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Norman R. Gulley
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The Old Testament presents implicit and explicit evidence
of the existence of the Trinity.
By Norman R. Gulley
In his Antithesis, the Gnostic Marcion, claimed in the second
century A.D. that “the finite, imperfect, angry Jehovah of the
Jews” and the “good or gracious God” revealed by Christ were
two different Gods.
1
In fact, according to Marcion, the Old
Testament God is evil (or at least the author of evil), while the
New Testament God is good.
2
Yet Tertullian (ca. 155-220) wrote
five books against Marcion’s heretical ideas and is the most
important early thinker to demonstrate the importance of
rejecting dualism in the Trinity.
During the whole 3rd century A.D., Modalistic
Monarchianism
3
stated that one God took on different modes. He
was the Father in the Old Testament, the Son in the Gospels, and
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the Spirit since Pentecost—the same God appearing in three
different modes of revelation.
4
The stress here was on the
oneness of God against pagan polytheism, which denied a Trinity
in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. Much later,
Michael Servetus (1511-1553) believed that the Trinity had little
biblical support, and that if theology could rid itself of the
Trinitarian idea, this would contribute to the conversion of Jews
and Muslims. Socinians (16th-19th century) emphatically denied
the divinity of Christ, and so rejected the Trinity. Their Racovian
Catechism (1605) was one of the earliest anti-Trinitarian
statements since Arianism in the fourth century and became the
forerunner of Deism and Unitarianism (both promoting God as
one). The 17th century witnessed a vigorous defense of the
Trinity against Socinian and Arminian views and modern forms of
Sabellianism and Arianism.
It is well known that many biblical scholars, past and
present, reject a continuity between law and grace and hence
distinguish the God of law (Old Testament) from the God of grace
(New Testament). Even more radical, the Dispensationalists
assume that God deals differently with those living in one
historical period than with others living in another historical
period. Lewis Chafer, for example, claims that these different
dispensations are “the very foundation of a science such as
Systematic Theology.” He then continues: “Though too often
confused, the divine government is different in each of these
ages, being adapted perfectly to the relation which the people in
their respective dispensations sustain to God. Each of these
systems of human government is wholly complete in itself. The
Mosaic law contained the commandments, the statutes, and the
ordinances, and was an expression of God’s will to Israel to whom
alone it was addressed. In the teaching of grace addressed only
to the Church, God has disclosed in full the manner of life which
becomes those who are already perfected in Christ.”
5
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Dispensationalists distinguish between Israel and the
church, designating the old covenant as law and the new
covenant as grace. Charles Hodge believed Scripture contrasts
the old and the new covenants in several ways. One way is that
the new reveals the same covenant, but that “it is spoken of as a
state of tutelage and bondage, far different from the freedom and
filial spirit of the dispensation under which we now live. . . . in the
New Testament the gospel greatly predominates over the law.
Whereas, under the Old Testament, the law predominated over
the gospel.”
6
Predestinarians promote a difference in humans due to
sovereign rather than human choice. What these human ideas
have in common is questioning the God of Scripture.
However, there is a problem. If God is a solitary Person in
the Old Testament (“‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is one’” [Deut. 6:4]),
7
and a Trinity in the New Testament (for
example, at Christ’s baptism [Matt. 3:16, 17]; and in Christ’s
great commission [28:19]), how can He be a God of love (1 John
4:8) throughout human history? In other words, how can a
solitary God in the Old Testament love as the Trinity does in the
New Testament? Such assumed differences are not merely
between law and grace, bondage and freedom, sovereign and
free choice, but have to do with the nature of God Himself. If God
relates to humans differently at any time and in any way, what
does this do to His words “‘I the Lord do not change’” (Mal. 3:6,
NIV)?
The Old Testament Shema
“‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!’” (Deut.
6:4), or “‘one Lord’” (NIV, KJV), or “‘the Lord alone’”
(Goodspeed), or “the Lord our God is one Lord, the only Lord”
(Amplified). Commentators recognize that the Hebrew can be
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translated in different ways. The next chapter in Deuteronomy,
about the Decalogue, begins the same way: “‘Hear, O Israel, . . .
the Lord our God’” (5:1, 2), and the word one can be considered
as a title or name for God.
8
Two chapters before the Shema, the
Red Sea miracle (exodus redemption) calls forth the exclamation,
“‘The Lord is God. . . . There is no other’” (4:39, NIV), which
echoes “‘who among the gods is like you, O Lord’” (Ex. 15:11,
NIV), which anticipates the first commandment and its prologue:
“‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods
before Me’” (20:2, 3). These texts focus on the uniqueness of
God.
