Posted on 12/03/2016 3:46:07 PM PST by metmom
“[Christ] existed in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6).
Scripture makes clear that Christ is God.
The deity of Christ is the heart of the Christian faith. Inevitably when people attack the Christian faith, they attack the deity of Christ. Scripture makes clear, however, that such attacks are unfounded. The apostle John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he began his Gospel by affirming the deity of Christ. John further declared Christ’s deity when he wrote, “All things came into being through [Christ], and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” (vv. 3-4). In John 8:58 Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” Jesus appropriated to Himself the name of God, who said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14).
In Colossians 1:15-17 the apostle Paul wrote of Christ’s deity: “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Christ is God, the Creator. The writer of Hebrews says, “[Christ] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (1:3). Christianity begins with the recognition that Jesus Christ is in essence the eternal God.
Whenever someone confronts you by attacking the deity of Christ, be sure to defend the faith, “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching” (Titus 1:9).
Suggestions for Prayer
At the core of defending God’s Word is an accurate interpretation of Scripture. Ask Him to help you interpret His Word accurately (see 2 Tim. 2:15).
For Further Study
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word,” which undoubtedly reminded John’s readers of Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” What do the following verses demonstrate about Christ: 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 1:1-2?
he could be the creator and still be a separate being.
was is it so hard to conceive of the possibility that God and Jesus could be two separate beings in heaven?
Why would Jesus pray to himself? how can he be standing to the right of God if he is God? It seems reasonable to assume the possibility exists that they are not one in the same.
And if they are not ... I am proposing a belief system that allows us Christians to still believe that Jesus came to earth and died for our sins, that he we need only accept him as our savior and lord to earn eternal salvation. God has the power to create a son in heaven if he so wished, God has the power to allow that son to come to earth to die for our sins, and to allow that son to be the final decider on who does or does not get to come to heaven.
All I am saying is that Jesus does not have to be God for God to have given him all the power and authority necessary to grant us salvation.
Your argument is very mormonesque.
From whence does this salvation come?
(ISV) 17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you won’t be put to shame or disgraced ever again.”
HaShem.
Elohim (generic Hebrew word for god), when speaking of the G-d of Israel, is not plural in the way that English understand what plural means. Hebrew is hard to translate to English, thus many mistakes are made.
The word Elohim, when referring to the G-d of Israel, in Hebrew, is a majestic plurality. In Hebrew, a majestic plural is used to ascribe glory and honor to the one (or thing) to which it is mentioning.
Also note, YHWH (name of G-d) is refered to over 20,000 times in the Tanakh (old testament) with singular pronouns.
So you are saying (using separate and distinct, trinity logic), that the Father didn’t do any creating?
Suggested reading: Isaiah 42: 1-7 KJV
Question:
Yesterday, a Christian business associate made a point that in the very first verse of Genesis G-d is referred to as “Elohim” which is plural. She also said that it is a plural form of three (something I have never heard before). That, she concludes, is proof of the Trinity! Why is G-d’s name plural in this verse?
Answer:
The claim advanced by your business associate is one of the more well-known arguments used by missionaries to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, the most guarded and untenable creed of the Church. It would be difficult to imagine a doctrine more hostile to the uncompromising monotheism preached in the Jewish Scriptures than the Christian claim that there is a plurality within the divine nature of God. Yet, armed with little knowledge of the Hebrew language, many Trinitarians brazenly argue that the name of God, as it appears in the first verse in the Bible, “proves” there are three distinct Persons in the godhead.
More specifically, missionaries point to the plural form of the Hebrew name of God אֶלהִים, (Elohim), which appears frequently in the Torah, to bolster their claim that there is a complex unity in the godhead. They argue that the use of the Hebrew letters “ ים” (yud and mem, pronounced “im”), which is a plural suffix at the end of the word Elohim, provides ample evidence from Tanach that there is a plurality within the nature of God. Your business associate went out on an even more bizarre limb when she declared that this Hebrew syntax is somehow indicative of the “plural form of three.”
You can rest assured that the Hebrew tongue is a foreign language to your business associate, and that both of her contentions are erroneous. While her first assertion can be easily explained away by her lack of familiarity with the biblical language, her second point cannot. Her latter comment that the plural suffix in Elohim is indicative of “a plural form of three” is particularly preposterous, and illustrates the desperation and frustration some Trinitarians display in their rash effort to defend this alien Church creed.
While I too have never heard any missionary make the astounding claim that plurals somehow mean “a plural form of three,” the incentive for spawning this irresponsible contrivance is clear. If you examine the few verses evangelicals use from the Jewish Scriptures as they seek to buttress the doctrine of the Trinity, you will notice that none of them, even in Christian terms, speaks of three persons. In essence, her flawed declaration was born out of a desperate desire to weave the Trinity out of whole Jewish cloth. This is an impossible task.
