Greetings again Free,
I am very convinced of my overall view of the One God the Father and Jesus as the Son of God. There are a number of obscure or ambiguous passages that I prefer to avoid when discussing with Trinitarians. That does not mean that I ignore them.
The following are my notes that I made in 2018 which I had added to my Bible Program.
Hebrews 1:2 (KJV): "by whom also he made the worlds"
by: dia = through or on account of whom. RV, RSV have "through". The means by which something is accomplished. He is the central, pivotal point of God's plan. Everything else revolves around him.
worlds: aion = ages or epochs of time. Companion Bible - "any given period of time, characterised by a special form of Divine administration or dispensation". e.g. the antediluvian age, the patriarchal age, ..., the Gentile age, the millennium age. All the ages, past, present and future were designed by God with Christ in mind. One suggestion "with a view to whom, He (God) made the ages".
Dia can mean "on account of," but it is largely translated as "through". Given the other passages that say the same thing, and even stronger, the verse means that everything that was created was created through the Son.
Here are two passages that I do not avoid. I understand "The Word" in John 1:1 is a personification similar to the Wise Woman "Wisdom" of Proverbs 8 who was with God in the creation.
Except that it cannot be a personification. We need to look at the Greek to see what John said.
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (ESV)
Looking at the first clause, "In the beginning" is clearly a reference to Gen 1:1. The word "was" is the Greek,
en, which is a form of
eimi (I Am), and speaks of continuous action in the past; that is, absolute preexistence before any creation. What that statement means is that when the beginning began, the Word was already in existence, and hence, there was never a time when he did not exist. The very same applies to the Father, who has absolute preexistence.
In the second clause, "and the Word was with God," it is the Greek
pros that is translated as "with." But it isn't merely speaking of being together or near. It expresses “direction towards,” as in relationship and communion, implying intimacy. It is important to note here that in the Greek the article is present, so it reads, "the Word was with [the] God." So, God is a reference to someone other than the Word, at a minimum it is a reference to the Father.
When it comes to the last clause, "the Word was God," it is significant that "God" doesn't have the article in the Greek, as it was in the preceding clause. If the article had been present then "Word" and "God" become interchangeable, and they are one and the same, which is the error of Oneness theology. But this whole passage is about the
logos, who the
logos is, not who God is, so John purposely doesn't use the article to avoid equating the two words. What it can only mean then, is that the Word was divine in nature, or deity. However, since there is only one God, it is rightly translated as "the Word was God."
We should also consider verses 2, 3, and 14:
Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. (ESV)
We see a repeat of verse 1 with the use of
en,
pros, and God with the article, reaffirming the timeless preexistence of the Word who was in active communion with the Father.
Joh 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (ESV)
Simple, straightforward logic tells us that since "all things were made through" the Word, and that "without him was not any thing made that was made," it necessarily follows that the Word is not something that was made (see also 1 Cor 8:6, Col 1:16-17, Heb 1:2, 10-12). That is, there never was a time when the Word did not exist. It cannot be otherwise, other John's claims here are false.
John then makes it clear in verse 14 that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." That is, the Word, not the Father, entered into time--Greek for "become" is
egeneto (same as "made" in verse 3)--and took on human flesh. This is precisely what Paul is speaking of in Phil 2:5-8. John only uses
egeneto in his prologue of things that come into existence.
Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. (ESV)
Again, we see that "the world was made through him," that is, through the Son, Jesus Christ. Here, "world" is the Greek word
kosmos. This can only mean that he was in existence when the creation began and is, therefore, eternal. Otherwise, it's a false claim on the part of John.
Joh 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (ESV)
This is pretty self-explanatory.
John's whole point is who the Word is. The purpose of his prologue is to introduce us to the Word become flesh, God entering into time as a human, in the person of Jesus. To sum then, the Word had eternal preexistence, the same as the Father, in intimate relationship with God, and was in nature deity himself. Yet, we know there was only one God. The best explanation is that there is plurality within the one God, hence, the historical doctrine of the Trinity best takes this evidence into account.
1 Corinthians 8:6 is a key Unitarian verse which embarasses most Trinitarians, but they feel more comfortable by mentioning it in supposed support of their doctrine.
Embarrasses? Not at all. It cannot be understand except from a Trinitarian point of view. It's most likely Paul's expansion of the Shema, in Deut 6:4. Note the similarities:
Deu 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (ESV)
1Co 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (ESV)
Apart from that, simple logic produces two interesting results. First, if "one God, the Father" excludes Jesus (rather, the Son) from being God, it necessarily follows that "one Lord, Jesus Christ" excludes the Father from being Lord. Yet, we know that the latter is not the case; so the former cannot be the case either.
Second, if "from whom are all things" speaks of the eternal nature and creative action of the Father, it necessarily follows that "through whom are all things" speaks of the eternal nature of the Son and co-creative action of the Son. It simply cannot be otherwise, or we set the verse into contradiction and one of those statements is false.
However, it's not hard to notice that it completely agrees with John 1:1-3 and Col 1:16-17 and doesn't contradict the Shema.
I understand that the first, primary meaning of Deuteronomy 6:4 is that God is One Person, and then that there is only One God in contrast to the many gods and idols of the surrounding nations. There is no hint of three persons, but One God revealed through many agents, such as Angels and Judges, both classes mentioned as "Elohim" (back to our original topic).
No, there is no hint of three persons, but that is not my argument. The point is that it says absolutely nothing about one person or three persons; it says nothing about persons at all. So, that cannot be a primary meaning; it cannot be a meaning at any level. It is
only a statement of monotheism.
I believe that the One God, Yahweh, God the Father is the Creator Psalm 8:1-3, Matthew 11:25-30.
And, yet, as I pointed out, Heb 1:10-12 has the Father saying the Son is the creator. The implication is that the Son is co-creator. That also means that Heb 1:2 really does mean that the Son was the instrument, the means and channel, through which creation happened.
Be careful with stating that only God the Father is Yahweh; that is fallaciously begging the question. Again, there is not a single verse in the Bible which clearly or directly states that God, Yahweh, is only one person.
Also, there is nothing in Matt 11:25-30 to suggest that only the Father is creator.
All of this suggests that Elohim being a plural for the persons within the one God would not be an incorrect understanding.