Christadelphians
Iglesia ni Cristo
Denies

Trinity rejected; God is one person, the Father; Jesus is his distinct Son

The Church of God General Conference (COGC) firmly rejects the doctrine of the Trinity as unscriptural. In the COGC reading, the Bible consistently presents God as one person — the Father — and Jesus Christ as a distinct, subordinate Son of God who is not co-equal or co-eternal with the Father in the Trinitarian sense. The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) and Jesus' own identification of the Father as 'the only true God' (John 17:3) are central texts.

The COGC regards Trinitarian theology as a product of post-biblical Greek philosophy absorbed into Christianity through the councils of the 4th century. The Nicene and Athanasian creeds are rejected as imposing categories foreign to the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. The COGC sees its position as a recovery of the biblical monotheism of Israel and the apostles, uncorrupted by Hellenistic speculation.

This non-Trinitarian stance places the COGC within a tradition shared by Christadelphians, Biblical Unitarians, and other conditionalist or Restorationist movements. Like those groups, the COGC's rejection of the Trinity is grounded in biblical exegesis rather than in philosophical rationalism or theological liberalism — it is driven by the conviction that Scripture, read plainly, teaches strict monotheism with Jesus as a distinct, subordinate agent of God.

Key Distinctions

Persons ontology:
Father alone is the one God; Son did not pre-exist; Spirit is God's power
Spirit procession:
not applicable — Spirit not a distinct person
Creed stance:
Trinity doctrine rejected; pre-existence of Christ denied; Scripture alone (annihilationist)

Scripture References

Sources

  • Church of God General Conference Statement of Faith