View source for Nontrinitarianism

{{Short description|Rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity}}
{{About|a doctrinal position within [[Christian theology]]|the doctrine of God's unity in religions generally|Monotheism}}
{{Christianity}}
{{Historical Christian theology|state=collapsed}}

'''Nontrinitarianism''' is a form of [[Christianity]] that rejects the [[Christian theology]] of the [[Trinity]]—the belief that [[God in Christianity|God]] is three distinct [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostases]] or [[person]]s who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence (from the Ancient Greek {{transliteration|grc|[[ousia]]}}). Certain religious groups that emerged during the [[Protestant Reformation]] have historically been known as '''antitrinitarian'''.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

According to churches that consider the decisions of [[ecumenical council]]s final, trinitarianism was definitively declared to be Christian doctrine at the 4th-century ecumenical councils,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUAidAp8AgEC&pg=PA15 |title=The Trinity|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-0-8028-4827-7|last1=Olson|first1=Roger E|last2=Hall|first2=Christopher Alan|year=2002|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref><ref name=Kelly/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofchristian00olso |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/storyofchristian00olso/page/173 173] |title=The Story of Christian Theology|publisher=InterVarsity Press |access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-0-8308-1505-0|last1=Olson|first1=Roger E|date=1999}}</ref> that of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] (325), which declared the full divinity of the [[God the Son|Son]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_SAE5-K_l8C&pg=PA55 |title=A Short History of Christian Doctrine|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-1-4514-0423-4|last1=Lohse|first1=Bernhard|year=1966|publisher=Fortress Press }}</ref> and the [[First Council of Constantinople]] (381), which declared the divinity of the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6PYWPWWhrUC&pg=PA152 |title=Constantinople and the West|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-0-299-11884-6|last1=Geanakoplos|first1=Deno John|year=1989|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press }}</ref>

In terms of number of adherents, nontrinitarian [[Christian denomination|denominations]] comprise a small minority of modern Christians. After the denominations in the [[Oneness Pentecostalism|Oneness Pentecostal]] movement, the largest nontrinitarian Christian denominations are [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], {{Lang|es|[[La Luz del Mundo]]|italic=no}}, and {{Lang|tl|[[Iglesia ni Cristo]]|italic=no}}. There are a number of other smaller groups, including [[Christadelphians]], [[Church of the Blessed Hope]], [[Christian Science|Christian Scientists]], [[Dawn Bible Students]], [[Living Church of God]], [[Assemblies of Yahweh]], [[Members Church of God International]], [[Unitarianism#Modern Christian Unitarian organizations|Unitarian Christians]], [[Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship|Unitarian Universalist Christians]], [[The Way International]], the [[Philadelphia Church of God]], [[Church of God International (United States)|The Church of God International]], the [[United Church of God]], [[Church of God General Conference]], [[Restored Church of God]], [[Christian Disciples Church]], and Church of God of the Faith of Abraham.<ref name="Halsey1988">{{cite book|last=Halsey|first=A.|title=British Social Trends since 1900: A Guide to the Changing Social Structure of Britain|year=1988|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|language=en |isbn=978-1-349-19466-7|page=518|quote=his so called 'non-Trinitarian' group includes the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Christadelphians, Apostolics, Christian Scientists, Theosophists, Church of Scientology, Unification Church (Moonies), the Worldwide Church of God and so on.}}</ref>

Nontrinitarian views differ widely on the nature of [[God in Christianity|God]], [[Christian views of Jesus|Jesus]], and the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]. Various nontrinitarian philosophies, such as [[adoptionism]] and [[monarchianism]], existed prior to the codification of the Trinity doctrine in AD 325, 381, and 431, at the Councils of [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicaea]], [[First Council of Constantinople|Constantinople]], and [[First Council of Ephesus|Ephesus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iii.iii.html |title=History of Dogma|access-date=2007-06-15|last=von Harnack|first=Adolf |author-link=Adolf von Harnack|date=1894-03-01 |quote=[In the 2nd century,] Jesus was either regarded as the man whom God hath chosen, in whom the Deity or the Spirit of God dwelt, and who, after being tested, was adopted by God and invested with dominion, (Adoptionist Christology); or Jesus was regarded as a heavenly spiritual being (the highest after God) who took flesh, and again returned to heaven after the completion of his work on earth (pneumatic Christology)}}</ref> Nontrinitarianism was later renewed by [[Cathars]] in the 11th through 13th centuries, in the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] movement during the [[Protestant Reformation]], in the [[Age of Enlightenment]] of the 18th{{nbsp}}century, and in some groups arising during the [[Second Great Awakening]] of the 19th{{nbsp}}century.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The doctrine of the Trinity, as held in mainstream Christianity, is not present in the other major monotheistic [[Abrahamic religions]]. Also mainstream trinitarian Christians dispute labeling nontrinitarian groups as members within Christianity.

==Beliefs==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2014}}
[[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]] and other [[Church Fathers]] of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, having adopted and formulated the [[Logos (Christianity)|Logos]] [[Christology]], considered the [[Son of God]] as the instrument used by the supreme God, the Father, to bring the creation into existence. [[Justin Martyr]], [[Theophilus of Antioch]], [[Hippolytus of Rome]] and [[Tertullian]] in particular state that the internal Logos of [[God in Christianity|God]] (Gr. ''Logos endiathetos'', Lat. {{Lang|la|ratio}})—his impersonal divine reason—was begotten as Logos uttered (Gr. ''Logos prophorikos'', Lat. {{Lang|la|sermo, verbum}}), the Word personified, becoming an actual person to be used for the purpose of creation.<ref>Justo L. González, ''The Story of Christianity: The [[Early Church]] to the Present Day,'' Prince Press, 1984, Vol. 1, pp. 159–161
• Jaroslav Pelikan, ''The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine,'' The University of Chicago Press, 1971, Vol. 1, pp. 181–199</ref>

The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (11th edition) states: "to some Christians the doctrine of the Trinity appeared inconsistent with the unity of God. ... they therefore denied it, and accepted Jesus Christ, not as incarnate God, but as God's highest creature by whom all else was created. ... [this] view in the early Church long contended with the orthodox doctrine."<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Christianity |volume=6 |page=285}}</ref> Although the Trinitarian view became the orthodox doctrine in mainstream Christianity, variations of the nontrinitarian view are still held by a relatively small number of Christian groups and denominations.

Various views exist regarding the relationships between the Father, Son, and [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]].
* Those who believe that [[Jesus]] is not Almighty God, nor absolutely equal to God, and not the co-eternal or co-equal with Father in everything, but was either God's subordinate Son and Servant, the highest Angel and Son of God that eventually became a perfect Man, God's true firstborn before ages, a perfect messenger sent from God, the greatest prophet of Israel, and the Jewish Messiah, or the perfect created human:
** [[Adoptionism]] (2nd century AD) holds that Jesus became divine at his [[baptism]] (sometimes associated with the [[Gospel of Mark]]) or at his [[resurrection]] (sometimes associated with [[Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul]] and [[Shepherd of Hermas]]);
** [[Arianism]] – [[Arius]] (AD c.{{nbsp}}250 or 256–336) believed that the pre-existent [[Son of God]] was directly created by the Father, before all ages, and that he was subordinate to [[God the Father]]. Arius' position was that the Son was brought forth as the very first of God's creations, and that the Father later created all things through the Son. Arius taught that in the creation of the universe, the Father was the ultimate creator, supplying all the materials and directing the design, while the Son worked the materials, making all things at the bidding and in the service of God, by which "through [Christ] all things came into existence". Arianism became the dominant view in some regions in the time of the [[Roman Empire]], notably the [[Visigoth]]s until 589.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac61|title=History of Arianism |access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref> The [[Third Council of Sirmium]] in 357 was the high point of Arianism. The Seventh Arian Confession (Second Sirmium Confession) held that both ''homoousios'' (of one substance) and ''homoiousios'' (of similar substance) were unbiblical and that the Father is greater than the Son in all things, and that the Father alone is infinite and eternal, and that the Logos is God's true firstborn and subservient Son who was made perfect flesh for our sakes and for the glory of the Father (this confession was later known as the Blasphemy of Sirmium): "But since many persons are disturbed by questions concerning what is called in Latin {{Lang|la|substantia}}, but in Greek ''ousia'', that is, to make it understood more exactly, as to 'coessential,' or what is called, 'like-in-essence,' there ought to be no mention of any of these at all, nor exposition of them in the Church, for this reason and for this consideration, that in divine Scripture nothing is written about them, and that they are above men's knowledge and above men's understanding";<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/second-creed-of-sirmium-or-the-blasphemy-of-sirmium/|title=Second Creed of Sirmium or "The Blasphemy of Sirmium"|website=www.fourthcentury.com|access-date=2017-03-09}}</ref>
** [[Psilanthropism]] – [[Ebionite]]s (1st to 4th centuries AD) observed [[Jewish law]], denied the literal [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]] and regarded Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and the greatest prophet of God only;<ref>Stephen Goranson, "Ebionites," ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 261.</ref>
** [[Socinianism]] – [[Photinus]] taught that Jesus was the sinless Messiah and redeemer, and the only perfect human son of God, but that he had no pre-human existence. They interpret verses such as [[John 1:1]] to refer to God's "plan" existing in God's mind before Christ's birth, and that it was God's plan that "became flesh", as the perfect man Jesus;
** [[Unitarianism]] views Jesus as the son of God, subordinate and distinct from his Father;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanunitarian.org/explanation.htm|title=American Unitarian Conference|access-date=2015-06-30|archive-date=2019-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521191654/http://www.americanunitarian.org/explanation.htm}}</ref>
** Many [[Gnostic]] traditions held that the Christ is a heavenly [[Aeon (Gnosticism)|Aeon]] but not one with the Father.
* Those who believe that the Father, the resurrected Son and the Holy Spirit are different aspects of one God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons:
** [[Modalism]] – [[Sabellius]] (fl. c.{{nbsp}}215) stated that [[God]] took numerous forms in both the [[Hebrew Scriptures|Hebrew]] and the [[Christian Greek Scriptures]], and that God has manifested himself in three primary ''modes'' regarding the [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation of mankind]]. He contended that "Father, Son, and Spirit" were different roles played by the same divine person in various circumstances in history;<ref name="Bernard Oneness and Trinity">David K. Bernard, ''Oneness and Trinity A.D. 100–300{{snds}}The Doctrine of God and Ancient Christian Writings''{{snds}}Word Aflame Press, Hazelwood Montana, 1991, p. 156.</ref> thus God is [[God the Father|Father]] in creation (God created a [[God the Son|Son]] through the virgin birth), Son in [[Redemption (religious)|redemption]] (God manifested himself as Jesus for the purpose of his death upon the cross), and Holy Spirit in regeneration (God's Spirit within the Son and within the souls of [[Christianity|Christian]] believers). In this view, God is not three distinct persons, but rather one person manifesting himself in multiple ways.<ref name="Bernard Oneness and Trinity"/> Trinitarians condemn this view as a heresy. The chief critic of [[Sabellianism]] was [[Tertullian]], who labeled the movement "[[Patripassianism]]", from the Latin words {{Lang|la|pater}} for "father", and {{Lang|la|passus}} from the verb "to suffer", because it implied that the Father suffered on the cross. It was coined by Tertullian in his work ''Adversus Praxeas'', Chapter{{nbsp}}I: "By this Praxeas did a twofold service for the devil at Rome: he drove away prophecy, and he brought in heresy; he put to flight the [[Paraclete]], and he crucified the Father."  The term [[homoousion]] (''{{lang|el|ὁμοούσιον}}'', literally ''same being'') later adopted by the Trinitarian Nicene Council for its anti-Arian creed had previously been used by Sabellians.<ref>{{Citation | title = Select Treatises | author = St. Athanasius | contribution = In Controversy With the Arians | others = Newman, John Henry Cardinal trans | publisher = Longmans, Green, & Co | year = 1911 | page = 124, footn}}.</ref>
* Those who believe that Jesus Christ is Almighty God, but that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are actually three distinct almighty "Gods" with distinct natures, acting as one divine group, united in purpose:
** [[Tri-theism]] – [[John Philoponus]], an [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] and [[monophysite]] in Alexandria, in the middle of the 6th century, saw in the Trinity three separate natures, substances, and deities, according to the number of divine persons.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus John Philoponus] – Tritheism – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 10 July 2019.</ref> He sought to justify this view by the [[Aristotelian categories]] of ''genus'', ''species'' and ''individuum''. In the Middle Ages, [[Roscellin of Compiegne]], the founder of [[Nominalism]], argued for three distinct almighty Gods, with three distinct natures, who were one in mind and purpose, existing together eternally, interacting together from times past, in perfect cooperation, acting together as one divine group or godhead over the universe, in creation and redemption. And that the Logos took on a subservient role, but was equal in power and eternity with the One called Father. Roscellin said, though, like Philoponus, that unless the three persons are ''tres res'' (three things with distinct natures), the whole Trinity must have been [[incarnate]]. And therefore, since only the Logos was made flesh, the other two persons must have had distinct "natures", separate from the Logos, and so had to be separate and distinct Gods, though all three were one in divine work and plan and operation. In this view, they would be considered "three Gods in one Godhead". This notion was condemned by [[St. Anselm]].<ref>Chapman, John (1912). [http://catholicencyclopedia.newadvent.com/cathen/15061b.htm "Tritheists"] Archived 2012-06-15 at the [[Wayback Machine]]. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company (public domain). Retrieved October 16, 2019.</ref>
* Those who believe that the Holy Spirit is not a person:
** [[Binitarianism]] – Adherents include those people through history who believed that God is only two co-equal and co-eternal persons, the Father and the Word, not three. They taught that the Holy Spirit is not a distinct person, but is the power or divine influence of the Father and Son, emanating out to the universe, in creation, and to believers;
** [[Dualistic cosmology#In Christianity|Dualism]];
** [[Marcionism]] – [[Marcion of Sinope|Marcion]] (AD c.{{nbsp}}110{{ndash}}160) believed there were two deities, one of [[Creator deity|creation]] and judgment (in the [[Hebrew Bible]]) and one of redemption and mercy (in the [[New Testament]]).<!--
* Other concepts:
** [[Docetism]] – from the Greek: δοκέω (dokeo), meaning "to seem". This view holds that Jesus only ''seemed'' to be human and only ''appeared'' to die. [This doesn't seem to have any direct bearing on nontrinitarianism.]-->

