Is the Trinity in Matthew?

“A true and accurate knowledge of the Trinity is a blessing in and of itself . . . the Trinity is the highest revelation God has made of himself to His people. It is the capstone, the summit, the brightest star in the firmament of divine truths”—The Forgotten Trinity, page 10

“The Gospel according to Matthew . . . no other was so frequently quoted in the noncanonical literature of earliest Christianity”—Preface to Matthew in the New American Bible (NAB)

In a series of similar articles, we examine what is stated concerning God, Jesus, and the holy Spirit in the various books of the New Testament. If the Trinity doctrine is true, then the first gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, should provide numerous evidences of it. Let’s go through it and carefully examine all the pertinent evidence. Is the Trinity in Matthew?

Matthew 1:1,18 – “Jesus the Messiah”. “This is how Jesus the Messiah was born.” – NLT. Almighty God is not “the Messiah”.

Matthew 1:23 – Says Jesus would be called “Immanuel” – God is with us (does not mean Jesus is God). Why? The meanings of many Jewish names include “Yahweh” or “God.” The following scriptures help us get a better view of this situation:

• 1 Kings 17:1 – Elijah – My God is Yahweh
• Isaiah 1:1 – Isaiah – Salvation of Yahweh
• Jeremiah 1:1 – Jeremiah – Yahweh Loosens or Exalts
• Jeremiah 1:1 – Hilkiah – My Portion is Yahweh

• Jeremiah 1:3 – Zedekiah – Yahweh is Our Righteousness
• Jeremiah 36:10 – Gemariah – Yahweh has Perfected
• Jeremiah 36:11 Micaiah – Who is Like Yahweh
• Jeremiah 36:12 – Shemaiah – Yahweh has Heard
• Jeremiah 36:12 – Hananiah – Yahweh has Shown Favor/Been Gracious
• Jeremiah 36:14 – Nethaniah – Yahweh has Given
• Jeremiah 36:14 – Shelemiah – Yahweh is Recompense, or Communion Sacrifice of Yahweh

• Jeremiah 36:14 – Neriah – My Lamp is Yahweh
• Jeremiah 38:1 – Gedaliah – Great is Yahweh
• Jeremiah 38:6 – Malchijah – My King is Yahweh
• Daniel 1:6 – Daniel – My Judge is God
• Joel 1:1 – Joel – Yahweh is God
• Micah 1:1 – Micah – Who is Like Yahweh?
• Zephaniah 1:1 – Zephaniah – Yahweh has Concealed
• Zechariah 1:1 – Zechariah – Yah has Remembered

God or Yahweh is often imbedded within many Hebrew names. It doesn’t mean any of these men were God, just as the name Immanuel doesn’t mean that Jesus is God Almighty. Yahweh is also embedded within some Biblical place-names, but the place is obviously not “Yahweh”. For example:

“Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means the LORD will provide)”—Genesis 22:14 NLT

“Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh-Nissi (which means the LORD is my banner)”—Exodus 17:15 NLT

“The perimeter of that city will be six miles, and the name of the city from that day will be: ‘Yahweh Is There'”—Ezekiel 48:35 HCSB

Rather than being named “God”, or “God the Son”, notice what name Jesus was given:

“She will give birth to a son, and YOU ARE TO GIVE HIM THE NAME JESUS”—Matthew 1:21 NIV

Therefore, when the Scriptures are used in context and in harmony with the entire Bible, Matthew 1:23, which states “they will call him Immanuel” (NIV), cannot honestly or Scripturally be used to prove Jesus is God.

Scriptures in Matthew that Show Jesus is not God

Matthew 3:16-17 – “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (NIV). Trinitarians count 1,2,3 here in this verse, and say, here is the Trinity. However, notice that Almighty God calls Jesus “my Son”. Jesus is frequently called “the Son of God”, but he is never called “God the Son,” which is the often-used Trinitarian label that is never used in the Bible. Please also notice that Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are in separate locations.

