Why Are Non-Trinitarian Believers Sometimes Labeled as Non-Christian?

General Faith
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The question of why non-Trinitarian believers are sometimes labeled as non-Christian is one that touches on deep theological convictions and centuries of church history. For many, the doctrine of the Trinity—belief in one God existing in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is seen as a cornerstone of orthodox Christianity. However, there are devout believers who, while fully affirming the deity of Jesus and the authority of Scripture, do not adhere to the traditional Trinitarian formula. This raises important questions:

Is belief in the Trinity a necessary criterion for being considered a true Christian?
How do we define the boundaries of Christian identity and fellowship?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this—why do you think this issue is so divisive, and how should the Christian community navigate these differences?

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The Bible does not allow us to redefine who God is. The second someone dismisses the full identity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as God, they are no longer believing in the God of Scripture. This is not an issue of words or tribes. This is an issue of whether someone is worshiping the true God or a god of their own design.

God reveals Himself in Genesis and Revelation as one God who is Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father is God ~1 Peter 1:2. The Son is God ~John 1: 1 and is worshiped as God ~Hebrews 1:8. The Spirit is God as Peter equates lying to the Holy Spirit with lying to God ~Acts 5:3 through 4. All three are eternally God, all three act with divine authority, and all three are involved in creation, salvation, and judgment. Scripture is equally clear there is only one God ~Isaiah 45:5.

Salvation is directly tied to knowing and believing the true Christ. “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” ~John 8:24. The phrase “ego eimi” that Jesus uses is the exact wording that God used to identify Himself to Moses. Denying the full identity of Jesus is not a minor difference. It is a denial of the very nature of the Savior. John wrote that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father ~1 John 2:23. John also said that if someone truly honors God, and then denies who God is, Scripture says they do not know Him at all ~John 5:23.

This is why the issue is so sharp. If someone rejects what Scripture plainly reveals about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, they are not just disagreeing theologically. They are placing their faith in a different god. The Bible warns us about “another Jesus” and “another gospel” ~2 Corinthians 11:4. Sincerity cannot save someone if the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus that Scripture reveals.

So there is a division because of this reality: the identity of God is not optional. It is the foundation of the gospel itself. The Christian community must walk this out with both clarity and compassion. We are called to speak the truth in love ~Ephesians 4:15. We cannot treat a denial of the full deity of Christ or the personhood of the Spirit as if it is compatible with biblical Christianity. Scripture has drawn the line and we simply agree with God.

This is not about winning an argument. It is about guarding the truth of who God is, because the gospel is found in Him alone.

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I believe it comes down to organization and authority.

You can believe anything you want about anything. But the Trinity has been a Doctrine held by the church for nearly two thousand years, minus 300 some years or so. Wrong or right, it is one of the big unifying beliefs of the Christian Church. And any group, church, denomination that counters it separates themselves from the larger Church. It is right up their with the Doctrine that Christ is both Man And God- not just a man as other faiths say and not just a god as Gnostics claim.

The further out you go from what is agreed upon, the more on the fringe you walk. Non- Trinitarian Churches are relatively new compared to the larger Christian Church. And those who created that Doctrine did so in Rebellion to the Larger Church. It is Contradictory. With that said, you have to ask yourself, what spirit do they walk in if they are reblling against something?

From my own personal experience, such churches appear controlling, manipulative, hammering out hell fire and brimstone to scare the people to the alter and keep them in the pews… cults tend to use these ways of locking members in.

The more we counter established Doctrine, and stand outside of what has been long held, the more we risk going astray from God. The Reverend Jim Jones is an excellent example of this. He was lined up with a larger church organization/authority over him. The Church kept him in check, and ensured that his congregation were safe. Then he broke away, took his congregation to an ialand and slaughtered many of them. As with many cults, his path came to a head and lead him to destroy life. That was the natural by-product of the spirit he was walking in.

If your words are filled with hate and rage and damnation being poured out… such a spirit only leads to destruction. You cannot save life through judgement and condemnation. That spirit only punishes and destroys life. Salvation requires a Spirit of Grace and Forgiveness and LOVE, as Christ embodied through His life.

I don’t judge what you or anyone else believes. I am not looking to control you or get you to follow me. But I do care about where your path is taking you. As a Theologian Professor once taught me, my actions and direction don’t just affect me but all those around me- Those I meet along the way. And those who walk beside me. And those who are invested in me. The consequences of a wrong move affects us all, eventually, in some way. That is simple cause and effect. So whatever you do, make it count. Lives and souls may depend on it.

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I appreciate your perspective. You’ve shared it with genuine concern and conviction, and I respect that. I think where some of us differ isn’t in rebelling against historic doctrine or seeking to “walk in another spirit,” but in our understanding of how the one true God revealed Himself.