===Modern Christian groups===
* [[Christadelphians]] hold the unitarian belief that although Jesus is the Son of God, this is only a relational title toward the Father who alone is truly God. Christ's personhood, therefore, is human, not divine,<ref>{{cite book | last = Flint | first = James |author2=Deb Flint |title = One God or a Trinity? | publisher = Printland Publishers | location = Hyderabad | url = http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/p_onegod.htm | isbn = 978-81-87409-61-8}}</ref> (believing this to be necessary in order to save humans from their sins<ref>{{cite book | last = Pearce | first = Fred | title = Jesus: God the Son or Son of God? Does the Bible Teach the Trinity? | publisher = The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association Ltd (UK) |location=Birmingham|page=8 |url=http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/jesus.htm#8 }}</ref>). The "Holy Spirit" terminology in the Bible is interpreted as referring to God's impersonal power,<ref>{{cite book | last = Tennant | first = Harry | title = The Holy Spirit: Bible Understanding of God's Power | publisher = The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association Ltd (UK) | location = Birmingham | url = http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/holysprt.htm#1 }}</ref> or God's character/mind<ref name="TrinityTrueOrFalse"/> (depending on the context).
* [[Church of God General Conference (Abrahamic Faith)]].<ref>Nelson's guide to denominations J. Gordon Melton – 2007 "Later in the century, various leaders also began to express doubts about the Trinity, and a spectrum of opinion emerged. ... Still others, such as the Church of God General Conference (Abrahamic Faith) specifically denied the Trinity ..."</ref>
* The [[Cooneyites]] is a Christian sect that split from the [[Two by Twos]] in 1928 following [[Edward Cooney]]'s excommunication from the main group; they deny the Living Witness Doctrine.{{clarify|date=May 2017}}
* {{Lang|tl|[[Iglesia ni Cristo]]|italic=no}} ([[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] for ''Church of Christ'') views Jesus as human but endowed by God with attributes not found in ordinary humans, though lacking attributes found in God. They contend that it is God's will to worship Jesus.<ref name="incfund">Manalo, Eraño G., ''Fundamental Beliefs of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ)'' (Iglesia ni Cristo; Manila 1989)</ref> INC rejects the Trinity as heresy, adopting a version of unitarianism.
* [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] (and other [[Bible Student movement]] groups such as the Associated Bible Students<ref>''Encyclopedia of Protestantism'', p. 474, J. Gordon Melton, 2005: "... for his many departures from traditional Christian and Protestant affirmations including the Trinity and the deity of Christ. ... 1 (1886; reprint, Rutherford, NJ: Dawn Bible Students Association, nd)"</ref><ref name="mostholyfaith">''Watch Tower'', October 1881, [http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Search_Result.asp#R290:13 ''Watch Tower Reprints'' p. 290 As Retrieved 2009-09-23] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002090150/http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Search_Result.asp#R290:13 |date=2011-10-02 }}, p. 4, ""He gave his only begotten Son." This phraseology brings us into conflict with an old Babylonian theory, viz.: Trinitarianism. If that doctrine is true, how could there be any Son to give? A begotten Son, too? ''Impossible.'' If these three are one, did God send himself? And how could Jesus say: "My Father is greater than I." John 14:28. [emphasis retained from original]"</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Z1882JUL.asp|title=Z1882 July|access-date=2012-03-05|archive-date=2009-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122101649/http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Z1882JUL.asp}}</ref>) teach that [[God the Father]] is uniquely Almighty God. They believe that Jesus is God's first and only direct creation, and that God is greater than Jesus. They contrast worship of God with relative "obeisance" (in the sense of ''homage'', as to a king) to Jesus,<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Watchtower|date=January 15, 1992|page=23}}</ref> and consider Jesus to be God's high priest and mediator for imperfect humans. They believe that Jesus is [[Michael (archangel)|Michael the archangel]] and the "[[Angel of the Lord]]" of Exodus, and that he left heaven to be born as a perfect human, and then resumed his pre-human identity in heaven, but exalted to [[Right hand of God|God's right hand]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Insight on the Scriptures|volume=2|pages=393–394|publisher=Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania|year=1988}}</ref><ref>[https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102014738 Chapter 138 – Christ at God's Right Hand], JW.org. Retrieved October 18, 2019.</ref> They do not believe that the Holy Spirit is an actual person, but consider it to be God's divine active force.<ref>{{cite book|title=Should You Believe in the Trinity?|page=20|publisher=Watch Tower Society}}</ref> 
* [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct beings that are not united in substance, a view sometimes called [[Social trinity|social trinitarianism]]. They believe the three individual deities are "one" in will or purpose, as Jesus was "one" with his disciples, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute a single [[God in Mormonism|godhead]] united in purpose and indistinguishable in doctrine.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2007/10/the-only-true-god-and-jesus-christ-whom-he-hath-sent?lang=eng |title= The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent|last1= Holland |first1=Jeffrey R. |access-date=29 November 2013}}</ref><ref> https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/godhead?lang=eng </ref> Latter-day Saints believe that Christ is the Firstborn of the Father,<ref name="eomchristfirstborn">{{cite book |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3818 |contribution= Jesus Christ: Firstborn in the Spirit |last= Giles |first= Jerry C. |page= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl/page/728 728] |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> that he is subordinate to God the Father (Matthew 26:39),<ref name="eomchristoverview">{{cite book |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3818 |contribution= Jesus Christ: Overview |last= Millet |first= Robert L. |author-link= Robert L. Millet |pages= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl/page/724 724–726] |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> and that Christ created the universe.<ref name="eomchristoverview"/><ref name="carmarianism">{{cite web |url= http://carm.org/arianism |title=Arianism |publisher=Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry |access-date=29 November 2013|date=2008-12-13 }}</ref> Latter-day Saints do not subscribe to the ideas that Christ was unlike the Father in substance<ref name="eomfatheroverview">{{cite book |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3732 |contribution= God the Father: Overview |last= Robinson |first= Stephen E. |author-link= Stephen E. Robinson |pages= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl/page/548 548–550] |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> and that the Father could not appear on earth,<ref name="eomfirstvision">{{cite book |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3702 |contribution= First Vision |last= Backman |first= Milton V. |author-link= Milton V. Backman |pages= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl/page/515 515–516] |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> or that Christ was adopted by the Father,<ref name="eomchristfirstborn" /> as presented in Arianism.<ref name="carmarianism" /><ref name="ariancatholic">{{cite web |url=http://www.arian-catholic.org/arian/arianism.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060409074813/http://www.arian-catholic.org/arian/arianism.html |archive-date=9 April 2006 |title=What is Arianism? |publisher=The Arian Catholic Church |access-date=29 November 2013 }}</ref> Latter-day Saints assert that both God and the resurrected Christ have perfected glorified, physical bodies,<ref name="lds_gospel_principles">{{cite web |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-1-our-father-in-heaven?lang=eng |title=Gospel Principles – Chapter 1: Our Father in Heaven |quote=The Nature of God |publisher= The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |access-date=4 June 2017}}</ref> but do not otherwise classify deity in terms of substance. While Latter-day Saints regard God the Father as the supreme being and literal father of the spirits of all humankind, they also teach that Christ and the Holy Spirit are equally divine and that they share in the Father's "comprehension of all things".<ref>{{citation |title= Doctrine and Covenants Instructor's Guide: Religion 324–325 |chapter= 'The Glory of God Is Intelligence' Lesson 37: Section 93 |year= 1981 |chapter-url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-instructors-guide-religion-324-325/the-glory-of-god-is-intelligence-lesson-37-section-93?lang=eng |pages=73–74 |publisher=[[Institute of Religion|Institutes of Religion]], [[Church Educational System]] |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32494_eng.pdf }}</ref>
* The [[Members Church of God International]] believes in the divinity of Christ but rejects the doctrine of Trinity. 
* [[Oneness Pentecostalism]] is a subset of [[Pentecostalism]] that believes God is only one person, and that he manifests himself in different ways, faces, or "modes": "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost) are different designations for the one God. God is the Father. God is the Holy Spirit. The Son is God manifest in flesh. The term Son always refers to the [[Incarnation]], and never to deity apart from humanity."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm|title=The Oneness of God|archive-date=16 February 2008|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref> Oneness Pentecostals believe that Jesus was "Son" only when he became flesh on earth, but was the Father prior to being made human. They refer to the Father as the "Spirit" and the Son as the "Flesh". Oneness Pentecostals reject the Trinity doctrine, viewing it as pagan and unscriptural, and hold to the [[Jesus' Name doctrine]] with respect to baptisms. Oneness Pentecostals are often referred to as [[Sabellianism|"Modalists"]] or [[Sabellianism|"Sabellians"]] or "Jesus Only".<ref name=fp123-4>{{cite book |last1=Patterson |first1=Eric |last2=Rybarczyk |first2=Edmund |title=The Future of Pentecostalism in the United States |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2007 |location=New York |pages=123–124 |isbn=978-0-7391-2102-3 }}</ref>
* Denominations within the [[Seventh-day Sabbatarianism|Sabbatarian]] tradition ([[Armstrongism]]) believe that Christ the Son and God the Father are co-eternal, but do not teach that the Holy Spirit is a being or person. Armstrong theology holds that God is a "Family" that expands eventually, that "God reproduces Himself", but that originally there was a co-eternal "Duality", God and the Word, rather than a "Trinity".
* [[Swedenborgianism]] holds that the Trinity exists in one person, the Lord God Jesus Christ. The Father, the being or soul of God, was born into the world and put on a body from [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]]. Throughout his life, Jesus put away all human desires and tendencies until he was completely divine. After his resurrection, he influences the world through the Holy Spirit, which is his activity. In this view, Jesus Christ is the one God; the Father as to his soul, the Son as to his body, and the Holy Spirit as to his activity in the world. This view is very similar in many ways to Sabellianism, Modalism, Oneness, or Jesus Only beliefs.
* Numerous [[Unitarianism#Modern Christian Unitarian organizations|Unitarian Christian organizations]] exist around the world, the oldest of which is the [[Unitarian Church of Transylvania]]. An [[umbrella organization]] for these groups is the [[International Council of Unitarians and Universalists]], though only some members and affiliates of that body consider themselves exclusively or predominantly Christian. In the United States, "Unitarian" often refers to members and congregations within the [[Unitarian Universalist Association]] (UUA), a non-Christian group formed in 1961 from the merger of the [[American Unitarian Association]] with the [[Universalist Church of America]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uuworld.org/articles/stevenson-2017-ware-lecture|title=Bryan Stevenson weaves story, policy in 2017 Ware Lecture|last=McCardle, Elaine and Kenny Wiley|date=2017-06-28|website=UU World|access-date=2019-09-17|quote=Stevenson referred to the UU faith's members repeatedly as "Universalists," which caught the attention of several social media users. Unitarian Universalists are more commonly referred to colloquially as "Unitarians."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-03-30-8601230398-story.html|title=Unitarians Making Peace with Easter |last=Buursma|first=Bruce|date=1986-03-30|website=[[Chicago Tribune]]|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-17}}</ref> Though both of these predecessor groups were originally Christian, the UUA does not have a shared creed and does not identify as a Christian Unitarian organization.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe|title=Beliefs & Principles|last=Unitarian Universalist Association|date=9 February 2015|website=uua.org|access-date=2019-09-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/beliefs/christianity|title=Christian Unitarian Universalists|last=Unitarian Universalist Association|date=25 November 2014|website=uua.org|access-date=2019-09-17|quote=Some of our UU congregations are Christian in orientation, worshipping regularly with the New Testament, offering Communion, and celebrating Christian holidays throughout the year. All of our congregations welcome people with Christian backgrounds and beliefs.}}</ref>