The Shema “expresses not only the uniqueness but also the
unity of God. As one God (or the ‘Unique’), when he spoke there
was no other to contradict; when he promised, there was no
other to revoke that promise; when he warned, there was no
other to provide refuge from the warning. He was not merely first
among the gods, as Baal in the Canaanite pantheon, Amon-Re in
Egypt, or Marduk in Babylon, he was the one and only God.”
9
What is this oneness that is attributed to God? Is it more
than a “name,” “uniqueness,” and “the one and only”? There are
two words for “one” in Hebrew. The first means unique, such as
an only son (Gen. 22:2) and an only child (Prov. 4:3; Zech.
12:10). The second means united, such as “A man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become
one flesh” (Gen. 2:24, NIV). The word for united is used in the
Shema.
Millard Erickson observes that the unity of husband and wife
is “not uniqueness, but the unity of diversity. It speaks of union,
rather than aloneness.”
10
This is why Duane L. Christensen says
that this word for unity, “speaks . . . also of the unity of God. The
doctrine of monotheism is implicit in this brief creedal
statement.”
11
The Hebrew word for “one” meaning solitary, or
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without others, is not used in the Shema. So it seems that the
Shema not only speaks of the uniqueness of God as the only God,
but “refers to the oneness that results from a unity of numerous
persons.”
12
Elohim is a plural term for God (for El is God, and most
names for God add to the word El). This didn’t bother
monotheists, which indicates that the plurality of the name wasn’t
confused with polytheism. Rather, as Herman Bavinck concludes,
the plural form of this name for God “refers to the deity in the
fullness and richness of its life. The God of revelation is not an
abstract ‘monad’ but the true and living God, who in the infinite
fullness of his life contains the highest diversity.”
13
Further Old Testament Evidence for Plurality
The plurality of God is also present in the following: (1)
After sin entered the world “The Lord God [singular] said,
‘Behold, the man has become like one of us [plural], to know
good and evil’” (Gen. 3:22); (2) “I heard the voice of the Lord
[singular], saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us
[plural]?’” (Isa. 6:8).
In Hebrew, more than one Person in the one God is
conveyed by God’s use of the plural “let us”: (1) “God [singular]
said, ‘Let us [plural] make man in Our image’” (Gen. 1:26); (2) in
response to the Babel tower builders, God [singular] said, “‘Let us
[plural] go down and there confuse their language, that they may
not understand one another’s speech’” (11:7). When God said
“let us,” “one of us,” or “for us,” He indicated that more than one
Person is in the Godhead, even though He told Israel that their
God was one. While focusing on one God to keep them from
many gods, He allowed them to glimpse that one God as more
than one Person.
It should be kept in mind that the above plurals are not
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those of majesty, as when a royal person (singular) says “we
grant you this privilege,” for there are no other royal persons in
Scripture who speak in this way. We must not read into Scripture
ideas understood in our culture. George A. F. Knight is right to
say that believing that Scripture contains plurals of majesty “is to
read into Hebrew speech a modern way of thinking. The kings of
Israel and Judah are all addressed in the singular in our biblical
records.”
14
There are other examples of plurality in God: (1) “‘The Lord
God and His Spirit have sent Me’” (Isa. 48:16); (2) “‘I send My
messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord,
whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the
Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is
coming,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 3:1).
Angel of the Lord
An internal indicator for plurality in God is the phrase “the
angel of the Lord.” The following examples document that the
“angel of the Lord” is sometimes God, for the “angel of the Lord”
(Yahweh) in the Old Testament is the pre-incarnate Christ. This
angel’s relationship with persons in the Old Testament compares
well with the Christ we know in the New Testament, thus showing
the Christ of the Old Testament is the same as the Christ of the
New Testament, and the distinction between the Old Testament
God and the New Testament God is not warranted.
● When Hagar fled from Sarah, the angel of the Lord found
her near a spring in the desert. The angel of the Lord named her
baby and told Hagar to return to Sarah and submit to her,
adding, “‘I will so increase your descendants that they will be too
numerous to count. . . . For the Lord has heard of your misery’”
(Gen. 16:10, 11, NIV).
Only God can do that, and Hagar responded, “‘You are the
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God who sees me’” (vs. 13, NIV). This God said the Lord had
heard of her misery, so God referred to the Lord, and in so doing
gave insight into the plurality of the Godhead.
