Appeal to beloved Messianic Jews to reject trinity!

This is a special appeal to the greatly beloved Messianic Jewish community to reject the pagan trinitarian view of the God of Abraham and Yeshua. The messianic community is very special because they have a leadership role to play in the true Christian community as opposed to the Nicene Christendom. The rest of the Christendom must look up to them for guidance, hence my appeal to them to reject this strange concept of God that was never taught or believed by the prophets of old.

The Shema

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Deuteronomy 6:4

First, it is surprising and new to me that some of the beloved Messianic Jews try to prove trinity from the very verse that opposes trinity. Some claim that ‘echad’ is not the Hebrew word for ‘one’ in Deuteronomy 6:4. I had to consult my Hebrew bible and I found echad instead of Yachad. The Shema is very fundamental and foundation in understanding the ONE true living God, so I am interested if anyone could further point out to me the Hebrew version with the plural ‘yachad’ instead of the singular ‘echad’.

Plurality of God in the Hebrew Bible?

Some Messianic Jews rightly point out apparent contradictions of the fact that the God of the Bible is one, from the Hebrew Bible. I am going to examine all of those issues shortly.

These apparent contradictions tend to suggest that ‘trinity’ must then be the best explanation for these apparent discrepancies. I mean the points raised does not itself prove trinity (which of course is a gentile concept very strange to the prophets, apostles and holy Jews of old) in any way because Trinity says that the spirit of God is actually a person, and that the Messiah is actually co-EQUAL and co-ETERNAL with Hashem his Father!

A Messianic Jew’s statement of Faith (SOF) which is inline with trinity theory of God says: “We believe in one God, eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Question is that since we know the Father as the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Bible, we also know the son as Jesus (Yahoshua) the son of God and messiah of God(!), we also know the spirit as the spirit *of* God, who then is this God that is eternally existent in God, Jesus and spirit of God? How does this even make biblical sense?

2. If Jesus was fully God, then he (or at least part of him) did not really die since under no circumstance will God die even for a second.

3. If Jesus was fully God and coequal with God, then he was not really the son of God, he may have appeared as one but was not really God’s son as the Bible says, since he is equal with God and almighty God himself. Hence the Catholics coined the phrase ‘GOD THE SON’ which is not found anywhere in the scriptures, but a product of their lack of faith in believing that Jesus is really the son of God. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” 1 John 4:15. Also note John’s style of writing that appears to suggest that Christians are also part of trinity.

4. The resurrection of Jesus’s body shows that the man Jesus died and rose again. It was Jesus that rose and his ascended with his changed body.

Other points like Jesus present role in heaven as a priest (high priest), a mediator, a heir of God and sitting in the right hand of God, not knowing when he will come again but only the Father knows, etc. clearly shows that the pagan concept of trinity is not in any way right to explain the ONE true God of Abraham and Jacob, neither is it the best explanation of the apparent discrepancies you have raised.

In all humility, I should say that you being a Jew, ought to be the very first to rebuke the gentile Christians for such absurdity and idolatry and not you seeking to conform with a. Gentile Christians must look up to you as leaders because to you belong this promise, you read the Bible in Hebrew, we can only follow you irrespective of when or what time you guys were revived as Jewish believers in Yeshua. Solving this problem also will make it easier to convert the rest of your brethren the Jews because they are RIGHT when they say that the God of the Bible is not TRINITY.

In conclusion before I respond to the other arguments that supports trinity, please kindly note that the reason the so-called church fathers persecuted and extinguished the Nazarenes and Ebionites was because these authentic groups from the Jerusalem church rejected trinity and considered Jesus the Son of God and a prophet. We are not sure they rejected the virgin birth as no writing from them survived but their enemies the Catholics appear to have implied that since they rejected the so-called incarnation and emphasised on Christ’s humanity, they therefore rejected the virgin birth. This is very unlikely for a community that had the Matthew Gospel and that GENUINELY traced their Christianity to Peter the apostle.

