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[First posted 2014, reposted 2015. You know how google-earth zooms into a location anywhere in the world? Well, that happens to us whenever a visitor recently clicks articles we have forgotten. We check out what posts have been visited by searchers, reread and repost as is or updated if there is further information/commentary to add. This article is relevant in this season when Christianity has just entered into its Lenten/Easter observance, totally centered on the 2nd Person of its Trinitarian Godhead. This is one of our posts that challenges God as Trinity.–Admin1.]
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Let’s keep it simple. What part of ONE don’t we understand?
Ask a child to show how many fingers is ONE. Ask a scientist the same, or a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or an atheist. One finger makes ONE whether you use your thumb, pointer, middle finger, ring finger, or pinky.
Now ask the Creator how many is ONE. Ask the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Ask the God on Sinai. Ask the God of Israel. Ask the God of TORAH, and the TNK. In fact we don’t have to ask, HE has declared over and over all over HIS TORAH how many HE IS. In fact I would bet if we could ask Jesus how many is ONE, he would have the same answer as all of the above.
To belabor a point . . . even if you try explaining ONE in other ways such as— H2O has been said to manifest in 3 forms: gaseous, liquid, solid . . . so? H20 is H20, one and the same chemical formula. Betty is one person, but she is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, teacher and friend. How many persons in Betty? One, but many roles.
Ah, but is that what the Trinity is/are? Not quite . . . because the Trinity is explained as a Tri-Unity with 3 different Persons merging as 1. We could imagine 1 God manifesting in 3 Persons, even more; in fact, “I will be whom I will be” has been interpreted as such; God chooses to be one person in OT, and three persons in NT.
The NT doctrine claims something different:
- three different distinct Persons but one God,
- with identifiable roles, natures,
- though only the 2nd has a name that is to be proclaimed as Savior, Messiah, Judge, Priest, Creator, Suffering Servant, etc.
There is/are: a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, all in one, separate entities with specific roles and assignments but supposedly functioning as one.
It is easy to connect the Holy Spirit to the Father or the Son, but to merge the Father and the Son . . .
- as a baby born of a virgin,
- as Jesus of Nazareth functioning on earth while his Father is in heaven,
- as Jesus dying on the cross abandoned by the Father. . .
—it’s mind-boggling.
Don’t understand? Can’t explain? Mystery. Trust and just have “faith.” But faith has to have an object; as ‘faith in’ . . . what? whom? Well, for one, New Testament claims which originated from the Council of Nicaea decisions.
But wait, what about the “Old Testament prooftexts, the1st being Genesis 1:1, Hebrew word “elohiym” which is plural? And what about the 2nd “prooftext” “Let US . . .” in Genesis 1:26-27? Hereunder are 6 translations of these 2 verses:
- 2 Christian (KJV/King James Version and NASB/New American Standard Bible),
- 1 Messianic which is still Christian (MJB/Messianic Jewish Bible);
- 2 Hebrew renderings: JPS/Jewish Publication Society, AST/ArtScroll Tanach
- and our translation of choice, EF/Everett Fox: The Five Books of Moses
Please read the translation of —-
- verse 26 which is consistent with all;
- and verse 27 which is consistent in all.
Please notice that—
- verse 26 renders the Speaker who is GOD/ELOHIM in the plural “us” and “our”
- but verse 27 renders GOD as “His” and “He.”
Why the inconsistency if indeed there is inconsistency? And why take vs. 26 as the proof for a Trinity and yet ignore vs. 27? The plural and singular words all occur within the SAME CONTEXT, one verse after another referring to the Creator.
Genesis 1:26-27
KJV:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
NASB: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ak]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
CJB: 26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.
AST: And God said, “Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness. They shall rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over the animal, the whole earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created Man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
JPS: 26 And God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
EF: : 26. God said: Let us make humankind, in our image, according to our likeness! Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the heavens, animals all the earth, and all crawling things that crawl about upon the earth! 27 So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God did he create it, male and female he created them.
It is not difficult to understand how one’s mindset and religious orientation affect the reading and understanding of these verses:
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Christians who have been programmed to accept God as a Trinity will follow all the other OT “prooftexts” that have already been interpreted for them; they don’t question the doctrine of “progressive revelation”, that the OT is prophecy and the NT is fulfillment; that the prequel only hints at a Trinitarian concept of God who reveals himself more fully in the sequel. In fact, anticipating an opinion about the verses rendered, you could almost expect this reaction:
“Exactly! That is the perfect proof, that vs. 26 is the Father speaking and giving the order to the other two Persons in the Trinity, by saying “Let US. . .” and vs. 27 shows the Son who is the Creator himself according to John 1:1-4, executing the Father’s command!”
NASB: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 [a]He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
And where is the Holy Spirit? He was already introduced as early as Genesis 1:2
NASB: and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
A Jew knows God is ONE because this has been drummed into his consciousness and belief system by the only authoritative scripture he accepts —the TNK. A Jew will read these verses according to how YHWH has repeatedly proclaimed Himself as ‘ONE, there is No Other’ all over the Hebrew Scriptures. The use of the plural noun for the One True God in Genesis or sporadic uses elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures does not change the unity of YHWH and His consistent declarations about Himself.
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The Jews did not decide YHWH’s nature; they believed and accepted the Self-Revelation and repeated declarations of the God of Israel who spoke to them directly at Sinai, and through Moses, and their prophets all throughout their history. They did not hold councils and vote; what is there to vote on to begin with? Did YHWH ever say anything contrary to “ONE” to make them think, debate, decide otherwise?
If YHWH defines HIMSELF, who is man to change YHWH’s own declarations by their speculations and council decisions? Mere men reconfiguring God’s nature contrary to God’s Self-definition?
Sinaites have had the privilege of having been exposed to both Christian and Jewish orientations and belief systems, and after closely examining all the evidence in the foundational Hebrew Scriptures about the nature of God, we go along with the Jewish people on their version of MONOTHEISM.
YHWH is ONE.
Simple.
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