● When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, “The Angel of
the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and
said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have
done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your
descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is
on the seashore’” (22:15-17). The angel of the Lord is called “the
Lord,” and He speaks twice in the passage (vss. 11, 12; 15-18),
and “God” is mentioned four times (vss. 1, 3, 8, 9). It is Yahweh
who saves Abraham from sacrificing His son, blesses Him, and
Abraham calls the place “Yahweh will provide” (vs. 14), an insight
into the future day when on the same mount, Christ would
provide the sacrifice for all humans.
● When Israel blessed Joseph, he said, “‘God, before whom
my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me
all my life long to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from
all evil, bless the lads’” (Gen. 48:15, 16).
●Once “the angel of God” (Gen. 31:11) spoke to Jacob in a
dream explaining how to increase his flocks, out of pity for what
his father-in-law Laban was doing to him. He said to Jacob, “‘I am
the God of Bethel’” (vs. 13). At Bethel, the pre-incarnate Christ
gave Jacob a dream of a ladder between earth and heaven, with
angels ascending and descending, to let him know he was not
alone. He promised, “‘I am with you and will keep you wherever
you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave
you until I have done what I have spoken to you’” (28:15). He
told Jacob to leave the land, and thus to leave Laban, and return
home. Laban pursued Jacob, but the pre-incarnate Christ
appeared to Laban in a dream at night, saying “God had come to
Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Be careful
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that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad’” (31:24).
The report that Esau, with four hundred men, was coming
to meet him caused Jacob “great fear and distress” (Gen. 32:7,
NIV). He prayed to God to save him, claiming the covenant
promises given to him. Then came the night of wrestling. With
whom did Jacob wrestle? Genesis says it was with a man (32:22-
30), but Hosea is more specific: Jacob wrestled “with the angel”
(Hosea 12:4) who was “God” (vs. 3). The pre-incarnate God
stayed with Jacob that night and blessed Him, changing His name
to Israel before departing (Gen. 32:26-29). In Hebrew culture
names stood for character. The name Jacob means deceiver, and
the name Israel means “‘you have struggled with God and with
men, and have prevailed’” (vs. 28). His new name is a guarantee
of a successful meeting with his brother Esau. The name Jacob
reminded him of deceiving Esau in the past, whereas the name
Israel would remind him of victory over Esau in the future. This
was an encouragement to him. And Israel became the name of
God’s chosen people, and so to be named the same was an
honor. That night the pre-incarnate Christ gave him forgiveness
for the past and a promise for the future. No wonder Israel
exclaimed, “‘I have seen God face to face, and my life is
preserved’” (vs. 30).
● When Moses stood before the burning bush, “the Angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a
bush. . . . When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God
called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses,
Moses!’ . . . He said, ‘I am the God of your father—the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid
his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (Ex. 3:2, 4, 6). But
the pre-incarnate Christ promised to give Moses success in his
mission in leading God’s people (3:16-4:17).
● Israel was terrified as the army of Pharaoh closed in
behind them as they faced the Red Sea. Then “the Angel of God,
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who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind
them” (Ex. 14:19), and during the Red Sea crossing, “the Lord
looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of
fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And
He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with
difficulty” (vss. 24, 25).
In praising the angel of the Lord (Ex.14:19), Israel sang the
song of Moses after the Red Sea deliverance: “‘Who is like You, O
Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
fearful in praises, doing wonders?’” (15:11). New Testament
corroboration says the angel of the Lord through Moses “brought
them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of
Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years”
(Acts 7:36). For 40 years in the desert they were fed by manna
(Ex. 16:15, 31, 33; Ps. 78:24), divinely provided water (Neh.
9:20), and their clothes didn’t wear out (Deut. 8:4).
● Later, during the time of the Judges, “The Angel of the
Lord . . . said: ‘I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the
land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, “I will never
break My covenant with you.” But you have not obeyed My
voice’” (Judges 2:1, 2). When the angel of the Lord spoke to
Gideon, he was addressed by Gideon as “Lord,” and to Gideon’s
concerns Scripture says, “The Lord answered” (6:16, NIV). The
angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife (Sampson’s
mother), promising she would give birth to a son who would
deliver Israel from the Philistines (13:27). Manoah prayed to God
that the angel of the Lord would come back, and He did and
talked to Manoah, after which the angel ascended in the flames
from the altar of burnt offering, and Manoah exclaimed, “‘We
have seen God!’” (13:19-22).