Here is an excerpt of Jerome’s letter to Augustine where he feared that accepting the Jewish Christians would make them Jews as if it’s not a privilege for gentiles to become Jews:

“In our own day there exists a sect among the Jews throughout all the synagogues of the East, which is called the sect of the Minei, and is even now condemned by the Pharisees. The adherents to this sect are known commonly as Nazarenes; they believe in Christ the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; and they say that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose again, is the same as the one in whom we believe. But while they desire to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither the one nor the other. I therefore beseech you, who think that you are called upon to heal my slight wound, which is no more, so to speak, than a prick or scratch from a needle, to devote your skill in the healing art to this grievous wound, which has been opened by a spear driven home with the impetus of a javelin. For there is surely no proportion between the culpability of him who exhibits the various opinions held by the fathers in a commentary on Scripture, and the guilt of him who reintroduces within the Church a most pestilential heresy. If, however, there is for us no alternative but to receive the Jews into the Church, along with the usages prescribed by their law; if, in short, it shall be declared lawful for them to continue in the Churches of Christ what they have been accustomed to practise in the synagogues of Satan, I will tell you my opinion of the matter: they will not become Christians, but they will make us Jews.”

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm

Response to Messianic Jews argument for trinity

ON ELOHIM:

Because this is a very serious and fundamental issue, we must make sure that our interpretation is FAIR. In all fairness, the patriarchs, Moses, and every other holy prophet who had a relationship with God never understand God as being a PLURAL in unity. They understand God to be one despite using the term ‘Elohim’ which is plural. Why that?

1. The first thing of note is that the word ‘Elohim’ is not of itself holy and exclusive to the one living God of Abraham. Why Elohim then? Moses and the Jews simply adopted the Canaanitish word for God in describing the God of the Bible just as we say ‘God’ today without minding its etymology. This is very important because Moses and the Israelites needed to speak of Hashem to people around in the language they understood of God. Unfortunately, the Canaanitish people and others were not monotheistic like the Israelites hence their use of Elohim. This is why Laban asked Jacob: “wherefore hast thou stolen my gods (ELOHIM)?’ Genesis 31:30. The inadequacy of Elohim is the reason Moses further asked for the name of God.
2. The spirit may have allowed Moses to use Elohim despite its pagan connotation because although God is one, the same God manifests Himself in His angels, so the LXX translates the messianic Psalm 8:5 as “Thou madest him a little less than angels (ELOHIM)…” while others render it as Heavenly beings. On this principle of GOD’S MANIFESTATION, I will come back because this is the biblical principle that explains the discrepancies that was raised in the apparent contradictions of the singularity of the God of the Bible.
3. So, when Elohim said, ‘let us make man in our own image’, this was the LORD speaking to non-other but His angels which is a biblical fact. “6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:6,7.

ON PANAI

If Exodus 33:14,15 says ‘faces’ as in the literal translation, would this be the face of God, Jesus and Holy spirit? Certainly not. What about the same Exodus 35:20 that says: “Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.” Cf. Genesis 4:6. Therefore when context permits, the word can be translated as ‘before’ as in LXX or ‘presence’. Even at that, we know that what went before the Israelites was the glory of the LORD. The most biblical pointer to the faces of the glory of God would be in the Cherubim/Seraphim as in Isaiah 6:2,3 which is very much connected to the glory of God than the very strange trinity!

SOLUTION: GOD MANIFESTATION and NOT trinity!

How then is the LORD one and yet sometimes we read of 2 LORD(s) or multiple Elohim? How could people see God, yet the scripture maintains that no one has ever seen God and lived?

RUACH KODESH: Moses and the prophets clearly understood that although there is one true God who seats eternally heavens, He is yet everywhere by His spirit: “7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!” Psalm 139:7.8. This throws a light but does not explain how people could see YHWH and still lived.