• Jesus is in the water
• Holy Spirit in the form of dove is in the air
• God is in heaven and says, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Therefore, they cannot be the same. Not one aspect of the Trinity dogma is mentioned in Matthew 3:16,17—no equality, no Almightiness, nothing about being eternal.

Matthew 9:2 – “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, child, your sins are forgiven'” (NAB). Jesus forgives sins. (See Acts 5:30-31.) Trinitarians claim this makes Jesus God. Matthew 9:6 says Jesus has authority to forgive sins. “The son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (NAB). The ‘authority to forgive sins’ had been bestowed on Jesus as God’s “representative” (John 5:43 Williams New Testament), obviously. God doesn’t need anyone’s authority. In fact, Matthew 9:8 says, “The crowd . . . praised God for sending a man with such great authority” (NLT 2013 edition). Jesus said, “God sent me” (John 8:42 NIV), so he could not be God.

Matthew 8:14-17 – Healed many. Fulfilled Isaiah 53:4, which is part of the song of Yahweh’s suffering servant. The master here is God, the servant Jesus.

Matthew 8:20 – Jesus frequently calls himself “the Son of Man”. The Bible says that “God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19). – Matthew 13:37; Matthew 16:28; Matthew 17:5,9,12,22; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 20:18,28; Matthew 24:30-31; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 24:37,39,44; Matthew 26:2

Matthew 8:29 – Jesus is called the “Son of God”, not “God the Son”.

Matthew 9:27 – Jesus is called “the Son of David”. God is not called “the Son of David” – Matthew 15:22; Matthew 20:30-31; Matthew 21:15.

Matthew 4:3,5 – The issue raised by Satan the Devil was “If you are the Son of God”, not “If you are God,” not if he is part of a Trinity.

Matthew 4:10 – People must worship “God . . . alone” (NAB), Jesus said. He said nothing about worshipping “the Son of God,” or “God the Son,” or a Trinity.

Matthew 6:9 – Praying to the Father; verse 10 – Jesus says your kingdom, your will, not our will, which shows that God is superior.

Matthew 10:20 – “It will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (NAB). On another occasion, Jesus was teaching the same thing, but he expressed it slightly differently, by saying, “the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say” (Luke 12:12 NAB). By comparison, we note that “the holy Spirit” is “the Spirit of your Father,” which indicates the holy Spirit is not a person.

Matthew 12:18 – “My servant whom I have have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight. I shall place my spirit upon him” (NAB). Almighty God is no one’s servant, but Jesus is God’s “servant” (Acts 3:13). God the Father was foretold in this prophecy quoted from Isaiah to “place his spirit upon” Jesus. The language here (“my spirit”) indicates holy spirit is obviously not a person, but God’s spirit.

Matthew 16:13-17 – Who is the Son of Man? – Jesus asked, Who am I? – Jesus asked. The Messiah, the Son of God – Peter replied. My Father in heaven revealed this to you – Jesus commended his answer. If Jesus was God, or “God the Son,” this would have been the time to state it. But, no, Jesus was confessed to be “the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus approved this answer.

Matthew 16:27 – Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, not in his own glory, not in the glory of “the Trinity.”

Matthew 16:28; Matthew 17:5,9 – “A voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son’“, not God the Son, not the 2nd person of the Trinity. “The Son of Man coming in his kingdom,” “until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” God is not the Son of Man.” Since “God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19), and “God . . . will never die” (Habakkuk 1:12 NIV), and Jesus did die, it is obvious Jesus cannot be God.

Matthew 17:24-27 – Do kings tax their own children or strangers? The king in Jesus’ example is Almighty God. Jesus is God’s son (child), not equal to God..

Matthew 18:35 – Jesus refers to “My heavenly Father” as the one who is ultimately in charge, in this case, the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 20:23 – I can’t choose who will sit at my right or left in the kingdom – only my Father can, which shows that Jesus does not have the highest position, nor is he equal to God the Father

Matthew 21:9 – “Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD [Yahweh]” (NLT).  Jesus, “the Son of Man will come . . . in the glory of his Father” (Matthew 16:27 NIV), so Jesus cannot be Almighty God.

