Those who dispute the doctrine of the Trinity frequently point out that the word “Trinity” isn’t found in the Bible. This argument is illogical because a concept doesn’t need its modern term in order to be described. The word we use to describe the concept today is Trinity, which isn’t found in the Bible, but guess what: Neither is the word "Bible"! The word "Trinity" isn't in the Bible, but the concept of the Trinity certainly is. The Bible refers to three separate beings, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as being God, yet the Bible is also replete with claims that there is, always was and always will be only one God.
The Trinity isn’t the only concept that is described but not named in the Bible. Let’s have a look at a few of them.
Divinity:
Divinity means a divine quality or God-like character. Jesus’ miracles were one form of divinity because only one empowered by God could perform them. Jesus also had divinity in that He was God in flesh. But the Bible doesn’t use this term.
Atheism:
Atheism is the belief that there is no God, or is at least the failure to acknowledge Him. The Bible mentions atheism a fair few times, calling it foolish (Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1), but not once do the words “atheist” or “atheism” appear in the Bible.
Polytheism:
Polytheism is the belief that there are multiple gods. Several polytheistic religions are described in the Bible, and adherence to them is condemned. But the word “polytheism” cannot be found in the Bible.
Incarnation:
Relating to the Trinity, the incarnation is the belief that Jesus was literally God in human flesh. John 1 is the most famous description of the incarnation, but instead of saying “the incarnation”, it says “the word was God” and “the word became flesh”. This also attacks the anti-Trinitarian argument that Jesus never said He is God, therefore He is not God, so it’s especially helpful to include it here.
Arachnid:
Not once is the word “arachnid” used in the Bible, but the word “spider” is used 3 times (Job 8:14; Proverbs 30:28; Isaiah 59:5), and the word “scorpion” 7-11 times (Deuteronomy 8:15; Ezekiel 2:6 etc.), depending on the translation. Spiders and scorpions are arachnids, so although the word “arachnid” is not found in any translation, the concept exists.
Monotheism:
Monotheism is the belief that only one God exists. While the Bible is unique in that it describes one God who exists in three separate persons, no one in their right mind would argue that since the word “monotheism” does not occur in the Bible, therefore the Bible never describes monotheism.
Rapture:
Regardless of their view on how and when the rapture will occur, most Christians acknowledge that a time is approaching when Christians who are alive on the Earth will be snatched up in the blink of an eye to meet Jesus, never even experiencing death. This is commonly called the rapture, but the word doesn’t occur in the Bible.
Afterlife:
Heaven and Hell are both real places that, once our earthly lives are over, we will be divided between according to whether or not we have confessed with our mouths “Jesus is Lord” and believed in our hearts God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Whether with God in Heaven or separated from Him in Hell, the Bible clearly teaches the existence of what we call an “afterlife”. The Bible doesn’t call it that, though.
Bible:
While I didn’t think to include it in the original meme, I feel it worth noting that the word “Bible” is also not in the Bible. Instead, each of the Bible books were divided into several. In fact, the concept of a Bible canon didn’t exist until about 170 A.D. when the Muratorian canon was compiled. The separate books were just called “scriptures”. So, by the anti-Trinitarian’s Logic, we can’t actually use the Bible because it doesn’t describe itself by its own name.
Clearly a word doesn’t have to exist in the Bible in order for the concept to exist. Just as every other word we’ve looked at here is absent from the Bible, yet the concept is clearly there, so also is the word “Trinity” not present, yet the Bible quite clearly states that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all equally God.