We’re left wondering if this is just a way of talking about God or if it’s an agent sent from God. But we discover Jesus and the Holy Spirit as distinct persons who are also God. The doctrine of the Trinity is not plainly revealed in the Old Testament. Angels in the Bible: What Do We Actually Know About Them? It is not only an interpretive practice to be embraced by the consumers of the Bible, but because of the cumulative character of the biblical canon, rereading is a crucial element in the production of Scripture. He participates in the. Many theologians would suggest it does. As soon as the Trinity is revealed in the New Testament and we have a clear revelatory statement about what’s going on in regards to the godhead, it throws a light back on the things we’ve seen in the Old Testament. It is in re-reading that some magic may lie.”. One way we can do this and maintain interpretive integrity is by rereading. Basil the Blessed on Moscow’s Red Square. God’s Spirit also seems to dwell with God’s followers, and seems to act as an objective personality. In the Triune God course, you will explore the main contours of the central and mysterious Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Does the Old Testament contradict the doctrine of the Trinity? The Trinity in the Old Testament The concept of the Trinity is a foundational tenant of the Christian faith, yet many do not understand this doctrine and many who … Successful novelists from Jane Austen to J. K. Rowling prove themselves to their fans not by how good their books are for reading but for rereading. Or again, a reader who continues through to the end of the New Testament learns a great many surprising things about this God, and a rereading of Genesis 1 in this case is enriched by the knowledge that the God who raised Jesus from the dead created the heavens and the earth. As we have seen, the doctrine of the Trinity comes into clearer view as the Creator-creature distinction is applied to the realm of the Divine Council and figures such as the Angel of YHWH and the Holy Spirit are recognized as God himself. The most obvious is the Genesis 1:26 passage where God refers to Himself in plural form. He is the co-editor of. Some commentators make a lot out of the distinction between the name Elohim and the name Yahweh. As the theologian Anthony Rogers pointed out, the trinity is found throughout the entire warp and woof of the Old Testament. In addition, the Old Testament has also been interpreted as foreshadowing the Trinity, by referring to God's word (Psalm 33:6), his spirit (Isaiah 61:1), and Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1), as well as narratives such as the appearance of the three men to Abraham. The Angel of YHWH is a mysterious figure, both distinct from YHWH as his messenger yet seemingly directly identified with him at other points (Exodus 23:20–22). Some of them provide a good demonstration of the elements of trinitarianism in the Old Testament. A rereading of Genesis 1 is enriched by the knowledge that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob created the heavens and the earth. Rereading is a crucial exegetical practice. This sheds new light on the on many of the Old Testament references to God’s Word. Dr. Fred Sanders, Associate Professor of Theology in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, answers this question in his online course, The Triune God. This is especially true of the Old Testament, but also of the New, and must be remembered when we seek to discover the Trinity in the Old Testament. Although not explicitly mentioned, the basis of the doctrine can be detected when exploring the Old Testament. The clearest allusion to the mystery of the Blessed Trinity in the Old Testament is probably the so-called Trisagion [“thrice holy”] of Isaias (VI, 3): “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of Hosts, all the earth is full of his glory,” which is rightly made much of by many Fathers and not a few theologians. 11 Things to Know about the Doctrine of the Trinity, “‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he [the angel of the Lord] said. How do we read these passages in a way that will preserve their mystery and shed some light on what we learn about the godhead from the New Testament? Here are five quotes from the … When Christians see Christ and the Trinity in the Old Testament, we are following the New Testament’s own lead. He is recognized by demons and speaks of himself as the “Son of Man.” His true divine identity only gradually comes into clarity, most particularly as the evangelists identify Christ with previous theophanic appearances of the Old Testament: with such visions as Jacob’s ladder (John 1:51), God’s appearance to Moses on Sinai (Luke 9:28–36; John 1:14–18), the Angel that led Israel out of Egypt (Jude 5; 1 Corinthians 10:9–10), the glorious appearance to Isaiah in the temple (John 12:41), or the Son of Man seen by Daniel (Acts 7:56). The New Testament writers follow the lead of Jesus himself in creatively rereading their Scriptures in the light of who he is and what he has done. This gives you an enriched understanding of the document as a whole. You may unsubscribe from these email communications at any time. The Gospels present Christ in the mold of a pre-existent heavenly being, one who has “come” — as angels might — on an earthly mission. She lost her son, her health, and her marriage, and still believes so. The doctrine of the Trinity is considered to be one of the central Christian affirmations about God. For instance, on several occasions in the Old Testament, we see theophanic appearances of God and encounters with the Angel of YHWH or Angel of God. and be gracious to you; 63:16; Overview.Those who reject the Trinity sometimes point to the Old Testament for support insisting that the doctrine is not taught there and therefore should be rejected. The doctrine of the Trinity is interwoven throughout the entire warp and woof of the Old Testament; it is not merely found in a discrete passage or proof-text here and there. These theophanic manifestations reveal God, while not being directly identified as God. 2:7; Isa. The Old Testament gave glimpses of the Trinity, and no passage of Scripture contradicts the doctrine. And the New Testament authors invite us to reread the creation narrative in a way that perceives his agency. “In the argument of Hebrews we