The Trinity: Part Two "Elohim"
A Written compostion by Joyce Pollard

 

THE TRINITY: PART TWO "ELOHIM"

 

ELOHIM

The doctrine of the Trinity states that God is three Persons in One. In my paper on this site The Trinity: Is God Three Persons In One? I give my reasons for saying that God is not three Persons in One. God is one God with many titles, or offices. Jehovah is God’s Name. "Eloah", "El", all ten of the Jehovah titles, "Elohim", etc. are titles of Jehovah. That is to say they are titles of the various offices that Jehovah fulfills. Elohim is Jehovah’s title as creator.

The importance of this truth is especially crucial in John 14:28 where our Lord says, "…..the Father is greater than I". E. W. Bullinger's note on this verse in the Companion Bible is excellent, it is one with which I agree totally. "The Lord was not inferior as to His essential being…..but as to His office as sent by the Father." Dr. Bullinger is saying in essence, that in this verse Christ, the "Son" was not a separate Person than "Father", but a separate office. My question is: why is that true in this verse, and not true of all other Scriptures where we read of "Father" and "Son"? I hope this question will help the reader to question the doctrine of the Trinity and serve as a stimulus to read the paper mentioned above.

Let us go now to one of the titles of Jehovah, "Elohim". Gen. 1:1 reads, "in the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth". I will once again quote the Companion Bible note on the word "God" in this verse. "First occurrence connects it with creation, and denotes, by usage, the Creator in relation to His creatures." Again, I agree totally with this thought. 

"Elohim" is a plural noun. Combining that fact with Gen. 1:26 where Elohim says, "Let us make man in our own image", many people interpret the plurality of the title "Elohim" as indicating the three Persons of the Trinity. I believe that it refers to the several offices involved in creation, but can not refer to the office of "Father" or to the office of "Holy Spirit". Let us examine that thought.

In Gen. 32:24-30 we read of Jacob’s physical struggle with "a Man". And then in verse 30 we read, "….I have seen Elohim face to face and my life is preserved". If the title "Elohim" includes three Persons, including, of course the Father, then we have a rather glaring contradiction in the Word of God as we read in John 6:46, "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He Which is of God. He hath seen the Father". Jacob saw Elohim. If "Elohim" implies the three Persons of the Trinity, then Jacob would have seen the Father. But no man has ever seen the Father, except for Christ. Therein, lies the contradiction in seeing three Persons implied in the plurality of "Elohim". 

There are of course, no contradictions in God’s perfect Word. Until we see that "Elohim" is a title of Jehovah and not three Persons of a supposed Trinity we have a contradiction. One might object that Jacob saw only Christ because only Christ was in physical form. (see Jesus Christ Is The Manifestation of Jehovah for the Scriptural evidence that Christ was in physical form of a man in Old Testament times.) But that still nullifies the argument that because "Elohim" is plural it implies more than one Person. That is to say, if the plurality itself of the title "Elohim" implies three Persons, then the title "Elohim" can not at the same time refer to only one Person.

If, on the other hand, we accept that "Elohim" is but one of the many titles, or offices of Jehovah, then all is clear. That is to say, Jehovah fulfilled His office/title of "Elohim" when He created. When Jacob physically wrestled with Elohim, Jacob wrestled with Jehovah/Christ as creator.

In the interest of thoroughness we should consider Hosea 12:4-5, "Yea he (Jacob) had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto Him: He found him in Beth-el, and there He spake with us, 5) even the Jehovah, Elohim of hosts, Jehovah is His memorial", i.e. His Name (see Ex. 3:15). This is an obvious reference to the very wrestling that we have seen in Gen. 32 between Jacob and Elohim. That leads us to the question: was it an angel with Whom Jacob wrestled, or was it God in His office of Elohim? The immediate context gives us our answer to that question. Verse 5 tells us "even Jehovah, Elohim". So it was not an angel that wrestled with Jacob, it was Elohim, i.e.God.

Now that we have seen that "Elohim" Who was seen by Jacob cannot refer to three Persons, at least one of Whom has never been seen, except by Christ, let us go on to the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew "ruach" is the word used in the title "Holy Spirit". The definition of "ruach" as given in the Appendix No. 9 in the Companion Bible is excellent. "The meaning of the word is to be deduced only from its usage. The one root idea running through all the passages is invisible force. As this force may be exerted in varying forms, and may be manifested in divers ways, so various renderings are necessitated, corresponding thereto. Ruach, in whatever sense it is used always represents that which is invisible except by its manifestations." 

