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An
Answer To the Issue of Plurality of the Godhead
The Case
Against Plurality
Someone sent me a study called “Plurality” which pertained to
“theophanies” (manifestations of God). They didn’t quote the source
from which this was derived, nor did they give the original author’s name.
I
thought it both necessary and proper to include a paper on this issue.
The study attempts to explain 3 literal "bodies" of God and then suggests
the "trinity" must be true. The main problem is that the author uses
mostly circular reasoning to try to prove his case. (Circular
reasoning is defined as trying to reach a conclusion by beginning with
error).
Webster’s Dictionary defines theophany as:
Main Entry: the·oph·a·ny
Pronunciation:
thE-'ä-f&-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Medieval Latin theophania, from Late Greek
theophaneia, from Greek the- + -phaneia (as in epiphaneia
appearance) -- more at EPIPHANY
: a visible manifestation of a deity
- theo·phan·ic
/"thE-&-'fa-nik/
adjective
Main
Entry: epiph·a·ny
Pronunciation:
i-'pi-f&-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Middle English epiphanie, from Middle French, from Late
Latin epiphania, from Late Greek, plural, probably alteration of
Greek epiphaneia appearance, manifestation, from epiphainein
to manifest, from epi- + phainein to show -- more at FANCY
1 capitalized : January 6 observed as a church
festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first
manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in
commemoration of the baptism of Christ
2 : an appearance or manifestation especially
of a divine being
3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of
the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive
grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and
striking (3) : an illuminating discovery b : a
revealing scene or moment
We
discover that both words, theophany and epiphany, though they are never
found in scripture describe a VISIBLE MANIFESTAION OF DEITY (or a “divine”
being).
I
will use the color
Blue
to quote from this “Plurality” study that was sent to me. I will
make
my comments in Maroon.
The study makes much the same statement as I have concerning a Theophany.
It then goes on to say:
God appears in t he
Old Testament in different ways: as an angel of the Lord (Acts
7:30-32;
Exodus 3:2;
Judges 2:1), apparently in physical
form (Gen. 3:8;
Exodus 24:9-11), in visions and dreams
(Num. 12:6-8), and in flame (Judges
13:20-21). However, there are verses that say that you can't see
God:
Exodus 33:20;
John 1:18). If this is so, then is
there a contradiction in the Bible? No, there isn't.
I
assume the writer did not intend (or perhaps he/she did) to add “Acts 7:30-32”
into this list of Old Testament Scriptures. It’s ok though since the
scripture does speak of the Angel of the Lord that appeared to Moses in
the form of a burning bush. I also have to agree with this
writer that there ARE NO contradictions in the Bible concerning this
matter.
The
writer states his verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible.
(quite possibly the source of his error)
I,
on the other hand, will use the King James Version.
The following subheading and scriptures were submitted first:
Plurality of God:
Gen. 1:26, "Then God said, "Let Us make man
in Our image, according to Our likeness..."
Gen. 19:24, "Then the LORD rained on Sodom
and Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven."
Amos 4:10-11, "‘I sent a plague among you
after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with
your captured horses, and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your
nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,' declares the LORD. ‘I
overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah...'"
Isaiah 44:6, "Thus says the LORD, the King of
Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the
last, and there is no God besides me...‘" See also, Isaiah 48:16.
Appearances of God:
Gen. 17:1, "Now when Abram was ninety-nine
years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty;
walk before Me, and be blameless."
Gen. 18:1, "Now the LORD appeared to him by
the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of
the day."
Ex. 6:2-3, "God spoke further to Moses and
said to him, ‘I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I did not make myself known to
them.'"
Exodus 24:9-11, "Then Moses went up with
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw
the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of
sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand
against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they beheld God, and they
ate and drank."
Exodus 33:11, "Thus the LORD used to speak to
Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend..."
Num. 12:6-8, "He [God] said, "Hear now My
words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself
known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with
My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak
mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the
form of the LORD..."
Acts 7:2, "And he [Stephen] said, "Hear me,
brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when
he was in
Mesopotamia,
before he lived in Haran...."
