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The Trinity as the Early Mormons Were Taught By the Christians

Research by Kerry A. Shirts

I have been told that we Mormons simply do not understand what the Trinity is or what it is all about from the Christian view. So I thought it would make an interesting study to see what the Mormons were told by the Christians as the Mormons labored among them as missionaries. I confine myself to the Journal of Discourses, not because they are an exhaustive treatise on the Trinity, but because of the interesting way the Mormons were taught the Trinity and in which they rebutted it in the Journal of Discourses. I also found that the Christians dealings with the early Mormons also misunderstood the Mormon concept of the Plurality of Gods. I also discovered that, far from rejecting the Bible, the Mormons fell back on the Bible literally time and time again in order to combat the false ideas promulgated by the Christians who were slamming the Mormons with their creeds, and rejecting the literal Bible teachings.

Orson Pratt, the most traveled Mormon missionary on the planet had a most interesting comment. After he had elaborated a bit on the Christians' ideas on God he said:

"You may think I am misrepresenting our Christian friends. I will therefore say that for many years now I have been engaged, more or less, in the study of religion, and have therefore read quite extensively the ideas of the religious world. I have not accepted the ideas of a few individuals belonging to the various sects, but I have appealed to their standard writings, their articles of faith, which are adopted by the various religious bodies and known as their creeds. For instance, in the articles of faith of a great many of the religious sects, an idea like this is set forth--that there is a Being who is entirely spiritual, called God, and that Being is described as consisting of three persons, and these three persons are without body, without parts and without passions. Such is the God that is worshiped by the Methodists--a people whom I highly respect, and whose meetings I attended in my early youth more than those of any other religious denomination. The three persons that compose this one God are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, all of whom are said to be without bodies or passions; and in connection with this, one of the cardinal doctrines of their faith, they tell us that one of this holy Trinity, namely Jesus, was crucified, dead and buried and that on the third day he arose again from the dead and ascended into heaven."[1]

The Methodists of Pratt's day believed in the trinity of three persons in one God, a spiritual being without body, parts or passions. Pratt's observation that one of the three in this one God, namely Jesus was crucified and rose and ascended into heaven is especially poignant in light of the Methodist idea of the one God not having a bodily nature! Charles Penrose, likewise, as late as 1884, discussed the ideas of the Trinity as the Christians had taught him, whether personally or in their writings:

"They say that there are three of them, and yet there is only one; that God has no body, neither parts nor passions. Yet this thing that has no substance, and no parts, we are told, has three parts, one part of which had a body, and that body was composed of parts. And we are told also that it has no passions. Yet this one part of that things which has no body and no parts and no passions had a body and parts and had passions. Jesus experienced the same things that a man experiences, lived like a man, and died like a man, to some extent. Now, who can understand these contradictions which are to be found in the creeds of modern Christendom? The Athanasian Creed was read in the Church of England, as it is called, when I was a boy, and I believe it is now. I think the American Episcopal Church has discarded it, which was very sensible. It says:

"Whosoever will be saved, before all things he must hold the Catholic faith, which faith except he do keep whole and undefiled he shall, without doubt, perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this: "That we worship one God in Trinity, and trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, but their glory is equal, and their majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such the Holy Ghost. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. The Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord, and yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. For while we are compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge each person by himself to be both God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic faith to say that there be three Gods or three Lords."

It goes on to show how that these three are all exactly alike, and then to declare that they are all essentially different. It explains that the Son is begotten while the Father is not, and then that the Holy Ghost is proceeding not begotten, while the Son is not proceeding, neither is the Father, yet at the same time they are all the same, and to cap the climax of the pile of absurdities it announces that: "The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost is incomprehensible, yet they are not three incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible."

