IS GOD A TRINITY? PART THREE
GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
The Greek word translated “God” in the NT is theos. It occurs in the NT 1,343 times. The Greek theos is used to define beings having power, authority and majesty. It is equivalent to elohim in the OT as we find elohim in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT) translated as theos. Therefore, as is true of elohim in the OT, theos can apply to the one true God, pagan gods, and even to humans who have been granted power and authority. Theos is used to apply to Greek gods in Greek literature. Therefore, theos does not have intrinsic meaning of absolute Deity but can be used to apply to one considered Deity or having the powers of Deity. In the NT we see theos applied to the one true God in hundreds of passages including passages referring to God as Father and God as the Father of Jesus. We also see theos referencing Jesus Christ in several NT passages. We will be examining these passages in depth to determine if these references to Jesus as Theos establish that Jesus is God as part of a Trinitarian unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit or is Jesus god, a personage of granted power and authority but not a hypostasis of the one God.
GOD AS LORD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
The Greek word translated “Lord” in the NT is kurios. This word appears 749 times in the NT. Its basic meaning is to have power and authority and characterizes a person to whom another person or thing belongs. The word implies someone having power over others. It also denotes a respect and reverence with which servants greet their master. This word does not have intrinsic meaning of Deity and therefore its application to someone does not establish their being Deity. Other information must be factored in to establish Deity. In NT scripture, kurios is applied to God the Father and to Jesus Christ and occasionally to others. The great majority of the time it is applied to Christ thereby identifying Christ as having power and authority and worthy of reverence. Since kurios is used to identify God the Father as lord, Jesus as lord and some others as lord, it is necessary to determine when lord should be viewed as reflecting the meaning of Hebrew names for God such as YHWH, Elohim and Adonai or reflecting the meaning of adoni which applies to a non-deity.
IS THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT, GOD?
I phrased this question in this manner because the Trinitarian definition of God is not that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are God, but rather Father, Son and Holy Spirit is God. This is what God is. There is no separation in God, only distinctions. To say God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are God is to imply three Gods. Trinitarians don’t believe in three Gods. They see God as one, just as Non-Trinitarians do. But they see this one God as a composite of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Is this the way God is defined in the scriptures? Again, I need to stress that our focus in this series of essays is to carefully and objectively examine the scriptures to see if they provide the evidence necessary to establish a Trinitarian view of God or some other view of God.
Although Trinitarians define God as Father, Son and Spirit, this definition of God is not explicit in the scriptures. Nowhere do the scriptures say God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This definition of God is arrived at by first identifying the Father as God, the Son Jesus as God and the Holy Spirit as God and then concluding that since the scriptures teach there is one God, these three entities identified as God must be of a single, un-separated substance while maintaining distinctions as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In order to validate this conclusion, we must take this same approach in first identifying Father as God, Jesus as God and the Holy Spirit as God and then, if this identification can be accomplished, see if these three entities are found to be of single un-separated substance while maintaining separate distinctions.
GOD THE FATHER IN THE OT:
The scriptures show that one title of the one God is Father. Trinitarian doctrine teaches one person or hypostasis of the Trinity to be God the Father. God as Father is seen in a variety of OT writings.
Deuteronomy 32:6: Is this the way you repay the LORD, (YHWH) O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?
Isaiah 63:16: You, O LORD, (YHWH) are our Father; our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Isaiah 64:8: Yet, O LORD, (YHWH) you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Psalm 89:26: He will call out to me, You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior (The He, refers to David calling out to God).
Malachi 2: 10: Have we not all one Father? Did not one God (Elohim) create us?
Here we see YHWH, who is identified as the one true God throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, seen as Creator and possessing the title Father. God is seen as Father some fifteen times in OT scripture. Note that the Father is also named Redeemer and the Rock my Savior.
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS:
In the OT passages cited above, YHWH is called Father. Because YHWH is called Redeemer and the Rock my Savior, some believe Jesus is the YHWH of the OT and therefore YHWH is the Son. Reference is made to the relationship between Paul’s statements that the rock that accompanied
1 Corinthians 10:4: and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Deuteronomy 32: 3-4: I will proclaim the name of the LORD (YHWH). Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.
1 Samuel 2:2: There is no one holy like the LORD (YHWH); there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
2 Samuel 22:32: For who is God besides the LORD (YHWH)? And who is the Rock except our God?
Psalm 18:2: The LORD (YHWH) is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Isaiah 44:8: Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."
