Does the Bible really teach the Trinity?

Mark 12:29-30, 

 “²⁹ Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: ³⁰ and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength”. 

Basic principles of interpretation

Before looking at what scripture says about who is God, we need to remind ourselves of a couple basic principles.

1. Previous scripture provides the interpretation of later scripture.  The earliest collection of scripture we have is the Torah (Books of Moses).  In the beginning, that was it.  It was the standard for testing the authenticity of later scripture.  When later scriptures were added, their doctrines had to be compared to the doctrines established in the Torah.  If their doctrines lined up with the Torah, they might be from God.  Otherwise, they were not from God.  In other words, when there are multiple interpretations available for later scripture, the only ones that can be true are ones the conform to the Torah.
2. Plain, direct statements about a doctrine take priority over unclear or ambiguous statements that aren’t directly addressing a doctrine.  In our case, plain, direct statements in the Torah about the nature and identity of God take priority over passages that aren’t directly addressing this.  Unclear passages must be interpreted in a way that conforms to clear passages.

The Torah’s view on the identity and nature of God

Jehovah is our Father

The Torah describes Jehovah as a father figure.

Exodus 4:22 ASV

²² And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, my first-born:

This idea is solidified in the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 63:16 ASV

¹⁶ For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name.

Isaiah 64:8 ASV

⁸ But now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

And, of course, this concept was built up even more in the New Testament.

Jehovah has no form

Moses declared the entire Nation of Israel, generation after generation, to be witnesses that the true God, Jehovah, Our Father, has no visible form, including the form of a man.  And he forbade them to ever worship anything with a visible form including idols, or other visible things such as the sun, moon and stars.

Deuteronomy 4:9-19 ASV

⁹ Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy children and thy children’s children; ¹⁰ the day that thou stoodest before Jehovah thy God in Horeb, when Jehovah said unto me, Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. ¹¹ And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. ¹² And Jehovah spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice. ¹³ And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. ¹⁴ And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

¹⁵ Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; ¹⁶ lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; ¹⁹ and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.

God, through Moses, instructed the Nation of Israel to be witnesses from one generation to the next that the true God has no form.  God knows the end from the beginning.  Was God, through the prophets, telling them to accept or reject the future claim that God has the form of a man from Nazareth?

The Catholic Church recognized that this passage in the Torah is an expanded version of the commandment against idolatry.  The Catholic Church recognized that the doctrine that a man was God incarnate violates the second commandment.  Therefore, if God has the form of a man then the second commandment is nullified.

In the Catechism we read:

2129 The divine injunction included the prohibition of every representation of God by the hand of man. Deuteronomy explains: “Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure.…”  It is the absolutely transcendent God who revealed himself to Israel. “He is the all,” but at the same time “he is greater than all his works.”  He is “the author of beauty.” 

2130 Nevertheless, already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim. 

2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons— of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new “economy” of images.[1]

I must point out that the Ark of the Covenant and cheribum were never worshipped.  Also, Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent when the people began to venerate it (2 Kings 18:4).  Hezekiah permitted only the worship of God, not the bronze serpent.

 

Jehovah alone is God with none beside him

 

Moses also called on the entire Nation of Israel to be witnesses to the fact that Jehovah, Our Father is the only true God with none beside Him.

Deuteronomy 4:32-25 ASV

³² For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? ³³ Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? ³⁴ Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else besides him.

And this was reinforced many times.

Isaiah 45:18-22 ASV

¹⁸ For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else. ¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I, Jehovah, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

²⁰ Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. ²¹ Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. ²² Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.

1 Kings 8:60 ASV

⁶⁰ that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah, he is God; there is none else.

Nehemiah 9:6 ASV

⁶ Thou art Jehovah, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

Isaiah 43:10 ASV

¹⁰ Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isaiah 44:6 ASV

⁶ Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:8 ASV

⁸ Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.

Isaiah 45:5-6 ASV

⁵ I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me; ⁶ that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else.

God made the entire Nation of Israel witnesses at Mount Sinai that Jehovah, Our Father, is God and there is no other beside Him.  And He repeated this time and time again through the prophets.  God knows the end from the beginning.  Was God guiding the Jews to accept or reject the future claim that Jehovah, Our Father, is God with two others beside Him?  Was God telling them to accept or reject the teaching that He is a unity of three co-eternal persons?

Jehovah is not a man nor the son of man

The Torah plainly states that God is not a man nor the son of man.

Numbers 23:19 ASV

¹⁹ God is not a man, that he should lie,
Neither the son of man, that he should repent:
Hath he said, and will he not do it?
Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?

And the prophets repeated it.

1 Samuel 15:29 ASV

²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.

Hosea 11:9 ASV

⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not come in wrath.