God-manifestation. Michael?: The biblical principle of God manifestation which may be referred to as Theophany explains it all! Although God is eternally seated in heaven and has presence in everywhere through His spirit, He can still manifest Himself in another being by His spirit so that that person becomes YHWH or ELOHIM to men and women! So, out of the 3 angels that visited Abraham, only one was YHWH. Abraham saw this YHWH and yet lived which must mean that this YHWH was not literally the glorious God who dwells in unapproachable light. Of course, I would imagine God living his throne vacant and coming down to the earth. He rather manifests Himself to a special angel who manifests God in a more special and glorious way than the rest of the angels. Who then is this angel? We know him as God Himself explained to the Israelites:

“20 Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.” Exodus 23:20,21. This is only an angel who had become very special and glorious because God’s name is in him! What is God’s name? YHWH! So, this explains why YHWH could appear to mortal and yet they lived!! Who then is this angel and YHWH that men could see? I don’t know. But it appears to me to be the same one Daniel revealed to us as MICHAEL. I say so because the name ‘Michael’ can also mean ‘One who is like God’ and Daniel introduced him as the great prince who stands for Israel (Dan 12:1) which appear to refer to the YHWH angel of the wilderness. But please don’t take the identification as Michael very serious as we can’t know for sure. But the point is that God can manifest His glory on another being who appears to humans as YHWH. So, for the case of Abraham seeing YHWH, you would observe that there is YHWH in heaven that Abraham could not see: “Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven” Genesis 19:24

How about Yeshua the son of God?

The question is that angels could bear the name of God, how about the son of God Himself! Yeshua even has more right and claim to God’s name and glory because he is the son of God! Remember that the messianic prophecy of Jesus is clear that he would come in the name of YHWH! “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.” Psalm 118:26 cf. Matthew 23:39. Yeshua is not the angelic YHWH of the Hebrew scriptures but when he appeared, he rightly became YHWH as the son and heir! This is why the messianic prophecies speaks of YHWH instead of Jesus reigning on earth. For example, Zechariah spoke of the feet of YHWH touching mount Olives on that day Zechariah 14:4 and of YWHW reigning on earth in verse 9. This can not be God Himself who seats eternally in an unapproachable light! That is the Moshiach is also in no way coequal or coeternal with God!

This principle of God manifestation is what the Catholics couldn’t grasp as they were not well grounded in Hebrew scriptures, hence they invented another God that is trinity. But Jews certainly knows better that God is not trinity.

Is John 1:1-3 about trinity or pre-existence of Christ?

No! People think that this verse supports trinity and that is because the Jewishness of this verse is almost lost! Before then, the verses say: “1. In the beginning was the word (logos), and the Word (logos) was with the divine (ton Theon), and the word was God (Theos). 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made through it; and without it was not anything made that hath been made.”

It is almost impossible to understand this opening verse without a background of the Jewishness of it. In the first century, a very influential Jewish philosopher known as Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, commenting on Genesis 1 creation, opined that God is too holy and pure to come into contact with physical matter. He suggested rather that the creation was done through an intermediary agent of God which is called the Logos or the Word which he also referred to as the first born of God. He got this idea of personification of the Logos from Isaiah 55:11: “so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Also supported by the fact that nothing was actually created or came into existence until God spoke His WORD or Logos/dabar. This means that the physical creation is only a product of this Word of God which is not different from God, and therefore is God.

Encyclopedia Britannica entry on Philo and his logos philosophy says:

“Philo saw the cosmos as a great chain of being presided over by the Logos, a term going back to pre-Socratic philosophy, which is the mediator between God and the world, though at one point he identifies the Logos as a second God…In anticipation of Christian doctrine he called the Logos the first-begotten Son of God, the man of God, the image of God, and second to God.”

(Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Philo Judaeus”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Mar. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus. Accessed 21 February 2024.)

John the apostle only picked up this popular Jewish teaching of his time and used it to prove the virgin birth or divine paternity of Christ without narrating the nativity story. John’s mission was to show that the same creative word that God used in the beginning, was the same Logos that God put into Gabriel’s mouth by which Jesus was formed or created in Mary’s womb without man’s intervention. This means that the father of Jesus is the Logos of God which is also God! So, in verse 14, John wrote that the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us. This is not a teaching of pre-existence of Christ or incarnation but the very fact that after thousands of years of the end of creation, God used the same Logos to create a new Adam or man who is Yeshua the son of God! In this way, Christ could trace his ancestry to David through Mary as the scriptures prophesied, but he could also traced his paternal ancestry to heaven through the Logos from heaven. This theme runs through the gospel of John as if Jesus literally came down from heaven. John is in way claiming that Jesus is coequal with God as trinity claims, rather John 14:28 clearly says: “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

