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While teaching at a college, I learned that some students were distributing
fliers that said the following: "Christians worship three gods and,
therefore, Christianity is paganish!" Since the Bible is the source
that tells us about God and Christianity, let's look at what the Old Testament
and New Testament teach about this topic.
Genesis chapter one is "the Jewish account of creation" (Wouk
57). Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning GOD created the heavens
and the earth." (Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament.)
As the Old Testament clearly reveals (e.g. Exodus 20:2-3), Jews are monotheistic
(the belief that there is only one God). But Dr. Graham points out something
important about the word "God" in Genesis 1:1: "The Hebrew
word used here is Elohim. And as Matthew Henry says, it signifies the
plurality of persons in the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"
(29).
Since Genesis 1:1 explicitly states that God is the Creator and the Hebrew
word for God (Elohim) "signifies the plurality of persons in the
Godhead," Genesis 1:26-27 says the following: "Then God said,
Let US make man in OUR image...So God created." That is, the "us"
and "our" are plural in number because the Godhead (the Hebrew
word, Elohim, for God) is plural in number---God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. In other words, the meaning of the Hebrew word
Elohim (God) in Genesis 1:1 is confirmed by the "us" and "our"
in Genesis 1:26.
The "us" and "our," or God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit---since the Old Testament explicitly forbids worshipping
more than one God, the phrase God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit must refer to ONE God and not three gods. In other words,
the Trinity (Godhead) is also monotheistic (ONE God) and not polytheistic
(the belief that there are many gods, or paganism).
How, though, is there ONE God in the phrase God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit? It is ONE God who manifests Himself as three
Divine Persons, not three gods who are manifested as three Divine Persons.
On the divine level you still find personalities; but up there you find
them combined in new ways which we, who do not live on that level, cannot
imagine. In God's dimension, so to speak, you find a being who is three
Persons while remaining ONE Being, just as a cube is six squares while
remaining ONE cube. (Lewis 142-143)
It is not 1+1+1=3. It is 1x1x1=1 (Graham 30-31).
Genesis 1:26-27 says "Let US make.... So God created." Since
the "us" is plural in number because this pronoun refers to
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (the Godhead/Elohim),
it follows that Genesis 1:26-27 teaches that God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit (the "US") created the world. Therefore
Genesis 1:1 says God created, and Genesis 1:2 mentions the Holy Spirit
(the Spirit of God) in the creation; Colossians 1:13-18 refers to Jesus
Christ's participation in the creation, thus supporting that the "US"
in Genesis 1:26 refers to God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ as co-creators.
Or to say the same thing in another way, ONE God who exists as three Divine
Persons (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) were together
creating the world.
But what about the New Testament? Though Christianity has its roots in
Judaism and hence the term "Judeo-Christian," the New Testament
is the main source for Christianity. So does the New Testament teach that
Christians worship three gods? In other words, does the New Testament
teach that Christianity is polytheistic? Does it, then, contradict what
the Old Testament teaches?
In John 8:42 Jesus Christ says, "I proceeded forth and came from
God" (NKJV). Unlike John the Baptist who is only sent by God (John
1:6), Jesus Christ says He PROCEEDS from God.
Greek New Testament scholar Thayer says the word "proceeded"
in John 8:42 refers to the incarnation (222). John 1:1-14 defines the
incarnation: ONE God who is manifested as the Son, or God the Son.
Not only does the New Testament teach that Jesus Christ proceeds from
God, but it also teaches that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God: 'But
when the Comforter comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the
Spirit of truth who PROCEEDS from the Father' (John 15:26, NKJV). So if
it is God the Son because Jesus Christ proceeds from God, it is also God
the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit also proceeds from God. In other
words, the New Testament also teaches the Godhead/Trinity of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit---that is, one Divine Being (God)
who is three Divine Persons, while remaining one Being/God, and not three
gods.
So both the Old Testament and New Testament teach that the Trinity (Godhead)
is monotheistic, or one God, and not polytheistic, or many gods (paganish).
Therefore, Christians do not worship three gods. Instead, they worship
one God. (The New Testament is a continuation of the Old Testament: The
New Testament fulfills the Old Testament; it does not negate nor contradict
it. As expected, then, the New Testament also teaches the Trinity of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit---one God who is three
Divine Persons, while remaining one Being/God, and not three gods.)
Still, why would one God manifest Himself as God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit (the Trinity)? I believe Dr. Graham is correct
is his analysis of this "why": we pray to God the Father since
God the Father is the source of all blessings; we pray in Jesus Christ's
name (God the Son) because God the Son is the mediator between God and
humankind; we pray with/in the power of the Holy Spirit (God the Holy
Spirit) because God the Holy Spirit empowers us to pray and to live victoriously.
So though it's one God who is manifested as three Divine Persons, the
three Divine Persons are distinct in their FUNCTION while remaining ONE
God: "Functionally the Father came first, then the Son became incarnate...Now
the Spirit does His work in this age of the Spirit" (27).
We are blessed to be living "in this age of the Spirit," as
Dr. Graham calls this era, because the Holy Spirit is essential for understanding
the spiritual things of God, such as the Judaic-Christian Trinity. We
must study and use our God-given faculties, as the Bible clearly teaches
(2 Timothy 2:15, Romans 12:2, 1 Thess. 5:21, Phil. 4:8-9, John 8:31-32,
Psalm 1:1-3, etc). But we must rely on the Holy Spirit's indwelling to
understand what we are studying or the spiritual things of God (cf. 1
Corin. 2:11-12), such as the biblical teaching (OT and NT) of One God
who is three divine persons who are distinct in function but coeternal
(Judaic-Christian Trinity). I have done my best to do both of these before
and while writing this. I exhort you to do the same as you STUDY this
subject for an understanding of the biblical teaching of the Judaic-Christian
Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit---the
BIBLICAL teaching of the Old Testament and New Testament that clearly
shows that Christians do not worship three gods and, therefore, Christianity
is nonpaganish!
www.publishedauthors.net/randyyost
Works Cited
Graham, Billy. The Holy Spirit. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1978.
Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company,
1952.
Thayer, Joseph. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977.
Wouk, Herman. This is My God. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.
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