"Father" in the Trinity – "the Old Testament God" – the same?

[Here’s a repost from December 31, 2013 &  June 20, 2015 timed on the occasion of ‘Father’s Day.’  Since we are approaching the Easter season which focuses on the ‘Son’ of the Christian Trinitarian Godhead, perhaps it is timely to focus as well on the ‘Father’ in that Divine Triumverate.  Son and Father are ‘One’ plus a third Person, the Holy Spirit, but how the three function separately and together is a “mystery.”  

 

We have our earthly father, but also address God as ‘Father in Heaven’ or ‘Heavenly Father’.  Did the real chosen people, the true and original Israel, the one referred to as ‘firstborn’ of the God of Israel ever address their God as ‘Father’?  This article does not answer that question; rather it discusses if the First Person of the Christian Godhead who is addressed as “Father” to distinguish him from the Second Person “Son” is the same in character, in essence, in nature, as the God of the “Old Testament.”  —Admin1.]

 

 

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Here are sample exchanges Sinaites have had with Christians/Messianics who presume the “OT God” and the “NT Trinity/Father” are one and the same:

 

   [C for Christian, S for Sinaite, M for Messianic].

#1:   C:  “Just in case you’re right, I’m playing it safe; I’ve started including the Father in my prayers.”

S: “What’s his name?”

C: “Does it matter, it’s the God who created me.  Anyway I can’t remember whatever that name is, Ye—Ya, whatever your [M teacher] calls him.”

S1: Yod Heh Vav Heh?  S2: “Our [M teacher] calls him ‘Yeshua’.”

C: “Whatever.”

 

#2:   C: “Jesus has answered my prayers all my life; that’s proof enough that Jesus is God.”

S:  “But we should not base our proof on ‘answered prayers’ or something as subjective as ‘experience’; we should rely on objective divinely revealed Truth, otherwise everyone else praying to his/her chosen god will make the same claim—the Virgin Mother, or some Saint, or the statue rumored for miraculous healings at a certain tourist shrine.”

C:  [Silence.]

 

#3:  M: [after praying “Adonai Elohim” and other Jewish words taught by Messianics] he ended with “in the mighty name of Yeshua Ha Maschiach.”

S:  “Sorry, I can’t ‘Amen’ that last part of your prayer, but I can ‘amen’ everything else you prayed about.”

M: “It’s OK ma’am.”  [After 3 more teaching sessions, this young man ended his prayer with] “in the mighty name of . . .  the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

S: “That one, I can say ‘amen’ to, but are you saying it only for my sake or do you believe it yourself?”

M:  [Smiled.]

 

#4:  C: “When I say Father, that’s one and the same as the God you’re talking about.”

S: “No he’s not, you’re referring to the Father in the Trinitarian godhead, that’s not the same as the God of Israel or the God on Sinai.”

C:  “Why not?”

 

Perhaps it is time to clarify this particular confusion although other aspects have already been covered in the series of articles IN HIS NAME.

 

When people forget your name and call you something else, do you feel offended that they can’t remember your name?  Or that they confuse you with someone else? Or they know your name but pronounce it differently so that you can barely recognize it? Parents sometimes run through two or three names of their children before they hit the right one; but the child being addressed, understandably does not respond until he or she hears his/her name. Each person is a unique being and expects to be recognized for who he/she is and respond accordingly to the proper name he/she is known by.

 

If ordinary human beings would want to be properly identified, shouldn’t this apply all the more to the One True Creator God who should get ALL the credit for the wonders and marvels of His created order? Shouldn’t he be properly acknowledged for His perfectly designed creatures and human beings, and thanked for the built-in provisions and additional blessings He pours into our lives every moment of our time on earth?   Should He not rightly deserve the worship of mindful people who are made in His image?

 

If the Jews themselves revere the NAME to the point they don’t dare say it or write it down but know it nonetheless, should we gentiles show any less concern, care and reverence for the Name and Identity of the God who made sure humankind would not only know about Him, but know HIM as much as He can be known through His Self-Revelation? If He had never revealed Himself through His acts in natural revelation and special revelation and in the history of the chosen people, we may indeed be excused for our ignorance but we have no excuse not to know in this day and age.

 

Knowledge of truth is one thing, acting on that knowledge is another; the former without the latter hardly accounts for anything for us nor for the God who requires of us a response to every little piece of verifiable truth we stumble into or consciously seek after.  There would be centuries when this would not have been possible, because biblical truth was denied the masses by the very authorities who mishandled as well as tampered with God’s original revelation . . . that would NOT be the Jews who were commanded what to do with the Sinai revelation in the Shema [Deuteronomy 6:6-9].  In fact to their credit,  they have fulfilled their mission by recording it all in their Scriptures for the whole world to read if anybody cares to.  Because of them, access to that revelation has been made possible for centuries now.  The problem is no longer access but its acceptability as absolute Truth, divinely revealed rather than man-made.

 

So how does the “Father” in the Trinitarian godhead differ from the God revealed and portrayed in Israel’s sacred scriptures and national history?

