In our series about what is stated concerning God, Jesus, and the holy Spirit in the various books of the New Testament, this article will examine the Gospel of Luke. Is the Trinity doctrine in the Book of Luke?

Luke 1:31 – “Name him Jesus,” (not God, or Yahweh)

Luke 1:32 – “called the Son of the Most High, the Lord God will give him the throne of David” – The greater gives to the lesser. He will be called, not God, but “the Son of the Most High” who is “the Lord God.”

Luke 1:34 – “But Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?'” (NAB). “According to Luke, the virginal conception takes place through the holy Spirit, the power of God, and therefore Jesus has a unique relationship to Yahweh: he is the Son of God.” (NAB note on Luke 1:34).

Luke 1:35 – “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (NAB) (not God). The holy Spirit is shown in this verse to be”the power” of God. It is not portrayed as a person. The angel once again emphasizes the fact that the child will be called “the Son of God,” not God. If the holy Spirit was a person, Jesus would have been ‘the Son of the holy Spirit.’ Without the holy Spirit being a person, it can’t be God, and so the Trinity doctrine is falsified, which means there is no Trinity in Luke.

Luke 2:11 – “the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord has been born,” (not God). God is not the Messiah.

Luke 2:25,30 – “Simeon . . . It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he would not die before had seen the Messiah of the Lord . . . when the parents brought in the child Jesus . . . he took him into his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Master . . . my eyes have seen your salvation'” (NAB). God uses the holy Spirit to accomplish his work, but it is not a person. Jesus is said to be “the Messiah” and God’s “salvation”, not Jesus’ salvation. God is not “the Messiah”. Therefore, Jesus cannot be God.

Luke 2:32 – “A light for revelation to the Gentiles” (NIV; NAB). Jesus is “a light” to reveal God to the nations, (not himself)

Luke 2:40 – “The favor of God was upon him” (ESV). God’s favor was on him (Jesus), which means that Jesus is someone other than God. Without Jesus being God, there is no Trinity in Luke.

Luke 2:49 – “I must be in my Father’s house” – Father-Son relationship is emphasized. Jesus is shown to be subservient to his Father, not equal, as in Trinitarianism.

Luke 2:52 –“Jesus grew in favor with God” – This means that God is someone other than Jesus.

Luke 3:6 – “all people will see the salvation sent from God” – sent from, but not, God

Luke 4:16-21 – “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me” – (God’s Spirit on Jesus) – “the scripture you’ve heard has been fulfilled today.” Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1, which reads, “The spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me for Yahweh has anointed me” (NJB). Rather than being referred to as a person, the holy Spirit is referred to as “the spirit of the Lord Yahweh.” Without the holy Spirit being God, there is no Trinity in Luke.

Luke 4:34 – “you’re the Holy One of God” – but not God, not “God the Son”.

Luke 4:41 – “you are the Son of God” – but not God, not “God the Son”.

Luke 4:43 – “that’s why I was sent” – Who sent him? from God. The greater sends the lesser.

Luke 5:20-24 – “Your sins are forgiven . . . Who but God alone can forgive sins? . . . that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . .” (NAB) – who gave him this authority? – God the Father did! In the parallel account at Matthew 9:8, “the crowd . . . praised God for sending a man with such great authority” (NLT 2013). Almighty God the Father, the superior, “sent” his Son Jesus with the “authority” that he God gave Jesus his Son, the inferior.

Luke 6:5 – “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” – Jesus referred to himself as “the Son of Man” – not as God, not as “God the Son”, not as the Trinity.

Luke 6:12 – “He spent the night in prayer to God” (NAB). Jesus prayed to God all night, the scripture reports – not to himself, but to God.

Luke 6:22 – ” . . . denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of the Man” (NAB). Jesus said his disciples follow the Son of Man. “The Son of Man” cannot be God. Why? – Because “God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19).

Luke 7:16 – The crowd praised God, saying “A mighty prophet has risen among us and God has visited his people” – A mighty prophet is what Jesus was called by the crowd. Jesus, the “mighty prophet”, represented God, which is what true prophets do, so he couldn’t be God.

Luke 7:23 – “God blesses those who do not turn away from me.” – The blessings Jesus spoke of come from God, who is portrayed as someone other than “me”, Jesus said.

Luke 7:34 – “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking” – Jesus referred to himself  as the “Son of Man,” not as God.

Luke 8:21 – “those who hear God’s Word and obey” – Jesus referred to “God’s word”, not his (Jesus’) word.

Luke 8:28 – “Jesus, Son of the Most High God” – Jesus is referred to as “the Son of the Most High God,” but not as God.

Luke 9:20 – “You are the Messiah sent from God” – Being “sent” makes them separate. The greater, God,  sends the lesser, the Messiah, Jesus. Without equality, there is no Trinity in Luke.

Luke 9:22 – “Son of Man must suffer” – not “God the Son”, not God, not the Trinity.

Luke 9:26 – “the Son of Man will be ashamed” – not God the Son, not God, not the Trinity.

Luke 9:35 – “This is my Son, the Chosen One” – “my Son,” not me, not “God the Son”, which an unscriptural expression.

Luke 9:44 – “the Son of Man is going to be betrayed” – not God the Son, not God, not the Trinity.

Luke 9:48 – “Welcomes my Father who sent me” – sent by his Father, who is separate, distinct, and superior to Jesus.

