“By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1Ti 3:16)
Journal,
A couple of years back I shared a basic study on various Christian views of the Godhead. It was titled, ‘Is it One, Two, or Three.’
I thought it would be good to revisit that topic. If interested, here is the original study: http://buddymartin.net/blog/2010/06/is-it-one-two-or-three/
Let’s begin this entry with the statement the apostle Paul made about a great mystery in God.
- “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness” – The earliest believers held a common confession about the mystery of their faith in Jesus Christ. The word ‘godliness’ [eusebeia: yoo-seb’-i-ah] speaks to how and why believers worship as they do. It’s basic meaning is piety or devotion towards God. Paul says the mystery is great. It is great in the sense that the world does not understand it. For believers the mystery carries the wonders of our faith.
- “He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” – Few translations have the word ‘God‘ where the translation should be, ‘He‘. The Greek text is ‘hos’, not ‘theos.’ This does not do away with the deity of Christ. It simply places the emphasis on Christ, the living Word of God. (Of course we know that Jesus Christ is the revelation of all that God is. A companion text is Heb1:1-3, “He [Christ] is the radiance of His [the Father’s] glory.”
The Accusation of Two Powers
Very early on the non-believing Rabbinic Jews began to accuse Christian Jews of worshiping two powers. The basic problem with this accusation is two-fold and self-revealing. To begin with, when Jesus was rejected by the religious authorities as the Messiah of God, it left them with a foolish darkened heart. The Old and New Testament speaks to this. (Mat13:15; John12:37-41; Rom1:21; Eph4:18)
The second issue has to do with the ancient beliefs of God’s people. Ancient Judaism fully accepted that there was a great mystery in God. This mystery was often called the ‘Memra‘ [Hebrew], or the ‘Logos‘ [Greek]. Both terms speak of the mystery of God’s Word. These terms also referred to the powers of God.
Philo the first-century Jewish writer express this great mystery. Here are some of his quotes that carry the idea of two powers:
“[God] sustained the universe to rest firm and sure upon the mighty Logos who is my viceroy.”
“The Logos is “that power of his [God] by which he made and ordered all things.”
““Let us make” indicates more than one. So the Father of all things is holding parley (having a discussion with) with His Powers, whom He allowed to fashion the mortal portion of our soul…” (Flight & Finding , 68)
“Why is it that he speaks as if of some other god, saying that he made man after the image of God, and not that he made him after his own image? (Genesis 9:6). Very appropriately and without any falsehood was this oracular sentence uttered by God, for no mortal thing could have been formed on the similitude of the supreme Father of the universe, but only after the pattern of the second deity, who is the Word [Logos] of the supreme Being (Questions on Genesis II.62)
Whatever Happened to Monotheism
How could the early Jewish Christians hold claim to absolute monotheism while worship could be directed to Jesus Christ, as well as to God the Father?
A large part of our problem with the study of Christ comes from having set aside the early Jewish believers theology of Christ. Everything for the Jewish church centered on divine identity.
We’ve managed to take terms like, ‘And the Word was with God,’ or, ‘He existed in the form of God’, away from their original Hebrew thought form. These expressions are deeply embedded in ancient Judaism. They are Hebrew reflections on a great mystery to be found in God Himself.
Our worship of the Father and the Son has to do with identity.
The apostle John addressed this –
“What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1Jn 1:3)
“Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1Jn 2:22-23)
“As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” (1Jn 2:24)
Identity, the hallmark of Jewish Christianity
The earliest believers saw Jesus Christ as intrinsic to who God really is. Jewish believers were schooled in the Scriptures and in the ancient sages. God is one! That’s all they needed to know. At the same time they believed that in the one true God was this mystery they called the ‘Word,’ or, the ‘Form‘, or the ‘Image‘, or the ‘Glory‘, or the ‘Shekinah.’
So, were the early Jewish Christians Oneness believers, Twoness believers, or Threeness believers.
The truth is that none of these beliefs would accord entirely with the theology of the early Jewish church. While the earliest Christians were absolute monotheist, they also believed that Jesus Christ originated in and came forth from the Father, that is, without becoming separate from Him in His spiritual being. And this was part of the mystery.
It should also be noted that the early Jewish believers generally saw the Holy Spirit in connection with either the Father or the Son. In Judaism itself the 
Holy Spirit was often reckoned as the spirit of the Messiah and/or as the emanating power and presence of God.