God knows the end from the beginning.  By declaring through the prophets that He is not a man nor the son of man, was God indicating to the Jews that they should accept or reject the claim that God is a man from Nazareth who called himself the “Son of Man”?

Jehovah is One

Moses summarized the identity of the God the Israelites encountered at Mount Sinai.

Deuteronomy 6:4 ASV

⁴ Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: ⁵ and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

The word translated as “one” here is “echad”, which can be used to describe either a single thing or a unity of multiple things.

Genesis 2:21-24 ASV

²¹ And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one (echad) of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: ²² and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. ²³ And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ²⁴ Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one (echad) flesh.

Jesus’s dialog with the Jewish scribe indicates which understanding of “echad” Jesus supported.

Mark 12:29-30, 

 “²⁹ Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: ³⁰ and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength”. 

The scribe he was talking to clearly stated that he understood the word “echad” to mean that God consisted of one single person.

³² And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, Teacher, thou hast well said that he is one; and there is none other but he: ³³ and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:32-33 ASV

Jesus confirmed the scribe’s interpretation as being the correct one.

³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. Mark 12:34 ASV

The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, begins with the declaration that God is one and he confirmed that this means that He is one and there is none other but He.

Summary of the Torah’s plain teaching on the nature and identity of God

The Torah plainly states that the God encountered by the Nation of Israel at Mount Sinai is Jehovah, Our Father, alone, with none beside him, who has no visible form and is not a man nor the son of man.  The Trinity is the doctrine that Jehovah, Our Father, is God with two others beside Him and that God has a visible form of a man who called himself the Son of Man.

In Deuteronomy 13 we see God’s attitude toward anyone preaching a concept of God that was different from the God the Jews encountered at Mount Sinai.

⁶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; ⁷ of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; ⁸ thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: ⁹ but thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹¹ And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.

¹² If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying, ¹³ Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; ¹⁴ then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee, ¹⁵ thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto Jehovah thy God: and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again. ¹⁷ And there shall cleave nought of the devoted thing to thy hand; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; ¹⁸ when thou shalt hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God. Deuteronomy 13:6-18 ASV

Every presentation on the Trinity I have read or watched follows the pattern of downplaying the plain declarations of God’s nature given in the Torah.  Instead, they assume that God revealed the nature of God as a puzzle to be worked out in the New Testament period.  They assemble clues that are supposed to prove that Jesus is God.  And they assemble clues that are supposed to prove that the Holy Spirit is a separate individual.  And they use philosophy to try to reason out how God can be in three persons, but be only one God.  Never do they point to a chapter in the prophets where the prophet explains how God is three – in – one.  But, I just quoted lengthy passages that explain how God is one with none beside Him and has no visible form.  Never do they quote any sermon by Jesus that explains at length how we should believe in the Trinity.  But I just quoted where he said the greatest commandment begins with the declaration that God is one. 

What about 1 John 5:7, “and these three are one”?

What about Matthew 28:19, “then name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”?

 

We can’t turn to any passage in Scripture for a clear definition of the Trinity.  It’s not there.  The earliest definition of the Trinity comes from Catholic tradition, not scripture.  In the Handbook for Today’s Catholic we read:

 The mystery of the Trinity is the central doctrine of Catholic faith. Upon it are based all other teachings of the Church. In the New Testament there is frequent mention of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A careful reading of these passages leads to one unmistakable conclusion: each Person is presented as having qualities that can belong only to God. But if there is only one God, how can this be [199-202]?

The Church studied this mystery with great care and, after four centuries of clarification, decided to state the doctrine in this way: in the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—truly distinct one from another [249-256].[2]

The foundational doctrine of the Jewish faith of Jesus and the Apostles is the oneness of God.  The doctrine of the Trinity denies the foundational belief of the Jewish faith.  The doctrine of the Trinity is the foundational belief of the Catholic Church.  When the doctrine of the Trinity was established at the Council of Nicea and the Council of Constantinople, it’s acceptance marked the “true” Christians as members of the Catholic faith.  The Roman emperor Theodosius I stated this in the “edict, called Nullis haereticis: No heretics. “He who professes the Nicene faith is to be thought of as the genuine worshipper in the Catholic religion,” it read.”[3] Right after the Council of Constantinople, the emperor Theodosius I declared:

We now order that all churches are to be handed over to the bishops who profess Father, Son and Holy Spirit of a single majesty , of the same glory, of one splendor, who establish no difference by sacrilegious separation,  but [who affirm] the order of the Trinity by recognizing the Persons and uniting the Godhead.[4]

 

 

 

What About….?

There are a number of passages that we have always been taught support the Trinity, and we need to examine them.  Before getting into them, we should keep in mind that the Torah was the earliest collection of Scripture and is the standard for interpreting all other Scripture.  The word “Torah” is the Hebrew word for “Law”.  So, references to the “Law” are references to the Torah.  The Bible establishes the Torah (Law) as the standard against which to test all Scripture.