see a first-century example of a Christian expositor whose instinct it was to develop his argument by focusing successively on a number of key texts, and in each case not simply to quote it and pass on, but to stay with it, exploring its wider implications, and drawing it into association with other related Old Testament ideas, so as to produce a richer and more satisfying diet of biblical theology than could be provided by a mere collection of proof-texts. ‘Do not do anything to him. For example, in Genesis 1:26 God … Jesus promises us the Spirit in the New Testament, and in Acts we see the Spirit’s advent at Pentecost. At different times, God speaks about himself using singular pronouns and at others, he opts for plural ones: Outside of the the New Testament’s revelation of the Trinity, it’s hard to make sense of the singular/plural dichotomy in these passages. A rereading of Genesis 1 is in this case enriched by the knowledge that the God of the Exodus created the heavens and the earth. The Trinity In The Old Testament BY HENRY M. MORRIS, PH.D. | SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2005 "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent me" (Isaiah 48:16). This personification is a speaking agent who is difficult to distinguish. It seems throughout the Old Testament that the Spirit is the self-conscious immanence of God, as well as the revelation of God. Enhance your school’s traditional and online education programs by easily integrating online courses developed from the scholars and textbooks you trust. Probably the clearest statement on the Trinity in the Old Testament is Isaiah 48:16, because it demonstrates an Old Testament belief in the three Persons of the Trinity. That assumption can be summarized in this question: “Why is the one God called both Elohim and Yahweh?” These older theologies keep working at that question until getting to a trinitarian distinction. Christian readers do not have to strain their eyes to see glimpses of the Trinity here. 6:4; Job 33:4; Psa. Rereading is the act of studying a document by reading it all the way through to the end—and once you have an understanding of the document as a whole—you read it all the way through again. At that point the critic can begin to formulate a conceptual unity corresponding to the imaginative unity of his text.”. Northrop Frye argues that “the critical operation begins with reading a work straight through, as many times as may be necessary to possess it in totality. Is the Trinity taught in the Old Testament. Come listen to Mary and Elizabeth marvel at the miracles being birthed within them. Throughout the Old Testament we catch glimpses of an agent of Yahweh who sometimes behaves as if he were the presence of the Lord, and at other times he appears to be an emissary. Here are some traditional proofs (some more compelling than others) for the presence of the Trinity in the Old Testament. We do not need to sort out all the layers of these questions here. Similar to the personification of wisdom in the Old Testament, many things said about the Spirit “going forth” or “being with” seem to indicate agency. A piece of mine reflecting upon the doctrine of the Trinity within the Old Testament has just been posted over on the Desiring God website:. Like a dog with a particularly juicy bone, he returns to his chosen text again and again, worrying at it and aiming to get all the goodness out of it for the benefit of his readers.”. Bonaventure observed that “no one can appreciate the beauty of a poem unless his vision embraces it as a whole.”, Rereading delivers an “awareness of the totality of the text” and allows for “intercommunication” of textual features by correcting against “inherently linear models of reading.”. Genesis 1:26 "Let US make man in OUR image": Three plural pronouns, (We, Us, Our) used 6 different times in four different passages: Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa 6:8. Spirit of the Lord The mysterious way in which the Angel of YHWH can speak of God in both the first and third-person invites reflection. In Colossians 1:15–20, Paul meditates on various senses of the term bereshith (“in the beginning”) with which Genesis — and the entire Scriptures — begin: Christ is the firstborn, supreme, the head, the beginning. Arising out of the crucible of christological and theological debates in the early centuries of the church, the Christian doctrine of the Trinity expresses the mystery of God that is the heart of all revelation. Instructor: All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Pursue a deeper knowledge of God through self-paced college- and seminary-level online courses in Old and New Testament studies, theology, biblical Greek, and more. Rereading makes possible an interpretive interplay between the text’s parts and its whole. John’s Gospel, most notably, introduces Christ as the eternal and uncreated Word of creation, the one through whom all things were made. If you have any questions, please review our, Fred Sanders is Professor of Theology at Biola University's Torrey Honors Institute. Or again, a reader who continues through to Deuteronomy learns even more about his character and his ways. It has served more fully and consistently to disclose the eternal, uncreated, living God who exists independent of all created things. “For the word of the Lord is right and true; “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall, “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of. In Images of the Spirit, Meredith Kline observes the diverse forms of theophanies, where the Angel can appear with or without the Glory phenomena of the Spirit. Scripture, religiously experienced, is obviously another key site of rereading. All Rights Reserved. Rereading is a mode of the New Testament’s use of the Old. Second, God creates as the maker of concrete reality, the one whose hands formed the dry land, who holds all things in order. Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity —the teaching that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence (from the Greek ousia). In his gospel, John describes Jesus as the Word of God. Rereading can even be made to sound subversive and transgressive, as if in the high-theory war between reader and author, rereading is a matter of taking up arms in anarchic rebellion against the author. In the book of Proverbs, we are introduced to the wisdom of God personified as a woman. There’s a whole set of traditional ways to find the Trinity in the Old Testament—and it’s kind of a mixed bag. We’re on a mission to change that. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from, “On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them.”—. This allows you to understand the sense that individual parts make on their own, but help you also grasp the higher meaning that is generated by understanding them in relation to each other. No trinitarian doctrine is explicitly taught in the OldTestament. A lot of older theologies ask, “What is the ultimate reason why two names are given to us right at the beginning of Scripture?” Within that question is an analysis—one that relies on an assumption. Genesis 1 says that God created the heavens and the earth. There is a rich tradition of interpreting passages where God’s name is repeated three times as a trinitarian reference. The doctrine of the Trinity is … Here are a just a few examples of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Spirit — in the Old Testament (there are many more! There is a perennial danger of retrojecting a developed philosophical doctrine of the Trinity into texts operating within a very different horizon. He identifies the Father (Lord God) and “his Spirit” as having sent him. It could be that the use of multiple names for God points to his trinitarian nature. For Instructors and School Administrators. There … In the next verse the Son is more clearly identified as God. It is here that, as we follow the New Testament’s guidance, we can see the fullest revelations of the Trinity in the Old Testament. Many theologians believe passages, like this one in Numbers, demonstrate a preview of the Trinity by repeating God’s name in threes. Discrediting the biblical description of marriage is an attack on the proper understanding of the Trinity. For instance, from the early church, Christian thinkers have seen a shadowy witness to the Trinity in the “let us” of Genesis 1:26. By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from HarperCollins Christian Publishing (501 Nelson Place, Nashville, TN 37214 USA) providing information about products and services of HCCP and its affiliates. “When Christians see Christ and the Trinity in the Old Testament, we are following the New Testament’s own lead.” The later philosophical discourse that played midwife to a Christian doctrine of the Trinity is by no means either illegitimate or … However, the heavenly realm exists within the bounds and phenomena of creation itself; it is only as the horizon of creation retreats from view, or as God is seen over against the creation, that God’s uncreated being and self-relations will better be seen. He has an MDiv from Asbury Theological Seminary and PhD from Graduate Theological Union. The mysterious way in which the Angel of YHWH can speak of God in both the first and third person invites reflection. Rereading is a mode of scriptural re-engagement that allows trinitarian interpretation to maintain the original meaning of the Old Testament, but also to layer onto it the insights that arise from later developments of its themes. Genesis 1:27 is complimented by Genesis 2:18 (LXX), 3:22, 11:7, 20:30; Isaiah 6:8, and 41:21-24, Deuteronomy 4:7, and many more. In light of this, it’s no surprise that this would reframe our understanding of God’s Spirit in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Christians are given a new lens through which they see God. The Angel and the Spirit are not merely individually associated with YHWH, but are intimately connected with each other. When Christ comes on the scene, he comes as a silhouetted figure who has been active in salvation and judgment throughout Israel’s history, finally stepping into the light. However, it is considerably more likely that the plurality seen in this text relates, first and foremost, to the Divine Council — a monotheist form of the assembly of the gods one encounters in various ancient Near Eastern cosmologies. In light of this revelation, can we expect to see traces of the Trinity revealed in the Old Testament as well? the Lord turn his face toward you From such a picture, further details of the creation account may also be revealed in a new aspect: the Spirit hovering over the primeval waters, the archetypal Image of God in which humanity is created, the light that first dawns in creation, and more. Critics argue that since the Trinity isn’t overtly mentioned ... To contemplate the Trinity is to lift up your heart and to “set your mind on the things above” (Col. 3:2). There are points in the Old Testament where God’s very word is personified as it would be if God’s Word referenced Jesus. Is joy at Christmas possible in a year like ours? It’s easy to understand how a trinitarian theologian, informed by the New Testament, would recognize the angel of the Lord—a figure who seems to be with God and to be God— as a christological figure. The Holy Trinity is an important subject of iconographic representation in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and has a rather different treatment from depictions in the Western Churches.There are two different types of Holy Trinity icons: the Old Testament Trinity and the New Testament Trinity (Троица Ветхозаветная and Троица Новозаветная in Russian). Some of them provide a good demonstration of the … Because of this New Testament revelation, Christian orthodoxy relies on an understanding of God as a Trinity—one living and true God who exists eternally as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Critics of the doctrine of the Trinity often claim that the theology of the Old Testament is inconsistent with orthodox Christian theology. the Lord make his face shine on you Though there are numerous examples of the Trinity, many found in the New Testament, below are a few examples of the Trinity in the Old Testament. Rereading is the key hermeneutical category for this kind of interpretation. Many think that the angel of the Lord is a Christophany—a manifestation that, while distinct from God, is also God. Gen 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The later philosophical discourse that played midwife to a Christian doctrine of the Trinity is by no means either illegitimate or inappropriate, as some more biblicist thinkers have suggested. 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