For me, it’s not about rejecting the deity of Christ or the work of the Spirit—it’s about seeing that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Jesus (Colossians 2:9). I believe the same eternal Spirit who spoke creation into existence manifested Himself in flesh to redeem us. That doesn’t come from a place of rebellion, but from a sincere desire to honor Scripture’s own revelation of who God is.

I completely agree that salvation comes through grace, forgiveness, and love—those are the fruits of Christ’s Spirit, and they should mark all of us regardless of how we articulate the mystery of His nature. My goal isn’t to divide the body, but to point back to the simplicity of the gospel: that God Himself came to save us, and His name is Jesus.

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Personally I embrace questions and am leery of answers. Especially quick and easy answers. I naturally question authority. Not because I want to rebel but because I don’t trust easily. If I have a person who approaches me with a message from God, I always take it with a grain of salt because anyone good or bad, honest or liar can claim that.

Like I was telling someone the other day, if a bright light surrounded you and you suddenly had a full on conversation with someone or something not of this world, honestly, how could you tell if it was God, an angel, a demon, a spirit, something other dimensional, an alien, the result of someone drugging you or screwing with your brain, or a mental health crisis playing out? You can’t know. All you have is their word and your belief.

But you can decide what your moral compass is. You can choose for yourself what lines you absolutely will not cross. You can look at the information given by this Other and guage it with what you know. Study Spirituality and Scripture long establiahed, spend time alone in prayer and meditation, study ethics and psychology and those great thinkers of Wisdom, and so on. We don’t just avoid murdering people because God said so. If we embraced murder as a practice society would collapse. There is a Reason, a Wisdom, behind the rule and the law. Amd when someone comes along and encourages us to kill our neighbors, we can seriously question the source of those words. Contradictions should be questioned. Sources should be questioned.

I am like Thomas who had to put his own fingers into the wounds of Christ. I need to know that its truth without being pushed and harassed into it.

I believe it is possible for the Church to be wrong about many things. Any church or group or leader can be wrong. And I don’t let a Doctrine or a belief be a sticking point, especially when only God can set the record straight. I can’t know what the truth is about any of this. Only God knows. And what I believe does not make it any more or less true.

But if the doctrine or belief leads me to do evil, then we have a problem. Then something must be done. We can’t allow that which leads us to hurt and harm to continue to have power over us and our loved ones, or have influence over our choices or our lives.

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The trinity is a difficult subject to try to wrap your head around. I think that there is concern that if someone holds a lower view of Christ, their faith may not be in what he did to pay for their sins.

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Many believers know to trust Jesus..

To believe He is the son of the living God.

The issue of Traditional doctrinal creeds like the Trinity or OSA, etc.

are that they don’t explain everything they don’t mean by them. Or everything they do mean.

It changes the foundation at times to the Doctrine and not Jesus Christ. If you build on doctrine it may lead to religion, a system, one must believe to be true, rather than who one must trust in.

One leads to judgment, while the other leads to empathy, mercy and grace.

With judgment we can stop people from entering the kingdom, but with grace and mercy we can help to invite them in.

In conclusion the doctrinal creed of the Trinity is the Lens not only will people view from, but will try and make scripture they may not understand fit into. Hence, judge others because you will not see things like they do. Some of them contribute to circular reasoning almost cultic where as people become brain washed the more they make solid belief systems from them.

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Hello The_Omega.

The answer to me is this.

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.“ Romans 10:9

Then, of course, you have this.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John3:16-18

I personally believe that scripture teaches the Trinity. Some do not see it this way. I do not believe this is something to divide over. There are some things, of course; however, I do not see this as one.

Peter

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My understanding of scripture would make me a “non” as well. They still like me and consider me a brother in Christ.

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I must strongly disagree, @PeterC, because this is indeed a salvific issue, concerning the Triune Godhead whom many tragically deny.

Thanks .

J.

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The truth is not blurry here. Scripture ties salvation to who Jesus is, not who we want Him to be”. The Bible teaches that the Son is eternal, divine, and one with the Father. So when someone denies the true identity of Christ, as Scripture reveals Him, they are not just disagreeing on a secondary issue. They are rejecting the very Lord they must believe in, in order to be saved. Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” ~John 8:24. His words show this is not an option. It is life or death.

Romans 10:9 does not promise salvation to “any Jesus”, but to the Jesus who is Lord. The Greek word is Kurios, the same title used for Yahweh in the Old Testament. To confess Jesus as Lord is to confess Him as the eternal God who came in the flesh. John 1 states “the Word was God” and “the Word became flesh” ~John 1:1 and 1:14. Scripture never presents Jesus as a created being or a lesser divine figure**. It presents Him as fully God and fully man.** To deny that is to deny the One who saves.