Isaiah 8:20 ASV

²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

This naturally indicates that when there are various interpretations of a passage of Scripture available, the only ones that can be valid are ones that conform to the Torah.  If an interpretation contradicts the Torah, it cannot be valid because this fails the test established in Isaiah 8:20.  And if it was proven that a book in the New Testament really does teach doctrines that contradict the doctrines in the Torah, it would prove nothing except that that book was not valid Scripture.  So, we must use the Torah to guide the interpretation of the New Testament.

 

Why about the New Testament’s use of divine language when describing Jesus?

Now, created beings who work as God’s representatives take on diving qualities and can even be called “God” and “Jehovah”.  But this does not mean they are actually God.  It just acknowledges that they are God’s representatives. 

Moses himself became “god” metaphorically when he was anointed by God as His representative.  Note, the word “as” is added by the translators.  A literal reading of the Hebrew would be, “I have made thee god to Pharaoh”.

Exodus 7:1 ASV

¹And Jehovah said unto Moses, See, I have made thee as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

Psalm 82 tells us that God calls created beings who received the word of God, “gods”.

Psalm 82:6-7 ASV

⁶ I said, Ye are gods, And all of you sons of the Most High.  ⁷ Nevertheless ye shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.

Jesus appealed to this passage to prove to the Jewish leaders that it wasn’t blasphemy for created beings to make the claims he was making.  They said he was making himself God, but Jesus did not defend himself by saying it was alright because he really was God.  Instead, he explained to them why it wasn’t blasphemy for a man who was sent and sanctified by God to say the things he was saying.

John 10:30-38 ASV

³⁰ I and the Father are one. ³¹ The Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? ³³ The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. ³⁴ Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? ³⁵ If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶ say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? ³⁷ If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. ³⁸ But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

Jesus later made it very clear that his statements that he and the Father are one and that the Father was in him and he in the Father ware referring to being of one purpose and one mind, which we can also be with God.

John 17:21-23 ASV

²¹ that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me. ²² And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one; ²³ I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.

                  We will look at the phrase “son of God” in a little bit.

The king of Israel is also referred to as “God” in Psalms.  This is clearly a human king complete with ancestors, wife, and children.

Psalm 45:6-16 ASV

⁶ Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom. ⁷ Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness: Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows. ⁸ All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad. ⁹ Kings’ daughters are among thy honorable women: At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir. ¹⁰ Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house: ¹¹ So will the king desire thy beauty; For he is thy lord; and reverence thou him. ¹² And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; The rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. ¹³ The king’s daughter within the palace is all glorious: Her clothing is inwrought with gold. ¹⁴ She shall be led unto the king in broidered work: The virgins her companions that follow her Shall be brought unto thee. ¹⁵ With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led: They shall enter into the king’s palace. ¹⁶ Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, Whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.

The author of Hebrews quoted this description of the human king of Israel to describe Jesus, comparing Jesus to the human kings of Israel.  Therefore, the author of Hebrews is emphasizing the kingship of Jesus by quoting this passage.  It is not meant to be a declaration that Jesus is God. 

Hebrews 1:8-9 ASV

⁸ but of the Son he saith,  Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. ⁹ Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Angels are referred to as “God” many times in the scriptures, recognizing their roles as God’s messengers. 

Jacob described the man he wrestled with as “God”.  But, Hosea clarified that it was an angel, and not actually God.

Genesis 32:30 ASV

³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Hosea 12:4 ASV

⁴ yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him at Beth-el, and there he spake with us,

Samson’s father also referred to the angel he met as “God”, even though he knew it was an angel. 

Judges 13:21-22 ASV

²¹ But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Jehovah. ²² And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

In Judges chapter 6 we are also clearly told several times that it is an angel that appeared to Gideon.  However, when the angel was giving God’s messages, the Bible actually calls the angel “Jehovah” because the angel is speaking on God’s behalf.

Judges 6:12-23 ASV

¹² And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. ¹³ And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? but now Jehovah hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. ¹⁴ And Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee? ¹⁵ And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. ¹⁶ And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. ¹⁷ And he said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me. ¹⁸ Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

¹⁹ And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. ²⁰ And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of Jehovah departed out of his sight. ²² And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah; and Gideon said, Alas, O Lord Jehovah! forasmuch as I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face. ²³ And Jehovah said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

In the Biblical mindset, when God’s divinely appointed representative is speaking on Jehovah’s behalf it is the same as Jehovah Himself speaking.  And His representatives are sometimes referred to as “God” or even “Jehovah”.  This provides one of the possible ways of reconciling the plain statement in Deuteronomy 4 that the true God has no form with the story of Abraham’s visitors which seems to refer to one of them as Jehovah when talking with Abraham. 

