 |
Resources from a Messianic perspective |
 |
|
THE CASE FOR THE TRI-UNITY OF GOD Download a PDF version of this article
A fundamental core belief of Christianity is the tri-unity of God (abbreviated as trinity), meaning the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit united as one God. Rabbinic Judaism, on the other hand, rejects the concept, citing incompatibility with the Tanakh (Old Testament). But this denial fails to take into account the progress of revelation, meaning that God did not reveal the totality of His message in one big download. He communicated foundational principles in the Torah, and then added further information about those principles in the Prophets and other Old Testament writings, and then completed it in the New Testament, with much of that being focused on the way that Yeshua (Jesus) brings fulfillment to previously introduced concepts. God's nature is one of these progressively revealed concepts. It is true that in the Torah some aspects like His holiness and expectation for righteous living are well-developed by Moses, but other elements are only introduced in a limited fashion. One way of evaluating these elements is to treat it like evidence being presented in a court of law. This, then, is the case for the tri-unity of God. The testimony of Moses as a linguistic expert As the one who recorded under divine inspiration the first five books of the Bible, Moses testifies that the primary word for God is in plural form. Biblically speaking, there are two main Hebrew terms translated as God. El is in singular form while Elohim is in plural form but is translated in Scripture as a singular when it refers to the one true God. Some people argue that the plural usage holds no significance. The verbs are singular, so it is said that the subject has to be singular. But that reduces the subject to an unnecessarily simplistic nature. The best way of understanding Elohim is to look at some other related words. For example, the Hebrew words for water—mayim and heaven—shamayim, are both in plural form. Linguistically these are called "quantitative plurals." Water can be conceived in terms of many drops making up a larger body. Heaven can be thought of as many stars in one sky. Elohim is the same kind of word. It has the sense of multiplic ity united within the whole. And that is emphasized by the biblical authors having options when it comes to terminology, yet the plural form, Elohim is used 92% of the time in reference to the true God, while the singular El is used only 8%. God's own words as a testimony In multiple places, God refers to Himself with plural pronouns. In the Creation account, God said: "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" (Gen 1:26). When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, "The LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil'" (Gen 3:22). When people erected the tower of Babel, the LORD said, "Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other" (Gen 11:7). Dissenters cl aim that these words are merely royal plurals or plurals of majesty. These would be like the declarations made by the kings and queens of England who proclaim, "We hereby make the following decree. . ." In this usage, the "we" is the king or queen speaking alone. But the problem with applying this argument to the Bible is that it is a modern way of thinking, not the ancient Hebrew way. In the Bible, the kings of Israel and Judah always spoke in the singular. And the same is true for the words spoken by kings of other lands in the Ancient Near East. It was never part of any of the cultures in the biblical world. So this is an attempt to project a more modern concept back onto the Bible. The next evidence is that God describes Himself as being a composite unity. The Shema is the fundamental statement of Judaism, derived from Deuteronomy 6:4. It reads: "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheynu Adona echad—Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." Since God commanded Moses to teach those words (Deut 6:1), it indicates His intentionality. This is significant because it was not the only option He had, as there are two Hebrew words that carry the meaning of oneness:
We can enter into evidence virtually any siddur (Jewish prayer book) that is read liturgically in virtually all synagogues today. It will contain a liturgy called "Ani Ma'amin," meaning "I believe." There in the siddur, you will see the word yachid used instead of echad. Ani Ma'amin, is based on the Thirteen Principles of Faith that were established by Maimonides, the influential 12th century rabbi. Maimonides did not change the Shema itself. But he did create this new statement as his second principle: "I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is absolute unity (yachid)." Because the Thirteen Principles of Faith became the accepted declaration of the beliefs of Rabbinic Judaism, and their inclusion in the Ani Ma'amin liturgy made them very familiar, it has resulted in the common perception of God's absolute unity, not composite unity, in the minds of synagogue worshipers. Having this understanding is important because yachid is never used regarding God anywhere in the Bible. It is always echad. So rather than trusting in the unreliable evidence of tradition, God's own testimony is that He is a composite unity, meaning more than one person united together in some manner. Look once again at Genesis 3:22. The text reads:"The LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us.'" Why does He include echad—the word for "one" in this statement? If He was just employing a royal plural, He would just omit echad and it would read: "The man has become like us," thus interpreted as "The man has become like me." But not only is the explanation of royal plurals an anachronism, as we have seen, God makes it impossible for that concept to apply anyway. Once He quantifies the phrase with echad, by making it "one of us," there is only one possible meaning linguistically. It becomes a relational matter between more than one person. The testimony of eyewitnesses The Old Testament depicts a series of eyewitnesses who attest that they saw God with the appearance of human or bodily form:
These appearances are known as theophanies. You ca n see how these are special moments when God temporarily revealed Himself to people with the resemblance of a man. Scholars have debated whether these appearances are actually Yeshua or another way of God interacting with humanity. But at a very minimum, it is clear that God made physical appearances on earth on many occasions from the times of the patriarchs to the prophets. The testimony of the prophets The prophets foretold the identity of the persons of God's tri-unity.
Closing arguments The inadequacy of the position of the opponents of God's triune nature can be summed up with these words found in an ancient rabbinical commentary on Genesis:
In other words, they are saying: "We realize we have a problem, and we have protested to God about it, and He hasn't given us anything that will effectively impeach the position of Christians whom we consider to be heretics. But it doesn't matter if we are in error." The closing argument affirming the case for the trinity in the Old Testament might be summed up this way:
The high court confirmation in the New Testament In keeping with the aforementioned progress of revelation, direct statements of God's tri-unity are evident throughout the New Testament:
Many more passages can be cited, but the complete revelation by God in the Old and New Testaments demonstrates that the Father, Son and Spirit are distinct persons, yet they share the exact same nature and are united as one God. It truly is a mystery that is far beyond our ability to comprehend. It is foolish to deny the evidence and to assume that God must be limited to a concept that fits our own understanding. If He can create the universe out of nothing, surely He is able to manifest Himself however He sees fit. So if we are truly seeking God's truth, not trying to fit Him into a box of our own making, or that which is taught by those who reject the authority of God's written Word alone, we can ask the question, why is this important? What is God trying to communicate to us by revealing Himself in this way? God's triune nature demonstrates His high value on relationship The Father, Son, and Spirit have eternally existed in perfect harmony. We can see clues in Scripture where internal conversations take place. And we can see the genuine joy and satisfaction expressed by Yeshua about the intimacy He shares with the Father. That is very much manifested in Yeshua's prayer on the eve of His crucifixion. He said to the Father:
He then expressed His desire for believers to be one, just as He and the Father are one:
These are all expressions of relationships—believing the same way, being united as one, and exchanging mutual love. Having this understanding is a call to go beyond mere recognition of His nature, to applying it to our lives. As Paul writes: There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Eph 4:4-6). This kind of unity only comes about by sharing a common nature and purpose, and by submitting to one another in love, just as God has always done as part of His unique and incredible triune nature. This is not merely a theological issue. It is about discovering the reality behind the mystery, which is God's desire for us to emulate the perfect kind of relationship with Him and with others that He has had in a very personal way throughout eternity.
Dr. Galen Peterson |