JWs teach that the Trinity — one God in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) — is a lie from Satan, borrowed from Babylonian and Greek paganism and adopted by apostate Christendom at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. They insist the word 'Trinity' never appears in the Bible, that Jesus never claimed equality with God, and that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force. The Watchtower published an entire booklet — 'Should You Believe in the Trinity?' (1989) — dedicated to dismantling this doctrine through selective quotation and misrepresentation of patristic sources.
Why This Matters
The Trinity is not a philosophical import — it is the only framework that accounts for all the biblical data without contradiction. Scripture teaches that there is one God (), yet the Father is God (), Jesus is God (, , ), and the Holy Spirit is God (). The Watchtower resolves this by demoting Jesus to a creature and the Spirit to a force — but this creates more problems than it solves: a creature cannot forgive sins (), receive worship (), or bear the divine name 'I AM' (). The Nicaea claim is historically false — the Council did not invent the Trinity but formalised what the church had believed since the apostles. Pre-Nicene fathers like Ignatius (110 CE), Justin Martyr (150 CE), and Irenaeus (180 CE) all affirmed Christ's deity.
Watchtower Sources
Should You Believe in the Trinity?, 1989
What Does the Bible Really Teach?, Appendix pp. 201–204
Reasoning From the Scriptures, pp. 405–426
Also Known As
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