Common Objections on Trinity: Answered #5 OBJECTION: Can there be more that three persons in the Godhead? Certainly, the Old Testament does not teach three but emphasizes oneness. If the New Testament adds to the Old Testament message and teaches three persons, then what is to prevent subsequent revelations of additional persons? RESPONSE: Anti Trinitarians here assume what they have yet to prove—namely that “oneness” means that God is unipersonal. Monotheism simply means, one God, that is, one Being. Moreover (as we will see), the Jews did not envisage a unipersonal God. Further, the abundance of first person plural pronouns that God applied to Himself are clear multi-personal references: Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the LORD God [Yahweh] has sent Me, and His Spirit” (Isa. 48: 16; emphasis added; see also Ps. 45: 6-7; Hos. 1:7). Militating against this very objection, as we will examine more carefully in the sections that follow, are the Old Testament passages where Yahweh (“LORD”) is referring to and interacting with Yahweh 15 Example: Then the LORD [Yahweh] rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD [Yahweh] out of heaven. . . . (Gen. 19:24; emphasis added). Lastly, due to unitarian assumption: God is one equals God is one Person, they cavalierly assert that the doctrine of Trinity “adds” to the Old Testament “message,” moving them to ask: “What is to prevent subsequent revelations of additional persons?” However, they err in their reasoning to assume that the Trinity “adds to the Old” Testament.” The Old Testament firmly establishes that God is multi-personal (e.g., Gen 19:24; Isa. 48:16; Ps. 45:6-7; Hos. 1:7; plural pronouns [“Us,” “Our,”] plural nouns;16 etc). Moreover, in reference to above question (“What is to prevent subsequent revelations of additional persons?”), I would point out first that Scripture presents only the divine Persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as the true God (ontologically). Second, the tri-personality of God did not first emerge in the New Testament. As if to think that the New Testament authors “added” two more Persons to the Old Testament unipersonal God as anti trinitarians suggest. The references to the Father and the Son may find their fullest expression in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, but the foundation for the tri-personalism of God is clearly laid in the Old Testament. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fist? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know! (Prov. 30:4; cf. Pss. 2:7, 12; 102:25). Therefore, to speak of “adding to the oneness of God” is only Anti trinitarians pre-decided conclusion that the Old Testament God was unipersonal in which they argue therefrom. ~via_Christiandefense.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:16:59 +0000
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