Do You Need To Believe In The Trinity For Salvation?

Gregory Thompson

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?
From how I understand it, if you experience the trinity, then you were born again by the Holy Spirit.

If the type of unity you experience resembles modalism, then another transformation occurred, but not the biblical one.

I recall it taking a long time for me to understand anything about the trinity or how it affected my every day life. But Jesus did pray to the Father "may they be one as we are" so if you are part of the "they" Jesus referred to, it becomes part of your experience.

I get the sense that Trinity is listed as a mandatory doctrine because of the spiritual significance of what that assurance suggests.
 
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Not David

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?
Well, if you want to have a relationship with God, it should not be a wrong understanding of God.
 
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Albion

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Well, if you want to have a relationship with God, it should not be a wrong understanding of God.
It's a good point you made.

If salvation is dependent upon faith in the true God, it cannot also be the case that belief in just any god will do.

Can people who say that they believe in Jesus in some way or other but either 1) do not think of him as God in the flesh, or else 2) do not think that he is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost as the true god...

be thought of as followers of Our Lord simply because they use the same name (Jesus) for whomever or whatever they have pictured in their own minds and defined for themselves? Well, no.
 
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SkyWriting

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?

If you reject God's Holy Spirit, then you are done for.
That is the one unforgivable sin.
 
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Irkle Berserkle

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?
How can anyone but God possibly give you an answer to that question? Some who have no idea will say yes. Some who have no idea will say no. Decide for yourself what you believe about the nature of God and live with it.
 
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Rachel20

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I like to keep it simple, so I only need to know one thing - no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. Anyone trying to enter in any other way is a thief and robber. Holding perfect theology is far secondary to this as I see in the good Samaritan story.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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The Athanasian Creed seems to state so....
Since God does not show favoritism, the intellectual assent is not necessary, (for salvation, since those don't save) avoiding the anathema from fanatics is probably a smart move though.
 
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GreekOrthodox

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IMHO, the Christian faith has to be approached as a whole. If you reject the Nicene version of the Trinity, other parts of your theology are going to change. For example, if Jesus is a human who was gifted to become divine after His resurrection, how will that impact the meaning of His earthly ministry, death and resurrection? You could go down an Islamic path that Jesus was the second to last prophet to be succeeded by Muhammad. You could alternatively go down the path to where Jesus is simply a moral teacher, no greater than other philosophers and other religious leaders.
 
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ViaCrucis

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?

Do you mean that we have to subscribe to the theological proposition of Trinitarianism in order to be saved? I'd argue no. I don't think salvation comes down to a theology exam.

If salvation depended upon us having the right understanding of God--t's crossed, i's dotted, etc--we'd be in trouble.

For one, over the years of studying and discussing theology has led me to realize that the doctrine of the Trinity is very, very, very frequently misunderstood. Even by many, many devout and believing Christians.

I've seen Christians who have said they believe in the Trinity then go on to explain the Trinity in implicitly heretical ways. In fact, sometimes in very anti-Trinitarian ways (but they don't know any better, because it has never been carefully taught).

Our salvation comes from the Trinity, it comes from God. It is the work of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

When it comes to the salvation of heretics, I think that the Eastern Orthodox theologian St. Theophan the Recluse says it best when he writes (I'm partly paraphrasing and working from memory), "Do not worry about the salvation of the heterodox, for they have a Savior who loves them and desires their salvation just as you do". At the same time, Theophan warns of the danger of abandoning truth for heresy. In other words, Theophan says that those who are outside of the true faith are not cut off from salvation by this fact alone; because Jesus Christ is still Jesus Christ. But if we knowingly abandon the faith for error, then we move away from Christ, away from the Gospel, away from our faith.

In other words, we have to put our faith and hope in Christ, believing that God has everything figured out even if we don't.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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SkyWriting

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IMHO, the Christian faith has to be approached as a whole. If you reject the Nicene version of the Trinity, other parts of your theology are going to change. For example, if Jesus is a human who was gifted to become divine after His resurrection, how will that impact the meaning of His earthly ministry, death and resurrection? You could go down an Islamic path that Jesus was the second to last prophet to be succeeded by Muhammad. You could alternatively go down the path to where Jesus is simply a moral teacher, no greater than other philosophers and other religious leaders.

I don't read any creeds, although I've heard of it. Scripture discourages any creeds or repeated prayers said in public.
 
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Der Alte

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?
Earlier you said you did not read creeds. Do you read the Bible?
(Joh 5:23) That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.​
Honor the Father exactly as you honor the Father.
 
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ChetSinger

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?
I don't think so. Many, including myself, have been saved by putting their faith in Christ without understanding the nature of the trinity.

That being said, the deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are teachings that any church must teach new believers.
 
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SkyWriting

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Not true.
I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true.
But I would say it even if churches don't teach it.

Jesus taught, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men … but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.”

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.

James 5:12
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Or creed.
Or said in public.

Matthew 5:33-37
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

A creed is like an oath.
 
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Bruce Leiter

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?
Jesus says that we must baptize new disciples in the name of the Trinity, but I never judge whether a person is truly a Christian because God only knows the heart. New Christians must be educated that God is Trinity, a true mystery.
 
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Davy

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Is salvation dependent on the belief in the trinity as many I have come across suggest?

Yes, unquestionably.

Reason is, because the word 'trinity' simply means 'three' with pointing to the triune Godhead of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. If you don't accept them All as One, then you reveal doubt as any of them being GOD. And that includes Jesus Christ too!

So what all these fake posts about questioning the identity of The Godhead are in reality about, is to confuse the weak minded away from their Faith on Jesus Christ as God having come in the flesh!
 
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