Print Page | Add To Favorites | Close Window | Send To A Friend | Save This Page
FAQ # 143
QUESTION 143 : Is the Trinity revealed in the Old Testament? What
about verses like Gen 3:22, Gen 11:7 and even Isa 6:8 that showed a trinity
of persons before the New Testament? They read, "And the Lord God
said, Behold the man is become as one of US, to know good and evil:..."
(Gen. 3:22), "...let US go down, and there confound their language..."
(Gen. 11:7) and “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall
I send, And who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me'"
(Isaiah 6:8).
“There are over 10,000 Bible texts that either implicitly
or explicitly declare the absolute, solitary Oneness of God. Thus
we must rightly divided the word of God in light of these 3 verses with
two principles:
Principle No. 1
No single text [isolated notion] of the Bible can contradict the general
truth of the Bible.
What
is the general truth of the Bible? God is one, alone in creation, there
is no other
deity beside Him [stated implicitly and explicitly].
Implicit
texts declare that God is a solitary one by the use of singular
pronouns, verbs, and adjectives when referring to God Almighty.
Examples:
- Gen. 1:27 So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.
- 1 Kings 11:33 Because that they have forsaken
me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth...
- Ezekiel 13: 8 Therefore thus saith the
Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold,
I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
Explicit texts clearly state that God is One and alone in
His reign.
Examples:
- Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God
is one LORD (cf. Mark 12:29).
- Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens,
and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
- Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel,
and his redeemer (referring to Jacob) the LORD of hosts; I am the first
and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
- Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer,
and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all
things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad
the earth by myself.
- Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath
not one God created us?
- Mark 12:28-31 And one of the scribes.....asked
him, Which is the first (most important) commandment of all. And Jesus
answered him, The first (most important) of all the commandments is,
Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:....See Deuteronomy 6:4.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator
between God and man.
- James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God;
thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Principle No 2.
Verses that are difficult to
understand must be interpreted in the light of those verses more easily
understood.
There are less than 10 verses in the Bible that are misunderstood because
they are not properly interpreted. They are:
- Genesis. 1:26 Let us
make man in our image.
- Genesis 3:22 And the LORD
God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know
good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of
the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
- Genesis 11:7 Go to, let
us go down, and there confound their language, that they
may not understand one another's speech.
- Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard
the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for
us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
- Matthew. 28:19 Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
- 2 Corinthians 13:14 The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love God, and the communion
of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
- 1 John 5:7 For there are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost: and these three are One.
The verses above
can be difficult to understand if approached without a firm understanding
of God's personality a presented in the rest of the Bible. Does
the Bible contradict itself?
If the Bible cannot,
and does not contradict itself, we must interpret these verses by looking
at verses which are more easily understood. We must look at the 10,000
verses that declare the simple truth of God's Oneness to help us gain
an understanding of the fewer difficult verses.
- If God is "ONE" then what does the "us"
mean?
- If God is speaking, Who is He speaking to?
- When you speak, you speak in one of two directions.
A. Externally...to others
If God was speaking to others
this would mean that others were involved in creation.....Is this possible?
No, the Bible states clearly that he was alone in creation.
B. Internally...to yourself. Could God have been speaking to Himself?
There are two examples presented
in the Bible that God could have used in speaking internally.
1. He could have used the Plural of majesty...Ezra
4:18.... which is a way that kings, heads of state and other monarch use.
(See Elohim for information on Plural of Majesty.) Example:
A King making a speech to his subjects could say,
"When we came to speak to
you today...."
[Biblical examples include Daniel's statement to Nebuchadnezzar,
"We will tell the interpretation thereof before the king" (Daniel
2:36). Daniel, however, was the only one who gave the king the interpretation
of his dream. King Artaxerxes wrote in a letter, "The letter which
ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me" (Ezra 4:18). The
letter was sent to Artaxerxes alone (Ezra 4:11), yet he said it was sent
to "us," and was read before "me." Clearly, the letter
was only sent to, and read to Artaxerxes.
