Bible Difficulties (80 page)

362

Does the Bible really teach that God is a Trinity?

Christian baptism commanded by Christ in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19) is to be

"in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit" (NASB). Notice that it says

"name," not "names." This suggests that the name of God is Father-Son-Holy Spirit. It is true that the term "Trinity" was not employed by the actual Hebrew or Greek text of the Bible; but neither is "soteriology"--yet there is a systematic doctrine of salvation found in Scripture--neither is "hamartiology" nor "transcendence" nor "immanence" nor

"preexistence" nor "Christology." Few people who discuss biblical teaching raise a red flag and object to the use of these terms when they discuss the nature of the gracious working of God. Such designations serve as convenient labels for concepts or complex teachings concerning subjects that belong together. It is impossible to discuss theology as a systematic, philosophical discipline without using these technical terms. None of them is found in the Bible text, to be sure; but all of the them sum up in a coherent, organized way the major concepts that are taught in Scripture. Therefore we must dismiss as irrelevant the objection that the precise word "Trinity" is not used in the Bible text.

On the other hand, we venture to insist that some of the most basic and fundamental teaching about God remains nearly incomprehensible without a grasp of the doctrine or the Trinity.

First, let us be very clear as to what is meant by "Trinity." This implies that God is a Unity subsisting in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--all three of whom are one God. That God is One is asserted in both the Old and New Testaments: Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel! Yahweh our God is one Yahweh"; Mark 12:29: "Jesus answered, `The first [great commandment] is, "Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord'"; Ephesians 4:6: "[There is] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." These are all clear, unequivocal affirmations of monotheism. God is One.

There are no other gods besides Him. Isaiah 45:22 quotes God as saying, "Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other" (NASB). Or again, Psalm 96:4-5 reads: "For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols [the Hebrew
'elilim
connotes `weak, worthless ones']." This is made very explicit in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6: "For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father from whom are all things,...and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things" (NASB).

On the other hand, the Bible teaches that God is not a sterile monad but eternally exists in three Persons. This is suggested by the Creation account in Genesis 1:1-3: "In the beginning God [
'elohim
, plural in form, with the
im
ending] created [
bara'
, a singular verb, not the plural
bare'u
] the heavens and the earth [this plural for `God' is probably àplural of majesty'; yet compare Gen. 1:26-27, discussed below]. And the earth was formless and void...and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters

[showing the involvement of the Third Person in the work of creation]. Then God

[
'elohim
]
said
, `Let there be light!'" (NASB). Here we have God speaking as the Creative Word, the same as the Logos (John 1:3), who is the Second Person of the Trinity.

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The Bible teaches that each Person of the Trinity has a special function, both in the work of creation and in the work of redemption.

The Father is the
Source
of all things (1 Cor. 8:6: "from whom are all things"). He is the one who
planned
and
ordained
redemption. "For God so loved the world, that He
gave
His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). This incarnation was a fulfillment of His previously announced
decree
in Psalm 2:7; "I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: He said to Me, `Thou art My Son, today I have
begotten
Thee.'" He also has given His messianic Servant as an atonement for our sins (Isa. 53:6, 10). He has likewise given the Holy Spirit to His people (Acts 2:18; Eph. 1:17). He bestowed salvation on the redeemed (Eph. 2:8-9) through the faith that is also His gift. And to His Son He has given the church (John 6:37).

As for God the Son, it was
through Him
that all the work of creation was accomplished (John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6), which means that He was also the Lord God addressed in Psalm 90 as the Creator who fashioned the mountains, hills, and all the earth. He is also the Sustainer and Preserver of the material universe that He created (Heb. 1:2-3). Yet He is also the God who
became
"
flesh
" (John 1:18), that is, a true human being--without ceasing to be God--in order to explain ("exegete") God to mankind. He was the
Light
that came into the world to save men from the power of darkness (John 1:9; 8:12) by means of His
perfect obedience
to the law and by His
atoning death
on the cross (Heb. 1:3). He was also the one who overcame the power of death; and as the risen Savior, He established and commissioned His church as His living temple, His body and His bride.

The Holy Spirit is that Person of the Godhead who
inspired
the writing of
Scripture
(1

Cor. 2:13; 2 Peter 1:21), who manifests the gospel to God's redeemed (John 16:14). He
communicates
the
benefits of Calvary
to all truly believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior (John 1:12-13); and He enters their souls to
sanctify
their bodies as living temples of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19), after they have been born again by His transforming grace (John 3:5-6). Then He teaches believers to understand and believe the words of Christ (John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:10), as He bears witness of Christ both by external signs and by inward conviction (John 15:26; Acts 2:33, 38, 43). He sanctifies and brings together the members of Christ into a living organism that is the true temple of the Lord (Eph. 2:18-22) and bestows on each member special gifts of grace and power (
charismata
) by which they may enrich and strengthen the church as a whole (1 Cor. 12:7-11).

The New Testament repeatedly and plainly affirms that Jesus Christ was God incarnate.

He is set forth as the all-creative Word of God who actually was God (John 1:1-3). He was indeed the "only begotten God" (John 1:18, for according to the oldest and best manuscripts that was the original reading in this verse) rather than "only begotten Son."

In John 20:28 the affirmation or the no-longer-doubting Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" is accepted by Christ as His true identity; for He commented: "Have you
believed
because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Believed what? Why, that which Thomas just acknowledged, that Christ is both Lord and
God!
!

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In the Pauline and General epistles, we find the following clear affirmations of Christ's full and essential deity.