Can't
see God:
Exodus 33:20, "But He [God] said, ‘You cannot
see My face, for no man can see Me and live!'"
John 1:18, "No man has seen God at any time;
the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father; He has explained
Him."
1 Tim. 6:16, "[God] who alone possesses
immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or
can see."
John 6:46, "Not that any man has seen the
Father except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father."
John 8:58, "Jesus said to them, "Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
Exodus 3:14, "And God said to Moses, ‘I AM
WHO I AM'; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel,
‘I AM has sent me to you.'"
Zech. 12:10, "And I [God] will pour out on
the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of
grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have
pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son..."
The writer states that it is evident from these scriptures that God was
seen. He further states that considering the scriptures that state
GOD CANNOT BE SEEN: He understands the argument and understands where one
could think there was a contradiction in these verses.
Now let me
quote directly from the “Plurality”
paper, again in
Blue:
A
possible explanation for this is that people were seeing visions, or
dreams, or the Angel of the LORD ( Num.
22:22-26;
Judges 13:1-21). But
the problem is that the verses cited above do not say vision, dream, or
Angel of the LORD. They say that people saw God (Exodus
24:9-11), that God was seen, and that He appeared as God Almighty (Ex.
6:2-3).
At first, this is difficult to understand. God
Almighty was seen (Ex. 6:2-3) which
means it was not the Angel of the Lord, for an angel is not God Almighty,
and at least Moses saw God, not in a vision or dream, as the LORD Himself
attests in
Num. 12:6-8. If these
verses mean what they say, then we naturally assume we have a
contradiction. Actually, the contradiction exists in our understanding,
not in the Bible--which is always the case with alleged biblical
contradictions.
The solution is simple. All you need to do is
accept what the Bible says. If the people of the OT were seeing God, the
Almighty God, and Jesus said that no one has ever seen the Father ( John
6:46), then they were seeing God Almighty, but not the Father. It
was someone else in the Godhead. I suggest that they were seeing the Word
before He became incarnate. In other words, they were seeing Jesus;
compare
John 8:58 with
Exodus 3:14 above.
If God is a Trinity, then
John 1:18 is not a problem either
because in John chapter one, John writes about the Word (Jesus) and God
(the Father). In verse 14 it says the Word became flesh. In verse 18 it
says no one has seen God. Since Jesus is the Word, God then, refers to the
Father, and the apparent contradiction is easily resolved, especially when
this is examined in the light of Jesus' words in
John 6:46 where He said that no one
has ever seen the Father. Therefore, Almighty God was seen, but not the
Father. It was Jesus before His incarnation. There is more than one person
in the Godhead and the doctrine of the Trinity must be true.
Let me begin, if I may where this one started and take each idea and/or
statement and address it separately:
The Plurality Paper
comments are Blue,
mine are maroon in color.
A
possible explanation for this is that people were seeing visions, or
dreams, or the Angel of the LORD ( Num.
22:22-26;
Judges 13:1-21). But
the problem is that the verses cited above do not say vision, dream, or
Angel of the LORD. They say that people saw God (Exodus
24:9-11), that God was seen, and that He appeared as God Almighty (Ex.
6:2-3).
I agree that visions,
dreams or seeing the “Angel of the Lord” are all possibilities. I
disagree, however when the writer states
“But
the problem is that the verses cited above do not say vision, dream, or
Angel of the LORD.”
That is not a true statement!
Read Numbers
22:22-26:
Numbers
22:22-26
“And
God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD
stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his
ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of
the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the
ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote
the ass, to turn her into the way. But the angel of the LORD stood
in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that
side. And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust
herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he
smote her again. And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood
in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to
the left.”
KJV
Five
times in these verses we have the statement “angel of the Lord”. It
is quite interesting to note that utilizing translation methods from
Hebrew to English, the word “angel” is NOT capitalized, denoting NOT a
reference to God Almighty, but to a messenger.
Note: verse 31
is clear between the difference between the “angel of the Lord” and THE
Lord!.
Numbers 22:31
“Then
the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of
the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he
bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.”
