Do You Have to Believe in the Trinity to Be Saved?

The Athanasian Creed says that whoever will be saved must hold the catholic faith, and that this faith is worship of one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity. Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran churches confess that Trinity, but their documents differ on which creed is the test, on the procession of the Spirit, and on those who never heard the Gospel. Salvation in the New Testament is knowing the Father and the Son he sent, and confessing the Son. It is not a test on whether a person can recite the later technical words.

Key Points

• The Athanasian CreedAthanasian Creed · Athanasian CreedWhosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.Athanasian Creed · Athanasian CreedOpen the Source says that before all things it is necessary to hold the catholic faith, and that this faith is worship of one God in Trinity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
• The same creed says the one who will be saved must think thus of the Trinity, and that the Son is equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood.
• Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran documents confess the same Trinity. They differ on which creed is the rule, on the filioque, and, in the Catholic catechism, on those who never heard the Gospel.
• Lutherans print the Athanasian Creed in the Book of Concord. The Orthodox Church in America names the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as the confession.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 847 says those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel but seek God with a sincere heart may achieve eternal salvation.
• John 17:3John 17:3 · King James VersionAnd this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.John 17:3 · King James VersionOpen the Source says eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent. 1 John 2:231 John 2:23 · King James VersionWhosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.1 John 2:23 · King James VersionOpen the Source says the one who denies the Son does not have the Father.

What Does the Athanasian Creed Say?

The Athanasian CreedAthanasian Creed · Athanasian CreedWhosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.Athanasian Creed · Athanasian CreedOpen the Source opens:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.

Athanasian Creed · Athanasian Creed

“Catholic” in that sentence is the faith of the whole church, not a later denominational label. The content is one God, three persons, persons not mixed and substance not split. Clause 28 says, “He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.” Clause 44 says, “This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.” Clause 33 says the Son is “Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.” The inferiority is the manhood. The Godhead is equal. That is the creed’s own distinction between who the Son is and the human life he took.

The Trinity walks through the biblical lines this summary names. What vs. Who: One Being, Three Persons is the being and the persons. This page is the salvation question the creed attaches to that faith.

Where Do the Churches Agree?

Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran documents confess the same Trinity. Paragraph 266 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes the Athanasian Creed: “Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance.” The Orthodox Church in AmericaSymbol of Faith · English, Orthodox Church in AmericaTo be an Orthodox Christian is to affirm the Orthodox Christian faith—not merely the words, but the essential meaning of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol of faith.Symbol of Faith · English, Orthodox Church in AmericaOpen the Source confesses the Son as “true God of true God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father.” The Augsburg Confession, Article IAugsburg Confession, Article I · English, Concordia Publishing HouseOur churches teach with common consent that the decree of the Council of Nicaea about the unity of the divine essence and the three persons is true. It is to be believed without any doubt.Augsburg Confession, Article I · English, Concordia Publishing HouseOpen the Source, says:

Our churches teach with common consent that the decree of the Council of Nicaea about the unity of the divine essence and the three persons is true. It is to be believed without any doubt.

Augsburg Confession, Article I · English, Concordia Publishing House

The same article condemns the Arians and, in the confession’s own list, Muslims, and the Samosatenes, “who contend that God is but one person.” The differences below sit inside that shared confession.

Where Do They Differ?

Which Creed Is the Rule?

Lutherans print the Athanasian Creed as one of the three ecumenical creeds at the front of the Book of Concord, with its ending: “This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.” The Catholic catechism quotes it as a statement of the faith. The Orthodox Church in America’s page does not set it out. It names the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as the confession:

To be an Orthodox Christian is to affirm the Orthodox Christian faith—not merely the words, but the essential meaning of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol of faith.

Symbol of Faith · English, Orthodox Church in America

The page adds that the creed is “the formal statement of faith by a non-Orthodox Christian entering the communion of the Orthodox Church.” For the Orthodox, the test of the Trinitarian faith is that creed, not the Athanasian sentences about perishing.

From Whom Does the Spirit Proceed?

Clause 23 of the Athanasian CreedAthanasian Creed · Athanasian CreedWhosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.Athanasian Creed · Athanasian CreedOpen the Source says, “The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.” The creed on the Orthodox page says the Spirit “proceeds from the Father.” The Catholic catechism names the gap. Paragraph 247 says the filioque “does not appear in the Creed confessed in 381 at Constantinople,” and that its introduction by the Latin liturgy “constitutes moreover, even today, a point of disagreement with the Orthodox Churches.” Paragraph 248 calls the Eastern and Western formulas a “legitimate complementarity” which, “provided it does not become rigid, does not affect the identity of faith.” The Orthodox page prints the creed without the filioque and does not discuss the Catholic judgment.

What About Those Who Never Heard?

The Catholic catechism teaches that “Outside the Church there is no salvation,” and in paragraph 846 applies it to those who, “knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” Paragraph 847 then says, “This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church,” and continues:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.

Paragraph 848 adds that the church “still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.” The catechism quotes the Athanasian Creed and also leaves room for ignorance that is no fault of the person’s own. The Lutheran and Orthodox documents cited here do not take up that case.

Do You Have to Master the Doctrine to Be Saved?

John 17:3John 17:3 · King James VersionAnd this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.John 17:3 · King James VersionOpen the Source says this is life eternal, that they know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. The knowledge is of the Father and of the Son, not of a textbook. John 8:24John 8:24 · King James VersionI said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.John 8:24 · King James VersionOpen the Source says if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. 1 John 2:231 John 2:23 · King James VersionWhosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.1 John 2:23 · King James VersionOpen the Source says whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, and whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Matthew 28:19Matthew 28:19 · King James VersionGo ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Matthew 28:19 · King James VersionOpen the Source names the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in one baptismal name. John 14:16–17John 14:16–17 · King James Version^14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ^14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.John 14:16–17 · King James VersionOpen the Source says the Father will give another Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

A person is saved by trusting that God: the Father who sent the Son, the Son who is the “I am” of that warning, and the Spirit the Son promised. The Athanasian sentences say that this faith has edges. Confounding the persons, or dividing the substance, or denying the Son, is a different faith. Reciting the word “Trinity,” or explaining eternal generation on demand, is not a second condition pasted on top of John 17:3. Refusing the Son, or worshipping the Father and the Son and the Spirit as three gods, is a different gospel. Which Churches Do Not Believe in the Trinity? names the bodies that reject this confession. Jesus is God. The creed’s “equal as touching his Godhead” is that claim in the church’s words.

Did Jesus Explain the Trinity?

He does not use the word Trinity. He names the Father, himself, and the Spirit, and he speaks of one name in Matthew 28:19Matthew 28:19 · King James VersionGo ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Matthew 28:19 · King James VersionOpen the Source. The word is the church’s summary of those sentences. The Trinity is that summary, with the passages. Tawhid and Christian Monotheism and Can God Have a Son? are why Muslims refuse it: the Qur’an denies that God has a Son.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Trinity Biblical?

The word is not in the Bible. The baptismal name, the “I am,” and the Spirit sent by the Father are. The Trinity puts those lines on one page.

Why Don’t Muslims Accept the Trinity?

The Qur’an denies that God has a Son and denies partners. Tawhid and Christian Monotheism quotes that confession beside the Nicene one.

Keep Reading

• The Trinity
• What vs. Who: One Being, Three Persons
• Which Churches Do Not Believe in the Trinity?
• What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?
• What Do Catholics Believe?
• Tawhid and Christian Monotheism
• Can God Have a Son?