As mentioned above, Jacob saw Elohim "face to face". Just as Jacob could not have seen the Father, so also Jacob could not have seen the Holy Spirit, Who is invisible. Therefore, neither the office of Father or the office of Holy Spirit are included in the title "Elohim" when Jacob wrestled with Him. The Bible tells us that only Christ took on a physical image. So when Jacob wrestled with "the Man" only Christ was included in the term "Elohim". Because only Christ in physical form was included in the title "Elohim", that title can not imply more than one Person in the passage which describes Jacob's struggle. If "Elohim" can not imply a plurality of Persons in that passage, there is no reason to assume that it must apply to a plurality of Persons in other passages. Again, I suggest that "Elohim" is one of the titles of Jehovah and represents His office as creator.

Let us consider Gen. 1:26 where Elohim says "Let us make Man in our own image". As Dr. Bullinger's note in the Companion Bible points out, this refers to a physical, not a moral image. Therefore, Man was not created in the image of Elohim in His office of the Father or in His office of the Holy Spirit, as neither have a physical image. Once again Jehovah's title, "Elohim" does not imply a plurality of Persons, but of offices. One might ask, to whom was Elohim speaking when He said "Let us create Man in our own image"? Perhaps an example from everyday life will help clarify this point.

At one time in my life I served as President of the Board for a community orchestra. I was also the business manager, and for a short while I replaced the treasurer who had moved out of the area. At times I, as business manager, had to ask myself, as President of the Board, for money to purchase music. And then I had to ask myself as treasurer to write a check. I held three offices, but I was still only one person. Naturally, I did not really talk to myself, but the Holy Spirit through Moses was making it clear in Gen. 1:26 that several offices were involved in creation.

Some have objected to the thought expressed above, by asking, "was God talking Himself in Gen. 1:26?" We must answer that by reminding the reader that it was only Christ Who was included in the title "Elohim" when He wrestled with Jacob. Therefore, scripture supports the view that, in essence, because there is only one God, Christ was speaking to Himself in Gen.1:26.

Bearing in mind that "Elohim" is a plural noun indicating many offices of Jehovah, let us consider one other passage that limits "Elohim" to One Person. Zech. 14:4, "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives….". Verse 5, "And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains….And Jehovah my Elohim shall come and all the saints with Thee". These verses have to do with the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Once again we have a passage that speaks of One Person, Jesus Christ. "Father" and "Holy Spirit" can not be included in the title "Elohim" when referring to the second coming of Christ. Therefore, again we can not say that the plurality of the title "Elohim" proves three Persons in the Godhead when in this, and in the other passages mentioned above, only One Person is implied, Jehovah/Christ.

We might ask, if the second coming refers to one Person, why is the title in the plural? Again, the second coming of Christ is the coming of Jehovah in the form of man, but in several offices. As the creator of all things He has the right to come as King of Israel, as the Redeemer of His people, as the righteous judge, etc. Because many offices will be fulfilled with His coming, the plural title "Elohim" is used.

Let us consider three other passages in which God speaks to Himself. They are Gen. 3:22 and Gen. 11:7 and Is. 6:8.

Gen. 3:22 reads, "And Jehovah Elohim said, 'Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil: now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever-'". I have shown from Scripture that the title "Elohim" cannot refer to God in His office of Father or in His office of Holy Spirit. Who then is meant by the phrase "one of Us"? Because there is only one God, I believe He was speaking to Himself in His various offices. In this case, the context would indicate that the "Us" refers to any of the offices in which God shows Himself to "know good and evil".

In Gen. 11:6-7 we read, "And Jehovah said, 'Behold the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let Us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech'". In this passage it is Jehovah that says "let Us". Jehovah is God's Name. There is only one Jehovah, i.e. only one God. Here too, Jehovah is speaking to Himself.

We read in Is. 6:8, "Also I heard the voice of Jehovah saying, 'Whom shall I send and whom will go for Us'". Here again, this is Jehovah speaking, and He must be speaking to Himself in His many offices.

The point is that there are at least four passages in which Jehovah is speaking to Himself in His several offices. Therefore, the fact that Christ, in His office of "Son" while on earth, spoke to Himself in His office of "Father" is certainly not without precedence. Again, those to whom Christ and His apostles came, i.e. Israel, would have been well aware of this precedence, and would certainly not have jumped to the false conclusion that Christ was speaking to a different "Person". And neither, in my opinion should we.

Please see part three of this series of papers on the Trinity doctrine for more scriptural evidence for my view that it is not Biblical.