Luke 10:21 – “At that very moment he rejoiced in the holy Spirit and said, ‘I give you praise, Father, lord of heaven and earth” – Jesus was not praying to himself, nor to any Trinity, but to his Father, Almighty God, his superior. His rejoicing “in the holy Spirit” indicates that it is not a person.

Luke 10:22 – “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Father but the Son, no one truly knows the Son but the Father” – ‘Entrusted to me,’ by his “Father”, Jesus said, indicating his Father has greater power. ‘Knowing’ each other indicates they are “two” different people (John 8:17,18), who have a very close, intimate relationship.

Luke 10:27 – “Love the Lord your God with…” – Love God foremost, not Jesus, not “the Trinity”.

Luke 11:2 – “this is how you should pray: Father, may your name be kept holy” – His Father is the one to be prayed to, showing “the Father is greater than” Jesus (John 14:28); and therefore an entirely separate and distinct person. The Father is the superior, Jesus is the inferior.

Luke 11:13 – “if you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (NAB). – Notice, it is the heavenly Father gives the holy Spirit, not the Son of God, Jesus Christ, showing the Father is superior. “The holy Spirit” indicates that it is not a person.

Luke 11:30 – “What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign that he was sent by God” (NLT) – Jesus “was sent by God,” so he obviously cannot be God. Jesus’ title, “the Son of Man”, indicates that he cannot be God, because “God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19).

Luke 12:5 – “Fear God” (NLT) – Not “the Son”, not”God the Son”, nor “the Trinity”, terms which are never found in the Bible.

Luke 12:10 – “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes  the holy Spirit will not be forgiven” – The Trinity doctrine claims the three, God, Jesus and the holy Spirit, are equal, but this scripture clearly shows that God the Father is greater. How so? The holy Spirit represents God the Father, which shows the Father is “greater than” Jesus (John 14:28).

Luke 17:22-26, 30; Luke 18:8, 31; Luke 19:10 – Jesus refers to himself as “the Son of Man”, not “God the Son”, or part of a Trinity, terms which are never mentioned in the Bible. Since “God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19), Jesus could not be God.

Luke 18:19 – “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (NAB) – That is, in the absolute sense, which clearly demarcates the difference between God and Jesus, with God being both superior and someone other than Jesus.

Luke 18:38-39 – “Jesus, Son of David”, which is a title could not be applied to God. God is no one’s son.

Luke 19:11,12 – “While they were listening to him speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the kingdom of God would appear there immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return” (NAB). In the parable of the Ten Minas, or Gold Coins, the nobleman” (Jesus) would go to “distant country” (heaven) “to obtain the kingship” (from God) – Jesus is shown to be entirely separate, distinct, and inferior to God.

Luke 20:9-19 – Parable of vineyard – The owner (God) sends his servants (prophets), and finally sends his son (Jesus), and the tenants (the Jews, repenting the Jewish nation) kill them all. – God and Jesus are again shown to be “two” entirely separate and distinct people (John 8:17,18).

Luke 20:41-44 – “Then he said to them, ‘How do they claim that the Messiah is the Son of David? For David himself in the Book of Psalms says: “The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand til I make your enemies your footstool'”. Now if David calls him “lord”, how can he be his son?'” – Quoting from Psalm 110:1,  “Yahweh declared to my Lord” (NJB), confirms Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.

Luke 21:27 – “Then they will see the Son of Man.” (NAB) – The Son of Man can’t be God, because “God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19).

Luke 22:20 – “This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood” (ISV) – Since Jesus is “the mediator” of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15), he can’t be God.

Luke 22:22 – Jesus said, “It has been determined that the Son of Man must die.” (NLT) – (not God the Son, God, or Trinity). Since “God . . . never dies” (Habakkuk 1:12 NJB).

Luke 22:29 – “Just as my Father has granted me a kingdom.” (NLT) Receiving  a kingdom by grant from his Father, means he’s not God. God the Father is shown to superior over Jesus, which means there is no equality.

Luke 22:42-43 – “Father . . . not my will, but yours be done” (NIV). – Two different wills – “yours…mine” = “two” people (John 8:17,18).

 Luke 22:69 – “From this time on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of  the power of God” (NAB). – Two individuals, not a three-in-one Trinity. Jesus said that, he, the Son of Man, will be at God’s right hand, which proves that God is someone other than Jesus.

Luke 22:70 – “‘Are you then the Son of God?’ . . .  ‘You say that I am'” (NIV) – Jesus agreed that he claimed to be God’s Son, not God. Notice that these enemies had Jesus on trial before the Jewish high court for being “the Son of God,” not God, not ‘God the Son’, not ‘the Trinity’.

Luke 23:2 – “Claiming he is the Messiah, a king.” (NLT) – The Messiah is not God. His enemies did not accuse Jesus of claiming to be God. In fact, Jesus did not claim to be God.

Luke 23:35 – “If he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” (NLT) “God’s Messiah” can’t be God. Notice, they didn’t accuse of claiming to be God.

Luke 24:19-21 – “Jesus… was a prophet… a mighty teacher in the eyes of God… we had hoped he was the Messiah.” (NLT) – Prophet , teacher in the eyes of God, are clues that he is not God.

Luke 24:52 – “They did him homage” (NAB). – Many translations render the Greek word as “worship” rather than “homage,” but “to crouch down,” is what the word basically means. Since Jesus said, “The true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:24), we can be confident that “homage” is the correct reading of Luke 24:52.

Is the Trinity in the book of Luke?—No!

All scriptures quoted from the NIV, unless otherwise stated.