The Biblical Doctrine of the Godhead (Part 2)

This series was written by Wayne Jackson. This particular installment appeared in the Christian Courier in December, 1980. It was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ and was edited by Jackson.

Biblical Monotheism - Monotheism is the belief in one God, in contrast to Polytheism, the notion that numerous gods exist. Unquestionably, the Bible affirms the concept of monotheism. In the first commandment of the Decalogue, Jehovah charges, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). Again, "Hear, O Israel; Jehovah our God is one Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Or, "Jehovah He is God; there is none else beside Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35; see also 4:39; First Kings 8:60; First Chronicles 17:20; Isaiah 43:11; Zechariah 14:9). And in the New Testament, Paul says that, "God is one" (Galatians 3:20) while James notes, "Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well; the demons also believe and shudder" (James 2:19). Clearly therefore, the oneness of God in some sense or another, is a Biblical truth. The question is however, what does Scripture mean by one God?

In the Old Testament the words el, eloah and elohim from related roots, are generic designations of God. The New Testament term is theos. These appellations, when used of the true God simply suggest the nature or quality of being divine, deity. The word "God" is not the name of a personality. It is the name of a nature, a quality of being. When it is said therefore, that there is but one God, the meaning is, there is one divine nature. There is a unified set of traits or characteristics that distinguish a personality as "God."

The Divine Three - It is also quite clear the Scriptures teach that there is a personal distinction between those individuals identified in the New Testament as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; that these persons are in some sense three. Study very carefully the following passages in which the persons of the divine Godhead are distinguished (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; Luke 1:35; John 14:26; 15:26; First Corinthians 12:4-6; Second Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18; 4:4-6; First Peter 1:2; Jude 20-21; Revelation 1:4-5). It is obvious that these inspired verses reveal three separate persons. Furthermore, additional Biblical data reveal that each of these three persons is God, i.e., each possesses the quality or nature of deity. The Father is deity (Ephesians 1:3) as is the Son (Hebrews 1:8) and so also the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4). Now any elementary student of logic knows perfectly well that the Godhead cannot be both one and three without a logical contradiction being involved if the adjectives one and three are employed in the very same sense. But the fact of the matter is, they are not used in the same sense. There is but ONE divine nature but there are THREE distinct personalities possessing that unified set of infinite qualities. And so, there is no contradiction at all.

Without a recognition of the above principle, some Bible passages would be difficult to harmonize. For example, in Isaiah 44:24, Jehovah affirms that He, "stretched for the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth (who is with Me?)..." So, God was alone. Yet in John 8:29 Christ said, "And He that sent Me is with Me; He hath not left Me alone..." And so, Jesus was not alone for the Father was with him. Correspondingly, the Father was not alone! The question is, how can God be both alone and yet not alone? Well, in Isaiah's passage, God (the one divine nature) was being contrasted with the false gods of paganism; the personalities of the Godhead was not a consideration there. While in John 8:29 the relationship of two divine personalities (Father and Son) was in view. Different subjects, but no discrepancy! Similarly, when a certain scribe affirmed that, "He (God) is one; and there is none other but He..." (Mark 12:32), he was correct. He was declaring monotheism as suggested above. In another setting though, Christ, revealing a distinction between Himself and the Father, said, "It is another that bears witness of Me; and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of Me is true" (John 5:32).

Old Testament Evidence For Godhead Plurality - The Biblical doctrine of the Godhead is progressive. By that we mean that the concept unfolds, being gradually illuminated from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Nevertheless, the multiple personalities of the holy Godhead are clearly distinguishable in the Old Testament record.

1. In Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God (elohim - plural) created (bara - singular)..." In the plural form elohim, many scholars see a, "foreshadowing of the plurality of persons in the Divine Trinity" (R. Payne Smith, "Genesis," Ellicott's Commentary, I, p. 11). Adam Clarke declared that the term, "has long been supposed, by the most eminently learned and pious men, imply a plurality of Persons in the Divine nature" (Clarke's Commentary, I. p. 28). Richard Watson wrote, "Elohim seems to be the general appellation by which the Triune Godhead is collectively distinguished in Scripture" (Biblical & Theological Dictionary, p. 1024). Though some scholars call this plural form a "plural of majesty" (a suggestion of multiple majestic traits), Nathan Stone observes that the plural of majesty, "was not known then" (Names of God, p. 12). As Professor Harold Stigers notes, "A multiplicity of personalities in the Godhead, implied in the creative process in the use of the titles 'God' (1:1) and 'Spirit of God' (1:2) is involved in the creative and redemptive work of God" (A Commentary on Genesis, p.47).

2. Multiple divine personalities are alluded to in such passages as follows. "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26). Note: This cannot refer to angels as is sometimes claimed for, a. angels are themselves created (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2, 5), not creators and b., the immediate context limits the creating to God (vs. 27). Then, "...the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil..." (Genesis 3:22). "Come, let Us go down, and there confound their language..." (Genesis 11:7). Incidentally, "Come" in the Hebrew text is plural, so that the divine spokesman must be addressing and acting in union with at least two others. (See H. C. Thiessen, Systematic Theology, p. 136.) "And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go with Us?'" (Isaiah 6:8). "Remember also thy Creator (plural in Hebrew) in the days of they youth..." (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

3. Numerous other passages reveal a distinction of personalities within the Godhead. In Genesis 18:21 Jehovah temporarily assuming the form of a man, visits Sodom. Surveying the evil of that area, this "Jehovah" then, "rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of Heaven..." (19:24). Two persons are clearly denominated "Jehovah." Or observe Isaiah 44:6, "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." (Note: the language of this verse is applied to Christ in Revelation 1:17.) In Zechariah 11:12-13 Christ prophetically says, "And I said unto them, 'If ye think good, give Me My hire; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for My hire thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said unto Me...'" (And then Psalm 110:1, "Jehovah (the 1st Person) said unto my Lord (the 2nd Person), sit Thou at My right hand..." This is but a fractional sampling of a vast amount of Old Testament evidence for the plural personalities of deity.

New Testament Evidence of Divine Plurality - There are many obvious indication of distinction between the Father, the Son and the Spirit in the New Testament. For instance, there is the clear case of the baptismal scene of Christ where Jesus is in the water, the Father is speaking from Heaven and the Spirit is descending as a dove (Matthew 3:16-17). And then there is Matthew's record of the "great commission" where baptism is said to be, "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). The term "name" (Greek, onoma) stands for becoming the possession of and under the protection of the one into whose name an individual is immersed (see Arndt & Gingrich, Greek Lexicon, p. 575) and its singular form here likely stresses the unity of the holy Three. The multiple use of the article "the" before the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit however, according to a well known rule of Greek grammar (see Dana & Mantey's Manual Grammar of the Greek NT, p. 147), plainly demonstrates that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are separate persons and not merely three manifestations of one person.

In additional studies, we will further introduce New Testament evidence conclusively proving that the Godhead consists of three divine personalities.