Nontrinitarianism Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Son is not a person but rather an expression of God

The doctrine of the Trinity does not concede that the Son is a mere expression of the Father, but rather that he is a separate person who is yet paradoxically of "one substance" with the Father, coequal and coeternal with the Father. The doctrine is summed up in the Nicene Creed, which was adopted in 325 AD and then later revised in 381 AD at the First Council of Constantinople to read: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made ...And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets." Some version of this creed is still recited weekly by millions of liturgical Christians worldwide.

Answer: False

"Nontrinitarian" is a label used to refer to those Christians who reject one or more of the components of the doctrine of the Trinity. So, for instance, they may believe Jesus is divine, but that he did not pre-exist the world. Or, they may believe he is divine and pre-existed the world, but that he is not of the same substance as the Father or equal to the Father. Some nontrinitarians consider Jesus to have been only a man, but most consider him to have been divine in some sense.

Answer: At his baptism

The Adoptionists believe that Jesus was chosen to be adopted as God's son because he lived a sinless life and was devoted to God's will. Adoptionists view Christ's baptism and resurrection as crucial points in the adoption process. Most Adoptionists interpret this scene as one of adoption: "The Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased'" (Luke 3:22), or, as the Epistle to the Hebrews put it, ""You are my son. Today I have begotten you" (Hebrews 1:5).

Answer: The Ebionites

The Ebionites is a collective term used to refer to the Jewish Christian sects in the first century who believed Jesus was the Moshiach (Messiah). They believed it was necessary to keep the Jewish law and rejected Paul as an apostle, though they revered James.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were Jewish sects at the time of Christ. While individual Pharisees (such as Paul) or Sadducees may have believed Christ was the Moshiach, these sects did not accept him as the Messiah. Jews for Jesus is a modern denomination that considers Jesus to be divine.

Answer: True

Arianism, which acknowledged the divinity of Christ but maintained that Jesus was a created being of a different substance (and therefore less divine) than the Father, was the dominant perspective of Christians of Western Europe (particularly among the Germanic tribes of the Goths and the Lombards) in the early centuries of the Christian era.

It continued to be a mainstream belief for a while even after the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, but it eventually ceased to be the mainstream belief by the 8th century.

Answer: Christadelphians

Christadelphians reject many orthodox Christian doctrines, including that of the Trinity, original sin, and the existence of a literal hell. The denomination originated and developed in the 19th century in the U.K. and North America.

Answer: False

Rather, they believe that Jehovah is the one and only true God and therefore all worship should be directed toward Him. The Jehovah's Witness brochure "Beliefs and Customs that God Hates" says, "Is Jehovah a Trinity-three persons in one God? No! Jehovah, the Father, is 'the only true God.' (John 17:3; Mark 12:29)."

Answer: Jesus is not God's only begotten son

Jehovah's Witnesses do believe that Jesus is God's "only begotten son" in the sense that he was God's only direct creation and all other creations were made through him. They also believe that Jesus's death served as a ransom for the sins of humankind.

They believe that Jesus is subject to God, however, and the Father is greater than His Son. Additionally, they do not believe the Holy Spirit is a person but rather regard it to be an active force of Jehovah.

Answer: Modalism

In Modalism, the "problem" of Jesus is resolved by presenting him not as a separate person from the Father, but as a "mode" of expression of God. That is, God does not actually consist of three persons within himself, but, rather, he is one God who is perceived by his followers in different ways as the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost. Modalism is sometimes called Sabellianism because it was a view championed by the third century priest and theologian Sabellius.

Answer: Anglicans

Anglicans routinely recite the Nicene Creed, which is a statement of faith that asserts, among other things, the doctrine of the Trinity. Christian Scientists, however, do not view the Son and the Father as separate persons and make a distinction between Christ the man and "Christ the divine manifestation of God."