Colossians 1:15-19 – Spiritual and not the physical creation

Adam was made in the image of God but he failed, and therefore the whole first creation failed too or they groan. Jesus the last Adam was also made in the image of God and Paul used this imagery of Genesis creation (note Philo’s influence too) to speak of the new spiritual creation of the Church who exists by/because of Jesus Christ! Fullness of God dwelling in Jesus is nothing but the Hebrew Bible principle of God manifestation I have already explained! God’s name indeed was in Christ. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, Hallelujah! This clearly shows that there is an invisible God and there is Jesus the man through whom God is revealing Himself to the world. Jesus therefore has become Elohim or YHWH to us just as Abraham saw God and lived! Anyone who sees Jesus had seen YHWH and yet lives. But no one can see the invisible God the Father of Jesus and live! But we behold Christ every day, to the glory of God!

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:5.

The temptation of Yeshua

As for Yeshua, he was a man like Adam. The reason we overcome temptation today is because of the spirit of God in us.”Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall NOT fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16. However, unlike Adam, and unlike anyone of us, God specially prepared this Jesus for this purpose by giving Him this ruach kadosh WITHOUT measure: “The one whom God sent speaks the words of God, because God does not give the Spirit in limited measure to him. The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands.” John 3:34,35 ISV. The temptation of Jesus recorded in Luke 4, started by telling us that Jesus was FULL of the holy spirit. The entire Bible is clear that Jesus conquered sin. If Jesus was not capable of sinning – that is following his own yetza harah instead of the will of God, as the Bible clearly stated (Luke 22:42), then there is no point saying that he defeated sin, and he couldn’t be a good example to us. What the Bible tells us, is that as the begotten son of God, Christ had a privilege of being filled with the spirit without measure which could strenthgten him at every point of his weakness. He still had freewill and could have sinned, but he did not and on this, we are thankful to him. God also rewarded him for his obedience by giving him His own name and not letting his servant see decay in the grave. Thus, for the first time, we have a man that was sinless and therefore the true lamb without blemish – but he was a lamb nevertheless.

That Jesus was tempted in the first place shows that he was not God because God cannot be tempted with evil, James 1:13. That Jesus was a man does not mean that he had no privilege. Is there any one of us that was conceived without the aid of a man? “And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?  Hebrew 1:13. The last quotation shows that even NOW in heaven, the glorified Yeshua is still dependent on God his father and not on the same level with Him.

The idea of God being triune or biune or an incarnation or trinity, etc. is all extrabiblical and pagan concepts. Even if the truth of God is extinguished among the gentile nations as we see it today, sadly in Christendom, the Jews must preserve it because of the ‘firstborn’ privilege you have in the plan of God. None of our fathers received the oracles but your fathers did. You don’t turn to Rome to learn about God, we all turn to the Bible, written by your people the Jews.

ON THE ANGEL OF GOD AS YHWH

The Hebrew for angel clearly shows that they are nothing but God’s messengers. Jesus is clear enough that the messenger cannot be greater than the One who sent him (John 13:16). How does it now make sense to say that Yeshua is coequal and coeternal with God, yet he is or he was an angel of God?

Exodus 23:20-22 is *clear* enough that God did not only send this angel but He put His name on him and EMPOWERED him to be able to forgive sins on his behalf. How is that an impossible thing for God to do? The angel did not choose nor empower himself, God did. That does not make the angel the One true God who no man can see. This is the biblical teaching of God’s manifestation that explains the difficult passages in the Bible on God’s manifestation.

