II CORINTHIANS 3:17-18 THE TRINITY

Q: How does this passage fit in with the concept of the Trinity?

There are many times in the New Testament where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned or appear side-by-side. Paul uses the terms Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Holy Spirit and Spirit interchangeably with seemingly no distinction, and even the interesting phrase “The Lord (is) the Spirit” found in these verses.

We are also commanded to baptize in the NAME (not names) of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

John 1:3 states of Jesus, “All things came into being (i.e. were created) through him” (not “all other things were created by him.”). And since Yahweh is consistently portrayed as the creator of the universe, and Genesis 1 states that it was the Spirit moving on the waters who created the universe, this includes the entire Trinity in the process.

God as a plurality is not an unknown concept, even in the Old Testament. Genesis 1:26 has God saying, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” The other possible interpretation is that God is referring to the angels, assuming that (1) they were also created in God's image and (2) that they had an integral part in the creation (two concepts that I don't believe are stated anywhere in the Bible). One of the Hebrew words used repeatedly for God is elohim, which is literally “Gods” and usually explained as a plural of majesty, much as we use the words “scissors” or “pants” in English, words plural in construction but referring to a singular item consisting of more than one part.

The Holy Spirit While some of the language used to describe the Holy Spirit can be interpreted as an impersonal force or property of God, other language definitely suggests that He is a person. So for the Jehovah Witnesses to claim that the Holy Spirit is only a force, all Scriptures that speak of him as a person must be explained away. A Trinitarian, on the other hand, does not have to explain away the Scriptures that speak of Him in terms of force or energy since that is part and parcel of His particular function within the Godhead.

The Holy Spirit is one who testifies (John 15:26); he doesn't speak about himself (John 16:13-14); he helps us in our weakness and intercedes with the Father on our behalf (Romans 8: 26-27); he can be lied to (Acts 5:3); he can be grieved by our actions (Isaiah 63:10 and Ephesians 4:30); he is patient (Micah 2:7); he can be blasphemed against (Matthew 12:31). This last example is particularly instructive since, by its very definition, blasphemy is only directed against God.

The Holy Spirit possesses intellect (I Corinthians 2:11), will (I Corinthians 12:11), and emotion (Romans 15:30)--the usual definition of a person or personality.

Jesus as God First of all, for a Jehovah Witness to state categorically that Jesus is not God, all references to the contrary (and only some of them are given below) must be explained away to a high degree of probability since even a low degree of probability of such an interpretation for each individual verse eventually adds up to a high probability that at least one of these passages does teaches that Jesus is divine in every sense of the word. However, the many verses usually quoted by the Witnesses to show that Jesus holds an inferior status relative to God are all openly accepted by Trinitarians as either (1) reflecting Jesus' temporary status while in earthly form or (2) as descriptions of Jesus' unique role within the Godhead.

For example, I Corinthians 15:28 talks about the Son being subjected to the Father. As Gordon Fee explains regarding this verse (and he is one of the world's accepted experts on New Testament interpretation), “the language of the subordination of the Son to the Father is functional, referring to his 'work' of redemption, not ontological, referring to his being as such. The unity of God lies behind all such language.” (The First Epistle to the Corinthinans, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987, p. 760.) Similarly, Orr and Walther (I Corinthians, Anchor Bible, pp. 329-334) point out that this statement should not be read “from a subordinalist christology” but that it was used to possibly refute Gnostics who actually taught that Christ was superior to the Creator God. Grosheide (NICNT, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 369) explains it to mean that “the Mediator will lay down His office at the feet of the Father.” The International Bible Commentary (pp. 1383-1384) concurs that “the question here is one of function... Their [Father and Son] essential equality and unity remain.”

A. John 1:1 does not merely state that Jesus was divine (i.e. godlike) since, if that were so, the adjective theios would have been used instead of the noun theos. The universally accepted explanation for the lack of a definite article before theos is that in the Greek language predicate nouns (i. e., nouns following the verb “to be”) do not need to contain the definite article and often don't throughout the New Testament. This is especially true when the definite article has already been used for the same noun earlier in the sentence, as in this case. (See any standard commentary on the Greek text of John)

B. In John 20:28, after Thomas confesses that Jesus is God, Jesus commends him for his belief rather than correcting him.

C. John 14:9 reports Jesus saying, “Who has seen me, has seen the Father.”

D. Romans 9:5 is probably one of the most difficult passage in the New Testament, but one of the two most likely readings of this verse states that the Messiah is God over all things (Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 1971, pp. 520-523).

E. The phrase “First-born of Creation” in the Greek of Colossians 1:15 can mean either that Jesus was created first or, more likely, that He is Lord over all Creation (see Richard Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, pp. 214-217). Paul immediately confirms the second option and rules out the first option by continuing to say in the next verse that Jesus Himself created all (not “all other”) things. Similarly, “image” in this verse may mean in Greek a mere representation or an actual manifestation of God himself. Parallel NT references (see Melick) indicate that a reality, not a picture, is in mind here.

F. Colossians 1:19 says of Christ, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” not just some portion of divinity.

G. Philippians 2:5-11 is vital in understanding that Jesus emptied himself of the equality he had with God in heaven, assumed a temporarily subordinate position while on earth, but eventually will be worshiped by all (an action only appropriate if He is indeed God). The New World Translation of Philippians 2:6 has been universally denounced by liberal and conservative scholars alike as an impossible rendering of the original Greek.

H. Hebrews 1:8 addresses the Son as “O God.”

I. 2 Peter 1:2 may have other meanings but probably refers to Jesus as God and Lord, in parallel with the end of the epistle where he is called Lord and Savior. This is especially possible since Jesus was commonly called God by the late 1^st century-early 2^nd century (Jerome Neyrey, 2 Peter, Jude, pp. 147-148), well before any “official” conferences proclaimed the deity of Christ.

J. John 5:18 states that Jesus was making himself equal to God by his statements. This is not at all equivalent to the John 10:19 account of the people thinking that Jesus was possessed by a demon. In the latter case, John clearly states, without further comment, that this is what the people were thinking. By contrast, in 5:18, it is John's own explanation of Jesus' words that He was declaring equality with God.

K. John 8:58 “Before Abraham was, I am.” Raymond Brown (The Gospel According to John I-XII, Appendix !V) thoroughly discusses all of Jesus' usages of the phrase “I Am” in John's Gospel and which ones only make sense grammatically and logically only if they refer to His equality with God.

L Some of the more pertinent references to Christ's full divinity are found in the Book of Revelation:

(1) Revelation 20:6 talks about those who will be priests of God and Christ.

(2) Both Christ and God state, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 20:21:6, 22:13). By contrast, Jehovah Witnesses teach that Jesus' beginning was after that of the Father.

(3) Revelation 21:22 states that God and Jesus together make up one temple.

(4) Revelation 22:3 shows that there is only one throne, not two, in heaven and that it belongs to Jesus and God .

(5) Revelation 22:2-3 has singular pronouns apparently referring to both Jesus and God at the same time (see G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 1999, p. 1113). However, if the pronouns refer to only one person, it must grammatically be Jesus, in which case it states that He will be worshiped even though the angel in Revelation 22:9 clearly states that only God must be worshiped.

(6) Revelation 22:12 quotes Jesus as saying, “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to render to each as is work is.” This is the almost identical wording of the prophecy in Isa. 40:10 (Septuagint) applied to Yahweh. (Beale, p. 1136)