Does Calvary Chapel Teach the Trinity?

 

This section examines Calvary Chapel's written and taught doctrinal stance on the Holy Trinity. This section has been re-written many times to attempt to more clearly defend the Biblical teaching of the Holy Trinity against the doctrine that Calvary Chapel is promoting.

 

Why Does the Trinity Matter?

 

First of all, a short word about why this subject is so important. According to Gordon Clark, in, The Trinity, p 20:

 

 

Where Did We Get Our Information About the Calvary Chapel Teaching Here?

 

There are different views and teachings of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity within the various individual CC congregations and between the individual pastors. However, those individuals are not authoritative for the denomination as a whole. The CC Statement of Beliefs (SoB) is the only authoritative document that we know of that describes the beliefs that a CC must hold in order to be a part of the denomination.

 

We have also included the statements that Pastor Chuck Smith has made on the subject.

 

What Does The Statement of Beliefs (SoB) Say?

 

In the SoB, the author, Larry Taylor wrote:

 

 

So What's Wrong With Taylor's SoB?

 

As we see this issue, there are two extremely serious problems in the SoB. The first problem involves that the statement does say and the next problem is what the statement does not say.

 

The Holy Trinity clearly is the first of the essentials of the Christian faith and yet Taylor never uses the word Trinity or the other equivalent one such as Tri-Unity anywhere in the CC SoB. This is not the worst part, since Taylor is also missing the two essential parts that make up the theological term Holy Trinity from his SoB (as we will demonstrate).

 

What Three Elements are Necessary to Define the Holy Trinity?

 

According to Wayne Grudem, in his book Systematic Theology, three statements are necessary to summarize the Biblical teaching of the Trinity (page 231):

 

 

Problem 1 - Three Separate Persons

 

The SoB says that God is three separate persons. This section shows why separate is the wrong word to use. Although, there are Biblical distinctions between the persons of the Trinity, the members can not be said to be separate. If this is applied deliberately and consistently, it is what is known as Tri-theism, which is the belief in three separate Gods.

 

The theologically correct term is not separate persons but is rather distinct hypostasis or distinct persons. This is more than simply splitting hairs.

 

Problem 2 - No Unity Statement

 

The doctrinal statement never makes a single statement about the unity of God. This statement on unity is necessary for a doctrinal statement to be complete.

 

There are two aspects to teaching the Scriptures. One is telling what something is and the other is telling what it is not. That is how our leaders protect us from heretical statements. The CC leaders are sleeping on the job if they do not correct their aberrant teachings on the Trinity.

 

What Should The CC Doctrinal Statement Say?

 

Certainly a theologically correct statement on the Holy Trinity must be one of the most essential elements of any SoB. Other Christian denominations have used the following Trinitarian formulations:

 

• God is three persons with one substance.
• There is one living and true God who exists in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• There are three persons in the Godhead--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are One as to nature. They are each co-eternally self-existent, yet none can exist without the other.
• We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
• We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.

 

Any of those would work just fine. Some of them are more complete than others, but they all have correctly done what the CC SoB failed to do:

 

• The Persons are not separated
• The unity of God is taught

 

Eric Simpson has provided the following definition in the arcc-c newsgroup:

 

 

Why is Taylor's Statement of Beliefs Authoritative For Calvary Chapel?

 

For one thing, the statement is posted in the Calvary Chapel Webpages space. Also, the statement is reprinted in Starting A Calvary Chapel Affiliate, published by Calvary Chapel Bible College where Taylor was the President of the college. Finally, Taylor says in his SoB that:

 

 

What has Chuck Smith Taught on This Subject?

 

Interestingly, Chuck Smith has made very few statements on the doctrine of the Trinity. One of the few statements is:

 

 

Another statement that we found was:

 

 

A twofold relationship? How many persons are being described here?

 

So far, none of these statements clarify the Trinity or repudiate Taylor's statement.

 

In sharp contrast to the Trinity, in the same set of 80 New and Old Testament commentaries, there are 11 tapes with references to the rapture of the church (some with multiple references per tape).

 

Any Other Chuck Smith Quotes on The Trinity?

 

We took a trip to the Word For Today and requested all of Chuck Smith's tapes on the Trinity. We were told that Chuck Smith does not have any tapes on the Trinity, and that the teaching was only partially covered on these three separate tapes:

 

These are Chuck Smith's Trinity tapes

 

3052	Third person on the Trinity
4702	The Deity of Christ (pt 1), John 1:1
4703	The Deity of Christ (p 2), John 1:3-5

 

A careful analysis of these tapes reveals some interesting things. Firstly, Smith never clarified Taylor's statement. Secondly, Smith even repeats the same error of using the word separate himself.

 

Tape 3052 has the best quotes of all of them.

 

 

The following verse from Romans will illustrate the folly of Smith's statement:

 

 

Even the pagans can know the Godhead from seeing the creation. God is knowable even though He is infinite. Smith declares that the Trinity is irrational.

 

 

This is not true and is a serious oversimplification. The teaching that the Calvary Chapel SoB presents denies the Trinity, but asserts both of those things. This is Tri-theism, if Smith actually hold as true what SoB is teaching. Our question is: What does Smith really believe?

