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Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 516
| Posted 6/28/2001 12:42 PM (GMT -6) |   |
TGB
05/02/01 11:08 AM
Trinity in the Old Testament
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Hi all-
If all we had to go on was the Old Testament, would we have any idea God was a trinity? Is so, from what passages? In any case, why does the Triune nature of God seem not to be of much importance in the OT? Did they understand God as triune but not bother to discuss it, or did God choose not to reveal himself as such in the OT?
Tom
Posted Originally From: Open Theism Information Site
Triskal
05/02/01 7:38 PM
RE: Trinity in the Old Testament
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There are a number of times in the OT where God refers to himself as "us" or "we". That wouldn't, however, prove to anyone reading just the OT that God was a trinity.
In Isa. 63:10,11 God says he will set his "Holy Spirit" among them.
In Gen. 3:22 God says, "The man has now become like ONE OF US, knowing good and evil..." (Emphasis added)
Those verses don't exactly spell it out in black and white, but they're somewhat hinting at it.
In His Grip,
Matt
Posted Originally From: Christus Victor Ministries
ghost-dog-girl
05/03/01 10:21 AM
RE: Trinity in the Old Testament
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I agree with Matt that Christians often insert the trinity in OT texts where God refers to Godself with a plural pronoun: i.e. “Let us make humankind in our image” (Gen. 1:26; cf. 3:22; 11:7). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the three strangers who visit Abraham in Gen. 18 have traditionally been understood as a trinitarian theophany (“The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre…He looked up and saw three men…” vs. 1–2).
I think Doc has an excellent discussion of these texts in God at War. He says, “…the standard interpretation among the Jews has been to understand this plural as a reference to the heavenly council. In light of subsequent revelation, this plurality within the divine council can be understood in terms of the triune divine society. But in fidelity to the original meaning of the text. we must also admit that the original author or his audience would not have understood the text in this way, and thus it should not be taken as the primary meaning of the text” (p. 132).
If we stick to a Fee & Stuart a-text-can-never-mean-what-it-never-meant approach, in which the meaning of the text is restricted to the author’s original intention, I don’t see how any Old Testament text—or any New Testament text, for that matter! (since the doctrine of the trinity developed after the canon was closed, no New Testament author conceived of God in anything like our current trinitarian formulation)—can be used to support the trinue nature of God.
However, rather than rejecting the trinity as unbiblical, I think perhaps at this point we should question the adequacy of our hermeneutic. This question is an excellent illustration of how a reader-response hermeneutic offers a richer understanding of the text than one which restricts meaning to authorial intention. Although biblical authors did not conceive of God as triune, based on subsequent revelation and the Holy Spirit’s work in history, readers of these texts do conceive of God as triune. When we read God’s self revelation in the Old and New Testaments, we find that this revelation is consistent with our understanding of the trinity, though the authors of the texts did not have the same understanding.
Tom also asks, “why does the Triune nature of God seem not to be of much importance in the OT?” It is a misnomer that ancient Jews were strict monotheists (a case can be made for strict monotheism in 2 Isaiah, but some argue that the author uses hyperbole here to make his case for God’s ultimate sovereignty and superiority over idols). Perhaps a more accurate label would be “henotheists”—they worshiped one God among many other gods. Also, there are many reference in the Old Testament to Yahweh’s heavenly council (see God at War). So although the Triune nature of God is not refered to in the Old Testament, God's nature is portrayed in social, relational terms.
Such a fun question! GDG
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