Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/27/2019

A while back I wrote an argument for the doctrine of the Trinity called The Lovely Trinity Argument (2) and it was okay in retrospect. After further study and improvement in philosophical argumentation, I have a second argument for the doctrine of the Trinity. This new argument is called The Greater Than Argument. The argument goes as follows:

The Greater Than Argument

1. Every human is a single person.
2. God is greater than a human.
3. Since God is greater than a human, He therefore must be multi-personal.
4. The Christian Trinity is the best explanation of God’s multi-personal nature.
5. Therefore, God is a tri-unity of persons, yet remains one nature.

Now this argument is meant to be presented after belief in God is philosophically proven. This can be done by showing the person that you are talking to any number of arguments for the existence of God. In the spirit of my argument, I think the Kalam-Cosmological Argument (3) makes the most sense as a foundation to then build off of and further understand who God logically must be if they exist. Although, one could just as easily use Norris Clarke’s World as an Interacting Whole Argument (4) or Peter Kreeft’s version of The Change Argument (5) first proposed by Thomas Aquinas in his famous Five Ways collection of philosophical arguments.

On the flip side, I also have an alternative version that is simply called The Alternate Greater Than Argument. This alternate version is more so meant to be used in broader contexts for those who don’t believe in God. The Alternate Greater Than Argument goes as follows:

The Alternate Greater Than Argument

1. Every human is a single person.
2. If God exists, then they would have to be greater than a human.
3. If real, God would be multi-personal.
4. The Christian Trinity is the best explanation of both God’s existence and His multi-personal nature.
5. Therefore, God is a tri-unity of persons, yet remains one nature.

The basic concept for the Greater Than Argument was inspired by Alvin Plantinga’s philosophical work as a whole and a YouTube video from InspiringPhilosophy (6). I’d highly recommend those resources, along with James White’s book called The Forgotten Trinity. Both arguments have the exact same conclusion and start with the same first premise. Where they differ is in their next three premises, in order to get to the same conclusion.

It’s probably not going to become the most groundbreaking development in defense of the doctrine of the Trinity, but I would say it is a vast improvement over my first argument. Not only in its more focused nature, but also for the fact that it is a third of the length of that first argument (i.e. 15 point argument vs. 5 point argument). So the use of The Greater Than Argument or The Alternate Greater Than Argument in discussion will be far easier to defend in a dialogue, rather than The Lovely Trinity Argument because of said reasons mentioned above. Since the argument is shorter and more to the point, you can invest more time supporting the Christian worldview and get to a Gospel presentation sooner in conversation with others.

You may find it useful to use or might figure out a better way of defending the doctrine of the Trinity. Regardless, I hope it helps you out in some way. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

1. Free stock photos · Pexels
2. https://chriscribariblog.com/2016/01/
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CulBuMCLg0
4. http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics-more/20_arguments-gods-existence.htm#8
5. http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics-more/20_arguments-gods-existence.htm#1
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G2S5ziDcO0