In Gen we find the word GOD // ELOHIM an noun , and GOD is in then PLURAL , and is in the ABOLUTE .
#2 Also in Gen 1:26 it reads LET US MAKE // ASA and it stem is in the Hebrew , QAL , also in the PLURAL
#3 In 1 John 5:7 There are THREE that bear witness , the Father , Word , and the Holy Spirit , looks like a TRINITY or THREE , which ever you LIKE >
dan p
Yes at Genesis 1:1 the title “God” is translated from
Elohim, which is plural in Hebrew. Trinitarians construe this to be an indication of the Trinity. They also explain Deuteronomy 6:4 to imply the unity of members of the Trinity when it says, “The LORD our God [from
Elohim] is one LORD.”
But the plural form of the noun Elohim here in Hebrew is the plural of majesty or excellence. (See
NAB, St. Joseph Edition, Bible Dictionary, p. 330; also,
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. V, p. 287.) It conveys no thought of plurality of persons within a godhead. In similar fashion, at Judges 16:23 when reference is made to the false god Dagon, a form of the title
elohim is used; the accompanying verb is singular, showing that reference is to just the one god. At Genesis 42:30, Joseph is spoken of as the “lord” (adhoneh, the plural of excellence) of Egypt.
The Greek language does not have a ‘plural of majesty or excellence.’ So, at Genesis 1:1 the translators of
LXX used,
"ho Theos" (God, singular) as the equivalent of
Elohim. At Mark 12:29, where a reply of Jesus is reproduced in which he quoted Deuteronomy 6:4, the Greek singular
ho Theos is similarly used.
At Deuteronomy6:4, the Hebrew text contains the Tetragrammaton twice, and so should more properly read: “YHWH(Jehovah) our God is one YHWH(Jehovah.”) The nation of Israel, to whom that was stated, did not believe in the Trinity. The Babylonians and the Egyptians worshiped triads of gods, but it was made clear to Israel that YHWH(Jehovah) God is different.
At Genesis 1:26 many claim that because the word "us" is here in this scripture that three persons are being spoken about here, but the word "us" can be referring to only two persons and so God is speaking to his only begotten son here.
While I know that many will choose to believe what they choose to believe and they of course have that right, but that being said, at 1 John 5:7 there are Bibles that say concerning this verse, "And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one.” However there is too much evidence however concerning 1John 5:7 that the words, "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one” that do not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts.
So most modern Bible translations omit those words. The Bible edition by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine putting the words in brackets along with an explanatory footnote, as follows: “The Holy See reserves to itself the right to pass finally on the origin of the present reading.”
The oldest Greek manuscript of the Christian Scriptures is, in the judgment of many, the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209, written in the first half of the fourth century. In our own copy of this Greek manuscript as edited by Cardinal Angelus Maius in 1859, he inserted the Greek words into the Manuscript copy but added a sign of a footnote at the end of the preceding verse. The footnote is in Latin and, translated, reads:
"From here on in the most ancient Vatican codex, which we reproduce in this edition, the reading is as follows: “For there are three that give testimony, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three are for one. If the testimony” etc. There is therefore lacking the celebrated testimony of John concerning the divine three persons, which fact was already long known to critics."
Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed, the Bible translator said, on 1 John 5:7: “This verse has not been found in Greek in any manuscript in or out of the New Testament earlier than the thirteenth century. It does not appear in any Greek manuscript of 1 John before the fifteenth century, when one cursive has it; one from the sixteenth also contains the reading. These are the only Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in which it has ever been found. But it occurs in no ancient Greek manuscript or Greek Christian writer or in any of the oriental versions. So since some Bibles 1 John 5:7 says, "And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one," and they don't appear in any Greek Manuscripts earlier than the thirteenth century, where then did they get their information if no source existed until the thirteenth century or after.
It is universally discredited by Greek scholars and editors of the Greek text of the New Testament.” So in the examination of John’s writings as to who the Word and God are, we cannot proceed on the basis of what the spurious words in 1 John 5:7 are saying.
