Monthly Archives: May 2025

These Three Are One (Part 1)

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one (I John 5:7).1

As we have seen, there is but one God. And yet, the Bible clearly teaches here and in the totality of its revelation that there are three Persons in the Godhead, or, in one God. The common word for this is the Trinity. Though that word is not explicitly found in scripture, the idea is there from the first verses to the last chapter of the Bible. While Moses (and Adam and Abraham and all other saints mentioned in scripture) may not have understood the triune nature of God, he speaks to it often, as do other Old Testament authors. In this installment, we will focus on one particular passage and then broaden our scope to cover more of the Old Testament landscape.

The very first verse of the Bible teaches so much. One very interesting aspect of this verse is that the word translated God, elohim, is plural. It literally means “gods.” This is the word translated most often in scripture as “God.” It is true that Hebrew sometimes uses the plural of some words to intensify the meaning. But it’s not the word elohim alone that is significant. It’s the connection of the plural noun “elohim” to the singular verb “created” (bara) that makes it so unique. In Biblical Hebrew, standard grammar demands that a singular noun govern a singular verb and a plural noun govern a plural verb.2 Moses was an educated man (Acts 7:22) and would not have made such a simple mistake as to confuse number grammatically. The text could literally be translated, “In the beginning, the gods He created…” To be grammatically correct, the text should read either “God He created” or “gods they created.”

Grammatically, there are no parallels in Hebrew to this construction which is consistently used in the Old Testament. There are instances of collective, plural nouns receiving the action of a masculine, singular verb (i.e., mayim and shamayim, Gen. 1:1, 7), but this is very different from the use in the elohim passages. And it wasn’t only Moses. Nearly every Old Testament book uses elohim and very often it is connected to a singular verb (i.e., II Chron. 26:7). The use of a singular verb with the plural elohim in scripture is not a mistake, it is intentional and suggests the idea of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is a testament to the inspiration of the scriptures that Hebrew authors and other persons in scriptures across the centuries and from various backgrounds utilized the same grammatical peculiarity in referring to deity. This, in itself, is astonishing.

A further support of this view is that Genesis1:26 contains the statement, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). This grammatical structure indicates a plurality of Persons. Some say God was using the majestic “we.” But God does not use the majestic “we” in other important passages, (ie., Ex. 20 “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me…”). Others say He was speaking to the angels. But angels are created beings and were not of the same nature as God. We are not made in the image of angels (Psalm 8:5;Heb. 2:7-9). It is better to take this as referring to the three Divine Persons of the Godhead. So from the very first verse of the Bible, and from the first chapter elsewhere, we are given a glimpse of the triune nature of God.

It is a glimpse. A foreshadowing of a truth more fully revealed in the New Testament. This is not unusual. Various prophecies, types and metaphors arising from the various tabernacle services and utensils and other forms of Old Testament worship revealed in parts the coming redemptive work of Messiah. These things were not fully understood until the Holy Spirit revealed them clearly in the New Testament. As Paul explained, “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5). And so it is with the triune nature of God. What was hinted at and suggested in the Old Testament regarding the nature of God, is now more fully revealed in the New Tesament.

Accordingly, we have also in connection with Genesis 1:1 the New Testament commentary on this passage in John 1:1-3. John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John clearly intends to comment and elaborate upon the Genesis text. While John’s purpose may have been to combat certain false doctrines regarding Jesus’ nature, he nevertheless corroborates the view that Genesis 1:1 is meant to encompass the triune nature of the Godhead.

John’s statement is just as unique as the Genesis passage. John states the Word was both with God and was God. Now, in our world and reality it is not possible to both be with and be the same thing. I am myself. I am not with myself, not in any sense about which we normally speak (unless we speak in euphemistic way, i.e., we might say someone is beside himself). But both of these things were true of the Word Who became flesh (John 1:18). He was with God and He was God. This explains how God could say, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26). God the Father was speaking to at least the Second Person of the Godhead, the Logos or Word. John emphasizes this once again in his first general epistle ( I John 1:1-3).

Even standing on its own, it seems to me to be clear that the use of the plural elohim with a singular masculine verb in Genesis 1:1 (and throughout the Old Testament) is speaking to, at the very least, a plurality of the singular God and, in its fullest revelation, the triune nature of the Godhead. We have not even touched upon the fact that Spirit of God is explicitly mentioned in the Text as a separate quantity (Gen. 1:3). More will be said about the Spirit in future installments. And more will be said about other Old Testament passages that add to the doctrine of the triune Nature of God.