Answer: True

Mormons hold many beliefs in common with orthodox Christians, including the preexistence of Jesus. However, they differ from traditional trinitarian belief in that they believe that Jesus is of one purpose, but not of one being, with the Father. Mormons do not believe that Jesus is God himself, but rather a separate created spirit, the "son of God," invested with divine authority, who pre-existed his physical body. From the Mormon perspective, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not of one being, but they do act together in perfect unity as one "Godhead" to achieve the same purpose.

Answer: Iglesia Ni Cristo

Iglesia Ni Cristo maintains that Jesus did not create the heaven and earth. They view the Holy Spirit not as God, but as a power sent by God.

Answer: Oneness Pentecostalism

Oneness Pentecostals maintain the doctrine originally known as modalism. Another modern day denomination sharing this view of God is The New Church (also known as Swedenborgianism).

Answer: The Living Church of God

This form of nontrinitarianism is sometimes referred to as Armstrongism after Herbert Armstrong, the leader of the World Wide Church of God, who formulated this stance in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the Living Church of God, The Holy Spirit is the "power" of God but "not a Being."

Answer: Unitarian Universalism

Mormons and Christian Scientists identify as Christians. Muslims do not identify as Christians, though they revere Jesus as a human prophet. Members of Unitarian Universalism, however, may or may not identify as Christian. Unitarian Universalism has roots in the Christian faith, but today it draws from elements of many other religions.

Answer: True

Although the majority of Christian denominations in America officially maintain the doctrine of the Trinity, a 2009 Barna Group religious survey showed that a majority of American Christians maintain some form of nontrinitarian belief. For example, a majority, 58 percent, do not believe that the Holy Spirit is "a living entity" as the doctrine of the Trinity suggests, but rather merely "a symbol of God's presence or power." While all of the mainstream denominations asset the doctrine of the Trinity either in their creeds, teachings, or as part of a statements of faith, this does not necessarily mean it is understood or believed by all (or even a majority) of its members.

Answer: False

The Eastern Orthodox are trinitarian. However, their concept of the Trinity differs slightly from that of the Western church in that they say the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father" and the Western church says it "proceeds from the Father and the Son." The Nicene Creed was altered in the 6th century to include the words "and the Son." This addition to the creed precipitated the split between the Eastern and the Western church, though both agree that the Holy Spirit is "together with the Father and the Son...worshipped and glorified."

Answer: "If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28).

Many nontrinitarians argue that if the Son is, as the doctrine of the Trinity claims, coequal with the Father, then Jesus would not have described the Father as greater than himself. They also point to Mark 13:32, in which only the Father "knows the hour" and the Son does not know, arguing that the Son cannot be equal to and of one being with the Father if he does not know what the Father knows. The other verses listed here are typically used by trinitarians to support the doctrine of the Trinity. Nontrinitarians point out, however, that 1 John 5:7 is not in the oldest Greek manuscripts we have and suggest that it was added later to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Trinitarians, in turn, draw on the Old Testament to support the idea that the Godhead consists of more than one person, pointing to the many verses in which God refers to himself in the plural, such as "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Trinitarians also point to Jesus's assertion that "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30) as evidence that the Father and the Son are coequal.

Answer: True

Constantine convened the Council of Nicea in 325 AD to settle the Arian controversy. The council codified the doctrine of the Trinity into the Nicene Creed and declared that the Arians (who believed Jesus to be a creation of the Father) were teaching heresy.

But Constantine himself was later baptized by an Arian bishop, Eusebius, whom he had previously exiled for his heretical opinions. Constantine also had his son raised as an Arian.

Answer: False

Messianic Judaism is a religious movement that arose in the 1960's as an outgrowth of evangelical Christianity. It for the most part asserts traditional Christian beliefs but maintains much Jewish terminology (i.e. "rabbi," and "synagogue") and Jewish ritual (holidays, dietary laws, etc.).