Well, that is an attempt of man to explain God. As I said in the beginning of my remarks, we do not pretend that we can comprehend God in his fullness in our finite and mortal condition here on the earth, because he is an infinite being. But we are promised that "the day shall come when we shall comprehend God, being quickened in him." Jesus said: "This is life eternal, to know thee the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."[2]

Now this confusion is apparent enough, as well as the reasons why there are so many problems with it in the Mormons' minds. To Mormons, there was a perfect earthly analogy to the Godhead, within the very church structure itself. "At the head of this Church are three men who are united in all things as to its government, representing the Holy Trinity who also are one; not one in personality, but one in spirit, one in faith, one in action, one in desire, one in object."[3] The analogy was perfect for an understanding, as it still is today. Lorenzo D. Young expanded the analogy with perfect logic: "We acknowledge brother Brigham Young as President of this Church: we have long acknowledged him as such; also brother Heber C. Kimball as his first, and brother Daniel H. Wells as his second Counsellor. This Quorum constitutes an embodied power. Where does it centre? In the head, and it compares with the triune Godhead--the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Are these three men who compose the First Presidency one? They are. God has ordained them on earth to fulfil his purposes, build up his kingdom, cast down Babylon, establish righteousness on the face of all the earth, cleanse this planet from corruption, and prepare it for a dwelling place for immortal Saints."[4]

Orson Pratt's analytical mind simply could not make heads or tails of the Christian creeds which had no analogy for God, whether in heaven or on earth: "You, my hearers, try now with me for a few moments to comprehend, if you can, a being consisting of three persons, and these three persons without any body, parts or passions. I had been taught, when studying the exact sciences, that everything that existed was composed of parts, that there could not exist anything as a whole unless it existed as parts. I could not, therefore, understand how it was that one of these three persons could be crucified if he had no body; how it was possible and be consistent with reason, for him to lay down his body--something he never possessed--and arise again from the tomb, taking up that same body. This is indeed a mystery!"[5] Note that Orson Pratt is grappling with the concept as he was taught by the Christians of his own day.

William C. Dunbar likewise acknowledged the difficulty in accepting the Christians' idea of the Trinity as the Christians had taught in his day. The problem stemmed from the Mormons accepting the Bible's teachings which the Christians did not. There is rich irony in this today as Christians are saying we Mormons do not accept the Bible at all, while they do!

"Our children were baptized when they were eight years old, but that was more by our agency than theirs. The gift of the Holy Ghost was conferred upon them, and that Spirit is within them, and if they understood its whisperings and dictates I believe that they would admit they know a great deal more than they now think they do; and if they would heed its teachings it would lead them in the was of eternal life. But there is a great difference between the "Mormons" and the rest of the religious world when we come to the fundamental principles of all religion, namely, belief in God. The sectarian world say that they believe in God, but that he has neither body, parts nor passions, and yet there are three persons in the godhead--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If you were to attend the Sabbath schools of our friends who are not of us, you would probably hear these principles taught. But this is not in accordance with the Bible, for that teaches that God made man in his own image. If you want to know what the Almighty looks like, look at man, only he is in a fallen condition and clothed with humanity. Jesus said that he was the express image and likeness of his Father. The "Mormons" believe this, but the sectarians believe in a God without Body, parts and passions; they believe in Jesus sitting at the right hand of a God without body parts and passions; and they believe in a God who loves the righteous, and who is angry with the wicked every day, but yet he has neither body, parts nor passions. I am not saying this with a design to deride, or anything of the kind, but I am simply stating facts as they are. The "Mormons" believe these things just as the Bible tells them; they believe that God is a great and exalted Being, filled with knowledge and understanding, that he created this earth..."[6]

