-hindu-gurukula/.

[7] “Jesus Predicted in the Vedic Literature,” accessed September 2, 2022, https://www.stephen-knapp.com/jesus_predicted_in_the_vedic_literature.htm.

[8] Richard, “Reasoned Musings.”

[9] “Jesus Mystery! Did He Learn in Hindu Gurukula?”

[10] The Story of the Bible, 2017, accessed September 2, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_CGP-12AE0.

[11] Theological Topics: Old Testament and New Testament Articles (English - Nepali), 2nd Edition in this format (January, 2018). (Kishor Offset press (P.) Ltd. Galkopakha, Kathmandu, Nepal: Samdan Publishers, n.d.), 32–34.

[12] Walter C. Kaiser, ed., Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 670–671.

[13] Theological Topics: Old Testament and New Testament Articles (English - Nepali), 12–14.

[14] Is the Doctrine of the Trinity Essential?, 2020, accessed July 21, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWvgdHXgqm8.

[15] “The Forgotten Trinity | James R. White | Download,” 193–194, accessed July 21, 2022, https://book4you.org/book/2647029/528501.

[16] Greg Boyd, “What Are the Different Models of the Trinity in the Christian Tradition?,” Greg Boyd - ReKnew, last modified January 10, 2019, accessed July 27, 2022, https://reknew.org/2019/01/what-are-the-different-models-of-the-trinity/.

[17] “The Forgotten Trinity | James R. White | Download,” 166.