 

A final, and very serious quote is:

 

 

From this statement it is clear that Smith believes that the true teaching of the church is that God is three separate entities. This is not true. This view is clearly heretical as previously noted. Perhaps this was the genesis of the statement by Taylor?

 

Where else is this Statement on the Trinity found?

 

This statement is copied many times over the internet as the SoB for many Calvary Chapels.

 

2011 Update: The old statement of beliefs can still br found on over 1500 sites google search.

 

This statement is also found in the booklet titled Starting a Calvary Chapel Affiliate, by Larry Taylor. This 68-page booklet is the standard manual for individuals who wish to start their own Calvary Chapel affiliate. This is in the statement of faith for Calvary Chapel on pages 64-66. This book has the model statement of beliefs that all Calvary Chapels are instructed to use as their own doctrinal statement.

 

Where Does the Bible Describe the Correct Teaching?

 

There are a number of Bible verses on the different aspects of the Trinity, including:

 

 

We see that Jesus shares the same nature (express image) as the Father. Jesus does not have a separate nature, but shares the same nature. There are many other verses that show this same teaching.

 

What Other Groups Teach The CC View?

 

Benny Hinn has been publicly attacked for teaching a very similar view. When Hinn was publicly corrected he quickly examined and then publicly renounced his view. The sole difference between the two teachings is Hinn had taught that each of the three separate persons have their own physical bodies.

 

Non-Trinitarian cultists also use the description of the Trinity as presented in the CC SoB as a basis for their arguments against the Holy Trinity. Oneness Pentecostals regularly misrepresent the Holy Trinity as being three separate persons in their arguments against the Trinity.

 

What is the Fruit of This Teaching?

 

CC has simultaneously opened the door to Tri-theism and/or modalism with their sloppy definition of the Trinity.

 

In modalism, the Father became the Son who became the Holy Spirit (simplified version). These three separate persons are simply manifested over time. There is nothing to preclude this view in Taylor's statement. Guarding against heresy is a primary purpose of a Statement of Beliefs.

 

Also, if Taylor was writing for the common man, he has chosen a poor word by using person, and multiplied that poor choice by adding separate. If Taylor was trying to be theologically accurate, he should never have included the word separate, and should have added some statement about the unity of the three persons. Instead he separates them.

 

The most amazing thing is that Taylor (who wrote the creed) was the head of the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Twin Peaks, California. Would you really want to send your kid to college to be taught by a man with such an aberrant view of the Trinity?

 

This is an essential of the faith. We need to remember the words of St. Augustine who said:

 

 

Calvary Chapel's Old Statement on the Trinity

 

Calvary Chapel used to have an orthodox statement on the Trinity. This can be found in the booklet titled Church Incorporation - How to Incorporate As A Nonprofit, Tax Exempt Church Corporation, copy;1980, 1982. The statement said:

 

 

We are at a loss to understand why this orthodox statement was replaced by the heterodox statement of Taylor. All attempts at getting an answer from Calvary Chapel on this question have been unproductive.

 

Other Churches' Doctrinal Statements on the Trinity

 

See our list of other churches doctrinal statements. Note that some of the individual CC's do not have Taylor's statement. Good job, guys. Hang in there with the Bible. When thhey try to push this new SoB, stand up and just say no.

 

Even the Word of Faith movement leader Kenneth Hagin had a more theologically sound doctrinal statement on the Trinity.

 

Are There Any Other Web Sources Against The CC SoB View?

 

The White Horse Inn Alliance for Confessing Evangelicals (formerly Christians United for Reformation (CURE)) has a statement against the idea that The Trinity can be described as three separate persons (question 6).

 

The Apostolic Church of Australia specifically denies the separate word that CC includes:

 

 

None of these repeat the same errors that Taylor's statement does. Even the Vineyard has not repeated the same heretical doctrine in their Doctrinal Statement, where they wrote:

 

 

Perhaps that's because their doctrinal statement was not copied from the Calvary Chapel doctrinal statement but was written by someone with some actual theological training.

 

Are There Any Standard Reference Works on This?

 

Again, let me quote from Clark, ibid., p 43:

 

 

This is not to be read as three separate Persons in Clark. Also, the second critical part of the definition is present here that is completely missing in Taylor's statement. The unity of God which is preserved in Clark's statement is inherently denied in Taylor's statement where it is conspicuously absent.

 

In L. Berkhof's Systematic Theology, p 87, Berkhof wrote:

 

 

Smith's Response on TEMAA

 

We called TEMAA  and you can hear Smith deflecting the question.

 

OK, so Chuck Smith admitted it was an error by Larry Taylor but it's now 15+ years later and it is on 90,000+ CC web sites.

 

As Don Stewart stated, the catalog for CCBC was updated:

 

We believe that the triune God eternally exists in one essence and three distinct
persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that He is essentially Spirit, personal,
transcendent, sovereign, life, love, truth, almighty, simple (i.e., essentially one
without parts), timelessly eternal, unchangeable, wise, just, holy, relational, pure
actuality, dynamic, infallible in all things, including His foreknowledge of all
future decisions and events, and that He created the heavens and the earth in six
literal days.