Brigham Young understood the spiritual nature of God and his omnipotent influence to be the office and calling of the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit which could spread God's influence throughout the universe, because of his "spirit" nature: "The Holy Ghost, we believe, is one of the characters that form the Trinity, or the Godhead. Not one person in three, nor three persons in one; but the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one in essence, as the hearts of three men who are united in all things. He is one of the three characters we believe in, whose office it is to administer to those of the human family who love the truth. I have stated that they are one, as the hearts of three men might be one. Lest you should mistake me, I will say that I do not wish you to understand that the Holy Ghost is a personage having a tabernacle, like the Father and the Son; but he is God's messenger that diffuses his influence through all the works of the Almighty."[7] Their oneness, as Brigham always understood it, did not consist in a physical oneness, rather in a unity of thought and action, since they all had the same goal and power to achieve that goal: "Have we not learned enough with regard to the character of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to at once believe, admit, and affirm that the Holy Ghost always has and always will operate precisely according to the suggestion of the Father? Not a desire, act, wish, or thought does the Holy Ghost indulge in contrary to that which is dictated by the Father. We all sense this in a degree, because it has always been taught to us. It is taught in the Bible, in the revelations given through Joseph, and in the preaching by the Elders of Israel. It is our tradition, education, and experience in the kingdom of God."[8]

Orson Pratt declared the significance of the Father and Son as Personages of Bodily nature: "The Latter-day Saints believe that there is a true and living God, that this true and living God consists of three separate, distinct persons, which have bodies, parts and passions, which belief is in direct opposition to this man-made doctrine. We believe that God, the Eternal Father, who reigns in yonder heavens, is a distinct personage from Jesus Christ, as much so as an earthly father is distinct in his existence from his son. That is something I can comprehend, which I conceive to be the doctrine of revelation. We read about Jesus having been seen, after he arose from the dead. Stephen the Martyr, just before he was stoned to death, testified to the Jewish people that were standing before him at the time, saying, "Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." Here, then, the Father and Jesus, two distinct personages, were seen, and both had bodies."[9]

And the early Mormons were constantly opposed by the Trinitarians of their day. Orson Pratt would consistently argue back and forth with Christians who would not try to understand:

"But says one, if you adopt that sentiment, then your people believe in a plurality of gods, and we have all been taught in the Christian world that there is but one personal God, or rather three persons in the Trinity--the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Well, these three are called one, are they not? Yes, they are called one. Jesus prays that all his disciples may be made one, as he and the Father are one. If ever that prayer is answered, then, in one sense of the word, there would only be one God, but, in another sense of the word, there would not only be three, but a great many personal beings called gods."[10] Note how Mormons adapted the literalism of Jesus' words in the New Testament, while Christians to this day refuse to do so.

At one point when political pressure was gathering steam against the Mormons because they were organized and vote together as a group, which really disturbed the rest of the nation, Brigham Young emphasized the Oneness of God again from another angle, which rather than being a contradiction, demonstrates that Mormons really did believe in this idea of Oneness as Jesus had prayed, not only for the next life, but for the here and now:

"Well, where is the harm in this? I wish the world, or any scientific men in it, would detail the error in a people being one; and I will go still further, and say, being one in the Lord, as we are commanded and recommended to be. Even in the wicked world, where there is so much confusion, where is the good that arises from contention and opposition? I have not seen it, and, as I have said, I cannot see the point. But here in Utah that "one-man power" is such a terrible thing. I would ask: Who is that man, and where is the power, and what is the power? It is the power of him who brought us into existence, and he is the MAN who wields it, and he is the Father of us all, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Maker and Possessor of this earth that we inhabit, and is the Producer of all things upon it. Is he one? Yes. Is his trinity one? Yes. Is his organization one? Are the heavens one? Yes."[11] It seemed, since the Mormons accepted the Bible teachings, and tried to implement the things in heaven here on earth, that they simply could not win. Try to have an earthly analogy to the Three Gods in the Godhead, and they were spurned. Have political, religious, and economic oneness, as in the Godhead, and they were spurned! Yet the Mormons were true to the Biblical model in their understanding of the earthly being a reflection of the heavenly.

