Understanding the Identity of the One True God

Who is God? It's probably one of the most fundamental questions you could ever ask. It has sparked heated debates among Christians for centuries. The vast majority of Christians hold to the Trinity doctrine - one God existing as three co-equal, co-eternal persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. However, a closer study will reveal that the doctrine of the trinity is not supported by either scripture, the Spirit of Prophecy, or the by early SDA church founders.

The Trinity: Where's the Biblical Evidence?

The doctrine of the Trinity is the central doctrine of the Catholic Church (Handbook for Today’s Catholic p. 11). However, scriptural evidence for the existence of a three-in-one God is lacking. Almost all of the Protestant Christian church denominations also hold the Trinity doctrine as one of their core and fundamental doctrines. Although they all claim to be “sola scriptura” or the Bible and the Bible only, they are not able to produce even one clear Bible text in support of the Trinity.

Modern day Seventh Day Adventists admit that there is no direct scriptural support for the Trinity:

“The role of the Trinity in a doctrine of God always raises questions. One reason is that the word itself does not appear in the Bible, nor is there any clear statement of the idea.” (Rice, Richard, The Reign of God: An Introduction to Christian Theology from a Seventh Day Adventist Perspective. Andrews Univ Pr, 1997, p.89.)

“While no single scriptural passage states formally the doctrine of the Trinity, it is assumed as a fact by Bible writers and mentioned several times.... Only by faith can we accept the existence of the Trinity” (Adventist Review, Vol. 158, No. 31, 1981, 4).

“The word “trinity” is not found in the Bible.” (Biblical Research Institute. Revisiting the Trinity: Biblical, Theological and Historical Reflections. 2025, p. 62.)

Rather, they claim that although the word “trinity” itself is not scriptural, the concept of a Trinity is assumed or implied. But is it really? Along with no scriptural support for the word “trinity”, the following words and phrases are also missing from the Bible: three in one Godhead, Triune God, unity of three persons (Divine Unity), God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial. How is an “implied” doctrine possible when none of the words describing the doctrine are present in God’s Word?

Such an important question as to the nature and identity of God, requires a clear (rather than implied) Biblical, “Thus sayeth the Lord.” Such a statement regarding the Trinity does not exist. There are however, several clear Bible texts that proclaim One God, the Father, and One Mediator, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ:

“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6)

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

For Seventh Day Adventists, the Spirit of Prophecy, through Ellen G. White, has provided us with additional clarity on many foundational Church doctrines. In all of her writings, she never uses the word trinity to describe the nature of God. Rather, she speaks of only two divine beings in the universe:

“Christ the Word, the Only Begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father, -one in nature, in character, and in purpose, - the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God.” (White, Ellen G. The Great Controversy, p. 493.)

A third divine being called God the Holy Spirit, was not included in their counsels.

Jesus: The Literal Son of God

The Bible calls Jesus the "only begotten Son of God" multiple times - John 1:14, 3:16, 1 John 4:9. Not once does it suggest this is metaphorical or some kind of role-play within a Trinity.

When King David declares,

“I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Psalms 2:7)

He is prophesying of the coming Messiah. This is confirmed when the apostle Paul repeats:

“For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?” (Hebrews 1:5)

Here the word begotten is the Greek word: gennao, from Strong’s Concordance meaning to:

“bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring.”

Nothing in these definitions indicate that this is not a literal father/son relationship.

The apostle John tells us that any doctrine that denies the Sonship of Jesus to the Father is a lie.

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?

He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)

The phrase “God the Son” is not found in the Bible. However, the Son of God is mentioned 48 times.

God Himself declared Jesus to be His Son twice:

“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mathew 3:17)

“And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” (Luke 9:35)

Jesus Himself refers to God as "my Father" over 60 times and "my God" 7 times in the Bible. Even on the cross, He cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

In John 14:28 He clearly states, "My Father is greater than I". That is because as the Son of God, Jesus is subordinate to the will of the Father. In Luke 22:42 He says when praying to His Father, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

It is presumptuous for us to say that the Father/Son relationship is not literal but only a metaphor or a role play, when both the Father and the Son have clearly proclaimed their relationship repeatedly.

Was There a Time When the Father Was Alone?

