It is frequently asserted by Bible preachers and teachers that Jesus Christ Is Almighty God, and, along with the Holy Spirit, they are part of a Trinity. If this is so, then we should find plenty of scriptural evidence to support it. Do we? Since 1 Timothy was written by Bible scholar and teacher the apostle Paul to counter false teachers and false teachings, let’s see what it says.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” (
1 Timothy 1:1 NIV). God and Christ are here clearly portrayed as two separate and distinct individuals. As if this is not enough, it is further emphasized in verse 2:
“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (
1 Timothy 1:2 NIV). “Grace, mercy and peace” are said to come from both God and Christ, with no mention of the Holy Spirit. This omission of the Holy Spirit would be surprising and confusing if the Trinity were true, but since the Holy Spirit is not a person, this statement makes perfect sense.
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever” (1 Timothy 1:17 NIV). This sets Almighty God totally apart as being “eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God”, since Christ was created, died, and was visible while on earth.
“There is one God and one mediator between God and Christ, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV). By definition, the mediator cannot be either of the two parties that he mediates “between”. Therefore, it is obvious that Christ cannot be either”God” or “mankind”. No, Christ is “the man”, the “one mediator”. This one scripture is enough to obliterate Trinitarian notions.
“Who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:6 NIV). “Sacrificed himself” (REB). Jesus died as a ransom sacrifice. Almighty God “Yahweh . . . never dies” (Habakkuk 1:12 NJB), therefore Jesus cannot be Almighty God. This one fact also obliterates the Trinity.
“He appeared in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16 NIV). KJV and NKJV have “God was manifest in the flesh”, however, footnoted editions admit that the Greek did not originally read this way. John 1:14 says “The Word [Christ] became flesh” (NASB). Numbers 23:19 says that “God is not human” (NIV), and John 1:18 says that “No one has seen God at any time” (NASB). Since God has never been on earth, nor “in the flesh”, nor “human”, but the Bible says Christ did experience all that, obviously Christ cannot be Almighty God.
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I warn you” (1 Timothy 5:21 NRSV). God and Jesus are just as separate and distinct from each other as they are from the angels.
“Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—-God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:14-16 NIV). Here, we plainly see that Almighty God is set apart from Jesus Christ, and God is the only one who has eternally been immortal (compare Revelation 1:18), and whom no one has ever seen (John 1:18).
In each of the eight times that God and Jesus are mentioned in 1 Timothy, their being distinct and separate is made very clear. Also, the Holy Spirit is only mentioned twice, and each time it is called “the Spirit” (1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1), which is not something that a person is called. These eight simple Biblical statements of God and Jesus together devastate the Trinity dogma. In fact, the Trinity doctrine confuses pure Biblical truth, because it fits the description of one of the “false doctrines” that Christians are commanded in this letter “not to teach” (1 Timothy 1:3,4 NIV).