If your life is not in jeopardy for what you
believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
“Indeed, all who want
to live a godly life united with the Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.” (2Tim 3:12)
It is what you actually believe that determines how you walk out your faith,
“but avoid stupid controversies, genealogies,
quarrels and fights about the Torah; because they are worthless and
futile.” (Titus 3:9)
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Please Note: Nothing on this website should be taken as anti-Church. I am not anti-anything or anyone. I am only pro-Torah, pro-Truth, and pro-Grace. Sometimes the Truth upsets our long-held beliefs. Why isn’t my theology consistent throughout this website?
[Explanations of rabbinic citations are HERE]
Developing a
Systematic Messianic Theology
“The purpose of careful theological formulations is not to put barriers in the way of people who are seeking salvation, but to define clearly the truths upon which genuine [Biblical] faith rests, so that people will not be misled by false doctrines.” [Bowman]
The “Tri-Unity” of God
Please note: If we were somehow able to clearly and definitively define “God” in terms we could actually understand, He couldn't possibly be the God of the Bible. If HaShem (literally “The Name”) can crate the entire universe from nothing by simply speaking it into existence, He can do anything He wants to, and He can appear in any form that He chooses, and we are forever unable to comprehend the Infinite. Over the span of recorded history, He has appeared to mankind in many forms: as the Angel of ADONAI, as the Captain of ADONAI’s armies, as a burning bush, as smoke, as cloud, as lightening, as thunder, as a pillar of fire, as a Man in a furnace (and others), as a dove, and finally as the Man Yeshua (see “Theophany”). When we discuss the “Persons” of the “Trinity,” it is important to understand that we aren’t even close to the Reality that is HaShem. We are only attaching convenient “handles” to see if we can somehow begin to grasp His glory and His functions as related to humankind.
Dear Ari,
I have been a “Church of England,” Methodist, and Pentecostal member in the past. However, I am now suspicious of certain areas of their doctrine. Homosexuality is quite common in these churches.
No doubt you are aware the denominational churches insist on belief of the Trinity.
I read in the Lion Encyclopaedia of the Bible that the early Messianics never believed in the Trinity.
The book The Two Babylons[1] regards the concept of the Trinity as heretic largely because of it pagan connections.
Therefore I will be grateful if you would comment on this concept.
Regards,
J.G. (name withheld for privacy)
Although I know some people object to referring to Deity as a “Person,” throughout this discussion I have done so simply because I know of no other word in the English language to identify an Individual or Being with all the attributes of personhood: self-awareness, intellect, volition, emotion, sensibility, etc.[2]
Thank you so very much for that intriguing question.
Before we go any farther, let me simply state an observation on the complexity of the subject. When I was teaching Systematic Theology in a conservative, evangelical Christian seminary, the undergraduate subject of Theology Proper, or the “Doctrine of God,” was a three-unit course. That means that it was given three hours of classroom time each week for thirteen weeks, for a total of 39 hours of classroom instruction. Students were expected to spend a minimum of two additional hours of outside study for each hour of classroom time, bringing the minimum total time dedicated to the subject to 117 hours for the academic quarter.
And that was just the class to study only the basic nature of God and those Scriptures which specifically speak of “God the Father.” The class in Christology (the “Doctrine of Christ,” in which the both the deity and humanity of Yeshua HaMashiach [HaBen, “God the Son”] is studied), and the class in Pneumatology (the “Doctrine of the Holy Spirit,” in which the deity of Ruach HaKodesh [“God the Holy Spirit”] is studied) were each an additional 117 hours, as was a separate class on the study of the Trinity, for a total of 468 hours of basic study on the subject of the triune nature of God.
Obviously I am not going to write something that takes you 468 hours to read, so we are not going to even barely scratch the surface of what the Scriptures teach about the triune nature of God in this brief discussion, but I hope that it will help get you pointed in the right direction for further personal research.