● Clearly, the angel of the Lord is the covenant-making God,
the same God who spoke to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). This is the
Lord who gave the Ten Commandments to His people (Exodus
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20; Acts 7:38), the law identified with the covenant (Deut. 4:13).
This is why Christ said, “‘If you believed Moses, you would believe
Me; for he wrote about Me’” (John 5:46). God said to Israel, “‘I
send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you
into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey
His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your
transgressions; for My name is in Him’” (Ex. 23:20, 21). Here
God spoke about the pre-incarnate Christ and said He had His
name. That is to say, He also is called God. Here is a clear
statement that there is more than one Person in the Godhead,
that they share the same name God, and that in this respect
there is only one God, the God who is represented by these two
in the passage.
● Paul identifies the angel of the Lord. “Moreover, brethren,
I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under
the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food,
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that
spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1
Cor. 10:1-4).
The Old Testament God is unique compared to idols: He is
Creator of everything, foretells the future, acts as none other can,
and is the Savior of the world. The texts on the “angel of the
Lord” indicate that this unique God is a relational God. He is the
same God we know from the New Testament. For the Old
Testament says, “‘I am the Lord, I do not change’” (Mal. 3:6),
and the New Testament says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Sola Scriptura Evidence for an Old Testament Trinity
The sola scriptura hermeneutic is Scripture interpreting
Scripture, and in this case, allowing the New Testament to
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interpret the Old Testament texts on God. This hermeneutic is
vital to biblical understanding and is crucial in evaluating
Dispensational claims regarding the continuing relevance of Old
Testament prophecies for contemporary Israel.
Creation. In the creation of male and female in the image of
God (Gen. 1:26, 27), the Persons of the Godhead are imaged in
the oneness of man and woman in marriage. The sola scriptura
hermeneutic specifies the reality of that image as the Spirit (Gen.
1:2; Ps. 104:30) and the Father creating everything through the
Son (Col. 1:15, 16; Heb. 1:2), and hence the reality of the image
is a oneness in three, or the Trinity.
Christ’s Mission and Inauguration. In Luke 4:18, 19, Christ
read from Isaiah 61:1, 2, recognizing the verses as a statement
of His mission, and in so doing indicated that it speaks of the
Trinity as follows: “‘The Spirit [Holy Spirit] of the Lord God [the
Father] is upon Me [Christ]’” (61:1). This is Christ’s commentary
on this Old Testament passage.
The inauguration of Christ in heaven is another example of
more than one Person in the one God: “Your throne, O God [Heb.
Elohim], is forever and ever. . . . You love righteousness and hate
wickedness; therefore God, Your God [literally: “God, God of
you”], has anointed You with the oil of gladness” (Ps. 45:6, 7).
Here God is addressing God; two Persons share the name of God
(Heb. Elohim). Who are they? This passage is quoted in Hebrews
1:8, 9: “To the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and
ever. . . . You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of
gladness more than Your companions.’” Here God speaks to
Christ after His victorious life on earth when He “sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3).
Compare Psalm 110:1: “The Lord [Heb. Yahweh] said to my
Lord [Heb. Adonai] ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies
Your footstool.’” That future must have encouraged Christ. In
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fact, on one occasion, Christ asked the Pharisees, “‘What do you
think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The
Son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit
call Him “Lord,” saying: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My
right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’”’? If David
then calls Him “Lord,” how is He his Son?’” (Matt. 22:41-45).
The Trinity in Isaiah
It is well known that the Trinity is explicit in the New
Testament and only implicit in the Old Testament. Internal
evidence, however, indicates that the Trinity can rise to the level
of being explicit in the Old Testament. There are several
examples in the Book of Isaiah.
● The Trinity is explicit in Isaiah 42:1: “‘Here is my servant,
whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my
Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations’” (NIV). God
the Father is speaking about His Son, to whom He will give the
Holy Spirit. The New Testament comments that this passage from
Isaiah was fulfilled in the healing ministry of Jesus (Matt. 12:15-
21), who was sent by the Father (John 3:16, 17) and empowered
by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:16, 17; Luke 4:18). The heart
relationship of the Father for the Son is seen in this passage, for
the Father says Christ is “‘the one I love, in whom I delight’”
(Matt. 12:18, NIV). Here is specific insight into the loving
relationship among the three in the Godhead. They love each
other, and as such are by nature “love” (1 John 4:8). Here is a
glimpse into the relational Trinity.