Bear in mind, there is no mystery as to the origins of the Trinity, nor is there any secret for how this aberrant doctrine emerged. The doctrine of the Trinity was forged out of the crucible of the Catholic Church long after the Christian century. It is, therefore, no wonder that this pagan doctrine was unknown to authors of the New Testament. Church history reveals that it was not until three hundred years after the birth of Christianity that the doctrine of the Bianity (325 C.E.) and Trinity (381 C.E.) received formal approval in the Christian community. These well documented events occurred under circumstances rife with contention, political agitation, and radical dissension in the early Church.
In essence, the Jewish people never believed in a Trinity, and the Church adopted it under enormous political pressure from the most pagan segments of the young Catholic Church. Understandably, missionaries undertake a formidable task when they seek to prove this fourth century doctrine from a radically monotheistic Torah which is timeless. Let’s examine your business associate’s claim.
There is an enormous difficulty with the interpretation that the name Elohim signifies a sort of plurality in the godhead; for if Elohim implies a plurality of persons, how can missionaries explain that the identical word Elohim in Tanach refers to Moses as well? Regarding Moses, the Torah says,
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made thee a god אֶלהִים, (Elohim) to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”
(Exodus 7:1 KJV)
Are missionaries suggesting that there was a plurality of persons in Moses? Is your associate going to insist that Moses was part of a Trinity? The notion that Moses, who is called Elohim in the Torah, possessed more than one person is preposterous. Moreover, if the name of God is to signify a plurality in the godhead, why wasn’t the name Jehovah, which is by far the most frequently used name for God in the Jewish Scriptures, also written in the plural? Clearly, this sort of Trinitarian argument is baseless.
The word Elohim possesses a plural intensive syntax and is singular in meaning. In Hebrew, the suffix ים(im), mainly indicates a masculine plural. However with Elohim the construction is grammatically singular, (i.e. it governs a singular verb or adjective) when referring to the God of Israel, but grammatically plural Elohim (i.e. taking a plural verb or adjective) when used of pagan divinities (Psalms 96:5; 97:7).
This is self-evident from the fact that the verb “created” בָּרָא (bara) in Genesis 1:1 is in the singular. This linguistic pattern is well known and widely used throughout the Jewish Scriptures. For example, I am certain that many readers are familiar with the Hebrew word חַיִים(chayim), meaning “life.” Notice that this word contains the identical plural suffix “im,” as in Elohim, yet it repeatedly means “life”, in the singular, throughout the Bible. Examples are:
And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life חַיִים (chayim) be to me?”
(Genesis 27:46)
You have granted me life חַיִים(chayim) and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit.
(Job 10:12)
The fact that the name of God, Elohim, does not in any way imply a plurality in the godhead is well known and widely recognized even among Trinitarian Christians. For example, in the New International Version Study Bible (NIV), which is a Christian commentary that can not be construed as friendly to the Jewish faith, the Christian author writes in his commentary on Genesis 1:1:
God created. The Hebrew noun Elohim is plural but the verb is singular, a normal usage in the OT when reference is to the one true God. This use of the plural expresses intensification rather than number and has been called the plural of majesty, or of potentiality.
(New International Version Study Bible, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985, p. 6.)
Finally, it is important that we explore the crucial message which the name Elohim conveys to the Children of Israel. To be sure, two questions must be answered. 1) Why does the Torah employ this intensive plural name for the Almighty throughout the Torah? 2) Why is this name predominant throughout the creation narrative in the beginning of Genesis?
There is a fundamental principal regarding the many names of the Almighty as they appear in the Torah – they are exalted descriptions of the God of Israel. The name Elohim, which is not an exception to this rule, comes from the Hebrew root el, which means “might” or “power.” This common root appears in a variety of words throughout the Jewish Scriptures. For example, we find this word used in the famous opening words to Psalm 29, הָבוּ ליהוה בְּנֵיאֵלִים(havu la’donai b’nai eylim). This chapter is well known because this Psalm is joyously sung in every synagogue as the Torah scroll is returned into the ark following a congregational reading. What do these noble words mean?
“Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength”
(Psalm 29:1)
With these passages in mind, we have a deeper understanding of the name Elohim. The pagan mind ascribed a separate and distinct god for each of the powers in the world which it observed, and on whom it depended. The nations gazed upon the life-giving and perplexing energy emanating from the sun and the rain, and they worshiped the many gods who they believed controlled these forces. They craved an abundant harvest and boundless fertility, and they venerated each god who they believed governed each of these abodes. The ancients were mystified by the powers which sustained them and awestruck by the forces that terrified them, and venerated each with elaborate rituals and oftentimes gruesome rites in order to “appease the gods.”
The Torah conveys a radically different message for mankind. All the life-sustaining forces in the universe, all the power that man can behold, emanate from the One Master of the world, One Creator of the universe – the Lord of Hosts is His name. This grand message is contained in the name of God, Elohim. All the forces of the world emerged from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, the God of Israel alone – Elohim – is worthy of our worship and devotion.