Most Messianic Believers (i.e., individuals who believe that Yeshua of Nazareth is Israel’s Messiah) that I personally know avoid the use of the term “Trinity” for five primary reasons (though I am sure there are other reasons).
First, there are many Jewish people to whom the use of the word “Trinity” is an obstacle to effective witness because it is a decidedly “Christian” term and it would imply (to a Jewish person) that the Messianic witness is attempting to convert the Jewish person to the “Christian religion” instead of simply talking to them about Israel’s King Messiah.
Second, many object to the use of the term “Trinity” simply because the word itself it is not explicitly used in the Scriptures. Neither is the word “rapture” in the Bible, yet many Believers enthusiastically discuss that concept. In fact, the word “Bible” is not in the Bible, so should we not discuss the Bible?
Third, use of the term “Trinity” requires the speaker to provide a working definition of the term, and very few Believers I have met have been able to provide an adequate and accurate Biblical definition. In fact, most Christians I have met do not rightly understand the nature of the tri-unity of God and actually hold a tri-theistic [“three Gods”] concept of Deity as opposed to the correct Biblical view.
Fourth, they believe that the God of the Bible is an absolute unity, and so do not accept the idea of tri-unity as it applies to God.
Finally, many (such as Latter-Day Saints [Mormons] and Jehovah’s Witnesses) hold to concepts of God that simply can not be adequately supported by the Scriptures.
Some Common Misconceptions
One of the most common misunderstandings of the nature of God is called “Modalism” or “Modality,” which holds that God “manifests” Himself in multiple “modes” of existence, just as H2O exists sometimes as a solid (ice), sometimes as a liquid (water), and sometimes as a gas (steam or vapor). They use the argument that at the “triple point” of water — a temperature of 0.0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and 610 Pascals (0.089 pounds per square inch — H2O exists simultaneously as a solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (steam).
A second misunderstanding is that God sometimes “projects” Himself in an “avatar” which humanity has historically perceived as theophanies — “the Angel of the LORD” (Judges 13:3), a burning bush (Exod 3:2), a pillar of cloud (Exod 13:21), a pillar of fire (Exod 14:24), as (some believe) Melchizedek (Gen 14:17-24), and finally as the man Yeshua — and that Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit; literally, the Holy Breath) is an impersonal influence similar to “The Force” in the Star Wars saga. This concept is deeply rooted in Hinduism.
Within these two erroneous concepts it is impossible to explain how Yeshua HaMashiachthe Messiah is deity and how He now “sits at the right hand of the Father” (Col 3:1). They also fail to explain how God appeared simultaneously in three different “modes” or “avatars” at Yeshua’s immersion by Yochanan the Immerser (Matt 3:16-17).
A third concept, called Unitarianism or Nontrinitarianism, is that God is an absolute unity — Hebrew יָחִיד (yachid), in spite of the fact that the Scriptures use the word אֶחָד (echad), which is a compound unity, like echad cluster of grapes (Num 13:23) or that a married man and woman become echad flesh (Gen 2:24) — and that Ruach HaKodesh is an impersonal force or emanation from God. This concept specifically precludes the deity both of Messiah and of Ruach HaKodesh. If God is an absolute unity, Messiah cannot possibly be God (He couldn’t possibly be seated at the right hand of the Father), in spite of the fact that both the Tanakh and the Apostolic Writings clearly teach His divinity. None of these concepts incorporates all that the Scriptures teach about the triune nature of God.
If one delves deeply into the understanding of the nature of God as held by most Gentile Christians, what one rather quickly discovers is indeed an erroneous tri-theistic (three separate Gods) concept rather than a triune (three divine Intelligences within one indivisible God) concept of God.
Many (or perhaps even most) of these individuals think of “God the Father” as the fierce desert God of the Israelites Who gave Moses a set of laws so complex and unreasonable that nobody could ever obey them, Who provided the death penalty for something so trivial as sassing one’s parents, and Who was anxiously awaiting the opportunity to slay the transgressors.
