Is the word Trinity in the Bible?
Is the word Trinity in the Bible? No. You can search the whole King James Version, all 790,705 words of it, and Trinity is not there; nor is triune. Christians who believe in the Trinity do not dispute this. Their claim is about the idea, not the vocabulary: that the Bible speaks of one God and also of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as God, and that “Trinity” is a later word coined to sum that up.
Where the word Trinity came from
The term comes from the early church, not from the biblical writers. The Greek word trias, meaning a group of three, is first applied to God by Theophilus of Antioch around AD 180. A few decades later the North African writer Tertullian used the Latin trinitas, and that is the word that passed into English. The doctrine was formally defined at the councils of Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381.
Godhead: the closest word in the KJV
The King James Bible does use Godhead, 3 times. In each verse it means the divine nature rather than a list of persons:
- Acts 17:29: Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
- Romans 1:20: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
- Colossians 2:9: For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Modern translations often render these as divine being, divine nature, or deity, which shows how far Godhead is from being a synonym for Trinity.
Is the word Trinity in the Bible? The verses Christians cite instead
Because the word is missing, the debate centers on passages like these, all quoted from the KJV:
- Matthew 28:19: “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” One name, three persons, which is the verse most often quoted.
- 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.”
- John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
- 1 John 5:7: the KJV reading names the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and says “these three are one”. As the FAQ below explains, most modern Bibles do not include this line.
Groups that reject the doctrine, such as Unitarians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, read the same verses differently. This page does not try to settle that debate; it only answers the word question, which has a clear answer. Is the word Trinity in the Bible? No; whether the idea is there is the question churches still discuss.
Names for believers followed a similar path. Christian is in the Bible only three times, as the Christian page shows, while terms like creed and denomination are later additions that scripture never uses.
Other words that are not in the Bible
Trinity belongs to a family of familiar religious words that are not in scripture, including rapture and even the word bible itself. You can test any of them, or a full statement of faith, in the Bible word checker: each word is matched against the KJV and marked found or not found, with the count and first verse for every word that is there. For the overall numbers behind the word list, see how many words are in the Bible.
Frequently asked questions
Is the word Trinity anywhere in the Bible?
No. Trinity does not appear in the King James Bible or in any mainstream English translation. Christians who hold the doctrine agree on this point; they argue that the idea is taught in scripture even though the word is not used.
Who first used the word Trinity?
The Greek word trias is first found in Theophilus of Antioch, around AD 180. The Latin trinitas, which gives us the English word, comes from Tertullian, a writer in North Africa, around AD 200.
Is Godhead the same as Trinity?
Not exactly. Godhead means divine nature or deity. It appears 3 times in the KJV, in Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, and Colossians 2:9. Some churches use Godhead as their name for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but the verses themselves do not define it that way.
Why is 1 John 5:7 different in modern Bibles?
The KJV reads “there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Those words, known as the Johannine Comma, are missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts, so most modern translations leave them out or put them in a footnote.