==History==
{{Historical Christian theology}}
{{main|History of Unitarianism|List of schisms in Christianity}}

===Early Christianity===
{{main|Apostolic Age}}
{{see also|Caesaropapism}}[[File:Nikea-arius.png|upright|thumb|The [[First Council of Nicaea]] depicted with [[Arius]] beneath the feet of Emperor Constantine and the [[bishop]]s]]
Although nontrinitarian beliefs continued and were dominant among some peoples—for example, the [[Lombards]], [[Ostrogoths]], [[Visigoths]] and [[Vandals]]—for hundreds of years, the Trinity doctrine eventually gained prominence in the Roman Empire. Nontrinitarians typically argue that early nontrinitarian beliefs, such as [[Arianism]], were systematically suppressed (often to the point of death).<ref>[http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-33 Edict by Emperor Constantine against the Arians]</ref> After the [[First Council of Nicaea]], [[Roman Emperor]] [[Constantine I]] issued an [[edict]] against [[Arius]]' writings, which included systematic [[book burning]].<ref name="SaintConstantinesBookBurning">"In addition, if any writing composed by Arius should be found, it should be handed over to the flames, so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated, but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him. And I hereby make a public order, that if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed it by fire, his penalty shall be death. As soon as he is discovered in this offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment." – Edict by Emperor Constantine against the Arians. {{cite web|last=Athanasius|title=Edict by Emperor Constantine against the Arians|url=http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-33|work=Fourth Century Christianity|publisher=Wisconsin Lutheran College|access-date=2 May 2012|date=23 January 2010}}</ref> In spite of the decree, [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] ordered the readmission of Arius to the church, removed the bishops (including [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]]) who upheld the teaching of Nicaea,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgEZmsn34PEC&q=Arian+emperors&pg=PA179|title=Getting to Know the Church Fathers|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-1-4412-0074-7|last1=Litfin|first1=Bryan M|date=2007|publisher=Brazos Press }}</ref> allowed Arianism to grow within the Empire and to spread to Germanic tribes on the frontier,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yW-GfElbafQC&q=constantine+arianism&pg=PA136|title=Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-1-57607-263-9|last1=Frassetto|first1=Michael|year=2003|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> and was himself baptized by an Arian bishop, [[Eusebius of Nicomedia]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/earlycontroversi0000kaat|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/earlycontroversi0000kaat/page/113 113]|quote=into the Arian version.|title=Early Controversies and the Growth of Christianity|publisher=ABC-CLIO|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-0-313-38359-5|last1=Kaatz|first1=Kevin|year=2012}}</ref> His successors as Christian emperors promoted Arianism, until [[Theodosius I]] came to the throne in 379 and supported Nicene Christianity.

The [[Easter letter]] that Athanasius issued in 367, when the Eastern Empire was ruled by the Arian Emperor [[Valens]], specified the books that belong to the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]], together with seven other books to be read "for instruction in the word of godliness"; it also excluded what Athanasius called apocryphal writings, falsely presented as ancient.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html|title=NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref> [[Elaine Pagels]] writes: "In AD 367, [[Athanasius]], the zealous bishop of [[Alexandria]]... issued an Easter letter in which he demanded that [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Egyptian monks]] destroy all such unacceptable writings, except for those he specifically listed as 'acceptable' even 'canonical'—a list that constitutes the present 'New Testament'".<ref>Elaine Pagels, ''Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas'' (Random House, 2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=pkSrV5cEBp8C&dq=%22Athanasius%2C+the+zealous+bishop%22&pg=PT64 n.p.]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html |title=NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters |publisher=Ccel.org |date=13 July 2005 |access-date=21 January 2012}}</ref>

Nontrinitarians see the [[Nicene Creed]] and the results of the [[Council of Chalcedon]] as essentially political documents, resulting from the subordination of true doctrine to state interests by leaders of the [[Catholic Church]], so that the church became, in their view, an extension of the Roman Empire. Nontrinitarians (both Modalists and Unitarians) assert that Athanasius and others at Nicaea adopted Greek Platonic philosophy and concepts, and incorporated them in their views of God and Christ.<ref>David Bernard's [https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm ''The Oneness of God''], Word Aflame Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0-912315-12-1}}. pp. 264–274.</ref>

The author [[H. G. Wells]], later famous for his contribution to science-fiction, wrote in [[The Outline of History]]: "We shall see presently how later on all [[Christendom]] was torn by disputes about the Trinity. There is no evidence that the apostles of Jesus ever heard of the Trinity, at any rate from him."<ref>{{Cite book | last = Wells | first = H. G. | author-link = H. G. Wells | title = The Outline of History: being a plain history of life and mankind | publisher = The Waverley Book Company | series = Forgotten Books | volume = 2 | date = n.d. | location = London | page = 284 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L0zF2wuRCDUC&q=%22There+is+no+evidence+that+the+apostles+of+Jesus+ever+heard+of+the+Trinity,+at+any+rate+from+him%22&pg=PA284
| isbn = 978-1-4400-8226-9 }}</ref>

The question of why such a central doctrine to the Christian faith would never have been explicitly stated in scripture or taught in detail by Jesus himself was sufficiently important to 16th century historical figures such as [[Michael Servetus]] to lead them to argue the question. The [[Michael Servetus#Imprisonment and execution|Geneva City Council]], in accord with the judgment of the cantons of Zürich, Bern, Basel, and Schaffhausen, condemned Servetus to be burned at the stake for this and his opposition to infant baptism.

The ''Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics'' describes the five stages that led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity:<ref>W. Fulton, "Trinity", ''Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics,'' T. & T. Clark, 1921, Vol. 12, p. 459.</ref>
# The acceptance of the pre-human existence of Jesus as the ([[Middle Platonism|middle-platonic]]) [[Logos]], namely, as the medium between the transcendent sovereign God and the created cosmos. The doctrine of Logos was accepted by the Apologists and by other Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, such as [[Justin the Martyr]], [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], [[Tertullian]], [[Ireneus]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], [[Origen]], [[Lactantius]], and in the 4th century by [[Arius]];
# The doctrine of the timeless generation of the Son from the Father as it was articulated by Origen in his effort to support the ontological [[immutability (theology)|immutability]] of [[God]], that he is ever-being a father and a creator. The doctrine of the timeless generation was adopted by [[Athanasius of Alexandria]];
# The acceptance of the idea that the son of God is of the same transcendent nature (''[[Homoousian|homoousios]]'') as his father. This position was declared in the [[Nicene Creed]], which specifically states the son of God is as immutable as his father;
# The acceptance that the Holy Spirit also has ontological equality as a third person in a divine Trinity and the final Trinitarian terminology by the teachings of the [[Cappadocian Fathers]];
# The addition of the [[Filioque]] to the Nicene Creed, as accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.

=== 7th-century Islam ===
Among proponents of the revisionist school of Islamic studies positions viewing early [[Islam]] as a unitarian Christian group have found a number of academic supporters, such as [[Günter Lüling]], who argues the original [[Quran]] was a unitarian Christian text opposed to the trinity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lüling |first=Günter |title=A challenge to Islam for reformation: the rediscovery and reliable reconstruction of a comprehensive pre-Islamic Christian hymnal hidden in the Koran under earliest Islamic reinterpretations |date=2003 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |isbn=978-81-208-1952-8 |edition=1st |location=Delhi |pages=XXII, XLVII, LII–ILIV, LIX, LXII, 85, 213, 338, 358, 520}}</ref> Along similar lines [[Karl-Heinz Ohlig]] has suggested that the person of [[Muhammad]] was not central to early Islam at all, and that early stage Islam was an Arabic Christian sect which had objections to the concept of the [[trinity]], and that the later hadith and biographies are in large part [[Legend|legends]], instrumental in severing Islam from its Christian roots and building a full-blown new religion.<ref>Karl-Heinz Ohlig, ''Der frühe Islam'', 2007, {{ISBN|3-89930-090-4}}</ref> Volker Popp supports Ohlig's thesis based on archeological evidence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Popp |first=Volker |title=Early Islam: a critical reconstruction based on contemporary sources |date=2013 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-61614-825-6 |editor-last=Ohlig |editor-first=Karl-Heinz |location=Amherst, NY |pages=21, 65, 67, 100, 367}}</ref> Édouard-Marie Gallez believes early Islam to have been a development within the unitarian anti-[[Nicene Christianity|Nicene]] Judeo-Christian [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarene]] sect of Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gallez |first=Édouard-Marie |title=Le Messie et son prophète : aux origines de l’Islam. Tome 1 : De Qumrân à Muhammad |publisher=Éditions de Paris |year=2005 |isbn= |series=Studia Arabica |location=Versailles |pages=37–165 |language=fr |trans-title=The Messiah and His Prophet: On the Origins of Islam. Vol. 1: From Qumran to Muhammad}}</ref> A related thesis to the aforementioned ones is advanced by [[Fred Donner]] who argues that early Islam was a interfaith unitarian ''Believers Movement'' addressed to both Christians and Jews.<ref>{{cite book |last=Donner |first=Fred M. |url= |title=Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |pages=212–214 |quote=}}</ref>

In pre-modern writing, [[John of Damascus]] described Islam as a Christian heresy led by Muhammad, whom he deems an Arian based on his (assumed) denial of the trinity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Meyendorff |first=John |year=1964 |title=Byzantine Views of Islam |url=https://ia801607.us.archive.org/17/items/DOP18_06_Meyendorff/DOP18_06_Meyendorff.pdf |journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers |volume=18 |pages=119–121 |quote=John lists Islam among the Christian heresies… Muhammad was an Arian, because he denied the Divinity of the Logos and of the Holy Spirit.}}</ref>

===Following the Reformation===
{{expand section|1=information on other sects such as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses|date=August 2016}}
By 1530, following the [[Protestant Reformation]], and the [[German Peasants' War]] of 1524–1525, large areas of Northern Europe were Protestant, and forms of nontrinitarianism began to surface among some "[[Radical Reformation]]" groups, particularly [[Anabaptist]]s. The first recorded English antitrinitarian was [[John Assheton]] (1548), an [[Anglican]] priest. The Italian Anabaptist "[[Council of Venice]]" (1550) and the trial of [[Michael Servetus]] (1553) marked the clear emergence of markedly antitrinitarian Protestants. Though the only organised nontrinitarian churches were the [[Polish Brethren]] who split from the Calvinists (1565, expelled from Poland 1658), and the [[Unitarian Church of Transylvania]] (founded 1568). 

