Recently I came across an article in which the author claimed that all Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity and anyone who doesn’t isn’t a Christian, but a heretic instead.

Consider the plight of the person who had just cried out to God for forgiveness and has no idea about any doctrine regarding the Trinity. All he knows is his lost condition without Jesus and thus he cries out to the Lord for forgiveness and salvation. Is he not saved because he has no knowledge about the doctrine of the Trinity?

In the book of Acts we read about a group of believers who had no knowledge about the Holy Spirit until Paul ministered to them.

And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost… ~ Acts 19:1-2

Notice that these disciples had not even heard about the Holy Spirit, so obviously they had no doctrine of the Trinity.

And he (Paul) said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. ~ Acts 19:3-6

Notice that these were disciples but they had yet to hear about the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul in no way discredits their faith in Jesus, nor does he attempt to persuade them to believe in Jesus. They had already believed the gospel John the Baptist preached concerning Jesus, and they had been baptized by John. If these disciples had died before Paul had gotten to them, they would have gone into the presence of the Lord because they had believed the gospel preached by John the Baptist – they had believed in Jesus!

Salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not through any doctrine of man.

I wholeheartedly affirm and believe in the divine attributes of God as revealed in the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, but I find many evangelicals have, at best, a very flawed understanding of scripture regarding the Godhead.

There is only one God, and he has a Son who is the Savior of the world, and he gives his Spirit to all who trust in him.

Lord willing, there will be more to come on this topic.