The Trinity in the Old Testament

by hooberus 102 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  hooberus

  I think we may have misunderstood each other. My first quote from Robert Morey was dealing with the the plural of majesty theory of the "us" and "our" pronouns of Genesis 1:26, not the word Elohim itself. I typed this quote (which refers to Genesis 1:26) underneath where I pasted a "Genesis 1:1" quote from you. I was concentrating on responding to the plural of majesty theory in the pronouns "us" and "our" though from the quote you were actually dealing with the theory of plural of majesty of the word Elohim itself. My quote was intended to related to Genesis 1:26 (it begins with "Re: Genesis 1:26") I appologise for using it under your Genesis 1:1 quote (I had the pluaral of majesty theory of the pronouns "us" and "our" in mind.) Here is the dialogue:

  Genesis 1:1: God created. The Hebrew noun Elohim is plural but the verb is singular, a normal usage in the OT when reference is to the one true God. This use of the plural expresses intensification rather than number and has been called the plural of majesty, or of potentiality.

  Re: Genesis 1:26 Robert Morey comments ". . . some anti-Trinitarians have attempted to dismiss the passage as an example of the plural of majesty (pluralis majestaticus), much like Queen Victoria of England who is reported to have said, "We are not amused." The only problem with this argument is that there was no plural of majesty in the Hebrew Language in biblical times. . . . The fundamental error resided in the attempt to take a modern monarchical idiosyncrasy and read it back into an ancient text when such an idiosyncrasy was unknown at that time." p. 94-95 The Trinity: Evidence and Issues 1996
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  hooberus

  My quotes below from Robert Morey were intended to respond to the reasons why God primarily spoke in the terms "I", "me", or "myself" in the Old Testament. Though the quote does contain the generic term "plural nouns" following the term "multi-personal" my intention was the overall response to your points raised in the dialogue. Here is the dialogue:
  

  There are thousands of instances in the Bible where God speaks of himself as "I," "me" or "myself." Why do you give priority to a mere few verses -- a few verses where God says "us" and "our," and then proceed to suggest that those few verses mean God was wrong those thousands of times when he spoke of himself as "I," "me" or "myself"? You are so caught up in your biased view of the two words "us" and "our" in the first part of Genesis that you don't realize what the vast majority of biblical texts -- thousands of them -- are trying to tell you.

  Trinitarians believe that God has revealed himself in a progressive manner through scripture, beginning with Moses, and then through the prophets, and finally in the New Testament. We therefore expect that a primary emphasis in the Old Testament will be that YHWH is the only God. Trinitarians believe the thousands of biblical texts that refer to God speaking of himself as "I" , "Me" , and "Myself" as Robert Morey says:

  "If the authors of Scripture believed there was only one God, how could they express this idea in the Hebrew language? The only way, in terms of Hebrew grammar, was to use singular nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs in reference to God. Thus, they would refer to God as "He," "Him," and "His" and describe God as saying, "I," "Myself," and "Me." Both Unitarians and Trinitarians would expect to find the authors of Scripture using such words in reference to God." Robert Morey The Trinity: Evidence and Issues p. 90

  Trinitarians also expect to see in the Old Testament some evidence of composite unity within the one true God YHWH. As Robert Morey says:

  "But, if they also believed that God was multi-personal, the only way this idea could be indicated in the Hebrew was to use plural nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. They would also refer to God as "They," "Them, " and "Theirs" and describe God as saying, "We," "Us, " and "Ours." "Robert Morey The Trinity: Evidence and Issues p. 90

  We expect this evidence of composite unity to be seen in other Old Testament passages, and more fully revealed in the New Testament.
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  hooberus

  As a side note, regarding this quote from Morey:
  

  "But, if they also believed that God was multi-personal, the only way this idea could be indicated in the Hebrew was to use plural nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. They would also refer to God as "They," "Them, " and "Theirs" and describe God as saying, "We," "Us, " and "Ours." "Robert Morey The Trinity: Evidence and Issues p. 90

  Later on in his book Robert Morey very briefly discusses the fact that both Elohim and Adonai are plural nouns. I believe that He was refering to both of these words in his above quote under the generic term "plural nouns".

  I was not intending to imply from this quote an argument based on a specific plural noun, but a general response to your main point about God being referrred to as "I", "Me," "Myself" etc.