Father, Son, and Spirit are three separate, distinct beings, not one
The LDS Church explicitly rejects the Nicene Trinitarian doctrine that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons of one substance (homoousios). Instead, LDS theology teaches that God the Father (Heavenly Father/Elohim), Jesus Christ (Jehovah), and the Holy Ghost are three completely separate and distinct personages who are one in purpose, will, and witness — but not one in being or substance.
God the Father and Jesus Christ are understood as possessing physical, glorified, resurrected bodies; the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit. This is sometimes called 'social trinitarianism' by outsiders, but LDS theology goes further than social Trinitarianism by asserting physical separateness and denying any ontological unity. This divergence from the classical Trinity is one of the primary reasons that LDS baptisms are not recognized by most other Christian traditions.
Key Distinctions
- Persons ontology:
- three separate, distinct, and corporeal beings united in purpose, not substance
- Spirit procession:
- not applicable — classical Trinity and filioque doctrine rejected
- Creed stance:
- Nicene Trinity rejected as post-apostolic corruption; restored theology of embodied Father
Scripture References
- Joseph Smith—History 1:17
Sources
- LDS Articles of Faith 1
- Doctrine and Covenants 130:22-23
- The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles (2000)