In 1733, [[Voltaire]]'s [[Letters on the English]] listed [[Isaac Newton]] as a member of Antitrinitarians.<ref>{{Cite web|language=en-GB|url=https://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/lettres-newtonianism/|title=Lettres Newtonianism|website=[[Voltaire Foundation]] |access-date=2025-01-19}}</ref>

[[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]]s, [[Dissenter]]s and [[Latitudinarian]]s in Britain were often [[Arian]]s or [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]], and the [[Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813]] allowed nontrinitarian worship in Britain. In America, Arian and Unitarian views were also found among some [[Millennialist]] and [[Adventism|Adventist]] groups, though the [[American Unitarian Association|Unitarian Church]] itself began to decline in numbers and influence after the 1870s.<ref>''Unitarians face a new age: the report of the Commission of Appraisal.'' American Unitarian Association. ed. Frederick May Eliot, Harlan Paul Douglass – 1936 "Chapter III Church Growth and Decline During the Last Decade. Year Book data permit the calculation of growth or decline in membership for 297 Unitarian churches which existed throughout the last decade and ..."</ref><ref>Charles Lippy (2006), ''Faith in America: Changes, Challenges'', New Directions, p.2. Quote: "However, when the national interest in novel religious forms waned by the mid- nineteenth century, Unitarianism and Universalism began to decline. For the vast majority of religious bodies in America, growth continued unabated."</ref>

==Points of dissent==
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Nontrinitarian Christians with Arian or Semi-Arian views contend that the weight of scriptural evidence supports [[Subordinationism]], the Son's total submission to the Father, and God's paternal supremacy over the Son in every aspect. They acknowledge the Son's high rank at [[Right hand of God|God's right hand]], but teach that the Father is still greater than the Son in all things.

While acknowledging that the Father, Son, and Spirit are essential in creation and salvation, they argue that that in itself does not confirm that the three are each co-equal or co-eternal. They also affirm that God is only explicitly identified as "one" in the Bible, and that the doctrine of the Trinity, which word literally meaning ''a set of three'', ascribes a co-equal threeness to the being of the infinite God that is not explicitly scriptural.

===Scriptural support===
{{over-quotation|section|date=August 2024}}
Critics of the Trinity doctrine argue that, for a teaching described as fundamental, it lacks direct scriptural support. Proponents of the doctrine assert that although the doctrine is not stated directly in the New Testament, it is instead an interpretation of elements contained therein that imply the doctrine that was later formulated in the 4th century.

[[William Barclay (theologian)|William Barclay]], a [[Church of Scotland]] minister, stated that:

{{blockquote|It is important and helpful to remember that the word Trinity is not itself a New Testament word. It is even true in at least one sense to say that the doctrine of the Trinity is not directly New Testament doctrine. It is rather a deduction from and an interpretation of the thought and the language of the New Testament.<ref name=Barclay>{{cite book |last=Barclay |first=William |date=1998 |title=The Apostles' Creed |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-25826-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bBOqGJc6tpcC&q=Trinity+%22new+testament%22&pg=PA201 |access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref>}}

The ''New Catholic Encyclopedia'' states:

{{blockquote|The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught [explicitly] in the [Old Testament]{{nbsp}}[...] The formulation 'one God in three Persons' was not solidly established [by a council]{{nbsp}}[...] prior to the end of the 4th century.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=New Catholic Encyclopedia |year=1967 |volume=XIV |page=299 |title={{grey|[title not cited]}} }}</ref>}}

Similarly, ''Encyclopedia Encarta'' states:

{{blockquote|The doctrine is not taught explicitly in the New Testament, where the word God almost invariably refers to the Father.{{nbsp}}[...] The term {{lang|la|trinitas}} was first used in the 2nd century, by the Latin theologian Tertullian, but the concept was developed in the course of the debates on the nature of Christ{{nbsp}}[...] In the 4th century, the doctrine was finally formulated.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=John |last=MacQuarrie |title=Trinity |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Encarta |series=Microsoft Encarta Reference Library |year=2005 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation}}</ref>}}

''Encyclopædia Britannica'' says:

{{blockquote|Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the [[Shema Yisrael|Shema]] in the Old Testament: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:4).{{nbsp}}[...] The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies.{{nbsp}}[...] by the end of the 4th century, under the leadership of [[Basil of Caesarea]], [[Gregory of Nyssa]], and [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] (the Cappadocian Fathers), the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Trinity |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2004 |series=Ultimate Reference Suite DVD }}</ref>}}

The ''[[Anchor Bible Dictionary]]'' states:

{{blockquote|One does not find in the NT the trinitarian paradox of the coexistence of the Father, Son, and Spirit within a [[divine unity]].<ref>{{cite dictionary |author-link=Jouette Bassler |first=J.M. |last=Bassler |year=1992 |title=God in the NT |dictionary=The Anchor Bible Dictionary |publisher=Doubleday |place=New York |volume=2 |page=1055}}</ref>}}

Catholic historian Joseph F. Kelly, speaking of legitimate theological development, writes:

{{blockquote|The Bible may not use the word 'Trinity', but it refers to God the Father frequently; the ''Gospel of John'' emphasized the divinity of the Son; several New Testament books treat the Holy Spirit as divine. The ancient theologians did not violate biblical teaching but sought to develop its implications.{{nbsp}}[...] [Arius'] potent arguments forced other Christians to refine their thinking about the Trinity.

At two ecumenical councils, Nicea I in 325 and Constantinople I in 381, the church at large defined the Trinity in the way now so familiar to us from the Nicene Creed. This exemplifies development of doctrine at its best. The Bible may not use the word 'Trinity', but trinitarian theology does not go against the Bible. On the contrary, Catholics believe that trinitarianism has carefully developed a biblical teaching for later generations.<ref name=Kelly>{{cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=Joseph F. |year=2006 |title=An Introduction to the New Testament for Catholics |page=5 |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-8146-5216-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkJshoHbcpkC&q=%22biblical+teaching+for+later+generations%22&pg=PA5 |access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref>}}

=== Questions about co-equal deity of Jesus ===
American Catholic priest and Trinitarian R.E. Brown (1928–1988) wrote a journal article<ref name=Brown-1965-12/> that sorted relevant biblical verses into three classes. He described the following block as "texts that seem to imply that the title 'God' was not used for Jesus" and are "negative evidence which is often somewhat neglected in Catholic treatments of the subject":<ref name=Brown-1965-12>{{cite journal |author=Brown, Raymond E. |date=1 December 1965 |title=Does the New Testament Call Jesus God? |journal = Theological Studies |volume = 26 |issue = 4 |pages = 545–573 |doi=10.1177/004056396502600401|s2cid = 53007327}}</ref>
* {{Bibleref2|Mark|10:18}}, {{Bibleref2|Matthew|27:46}}, {{Bibleref2|John|20:17}}, {{Bibleref2|Ephesians|1:17}}, {{Bibleref2|2Cor|1:3|niv|2 Corinthians 1:3}}, {{Bibleref2|1Peter|1:3|niv|1 Peter 1:3}}, {{Bibleref2|John|17:3}}, {{Bibleref2|1Cor|8:6|niv|1 Corinthians 8:6}}, {{Bibleref2|Ephesians|4:4–6}}, {{Bibleref2|1cor|12:4–6|niv|1 Corinthians 12:4–6}}, {{Bibleref2|2cor|13:14|niv|2 Corinthians 13:14}}, {{Bibleref2|1tim|2:5|niv|1 Timothy 2:5}}, {{Bibleref2|John|14:28}}, {{Bibleref2|Mark|13:32}}, {{Bibleref2|Philippians|2:5–10}}, and {{Bibleref2|1cor|15:24–28|niv|1 Corinthians 15:24–28}};
he lists these as "texts where, by reason of textual variants or syntax, the use of 'God' for Jesus is dubious":<ref name=Brown-1965-12/>
* {{Bibleref2|Gal|2:20}}, [[Acts 20:28]], {{Bibleref2|John|1:18}}, {{Bibleref2|Colossians|2:2}}, {{Bibleref2|2 Thessalonians|1:12}}, {{Bibleref2|1John|5:20}}, {{Bibleref|Romans|9:5}}, and {{Bibleref2|2 Peter|1:1}};
and only finds the following three as "texts where clearly Jesus is called God":<ref name=Brown-1965-12/>
* {{Bibleref2|Hebrews|1:8–9}}, [[John 1:1]], and [[John 20:28]].

The Septuagint translate {{Script/Hebrew|אלוהים}} (Elohim) as θεος (Theos).<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jacob A. |last=Loewen |date=1 April 1984 |title=The Names of God in the New Testament |journal=The Bible Translator |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=208–211 |doi=10.1177/026009438403500202 |s2cid=172043076}}</ref> At Deuteronomy 6:4 (the ''[[Shema Yisrael]]'', quoted by Jesus at {{Bibleref2|Mark|12:29}}), the [[Royal we|plural form]] of the Hebrew word "God" (''[[Names of God in Judaism#Elohim|Elohim]]'') is used, generally understood to denote majesty, excellence, and the superlative.<ref>{{Cite book |title=New American Bible |edition=St. Joseph |section=Bible Dictionary |author=Confraternity of Christian Doctrine |publisher=Catholic Book Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-89942-617-4}}</ref> It has been stated that in the original Greek in Mark 12:29, there are no "plural modifiers" in that Greek word there for "one" (''heis''), but that in Mark 12 it is simply a masculine singular "one". And that because of that, there is no valid reason to believe that the Hebrew word for "one" in Deuteronomy 6 (''echad'') was necessarily a "plural one", rather than just simply numerical "one".<ref>{{cite web |title=Against Dalcour&nbsp;II |date=February 2017 |website=Apostolic Academics |publisher=Oneness Pentecostal Apologetics |url=https://apostolicacademics.com/2017/02/ |access-date=10 July 2019}}</ref> At Deuteronomy 6:4, the [[Tetragrammaton]] appears twice in this verse, leading Jehovah's Witnesses and certain Jewish scholars to conclude that belief in a singular (and therefore indivisible) supremely powerful God is essential to the ''[[Shema Yisrael|Shema]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reasoning from the Scriptures |orig-date=1986 |year=2015 |publisher=[[Watchtower Bible and Tract Society]] |place=Philadelphia|pages=405, 415–416 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hertz |first=J.H. |year=1960 |title=The Pentateuch and the Haftorahs |volume=1 |page=215 |publisher=Soncino Press |isbn=978-0-900689-21-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/pentateuchan_xxxx_2001_000_6958747}}</ref>

==== Matthew 26:39 ====
In {{bibleverse|Matthew|26:39|KJV}} Jesus prays with a distinction between God and himself, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.".