One significant doctrinal item that the Mormons grew to understand after they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley was the significance of the First Vision with their understanding of Deity. Through the ages of time since Christ, George Q. Cannon knew through his vast research and learning that "Even the personality of God was doubted. The traditions of men were so false respecting God, that the idea of a personal Deity had faded from the so-called Christian mind. Though Jesus had appeared on the earth as a personage having a body, parts and passions, and declared Himself to be the Son of God, and the Apostles declared Him to be in the express image of His Father --notwithstanding that fact and that the record bore ample testimony to it, so long had been the silence that had existed between God and man, that the very conception of the nature of God--that is, of His characteristics--had entirely faded from the human mind, and He was deemed to be something other than He is. The common sectarian idea was that His center was nowhere, and His circumference was everywhere. There was no man scarcely upon the earth that had a true conception of God; the densest ignorance prevailed; and even ministers of religion could not conceive of the true idea, and there was mystery associated with what is called the Trinity--that is, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But all this was swept away in one moment by the appearance of the Almighty Himself--by the appearance of God, the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, to the boy Joseph, as he kneeled in the forest beseeching God for knowledge concerning Him, and concerning the Gospel of salvation. In one moment all this darkness disappeared, and once more there was a man found on the earth, embodied in the flesh, who had seen God, who had seen Jesus, and who could describe the personality of both. Faith was again restored to the earth, the true faith and the true knowledge concerning our Creator, our Father, the Being from whence we derive our origin."[12]

And the Mormons, with their literal acceptance of so much of what the Bible taught, had some very powerful scriptural support for their view of the Godhead consisting of three separate and individual Gods. "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what thing soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John v, 20.)"

As the Father had taken His upward course in worlds before this, so Jesus Christ followed in his footsteps in every respect; therefore he is entitled to sit down at the right hand of God in the heavens, to sit on his throne and be one with the Father in all things; and all the power and glory, and dominion that the Father hath he conferred also upon Jesus. And the promise to the sons of God on the earth is, that if they will follow in the footsteps of Jesus, they shall be also exalted and shall partake of that glory which he partakes of, and they shall become Gods, even the sons of God, and "all that Father hath" shall be given unto us. We shall become like Him, and we shall receive power and dominion and glory similar to that which he enjoys, only He will always be above us, God as our Father, and Jesus Christ our elder brother."[13]

Again, the apparent nasty habit Mormons had of accepting what the Bible taught got them into hot water with their less determined Christian brethren. Again and again, the Mormons taught from the Bible, while Christians looked on with dismay. "We read in the Scriptures that in olden times men communed with this divine Being, that he walked and talked with men in the flesh, and revealed himself to them. But he is neither seen nor heard of men to-day, and what is even worse, none seem to know how to approach him to learn of him as his servants did in earlier times. But some will say, "We have no need of such communications now, for we have the writings of these men; they approached him, and they have written books containing his words which have been handed down to us; we have no need to approach God as they did." But who can tell us how to read this Bible aright? These people who say they have no need of revelation do not agree as to what those prophets meant when they wrote these things... Ask any one of these Christian ministers to tell you anything about God, and after exhausting his store of language in trying to do so he will wind up thus: "God is incomprehensible." There is an attempt to describe God in the Episcopalian prayer-book. We are told in that book, which contains the articles of the faith of that body of people, that God is three and yet he is only one; that there are three distinct personages in the Godhead, yet only one personage, and that this being is without body, without parts and without passions. Here, then, we have an imaginary being composed of three parts, who yet is only one without any parts. We are told further that one of these bodiless, passionless beings without parts had a body, and that he was a man in all points as we are, possessing like passions, but that he sinned not. This is a strange attempt at description of a divine Being. I do not wish to take up the time in further reference to these absurdities, you can read them in the Athenasian creed, and in the thirty-nine articles which all Episcopal ministers must subscribe to before they can receive "holy orders."[14] Again, note that what the Christians had taught of their doctrines to the Mormons were such that it caused great confusion, especially since the Mormons opted for what the Bible taught, while the Christians kept to their creeds, nowhere especially more prominant than in their ideas of God.

