Did the Trinity "so love the world"? In the Gospel of John, God is never the Trinity.

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In the Gospel of John, “God” is never the Trinity. For instance, in one of the most well known verses of the Bible, whose reference is written out on posters at football games:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his unique son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 

Try substituting “God” in this verse with “the Trinity”.

“For the Trinity so loved the world, that he gave his unique son…”

It doesn’t make sense.

It seems to me that at least subconsciously every Christian that holds John 3:16 dear realizes that “God” in John 3:16 is not the Trinity, but God, who is also known as the Father. John 3:16 is telling us that God, the Father, loved the world, not that the Trinity loved the world.

My Bible search program says that the word or title “God” occurs 83 times in the Gospel of John. In not one of those occurrences, that is, 0 out of 83 occurrences, does the word “God” refer to the Trinity.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was the Trinity” (1:1).  That doesn’t make sense.

“There was a man sent from the Trinity, his name was John” (1:6).

“Behold, the Lamb of the Trinity!” (1:29).

“This is the Son of the Trinity” (1:34). 
“I am the Son of the Trinity” (10:36).

The title Son of God refers to Jesus nine times in the Gospel of John. It makes no sense to call Jesus the “Son of the Trinity”.

Come back for a minute to the verses that follow right after John 3:16:

John 3:17 “For the Trinity did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

John 3:18 “…whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of the Trinity”

The absurdity of thinking the Gospel of John proclaims God is a Trinity goes on and on. Check it out for yourself. Search “God” in the Gospel of John and see if any of the occurrences refer to the Trinity. Here are a few more…

John 3:34 “For he whom the Trinity has sent utters the words of the Trinity…” Compare with John 14:24 “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.”

John 5:18 “This was why the Judeans were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling the Trinity his own Father, making himself equal with the Trinity” (5:18).

John 8:40 “…but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from the Trinity. This is not what Abraham did.”

John 9:16 “Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from the Trinity, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

In John’s Gospel, God is the Father and the Father is God. That is, God = the Father.

In many of the verses where God is mentioned in the Gospel of John, God is specifically equated with the Father. That is, the Father is not just one member of a multi-person “godhead”. Rather, “the Father” is simply another way of referring to God, to all of God. God = the Father. There is no other God besides the Father. The Father is God and God is the Father. To claim that God is more persons than the Father contradicts the Gospel of John. A more-than-one-person-god is not the God of the Gospel of John.

John 4:23-24  “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 6:27 “For on him God the Father has set his seal."

John 8:41-42 “They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me…”

John 8:54 “Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.'”

John 17:1, 3 “Father…this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah whom you have sent.”

John 20:17 “…I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Many Christians seem to think that the Gospel of John is the main place where evidence can be found that Jesus is God, and therefore that God is a Trinity. On the contrary, in no place in the Gospel of John is God ever described as a Trinity. It is absurd to put “the Trinity” in any place in the Gospel of John that refers to God. Further, in the Gospel of John, Jesus is not described as God. God is only one person, the Father. In the Gospel of John, God is the Father, and the Father is God. He is the God and Father of Jesus the Messiah. As Jesus said after his resurrection, “I am ascending to my Father…my God” (John 20:17).

It is God, the Father, not the Trinity, who loved the world and gave his unique son, Jesus the Messiah.

If the Gospel of John claims that God is the Father only, and does not claim that Jesus is God, then who does the Gospel of John say that Jesus is? See here.