==== John 1:1 ====
In [[John 1:1]] there is a distinction between God and the Logos. Non-trinitarians claim a mistranslation of the second part of John 1:1 which, when literally translated word-for-word reads "and the word [logos] was with the God [ho theos]." Trinitarians contend that the third part of the verse (John 1:1c) translates as "and the Word was God", pointing to a distinction as subjects between God and the Logos but an equivalence in nature.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kruse |first=Colin G. |date=2004 |title=The Gospel According to John |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0-8028-2771-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JYgc2iH_skC&q=%22Word+was+God%22+commentary&pg=PA62 |access-date=5 March 2015 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ramsey Michaels |first=J. |date=2011|title=John |series=Understanding the Bible – Commentary |isbn=978-1-4412-3659-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGr-amBm4PUC&q=%22Word+was+God%22+commentary&pg=PT30 |access-date=5 March 2015 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Earl |last=Radmacher |date=1999 |title=Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary |publisher=Thomas Nelson |isbn=978-1-4185-8734-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVkt20rhM9wC&dq=%22Word+was+God%22+commentary&pg=PT1356 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gundry |first=Robert H. |date=2011|df=dmy-all |title=Commentary on John |series=Commentary on the New Testament |volume=4 |access-date=5 March 2015 |isbn=978-1-4412-3761-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZg7yJva7LgC&q=Gundry+identical+distinguishable&pg=PT11 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Some nontrinitarians assert that the [[Koine]] Greek (''kai theos ên ho logos'') should be translated as "and a God was the Word" (or "and the Word was a god"). Based on their contention that the [[Article (grammar)|article]] of ''theos'' is [[wikt:anarthrous|anarthrous]], lacking a definite article, they believe the verse refers to Jesus' pre-human existence as "a god" or a divine one as distinct from "the God". Nontrinitarians also contend that the author of John's gospel could have written ''kai ho theos ên ho logos'' ("and the Word was the God") if that were his intended meaning.<ref>{{cite web |title=John 1:1c: "God", "divine", or "a god"? |website=OnlyTruGod.org |url=http://onlytruegod.org/defense/john1.1c.htm |access-date=24 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="Kaiser - Doctrine of God">{{cite book |last=Kaiser |first=Christopher B. |date=1982 |title=The Doctrine of God: A historical survey |series=Foundations for Faith |place=Westchester |publisher=Crossway Books |page=31}}</ref>

==== John 10:30 ====
{{bibleref2|John|10:30}} – Nontrinitarians such as Arians believe that when Jesus said, "I and the Father are one," he did not mean that they were actually "one substance", or "one God", or co-equal and co-eternal, but rather that he and the Father have a "unity of purpose", and that the context indicates that Jesus was saying that they were "one" in ''pastoral work''. The point being that the Father and the Son were united in the divine work of saving the 'sheep'. Nontrinitarian Christians also cite {{bibleref2|John|17:21}},<ref name="WTBTS should you believe trinity">{{cite web |title=Should you believe in the trinity? |year=2006 |website=Jehovah's Witness (wol.jw.org) |publisher=[[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania]] |page=24 |url=https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101989307}}</ref> wherein Jesus prayed regarding his disciples: "That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may be in us," adding "that they may be one even as we are one". They argue that the same Greek word (''hen'') for "one" throughout John 17 indicates that Jesus did not expect for his followers to literally become a single Being, or "one in substance", with each other, or with God, and therefore that Jesus also did not expect his hearers to think that he and God the Father were one entity either.<ref name="WTBTS should you believe trinity"/>

==== John 10:33 ====
While Trinitarians often use [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+10%3A33&version=KJV John 10:33] as proof for the divinity of Jesus, unitarian critics argue that the Pharisees accusing Jesus of making himself God should not be the center of attention, when reading this passage. Instead, they emphasize that Jesus' response to the accusations in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+10%3A34-36&version=KJV John 10:34-36] is of much greater concern. In fact, he refuses to be God but instead claims to be the son of God and makes a direct reference to [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms+82%3A6&version=KJV Psalms 82:6] in which God calls his children Gods without taking away from his own glory.<ref>Stay Biblical - [https://www.staybiblical.com/all-jesus-is-god-bible-passages-and-claims-debunked/#the-jews All Jesus is God Bible passages and claims debunked]</ref>

==== John 20:28–29 ====
[[John 20:28]][[John 20:29|–29]] – "And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed"". Since Thomas called Jesus ''God'', Jesus's statement appears to endorse Thomas's assertion. Nontrinitarians sometimes respond that it is plausible that Thomas is addressing the Lord Jesus and then the Father.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} Another possible answer is that Jesus himself said, "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" ({{bibleref2|John|10:34}}) referring to Psalm 82:6–8.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} The word "gods" in verse{{nbsp}}6 and "God" in verse{{nbsp}}8 is the same Hebrew word "'elohim",<ref name="biblicalheritage.org">{{cite web |author=Kemp, Steve |orig-date=22 May 2000 |title=Elohiym |website=Biblical Heritage Center |editor=Myers, Jim |date=c. 2009 |url=http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Linguistic/HL/1-A/-elohiym.htm |access-date=2009-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029040650/http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Linguistic/HL/1-A/-elohiym.htm |archive-date=2009-10-29}}</ref> which means, "gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative",<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=אֱלֹהִים (''elohim'') – God, god |dictionary=Strong's Hebrew |id=430 |url=http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/430.htm |access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref> and can also refer to powers and potentates, in general, or as "God, god, gods, rulers, judges or angels",<ref name="biblicalheritage.org"/> and as "divine ones, goddess, godlike one".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0430|title=Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon|work=Bible Study Tools}}</ref><!-- This apologetic argument is being presented in 'Wikipedia's voice'! Provide a source indicating that nontrinitarians make the assertion --> Therefore, the point being that Jesus was a power or mighty one to the Apostles, as the resurrected Messiah, and as the reflection of God the Father.

==== 2 Corinthians 13:14 ====
[[2 Corinthians 13:14]] – "The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the sharing in the Holy Spirit be with all of you." It is argued by Trinitarians that the appearance of "Father, Son, and Spirit" together in Paul's prayer for Grace on all believers, and are considered essential for salvation, that the verse is consistent with a triune godhead. Nontrinitarians such as Arians reply{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} that they do not disagree that all three are necessary for salvation and grace, but argue that the passage does not explicitly say that all three are co-equal or co-eternal.<ref>{{cite web |title=2 Corinthians 13:14 – Trinity? |date=2010-10-09 |website=The Son of Jehovah |via=wordpress.com |type=blog |url=http://sonofyah.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/2-cor13-14/ |access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2017}}

==== Philippians 2:5–6 ====
[[Philippians 2:5]][[Philippians 2:6|–6]] – "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [or "which was also in Christ Jesus",] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped" (ESV). The word translated in the [[English Standard Version]] as "a thing to be grasped" is ἁρπαγμόν. Other translations of the word are indicated in the [[Holman Christian Standard Bible]]: "Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage" [or "to be grasped", or "to be held on to"].<ref>{{Bibleverse||Philippians|2:5–6|HCSV}}</ref> The [[King James Version]] has: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."<ref>{{Bibleverse||Philippians|2:5–6|KJV}}</ref> Nontrinitarians make the argument that the passage is simply saying that Christ did not consider equality with God something graspable, and that better English translations make it clearer.<ref>[https://www.biblicalunitarian.com/verses/philippians-2-6-8} Philippians 2:6–8] biblicalunitarian.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.</ref>  Another point is that the original Greek had no definite article for "form of God", which would mean "a form of divinity", and also that the term "morphe" for "form" in Koine Greek would simply mean a general external quality or station, but not necessarily the absolute thing itself, and therefore they argue that the passage does not explicitly teach either co-equality, co-eternity, or consubstantiality.<ref>{{cite web |title=The trinity delusion – Philippians 2:6 <!-- ¿user-name? -- 4. Theos. --> |via=angelfire.com |url=https://www.angelfire.com/space/thegospeltruth/trinity/verses/copy_of_Php2_6.html |access-date=8 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Skip |last=Moen |date=October 2014 |title=The assumed trinity: A look at Philippians 2:6 |series=Hebrew Word Study |website=skipmoen.com |url=https://www.skipmoen.com/2014/10/the-assumed-trinity-a-look-at-philippians-26/ |access-date=8 July 2019}}</ref>

==== Hebrews 9:14 ====
{{bibleref2|Hebrews|9:14}} – "How much more will the Blood of Christ, who through an eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works, that we may render sacred service to the living God?" Most nontrinitarians agree{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} that the Holy Spirit had no beginning, but believe it is not an actual person. Nontrinitarians contend that it is obvious that God the Father in the passage is the One who is ultimately reached, and therefore is greater than the other two entities, and that a "co-equal trinity" is not explicitly taught in the passage, but only inferred.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kemball-Cook |first=David |date= 2007 |title=Is God a Trinity? |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-0-9542211-1-9 |type=self-published |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27YaIzmqaggC&q=eternal+spirit+hebrews+9+not+trinitarian+proof&pg=PA115 |access-date=5 March 2015 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

===Terminology===
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2010}}
"The term 'Trinity' is not in the Bible",<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Stephen T. Davis|editor2=Daniel Kendall|editor3=Gerald O'Collins|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|title=The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSnyL06y0LYC&pg=PA357|isbn=978-0-19-924612-0|page=357}}</ref> and some nontrinitarians use this as an argument to state<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Nancy |date=January 2011 |title=Trinity vs. Monotheism: A False Dichotomy? |url=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2010.01340.x |journal=The Muslim World |volume=101 |issue=1 |pages=73–93 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-1913.2010.01340.x |issn=0027-4909|url-access=subscription }}</ref> that the doctrine of the Trinity relies on non-biblical terminology, and that the number three is never clearly associated with God necessarily, other than within the [[Comma Johanneum]] which is of spurious or disputed authenticity. They argue{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} that the only number clearly unambiguously ascribed to God in the Bible is one, and that the Trinity, literally meaning three-in-one, ascribes a co-equal threeness to God that is not explicitly biblical.

Nontrinitarians cite other examples{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} of terms or phrases not found in the Bible; multiple "persons" in relation to God, the terms "[[God the Son]]", "[[God-man (Christianity)|God-Man]]", "[[Holy Spirit (Christianity)#God the Holy Spirit|God the Holy Spirit]]", "[[God the Son|eternal Son]]", and "[[Trinity#Eternal generation and procession|eternally begotten]]". While the Trinitarian term [[Hypostasis (religion)|hypostasis]] is found in the Bible, it is used only once in reference to God<ref>{{bibleverse|Heb|1:3}}</ref> where it states that Jesus is the express image of God's person. The Bible does not explicitly use the term in relation to the Holy Spirit nor explicitly mentions the Son having a distinct hypostasis from the Father.<ref>{{Citation |title=Father, Son, and Holy Spirit : The One God |work=Reconsidering the Doctrine of God |date=2005 |pages=63–64 |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9780567660749.ch-005 |access-date=2025-04-03 |publisher=Bloomsbury T & T Clark |doi=10.5040/9780567660749.ch-005 |isbn=978-0-567-66074-9|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[First Council of Nicaea]] included in its Creed the major term ''[[homoousios]]'' (of the same essence), which was used also by the [[Council of Chalcedon]] to speak of a double [[consubstantiality]] of Christ, "consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.uoregon.edu/sshoemak/321/texts/chalcedonian_definition.htm|title=The Chalcedonian Definition|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref> Nontrinitarians accept what Pier Franco Beatrice wrote: "The main thesis of this paper is that ''homoousios'' came straight from [[Constantine the Great|Constantine's]] [[Hermeticism|Hermetic]] background. ... The Plato recalled by Constantine is just a name used to cover precisely the Egyptian and Hermetic theology of the "consubstantiality" of the Logos-Son with the Nous-Father, having recourse to a traditional apologetic argument. In the years of the outbreak of the Arian controversy, [[Lactantius]] might have played a decisive role in influencing Constantine's Hermetic interpretation of Plato's theology and consequently the emperor's decision to insert ''homoousios'' in the [[Nicene Creed|Creed of Nicaea]]."<ref>[http://noemon.net/noesis/The%20word%20Homoousios%20from%20Hellenism%20to%20Christianity.pdf ''The Word'' "Homoousios" ''from Hellenism to Christianity''], by P.F. Beatrice, ''Church History,'' Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Society of Church History, Vol. 71, No. 2, (Jun., 2002), pp. 243–272. (retrieved @ noemon.net) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723224453/http://noemon.net/noesis/The%20word%20Homoousios%20from%20Hellenism%20to%20Christianity.pdf |date=July 23, 2011}}</ref>