● The Trinity is explicit in Isaiah 48:16: “‘Come near me and
listen to this [cf. “Listen to me, O Jacob . . . I am the first and I
am the last” (vs. 12)] . . . . And now the Sovereign Lord [Father]
has sent me [Christ], with his Spirit [Holy Spirit].’”
● The Trinity is explicit in Isaiah 63:7-10: “I will tell of the
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kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised,
according to all the Lord has done for us—yes, the many good
things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his
compassion and many kindnesses. He said, ‘Surely they are my
people, sons who will not be false to me’; and so he became their
Savior. In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel
of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed
them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet
they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit” (NIV).
Isaiah, the gospel prophet, reveals more about the
Suffering Servant (Jesus Christ) than any other Old Testament
prophet. Likewise, arguably, He presents the Trinity more
explicitly than any other Old Testament writer.
The Spirit in the Old Testament
The Holy Spirit is mentioned 88 times in the Old Testament,
in about half of its 39 books,
15
and 325 times in 24 New
Testament books.
16
Yet He says very little about Himself. He
communicates much about the Father and the Son. This is an
insight into the selfless love in the Trinity, for the Son glorifies
the Father (John 17:4), and the Spirit glorifies the Son (16:14).
In perfect eternal and reciprocal love, each loves the others more
than loving Himself—the very opposite of Satan and those who
follow Him. This communion means they do not do things on their
own (5:22, 27, 30; 10:30, 37, 38; 14:31; 15:10), so the Son
speaks what the Father told Him (7:16; 12:49; 15:15), and the
Spirit “will speak only what he hears” from Christ (16:13, NIV).
The Old Testament and New Testament Trinity Are the
Same
If God is love by nature (1 John 4:8), which is documented
in the sampling of Old Testament texts examined above, then the
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God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New
Testament. What God is in His revelation in history is what God is
like in His own inner-Trinitarian being. God’s acts of love issue
from His nature as love. God could not be solitary and be love, for
an eternal existence of God by Himself before the first creation
would not be the same as a Trinity. The fact that the Trinity lived
for eternity with one another before creating indicates that their
mutual love for one another needed none other. It means that
there is a reciprocal love relationship within the Trinity so that
each loves the other two with an eternal and divine love.
The New Testament speaks of the relational Trinity as
follows:
● Mutual indwelling. Christ says the Spirit will come to the
disciples and adds, “‘I will not leave you orphans; I will come to
you’” (John 14:18). So Christ says He will come to them through
the Holy Spirit. At the same time Christ prayed for Christian unity
“‘that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in
You’” (17:21).
● The Trinity is a relationship of equals who have different
functions in the plan of salvation. The Father prepared a body for
Christ, and Christ came to do the will of His Father (Heb. 10:4-7),
to reveal Him (John 14:9), and to speak His words (John 17:8).
But in carrying out this mission Christ said, “‘It is the Father,
living in me, who is doing his work’” (14:10, NIV), and speaks of
His Father as “‘You, Father, are in Me, and I in You’” (17:21).
● With respect to sending the Spirit, Christ said, “‘When the
Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the
Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26, italics
supplied).
In the New Testament, the Spirit is given titles never
ascribed to Him in the Old Testament. He is “Spirit of His Son”
(Gal. 4:6, NIV), “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11, NIV),
and “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19). W. H. Griffith Thomas
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could therefore say, “It is not in His Absolute Being, but as the
Spirit of Christ that He is revealed in the New Testament.”
17
H.
B. Swete concludes that the Spirit is Christ's “second Self.”
18
Why is the Spirit’s new name associated with Christ? He is
the “Spirit of Jesus” because He brings Jesus to Christians. Jesus
promised, “‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’”
(Matt. 28:20). Furthermore, the Spirit is called the “Spirit of
Jesus” because His mission is Christ-centered. Jesus said, “‘The
Father will send [the Holy Spirit] in My name’” (John 14:26). The
“‘Spirit of truth’” (John 16:13) comes to reveal the one who is
“‘the truth’” (John 14:6). Jesus said the Holy Spirit would “‘testify
of me’” (15:26) and “‘will glorify Me, for He will take of what is
Mine and declare it to you’” (John 16:14). He “‘will teach you all
things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to
you’” (John 14:26).
Human beings were created to be temples for the indwelling
of God (1 Cor. 3:16). Christ’s work, both in heaven’s sanctuary
and in human temples, applies the results of Christ’s atonement
sacrifice for and in humans. So the application of Calvary is made
in the heavenly sanctuary by Christ and in human temples by the
“Spirit of Christ.”