In Isaiah 9: 6-7, appears a prophecy of the coming of Jesus. In this prophecy the child to be born is described as Mighty God and Everlasting Father. Since YHWH is identified as Father and Mighty God in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is believed this passage about the coming of the Son identifies the Son as YHWH.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty (gibbor) God (el), Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD (YHWH) Almighty (gibbor) will accomplish this.
The Hebrew for mighty is gibbor and means to be powerful, strong and impetuous. In the Hebrew Scripture this word is used around 150 times and refers to men about 95% of the time with only a few references to God. The Hebrew word for God in this passage is el. This word means strong, mighty and mighty hero. This word appears around 200 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and is largely used in reference to the one true God but is also used of men and angels.
Exodus 3:15 identifies YHWH as the name of the one true God. YHWH is also identified in the Hebrew Scriptures as the Father. In Trinitarian theology there is distinction between the Father and the Son as there is throughout the scriptures. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. If YHWH is the Father, YHWH is not the Son. Therefore, if YHWH is the one and only Supreme God the Father and the Son is not YHWH, then the Son cannot be a distinction within the one God who is exclusively YHWH and Father. Furthermore, if the phrase “The zeal of the LORD (YHWH) Almighty (gibbor) will accomplish this” is referring to the one true God as the facilitator of the events just described, there is an obvious separation of Being between YHWH and the one to be born.
Trinitarians may argue that YHWH means the one God in which reside Father, Son and Spirit. Nowhere, however, do the Hebrew Scriptures suggest this. Nowhere is it said that the Father and the Son, let alone the Spirit, are YHWH. Instead, in an OT passage dealing with the promised Messiah, the promised Messiah speaks or acts in the strength of YHWH and calls YHWH his God. If YHWH is his God, then how can He be YHWH?
Micah 5:4: He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD (YHWH), in the majesty of the name of the LORD (YHWH) his God (Elohim). And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
In another prophecy uttered many years after the reign and death of King David, Ezekiel writes that YHWH will establish David as a Prince over
Ezekiel 34:23-24: I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD (YHWH) will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD (YHWH) have spoken.
It would appear that in Jesus being called “Mighty God” and Everlasting Father, these are titles of honor given to Jesus Christ as God’s agent in facilitating the Father's will in becoming the promised Messiah. These titles do not mean the Messiah is God as God is God as it is plain from the passage in Micah that the Messiah relates to YHWH as His God. If the Messiah is God (YHWH Elohim) as God is God, this passage makes no sense. It is interesting to note the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) translates “Everlasting Father” as “Father of the age to come” and the Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, translates “Mighty God” as “divine hero.”
In regard to the use of “rock” to describe YHWH, there are dozens of such references to YHWH in the OT narrative. In the NT there are four references to Christ as being a rock with only the passage in 1 Corinthians 10:4 associating Christ, as the rock who accompanied
I have already shown the difficulty with concluding the Son is YHWH seeing that the scriptures show the Son, as the promised Messiah, relating to YHWH as His YHWH and God (Elohim) and being a servant of YHWH. Furthermore, the Hebrew Scriptures identify YHWH as Father and nowhere identify YHWH as Father and Son. As will be seen in the scriptures under the next heading, God as Father is continually identified in the NT in contrast to the Son with no hint of them being of one substance in a Triune relationship with the Spirit. It would appear that references to YHWH and Jesus as being a rock are simply symbolic representations of their power and authority. In the case of YHWH, supreme power and authority. In the case of Jesus, ascribed power and authority.
If the Son is not the rock of the OT, why does Paul identify Jesus as the rock that accompanied
GOD THE FATHER IN THE NT:
In the New Testament (NT), God is identified as Father many times and Father is the most repeated manner in which God is portrayed. Jesus Christ repeatedly speaks of God as the Father and specifically speaks of God as His Father. The NT clearly identifies God as Father and specifically as the Father of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is identified multiple times as the Son of God the Father and thus it is clearly shown God is His Father. Here is a sampling of God being identified as Father in the NT.
I Corinthians 8:6: Yet for us there is but one God (theos), the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord (kurios), Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Ephesians 4:4-6: There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord (kurios), one faith, one baptism; one God (Theos) and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Galatians 1:3-4: Grace and peace to you from God (Theos) our Father and the Lord (kurios) Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God (Theos) and Father,
1 Thessalonians 3:11: Now may our God (Theos) and Father himself and our Lord (kurios) Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.
Romans 15:5-6: May the God (Theos) who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God (Theos) and Father of our Lord (kurios) Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:3: Praise be to the God (Theos) and Father of our Lord (kurios) Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God (Theos) of all comfort.