Trinitarians see the absence of the actual word "Trinity" and other Trinity-related terms in the Bible as no more significant than the absence in the Bible of the words "monotheism", "omnipotence", "oneness", "Pentecostal", "apostolic", "incarnation" and even "Bible" itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://carm.org/christianity/christian-doctrine/word-trinity-not-bible|title=The word Trinity is not found in the Bible|work=CARM – The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry|access-date=5 March 2015|date=2008-11-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4fZeuyXWXEC&q=trinity+word+%22not+in+the+Bible%22+incarnation+omnipotence&pg=PA222|title=The Voice..|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-1-4196-1730-0|last1=McQuick|first1=Oneil|date=2005|publisher=L.I.M }}</ref> They maintain that, 'while the word ''Trinity'' is not in the Bible, the substance or drift of the doctrine is definitely biblical, if not explicitly than at least implicitly.'<ref name=Kelly/><ref name=Barclay/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://irr.org/biblical-basis-of-doctrine-of-trinity-introduction|title=Institute for Religious Research – The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity – Introduction|work=Institute for Religious Research|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref>

===Holy Spirit===
{{for|uses of this term in other religions|Holy Spirit}}
{{see also|Holy Spirit (Christian denominational variations)}}
Nontrinitarian views about the Holy Spirit differ from mainstream Christian doctrine and generally fall into several distinct categories. Most scriptures traditionally used in support of the Trinity refer to the [[God the Father|Father]] and the [[God the Son|Son]], but not to the [[God the Holy Spirit|Holy Spirit]].

====Unitarian====
Groups with [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] theology such as Polish [[Socinians]], the 18th–19th-century [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches|Unitarian Church]] and [[Christadelphians]] consider the Holy Spirit to be an aspect of God's power rather than a person.<ref>''The Unitarian: a monthly magazine of liberal Christianity'' ed. Jabez Thomas Sunderland, Brooke Herford, Frederick B. Mott – 1893 "We believe in the Holy Spirit, man's sole reliance for guidance, safety, or salvation, not as a separate person, entity, reality, or consciousness, existent apart from man or God, but as the recognizing sympathetic inter-communication in love between God and the human soul, the direct converse or communion of man's consciousness with Deity."</ref> Christadelphians believe that the phrase ''Holy Spirit'' refers to God's power or character, depending on the context.<ref name="TrinityTrueOrFalse">{{cite book |last=Broughton |first=James H. |author2=Peter J Southgate |title=The Trinity: True or False? |publisher=The Dawn Book Supply |location=UK |url=http://www.biblelight.org/trin/trinind.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118003323/http://www.biblelight.org/trin/trinind.htm |archive-date=2011-11-18 }}</ref> Similarly, [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] believe that the Holy Spirit is not an actual person but is God's "active force" that he uses to accomplish his will.<ref name="Awake! Is the Holy Spirit a Person?">{{cite journal|journal=Awake!|title=Is the Holy Spirit a Person?|date=July 2006|pages=14–15|quote=In the Bible, God's Holy Spirit is identified as God's power in action. Hence, an accurate translation of the Bible's Hebrew text refers to God's spirit as "God's active force".}}</ref>

==== Binitarianism ====
Groups with [[Binitarianism|Binitarian]] theology, such as [[Armstrongism|Armstrongites]], believe that the Logos and God the Father are co-equal and co-eternal, but they do not believe that the Holy Spirit is an actual person, like the Father and the Son. They believe the Holy Spirit is the Power, Mind, or Character of God, depending on the context. They teach, "The Holy Spirit is the very essence, the mind, life and power of God. It is not a Being. The Spirit is inherent in the Father and the Son, and [[Emanationism|emanates]] from Them throughout the entire universe."<ref>[http://reluctant-messenger.com/HWA/Mystery/Chapter1.html Who and What Is God?] – ''Mystery of the Ages'' – Herbert W. Armstrong. Retrieved 19 May 2012.</ref>

====Modalist groups====
[[Oneness Pentecostalism]], as with other [[Sabellianism|modalist]] groups, teach that the Holy Spirit is a ''mode'' of God, rather than a distinct or separate person in the godhead, and that the Holy Spirit is another name for God the Father. According to Oneness theology, the Holy Spirit is the Father operating in a certain capacity or manifestation. The United Pentecostal Church teaches that there is no personal distinction between God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.<ref>Peter Althouse ''Spirit of the last days: Pentecostal eschatology in conversation'' p. 12. 2003. "The Oneness Pentecostal stream follows in the steps of the Reformed stream, but has a modalistic view of the Godhead"</ref><ref>See under heading "The Father is the Holy Ghost" in David Bernard, The Oneness of God, Chapter 6.</ref><ref name="basic.doctrine.list.father.is.holy.ghost">See also David Bernard, ''A Handbook of Basic Doctrines'', Word Aflame Press, 1988.</ref> The two titles "Father" and "Holy Spirit" (as well as others) are said to not reflect separate "persons" within the Godhead, but rather two different ways in which the one God reveals himself to his creatures. The Oneness view of Bible verses that mention God and his Spirit (e.g. Isaiah 48:16) is that they do not imply two "persons" any more than various scriptural references to a man and his spirit or soul (such as in Luke 12:19) imply two "persons" existing within one body.<ref>See under "The Lord God and His Spirit," in Chapter 7 of David Bernard, [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm The Oneness of God] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm |date=2008-02-16 }}.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2017}}{{dead link|date=May 2017}}

====Latter-day Saint movement====
{{see also|Holy Spirit (Christian denominational variations)#Latter Day Saints|l1=Holy Spirit in Mormonism|God in Mormonism}}
<!-- This follows [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Latter-day Saints)]] -->
In the LDS Church, the Holy Ghost (usually synonymous with Holy Spirit)<ref>{{Cite book |last= Wilson |first= Jerry A. |contribution= Holy Spirit |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3768 |page= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl/page/651 651] |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |quote= The Holy Spirit is a term often used to refer to the Holy Ghost. In such cases the Holy Spirit is a personage." |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> is considered to be the third distinct member of the [[Godhead (Mormonism)|Godhead]] (Father, Son and Holy Ghost),<ref>{{Cite book |last= McConkie |first= Joseph Fielding |author-link= Joseph Fielding McConkie |contribution= Holy Ghost |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3766 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo01ludl/page/649 649–651] |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism }}</ref> and to have a body of "spirit",<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/131.7-8?lang=eng D&C 131:7–8] ("There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.")</ref> which makes him unlike the Father and the Son who are said to have bodies "as tangible as man's".<ref name="DC130_22">[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130.22?lang=eng D&C 130:22].</ref> According to LDS doctrine, the Holy Spirit is believed to be a person,<ref name="DC130_22"/><ref>{{citation |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1974/05/the-holy-ghost?lang=eng |title= The Holy Ghost |first= Marion G. |last= Romney |author-link= Marion G. Romney |date=May 1974 |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]}}</ref> with a body of spirit, able to pervade all worlds.<ref name="MillennialStarXII">{{cite book |title= Millennial Star |volume= XII |date= October 15, 1850 |pages= 305–309 |url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/MStar&CISOPTR=2051&REC=12&CISOSHOW=2013 |access-date= March 30, 2011}}</ref>

Latter-day Saints believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are part of the Godhead, but that the Father is greater than the Son, and that the Son is greater than the Holy Spirit in position and authority, but not in nature (i.e., they equally share the "God" nature).<ref name="MillennialStarXII"/> They teach that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three ontologically separate, self-aware entities who share a common "God" nature distinct from our "human" nature, who are "One God" in the sense of being united (in the same sense that a husband and wife are said to be "one"), similar to [[Social trinitarianism]].

A number of [[List of sects in the Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saint sects]], most notably the [[Community of Christ]] (the second largest Latter Day Saint denomination), the [[Church of Christ (Temple Lot)]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Basic Beliefs Articles of Faith and Practice|url=http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/basicBeliefs.html|publisher=Church of Christ|access-date=21 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121163919/http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/basicBeliefs.html|archive-date=21 January 2015}}</ref> and derived groups, follow a traditional Protestant trinitarian theology.

====Other groups====
The [[Unity Church]] interprets the religious terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit [[metaphysically]], as three aspects of mind action: mind, idea, and expression. They believe this is the process through which all manifestation takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unitypaloalto.org/beliefs/twenty_questions.html |title= Unity Palo Alto Community Church – Beliefs &#124; Twenty Questions and Answers|website=www.unitypaloalto.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007071544/http://www.unitypaloalto.org/beliefs/twenty_questions.html |archive-date=October 7, 2007}}</ref>

Groups in the [[Rastafari movement]] generally state that it is [[Haile Selassie]] who embodies both God the Father and God the Son, while the Holy (or "''Hola''") Spirit is to be found within every human being. Rastas also say that the true church is the human body, and that it is this church (or "''structure''") that contains the Holy Spirit.

==Relationship with mainstream Christianity==
{{See also|Christian denomination}}
As the Nicene Creed's declaration of the Trinity is held as the foundational belief for [[Nicene Christianity|mainstream Christians]],<ref name="SeitzNicene">{{Cite book|last=Seitz|first=Christopher R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9pVAAAAYAAJ&q=Nicene+Christianity|title=Nicene Christianity: The Future for a New Ecumenism|date=2001|publisher=Brazos Press|isbn=978-1-84227-154-4|language=en|access-date=21 May 2022|archive-date=14 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114000831/https://books.google.com/books?id=X9pVAAAAYAAJ&q=Nicene+Christianity|url-status=live}}</ref> nontrinitarian sects may be regarded as [[cults]] or [[Heresy in Christianity|heresies]] by other Christians,<ref name="cult-labelling">{{cite journal|title=The Practical and Ethical Considerations in Labeling a Religious Group as a Cult|first1=Ken|last1=Cleaver|journal=Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies|volume=11|issue=33|pages=164–181|date=2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829125933/http://jsri.ro/ojs/index.php/jsri/article/viewFile/649/562|archive-date=2021-08-29|url=http://jsri.ro/ojs/index.php/jsri/article/viewFile/649/562}}</ref> or accused of not being Christians at all.<ref name="converge">{{cite journal|title=Christian Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue: Convergences and Divergences|first1=Paul|last1=Ladouceur|journal=Journal of Ecumenical Studies|volume=55|issue=2|pages=167–189|date=2020|doi=10.1353/ecu.2020.0018 |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/65768334/Paul_Ladouceur_Christian_Ecumenism_and_Inter_Religious_Dialogue_JES_2020.pdf}}</ref><ref name="MormChristian">{{cite web|url=https://www.luthercollege.edu/university/academics/impetus/winter-2013-impetus/is-mormonism-christian/|title=Is Mormonism Christian?|author=Solveig Nilson|access-date=27 August 2024}}</ref> On the other hand, nontrinitarians may see mainstream Christians as having [[Great Apostasy|fallen or apostasized]] from the [[Early Christianity|original Christian church]].

