Transcript The Case for the Deity of Christ

The Case for the Deity of
Christ
Part I
Outline
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What the Trinity is Not
The Trinity Defined
The Plurality of God in the Hebrew Bible
God’s Appearances as a Man in the
Hebrew Bible
Conclusion
What the Trinity Is Not
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Three gods (Tritheism)
A God with three modes of one and the
same being at different times (Modalism;
a faulty illustration for the Trinity is:
“Water exists in three states: solid, liquid,
and gas.”)
The Trinity Defined
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Three “Whos” in one “What”
Three persons in one God
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
What is the Trinity?
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God is three persons in one nature.
Personhood involves possessing intellect,
a will, and feelings
—Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology:
God and Creation, Vol. 2, 279.
An Illustration of the Trinity
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God is similar to a triangle, which is one
figure but it possesses three different
sides at the same time.
This illustrates how there can be a
threeness and a oneness simultaneously.
An Illustration of the Trinity
Father
God
Son
Holy Spirit
Who Is Jesus?
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There are two “whats” in one “Who.”
Jesus has possessed two natures ever
since He came to Earth.
He has a human nature and a divine
nature.
Jesus is the God-Man.
Jesus’s Two Natures
JESUS AS GOD
JESUS AS MAN
Unlimited
knowledge
Limited knowledge
Immortal
Died on the cross
No growth in
knowledge
Growth in
knowledge
Who Is Jesus?
Father
God
Man
Son
Holy Spirit
The Plurality of God in the Hebrew
Bible
“Us” and “Our”
Genesis 1:26
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“Then God (Elohim) said, ‘Let us make
Adam in our image, according to our
likeness.”
Genesis 3:22
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“Then YHWH God (Elohim) said, ‘See, the
Adam has become like one of us, knowing
good and evil.”
Genesis 11:6-7
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“And YHWH said, ‘Look, they are one
people, and they have all one language;
and this is only the beginning of what they
will do; nothing that they propose to do
will now be impossible for them. 7Come,
let us go down, and confuse their
language there, so that they will not
understand one another’s speech.’”
The “Angel of the LORD”
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The Hebrew word for angel means
messenger.
It can refer to human or non-human
messengers.
Therefore, the phrase can be rendered as
“the messenger of the LORD”.
Judges 2:1
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“Now the angel of YHWH went up from
Gilgal to Bochim, and said, ‘I brought you
up from Egypt, and brought you into the
land that I had promised to your
ancestors. I said, “I will never break my
covenant with you.”
Who Brought the Israelites Out of
Egypt?
Exodus 3:2-4
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“There the angel of YHWH appeared to
him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he
looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it
was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, ‘I
must turn aside and look at this great
sight, and see why the bush is not burned
up.’…
Exodus 3:2-4
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…4When YHWH saw that he had turned
aside to see, God called to him out of the
bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I
am.’…
Exodus 3:7-8
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Then YHWH said, ‘I have observed the
misery of my people who are in Egypt; 8
and I have come down to deliver them
from the Egyptians,…
Exodus 3:7-8
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…and to bring them up out of that land to
a good and broad land, a land flowing
with milk and honey, to the country of the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”
Who Had Made a Promise About
Land?
Genesis 15:18-21
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“On that day YHWH made a covenant with
Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I
give this land, from the river of Egypt to
the great river, the river Euphrates,19the
land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the
Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the
Jebusites.’”
YHWH Speaks to the “Angel of
YHWH”
1 Chronicles 21:16
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“David looked up and saw the angel of
YHWH standing between earth and
heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword
stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David
and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell
on their faces.”
1 Chronicles 21:27
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…Then YHWH commanded the angel, and
he put his sword back into its sheath.
The “Angel of YHWH” is YHWH
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The “angel of YHWH” is distinct from
YHWH.
Yet, the “angel of YHWH” is somehow
equal to YHWH.
Two Yahwehs
Two Yahwehs
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Yahweh is the name of Israel’s God.
The Hebrew Bible specifies that He is one
(echad) (Deuteronomy 6:4) and that there
is no god besides Him (Isaiah 44:6).
Zechariah 2:8
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“Some difficulty arises with his glory
sent me. Most suppose the prophet is
meant, but Zech. himself was not sent to
the plundering nations, nor does he ever
seem to see himself as an actor in
history.”—Roger N. Carstensen, “The Book
of Zechariah,” in The Interpreter’s One-
Volume Commentary on the Bible
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971), 505.
Zechariah 2:8-10
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“For thus said the YHWH of hosts after his
glory sent me regarding the nations that
plundered you: Truly, one who touches
you touches the apple of my eye. 9See
now, I am going to wave my hand against
them,…
Zechariah 2:8-10 Continued
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…and they shall become plunder for their
own slaves. Then you will know that the
YHWH of hosts has sent me. Sing and
rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will
come and dwell in your midst, says
YWHW.”
Zechariah 2:8-10
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Yahweh sends Yahweh to dwell on the
earth with humans.
Hebrew Bible Scholar Walter
Kaiser Writes:
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“Mystery of mysteries, Yahweh is Lord, yet
He was also sent.”—Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.,
The Communicator’s Commentary: MicahMalachi (21 Volumes) (Waco, Texas:
Word, 1992) 21:315.
God’s Appearances As a Man
Genesis 18:1-4
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“The LORD appeared to him (Abraham) by
the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat at the
entrance of his tent in the heat of the
day. 2He looked up and saw three men
standing near him…
Genesis 18:1-4 Continued
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…When he saw them, he ran from the
tent entrance to meet them, and bowed
down to the ground. 3He said, ‘My lord, if
I find favor with you, do not pass by your
servant. 4Let a little water be brought,
and wash your feet, and rest yourselves
under the tree.”
Genesis 32:24-30
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“Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled
with him until daybreak. 25When the man
saw that he did not prevail against Jacob,
he struck him on the hip socket; and
Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he
wrestled with him. 26Then he said, ‘Let
me go, for the day is breaking.’…
Genesis 32:24-30 Continued
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…But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go,
unless you bless me.’ 27So he said to him,
‘What is your name?’ And he said,
‘Jacob.’ 28Then he said, ‘You shall no
longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you
have striven with God and with
humans, and have prevailed.’…
Genesis 32:24-30 Continued
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“…29Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell
me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that
you ask my name?’ And there he blessed
him. 30 So Jacob called the place
Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face
to face, and yet my life is preserved.’”
Larry W. Hurtado Writes:
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“Still earlier than the rabbinic sources,
Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 B.C.E.-50 C.E.)
exhibits Jewish speculations about the
biblical accounts of manifestations of
God…
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…Philo’s solution was to identify the
biblical manifestations of God as the
Logos, in one sense genuinely God but
really a distinguishable mode (or ‘power’
[dynamis]) of God adapted for human
apprehension; the Logos thus represents
that of the infinite God which humans as
finite creation are capable of
perceiving.”—Larry W. Hurtado, Lord
Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest
Christianity (William B. Eerdmans, 2005),
575.
The Holy Spirit
The Spirit of God is a Person
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“The spirit of YHWH speaks through me,
His word is upon my tongue.”
—2 Samuel 23:1
Conclusion
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The Trinity doctrine is not contradictory.
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According to the Hebrew Bible:
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There is only one God.
There is, however, a plurality of persons
within that one God.
Recommended Books
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Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in
Earliest Christianity (William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2003), by Larry W.
Hurtado
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The Tri-Unity of God is Jewish (Cenveo-
Plus Communications, 2005), by John B.
Metzger