Evangelion
<b><font size="2">δυνατός</b></font>
Continued...
More eisegesis. Nowhere in the OT is the Holy Spirit equated with the person of God Himself. You are trying to ascribe literal personality to a mere attribute.
No, He did not. He tells us specifically that He sent His angel.
...because he acted upon God's behalf.
And what is their conclusion?
Yes, since it uses the Hebrew word for the numeral "one", we are probably on safe ground when we conclude that it means... "one."
Irrelevant. The word yachid appears only twelve times in the entire Bible.
No, it is simply the Hebrew word for "one." While it is true that echad is sometimes found modifying a collective noun (one family, one herd, one bunch, etc.) the sense of plurality actually resides in the compound noun with which it is associated, and not in the word echad itself! Echad appears in standard translations of the Bible as the numeral "one", and also as "only", "alone", "undivided", and "single." It usually means "one and not two", as we find in Ecclesiastes 4:8. Abraham was "only one man" (echad) in the New International Version's rendition of Ezekiel 33:24, and he was "alone" (echad) in the King James translation of Isaiah 51:2.
Koehler and Baumgartner's Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (1967) clearly states that the fundamental definition of echad is "one single." Any plurality, therefore, is not found within the word itself, but in the subject to which it is applied. Likewise, the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon defines echad in the following way:
Writing in his Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, Gesenius defines echad in the followin way:
Let's take a few examples, using English:
For this reason, Gregory Boyd (the Trinitarian apologist) has conceded that the echad argument is totally useless for Trinitarian purposes:
In the Jewish Bible God is pictured sitting on His throne in Heaven, and at the same time He is present everywhere throughout the universe (where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence? - Psalm 139:7), and at the same time the Spirit of God was dwelling in the prophets, and at the same time the Shechinah (God's Dwelling Presence, the Glory of God, the Holy Spirit) was manifested in the Jerusalem Temple (1 Kings 8:27)!
More eisegesis. Nowhere in the OT is the Holy Spirit equated with the person of God Himself. You are trying to ascribe literal personality to a mere attribute.
From time to time God manifested Himself as the enigmatic Angel of the Lord, a mysterious messenger being (angel means messenger) who appeared throughout our people's history.
No, He did not. He tells us specifically that He sent His angel.
When He appeared this mysterious angel was treated as God Himself. He possessed divine prerogatives, He had divine authority, and He received divine worship.
...because he acted upon God's behalf.
When Manoah, the father of Samson, finally realized that he was dealing with the Angel of the Lord, he said to his wife, we shall surely die, for we have seen God (Judges 13:21-22). In that same chapter, God is mentioned, the Angel of the Lord (who is called God), is mentioned, and the Spirit of God is mentioned. (See Genesis 16:7, 9, 11, Exodus 3:2-6, Judges 2:1-4, 6:11-22, for other appearances of this mysterious Angel of the Lord).
And what is their conclusion?
Judges 13:21.
But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
What about the Shema? Some have objected that the Shema (Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One - Deut. 6:4) reveals that God can only be a simple unity.
Yes, since it uses the Hebrew word for the numeral "one", we are probably on safe ground when we conclude that it means... "one."
But there are two Hebrew words for "one" - "echad" and "yachid."
Irrelevant. The word yachid appears only twelve times in the entire Bible.
"Echad," which is used to describe the oneness of God in the Shema, connotes a composite oneness
No, it is simply the Hebrew word for "one." While it is true that echad is sometimes found modifying a collective noun (one family, one herd, one bunch, etc.) the sense of plurality actually resides in the compound noun with which it is associated, and not in the word echad itself! Echad appears in standard translations of the Bible as the numeral "one", and also as "only", "alone", "undivided", and "single." It usually means "one and not two", as we find in Ecclesiastes 4:8. Abraham was "only one man" (echad) in the New International Version's rendition of Ezekiel 33:24, and he was "alone" (echad) in the King James translation of Isaiah 51:2.
Koehler and Baumgartner's Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (1967) clearly states that the fundamental definition of echad is "one single." Any plurality, therefore, is not found within the word itself, but in the subject to which it is applied. Likewise, the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon defines echad in the following way:
1) One (number.)
1a) One (number.)
1b) Each, every.
1c) A certain.
1d) An (indefinite article.)
1e)[/b] Only, once, once for all.
1f) One...another, the one...the other, one after another, one by one.
1g) First.
1h) Eleven (in combination), eleventh (ordinal.)
Writing in his Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, Gesenius defines echad in the followin way:
A NUMERAL HAVING THE POWER OF AN ADJECTIVE.
1. The same, Genesis 40:5, Job 31:15.
2. First, but only so used in counting the days of the months, Ezra 10:16, 17; in counting years, Daniel 9:1,2, Ezra 1:1. In other places as Genesis 1:5, one does not lose the common idea of a cardinal, and the numbers follow one another as in Latin unus, alter, tertius.
3. Some one, "some one of the people;" "no one."
4. It acts the part of an indefinite article, especially in the later Hebrew, 1 Kings 20:13, "a certain prophet;" Daniel 8:3, "a ram," 1 Kings 19:4. So also when one precedes, e.g. "a certain holy one," i.e. angel Daniel 8:13. Sometimes also by a genitive "one of the cisterns," i.e. some cistern, Genesis 37:20; Job 2:10.
5. One only of its kind, Job 23:13; Ezekiel 7:5, Canticles 6:9. 6. When repeated it is one...another, Exodus 17:12; 18:3. It even occurs three times repeated, 1 Samuel 10:3; 13:17, 18. Also distributively of individuals, Number. 13:2, "ye shall send one man to a tribe;" Numbers 34:18.
7. As one man, i.e. together. Ezra 2:64, "the whole congregation together;" Ezra 3:9; 6:20; Ecclesiastes 11:6, "both alike." Also i.q. "together, unitedly," Isaiah 65:25; in the same sense is said Judges 20:8; 1 Samuel 11:7.
8. For one time, once, 2 Kings 6:10; Psalms 62:12.
9. (a) i.q. No. 8, Num. 10:4. (b) Suddenly, Pro. 28:18. (c) i.q. altogether, Jer. 10:8. 10.[/b] One after another, one by one, Isa 27:12, and Ecc. 7:27, one after another...[/i]
Let's take a few examples, using English:
- One pair. (The "compound unity" here, is "pair" - not "one.")
- One triplet. (The "compound unity" here, is "triplet" - not "one.")
- One bunch. (The "compound unity" here, is "bunch" - not "one.")
- One herd. (The "compound unity" here, is "herd" - not "one.")
For this reason, Gregory Boyd (the Trinitarian apologist) has conceded that the echad argument is totally useless for Trinitarian purposes:
Even weaker is the argument that the Hebrew word for "one" (echad) used in the Shema ("Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord") refers to a united one, not an absolute one. Hence, some Trinitarians have argued, the Old Testament has a view of a united Godhead. It is, of course, true that the meaning of the word may in some contexts denote a unified plurality (e.g. Gen. 2:24, "they shall become one flesh"). But this really proves nothing. An examination of the Old Testament usage reveals that the word echad is as capable of various meanings as is our English word one. The context must determine whether a numerical or unified singularity is intended.
Boyd, Gregory (1995), Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity.
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