Numbers
22:22-26
cannot be used for the purposes of this argument of plurality and must
therefore be disqualified..
Judges
13:3
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto
her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son.”
Judges
13:6
“Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God
came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel
of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told
he me his name:..”
Judges
13:8-9
“Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God
which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do
unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of
Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat
in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.”
Judges
13:16
is very clear
that the one they saw and with whom they spake is NOT the Lord:
“And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain
me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering,
thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he
was an angel of the LORD.”
Judges
13:21-22
“But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife.
Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. “
The writer
of this “Plurality Study” did NOT include
verse 22, but I will
for your reference. What does it say?
Judges
13:22
“And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen
God.”
Who did
they see? Was it God or was it an “angel of the Lord”? The
hardest thing to understand lies in the apparent contradiction between
Judges 13:16
and Judges 13:22. The bible
speaks many times concerning Moses and the LORD speaking to him “face to
face”. In these passages, though, one does not see the LORD
appearing but an “angel of the Lord”
Judges
13:1-22
cannot be used for the purposes of this argument.
The
next few verses
are a bit different and are more to the point of the argument:
Exodus
24:9-11
“Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was
under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were
the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.”
As
you can well see, THESE verses can be used for the purposes of the
argument.
Though the last two
quoted by the author say NOTHING of seeing God, I can allow for it since
we already know from the scriptures that Moses saw an spoke with God face
to face as a man speaks with his brother. We can also allow these
two based on the “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” argument. They DID see
God. The last verses quoted are:
Exodus
6:2-3 “And
God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God
Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”
It is of great interest that the writer
stated
“But the problem is that the verses
cited above do not say vision, dream, or Angel of the LORD.”,
then turns around in the very
next paragraph of his writing and states:
“…which means it was not the Angel of the Lord,
for an angel is not God Almighty…”
That
is interesting since he/she gave as “proof” scriptures ones that plainly
declared that “an angel of the Lord” was at work and not the Lord himself.
In either case, I can
still work with that!
The writer
continues:
“At first, this is difficult to understand. God Almighty was seen ( Ex.
6:2-3) which means it was not the Angel of the Lord, for an angel
is not God Almighty, and at least Moses saw God, not in a vision or dream,
as the LORD Himself attests in
Num. 12:6-8.
If these verses mean what they say, then we naturally assume we have a
contradiction. Actually, the contradiction exists in our understanding,
not in the Bible--which is always the case with alleged biblical
contradictions.”
He
continues: (I’ll place bold emphasis on remarks that stand out to
me)
“The solution is simple. All you need to do is accept what the Bible
says. If the people of the OT were seeing God, the Almighty God, and
Jesus said that no one has ever seen the Father ( John
6:46), then they were seeing God Almighty, but not the Father.
It was someone else in the Godhead. I suggest that they
were seeing the Word before He became incarnate. In other words, they
were seeing Jesus; compare
John 8:58
with
Exodus 3:14 above.”
John
8:58
“Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
Exodus
3:14
“And
God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto
the children of Israel, I
AM hath sent me unto you.”
These
are both great passages of scripture. Unfortunately, the writer
misses the entire understanding of the Godhead in the remainder of his
comments.
There is no
contradiction in any understanding if you understand the Godhead to be
exactly what the scriptures declare.
The declaration of
John
4:24
does
not contradict this, nor do any of the scriptures that state NO
MAN HATH SEEN GOD.
How is it that “No man hath seen God?”
Because God IS A
SPIRIT.
He has always been a Spirit, He will always be a Spirit! That is
what the bible clearly teaches from Genesis to Revelation. God is
an invisible spirit that FILLS the entire universe.
Is there
anyone who can contradict that? Of course there isn’t. The
ENTIRE Bible teaches that precept.
When
Jesus said NO ONE HAS SEEN THE FATHER, he meant exactly that.
The writer takes his thinking a little too far and contradicts
scripture when he states
“…they were seeing the Word before He became incarnate…”
This is entirely
contradictory to the written Word of God!
Let's continue examining this
subject a bit further on the next page
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