Although there may be some individual Messianic Jews who maintain nontrinitarian beliefs, they are not within the mainstream of Messianic Judaism, which teaches that Jesus is "the Torah made flesh" and that he is HaShem (God).

Answer: Greek philosophy

The philosophy of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greeks is viewed as having a great effect on the development of the doctrine of the trinity. The influence of the Stoics is also noted. Plato portrayed "the Supreme Reality" in the trinitarian form of "the Good, the Intelligence, and the World-Soul." Some Christians regard this influence as a reason to dismiss the doctrine; trinitarians, though they would concede some debt to Greek philosophy as a tool, do not see this influence as a cause to reject a doctrine they also believe to be supported by the scriptures and firmly rooted in tradition.

Answer: Tertullian

Tertullian is typically credited with having been the first theologian to apply the term "trinity" to God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were, he said, "one in essence - not one in Person," and in about 212 AD, he described God as "the Trinity of the One Divinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Though Tertullian may have been the first to coin the term, we find seeds of the doctrine still earlier in the writings of Athenagoras, who in about 175 AD wrote, "We acknowledge a God, and a Son (His Logos), and a Holy Spirit.

These are united in essence--the Father, the Son, and the Spirit." However, Nontrinitarians argue that Tertullian's version of the Trinity did not precisely match that presented in the Nicene Creed as he did not appear to consider the Father and the Son to be coeternal or coequal, for he wrote, "There was a time when there was neither sin to make God a judge, nor a son to make God a Father" and "the Father is the whole substance, whereas the Son is something derived from it."

Answer: There is nothing special about Jesus

Nontrinitarians point out that the word "Trinity" nowhere appears in the Bible and that the doctrine is not explicitly stated in Scripture. Trinitarians counter that while the name came later, the individual concepts that collectively form the doctrine can be found in Scripture. Nontrinitarians argue that the doctrine does not make sense. Trinitarians counter either that it does make sense or concede that it doesn't but maintain that human beings cannot be expected to understand God and that the Trinity is a holy mystery. Finally, many nontrinitarians insist that the doctrine is inconsistent with monotheism because it appears to posit three separate gods. Trinitarians claim it is monotheistic because the doctrine maintains these three persons are the one God. Nontrinitarians do not argue that there is nothing special about Jesus.

They consider Jesus to be in some sense unique (or even divine), but they do not feel the doctrine of the Trinity is necessary to explain his specialness.

Answer: Hindu

Some nontrinitarians point to the divine triads of the pagans - for instance, the Greek triad of Zeus, Athena, and Apollo; the Egyptian triad of Isis, Horus, and Sub, and the Hindu triad, sometimes called the Trimurti, of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva - as having had influence on the development of the doctrine of the Trinity. Trinitarians, on the other hand, argue that these triads bear no direct relation to the Holy Trinity because they consist of gods who are not united as one being and typically involve a mother god. A.L. Basham argues that the concepts of the Trimurti and the Trinity are not very alike and that the Trimurti "was in fact an artificial growth" that (unlike the Trinity in Christianity) "had little real influence" within Hinduism. Even when the Trimurti is referenced, one of the gods is typically regarded as greater than the others. Thus, trinitarians argue that the Trimurti more nearly resembles certain nontrinitarian concepts of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost than it resembles the trinitarian concept.

Answer: The Church of Arian Catholicism

The Church of Arian Catholicism calls itself "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." The church has three archdioceses in England (in York, London, and Lincoln) and churches, assemblies, and/or home church groups ("ecclessiae") in several other countries throughout the world.

They teach that Jesus was a man to be followed but not worshipped, a "spiritual son" of God who was neither co-eternal nor of the same substance as God. He was created by God and is not god but is superior to the angels. The Arian Catholic church believes that the establishment of the Nicene Creed was a moment of great apostasy and that Jesus and his original apostles did not teach that Jesus was coeternal or of the same substance as God.

They hold Arius to be a saint and a martyr for opposing the "heresy" of the Trinity.