In both Testaments, where the Deity is described as Creating the world, Redeeming his people, or Conducting them into a land of rest, either in a literal sense or in a spiritual sense, we are taught to discern in either instance the dealings, not of an Unipersonal, but a Triune God. 1 The Creator of the Universe is called by Moses "Elohim," "Gods," by Solomon " Creators," by Isaiah "Makers:"3 in either of which instances Isai. liv. 5. There is no figure of speech, nor grammatical construction, by which it is possible to convey the idea of a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead, that has not been employed by the writers of the Old Testament. First. Moses commences the history of the Creation by saying, "In the beginning (Bara Elohim) the Gods created." Gen. i. 1. He might have said (as Dr. Allix has well observed in his " Judgment of the Jewish Church," p. 94) "Jehovah Bara;" Jehovah being the proper name by which God made himself known to Moses, and by him to His people. Exod. iii. 15. Or he might have said "Eloah Bara," and so he had joined the singular number of "Elohim," which signifies God, with the verb " Bara," which is also the singular number, and signifies "Created." But Moses uses the plural word, Elohim, with a verb of the singular number, and he repeats it thirty times in the history of the Creation only, though this word denotes a plurality in the Divine nature, and not one single person. Secondly. God is represented, in the History of the Creation, as speaking to some one thus-" Let such a thing be made;" and then it follows, "it was made." And again,-" God said," and "God said." These expressions are very remarkable, when we consider that there were neither angels nor men at that time to there is a direct intimation of a plurality of persons united in the substance of the Creator. In the following passages we are distinctly told that the Creator is Jehovah, the Word, and the Spirit. 1 In Isaiah "Jehovah" speaks in the following exclusive words:-"I am the Lord that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." But notwithstanding these exclusive words " by myself," David says of Christ, "O my God, of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth.” 2 Job also, "The Spirit of obey or hear God's voice; and they are repeated no less than eight times in one chapter. Thirdly. God is represented as communing and sitting in council with others. "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." Gen. i. 26. "Adam is become as one of us." Gen. iii. 22. "Let us go down and confound their language." Gen. xi. 7. Fourthly. The following grammatical constructions are used. 1. A plural noun joined with a verb singular. ning the Gods created the heaven and the earth." I am Masters where is my fear?" Mal. i. 6. 2. A plural noun joined with a verb plural. called the name of the place Bethel, because the Gods there appeared to him when he fled from the face of," &c. "In the beginGen. i. 1. "If "And Jacob Gen xxxv. 7. "You can may be 3. A plural noun joined with an adjective plural. not serve the Lord, for He is the Holy Gods." Josh. xxiv. 19. Many other instances of similar grammatical constructions found in Allix's Judgment of the Jewish Church, p. 95, 96; and in Jones's Theological and Miscellaneous Works, vol. i. p. 56—65. Isai. xliv. 24. 2 Psal. cii. 24, 25. That David addresses the second Person of the Trinity is evident, from Heb. i. 8. God hath made me."1 garnished the heavens." 66 By His Spirit He hath created the world by Himself, is, according to Moses, Jehovah, the Word, and the Spirit. us."3 In the New Testament, where the new creation, of which the old was evidently the type, is set forth, the Evangelists tell us, that "God, for his great love wherewith He loved us.... hath quickened But they also tell us, that as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will."4 And again, "it is the Spirit that quickeneth." God, therefore, who quickeneth the heart of man; or, the Creator of the new universe, is, according to the Evangelists, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. We find the Redeemer also of mankind described in both Testaments in the same terms as the Creator of mankind. He is represented both by Moses and the Evangelists as one of Three Persons who are each very God. Isaiah's words are express on this matter. He introduces the Redeemer, saying:- "Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, I am the Lord thy God." But notwithstanding this declaration of the Redeemer's Godhead, the Redeemer adds in the very same breath, "And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent Me;" clearly shewing that there are two other Persons who are of the same substance, very God with Himself. The relation of the Redeemer in the New Testament is precisely the same. The Redeemer attests his own Divine Essence by declaring, "I and my Father are One." He speaks also emphatically of Three Persons; for He declares that the Father had sent Him; and that the Spirit had anointed Him for His office.1 The account which is given of the Being who Protected and Guided Israel into Canaan, conveys also the same intimation of a Triune God. When the redemption of Israel had been accomplished, 'Isai. xlviii. 16. Origen gives a different reading of this verse, and makes the following remark:—“ τίς ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν τῷ Ἠσαίᾳ λέγων; καὶ νῦν κύριος ἀπέστειλε μὲ καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ· ἐν ᾧ ἀμφιβόλου ὄντος τοῦ ῥητοῦ πότερον ὁ Πατὴρ καὶ τὸ ̔́Αγιον Πνεῦμα ἀπέστειλαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἡ ὁ Πατὴρ ἀπέστειλε τὸν τε Χριστὸν καὶ τὸ "Αγιον Πνεῦμα· τὸ δεύτερον ἐστὶν ἀληθὲς.”Origen Contr. Cels. lib. i. The observation is very just, for we nowhere read in the Scriptures that Christ was sent by the Spirit, but everywhere that both Christ and the Spirit were sent by the Father, called in the text "Lord God." But the argument which springs from this passage in proof of the Trinity remains the same whichever way we read it. And as I have adopted the reading of our authorized version, I have given a sense in which the Spirit may, with strict propriety, be said to have sent Christ, i. e., by descending upon Him, and anointing Him for the work of His ministry. 2 John x. 30. 66 "2 The Lord of Hosts made a covenant with his people, saying, "I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." Now, in Haggai, The Lord of Hosts appeals to the words of this covenant and says, According to the words that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you.' But the words of the covenant are not that the Spirit, but that The Lord of Hosts would dwell among Israel. The Lord of Hosts, therefore, by declaring that He had fulfilled the words of His covenant, and that He had fulfilled it by causing His Spirit to dwell with Israel, has identified the presence of the Spirit with His own presence, which is a direct assertion that He and the Spirit are of one essence. Isaiah 3 carries the information a step further, and declares that the presence of the Spirit is the presence of the Saviour as well as of the Lord of Hosts. In the New Testament the Spirit is represented as having been sent to fulfil the same office as it was in the days of Moses, i. e., to "teach mankind, and to reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment." The Godhead of the Spirit is also described in a 2 'Ex. xxix. 45, 46. Hag. ii. 5. Vide App. p. 71, note (a). Isai. lxiii. 8. 10. 4 John xvi. 8. |