 

1. The God in TNK revealed His Name as YHWH.  

 

• The “Father” in NT Scriptures has no name, just a title of relationship to the “Son” who does have a name — Jesus, and a title, the Christ. Everyone knows the Son’s name because it is the crucial name to mention at the end of all prayers. Some people guess that the Father’s name might be that strange-sounding name they’re reluctant to say because most Christians don’t connect to it so it is hardly mentioned except by some Christian denominations which, because of it [and other deviations from official church doctrines] are relegated to cultic status.

 

2.  The God in TNK repeatedly declares that He is One, as in ALONE, there is no one before or after Him.  

• The “Father” is part of a Trinitarian One-ness, who was the One revealed as early as the OT as some kind of a first installment . . .
• until the second installment in the Son appeared in human form at the mutually agreed upon time even though he was already functioning as Creator and a host of other roles in OT . . .
• while the third installment Holy Spirit shows up here and there all over the OT but is hardly noticed until he is officially poured upon believers in the Son on the Jewish feast of Pentecost and forgotten again except by ‘Pentecostals’ and ‘Charismatics’ who focus on him more than the other two persons in the Trinity.

 

3.  The God of TNK does not share His glory with any other. 

• The Father shares with Son and Holy Spirit and in fact allows all glory and honor and worship to his Son, as the book of Revelation declares.

 

4.  The God in TNK had a chosen people, a chosen nation, Israel, through whom He gave His Torah to model to all other gentile nations.  

• The Father with the other 2 Persons,
  • has [have?] a different chosen people—
  • only the believers in the Son,
  • officially known as the “church”
  • and also “the New Israel.”

 

5.  The God in TNK made a covenant with Israel. 

• The Father [and the other 2 in the Trinity] supposedly made a “new covenant”  with the Church.

 

6.  The God in TNK called Israel His ;suffering servant’.

•  The Father’s suffering ‘Servant’ is the 2nd Person, the Son.

 

7.  The God in TNK considered Israel His’ firstborn’.

•  The Father has his one and only begotten Son, Jesus the God-Man.

 

8.  The God in TNK also referred to Israel metaphorically as His wife, albeit an adulterous wife, who sought after other gods.

•  The Father in NT allows the Son to have a faithful “bride” and that would be the Church; there will be a wedding celebration when he comes a second time, like a bridegroom fetches his bride.

 

9.  The God in TNK does not have a “mother” since He is the First and the Last.

•  The Trinitarian Godhead allow[s?] the Son to be conceived as a human embryo in the womb of a virgin.  
• Where they [the Father and Holy Spirit] were during this time is beyond man’s understanding so don’t ask,
• it’s a mystery how this all works out in their divine scheme.

 

10.  The God in TNK condemns adultery.

•  The Father and Holy Spirit cause embarrassment to poor Saint Joseph
• who is betrothed to the virgin Mary
• who herself has to face shame for being pregnant not by her husband to be . . . although. . . . since it is all in the divine plan, so be it.
• If true,  what a truly admirably great obedient couple Mary and Joseph were.
• Did the God of the NT violate his own commandment by allowing the Holy Spirit to impregnate a virgin, thereby causing a ‘virgin birth’?  Actually when you really think about it, it is not the ‘birth’ that is the NT miracle, it is the ‘miraculous conception’.  All this you have to accept ‘by faith’.

 

11.  The God in TNK keeps saying He hates human sacrifice and stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac during Abraham’s test of faith and remember, it was only a test of faith.

• The Father in NT supposedly ordains his only begotten Son
• to be sacrificed in his human form
• to fulfill his [their?] requirements
• for blood sacrifice
• to get some kind of divine satisfaction.

 

 

12.  The God in TNK declared in Debariym 4:2 – 

 

You will not add to the word which I command you, neither will you diminish from it that you may keep the commandments of יהוה [YHWH] your ‘Elohiym which I command you. [HNT]  

 

• The Father in NT allowed additional revelation after the closing of the canon of TNK, according to the Christian teaching on ‘progressive revelation’;
• in fact a whole “new testament” appeared with doctrines that run contrary to most everything declared in its OT prequel, condemning Israel as ‘blind guides’ for still obeying ‘the Law’;
• To make sure the NT will no longer be superseded by yet another surprise 3rd canon, a harsh warning is given in Revelation 22:19:
•  “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” [NASB]

 

Let’s stop here . . . really, are we dealing with a schizophrenic God?  

 

• Does it appear like the God of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Father in the New Testament are one and the same?  
• Are we dealing with a God
  • with a split personality
  • or an inconsistent God
  • who changes his mind and his plan
  • to the disadvantage of his first chosen people
  • who are left ignorant of the change
• Paul in the book of Romans explains plan B.

 

Twelve differences should be enough to chew on here, even if there’s more we can conjure up.  If any reader is not content with these 12 or has a point of contention with any of the 12, you are welcome to say so in the box below “Leave a Reply” and we will do a postscript on this.

 

The Sinaite’s stand on this topic: “There is NO Plan B.”

 

 

NSB@S6K