Matthew 21:33-45 – Jesus’ Father, “the owner of the vineyard” (Matthew 21:40), sent his prophets, finally his Son. The Father is the sender, Jesus is sent.  “No slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:16 NAB).

Matthew 22:2 – “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king gave a wedding feast for his son” (NAB). The King prepared wedding feast for son – NLTSB – The King represents God, whose Son is Jesus. The feast represents kingdom of Messiah

Matthew 22:36 – “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (NAB). In other words, this scholar of Judaism wanted to know, ‘What is the essence of your teaching?’ ‘What is the central tenet of your teaching?’This was the perfect opportunity for Jesus to let these religious leaders know how important the Trinity doctrine is, if it is a true doctrine, and that was what Jesus was really teaching.

Matthew 22:37-39 – “He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (NAB). The most important command – Love Yahweh your God, with all your heart, soul and strength, Jesus said. If Jesus was equal to God, he should have been included in this statement. But Jesus did not include himself. Likewise, if the Trinity was real, the most important doctrine about God, as Trinitarians claim, it should have been mentioned here, but it’s not..

Matthew 22:41-45 – Quotes Psalm 110:1: “The LORD [Yahweh] said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand'”–Matthew 22:44 NKJV) show the Messiah would be greater than David. Verse 45 – The answer is that Jesus is more than the son of David, he is the Son of God. Also Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 14:33; Psalm 45:16

Matthew 24:36 – “Of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (NAB). The Son, Jesus, doesn’t know the day and hour, only God the Father does – obviously the two are different, and the Father is superior to the Son. Trinitarians’ claim that Jesus was Almighty God on earth soundly refuted by this one scripture.

Matthew 25:34 – King will say – come you who have been blessed by my Father, the superior one.

Matthew 25:40 – King will say – the least of these my brothers. God doesn’t have brothers, but Jesus does.

Matthew 26:28 – My blood confirms the covenant between God and his people. Jesus is the “one mediator between God and mankind” (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV).

Matthew 26:31 – God “will strike the Shepherd” (Jesus). There is a distinctive difference between God and Jesus.

Matthew 26:39 – My Father, if possible let this cup pass – yet I want your will to be done, not mine. This shows that God’s will and Jesus’ will are different, and that God’s will is superior to Jesus will.

Matthew 26:63 – I demand in the name of God – tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. Verse 64 – You said it – you will see the son of man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand. He was not on trial for saying he was God, but for saying he was the Son of God. This issue was whether he was “the Son of God,” not God.

Matthew  26:68 – “Prophesy to us, you Messiah” (NIV). Almighty God is not the Messiah.

Matthew 27:37 – Jesus is said to be “the king of the Jews,” not God.

Matthew 27:42,43 – “He’s the king of Israel! . . .  He trusts in God. Let God rescue him” (NIV).  If Jesus was God, why would he need to trust in God?

Matthew 27:46 – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (NIV; NAB). Jesus’ statement proves he is not God, because he says that God left him.

Matthew 27:54 – “Surely he was the Son of God” (NIV), not “God the Son”.

Matthew 28:18 – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (NIV).  If Jesus was Almighty God, he would  NOT have to be “given” anything, because he would already possess it.

Matthew 28:19 – “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (NIV). Trinitarians claim that “in the name of” means one Trinitarian name for the three. However, “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” means the three are entirely separate and distinct. Trinitarians count, one, two, three . . . there’s the Trinity! The mention of the three together doesn’t make them a Trinity in Matthew, any more the mention of “Stephanus, Fortunatus and Achaichus” (1 Corinthians 16:17) together make them a Trinity.

So, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is called, or referred to, many things, and in many ways, but he is never asserted to be Almighty God. This is true whether it is Jesus, his disciples, his enemies, or the narrator speaking. The holy Spirit is also referred to in a way that indicates it is not a person. Based on the scriptural facts, the Trinity is not in Matthew!