“Three Beings or One God? The Truth About the Trinity vs. the Adventist Heavenly Trio!”

Let’s walk through this carefully, both biblically and theologically, because what we see here looks close to the truth but actually bends away from the historic Christian confession.

1. The Language Problem: “Three Beings”

The graphic says: 3 Persons, 3 Beings.

But biblically and historically, the doctrine of the Trinity is: One Being, Three Persons.

• The Greek word ousia means “essence” or “being.”

• The word hypostasis refers to “person” or “subsistence.”
  The Nicene Creed (A.D. 325, 381) was very careful to say God is “homoousios” (of the same essence), not three separate beings.

So, let me ask: If you have three beings, what do you really have? That’s not one God—that’s tritheism (belief in three gods). Isn’t this the very thing Israel was warned against in Deuteronomy 6:4? “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one (Hebrew: echad).”

2. The Historical Context

Ellen White in 1907 talked about the “heavenly trio.” But note: she never clarified her terms with the precision of the church fathers. That’s why this graphic reflects more of an Adventist re-interpretation of the Trinity rather than the historic Christian doctrine.

• The early church fought heresies like Arianism (Jesus as a created being) and Tritheism (three gods).

• What’s happening here? Adventists avoid Arianism but fall into Tritheism by calling God “three beings.”

It’s like fixing a flat tire on one side of your bike, but puncturing the other wheel in the process—you’re still not going to ride straight.

3. Greek & Hebrew Witness

• In John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
  
  
  The Greek says: kai theos ēn ho logos. It does not say “a god,” nor “one of three beings.” It declares the Word as fully God, yet distinct in personhood.

• In Isaiah 44:6, Yahweh says: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”
  If there are “three beings,” how does that square with Yahweh declaring He alone is God?

4. Logical Fallacy in the Diagram

Notice the logic in the chart:

• Father, Son, Spirit = “One in Mission.”
  
  
  But wait—does unity of mission equal unity of essence? That’s a fallacy.
  
  
  For example, three basketball players can have one mission—to win the championship—but they’re still three separate beings, not one being.
  
  
  If God is only “one in purpose,” then He is no different than a committee working in agreement. But Scripture does not present a committee God—it presents one eternal, indivisible Being who exists as three coequal Persons.

5. Pastoral Appeal

Here’s the heart of the matter: The Adventist “Heavenly Trio” sounds safe, but it subtly shifts God from being the One eternal essence in three persons, into three gods working together. And that changes the gospel itself.

If the Father, Son, and Spirit are not of one Being, how can the Son fully reveal the Father (John 14:9)? How can the Spirit truly be “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9)? And how can salvation be fully secured if our Redeemer is anything less than the one true God?

The Christian confession has always been: One God, Three Persons—Father, Son, and Spirit. Anything else either divides God into three or collapses Him into one (modalism). But Scripture preserves the tension perfectly: unity of essence, distinction of persons.

If Adventism’s “Heavenly Trio” is the truth, why does it look so different from what the early church fought, bled, and died to confess about the Trinity? Shouldn’t truth be the same yesterday, today, and forever?

Category	Historic Trinity (Nicene Christianity)	Adventist Heavenly Trio (as pictured)
Essence / Being	One Being (Greek: ousia) – indivisible, eternal, self-existent	Three Beings – separate divine individuals working together
Persons	Three Persons (Greek: hypostasis) – Father, Son, Spirit	Three “persons/beings,” with overlap in mission but not essence
Unity	Unity of essence (one God in nature)	Unity of purpose/mission (agreement, not ontological oneness)
Bible Root	John 1:1 (the Word was God), Deut. 6:4 (The LORD is one), Matt. 28:19 (baptizing in the name [singular]).	Ellen White quote, “Heavenly Trio” (1907), interpreted as “three highest powers” but without creedal precision.
Historic Errors Avoided	Carefully avoids both Arianism (denying the Son’s full deity) and Tritheism (making 3 gods).	In avoiding Arianism, the Adventist Trio slips into Tritheism (three gods united in purpose).
Analogy	One triangle: 3 corners, 1 shape; one sun: light, heat, radiation – one essence, three manifestations.	Three basketball players on the same team: one goal, but three separate beings.
Implication for Salvation	Christ can fully reveal and save because He shares the same divine essence as the Father. Spirit indwells us as God Himself.	Salvation risks being diminished—if Son is merely “one being” among three, He may not fully represent or embody the eternal Godhead.

Analogy

Think of water: H₂O is one essence, yet it exists as solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (vapor). Different “persons” of H₂O, but one essence.

Now compare that to the Adventist model: it’s like saying there are three different cups of water that all agree to quench thirst together. That’s cooperation, not unity of being.

This is why the early church fathers defended the Trinity with their lives. If you lose the oneness of God’s being, you end up with three gods. If you lose the distinction of persons, you end up with one lonely God acting in different masks. Both distort the gospel.

The Trinity is not a puzzle we solve—it is a mystery we confess. And that confession protects the truth of who Jesus is: “In Him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

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