===Ecumenism===
{{Main|Ecumenism}} {{See also|Inclusivism#Christianity}}
Ecumenism is a type of [[interfaith dialogue]] within Christianity based on shared essential, core beliefs. Ecumenism is usually built on the basis of shared belief in trinitarian baptism, which by definition excludes nontrinitarians. This makes it especially difficult for trinitarian and nontrinitarian churches to recognize the other side's baptisms and communions, or for them to worship together. However, unity of action on shared community goals is easier to accomplish.<ref name="converge"/> 

===Heresy and apostasy===
{{Main|Heresy in Christianity|Great Apostasy}} {{See also|Restorationism|List of heresies in the Catholic Church}}
[[Orthodoxy]] sets certain beliefs as correct, by tradition. Beliefs not within those guidelines be designated [[heterodox]] or [[heretical]]. Many nontrinitarians believe that the traditions of mainstream Christianity itself are incorrect, in a [[Great Apostasy]] foretold by Paul.

The Catholic Church has specifically designated many varieties of nontrinitarianism "heresies", including Arianism, Modalism, and Tritheism. They have also specifically named Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses as heresies (as well as Protestantism and Calvinism).

Fundamentalist or evangelical Protestantism has also targeted some nontrinitarians as part of the [[Christian countercult movement]]. However, more cautious authors argue that strange beliefs alone are not enough to designate a "cult"; the group's behavior is a more important factor.<ref name="cult-labelling"/>

===Specific groups' relationships with Nicene Christianity===
====Pentecostalism====
Pentecostalism has a peculiar relationship with ecumenism. There is a theological division between [[Oneness Pentecostalism|Oneness]] and trinitarian [[Pentecostals]], and ecumenical groups within Pentecostalism tend to follow those lines. However, many Pentecostals think of ecumenism less as a need for a formal, cooperative institution between groups, and more as a spiritual experience. In addition, many Pentecostal believers are insufficiently focused on abstract theology to identify as trinitarian or nontrinitarian.<ref name="PentEcu">{{Cite journal|title=Ecumenism From the Bottom Up: A Pentecostal Perspective|first1=Shane|last1=Clifton|journal=Journal of Ecumenical Studies|volume=47|issue=4|date=Fall 2012}}</ref> 

====Mormonism====
{{Main|Mormonism and Nicene Christianity}}
Mormonism, particularly its largest sect, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has a complex relationship with mainstream Christianity, due in part to its nontrinitarianism. It also has other unusual doctrines, which lead many evangelical Christians to challenge its inclusion within Christianity.<ref name="MormChristian"/>

Mormonism's second-largest sect, the [[Community of Christ]], is a trinitarian group and participates in a variety of ecumenical organizations, such as the [[National Council of Churches of Christ]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ecumenical and Interfaith Ministries|website=Community of Christ|url=https://cofchrist.org/ecumenical-and-interfaith-ministries/}}</ref>

==Inter-religious dialogue beyond Christianity==
{{see also|Islamic view of the Trinity|Shituf}}
The Trinity doctrine is integral in inter-religious disagreements with the other two main [[Abrahamic religions]], Judaism and Islam; the former rejects Jesus' divine mission entirely, and the latter accepts Jesus as a human prophet and the Messiah but not as the son of God, although accepting virgin birth. The rejection of the Trinity doctrine has led to comparisons between nontrinitarian theology and Judaism and Islam.

In an 1897 article in the ''[[Jewish Quarterly Review]]'', Montefiore describes Unitarianism as a bridge between Judaism and mainstream Christianity, calling it both a "phase of Judaism" and a "phase of Christianity".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Unitarianism and Judaism in Their Relations to Each Other |first=C. G. |last=Montefiore |journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=9 |number=2 |orig-date= January 1897 |pages=240–253 |jstor=1450588 |date=2016-06-18 |doi=10.2307/1450588 |quote=You [Unitarian Christians] have relations and points of connexion with Judaism on the one side, and with orthodox Christianity on the other. You are in a position of vantage to absorb the permanent elements of truth and value lying at your right hand and at your left. For, looked at from one point of view, though you might yourselves deny it, you constitute a phase of Judaism; looked at from another, though many Christians deny it, you are a phase of Christianity. The paradox of the one assertion to some of yourselves is no greater than the paradox of the other to many beyond your pale}}</ref>

In Islam, the concept of a co-equal trinity is totally rejected, with Quranic verses calling the doctrine of the Trinity blasphemous.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Holy Qur'an|at=4:171}}</ref> Early Islam was originally seen as a variant of [[Arianism]], a heresy in [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] and Catholic Christianity, by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor in the 600s. In the 700s, many Arians in Spain considered Muhammad a prophet. In the mid-1500s, many [[Socinian]] unitarians were suspected of having Islamic leanings. Socinians praised Islam, though considering the Qur'an to contain errors, for its belief in the unity of God. Bilal Cleland claimed that "an anonymous writer" in ''A Letter of Resolution concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation'' (1693) states that Islam's greater number of adherents and military supremacy resulted from more closely maintaining correct doctrine than mainstream Christianity.<ref name=Islam>{{cite web|url=http://tellmeaboutislam.com/islam-and-unitarians.html|first=Bilal|last=Cleland|title=Islam and Unitarians|publisher=Tell me about Islam|access-date=16 June 2016}}</ref>

==Arguments for the pagan origins of the Trinity==
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2010}}
[[File:Egypte louvre 066.jpg|thumb|150px|Horus, Osiris, and Isis]]
[[File:Autel tricephale MuseeStRemi Reims 1131a.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Reims]] altar depicting a tricephalic Celtic god]]

Some nontrinitarians also say that a link between the doctrine of the Trinity and the Egyptian Christian theologians of [[Alexandria]] suggests that Alexandrian theology, with its strong emphasis on the deity of Jesus, served to infuse Egypt's pagan religious heritage into Christianity. They accuse the Church of adopting these Egyptian tenets after adapting them to Christian thinking by means of Greek philosophy.<ref>'At times he forms one of a trinity in unity, with Ra and Osiris, as in Fig. 87, a god with the two sceptres of Osiris, the hawk's head of Horus, and the sun of Ra. This is the god described to Eusebius, who tells us that when the oracle was consulted about the divine nature, by those who wished to understand this complicated mythology, it had answered, "I am Apollo and Lord and Bacchus," or, to use the Egyptian names, "I am Ra and Horus and Osiris." Another god, in the form of a porcelain idol to be worn as a charm, shows us Horus as one of a trinity in unity, in name, at least, agreeing with that afterwards adopted by the Christians—namely, the Great God, the Son God, and the Spirit God.'—[[Samuel Sharpe (scholar)|Samuel Sharpe]], [https://archive.org/details/egyptianmytholo01shargoog <!-- quote="Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity". --> ''Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity''], 1863, pp. 89–90.</ref>

They say the development of the idea of a co-equal triune godhead was based on pagan Greek and Platonic influence, including many basic concepts from [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] philosophy incorporated into the biblical God. As an example, they mention that [[Aristotle]] stated: "All things are three, and thrice is all: and let us use this number in the worship of the gods; for, as [[Pythagoreans]] say, everything and all things are bound by threes, for the end, the middle, and the beginning have this number in everything, and these compose the number of the Trinity."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucg.org/booklet/god-trinity/how-ancient-trinitarian-gods-influenced-adoption-trinity/|title=How Ancient Trinitarian Gods Influenced Adoption of the Trinity|work=United Church of God|access-date=5 March 2015|date=2011-07-22}}</ref><ref>Michael Barber – [https://books.google.com/books?id=u5hkIwXJVxoC&dq=All+things+are+three%2C+and+thrice+is+all%3A+and+let+us+use+this+number+in+the+worship+of+the+gods%3B+for%2C+as+Pythagoreans+say%2C+everything+and+all+things+are+bound+by+threes%2C+for+the+end%2C+the+middle%2C+and+the+beginning+have+this+number+in+everything%2C+and+these+compose+the+number+of+the+Trinity.&pg=PA78 Should Christianity Abandon the Doctrine of the Trinity?] – Universal-Publishers, Nov 1, 2006 – Part Three, p. 78.</ref> However, Trinitarians have argued that the words attributed to Aristotle differ in a number of ways from what has been published as the philosopher's original text in [[Greek language|Greek]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%AF_%CE%9F%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%8D/1#.CE.9A.CE.B5.CF.86.CE.AC.CE.BB.CE.B1.CE.B9.CE.BF_1|title=Περί Ουρανού/1|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/philosophes/Aristote/ciel1gr.htm|title=Aristote: Traité du Ciel (livre I – texte grec)|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/95303712/Aristotle-Opera-I-Bekker-v2-Greek-De-Caelo-Libri-IV |title=Bekker edition of Aristotle's works, volume II, p. 211 |access-date=2017-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827163240/http://www.scribd.com/doc/95303712/Aristotle-Opera-I-Bekker-v2-Greek-De-Caelo-Libri-IV |archive-date=2014-08-27 }}</ref> which omits "let us use this number in the worship of the gods", and are not supported by translations of the works of Aristotle by scholars such as Stuart Leggatt, [[W. K. C. Guthrie]], J.{{nbsp}}L. Stocks, [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Thomas Taylor]] and [[Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Review|journal=The Philosophical Review|volume=108|issue=2|pages=285–287|jstor = 2998305|last1=McKirahan|first1=Richard D.|year=1999|doi=10.2307/2998305}}</ref>

Some anti-trinitarians note also that the Greek philosopher Plato believed in a special "threeness" in life and in the universe. In ''Phaedo'', he introduces the word "triad" (in Greek τριάς),<ref>''Phaedo'' 104e.</ref> which is rendered in English as "trinity". This was adopted by 3rd and 4th{{nbsp}}century professed Christians as roughly corresponding to "Father, Word, and Spirit (Soul)".<ref>Course of Ideas, pp. 387–388.</ref> Nontrinitarian Christians contend that such notions and adoptions make the Trinity doctrine extra-biblical.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} They{{who|date=May 2017}} say there is a widely acknowledged synthesis of Christianity with [[Platonism|Platonic]] [[philosophy]] evident in trinitarian formulas appearing by the end of the 3rd{{nbsp}}century. They allege that beginning with the Constantinian period, these pagan ideas were forcibly imposed on the churches as Catholic doctrine. Most groups subscribing to the theory of a [[Great Apostasy]] generally concur in this thesis.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

The early apologists, including [[Justin Martyr]], [[Tertullian]] and [[Irenaeus]], frequently discussed the parallels and contrasts between Christianity, Paganism and other [[syncretism|syncretic religions]], and answered charges of borrowing from paganism in their [[Christian apologetics|apologetical]] writings.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

===Hellenic influences===
{{see also|Hellenization}}
Stuart G Hall (formerly Professor of Ecclesiastical History at King's College, London) describes the subsequent process of philosophical/theological amalgamation in ''Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church'' (1991), where he writes:
{{blockquote|The apologists began to claim that Greek culture pointed to and was consummated in the Christian message, just as the Old Testament was. This process was done most thoroughly in the synthesis of Clement of Alexandria. It can be done in several ways. You can rake through Greek literature, and find (especially in the oldest seers and poets) references to 'God' which are more compatible with monotheism than with polytheism (so at length Athenagoras.) You can work out a common chronology between the legends of prehistoric (Homer) Greece and the biblical record (so Theophilus.) You can adapt a piece of pre-Christian Jewish apologetic, which claimed that Plato and other [[Greek philosophers]] got their best ideas indirectly from the teachings of Moses in the Bible, which was much earlier. This theory combines the advantage of making out the Greeks to be plagiarists (and therefore second-rate or criminal), while claiming that they support Christianity by their arguments at least some of the time. Especially this applied to the question of God.<ref>Stuart George Hall (1992). ''Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church''. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 50. {{ISBN|0-8028-0629-5}}</ref>}}

