Continuing my series on the Trinity, I’d like to present an idea I had. I have no idea how valid it may or may not be it’s just something I thought is very interesting. I was listening to an audio course on the Old Testament from Christine Hayes of Yale University on the texts of the mosaic law. Professor Hayes notes that the language used to describe Israel’s relation to God switches from that of parent-child to that of husband-wife between the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus (I may be wrong about when the shift occurs).
The cause of the shift is speculated to have something to do with the sources used (On the basis of the Documentary hypothesis) or to serve some other reason the author had.
The thought I’d like to submit is that while it is perfectly fine for God to love us in the way a parent loves a child and at the same time in the way a spouse loves his equal, perhaps the differences are due to our different relationships to the persons of the Trinity.
In Exodus 4:22, Israel is portrayed as being the child of God the Father. In the New Testament, we learn that Jesus is God’s son in a unique way (John 1:18) and through him we are adopted into the holy family as God’s children (Ephesians 1:3-6) and become Christ’s siblings (Matthew 12:50). But in the NT we also have a new imagery presented of the church as the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9-10, Ephesians 5:22-33).
So may I submit that the shift in language could be due to a shift between the Father and Son revealing God’s will to us by the Spirit. As I say this is only a thought and a very under developed one at that. What are your thoughts?
Coming soon in the series.
- To which person does the name of God (YHWY) refer?
- The use of “Echad” in the Shema as a hint at God’s nature.
- A contrast and comparison between wisdom in Proverbs 8, Logos in John 1 and the function of the preincarnate Christ.
- God as Father and the Divinity of Jesus and the Spirit.
- There is only one God: Scripture and the Aristotelean argument for Monotheism
- The Trinity for Muslims: a contrast of the Trinity and Allah.
- The Trinity for Mormons: a critique of henotheism and refutation of polytheism
- The Trinity for Jehovah’s witnesses: the personhood of the spirit and Jesus as Micheal the archangel.
- The origin of the Trinity.
- The Trinity and the one-many ontology of the universe.
- The Trinity and marriage the model of “Echad”
- Conclusion.
Tags: Christine hayes, old testament, Trinity