They conceive of “God the Son” as the baby Who began His existence in a manger in Bethlehem, surrounded by sheep, cattle, shepherds, and wise men (or kings), and maybe even an angel or two; Who is somehow both God and man (though they are not sure when or how He became God); Who created a new religion called “Christianity” to replace the error of Judaism; and Who taught that the Torah was abolished in favor of a new set of laws that were “written on the heart” and which pretty much allow one to do whatever one wants as long as one believes that “Jesus” died for their sins and was resurrected and will some day return to earth to reign as King for a thousand years and then take them all to heaven for eternity.
And when it comes to “The Holy Spirit” there are so many different concepts that there is no clear consensus of opinion within Christianity. For some, the Holy Spirit is a force or power of God that somehow “inhabits” or “possesses” Christians and gives them special supernatural powers or gifts; many believe that this particular function of the Spirit was only for the spread of the Gospel until the so-called “New Testament” was completed and then that function ceased. When I was a young child I had a pastor who held a Doctor of Divinity degree and who, when questioned about the Holy Spirit, generally replied with something akin to, “Well, we really don't know much about it so we just avoid the subject.”
All of the above concepts are clearly not what the Scriptures actually teach about the nature of God. What the Scriptures do teach about the nature of God is not nearly as easy to clearly define in less then a few hundred pages.
Do the Scriptures teach the absolute
unity of God,
or do they teach something else?
Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu,
ADONAI echad.
[Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our God,
ADONAI is one].
(The “Jewish Declaration of Faith,”
Deuteronomy 6:4)
The Scriptures clearly teach that there is only one living and true God, often referred to by Jews as HaShem (literally “the Name” because His true Name, represented by four Hebrew letters יְהוָֹה [YHVH], is considered too sacred to be pronounced), an infinite, intelligent, and indivisible Spirit Who is the source of all being and meaning; a compound unity Who eternally exists in three Divine “Persons” (simply for lack of a better word) — three separate, divine, incorporeal Intelligences within the one indivisible God: HaAbba (God the Father), HaBen (God the Son), and Ruach HaKodesh (God the Holy Spirit), one in essence and attributes, yet three in distinct “Person,” work, and purpose; each of Whom possess all the attributes of absolute Deity and is infinite, eternal, unchangeable, indivisible, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, personal, and perfect in wisdom, power, holiness, righteousness, justice, goodness, truth, mercy, and love. I believe that:
… the Father is all the fullness of God invisible (John 1:18); the Son is all the fullness of God manifested (John 1:14-18); the Spirit is all the fullness of God acting immediately upon the creature (1Cor. 2:9-10).[3]
How can that statement be proven from the Scriptures? There are four steps; four things must be demonstrated from the Scriptures to demonstrate the triune nature of God:
1. It must be shown from the Scriptures that there is one, and only one God — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
2. It must be shown from the Scriptures that God refers to Himself as “Father” or “Ab” (the Hebrew word for Father). It must also be shows from the Scriptures that no man has ever seen God the Father at any time.
3. It must be shown from the Scriptures that God the Father has a Son, and that God the Son is Himself fully Deity.
4. It must be shown from the Scriptures that Ruach HaKodesh (also referred to as the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Messiah, or the Holy Spirit) is not just a force or an influence, but that He is in fact a Person, having intellect, volition, and sensibility.
If there is in fact only one God, and if the Father is God, and if the Son is also God, and if the Spirit is also God, and yet there is in fact only one God, then the unavoidable conclusion is that there is only one living and true God, an infinite and intelligent Spirit Who is the source of all being and meaning; a compound unity Who eternally exists in three Divine “Persons”: HaAb (God the Father), HaBen (or God the Son), and Ruach HaKodesh (or God the Holy Spirit), one in essence and attributes, yet three in distinct “Person,” work, and purpose; each of Whom possess all the attributes of absolute Deity.