The [[neo-Platonic]] trinities, such as that of [[Neoplatonism#The One|the One]], the [[Nous]] and the [[Plato's theory of soul|Soul]], are not considered a trinity necessarily of consubstantial equals as in mainstream Christianity. However, the neo-Platonic trinity has the doctrine of emanation, or "eternal derivation", a timeless procedure of generation having as a source the One and claimed to be paralleled with the generation of the light from the Sun. This was adopted by Origen and later on by Athanasius, and applied to the generation of the Son from the Father, because they believed that this analogy could be used to support the notion that the Father, as immutable, always had been a Father, and that the generation of the Son is therefore eternal and timeless.<ref>''Select Treatises of St. Athanasius'' – In Controversy With the Arians – Freely Translated by John Henry Cardinal Newmann – Longmans, Green, and Co., 1911</ref>

The synthesis of Christianity with [[Platonism|Platonic]] philosophy was further incorporated in the trinitarian formulas that appeared by the end of the 3rd century. "The Greek philosophical theology" was "developed during the Trinitarian controversies over the relationships among the persons of the Godhead".<ref>A. Hilary Armstrong, Henry J. Blumenthal, Platonism. ''Encyclopædia Britannica.'' Retrieved May 13, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD.</ref> The allegation of borrowing was raised by some disputants when the Nicene doctrine was being formalized and adopted by the bishops. For example, in the 4th&nbsp;century, [[Marcellus of Ancyra]], who taught the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one person (hypostasis), said in his ''On the Holy Church, 9'':{{blockquote|Now with the heresy of the Ariomaniacs, which has corrupted the Church of God&nbsp;... These then teach three hypostases, just as [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] the heresiarch first invented in the book entitled by him 'On the Three Natures'. For he was the first to invent three hypostases and three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he is discovered to have filched this from [[Hermes Trismegistus|Hermes]] and [[Plato]]."<ref>Logan A. Marcellus of Ancyra (Pseudo-Anthimus), 'On the Holy Church': Text, Translation and Commentary. Verses 8–9. Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Volume&nbsp;51, Pt.&nbsp;1, April 2000, p. 95.</ref>}}

In his Introduction to the 1964 book ''[[Meditations]]'', the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth discussed the profound influence of [[Stoicism|Stoic philosophy]] on Christianity. In particular:
<blockquote>Again in the doctrine of the Trinity, the ecclesiastical conception of Father, Word, and Spirit finds its germ in the different Stoic names of the Divine Unity. Thus [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], writing of the supreme Power which shapes the universe, states, 'This Power we sometimes call the All-ruling God, sometimes the incorporeal Wisdom, sometimes the holy Spirit, sometimes Destiny.' The Church had only to reject the last of these terms to arrive at its own acceptable definition of the Divine Nature; while the further assertion 'these three are One', which the modern mind finds paradoxical, was no more than commonplace to those familiar with Stoic notions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Aurelius |first=Marcus |author-link=Marcus Aurelius| title=Meditations |url=https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0 |url-access=registration |year=1964 |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |page=25 |isbn=978-0-14-044140-6}}</ref></blockquote>

==Christian groups with nontrinitarian positions== 
{{Main list|List of Christian denominations#nontrinitarian}} {{More citations needed section|date=December 2011}}
<!--If you are here to add a disclaimer contrasting mainstream Christianity with these groups, I suggest you use a different section of the article. Lists are inclusive by nature.-->

===Early Christian===
* [[Arianism]]
* [[Esoteric Christianity|Esoteric]]
* [[Gnosticism]]
* [[Subordinationism]]
* [[Ebionites]]
* [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarene]] 
* [[JudeoChristianity|Judeo-Christianity]]

===Unitarian and Universalism===
* [[Unitarianism]]
* [[Unitarian Universalism]]

===Latter Day Saints===
* [[Latter Day Saint movement]]
** [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church)
** [[Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]]
** [[Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]]

===Bible Students and splinter groups===
* [[Bible Student movement|Bible Students]]
* [[Friends of Man]]
* [[Jehovah's Witnesses]]<ref>[[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania]], ''[https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101989307 Should You Believe in the Trinity?]'' (2006)</ref>

===Sacred Name movement===
* [[Assemblies of Yahweh]]
* [[Yahweh's Assembly in Messiah]]

===Oneness Protestant groups===
* [[Creation Seventh Day Adventist Church]]
* [[Elias Hicks]] (Hicksite Quakers)
* [[Shakers]]
* [[Oneness Pentecostal]]s
* Many members of the [[Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland]]

===World Wide Church of God splinter groups===
* [[Church of the Blessed Hope]] (sometimes called "Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith")
* [[Grace Communion International]]
* [[Philadelphia Church of God]]
* [[Living Church of God]]
* [[United Church of God]]

===New religious movements===
* [[Church of Christ, Scientist]] ([[Christian Scientists]])<ref>Neusner, Jacob, ed. 2009. ''World Religions in America: An Introduction'', Fourth Ed. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, p. 257. {{ISBN|978-0-664-23320-4}}</ref><ref>Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. 1998. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Active New Religions, Sects and Cults'', Revised Ed. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, p. 73. {{ISBN|0-8239-2586-2}}</ref>
* [[Unity Church]]
* [[The New Church (Swedenborgian)|New Church]] (Swedenborgian)
* [[Unification Church]] ([[Family Federation for World Peace and Unification]])
* [[Two by Twos]] (sometimes called ''The Truth'' or [[Cooneyites]])<ref>Walker, James K. (2007). ''The Concise Guide to Today's Religions and Spirituality''. Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers. pp. 117–118. {{ISBN|978-0-7369-2011-7}}</ref>

===Other Nontrinitarians===
* [[Christadelphians]]
* [[Church of God General Conference]]
* {{Lang|es|[[La Luz del Mundo]]|italic=no}}
* [[Monarchianism]]
* [[Muggletonianism]]
* [[Polish Brethren]]
* [[Socinianism]]
* [[The Way International]]

===Country-specific===
* Filipino
** {{Lang|tl|[[Iglesia ni Cristo]]|italic=no}} (''Church of Christ'')
** [[Members Church of God International]]
** [[Kingdom of Jesus Christ (church)|Kingdom of Jesus Christ]]
* Independent Russian
** [[Doukhobors]]
** [[Molokan]]
*Chinese Diaspora
** [[Christian Disciples Church]]

== People ==
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2011}}
{{Div col|colwidth=40em}}
* [[Sabellius]], {{c.|220}} ([[Modalist]]: the eponymous heresiarch of [[Sabellianism]], or "monarchic modalism"), rejected the idea of co-eternal co-equal distinct persons in the Godhead, but taught that God is a singular Person who manifests himself in multiple and various ways, faces, modes, and operations in history and specific circumstances
* [[Theodotus of Byzantium]]
* [[Artemon]]
* [[Paul of Samosata]], 269, Bishop of Antioch, believed in monarchianism, the doctrine that says that the Father alone is supreme and that God is not co-equal persons, but one unequal almighty person. Bishop Paul also held to adoptionism which teaches that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, resurrection, or ascension.
* [[Lucian of Antioch]], 312, Christian presbyter, ([[theologian]]) and ([[martyr]])
* [[Arius]], 336, presbyter of Alexandria, major theologian of the doctrine of [[Arianism]] in 4th century. He opposed the [[Homoousian]] declarations of the Alexandrian Bishop [[Pope Alexander I of Alexandria|Alexander of Alexandria]], making him a primary topic of the [[First Council of Nicea]] in AD 325.
* [[Eusebius of Nicomedia]], 341, (Arian)
* [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], (Christian historian)
* [[Constantius II]], [[Byzantine Emperor]], 361
* [[Antipope Felix II]], 365
* [[Aëtius of Antioch]], 367
* [[Ulfilas]], Apostle to the Goths, 383
* [[Priscillian]], 385, considered first Christian to be executed for [[heresy]]
* [[Francesco della Sega]], (1528–1565)
* [[Ludwig Haetzer]], 1529
* [[Michael Servetus]], 1553, [[burned at the stake]] in Geneva under [[John Calvin]]
* [[Sebastian Castellio]], 1563
* [[Ferenc Dávid]], 1579
* [[Justus Velsius]], {{c.|1581}}
* [[Fausto Paolo Sozzini]], 1604
* [[John Milton]], 1608–1674. (disputed)
* [[Edward Wightman]], 1612, [[burned at the stake]]
* [[Isaac Newton]], 1642–1726/27
* [[John Biddle (Unitarian)|John Biddle]], 1662
* [[Thomas Aikenhead]], 1697, last person to be hanged for [[blasphemy]] in Britain
* [[John Locke]], 1704<ref name=dulles>Avery Cardinal Dulles. [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=143 The Deist Minimum]. 2005.</ref>
* [[Elias Hicks]], 1742, [[Quaker]]
* [[William Whiston]], 1752, expelled from [[University of Cambridge]] in 1710 for Arianism; famous for translating [[Josephus]]
* [[Jonathan Mayhew]], 1766
* [[Emanuel Swedenborg]], 1772, provided the theology for [[Swedenborgianism]]
* [[Joseph Priestley]], 1804
* [[John Adams]] 
* [[Thomas Jefferson]]
* [[John Quincy Adams]]
* [[Millard Fillmore]]
* [[William Howard Taft]]
* [[Joseph Smith]], 1805, founder of the [[Latter-day Saint movement]] ([[Mormonism]])
* [[Mary Baker Eddy]], 1821, founder of [[Christian Science]]
* [[William Ellery Channing]], 1842
* [[Robert Hibbert (Anti-Trinitarian)|Robert Hibbert]], 1849
* [[John Thomas (Christadelphian)|John Thomas]] (Christadelphian), 1871
* [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], 1882
* [[Robert Roberts (Christadelphian)|Robert Roberts]] (Christadelphian), 1898
* [[Benjamin Wilson (Biblical scholar)|Benjamin Wilson]], 1900
* [[James Martineau]], 1900
* [[Félix Manalo]], 1914
* [[Charles Taze Russell]], 1916, founder of the [[Bible Student movement]] and [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], author of ''[[Millennial Dawn]]''
* [[Joseph Franklin Rutherford]], 2nd president of the [[Watchtower Bible and Tract Society]]
* [[Alan Hayward]] (Christadelphian), 1923
* [[Johannes Greber]] (Catholic priest) 
* [[Eliseo Soriano]], 1947
* [[William Branham]], 1965
* [[Herbert W. Armstrong]], 1986, founder of the [[Worldwide Church of God]], a [[Sabbath in seventh-day churches|Sabbatarian Christian Church]], and was an advocate of the doctrine of Binitarianism.
* [[Sir Anthony Buzzard, 3rd Baronet|Anthony Buzzard]] (Biblical Unitarian)
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity}}
* ''[[Bibliotheca antitrinitariorum]]''
*[[Baháʼí Faith|Bahá'í Faith]]
* [[Christomonism]]
* [[Christians of Saint John]]
* [[Manichaeism]]
* [[Servetism]]

==Citations==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==Further reading==
* Morgan, Caesar [[iarchive:investigationoft00morguoft|''An investigation of the trinity of Plato and of Philo Judaeus, and of the effects which an attachment to their writings had upon the principles and reasonings of the father of the Christian church'']], Cambridge University Press, 1853.
* {{cite encyclopedia |last= Tuggy |first= Dale |title= History of Trinitarian Doctrines |url= http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html |encyclopedia= Trinity |series= [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=2016 |publisher= Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last= Tuggy |first= Dale |title=Trinity |url= http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/index.html |encyclopedia= [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=March 18, 2016|publisher= Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University }}
* [[Robert Wallace (Unitarian)|Wallace, Robert]], [https://archive.org/details/antitrinitarianb03walluoft ''Antitrinitarian Biography; or, Sketches of the lives and writings of distinguished antitrinitarians, exhibiting a view of the state of the Unitarian doctrine and worship in the principal nations of Europe, from the reformation to the close of the seventeenth century, to which is prefixed a history of Unitarianism in England during the same period''], 1850.

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[[Category:Schisms in Christianity]]