The Bible itself proclaims that Christ was brought forth Proverbs 8:23-25:

“I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth”

Here the word everlasting was translated from the ancient Hebrew word: olam. From Strong’s Concordance:

olam - always, ancient time, any more, continuance, eternal, for everlasting, long time

As you can see, other possible meanings for the word: olam could mean from ancient times or for a long time. So, an alternative translation of this text could be:

“I was set up from ancient times, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.”

Many early Adventist pioneers believed that Christ had a beginning - not that he was created, but that he was begotten by the Father at some point in the distant past.

E.J. Waggoner wrote,

"We know that Christ “proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42), but it was so far back in the ages of eternity as to be far beyond the grasp of the mind of man. (E. J. Waggoner, 1890, Christ And His Righteousness, page 9)

Uriah Smith wrote,

“God alone is without beginning. At the earliest epoch when a beginning could be, - a time so remote that to finite minds it is essentially eternity, - appeared the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. This uncreated Word was the Being, who, in the fullness of time, was made flesh, and dwelt among us." (Uriah Smith, Looking Unto Jesus, p. 10, 1898)

We know that the Father and the Son created the universe together. In Genesis 1:26 when God says, “Let Us make man in Our image,” He is talking to His Son (Ellen G. White, The Story of Redemption, p.6). This does not preclude the fact that Jesus Himself came forth from the Father prior to the creation of all things (Proverbs 8:22-25, John 8:42, 16:27).

So, the chronology was as follows:

The Father was alone in ancient times (olam).
His Son proceeded forth from the Father (was begotten).
Together the Father and Son created the angels, the heavens, the other worlds, the earth, the sea, and all that in them is.

So before Christ was "brought forth" and before the Father and Son created all things, there was a time when it was only the Father throughout the entire universe.

Jesus' Divine Nature Through Inheritance

Here's something crucial that often gets misunderstood: Jesus wasn't created. He was begotten. There's a huge difference. As the literal Son of God, Jesus inherited divine nature from his Father, just like we inherit our nature from our human parents. Hebrews 1:4 tells us He "by inheritance obtained a more excellent name" than the angels.

This makes Jesus fully divine - not because He's part of a Trinity, but because He's literally God's Son. Like begets like. That's why Jesus could accept worship (Matthew 14:33, Luke 24:53) and why Ellen G. White wrote that:

"The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted." (Ellen G. White, Youth's Instructor, July 7, 1898)

We believe that Jesus is fully divine precisely because of His Sonship to the Father, and that by denying the literal sonship of Christ, you deny the very thing that makes Him God.

So What is the Holy Spirit?

There is not a single Biblical text that proclaims a third divine being called: God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, and His Spirit, are mentioned 68 times in the scriptures. These texts point out that the Spirit is God, not a separate person. It is His Spirit. It is holy because God is holy.

The Holy Spirit is a part of the nature of God. It is the part of His being that allows Him to be omnipresent (everywhere at once). It is not some impersonal emanation, force, or power. It proceeds from the Father as an extension of His will. John 15:26 says, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me."

Jesus has this same Spirit which He received from His Father through inheritance. It is this Spirit which dwells within us when we accept Jesus as our personal savior, and are thus baptized by His Holy Spirit.

Since God's Spirit is omnipresent, it is able to operate separately from the Father and Son and can assume some of the same attributes of a person (i.e. it can comfort, give gifts, be grieved, be lied to, teach, etc.) This does not mean it is another entity called God the Holy Spirit.

Ellen G. White clearly identifies the Holy Spirit multiple times in her writings:

“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ; it is His representative.” (Ellen White, 13 MR 313.3, 1895)

“Christ has left His Holy Spirit to be His representative in the world,” (Ellen White, Lt84, October 22, 1895)

“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, which is sent to all men to give them sufficiency,” (Ellen White, 14MR 84.3)

“We want the Holy Spirit, which is Jesus Christ.” (Ellen White, Lt 66, April 10, 1894)

The Trinity is a Catholic Doctrine

Along with keeping Sunday holy instead of the seventh day Sabbath, the Catholic Church also claims the doctrine of the Trinity as their own and admit no Scriptural support:

“Question: Do you observe other necessary truths as taught by the [Catholic] Church, not clearly laid down in Scripture?

