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How to defend the trinity!

JLB said:
We are introduced to the Godhead, in the first verse of the Bible.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1


As we continue on in Genesis we see that God refers to Himself as Us and Our.


Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26


The word Elohim is plural of the singular El; God


I really don’t use the word Trinity, since it is not found in scripture. I prefer Godhead, or Elohim.




JLB
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"Us" can be two, three, four, five...ten...one hundred.
 
The host of heaven about the one on the throne - GOD not quite the same as Father, Son, Holy Spirit
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Not quite the same as glory to the Father, Son, Holy Spirit

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I note the deity that dwells in Christ is the Fathers and they are one in that manner.
"The fullness was pleased to dwell in Him" gifted from the will of another.

The works Jesus performed testify that the Father is in Him and they are one.

I note Jesus is all that the Father is.
The image of the invisible God.
The Son is the radiance of Gods glory and the exact representation of Gods being.

I note Jesus was given Supremacy in all things. (first)
The firstborn of all creation. - before all things
The firstborn from the dead. (first)

I note Jesus was in the beginning and the one in Him was doing His work just as in The Son of Man.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

I note a body was prepared for Him and The Son who was, His Spirit, was in that body.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;

"Father into your hands I commit My spirit"

I note whose Spirit anointed Jesus - Jesus testified as to who sent Him - The Father

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. HE has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

I defend Christ Jesus not the trinity. He testifies to the truth.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

And that truth is held
and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

So all that leaves:
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

The Father, The Son in whom the fullness of the Father was pleased to dwell and the Fathers Spirit would be ONE.
 
Walpole said:
This is a great post.
However, the Trinity IS just a New Testament doctrine, as the Jews are not Trinitarians.
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Thanks for the compliment. By my saying it is not just a NT doctrine, I meant that it is in the OT as well; even if those Jews did not or could not see it there. As our Lord said:

John 5:39
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

The OT speaks of the Messiah.
 
Walpole said:
"Us" can be two, three, four, five...ten...one hundred.
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True. And God is not so simple as to be just 3:

Revelation 4:5
Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

So you have One, you have Three, and you have Seven.

How does that all work? Not a clue.
 
D-D-W said:
Thanks for the compliment. By my saying it is not just a NT doctrine, I meant that it is in the OT as well; even if those Jews did not or could not see it there. As our Lord said:

John 5:39
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

The OT speaks of the Messiah.
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Agreed. However, it is only revealed in the OT in light of Christian revelation.
 
D-D-W said:
True. And God is not so simple as to be just 3:

Revelation 4:5
Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

So you have One, you have Three, and you have Seven.

How does that all work? Not a clue.
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The classic Christian paradox. As St. Augustine said, "Si enim comprehendis non est Deus."
 
Walpole said:
Agreed. However, it is only revealed in the OT in light of Christian revelation.
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Eh - not completely sure about that. Just because they did not see it, does not mean there needed to be a special revelation to show it. It was NOT THAT HIDDEN. Just look at Daniel 7.9-14.
 
D-D-W said:
Eh - not completely sure about that. Just because they did not see it, does not mean there needed to be a special revelation to show it. It was NOT THAT HIDDEN. Just look at Daniel 7.9-14.
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Do you know any Jews who believed God is a Trinity of Persons? The thought is anathema to them.
 
Walpole said:
Do you know any Jews who believed God is a Trinity of Persons? The thought is anathema to them.
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I am a Jew who believes that God is a trinity of persons. I was born a Jew -- all my ancestors were Jews -- but became a Christian many years ago.

I suggest you look into Messianic Judaism a little deeper than you apparently have.
 
Walpole said:
No, he never taught God is a Trinity of Persons.
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But the author of Genesis -- at least one of them -- wrote "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness"

Genesis 1:26, NET translator's note: The plural form of the verb has been the subject of much discussion through the years, and not surprisingly several suggestions have been put forward. Many Christian theologians interpret it as an early hint of plurality within the Godhead, but this view imposes later trinitarian concepts on the ancient text. Some have suggested the plural verb indicates majesty, but the plural of majesty is not used with verbs. C. Westermann (Genesis, 1:145) argues for a plural of “deliberation” here, but his proposed examples of this use (2 Sam 24:14; Isa 6:8) do not actually support his theory. In 2 Sam 24:14 David uses the plural as representative of all Israel, and in Isa 6:8 the Lord speaks on behalf of his heavenly court. In its ancient Israelite context the plural is most naturally understood as referring to God and his heavenly court (see 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Isa 6:1-8). (The most well-known members of this court are God’s messengers, or angels. In Gen 3:5 the serpent may refer to this group as “gods/divine beings.” See the note on the word “evil” in 3:5.) If this is the case, God invites the heavenly court to participate at the creation of humankind (perhaps in the role of offering praise, see Job 38:7), but he himself is the one who does the actual creative work (v. 27). Of course, this view does assume that the members of the heavenly court possess the divine “image” in some way. Since the image is closely associated with rulership, perhaps they share the divine image in that they, together with God and under his royal authority, are the executive authority over the world.
 
Walpole said:
They were Jews who became Christian.
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Not really. They were Jews who stayed Jews their entire life. Jews who understood they had encountered the Jewish Messiah and started living the New Covenant which was with Israel and Judah. Jeremiah 31.31
 
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