We all know God has chief angels around him; for instance, the four and
twenty elders (Rev 4:4, Rev 19:4)
and others. He could have used the ‘us’ with them around, like
magistrates do, but he alone created man. Another fact is that though
Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for us, angels
are involved in the lives of the saint by being “minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb 1:14). So they don’t just stand idle by, God
also communes with them in mind and let them feel apart of whatever he
is doing.]
2. The second way that God could have spoken internally
is by using the Plural
of deliberation....Ephesians 1:11......God deliberating within
His own will.”
[What the scriptures
did not and never tell us, either explicitly, implicitly, internally or
externally is that there is a trinity or a plurality of persons (individuals)
in the Godhead. All the scriptures point back to the fact that God is
one; one individual or person. He alone created man and he is the same
one, incarnated as Jesus Christ; the man who died for our sins. He is
also the same one in us as the Holy Ghost. All powers, All knowing and
Present everywhere.]
{Source: Keith
GM, whoisjesus.com}
Part
2
In speculation
of Gen 1:26, we see God indirectly addressing the angels in terms of Plurality
of Majesty but other cases could be direct involvement. One person
noted,
"The
grammar of Genesis 11:7 is even more conclusive that God must have been
addressing angels when He spoke using the first person plural pronoun
"our" or "us." The grammar of this verse is as follows:
"Go to (second person masculine singular), let us go down (first
person common plural) and there confound (first person common plural)
their language." [And continues…]
"Go
to" is an imperative in the Hebrew language. God was giving a command
to the one(s) He was speaking to here. If these "our" and "us"
passages are referring to God speaking to a manifestation of His Spirit
or the Son in some way, then we have a case of one divine person commanding
another divine person to do something. One can only be commanded to do
a thing because they are subordinate to and inferior in rank to the one
doing the commanding. If God was speaking to deity, then this deity was
less than God. Apparently, God was only speaking to one being because
"go to" is in the second person singular. What God was saying
was, "You (singular) go to...." Apparently God was accompanied
by only one angel to confound the languages at Babel” (Jason Dulle, JasonDulle@attbi.com).
Should it seem
strange that the Lord would choose to do this, remember the story of Ahab
and Micaiah,
"And
he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting
on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right
hand and on his left. And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that
he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and
another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood
before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. And the LORD said unto
him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him,
and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the LORD
hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the
LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee. But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah
went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the
Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?" (1 Kings 22:19-23).
Notice that there
was a great host of spirits about him. Notice that the Lord is saying
something similar about the 'us' usage, demonstrated by verse 20, "Who
shall persuade Ahab;" or which one of us will go to do this thing.
This was slightly different because God would ask the angels for a plan
of action from them. Nevertheless, notice what it finally said, "the
LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee" (1 Kings 22:23). Apparently,
the angels around him are much involved in his affairs like how we are
much involved in the affair of getting others save - healing, miracles,
evangelism crusades etc. We are all mere instruments of the Lord.
Was this the case with the creation
of the first man? Not really, God made Adam alone but through the ages
until this statement by God, "It is done " (Rev 21:6), man is
still in the creation process. God would have taken 6000 years to do so
(our calendars have not a clue of the time) and the 1000 year of reign
on earth (Rev 20:6) is the day of rest. This was typified in the six literal
days of creation and one literal day of rest. Now, angels are sent to
minister unto the heirs of salvation and thus aid in that continuous creative
process. All this fore plan and foreseeing is known by God; and in a sense,
by his angels (because Gabriel did give a prophetic sequence accurately
on his own - not an allege *theophany). That is why Christ was the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, all things now and to be was planned
and apart of the creation of man (Ecc 3:15). It is all apart of God's
creative plan, but the foundations (Adam and Eve, Heaven and Earth with
everything there in) were set by him.
That’s why Job’s let us know that when the foundations
were laid, “the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted
for Joy” (Job 38:7). And they
finally concluded, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole
earth is full of his glory” (Isa 6:3).
Answer
Notes: 1. * denotes, A theophany
is the belief that God manifested or appeared to men as an Angel.
Go to top of Page | Get the Book | Buy it here or here or here or here | More FAQ's