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FAQ # 156
QUESTION 156 : Did Genesis 18:1-5 speak of
the trinity?
It reads,
"Then
the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting
in the tent door in the heat of the day.
So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men
were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door
to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, 'My Lord,
if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest
yourselves under the tree. And
I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you
have come to your servant.' They said, 'Do as you have said'" (Genesis
18:1-5).
The "My Lord"
in Genesis 18:1-3 was translated from Adonai or another plural word, which
would necessitate speaking to three divine beings. He knew they were angels
sent to represent God. Surprisingly, this concept of the Trinity has it
roots in paganism, stated from a Non-Christian Hellenized Jewish philosopher
who was responsible for inspiring Justin Martyr (another philosopher)
with the new logos teaching and trinity doctrine. That alone is enough
to chase away this foolish notion. This Jewish philosopher's name is Philo,
one of the main advocates for over throwing biblical Judaism for a Hellenized
faith (Greek paganism). He said,
"...when,
therefore, the soul is shone upon by God as if at noonday, and when it
is wholly and entirely filled with that light which is appreciable only
by the intellect, and by being wholly surrounded with its brilliancy is
free from all shade or darkness, it then perceives a three-fold image
of one subject, one image of the living God, and others of the other two,
as if they were shadows irradiated by it...Therefore, the middle person
of the three, being attended by each of his powers as by body-guards,
presents to the mind, which is endowed with the faculty of sight, a vision
at one time of one being, and at another time of three...But that which
is seen is in reality a three-fold appearance of one subject is plain, not only
from the contemplation of the allegory, but also from that of the express words in which the allegory is couched.
For when the wise man entreats those persons who are in the guise of three travellers to come and lodge
in his house, he speaks to them not as three persons, but as one, and
says, 'My lord, if I have found favor with thee, do not thou pass by thy
servant.' For the expressions, 'my lord, ' and 'with thee,' and 'do not
pass by,' and others of the same kind, are all such as are naturally addressed
to a single individual, but not to many" (On Abraham, XXIV-XXV, 119-131).
Another foolish
point borrowed from a philosopher. When will those who are adherents to
the trinity stop doing that, it was explicitly warned against, "Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy" (Col 2:8).
Not only is this a philosophize doctrine, it is also inconsistent. A doctrine
has to be consistent for it to be established. Meaning, it has to be in
all cases with the said scripture or thesis. That is, every time Angels
or Aeons appear to Patriarch as God they have to be in Three's. This is
not the case (Gen 32:30, Judges 13:22, Ex 3:2-4), and if this
notion is to be used then the one that appears most in scripture would
win; because only one time this occurred, against multitude of other times
with one Angel speaking for God, as is the case with the three.
So this is a poor argument, borrowed from a philosopher, to try and justify the doctrine of Trinity of persons.
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