The fact of the trinity begins in Genesis, and in the Old Testament.
The famous OT scripture used by those rejecting the fact that the triune Godhead exists, is: God is ONE.
The Hebrew word translated as the word ONE, is defined as one in composite (plural) unity, such as having ONE sheet of plywood, which has THREE layers glued together to make the one sheet.
And in Genesis 1 the Hebrew word used for God is Elohim, which is the plural form of Gods name, which translated literally means GODS.
Thus in the beginning, the plural form of God, Elohim, said let US make man in OUR image,
Ergo, right from the the very first chapter, evidence for one God in three persons exists, which is further proven in the New Testament.
Shalom.
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Elohim is not a name, it's a description or title like 'man,' 'President,' etc.
ELOHIM
Plural “God”
(Elohim) And “Let
US make man”
Many trinitarian apologists will tell us that the Hebrew word for 'God' (
Elohim) is plural because it shows that God is a trinity. For example:
"Among Trinitarian Christian writers it is [often] seen as evidence for the doctrine of the Trinity, a plurality in the Godhead." -
Theopedia, "Elohim."
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That the Hebrew plural is often used for a singular noun to denote “a ‘plural’ of
majesty or
excellence” is well-known by all Biblical Hebrew language experts and has been known from at least the time of Gesenius (1786-1842), who is still regarded as one of the best authorities for Biblical Hebrew!
Gesenius’
Hebrew-
Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament (“long regarded as a standard work for students”), p. 49, shows that
elohim, ~yhla , (“God/gods”) is sometimes used in a
numerically plural sense for
angels, judges, and false gods. But it also says,
“The plural of
majesty [for
elohim], occurs, on the other hand, more than two thousand times.” And that
elohim when used in that sense “occurs in a [numerically]
singular sense” and is “constr[ued] with a verb ... and adjective in the singular.”
Gesenius - Kautzsch’s
Hebrew Grammar, 1949 ed., pp. 398, 399, says:
“The
pluralis excellentiae or
maiestatis ... is properly a variety of the abstract plural, since it sums up the several characteristics belonging to the idea, besides possessing the secondary sense of an
intensification of the original idea. It is thus closely related to the plurals of amplification .... So, especially
Elohim ... ‘God’ (to be distinguished from the plural ‘gods’, Ex. 12:12, etc.) .... That the language has
entirely rejected the idea of
numerical plurality in
Elohim (whenever it denotes one God) is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute.”
Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary, 1925 ed. Pg. 224:
Elohim "is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God."
More modern publications (trinitarian Protestant and Catholic) also make similar acknowledgments of the intended plural of
majesty or
excellence meaning for
elohim. (See the
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. v., p. 287.)
Nelson’s Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament, describes
elohim:
“The common plural form ‘elohim,’ a plural of
majesty.” - Unger and White, 1980, p. 159.
“Pluralis Majestatis: Biblical Hebrew
"The term ‘majestic plural’ or
pluralis majestatis refers to the use of a plural word to refer honorifically to a single person or entity. It is also called the ‘plural of respect’, the ‘honorific plural’, the ‘plural of excellence’, or the ‘plural of intensity’. In the Hebrew Bible such plural forms are most commonly used when referring to the God of Israel, e.g.,
adonim ‘I am a master (lit. ‘masters’)’ (Mal. 1.6), although it can also be used when referring to a human, e.g.,
abraham adonaw ‘Abraham his master (lit. ‘masters’)’ (Gen. 24.9), an object, e.g.
gibroteka ‘your grave (lit. ‘graves’)’ (2 Kgs 22.20), ...." -
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HEBREW LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS, p. 145, vol. 3, 2013.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says:
“It is characteristic of Heb[rew] that extension, magnitude, and dignity, as well as actual multiplicity, are expressed by the pl[ural].” - Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984 ed., Vol. II, p. 1265.
Today’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1982, Bethany House Publishers, written by trinitarian scholars, says of
elohim:
“Applied to the one true God, it is the result in the Hebrew idiom of a plural magnitude or
majesty. When applied to the heathen gods,
angels, or
judges ..., Elohim is plural in sense as well as form.” - p. 208.
Exodus 7:1 (
KJV and Hebrew text) shows God calling
Moses "a god
" (elohim). This alone shows the error of some that the plural
elohim must mean a "plural oneness" unless we want to believe Moses was a multiple-person Moses!
And
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Zondervan Publishing, 1986, tells us:
“
Elohim, though plural in form, is seldom used in the OT as such (i.e. ‘gods’). Even a single heathen god can be designated with the plural
elohim (e.g. Jdg. 11:24; 1 Ki. 11:5; 2 Ki. 1:2). In Israel the plural is understood as the plural of
fullness; God is the God who really, and in the
fullest sense of the word, is God.” - p. 67, Vol. 2.
The NIV Study Bible says about
elohim in its footnote for Gen. 1:1:
“This use of the plural expresses intensification
rather than number and has been called the
plural of majesty, or of potentiality.” – p. 6, Zondervan Publ., 1985.
And the
New American Bible (St. Joseph ed.) tells us in its “Bible Dictionary” in the appendix:
“
ELOHIM. Ordinary Hebrew word for God.
It is the plural of majesty.” – Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1970.
A Dictionary of the Bible by William Smith
(Smith’s Bible Dictionary, p. 220, Hendrickson Publ.) declares:
“The
fanciful idea that
[elohim] referred to the
trinity of persons in the Godhead hardly finds now a supporter among [real] scholars. It is either what grammarians call
the plural of majesty, or it denotes the
fullness of divine strength, the
sum of the powers displayed by
