Is the Trinity in James? James’ short general letter to early Christians doesn’t have a plethora of references to God, Jesus, and the holy Spirit, but what it does have is more than enough to figure out whether the Trinity doctrine is in the book of James. First of all, notice who James is a servant of:

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1 NIV). We immediately notice that “God” is identified as being someone other than “the Lord Jesus Christ”. James identifies himself as serving two distinct personages, namely Almighty God and Jesus Christ. These two are not mysteriously merged together, as Trinitarians assert. Their distinctive separateness is maintained. Notable by absence are references to the Trinity and the holy Spirit. If these are real, why isn’t James serving them?—Perhaps because the Trinity is fictional. He’s not serving the holy Spirit because it is not a person, even though it is real. “The holy Spirit” is called “it” at John 1:32 (ESV); 14:17 (NAB, REB), Acts 2:33; 8:16; 11:15 NAB, and Romans 8:16,26,27 (NAB; REB). Persons are not called “it”. The holy Spirit is God’s “power” (Acts 1:8), not a person.

“God cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13 NIV). This scripture itself proves that Jesus cannot be Almighty God, because “Jesus the Son of God . . . high priest . . . has been tempted in every way, just as we are—-yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:14,15 NIV). The scriptures are crystal clear—-God cannot be tempted, yet Jesus was tempted in every way, thus proving that Jesus cannot be Almighty God. What powerful scriptural evidence this is against the Trinitarian dogma that, “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God,” and “the three are equal”. 

James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless” (NIV). “A pure and faultless religion in the sight of God the Father is this . . . ” (REB). Notice that “God” is referred to as the Father, not Jesus, not the Trinity. “God the Father” is the one who determines which religion is right. This harmonizes with other scriptures. Jesus said that his “Father” is “the only true God” (John 17:1,3). This excludes anyone else from being included in “the only true God”. In fact, clarifying the matter even further, Jesus said that “the true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:23). 

James 2:1 – “Our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” (NIV) – Trinitarians have claimed that, since Almighty God “Yahweh” has “glory” (Zechariah 2:5 LSB), references to Jesus’ glory must mean that Jesus is Yahweh God Almighty. However, Jesus said that “the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory” (Matthew 16:27 NIV), so it is obvious that Jesus’ glory does not equal his Father’s glory, but, in fact, derives from his Father’s glory. Jesus even prayed for his Father to glorify him. Thus, Trinitarians’ claim that Jesus’ glory means he’s God is scripturally debunked.

James 2:19 – “You believe that there is one God. Even the demons believe that  — and shudder“ (NIV), as opposed to believing that other “gods” are also real. The Greek word used here for “one” is “heis”, which is the numeral “one”, and not the Greek word “hen” for “one” in the sense of unity, as at John 10:30. “One” (“heis”) thus eliminates any possibility that God could be more than one person. The demons know that there is one “only true God”, who is Jesus’ “Father” (John 17:1,3). The Trinity doctrine asserts that ‘the Father is God, the Son is God, and the holy Spirit is God. That’s three Gods, despite Trinitarian denials. James 2:19 makes it perfectly clear that there is only one Almighty God, not three Almighty Gods, as confirmed by James 5:4:

James 5:4 – “The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty” (NIV). James shows here that the “one God” that he refers to (James 2:19) is “the Lord Almighty”, just as Galatians 3:20 says “God is only one” (NASB), not three. The Bible never refers to Jesus Christ (“the Lamb”), or the holy Spirit as “the Lord God Almighty” (Revelation 21:22 NIV). The scriptures positively identify “the Lord Almighty” exclusively as the “Father” (2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV). The scriptures themselves thus debunk the unscriptural Trinitarian myth that “the Father is Almighty, the Son is Almighty, and the Holy Spirit is Almighty”.

Is the Trinity doctrine in the book of James? There is only one “the Lord Almighty”, the one who “cannot be tempted”. Trinitarianism finds no support in the Letter of James. In fact, the doctrine of the Trinity is resoundingly contradicted by the short Letter of James.