1. Can it be shown from the Scriptures that there is one, and only one God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
To begin with, the nature of God as understood by Judaism since the days of Moshe is that over and above anything else that may be true about God, one thing is of paramount importance as stated in the Sh'ma: “Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad. [Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]!” (Deut. 6:4, CJB) This is the foundation of Judaism, and must therefore also be the very foundation of Christianity.
In the Hebrew Scriptures the word “one” used in the Sh'ma is אֶחָד, echad, a term that is often (though not exclusively) used to represent a “compound unity of oneness.” For example, echad is used to describe:
• man and woman becoming one [echad] flesh in marriage (Gen. 2:24)
• the whole earth being one [echad] people with the same [echad] language and the same [echad] words. (Gen. 11:1,6)
• all Israel responding to the giving of Torah with one [echad] voice (Exod. 24:3)
• the Hebrew spies returning to camp with a single [echad] cluster of grapes (Num. 13:23)
• the whole [echad] assembly of Israel consisting of 42,360 individuals (Ezra 2:64)
• a singleness [echad] of heart and action (Jer 32:38-39)
There is a completely different Hebrew word that is used to denote an absolute unity: יָחִיד, yachid. This is the term used to denote loneliness (Psalms 25:16; 22:20; 68:6), the psalmist’s “only” life (Psalm 35:17), and an “only” child (Gen. 22:2,12,16; Judges 11:34; Prov. 4:3; Jer. 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech. 12:10).
Jewish Rabbis will insist, and I completely agree, that to use the word echad to “prove” the doctrine of the “Trinity” simply won’t fly! However, the Scripture’s use of echad instead of yachid to describe God certainly allows for the concept of a compound unity for the nature of God. As Rich Deem so adequately puts it,
If the Shema had intended to express absolute oneness, it would have used the Hebrew word yachid instead of echad. However, the word yachid is never used in reference to God (Elohim)!”[4]
For extensive information and discussion on the use of the Hebrew word echad, try a Google search of the keywords “Hebrew echad.”
More linguistic evidence for the “plural” nature of God is that the Hebrew word which is most often translated as “God” in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is the word El or Elohim. Elohim is the plural form of El. The plural form is used 2607 out of the 2845 times the word “God” is used in the Tanakh. The word Elohim is also used in the plural form and translated “gods” 235 times when referring to idols. It is exactly the same word that is translated “God,” referring to ADONAI (יְהוָֹה, YehovahGN]). Not only is the word for God usually used in the plural form, frequently God refers to Himself as “Us.” Critics of this idea insist that the use by God of “We” and “Us” when referring to Himself is “the royal ‘we’” or the “majestic plural” — which, to me, seems utter nonsense. Beyond God’s frequent referral to Himself using plural pronouns with singular verbs, I can find no evidence that the concept of the “majestic plural” existed in ancient Israel, certainly not in the time that Moses penned the written version of the Torah. Certainly God cannot posses the human fault of vanity!!
But is there, in fact, only one God? What do the Scriptures say?
Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) Eloheinu, ADONAI echad. [Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]! And you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. (Deut. 6:4-5, CJB)
Adonai ELOHIM (יְהוָֹה), You have begun to reveal your greatness to your servant, and Your strong hand — for what other god is there in heaven or on earth that can do the works and mighty deeds that You do? (Deut. 3:24, CJB)
This was shown to you, so that you would know that ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) is God, and there is no other beside Him. (Deut. 4:35, CJB)
Know today, and establish it in your heart, that ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) is God in heaven above and on earth below — there is no other. (Deut. 4:39, CJB)
See now that I, yes, I, am He; and there is no god beside Me. …” (Deut. 32:39, CJB)
Then all the peoples of the earth will know that ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) is God; there is no other. (1Kings 8:60, CJB)
Don't be frightened, don't be afraid. Didn’t I tell you this long ago? I foretold it, and you are My witnesses. Is there any god besides Me? There is no other Rock - I know of none (Isa. 44:8, CJB)
I am ADONAI (יְהוָֹה); there is no other; besides Me there is no god. I am arming you, although you don’t know Me. (Isa. 45:5, CJB)
… Surely God is with you; there is no other, other gods are nothing (Isa. 45:14, CJB)
For thus says ADONAI (יְהוָֹה), Who created the heavens, God, Who shaped and made the earth, Who established and created it not to be chaos, but formed it to be lived in: “I am ADONAI (יְהוָֹה); there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:18, CJB)
Let them stand and present their case! Indeed, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, announced it in times gone by? Wasn't it I, ADONAI (יְהוָֹה)? There is no other god besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God; there is no other. (Isa. 45:21-22, CJB)
Remember things that happened at the beginning, long ago — that I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. (Isa. 46:9, CJB)
Still, I am ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) your God, from the land of Egypt; and you don’t know any god but Me or, other than Me, any Savior. (Hosea 13:4, CJB)
You will know that I am with Isra'el and that I am ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) your God, and that there is no other. … (Joel 2:27, CJB)
2. Can it be shown from the Scriptures that God is referred to as “Father,” and that no man has ever seen God the Father at any time?
