My understanding is that Islamics and even some groups who use the term Christian have a problem with Jesus being the Son of God. After all, one means one how can God have a Son? While I understand that the doctrine of the Trinity or Tri-unity of God is hard for the human mind to grasp, it is clearly taught in Scripture.
Gen 1:26-27
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. KJV
Right here in the first chapter of Scripture we have a problem posed for modalists and other non-trinitarians. If God is not a plural unity then who is He speaking to when He says Our image. Certainly not the angels for He would not say Our when talking to them for they are created being as well. It could only be to someone of equal stature as a creator and He is the only Creator. Twelve times in Scripture it is said that He is the Lord God and there is none else. So who comprises the Our in Our image. To have an Our you have to have at least two so we have a Deity that is at least a Bi-Unity in this passage though we shall see in other places the Tri-Unity.
Isa 48:12-17
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. KJV
In this passage, it is clearly God speaking to His people and may I say that he is not happy with them. Verse 12 affirms the one and only God as the first and the last or as the New Testament puts it the Alpha and Omega. He says, it’s me and me alone. Yet, in verse 16 we see a presentation of the Holy One of Israel that seems different than what the Sh’ma presents in Duet 6:4 which is a foundation stone in Hebrew theology. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:” KJV
So God is speaking, the one and none else God, but He says that the Lord GOD and His Spirit has sent Him. Hello, that is a three count. The speaker calls Himself God. He said God sent Him. He also said God’s Spirit sent Him. Some say that the Spirit is just an influence so we still have a Bi-Unity if you take that position. Yet, an influence is not a sending on commissioning agent. That requires a persona or person. Thus two Persons of Deity level sent this Deity that is speaking hence three persons or a Tri-Unity/Trinity.
Is this this a contradiction of the Sh’ma or is the Sh’ma a contradiction of the true makeup of God? Neither is true, but a misunderstanding could make it such. The word one in Sh’ma can mean one and only one but there is imagery of composite unities in Scripture where the Children of Israel were gathered, stood or fought as one man. One cluster of grapes has many grapes within the cluster Even our bodies have numerous parts but we are one body. Each part is different having a specific purpose and that is to maintain life in the body.
The word however does come from a root word meaning unity but also carries the idea of unity as in collecting your thoughts or unifying your thought. Many thoughts unified for a purpose. The variation used in the passage is properly used of a united oneness though it can be used as an ordinal or primary idea of one. Thus if the translators would have said “...the Lord our God is an united God” it would have still been correct. It fits perfectly with our Isaiah passage either way since the obvious presentation is a plural Godhead who emphasizes that they are one and there is none else.
Though we are not completely or clearly told until the New Testament that they are not only one in accord as in unity but also one in essence we could assume or speculate such a concept from this passage. How that works we will not know until we stand before the Trinity. Many attempts have been made to describe it but none are perfect and none may even be close. There are some things we do just have commit them to Him until we are totally transformed at the Rapture for our puny finite minds cannot grasp them as they are too high for us since they are a part of the Most High Creator.
Another problem people have related to this is the humanity of Christ. Even those would concede to a spiritual Trinity they have problems with God dwelling in a body. Well...
Zech 12:9-10
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. KJV
If God is only a spirit and cannot have a body, like we can tell God what He can and cannot have, then how do we explain this? Again, in the context, it is clearly God speaking, Only God can pour out the spirit of grace and supplications. Yet, God is saying they shall look upon Me, which they have pierced. Hello, you have to have a body to pierce before it can be pierced. Then it is like He changes gears and says that they shall mourn for Him. Mourn for whom if it is God pierced why the change? Because they are piercing God in the flesh but not the same one speaking.
You say, “OK then how does that work?” We see here the concept of unity but also an oneness of essence for though it is a different person being pierced since they are of one essence both feel the piercing. They will mourn for the Person that took on flesh but the One who is speaking will also be affected and though it is not said here so will the Spirit. If you had Siamese twins that were joined or shared one arm and you injected that arm with a vaccine both twins would feel the pain yet one might shrug it off as nothing and the other moan like you stabbed him. They would not be of the same essence though they share the same body and experience. The Godhead is perfect in its Oneness and doing something to one is to do it unto the others.
We can see now that at some point in time God took on flesh to be pierced. How does that happen?