However, as stated before, the Jewish rabbis did begin to accuse the Christian Jews of believing in two powers in heaven. (Not three.) They had become familiar with the book of Hebrews as well as with the gospels. The rabbis used the book Hebrews as a backdrop in their accusations against the Christian Jews, and especially where it says,
“In these last days [the Father] has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” (He1:2)
— This statement pretty much qualifies the earliest theology of the Jewish church. It says that in the last days God has spoken to us (or speaks to us) in His Son, and that it was through His Son that the Father made the world. Such a mystery, this. —
Looking Again at Godhead Theology
A great many scholars today are beginning to set aside the notion that the trinitarian doctrine is intrinsic to Christianity and that to be a Christian you must accept this form of theology. They are reaching back to the pre-Constantianian beliefs of the early church, that is, to a more Hebraic form of theology. The result is a less complicated theology held by the early church, yet not without its own mysteries about the Father and the Son.
The problem is that neither the trinitarian nor the oneness doctrines can be accredited as the last stages of true theology. They are both departees from an already fully divine Christology of Biblical Christianity. The early believers fully accepted Jesus Christ as Yahweh of the former testament, and yet they believed in a Father-Son view of God.
Paul Himself brings this forth in reaffirming the sh’ma of Israel. He said,
“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1Co8:6)
Where Paul says ‘Lord‘ he is using the ancient ‘She’ma’ creed of Israel.
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Deu 6:4 NASB)
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Thus Paul is expressing a very ancient belief in Israel. Jesus was looked at as the ‘eikon‘ (divine image) of the invisible God. Judaism believed that you had the invisible God who could not be seen, and God who makes Himself visible across history and across time. Or, as one early Christian writer said, “God brought forth from Himself a beginning.”
The point is that for the early Jewish believers, Jesus did not become for them a second god or another deity. Paul explained Christ as the hidden mystery of God. The apostle wrote,
“To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.” (Eph3:8,9)
Note. My readers may wish to check additional Hebraic studies. Go to:
http://www.christianchallenge.org/hebraic-foundations/index.html
Consider these studies:
- Jesus the Word of God – http://www.christianchallenge.org/hebraic-foundations/HF139.html
- What is God Really, Really Like – http://www.christianchallenge.org/hebraic-foundations/HF113.html
- Logos Christology; Our Common Heritage – http://www.christianchallenge.org/hebraic-foundations/HF014.html
Regardless of how difficult this may seem to us, the groundwork had already been laid for this mystery to be revealed.
For instance how is it than an orthodox one-God, Jewish man could fall down before Jesus, and say, “My Lord and my God?” And how is it that everything Jesus did in His earthly walk reveals that He was intrinsic to the very identity of God’s person? Jesus did God things.
The mystery of the Christian faith is really the worship of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, and of David and the prophets fully revealed.
The Most Jewish of Non-Jewish Religions
And so we must agree with the Jewish author who said that Christianity is the most Jewish of all the non-Jewish faiths. I would go further to say that Biblical Christianity fills out the Jewish faith in that the God of the Hebrews came into the earth as a man to fulfill His own program of redemption.
Did the early Jewish believers worship the Father and Son as one God? Absolutely. They did this with a true monotheistic faith.
John said it well enough;
“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” (2Jn1:9)
Do we still have a mystery? Sure we do. It is a mystery that is too wonderful for words. What we know is that the origins of Jesus lies within God Himself. And when we worship Jesus we are not worshipping a second deity. We are worshipping the Father in the Son.
And so I return to the premise of this study — A large part of our problem with the study of Christ is our failure to understand that the early Jewish Church already had the perfect godhead theology.
So the study does have a point. Where you see that God is one, believe that God is one. Where you see the Father and the Son, believe in the Father and the Son. And where you see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just be a Biblical believer.
The terms oneness, twoness, or threeness don’t really matter. We know there can only be be one true God. While we may view Him through different glasses, the story remains unchanged. God sent His Son into the world to be the Savior and Redeemer of humanity. Does this mean that God had a Son before time began? (Wow – Now that is a question. Think about it.)
While you think on these things, take time for this song. Perhaps the Lord has something to speak to your heart –
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjY-OB7loVo[/youtube]Blessings,
Buddy
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