John 3:16 through 18 says the one who believes in Him has life, and the one who does not believe “is condemned already”. Believing in Him is not believing in a title. It is believing in the true Son who was sent from the Father. God does not save through a false Christ. The Bible warns false Christ’s and false gospels cannot save ~2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:8. That is why the identity of Jesus matters. If someone strips Him of His deity, they have created a different savior who cannot save.

This is not about dividing over preference. This is about standing where Scripture stands. Salvation requires believing in the real Jesus. If a person rejects His true nature, they reject the One who gives eternal life. That is why this issue is not small. According to the Word of God, it cuts right to the heart of salvation.

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What you’re saying is not harmless. It is the same deception Scripture warns about from the very beginning. In Genesis 3 the serpent’s strategy was simple. He did not deny God. He denied the clarity of what God said. “Has God really said” ~Genesis 3:1. You’re doing the same thing by treating the truth about who Jesus is as optional, flexible, or secondary. Scripture does not give that option.

Jesus said “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” ~John 8:24. That means the identity of the Son is not a side topic. It is salvation. John wrote “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father” ~1 John 2:23. Paul said anyone who presents “another Jesus” brings a false gospel that cannot save ~2 Corinthians 11:4. The Bible is not unclear. If someone gets Jesus wrong, they are not saved. There is no gray area.

Your argument that doctrine about Christ causes judgment is the exact reasoning false teachers used in the New Testament. They claimed truth divides, so it should be set aside for the sake of unity. But Scripture says the opposite. “They are of the world and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us” ~1 John 4:5-6. The dividing line is truth, not feelings.

Calling the biblical identity of Jesus a “lens” or a “system” only shows that you are trying to loosen what God tightened. You are inviting people to trust a Jesus they define for themselves. That is idolatry, not faith. The Word of God gives us the real Jesus, the eternal Word who was God and became flesh ~John 1:1 and 1:14. Anything else is a counterfeit.

This teaching is dangerous because it pulls people away from the real Christ and into a false peace. Scripture is clear. The moment you detach “trusting Jesus” from believing the truth about who He actually is, you are no longer pointing people to salvation. You are pointing them to destruction.

I will stand where Scripture stands. Truth about Christ is not negotiable. It is the difference between life and death.

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“What you’re saying is not harmless. It is the same deception Scripture warns about from the very beginning. In Genesis 3 the serpent’s strategy was simple. He did not deny God. He denied the clarity of what God said. “Has God really said” ~Genesis 3:1. You’re doing the same thing by treating the truth about who Jesus is as optional, flexible, or secondary. Scripture does not give that option.”

I disagee…you see when people can’t say all they do not mean by a doctrine or all they do mean, as already stated, it limits God to a box. I believe our experiences are as limited as to how we see God.

I experience this in a thread: Example→I said in brief, there may be a difference between the Holyghost and Holy Spirit. The first thing someone thought I was speaking about..was that God was more than 3.

OSAS for example never looks at salvation as a whole…it limits salvation to particular passages. THE effects are: That many people can’t see salvation out from merely receiving the Spirit hence, going to heaven when they die. Which limits their knowledge, experience with God.

Many people see the word “saved” in the Bible and automatically think: heaven when they die and never can see how God can save them from things happening in the world they now live, nor might they see what it has to do with God’s presence in this life, and how we live from love in His surrounding.

So I definitely believe with no question the harm done is not by letting scriptures speak for themselves in context.. So I’d reverse that passage “Has God Really Said”and use it for you. And I know that what you are saying is harmful to the spiritual growth of the church. Because it’s man that create doctrinal creeds…And the foundation is not Man’s creeds that operate from human knowledge. The foundation is Jesus The Christ.

I do not limit anybody but allowing them to read the Bible from fresh eyes where the Holy Spirit can open their mind to what He wants to reveal.

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Jesus said “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” ~John 8:24. That means the identity of the Son is not a side topic. It is salvation. John wrote “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father” ~1 John 2:23. Paul said anyone who presents “another Jesus” brings a false gospel that cannot save ~2 Corinthians 11:4. The Bible is not unclear. If someone gets Jesus wrong, they are not saved. There is no gray area

No it’s not a side topic ..but you do not have to create doctrinal creeds for people to see it by just reading it.

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Your argument that doctrine about Christ causes judgment is the exact reasoning false teachers used in the New Testament.

What I am talking about is when men try to box God in man made doctrines who can’t say everything that it could mean, or everything it can’t mean. Why can’t they-because things about God need revelation…it’s God who shares His life with us.

They claimed truth divides, so it should be set aside for the sake of unity.

The truth is in the Bible…God can’t be contained in a box. One will miss everything that goes beyond the boxes about God that men create.

But Scripture says the opposite. “They are of the world and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us” ~1 John 4:5-6. The dividing line is truth, not feelings.