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. KJV
Some argue over the whether or not the word virgin means virgin or young woman. Well, a young woman giving birth is not much of a sign and certainly no miracle. His name shall be called Immanuel which means God with us. Some say that only means He is on our side or a symbol of His presence among His people. Not much of a sign there either. When God does signs or wonders He means something out of the ordinary or a miracle so that you know He did it and it is not just a happenstance, stroke of luck or coincidence.
Isa 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. KJV
Now a virgin conceiving would certainly be a miracle. Not only is the child to be named Immanuel, but he has a few other names like Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. It would have been blasphemy to ascribe any of those titles to just a normal kid born of a young mother. There has to be something special about this kid.
How in the world can a virgin conceive? God would have to impregnate her. God is a spirit! How in the world can He do that? Oh, ye of little faith or even common sense.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. KJV
Most of the folks who have a problem with God having a Son are Creationists. If God created everything out of nothing and created man and woman then what is the problem? He created the reproductive system. Why could He not create a seed to implant into a woman without physical intimacy? Like that would be hard? He created DNA so could He not put a DNA structure in it that would be His DNA and yet still able to merge with Mary’s? I don’t know about your god but it is child’s play for my God. If all He did was create a seed without the flaw that is in us because of sin there would be no sin nature in that body and in essence move things back to the Garden and the person created that way would at least be innocent like Adam and Eve were before the Fall.
So no problem for the Creator God creating a perfect body without a sin nature, but would that person be God in the flesh? The body is only one part of a human. We have a spirit and a soul. The soul is what is active making our personality and able to comprehend our surroundings in a way above the animals thus making us sentient. The spirit allows us to comprehend and experience God.
To have God in the flesh, He need only indwell that body. Instead of creating a soul and spirit for that body He would only have to indwell it Himself. Would He shrink Himself down? No, He is omnipresent and inhabits every part of the universe. He is what holds the protons in a molecule together when by the laws of science they should repel each other.
How He did it exactly we do not know. Theologians call it hypostatic union. It doesn’t really matter as the ability for it to happen we can comprehend but the mechanics of it we do not need to know. We use thousands of objects that we have know clue about the mechanical process use to make them. We are just glad they are there. How God did the Incarnation we can take up with Him in eternity if we will even care then.
Therefore if God created and inhabited this body we would have God in the flesh but what about the Son thing? Isa 48:16 shows we have three persons. While it mentions two in the sending whenever we have a pair of individuals in a sentence the more powerful or respected person is named first and the one primarily involved with the action.. Therefore the Lord God sent the Person in Isaiah. So, if the Person of the Godhead inhabited the body that the Lord God created then truly He becomes the Son of God as He has at least submitted to the Lord God as an authority though they be equals since they are of one essence.
OK, so we have the Lord God creating a seed without a sin nature, implants it into a virgin and has the Second Person of the Godhead merge in some way with this seed and become His Son, His only begotten son. Seems hard to imagine?
Jer 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: KJV
And so we come back to the Creativity of God. Those who deny that God can have a Son rob Him of His creativity and unlike Jeremiah they say there are some things so hard God cannot do them. God indeed has a Son and His name is Jesus. He came as Immanuel, God with us, and He was pierced on the Cross for the sins of not only His people, the Jews, but thankfully for all mankind. One day, His people will mourn for Him as one would their firstborn and when they cry out to Him He will return.
Rom 1:16-20
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: KJV
God has shown you His creation and has given His Word in His Scripture about who He is and who the Son is and who the Spirit is and what must be done to be saved. You have no excuse.
Ps 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. KJV
This is a kiss of respect or reverence and submission. If you reject the Son, you reject the Father. You anger the Son, you anger the Father. He wants to be your Father! Put your trust in Jesus Christ/Y’shua Ha-Mashiach and have your sins forgiven and saved from an eternity in Hell.
Why not accept the Way and the Truth and be saved from sin and Hell? If you would like to be saved, use the following prayer as an example to tell God and His Son, Jesus, you want salvation! The words are not magical. God looks on the heart and, not the lips. Call out to Him, in your own way! You may call longer or louder than someone else. That is fine! Just call before it is too late!
Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and that Your Son, Jesus Christ, died and rose again to pay for my sins. I want Him to be my King and Saviour. Please forgive me for my sins. I want to turn from my sin and, with your help, to obey You. Save me now, for Jesus’ sake. Thank You for saving me, Amen.
