Beth Elohim Messianic Synagogue
A Refutation on the Erroneous Doctrine of the Trinity
I will confine my initial response concerning the misinformation about the existence of a Trinity to some of the basic knowledge lest you become overwhelmed and frustrated. Indeed, there is a plethora of teaching regarding the truth of G-d’s complex unity, and I hope the information I share with you today prompts further research.
G- d does not exist as separate persons or three different persons in one “body.” This idea came about and was expounded upon back in the 4th century. Plato’s student Aristotle who had pioneered the disciplines of logic and metaphysics with his ideas of “categories.” that all substances possessed and relations between these substances. The idea was that things in the world could be divided into substances, qualities that those substances possessed, relations that existed between the substances and so on. Christian thinkers such as Tertullian and Gregory of Nyssa expounded on this idea as they talked about Christian doctrines. It was Gregory’s account of the Trinity revolves a technical discussion of the “categories” hypothesized by Aristotle. This conversation expanded to how to apply this paradigm to the divine.
This is where the idea of a Holy Trinity began and it has been erroneously taught in Christianity,
God does not exist as three distinct persons. We find our first proof text in Genesis 1:1. In the Hebrew the fourth word is “et”. In traditional Judaism, they do not know or translate this word. this is only because they do not have the B’rit Chadashah (Refreshed renewed Covenant mistakenly called the “New” Testament) where G-d identifies himself with the same two letters. G-d said, ” I am the “Aleph” and the “Omega,”. the First and the Last, the beginning and the End” Rev.22:12). This validates the fact that in Genesis 1:1 we see the co-existence of Yahshua with G-d as One entity. That fourth word in Genesis 1:1 is also the position of the Servant Candle in the Menorah in the Temple. Recall that we cannot shine our light forward without first getting our Light from the Servant Candle (Yahshua). Just as you cannot separate a candlelight into separate components, we cannot correctly separate our G-d into three distinct persons.
This is further supported by G-d’s statement to Yahshua in Genesis 1:26 ” let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” G-d and Yahshua are One speaking to each other as One, not separate beings.
To help with gaining an understanding of this idea of an inseparable oneness, let’s take a look at ourselves, created in “our image.” You are a Pastor, perhaps a father, a friend, a husband. You have many roles to assume but you assume them at different times depending on what is needed. You would not relate to your wife as her brother, or your mother as a friend. You do not separate yourself into each role and neither does our G-d. Yahshua appeared incognito many times such as to Avraham, Issac, and Jacob. He was usually in the appearance of an angel or man. During the Exodus, Yahshua was manifest as a cloud and YHVH as a column of fire. Here we see the inextricable combination of fire (G-d’s justice) and the cloud (G-d’s mercy and grace).
In Christianity people are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But these separate titles are not in the original manuscripts. The original says that they were baptized in the Name. That is, one Name, one G-d who is also Yahshua and the Ruach HaKodesh (Hopy Spirit).
Yahshua’s name means “G-d saves.” That is why Jews do not use “Jesus” which is a Greek dawn deity. Now let’s explore the name a little more. The tetragramaton of G-d is YHVH. Transliterated from the Paleo-Hebrew we get Y=Hand; Heh=behold; Vav=Nail or hook; Heh=behold. So we have Hand behold, nail behold. This directly alludes to Yahshua!
Furthermore, the first two letters of the Tetragramaton indicate the male aspect of G-d and the last two letters the female aspect of G-d. That is, He administers justice which is considered masculine and grace/love that is considered a feminine characteristic. In Jewish mysticism this is easier to understand. There is a diagram called the Sefirot which is used to describe the characteristics of G-d and using this diagram we can see Justice and Mercy/grace are counterbalanced. If you want to look into the studies I have on the “Mystical Shape of the G-dhead,” they are on the website.
The entire book of John is also an excellent place to explore Yahshua’s teaching about his Messiahship and His Oneness with G-d the father.
I will stop here and give you a chance to look at these areas of G-d’s Torah more closely in a new light. I also encourage you to listen to my podcast #14 “Va’era I appeared) which should also clarify how YHVH/Yahshua/Ruach HaKodesh are One complex Unity.
I hope this helps. Thank you again for your question.
Shalom v’brachas,
Rabbi Tamah Davis-Hart