The letter of 1 John was one of the last books of the New Testament to be written. Trinitarians say that the New Testament teaches the Trinity doctrine with absolute definiteness. If these assertions are true, we should surely find some evidence of such at this late date in the first century, because “the faith . . . was once for all handed down to the holy ones” (Jude 3 NAB) with the completion of the Bible. So let’s see exactly what we do find when we examine the scriptures themselves:

1 John 1:2 – “This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us” (NLT). It is very obvious that this verse is describing Jesus Christ, and that he was with the Father. Being “with” someone makes it clear that two separate and distinct individuals are being discussed. The holy Spirit is not mentioned here, which it likely would be if the Trinity doctrine was true. Nothing is either stated, nor implied, about a Trinity, nor that Jesus is Almighty God.

1 John 1:3 – “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (NIV). Two entirely separate and distinct individuals are mentioned, but not the holy Spirit, or the Trinity.

1 John 1:5 -“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all” (NLT). Jesus has been an instrumental witness that God the Father is “light”. This is clear testimony indicating that two distinct and separate individuals are involved, namely Almighty God and his Son, Jesus Christ, but not the holy Spirit.

1 John 1:7 – “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (NIV). The Father-Son relationship is emphasized by implication. A father and a son are not the same individual, in stark contrast to the Trinity doctrine, which blurs this distinction.

1 John 2:1 – “We have an advocate with the Father–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (NIV) – Jesus is with his Father, serving, in effect, as our lawyer, before God, the ultimate judge, in this word picture. A lawyer and a judge are two separate and distinct individuals, with the judge being the higher power.

1 John 2:22 – “When is the liar, if not the one who claims that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son” (NJB). Thus, the fact that the Father and the Son are two individuals is stressed, especially with the use of the word “both” to describe them. What about the holy Spirit? Why is it not mentioned here, if the Trinity doctrine is true?

1 John 2:23 -“No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (NIV). Two distinctly separate individuals are named. Why is the holy Spirit not mentioned here, if the Trinity doctrine is true?

1 John 2:24 – “You also will remain in the Son and in the Father” (NIV). The  conjunction “and” means two entirely separate and distinctive individuals. What about the holy Spirit?

1 John 3:8 – “The Son of God (not God, nor “God the Son”) appeared (on earth)” (NIV). Jesus is never called ‘God the Son’ in the Bible.

1 John 3:16 – “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (NIV). Almighty God didn’t die, in fact, he cannot die. “My God, my Holy One, you will never die” (Habakkuk 1:12 NIV). “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3 NIV). So that means Jesus can’t be God.

1 John 3:20 – “God is greater than our hearts and knows all things” (NAB). Almighty God the Father is the only one who “knows all things.” Jesus, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from the things he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 NAB).

1 John 3:21,22 – “We have confidence before God and we receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him” (NIV). Here, God Almighty is clearly shown to be supreme, as the one who grants our requests.

1 John 3:23 – “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ” (NIV). Christ is clearly presented as God’s distinctive Son, never as God Almighty.

1 John 3:24 – “Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God and God in him. And this is the proof that he remains in us: the Spirit that he has given us” (NJB). “The Spirit” is very strong evidence that holy Spirit is not a person. Persons are not referred to as “the.” Notice also that it is referred to as “the Spirit that he has given us.”

1 John 4:2 – “This is the proof of the spirit of God: any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ, come in human nature, is from God” (NJB).  “The spirit of God” is not indicated to be a person. “God is a spirit” (John 4:24 GWT), “God is not human” (Numbers 23:19), therefore Jesus can’t be God.

1 John 4:3 – “Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (NIV). Once again, God is shown to be in control, and he wants everyone to acknowledge Jesus as his Son, but not as part of a Trinity.

1 John 4:9 – “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world” (NIV). God is the sender, and Jesus is the sent one, in this Master-slave relationship. It is not a relationship of equals. Without equality, there is no Trinity. This also proves that the Trinity is not in 1 John.

1 John 4:10 – “Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (NIV).. The Master-servant relationship is emphasized again, as well as the fact that Jesus died, which implies that he can’t be God.

1 John 4:12 – “No one has ever seen God” (NIV). Contrast this with John’s testimony that he and others saw Jesus, meaning he cannot be Almighty God, as we can see from the following scriptures:

·         1 John 1:1 – “Whom we have heard and seen” (NLT)

·         1 John 1:2 – “We have seen him” (NLT)

·         1 John 1:3 – “What we have actually seen and heard” (NLT)

·        Further indicating he couldn’t be God, these scriptures below clearly prove that Jesus is separate and distinct:

·         1 John 1: 2 – “He was with the Father” (NLT).

