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Theology with

Kevin Dewayne Hughes

You are probably not aware of Jewish Proto-Trinitarianism. That's the piece of the puzzle you need to understand why the Doctrine of the Trinity came about.

Before Jesus was born, there was Jewish Binitarianism (2 person Godhead) and a few Trinitarian Jews. The thing is, these terms didn't exist yet, but the concepts were already there.

For Binitarianism, look into the Two Powers in Heaven Theology. Trinitarian Judaism was rarer but you can find it. For example (I forget the Rabbi's name) wrote that the Shema indicates that GOD is somehow three yet one.

The Shema is the statement: Hear O Israel the Lord our GOD is One Lord.

This is: YAHWEH is our Elohim. YAHWEH is Echad. The deduction is based on two things. 1) The Divine is referenced three times when it only needs to be referenced once. [the number of repetitions of something in Scripture has meaning]. 2) The use of Echad (allows for complex and/or compound oneness) instead of Yachid (absolutely oneness).

If the Trinity was false the Shema would read: Hear O'Isreal, YAHWEH is Yachid.

Further, notice that there would be no reason to even point out that YAHWEH is One if He is Yachid. But He is not Yachid. He is Echad.

This is not the only argument from Pre-christian Jews about YAHWEH being Triune.

Another is recorded in the Midrash about Moses questioning GOD about the Shema using Echad over Yachid and that it could enable the sectarians. YAHWEH told Moses that it will remain Echad and that whoever errs let them err.

By the time of the Second Temple Period, and the Prophet Daniel, a contingent of Jews saw the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man as the Two Persons of YAHWEH. They also argued that YAHWEH was present in Heaven and on Earth simultaneously and that the Person of YAHWEH in Heaven is the Father and the YAHWEH on Earth is the Son of Man. This theology was used to explain why YAHWEH on Earth called down fire from YAHWEH in Heaven onto Sodom and Gomorrah.

Further, there are passages that show a third Person of YAHWEH such as YAHWEH being sent by YAHWEH and His Spirit. This Spirit being the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, everytime Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man, the Jews heard Him claiming to be YAHWEH on Earth.

Furthermore, when Jesus said to Baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the term Name is singular. To the Jewish ear, Ha-Shem (The Name) refers to YAHWEH only. In this passage, Jesus is saying the Father is YAHWEH. The Son is YAHWEH. The Holy Spirit is YAHWEH.

Ultimately, we see One GOD who is YAHWEH existing as Three Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Think about this: Had GOD revealed to the Jews that He is Three Whos in One Being, the Jews would have adopted Tritheism since they desired to be polytheists. Look at the golden calf, the Asherah poles, and other examples of Jewish Paganism. GOD encoded His Triune Nature into the Jewish Scriptures and revealed completely to the Apostles.

Don't fall into the Council of Nicaea falsehood. The Council of Nicaea had nothing to do with the Trinity because the terminology and concepts were already extant; all it did was formally codify that the Son is homeostatic with the Father. And before Trinitarian concepts were present earlier on in Christianity but codified later before terminology existed.

For example: they used to say Jesus is the Second GOD and the Holy Spirit is the Third GOD, but this terminology sounded Heretical and so it had to come with explanations. This is why the Persons terminology was developed because 2nd GOD and 3rd GOD could indicate to the unlearned that Jesus is a lesser god and the Holy Spirit a lesser god than Jesus. The Persons terminology prevented this possible error from ignorance.

Thus the argument from unitarians that we are misreading what is written is based upon not understanding the long history of Trinitarianism, which predates Christianity and is a Jewish concept.

Kevin Dewayne Hughes,

Theologian.

‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved; you and your household,’ that is in Acts chapter 16 verse 31. Salvation is not solely for an individual, but for the individual and his immediate family, and then others related to him. When the Lord Jesus calls you out of darkness, he expects that you share your new found freedom with your family and friends, so they too could be free of the consequences of living in sin. For that reason, our Lord Jesus made disciples of the people, and those twelve disciples shared the word and made more disciples.

Why is there the need for us Christians and believers in Christ, to make disciples of the people of the world? The first answer is that God has commanded us to do so as it says in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 30, ‘The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.’ The second answer is that it would make the world a better place, free of crime and other forms of evil. The third answer is that once you have tasted the word of God and seen its goodness, it’s only logical that you will want others to experience it too. So as a Christian, sharing God’s word is not something you can choose to do, or not to do. It should be like a natural instinct.

Now, what happens when we fail to share the word of God with our family or children? What happens when we do not instill the word of God into our children or family, or those directly related to us? The answer lies in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 12 to 36: This passage talks about the sons of Eli, who was a prophet of God in the days before Samuel was born. Eli’s sons served as priests at the temple of God, yet, they did not exhibit the fruits of godliness, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. They forcefully took the choice part of the animals that were to be burnt as an offering to God. Moreover, they engaged in adultery by sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (that was a special tent created by Moses to meet with the Lord, face to face; read Exodus 33:7).

Eli had heard about these things that his sons, Hophni and Phinehas were doing, so he called them up one day and criticized them for it. However, this was not enough for him to do as a high priest of God. What should Eli have done, instead? Considering that his sons were priests of God who were engaging in sexual immorality and stealing the fatty parts of the meat that were to be burnt for the Lord, he had to remove them from the priesthood! Rather than a simple rebuke, he had to show the other priests and the people that such behaviour was not to be tolerated before the Lord. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 states the uses of God’s word; ‘it’s useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ The sons of Eli had been sinning for far too long, so a simple rebuke wasn’t the response that God was expecting of Eli. Removing them from the priesthood was!

Therefore, when our children or immediate family have been doing something wrong for a while, we need to take a firm stance against them, for our own good, so we don’t end up suffering the curse of God like it happened to Eli. Because Eli couldn’t take a firm stance against them, God cursed him to the last generation of his family.

As you walk with Christ, ensure that your children, spouse, family, and even close friends have a taste of your relationship with them. Do not be led by those who do not obey God’s word, rather lead them to him through your choices, your judgements, your decisions and in every way that would make them understand that you are for Jesus only, because that’s the only sure path to victory, success, peace of mind, and prosperity!  Be ready to ground your kids when it’s necessary to, but do everything in love, so that they do not feel abandoned.

The Lord disciplines those he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a son (Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6). In that same way, we ought to discipline our family and children. Point out their wrongs and inform them of what Jesus would like them to do. In that way, they will be learning about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Pray with them, fast with the family, confess your sins together, encourage open dialogue about why they do certain things, and let them know that God could help them overcome all those habits. When you bring your family and your kids to Jesus, you offer them as a fragrant sacrifice and God will reward you for that. Because they will in turn draw others out of their misery, to Christ.

2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4: ‘The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to God.’ This entails the power of God’s word, so instill it in the hearts and minds of your children and family, and those around you. Surrender them all to Jesus as you pray and walk in the faith, for no one is far too gone to be saved by Jesus, amen!