Explanation: God can empower an angel or even Jesus Christ to become God to men on His behalf and therefore have the power to forgive sins like God, only through His holy spirit. This spirit of God is not a person of trinity or one of the ‘tri’s’ but it is the power of God! In the same way, Jesus sent and empowered his disciples to forgive sins. Does that make them the almighty God? No! “Jesus said to them again, “21 Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

This particular angel is not YHWH merely because he represents God, but because God has empowered him by His spirit to manifest Him in a glorious way to mankind. This is why not all the angels are refered to as God or YHWH but that special one (as in the case of the men that visited Abraham), has the capability of manifesting God’s glory in a greater dimension. Of all the prophets, Moses had such spirit given to him that at a point his face literally shone (like Christ’s). And we read: “And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God (Elohim) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.” Exodus 7:1. -Aaron became a prophet of Moses instead of a prophet of God, because Moses at that point was Elohim to him! Jesus is also (like) God to us and we can worship which does not mean that he is coequal or coeternal with God.

Having said this, we have an indication from the Bible that this specially privileged angel is most likely Michael. His name in Hebrew denotes that God made him to be like Him to us. We read “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people…” Daniel 12:1 JPS. This points to the fact that the angel that was in charge of Israel in the past is Michael. He is most likely the same YHWH angel that appeared to Abraham and Moses in the burning bush. This Michael is not Jesus Christ the son of God. Our duty is to accept the revealed revelation of God, and not to make human paganistic philosophies adapt to what God revealed about Himself. No prophet or righteous king of Israel ever understood this angel to be the promised messiah son of David. If God puts His name on an angel, then that angel would be called YHWH. If I represent the President of USA on an occasion, then I would be addressed as ‘Mr. President’ despite not contesting nor winning an election. That’s what I am to the people I was sent to. In the same way, Yeshua is YHWH because God elevated him and gave him the name above every other name!

God cannot be seen by human

Paul, a student of Gamaliel and well rooted in the Torah and traditions of that time, clearly stated that no man had ever seen God in the past and no man can see him 1 Tim 6:16. This means that all the instances you cited from the Hebrew of men like Jacob and Gideon’s parents seeing God could only mean that they saw a manifestation of God in the special holy angel as discussed. What else could they say after realising that those angels were not men as they thought? In the same way, Thomas, realizing that Jesus rose from the dead, which is not possible for men, exclaimed ‘my Lord and my God!’ If I saw an angel of God today shining in full splendour, the first thing I would do is to bow to him like John did until he rebukes me. But bowing down to him in the first place shows that in the mind of John, like Jacob, believed that this angel was God who only should be worshipped: “8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” Revelation 22:8,9.

Name and origin of Jesus

That the prophets prophecied that Yeshua’s name shall be YHWH Tsidkenu, El Gibor, etc. does not mean that Yeshua is the almighty God or that the almighty God would be born as a baby. It is only a name! Names in the Hebrew Bible, especially when they are announced this way, are prophetic. The name of this son of David shows that the primary work of Jesus is to reveal YHWH to mankind, hence his many names associated with YHWH. Jesus is not the first of such persons that would answer a name with YHWH in it, but he is the most qualified because as the son of God, he himself is also God like his Father though not coequal nor coeternal because God is greater than him (John 14:28) and whilst Jesus origin is from his Father, the Father’s origin is from none. Micah’s prophecy is the best prophecy that supports the virgin birth. It is not just the only prophecy that confirmed the birthplace of the messiah, but he pointed out that the origin or genealogy of Jesus (paternal) could only be traced to an eternal source and not to any tribe of Israel or any man. The Hebrew used there in Micah implies family descent מוֹצָאָה.

God is God but Jesus’ name reflects/reveals God to us because Jesus is the image of God. God is not the image of anyone.

I pray that you will give further thoughts to these things given that I only expounded what is already revealed in the Bible and no new teaching. I mean Trinity was coined by Tertullian in the late second century, yet the ‘church fathers’ although the accepted the interesting terminology, however condemned Tertullian for not accepting that the 3 persons are coequal and coeternal (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html).

Question:

If God is triune or trinity, how come the Bible states that after Christ’s reign in his coming kingdom, he will hand over to God, and he himself would be subject to God?

1Co 15:24  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 
1Co 15:25  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 
1Co 15:26  The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 
1Co 15:27  For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 
1Co 15:28  When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

God bless you the remnant and God bless the house of Israel. Shalom Jerusalem.