(All emphasis added)
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. (Psalm 68:5, ESV)
He will call to Me, “You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.” (Psalm 89:26, NAS)
Don’t we all have the same Father? Didn't one God create us all? Then why do we break faith with each other, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? (Malachi 2:10, CJB)
No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father's side — He has made Him known. (John 1:18, CJB)
Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God — He has seen the Father. (John 6:46, CJB)
For ever since the creation of the universe His invisible qualities — both his eternal power and his divine nature — have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what He has made. Therefore, they have no excuse; (Rom 1:20. CJB)
He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation, (Col 1:15, CJB)
So to the King — eternal, imperishable and invisible, the only God there is — let there be honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen. (1Tim 1:17, CJB)
No one has ever seen God; … (1John 4:12, CJB)
3. Can it be shown from the Scriptures that God the Father has a Son, and that the Son is Himself Deity?
God has a Son
Who has gone up to heaven and come down? [Answer: Only God!] Who has cupped the wind in the palms of His hands? [Answer: Only God!] Who has wrapped up the waters in His cloak? [Answer: Only God!] Who established all the ends of the earth? [Answer: Only God!] What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Surely you know! (Prov. 30:4., CJB)
Is Yeshua the Messiah, and is Messiah deity?
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; dominion will rest on his shoulders, and He will be given the name Pele-Yo'etz [Wonder of a Counselor], El Gibbor [Mighty God], Avi-'Ad [Father of Eternity or Eternal Father], Sar-Shalom [Prince of Peace]. (Isa. 9:6, CJB)
At the name of ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) every knee will bow
Let them stand and present their case! Indeed, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, announced it in times gone by? Wasn't it I, ADONAI (יְהוָֹה)? There is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God; there is no other. In the name of Myself I have sworn, from My mouth has rightly gone out, a word that will not return — that to Me every knee will bow and every tongue will swear about Me that only in ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) are justice and strength. … (Isa 45:21-24, CJB)
At the name of Yeshua, every knee will bow:
Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua: Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force. On the contrary, He emptied Himself, in that He took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when He appeared as a human being, He humbled Himself still more by becoming obedient even to death — death on a [cross] as a criminal! Therefore God raised Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name above every name; that in honor of the Name given Yeshua, every knee will bow — in heaven, on earth and under the earth and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is ADONAI (יְהוָֹה) — to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:5-11, CJB)
Who can miss it? Messiah Yeshua is ADONAI (יְהוָֹה)!!!
As far as I am concerned, from a purely logical standpoint the argument for the deity of Yeshua is best summarized by C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says He is a poached egg—or He would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”
Yeshua is ADONAI; yet Yeshua continually prayed to His Father, ADONAI!! If God is yachid, then Yeshua was praying to Himself. The only possible conclusion is that both Yeshua and His Father are ADONAI, that they are not the same “Person,” yet ADONAI clearly is One — echad!