Answer: The doctrine of the Trinity, a doctrine the knowledge of which is certainly necessary to salvation, is not explicitly and evidently laid down in Scripture.” (Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p.174)

Seventh Day Adventists are deluding themselves when they say they don’t believe in the same Trinity as the Catholics. Here is the SDA Fundamental Belief Statement number 2 regarding the Trinity:

“There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons.” (S.D.A. Fundamental Beliefs, Fundamental belief number 2)

This Fundamental Belief statement is almost identical to that found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

48. How does the Church express her trinitarian faith?

“The Church expresses her trinitarian faith by professing a belief in the oneness of God in whom there are three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Along with most of the other Christian Protestant denominations, Seventh Day Adventists also hold the Trinity as one of their core beliefs:

“The doctrine of the Trinity is the very core of the Christian message.” Revisiting the Trinity: Biblical, Theological and Historical Reflections (BRI Studies on the Trinity Book 1, p. 91)

How can the central doctrine of the apostate Mother (Catholic) Church be the exact same doctrine of the Protestant daughter churches unless they are also apostate?

The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and subsequent councils developed these concepts using pagan Greek philosophical terms that were foreign to biblical writers. When we trace the historical development of Trinitarian theology, we find it becoming increasingly complex and removed from the simple, clear language of Scripture. The early church fathers who promoted these ideas were heavily influenced by Platonic philosophy (pagan in origin), which emphasized abstract concepts of divine essence and substance that simply don't appear in biblical revelation.

Why This Matters for Salvation

You might be thinking, does this really matter for salvation? Jesus himself answered this in John 17:3:

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Knowing the true identity of God isn't just theological hairsplitting - it's directly connected to eternal life. The apostle John wrote that believing Jesus is "the Son of God" gives us life through his name (John 20:31).

The Ultimate Sacrifice of Love

If you're a parent, then you understand something profound about God's love. You'd rather die yourself than lose one of your children. God felt the same way about Jesus. As the eternal Father and source of all creation, God couldn't die - His death would mean universal destruction.

But God loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice His most precious possession: His only begotten Son. Do you think it was easy for God to sacrifice His only Son? Ellen G. White had this to say about it:

“Three times He was shut in by the glorious light about the Father, and the third time He came out from the Father, His person could be seen. His countenance was calm, free from all perplexity and doubt, and shone with benevolence and loveliness, such as words cannot express. He then made known to the angelic host that a way of escape had been made for lost man. He told them that He had been pleading with His Father, and had offered to give His life a ransom, to take the sentence of death upon Himself…” (Ellen G. White, The Story of Redemption)

Jesus had to plead with His Father three times before He finally consented to the plan of salvation through the atoning blood of His Son.

God is not selfish, He offered up His most precious thing, His Son as a sacrifice in order to redeem mankind. As the divine and only Son of God, Jesus was the only one who could redeem man. No angel could have taken His place. No mere created being would have sufficed. Christ was the only way. His role as Son in no way diminishes His position within the Godhead, Rather, it magnifies it because, without His sacrifice there could be no reconciliation with the Father.

Standing on Biblical Truth

At the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves: Are we going to stand on clear biblical statements, or are we going to accept doctrines based on implication and the traditions of man? The early Adventist pioneers chose Scripture over tradition, even when it meant standing alone.

James White wrote:

“The great fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming. Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the Trinity, and Sunday keeping, the church would now be free from scriptural errors.” (James White, February 7, 1856, Review and Herald, vol 7, no. 19, page 148, par. 26)

The question "Who is God?" has a clear biblical answer: There is one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, His literal Son. The Holy Spirit is their shared omnipresense that dwells within believers making them temples of the living God. It's simple, it's scriptural, and it magnifies the incredible sacrifice made for our salvation.

This understanding doesn't diminish Christ's divinity - it explains it. It doesn't minimize the Holy Spirit - it reveals whose Spirit it actually is. Most importantly, it presents us with a God whose love is so profound that He gave His most precious gift to save rebellious humanity. This is true love and a mystery that all of creation will spend eternity in deep study and contemplation.

As Historic Seventh Day Adventists, Everlasting Way Advent Ministry holds to the same Biblical Truth of the One True God and His Son Jesus Christ, that the original church founders held. We feel it our duty and privilege to share this Truth with all who are willing to hear it, in preparation for that glorious day of our Lord and Saviors’ soon return. God bless.