The Bible plainly states that Jesus had no power or authority on his own, but was acting as God’s divinely appointed representative.

Acts 2: 22-24, 36 ASV

²² Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; ²³ him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: ²⁴ whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it…. ³⁶ Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.

John 12:44-50 ASV

⁴⁴ And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. ⁴⁵ And he that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me. ⁴⁶ I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the darkness. ⁴⁷ And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day. ⁴⁹ For I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is life eternal; the things therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak.

1 Corinthians 15:24-28 ASV

²⁴ Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. ²⁷ For, He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him. ²⁸ And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.

John 5:19-27 ASV

¹⁹ Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show him, that ye may marvel. ²¹ For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. ²² For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; ²³ that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him. ²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. ²⁵ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. ²⁶ For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself: ²⁷ and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.

1 Timothy 2:5 ASV

⁵ For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus,

What about John 1:1, “and the Word was God”?

What about John 8:58, “before Abrahams was, I am”?

What about John 20:28, “my Lord and my God”?

What about Matthew 9:2-8, forgiving sins?

What about Revelation 22:8-9, receiving worship?

Doesn’t the Bible call Jesus the Creator?

Why does the New Testament call Jesus the Son of God?

One of the important concepts of the New Testament is that it calls Jesus the Son of God.  The authors of the New Testament quoted the Old Testament when describing Jesus as the Son of God.  By examining the concept of the Son of God in the Old Testament, we can see what the New Testament authors meant when they called Jesus the Son of God.

The first verse we will examine is

Hosea 11:1,

1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

The son here is obviously referring to ancient nation of Israel.  This is obviously not referring to a biological son between God and a wife.  Also, Israel is not a deity.  The ancient nation of Israel was God’s son in the sense that God brought it into existence by taking the people out of Egypt.  The author of the Gospel of Matthew believed this verse to have a secondary meaning as an allusion to the part of Jesus’ life spent in Egypt. 

Matthew 2:14-15,

14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Let’s look at another one.

Psalm 2:1-12

1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying,

3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7  I will declare the decree: Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

10  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11  Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Who is this Psalm talking about?  Zion is used in the Bible to refer to Jerusalem, so the kings of Zion here are the kings of ancient Israel.  In verses 6 and 7 we see that when the king is appointed by God to be the king, God says to the king, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”  So, the king becomes the begotten son of God when he becomes king.

Next, let’s look at

1 Chronicles 28:6,

6 And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.  

And also 

2 Samuel 7:13-14,

13  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

These verses are specifically referring to Solomon and God is saying that Solomon will become the son of God when he becomes king.  The above verses are all referring to non-deities who become sons of God when they are appointed by God to be kings. 

Psalm 2:7, 1 Chronicles 28:6 and 2 Samuel 7:14 are all referred to in Hebrews 1:5, to explain Jesus’ relationship to God.

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

From these verses, we see that kings appointed by God are referred to as sons of God in the Old Testament.  This is what the phrase “Son of God” meant to the culture the writers of the New Testament grew up in.  We can also see that the New Testament authors quoted these very verses in explaining Jesus’ position as “Son of God.”  The First Century Jew would not have understood the phrase “son of God” to be a sign of deity.

This is kind of like the word “gay” in English.  In the past it meant “happy and carefree”.  In modern lingo, it refers to being homosexual.  The modern usage has nothing to do with the original meaning.  So, when we read the word “gay” in an old book, we can’t believe it is referring to homosexuality.  We must interpret the meaning of words and phrases according to the context in which it is written.

Now, when we look at the pagan world we get a very different meaning for the phrase, “son of God”.  Upon Julius Caesar’s death he was deified.  The Romans declared him to be god.  His adopted son, Caesar Augustus, was referred to by the Romans as the “son of god”.  He was himself deified upon his death and prayed to by the Romans.  Later, the Romans made Christianity the official religion of Rome.  And it was the Roman understanding of the phrase, “son of God”, that had the biggest impact of the modern Christian understanding of that phrase.  But when we read the Bible, we can’t interpret it according to our usage of “son of God”.  Instead, we must interpret it according to the cultural context in which it was written.  That cultural context was First Century Judaism and they linked it with a people who is chosen by God, or a king who is anointed by God.  It has nothing to do with deity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] U.S. Catholic Church (2012-11-28). Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition (Kindle Locations 19703-19729). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[2] Redemptorist Pastoral Publication. Handbook for Today's Catholic (pp. 19-20). Liguori Publications. Kindle Edition.

[3] Rubenstein, Richard E. When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ's Divinity in the Last Days of Rome. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999. 221. Print.

[4] Rubenstein, Richard E. When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ's Divinity in the Last Days of Rome. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999. 223. Print.