4. Can it be shown from the Scriptures that Ruach HaKodesh is in fact a Person, having intellect, volition, and sensibility?
Ruach HaKodesh is to be sent by the Father
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit [Ruach HaKodesh], Whom [not “it”] the Father will send in My [Yeshua’s] name, He [not “it”] will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26)
Ruach HaKodesh is to be sent by Yeshua
“When the Helper comes, Whom [not “it”] I [Yeshua] will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth [Ruach HaKodesh] Who [not “it”] proceeds from the Father, He [not “it”] will testify about Me.” (John 15:26)
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away ; for if I do not go away, the Helper [Ruach HaKodesh] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him [not “it”] to you.” (John 16:7)
Only God can be blasphemed; an inanimate force or object cannot be blasphemed.
“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matt. 12:31-32)
An inanimate force or object cannot be lied to; lying to Ruach HaKodesh is lying to ADONAI
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, He laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:1-4)
God the Father, God the Son, and God Ruach HaKodesh have only one single Name between Them.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name [singular, only one name for all three ‘Persons’] of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 28:19)
In Conclusion …
Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)
Here in this single event we have all three “Persons” of ADONAI appearing together in the same place at the same time. ADONAI Yeshua is being immersed and is praying to ADONAI His Father. ADONAI Ruach HaKodesh descends in physical form. ADONAI the Father speaks from heaven. One [echad] ADONAI Elohim appearing in three separate and distinct “Persons” at the same time.
While this evidence may not “prove” the doctrine of the “Trinity” to one’s complete satisfaction, it does demonstrate four things about the nature of God:
1. There is one, and only one,
2. The Scriptures refer to God as “Father.” No man has ever seen Father God at any time. Yet Adam, Cheva (Eve), Avraham, Yitz’chak, Ya'akov, and Moshe all saw ADONAI face-to-face.
3. Father God has a Son, and the Son is Himself Deity.
4. Ruach HaKodesh is not just a impersonal “force” or an “influence” — He is in fact a “Person”, having intellect, volition, and sensibility, and He is called God in the Scriptures.
The Father is God, the Son is God, Ruach HaKodesh is God, and God is echad, one in essence and attributes, yet three in distinct “Person”, work, and purpose.
I hope this gives you a place to start in your personal study. For the best illustration I am able to provide, see The Magen David as a Symbol of the Tri-Unity of God
1. Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons [subtitle: Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife]. Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1916, 1943, 1959. See also: Woodrow, Ralph. Babylon Mystery Religion. Riverside, California: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, 1966. [BACK]
2. Philosophers have tried to assess what constitutes personhood with a variety of different criteria, including genetic, cognitive, social, and sentience. Boethius, a philosopher of the early 6th century CE, gives the definition of “person” as “an individual substance of a rational nature” (“Naturæ rationalis individua substantia”). According to the naturalist epistemological tradition, from Descartes through Locke and Hume, the term may designate any human or non-human agent who possesses continuous consciousness over time; and is therefore capable of framing representations about the world, formulating plans and acting on them. Mary Midgley defines a “person” as being a conscious, thinking being, which knows that it is a person (self-awareness) (“Persons and non-persons”, in Peter Singer (ed), In Defense of Animals. Basil Blackwell, 1985, pp. 52–62.) Philosopher Thomas I. White argues that the criteria for a person are: is alive, is aware, feels positive and negative sensations, has emotions, has a sense of self, controls its own behaviour, recognises other persons and treats them appropriately, and has a variety of sophisticated cognitive abilities. Scripture attributes each and all of these characteristics individually and collectively to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Thus we may feel justified in referring to each as a divine “Person.” [BACK]
3. Paraphrased from Boardman, as cited in Great Doctrines of the Bible, by William Evans. Chicago: Moody Press, 1912, 1949, p. 28. [BACK]
4. Deem, Rich. “The Triunity (Trinity) of
God in
The Old Testament.” Internet article at
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/triunity.html,
last accessed 09/13/15, his emphasis.]
[BACK]
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ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
