Claim 1 of 13 · Case 04 · The Trinity
The whole Bible, Old Testament and New, teaches that there is only one God.
One claim from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
This is our fixed starting point. If Christianity taught three separate gods, that would be polytheism, and it should be rejected. It does not. Scripture is united and unqualified on this from beginning to end. This is a claim a scholar can check against the text, and it is about as uncontested as anything we argue here. It does not by itself prove the Trinity. What it does is set the boundary that any claim about Jesus and the Spirit has to fit inside. Hold on to it: everything that follows is the work of keeping this claim while doing justice to everything the New Testament says about Jesus and the Spirit.
Backed by 4 pieces of evidence
The Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4, repeated by Jesus in Mark 12:29
This is the plainest statement of the one-God claim, and having Jesus quote it shows the New Testament does not abandon monotheism.Isaiah’s exclusivity oracles, Isaiah 45:5 and 44:6
This rules out the idea of three gods cooperating. It shows monotheism in its strongest form, which is exactly the pressure the Trinity has to respect rather than escape.Paul keeps monotheism, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Timothy 2:5
This matters because it is the New Testament, not just the Old, holding the line. Paul can include Jesus in the confession without turning it into a claim about two gods.Richard Bauckham, scholar of Second Temple Judaism
This adds scholarly weight and heads off a common misreading. The oneness of God is not a loophole the New Testament quietly drops. It’s the frame the earliest writers deliberately keep.