Charles W. Penrose turned to the Bible and taught: "According to the Scriptures, when you see a perfect man, as far as man can be perfect in this imperfect condition which we now occupy, we see a being in the image of Deity. When Jesus Christ, who died that we might live, appeared on the earth, we are told that he was "the image of the invisible God," and "the express image of his (the Father's) person." So much indeed, was he like his Father, that when one of his disciples asked him to show them the Father, he answered him saying, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;" giving us to understand that the Son inherited the likeness of his Father. Some read it to signify that he was the same person; but the Savior says again, "My Father is greater than I." The words of Jesus to Mary in the garden are significant on this point: "Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend unto my Father, and you Father, and to my God and your God." And at the baptism of the Savior we find that the Holy Ghost descended upon him, and that the voice of the Father was heard out of heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased;" showing that there were three distinct substances--the Son coming up out of the water, the Father speaking from heaven and the Holy Ghost descending."[15]

John Taylor reminisced concerning Joseph Smith's teachings from the Bible also acknowledging that Joseph took the Bible for its word.

"I have heard him quote from the Hebrew Bible in support of a plurality of Gods, showing that the suffix "mem" in the word Eloheim or God, ought to be rendered in the plural and to read if literally translated, "and the Gods said let us, etc." Certain it is that in our present translation the word "us" or "let us" indicates that idea; for "us" is certainly in the plural and means more than one; and while our translation makes it say: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," we are also told that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. * * * And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," and further, that "All things were made by him," visible and invisible. We are further told that "There be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there be gods many, and lords many). But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.'

If, as stated, Jesus was with the Father in the beginning, there certainly was more than one God--God the Father, and God the Son. Joseph Smith was reasoning upon this doctrine at the time that he made this quotation from the Hebrew Bible."[16]

Conclusion

The Christians taught their concept of God to the Mormons from their creeds, rather than from the Bible. The Mormons countered with Bible teachings time and time again, since the creeds were so confusing, while the Bible taught straightforward that the Father was a God, the Son was a God also, the Holy Ghost was a God also. The Father and the Son constituted the "two Gods" in the godhead of corporeal nature, while the Holy Ghost was the spiritual being whose influence was felt throughout creation, hence God could be everywhere and yet localized. Now whether the Mormons were correct or not in their understanding of God, the Christians were the ones who forced the Mormons back onto the scriptures, not in a spiritual sense at all, but in the literal sense of accepting what the Bible taught concerning God, the literalness of which still shocks Christians to this day, who continue to incorrectly claim that Mormons do not get their doctrines from the Bible! The whole problem was and is that Mormons get the doctrines of the church from the scriptures far more than Christians do, especially concerning God, of which one of the finest evidences on record is the Journal of Discourses.

Endnotes

1. Journal of Discourses, Vol.18, p.287, Orson Pratt, November 12, 1876.

2. Journal of Discourses, Vol.26, pp.26f, Charles W. Penrose, November 16, 1884.

3. Journal of Discourses, Vol.23, p.356, Charles W. Penrose, January 14th, 1883.

4. Journal of Discourses, Vol.6, p.224 - p.225, Lorenzo D. Young, October 25, 1857.

5. Journal of Discourses, Vol.18, p.288, Orson Pratt, November 12, 1876.

6. Journal of Discourses, Vol.17, p.22 - p.23, William C. Dunbar, January 4, 1874.

7. Journal of Discourses, Vol.6, p.95, Brigham Young, November 29, 1857.

8. Journal of Discourses, Vol.6, p.95, Brigham Young, November 29, 1857.

9. Journal of Discourses, Vol.18, p.288, Orson Pratt, November 12, 1876.

10. Journal of Discourses, Vol.19, p.320 - p.321, Orson Pratt, October 7, 1867.

11. Journal of Discourses, Vol.14, p.92 - p.93, Brigham Young, April 8, 1871.

12. Journal of Discourses, Vol.24, p.373, George Q. Cannon, September 2nd, 1883.

13. "Journal of Discourses, Vol.26, p.26, Charles W. Penrose, November 16, 1884.

14. "Journal of Discourses, Vol.20, p.214, Charles W. Penrose, May 25th, 1879.

15. Journal of Discourses, Vol.20, p.214 - p.215, Charles W. Penrose, May 25th, 1879.

16. Journal of Discourses, Vol.25, p.214, John Taylor, June 29, 1884.