Revelation 1:4-6: John, To the seven churches in the province of
These NT scriptures clearly show the Father is God. It must be pointed out, however, that in the six NT scriptures quoted above and in other similar NT passages; there is a straightforward dichotomy between the Father and Jesus Christ. In I Corinthians 8:6 God is identified as the one God the Father in contrast to the one Lord, Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 4:4-6, a distinction is made between the one Lord, referring to Jesus Christ, and the one God and Father of all. In Galatians 1:3-4 and 1 Thessalonians 3:11, a definite distinction is made between God the Father and Jesus Christ. In Romans 15:5-6 and 2 Corinthians 1:3, God is referred to as the God and Father of Jesus and in the passage from the Revelation we see God the Father being served as the God and Father of Jesus Christ.
Non-Trinitarians believe these scriptures clearly identify God the Father and Jesus Christ to be separate individuals with God the Father being the one God over all creation including His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Because of what Jesus accomplished as the human Messiah, He is seen as having been given or returned to supreme authority, power and majesty but still remains separate from and subject to the one God who is the Father. Non-Trinitarians cannot see how Jesus can be constantly distinguished from God the Father and be considered as consubstantial and coequal with the Father.
Trinitarians see the above quoted scriptures as simply identifying two of the three distinctions of a Triune God. It is believed that the distinction called the Son became the human Jesus to facilitate reconciliation with the Father. In doing so the Son never became disassociated from the Trinity but simply became an embodied manifestation of the distinction in the Trinity that is known as the Son. The Son is seen as having added humanity to Him while not in any way losing Deity. The separateness seen while the Son existed as the human Jesus is seen as one of functionality and not one of substance or ontological nature. Jesus is seen as a human manifestation of the Son distinction in God. As the human Jesus, He is seen as functionally subservient to the Father but remains coequal ontologically with the Father in His pre-existent eternal state.
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS:
In order to use the six scriptures quoted above in support of the Trinitarian concept of God you virtually must assume Trinitarianism to begin with. You must assume Jesus and the Father are coequal, coeternal and of one substance. You don’t get this perspective from these scriptures. These scriptures give the obvious and straightforward perspective that there is one God called Father who as creator is above all including Jesus. To avoid this obvious conclusion, the Trinitarian must assume these scriptures are dealing strictly with an earthly existence of God's manifestation of Himself as Son and that when Father and Son are dichotomized in these scriptures it pertains only to the physical Jesus relating in a physical way to the distinction called Father in the plurality believed to be Father, Son and Spirit.
A problem for the Trinitarian position in regard to the NT scriptures cited above is that all these dichotomist statements regarding the Father and Jesus were made after Jesus had ascended to be with the Father. Apostle Paul’s writings consistently show the Father and Jesus as separate individuals after the ascension of Jesus with no hint of their being in a coequal Triune relationship. If Jesus is part of a Triune God, Paul is apparently unaware of it and writes about the Father and Jesus after His ascension as though they are the same two separate individuals they were when the Son was on earth as the physical man Jesus. The angel seen as giving the Revelation to John is seen as receiving it directly from Jesus who received it from God. Yet in this message Jesus speaks of Christians serving His God and Father. If Jesus, in His glorified state, is a coequal with the Father, why the reference to “His God and Father?” God is shown as being separate from Jesus. If God is separate from Jesus then Jesus can’t be God in the Trinitarian sense. The implication is that the one and only Supreme God is the Father and since Jesus is not the Father, Jesus is not God. The Father is the God of Jesus and not coequal with Jesus. God is greater than Jesus, not only when Jesus was a human, but even now in Jesus’ glorified state. Therefore, the Son is not coequal with the Father. There is absolutely no hint in these passages of God being a Trinitarian union of Father, Son and Spirit. Just the opposite is suggested.
If one never heard of the Trinity and read the scriptural passages cited above, one would not conclude that God the Father and Jesus Christ are in a coequal, coeternal, single substance and single entity relationship. One would conclude that God the Father is one entity and Jesus Christ is another and different entity. Therefore, it must be from other scriptural passages that the Trinitarian concept of God is established. Our focus will be on examining such scriptural passages to see if they do establish the Trinitarian view and if so, how can they be harmonized with scriptures already cited that at face value present a different view.
We must also consider the Hebrew Shema. In Deuteronomy 6:4 YHWH is identified as the one God. In Deuteronomy 32:6, and various other OT passages, YHWH is identified as Father. Jesus affirms the Shema in Mark 12:29. If YHWH, as the one God is the Father, then the one God is the Father. Since the Son is not the Father, Jesus can’t be the one God. This harmonizes well with NT scriptures which identify the one God as the Father.