Endnotes

  1. I know this verse is controversial with many. However, I hold it to be sacred scripture. You may find part of my reason for holding it thus here (https://mtvchurchofchrist.org/wp/?p=594). Just because many do not find it authoritative, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be used in defense of the truth it states. I will not let other Christian’s skepticism of this verse dictate my use of it any more than I would let modernists skeptics doubts of other passages limit my use of them. I have found that many merely follow what they have been told rather than do their own research and come to their own conclusions, unfortunately.
  2. ”A good command of Hebrew also requires proficiency in using grammatical gender and number correctly, as nouns, verbs, and adjectives are all gendered and must agree in terms of number.” from https://www.hebrewpod101.com/blog/2021/03/18/hebrew-grammar-overview/#2; A Concise Hebrew Grammar Guide

Eric L. Padgett

The Lord, He is God

There is one and only one true and living God. This is explicitly taught in the Scriptures.

Isaiah consistently and often affirms this most important truth. Isaiah wrote, “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou has made heaven and earth…Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only” (Isaiah 37:16,20). Again he writes, “To whom will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him” (Isaiah 40:18). And again, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One” (Isaiah 40:25). Yet again, Isaiah affirms there is only one God: “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me” (Isaiah 45:5). Once more, he writes, “…there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me” (Isaiah 45:21). With a most powerful declaration of God’s singularity, Isaiah records the words of the Lord: “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any” (Isaiah 44:6-8). “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:10,l1). Finally, “For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9).

Moses affirmed the same truth: “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him” (Deut 4:35,39). Again, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand” (Deut. 32:39). King David affirmed, “Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (II Samuel 7:22; I Chron. 17:20; Psalm 18:31; Psalm 86:10). His son Solomon wanted all the people of the earth to know that “the LORD is God, and that there is none else” (I Kings 8:60). Jeremiah taught that there is none like the Lord, Who is the true and living God (Jer. 10:6, 10). Namaan confessed that “Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel” (II Kings 5:15). Hezekiah stated that “thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth” (II Kings 19:15). The Levites acknowledge that “Thou, even Thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee” (Nehemiah 9:6). The prophets Hoshea, Joel and Zachariah all affirmed that there is but one Lord over all the earth (Hosea 13:4; Joel 2:27; Zechariah 14:9).

In the New Testament, Paul adamantly affirmed “There is one God…” (I Tim. 2:5). He wrote, “As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many), But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (I Corinthians 8:4-6). Paul was condemned by the craftsmen almost throughout all Asia who made silver shrines to the pagan goddess Diana because their craft was in jeopardy by his teaching. Paul had persuaded and turned away much people, saying that there be no gods, which are made with hands (Acts 19:26). James affirmed that there was but one God and that the demons also know this (James 2:19). Paul and Jude agree that He is the only wise God (I Tim. 1:17; Jude 25).

Furthermore, Paul said that God is not only the God of the Jews but of all others, as well, so, he affirms, it is God that justifies (Rom. 3:29,30). Therefore, the same Lord is over all (Rom. 10:12). The scribes acknowledged that “there is one God; and there is none other but he” (Mark 12:32). Jesus said that Jehovah is the “only true God” (John 17:3). Paul once again affirmed there is one God and Father of all (Eph. 4:6).

Contrasting the True and Living God with idols, the Psalmist says “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them” (Psalm 115:4-8). They are all fake gods, made up gods, no gods at all but the figment of man’s vivid imagination. Jeremiah said, “Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.” (Jer. 51:17,18).

One of the most powerful demonstrations that there are no gods other than Jehovah, the true and living God, was when Elijah challenge the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18). Elijah “came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (I Kings 18:21). He then proposed a challenge, let the true God answer by fire. The prophets of Baal called upon their god, “O Baal hear us. But there was no voice nor any that answered” (I Kings 18:26). “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked” (I Kings 18:27). In truth, there was no such god as Baal. “They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded” (I Kings 18:28,29). Then Elijah dowsed the sacrifice to Jehovah with water and cried “Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench” (I Kings 18:37-38). “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God” (I Kings 18:39).

So scripturally, there can be no doubt. There is only one God. Only one true and living God. All other “gods” are false gods, or no gods at all. They are the creations of man’s imagination, made from wood and stone and are lifeless and heartless. They are created to validate man’s lusts and desires for power. They are powerless apart from the threats of their creators. They are created by man but the true and living God created man.

And logically, the same argument can be made. God, by definition, is the supreme being. There cannot be multiple supreme beings in the sense of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. The cosmological argument demands an uncaused First Cause, not first causes. Even the Greek and Roman pantheons produced a more dominant god, in Zeus and Jupiter. While they are not supreme in any way near the Biblical sense, their status denotes the need for a superior authority. Indeed, there must be an ultimate authority for there to be morality. If there were multiple “supreme” gods, then there could be multiple moral “truths,” which would entail logical contradiction and morality would be merely the whim of some arbitrary feeling or demand of a set of conflicting dictates from an undetermined set of powerful beings. Many questions would be unanswered. There is no logical way to harmonize a pantheon of powerful beings with the order of the universe or the philosophical order of the Supreme being of Judeao-Christian scriptures.

There is but one answer to all these questions and that is…

The Lord, He is God

Eric L. Padgett