According to the Old Testament, it is clear that divine love is
shared by the Father, Son, and Spirit in a reciprocal relationship
beyond human comprehension. Suffice it to say, the Old
Testament God of love—who is the same as the New Testament
God of love (Mal. 4:6; Heb. 13:8)—acted in the history of
Israel/Judah with profound grace and suffered grief. God’s hesed
covenant faithfulness continued even though it was rejected by
Israel/Judah. Creation of humans in the image of God (Gen. 1:26,
27) meant that Adam and Eve’s relationship with each other was
to reflect the relationship among the Trinity. After the fall of
humans, God’s covenant with humans was to restore the
relationship with Him and with one another so human love to
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some degree could reflect the reciprocal love among the Trinity.
The suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53, forecasting the pain
of Christ becoming a substitute for human sins, crushing out His
life, opens up the depths of God’s love for humans as much as
any New Testament passage:
“He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and
rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we
did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows; . . . but He was wounded for our transgressions, He
was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was
upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its
shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken
from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His
generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the
transgressions of My people He was stricken. . . . He poured out
His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the
transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:2-12).
Even the Shema (God is one, Deut. 6:4), stressing the
uniqueness of God (compared to polytheism), didn’t use the word
one as unique but one as united, thereby indicating unity of
persons. Several Old Testament texts indicate a plurality in God,
as one God addresses another God. The pre-incarnate Christ
often acts in Old Testament history as the “angel of the Lord” and
reveals His same hesed love (Old Testament) as His agape love
(New Testament). The continuity of a relational God in both
Testaments counters the idea that the Old Testament God is
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different from the New Testament God (which if true would aid
the cosmic controversy against God). The data supports the
biblical claims: “‘I the Lord do not change’” (Mal. 3:6) and “Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Although the Trinity is more implicit in the Old Testament and
explicit in the New Testament, (1) the sola scriptura hermeneutic
indicates that Christ understood the Trinity to be present in the
Old Testament; and (2) Isaiah, the gospel prophet who reveals
the suffering Servant Christ as no other Old Testament prophet,
also presents the Trinity with greater specificity than any other
Old Testament writer.
_______________________________________
Norman R. Gulley, Ph.D., is a Research Professor of Systematic
Theology at Southern Adventist University, Collegedale,
Tennessee, and founding Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist
Theological Seminary (Far East) on the campus of Philippine
Union College, which today is the Adventist International Institute
of Advanced Studies, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1910), vol. 2, pp. 482-487.
2. Bradley Nassif, “Marcion (d. c. 154)” in The Dictionary of
Historical Theology, Trevor A. Hart, ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 350-352.
3. Also called Sabellianism or Patripassianism.
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4. Philip Schaff, op cit., p. 572; Kenneth Scott Latourette, A
History of Christianity: Beginnings to 1500 (Peabody, Mass.:
Prince, 1997), vol. 1, pp. 143-145.
5. Lewis Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas: Dallas
Seminary Press, 1973), pp. xi, xxi.
6. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Eerdmans, 1960), vol. 2, p. 376.
7. Unless noted otherwise, all scriptural references in this
article are from The New King James Version of the Bible.
8. Peter C. Craigie, The New International Commentary on
the Old Testament: Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Eerdmans, 1976), p. 168.
9. Ibid., p. 169.
10. Millard J. Erickson, God in Three Persons: A
Contemporary Interpretation of the Trinity (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1995), p. 174.
11. Duane L. Christensen in David A. Hubbard, ed., Word
Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word Books, 1991), vol. 6, p. 145.
12. Woodrow Whidden, Jerry Moon, and John W. Reeve, The
Trinity: Understanding God’s Love, His Plan of Salvation, and
Christian Relationships (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald
Publ. Assn., 2002), pp. 33, 34.
13. Herman Bavinck in John Bold, ed., John Vriend, trans.
Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Baker, 2004), vol. 2, p. 261.
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14. George A. F. Knight, A Biblical Approach to the Doctrine
of the Trinity (Edinburgh: Oliver & James, 1953), p. 20.
15. W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Holy Spirit of God (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1976), p. 9.
16. William Edward Bleedenwolf, A Help to the Study of the
Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1936), p. 17.
17. Thomas, The Holy Spirit of God, op cit., p. 141.
18. Henry Barclay Swete, The Holy Spirit in the New
Testament (London: MacMillan, 1909), p. 300.
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