It is for this reason that the Torah employs the word Elohim almost exclusively as the name of God throughout the first two chapters of Genesis. In these opening passages of the Book of Genesis, the Almighty is creating all the powers and forces which stir and sustain the universe.
Therefore, the nation of Israel, to whom God revealed Himself at the foot of Mount Sinai, knew nothing about a plurality of persons in the godhead. No fact could be more firmly established once all of our sacred literature – both canonical and rabbinical – is used as our eternal guide. This matter is indisputable.
Rabbi Tovia Singer
Christianity is monotheistic. The difference is we believe in the TRUE God who is three in one - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. NOT three gods, but ONE God manifested in three persons - as Scripture said repeatedly He is. Every one of those verses you posted is true which is why we know that Yeshua/Jesus IS God.
Precisely!
Then why did Jesus repeatedly say He WAS God? Why did Scripture teach the same if it wasn't the truth? Do you think some Christians somewhere just made up the whole doctrine because they had nothing better to do? We believe it because God's word teaches us to believe it. It was taught from the very start of Christianity and has always been believed. To deny it would be to deny one of the basic tenets of the faith.
Again, One MUST have knowledge of Hebrew (majestic plurals, pronouns).
Genesis 1:26
One of the most popular verses used by missionaries as a proof text in support of the doctrine of the Trinity is Genesis 1:26. This verse appears frequently in missionary literature despite of the fact that this argument has been answered countless times throughout the centuries and numerous Christian scholars have long abandoned it. Let’s examine the creation of man as described in the Torah.
With limited knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures, missionaries submit the above verse as evidence that there was a plurality in the godhead that participated in creation of our first parent. What other explanation could adequately account for the Torah’s use of the plural pronouns such as “us” and “our” in this verse?
This argument, however, is deeply flawed, and, accordingly, a great number of Trinitarian theologians have long rejected the notion that Genesis 1:26 implies a plurality of persons in the godhead. Rather, Christian scholars overwhelmingly agree that the plural pronoun in this verse is a reference to God’s ministering angels who were created previously, and the Almighty spoke majestically in the plural, consulting His heavenly court. Let’s read the comments of a number of preeminent Trinitarian Bible scholars on this subject.
The answer emerges from the Torah and its Prophets. If you search the Hebrew Bible you will find that when the Almighty speaks of “us” or “our,” He is addressing His ministering angels. In fact, only two chapters later, God continues to use the pronoun “us” as He speaks with His angels. At the end of the third chapter of Genesis the Almighty relates to His angels that Adam and his wife have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and must therefore be prevented from eating from the Tree of Life as well; for if man would gain access to the Tree of Life he will “become like one of us.” The Creator then instructs his burning angels, known as Cherubim, to stand at the entrance to the gate of the Garden of Eden, waving a flaming sword to prevent man from entering the Garden and eating from the Tree of Life.
Full answer here: http://outreachjudaism.org/trinity-genesis
>>> That's exactly what happened and rather late in the game.
"It was taught from the very start of Christianity and has always been believed."
>>> Not so. From my earlier post:
Bear in mind, there is no mystery as to the origins of the Trinity, nor is there any secret for how this aberrant doctrine emerged. The doctrine of the Trinity was forged out of the crucible of the Catholic Church long after the Christian century. It is, therefore, no wonder that this pagan doctrine was unknown to authors of the New Testament. Church history reveals that it was not until three hundred years after the birth of Christianity that the doctrine of the Bianity (325 C.E.) and Trinity (381 C.E.) received formal approval in the Christian community. These well documented events occurred under circumstances rife with contention, political agitation, and radical dissension in the early Church.
The trinity is entirely MAN made, and not from God.
You shall have no other gods before me - That's from God.
Oh??
I seem to recall something; really early; about...
...let US create man in OUR image.
And that is completely a hypothetical argument which has no bearing on reality. Why even waste your time on it?
It's not the case. It never was the case. It never will be the case.
Aside from making a useless theological argument, it changes nothing and means nothing.
Jesus IS God. He made that more than abundantly clear while He was living here on earth with the words from His own mouth.
The pharisees certainly understood His claim and they rejected it. That is why they charged Him with blasphemy and that was the excuse they used for having Him crucified.
Which is EXACTLY *WHY* Jesus is Deity.
If Jesus wasn't God, then going to the Father through Jesus would be putting another god before God.
If Jesus IS God with Us, as Scripture so clearly attests to, then Jesus being God, going through Jesus is NOT putting another god before God.
You are in effect going to God through God. One and the same God.
- C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
Does Yeshua play any part in this salvation in your understanding of the Bible?
“.. but a body thou hast prepared me..” Hebrews 10:5
(Hmmm...who prepared who a body?)
“...the father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10
.
Obviously you are not a Bible reader.
Yeshua and the Father are one. They are “Elohim.”
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