1. Speaking of the Israelites, Paul says, "Of whom [
on
, the participle really demands this rendering;
ho on
(`he is') has to be a relative construction modifying
ho Christos
as its antecedent] was Christ according to the flesh [i.e., physically speaking], who is God over all, blessed forever, Amen" (Rom. 9:5).

2. In Titus 2:13 Paul speaks of "looking forward to the glorious appearing [
epiphaneia
is elsewhere used only of the appearance of Christ, never of God the Father] of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."

3. Hebrews 1:8 quotes Psalm 45:6-7 as a proof of the deity of Christ, as taught in the Old Testament: "But to the Son he says, `Thy throne, O God [the Hebrew passage uses

'elohim
here], is forever and ever.'"

4. Hebrews 1:10-11, quoting from Psalm 102:25-26, states; "In the beginning, O Lord

[this entire psalm is addressed to Yahweh, and so the author inserts the vocative LORD

here from the previous contest], Thou didst establish the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They will perish, but Thou remainest." Here Christ is addressed as the God who always existed, even before Creation, and who will always live, even after the heavens have passed away.

5. In 1 John 5:20 says, "We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He [lit.,

`this one'] is the true God and eternal life."

So far as Old Testament passages are concerned, the following have a definite bearing on the Trinity.

1. Genesis 1:26 quotes God (
'elohim
) as saying, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness" (NASB). This first person plural can hardly be a mere editorial or royal plural that refers to the speaker alone, for no such usage is demonstrable anywhere else in biblical Hebrew. Therefore we must face the question of who are included in this "us" and "our." It could hardly include the angels in consultation with God, for nowhere is it ever stated that man was created in the image of angels, only of God. Verse 27 then affirms: "And God [
'elohim
] created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male female He Created them" (NASB). God--the same God who spoke of Himself in the plural--now states that He created man in His image. In other words, the plural equals the singular. This can only be understood in terms of the Trinitarian nature of God. The one true God subsists in three Persons, Persons who are able to confer with one another and carry their plans into action together--without ceasing to be one God.

For us who have been created in God's image, this should not be too difficult to grasp; for there is a very definite sense in which we too are Trinitarian in nature. 1

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Thessalonians 5:23 indicates this clearly enough; "Now may the God of peace sanctify you wholly, and may your entire
spirit
and
soul
and
body
be preserved without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." We often find ourselves engaged in a debate between our spirit, soul, and bodily nature as we grapple with a moral decision and are faced with a choice between the will of God and the desire of our self-seeking, flesh-pleasing nature.

2. Psalm 33:6 reads, "By word of Yahweh were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit [
ruah
] of His mouth." Here again we have the same involvement of all three Persons of the Trinity in the work of creation: the Father decrees, the Son as the Logos brings the Father's decree into operation, and the Spirit imparts His life-giving dynamic to the whole process.

3. Psalm 45:6 has already been quoted in connection with Hebrews 1:8: "Thy throne, O

God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy Kingdom." But Psalm 45:7 brings in the reference to a God who will bless this God who is perfect King:

"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows" (NASB). The concept of God blessing God can only be understood in a Trinitarian sense. A unitarian concept would make this passage unintelligible.

4. Isaiah 48:16 sets forth all three Persons in the work of redemptive revelation and action: "Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret; from the time it took place [i.e, the deliverance of God's people from captivity and bondage], I was there. And now the Lord Yahweh has sent Me, and His Spirit." Here we have the God-man Redeemer speaking (the one who has just described Himself in v.12 as "the First and Last," and in v.13 as the one who "founded the earth and spread out the heavens.") He now says here in v.16 that He has been sent by the Lord Yahweh (which in this case must refer to God the Father) and also by His Spirit (the Third Person of the Trinity). Conceivably "and His Spirit" could be linked up with "Me" as the object of "has sent," but in the context of the Hebrew original here it gives the impression that His
ruah
("Spirit")is linked up with
'adonay
YHWH ("Lord Yahweh") as an added subject rather than an added object. At any rate, the Third Person is distinguished from either the First or the Second, so far as these verses are concerned.

In addition to the examples given above of Old Testament verses that cannot be made sense of except through the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead, there are repeated instances of the activity of the "Angel of Yahweh" who becomes equated with Yahweh Himself. Consider the following passages:

1. Genesis 22:11 describes the most dramatic moment of Abraham's experience on Mount Moriah, as he was about to sacrifice Isaac: "But the Angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven, and said, Àbraham, Abraham!'" The next verse proceeds to equate that Angel with God Himself: "For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then in vv. 16-17 the Angel declares, "`By Myself I have sworn,' declares Yahweh, `because you have done this thing, and have not 366

withheld your son...indeed I will greatly bless you.'" Very clearly the Angel of Yahweh here is Yahweh Himself. "Yahweh" is the covenant name of the Trinitarian God, and the Angel of that God is also Himself God. That is to say, we can identify the Angel of Yahweh in passages like these as the preincarnate Redeemer, God the Son, already engaged in His redemptive or mediatorial work even prior to His becoming Man in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

2. In Genesis 31:11, 13 we have the same phenomenon; the Angel of God turns out to be God Himself: "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, `Jacob,' and I said,

`Here I am....I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar.'" (NASB).

3. Exodus 3:2 states: "And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush." Then in v.4 we read: "When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush." The full self-identification then comes in v.6: "He said also, Ì am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God." Here again the Angel of Yahweh turns out to be Yahweh God Himself.