·         1 John 1:3 – “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (NIV)

1 John 4:13 – “This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that her has given us a share in his Spirit” (NJB). “He has given us of his Spirit” (NAB). Giving “us a share in his spirit,” or “of his Spirit,” is a very strong evidence that the holy Spirit is not a person. One cannot be given a share in a person.

1 John 4:14 – “The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (NIV). Obviously Jesus and God the Father are two separate and distinct individuals, with God, the sender, being greater than Jesus, the Son.

1 John 4:15 – “Jesus is the Son of God” (NIV). Jesus is not ‘God the Son,’ nor is he ever referred to as such in the Bible.

1 John 5:1 – “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who who loves the father loves [also] the one begotten by him” (NAB). Believers are begotten by God by being adopted as his spiritual children. Jesus was begotten by God the Father because he was created by him. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God” (NLT) Christians are God’s children (Romans 8:14,15; Galatians 3:26), but are brothers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:40; Hebrews 2:11), which are two very different relationships, clearly showing that Jesus cannot be Almighty God.

1 John 5:5  – “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (NIV). Notice here that the issue is believing that “Jesus is the Son of God,” not that Jesus is God, or part of a Trinity.

1 John 5:6 – “He it is who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with water alone, but with water and blood, and it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is Truth” (NJB).  “Water” stands for baptism, and “blood” stands for death. God didn’t get baptized, and didn’t die either (Habakkuk 1:12), therefore Jesus could not be God. “The Spirit” is obviously not a person because persons are not referenced as “the,” or “that.”

1 John 5:7,8 – “Some late manuscripts of the Vulgate add: testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: the . (not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century).” So, this is how they got into Bible translations, such as the King James Version (KJV). Trinitarians in the past often used these verses in 1 John to support the Trinity. However, these words are not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century, and so are considered spurious, and therefore not inspired by God’s holy spirit. Modern translations usually exclude these words on this basis, or put them in either single or double brackets to indicate these words are highly questionable, at best, or, they at least they note the manuscript facts in a footnote. These facts are nowadays so widely known that Trinitarians rarely use these verses in 1 John to support the Trinity anymore.

1 John 5:8 – “There are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one” (NKJV).  The obvious fact that “water” and “blood” are not persons, is a clue that “the Spirit” is not a person either. We’ve examined five verses in 1 John where the holy Spirit is mentioned, and each of them indicates the holy Spirit is not a person. Without the holy Spirit being a person, there is no Trinity. Therefore, the Trinity is not in 1 John.

1 John 5:9 – “God has testified about his Son” (NLT). Obviously they are separate and distinct individuals. “We accept human testimony, but God’s witness is greater, because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son” (NIV). Contrast this with what Jesus said about himself: “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true” (John 5:31 NIV). These scriptures prove the impossibility of Jesus being God.

1 John 5:10 – “Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony … the testimony God has given about his Son.” – NIV

1 John 5:11 – “This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (NIV)

1 John 5:12,13 – “The  Son of God” (NIV). Jesus is frequently called “the Son of God” in the New Testament, but Jesus is never called ‘God the Son’ in the Bible. With no “God the Son,” there is no Trinity in 1 John.

1 John 5:18 – “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe” (NIV). Jesus is called “the One who was born of God”, meaning that he came from God, was created by God, so he not only cannot be God, nor is he even equal to God. Without Jesus being eternal, there is no Trinity in 1 John.

1 John 5:19 – “We are children of God” (NIV). But Christians are not children of Christ. Christ has “brothers” (Matthew 25:40; Hebrews 2:11), not sons. God has “sons”, but not brothers (Romans 8:14,15; Galatians 3:26).

1 John 5:20 – “We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and eternal life” (NIV). Here we have both “the Son of God”, and “the true God” mentioned, however, “the true God” naturally takes precedence over “his Son Jesus Christ”. Another key point from this verse is that “the true God” is said to be knowable (John 17:3)—-in stark contrast to the Trinitarian God, who is said to be “mysterious” and “unknowable”.

Not only is there no evidence of the existence of any Trinity in 1 John, there is powerful evidence against the Trinity doctrine. Thus, the entire letter of 1 John is filled with statements of proof that there is no Trinity, that Jesus is not God Almighty, and the holy Spirit is not a person!