And I’d have to apply that passage to you…

It didn’t say listen to God boxed by doctrinal creeds made by men. That’s not listening to God but listening to doctrines made by men. And so the scripture is truth but applied to you:

They are of the world and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to u

Calling the biblical identity of Jesus a “lens” or a “system”

That’s not what I said…I’m speaking of doctrinal creeds made by man..that put God in a box.

As I said earlier the Bible speaks for itself.

The lens is the doctrinal creeds made by man that can’t say all that is meant, or can’t say all that is not meant about God…

only shows that you are trying to loosen what God tightened.

Its the other way around it shows you “trying to loosen what God has tighten” which is the word unboxed.

You are inviting people to trust a Jesus they define for themselves.

Contrary wise, that is what has been done and you obviously listened to because you accept the boxing of God by man’s doctrinal creeds.

That is idolatry, not faith.

No when you box God: that becomes religion and not a relationship

The Word of God gives us the real Jesus, the eternal Word who was God and became flesh

Then why not stick to it?

~John 1:1 and 1:14. Anything else is counterfeit.

You said it, and that ’s what you have when the foundation is doctrinal creeds created by men to box God where they can understand with human knowledge, instead of the foundation which is Jesus the living word.

This teaching is dangerous because it pulls people away from the real Christ and into a false peace.

Who said anything about a teaching- it’s doctrinal creeds made by man..that are dangerous …and yes you got it right…one believes they have peace and can’t experience it..not because I defend reading the Bible… for the Bible…but because creeds made by man box God.

Scripture is clear. The moment you detach “trusting Jesus” from believing the truth about who He actually is, you are no longer pointing people to salvation. You are pointing them to destruction.

Yes then stop trying to Put him in a :package:

I will stand where Scripture stands. Truth about Christ is not negotiable.

Then listen to the unadulterated truth..”the word”..for itself…and not through the lenses of doctrinal creeds.

It is the difference between life and death.

You got that right :white_check_mark:

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Hey bdavidc

I think you and Johann misunderstood my point. I’m pretty sure it was my fault for not making it clear. YES, Jesus is God. Yes, I believe in the Trinity. Yes, you cannot get to Gog if you leave God out.

My point is, if you look at the situation as a new Christian. They are drinking milk. They need the basics. John 3:16-18 as an example. They need to understand that Jesus died, rather, was resurrected, for them to have eternal life. Along with not being baptised, I am not certain that the thief on the cross understood, Jesus was God.

Now, as the babe grows in faith and wisdom, they can learn that Christ is God and start “eating solid food.” Learn a deeper understanding of Jesus, God, and so on.

Of course, if someone denies that Jesus is God after hearing the truth, then yes, they are in danger of hell. Again, you cannot get to God if you leave God out.

Peter

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No, I understand you, @PeterC, and I agree with what you’re saying here. I’m not here to persecute you, brother. Please don’t associate my name with @bdavidc.
J.

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It would be of benefit to talk about when the Trinity became official church doctrine. The Roman Emperor Cornelius called church leaders together in the 4th century to announce he wanted to become a Christian but there were some beliefs that he found were not clear. So he wanted the church leaders to come up with a document which spelt out the official teachings of the church. One of these was is God a Trinity or not. They decided He is. They excommunicated any bishops and priests who said God is not a Trinity.

Why did some believe that God is not a Trinity? Well the word does not appear in the Bible. If God in the form of Jesus died, who resurrected him. Who did Jesus pray to. The Bible calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation” which seems to say that he is not the same as God but was created by Him. A number of church leaders were unsure about the Trinity doctrine by the 4th century, as many are today. After all, should we believe what the Bible says, or the Nicean Creed from the 4th century.

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Hello Captain Colin, the Bible also says He is God. He even said He is God. The Word declares;

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

The entire Bible is all about Jesus. Jesus asked this simple question.

“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “[The Son] of David.” He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’ ? “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” Matthew 22:41-45

David can say, “The LORD said to my Lord” because the psalm, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, refers to two different figures: the LORD, God the Father, and his “Lord”, the Messiah, or Jesus Christ. While the Messiah is a descendant of David, the phrase shows that the Messiah is also greater than David, a divine being who is a “lord” to him.

Then, of course, you have these famous statements by Jesus Himself.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58

“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

The Bible also states this.

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” 1 Corinthians 8:6

Yes, the three have differing roles at specific times. Yet they are all God.

Peter

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Stop twisting my words and using my name to stir division. That’s not how the Spirit of God works. Scripture warns, “Speak evil of no man” ~Titus 3:2, and says, “Let all bitterness and evil speaking be put away from you” ~Ephesians 4:31. When we use our words to attack or separate, we’re not walking in truth but in the flesh ~Galatians 5:19-21. I’m not here for drama, only to stand on Scripture. Keep the focus on God’s Word, not on personal attacks. Your true spirit is showing.