By Nikolaos Sotiropoulo
Even in the Old Testament, God gave a foretaste of His trinity
According to us, the Orthodox, but also according to Roman Catholics and almost all Protestants, God is three Persons: the Father, who is unbegotten, the Son, who is born directly from the Father, and the Holy Spirit, who proceeds directly from the Father. An example, to get some idea of the mystery, is the sun. And it is three things: the disk, the light, which is born directly from the disk, and the heat, which proceeds directly from the disk. The disk is the sun, the light is the sun, the heat is the sun, but there are not three suns, but one sun. So too, God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit, but there are not three Gods, but one God. Because all three persons have the same essence – the Godhead.
The adherents of chiliasm (a doctrine of the 1000-year earthly kingdom of Christ, which is professed today by Jehovah’s Witnesses) deny this greatest truth of our faith, namely that the one in essence God is triune in hypostases or persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to them, Yahweh is only the Father, and the Son is outside the divine essence – a creation of the Father, not begotten; and the Holy Spirit is simply a force, not a person.
Many paradoxical and amazing places in Scripture, unthinkable and inaccessible to the human mind, hint at or clearly reveal the mystery of the triune God. In the following exposition we indicate some of them.
Mysterious plurals
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… And God created man; in the image of God created he him” (Gen. 1:26–27).
God did not say, “Let me make man in my image,” but said in the plural, “Let us make man in our image.” In the sense of this plural, it is excluded that angels should be included, because “God created” man, not angels, and created him “in the image of God,” not in the image of the angels. Therefore, God is not one single person, but several who jointly participated in the creation of man.
“And the Lord God said, Behold, Adam has become as one of Us” (Gen. 3:22).
The expression “one of us” excludes the possibility that “us” is a plural of greatness. That is, God said, “Behold, Adam has become as one of Us, knowing good and evil—the divine persons.”
“And the Lord said… Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language… For there the Lord confused the language of all the earth” (Gen. 11:6–9). The form in the 2nd l. pl. The verb “come” (in the synodal translation of the Bulgarian language: “let us descend”, note p.) excludes the use of the plural of greatness. Also, “come” shows that God (the Father) is addressing more than one divine person.
“And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” (Isa. 6:8, according to the Masoretic text). The Lord speaks in the singular of Himself (“to send”) and in the plural (“for us”), because He also has in mind the other divine persons.
“Present your work, saith the Lord… let them bring it forth, and tell us what is to come; let them shew a thing before it be, that we may consider it with our minds, and know the end thereof; or let them foretell us the things to come. Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; or do good, or do evil, that we may wonder, and see with you. … Who hath declared this from the beginning, that we may know? And from long ago, that we may say…” (Isa. 41:21–23, 26 according to the Masoretic text; see also ch. 9). “Who among them hath declared this, and shewed us former things?” (Isa. 43:9 according to the Masoretic text). In these two passages God uses multiple plural forms of Himself simultaneously.
“Thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of trouble and fear” (Jer. 30:5, according to the Masoretic text). The Lord says “we have heard” because it is more than one person.
“Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord” (Obadiah 1, according to the Masoretic text). The Lord says “we have heard from the Lord” because more than one person, but one in essence the Lord, heard from another Lord, evidently from the Father.
“Jesus answered him and said… Verily, verily, I say unto you, We speak that which we know, and testify that which we have seen; and ye receive not our testimony” (John 3:10–11). Here Jesus speaks in the plural, because besides Himself He also has in mind the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:5–8, 34).
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). By the plural form “we” the Son associates Himself with the Father. It is noteworthy that He mentions Himself first and then the Father. A man or an angel would never say, “I and the Father are one.” The Son and the Father are two Persons, but one essence—one Godhead.
“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Jesus and his Father come and dwell in every believer, which signifies their omnipresence and therefore their divinity.
“Holy Father, keep them in thine own name, which thou hast given me; that they may be one, even as we are” (John 17:11). “As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us… And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:12–22). Here Jesus identifies himself with God the Father and says “we,” “us,” and “are one”—something that no man or angel would ever do.
Particularly noteworthy are two similar, highly paradoxical plurals in two passages of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. We quote the passages exactly as they are in the Hebrew text, not in translations that change these plurals to singulars.
“No one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?’” (Job 35:10, וְלֹ֣א אָמְר֔וּ אַיֵּ֖ה אֱלֹ֣והַּ עֹשָׂ֑י נֹתֵ֖ן זְמִיר֣וֹת בַּלָּֽיְלָה׃, Masoretic Text).
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth” (Eccl. 12:1, וּזְכֹ֣ר אֶת־בּוֹרְאֶ֔יךָ בִּימֵ֖י בְחוּרוֹתֶ֑יךָ עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹא־יָבֹ֔אוּ יְמֵ֖י הָרָעָ֑ה וְהִגִּ֥יעוּ שָׁנִ֖ים אֲשֶׁר־תֹּאמַ֥ר אֵין־לִ֖י בָהֶֽם־חֵֽפֶץ׃).
So, it does not say “God is my Creator”, but “God is my Creators”. Nor does it say “Remember your Creator”, but “Remember your Creators”.
The one God in essence is more than one Person – Creators or Makers of man (cf. Gen. 1:26).
The mysterious singular numbers
“Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). There are many divine persons, but one image (one essence).
“Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you” (1 Thess. 3:11). Since it is about two – God and Christ, the apostle should have used the plural: “to direct”. But the apostle used the singular “to direct”, because the two are one in essence – one “Lord”, as it is said in the next verse (12).
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who loved us… comfort your hearts and establish you in every word and good deed” (2 Thess. 2:16–17). Here too, since it is about two – Christ and God, the apostle should have used the plural: “to comfort”, “to strengthen”. But he used the singulars “to comfort,” “to strengthen,” because the two are one in essence.
“And the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Since the kingdoms pass to two—the Lord and the Christ—it would be normal to say “will reign.” But the singular “will reign” is used, because the two are one in essence, the King.
“They will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him” (Rev. 20:6). It would be normal to say “and will reign with them.” But it is said “and will reign with Him,” because God and Christ are one in essence.
“And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him; and they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:3–4). This passage is extremely paradoxical and amazing: there are many singulars where plurals are usually expected. That is, the passage should normally read: “And the thrones of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. And their servants will serve them; and they will see their faces, and their names will be on their foreheads.” Through the many singulars in this passage from Revelation, the essential unity of God and the Lamb is shown in a way that we can call classical. God and the Lamb have one throne, one image, one name! And believers in God and the Lamb are servants of One and serve Him as One! We should pay special attention to the fact that God and the Lamb have one name.
Excerpt from the book: Αντιχιλιαστικόν ἐγχειρίδιον (Antimillennial handbook); 5th edition, Athens 1994.
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First published in this link of The European Times.
