Exodus 3:13 "And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you."First off, God, doesn't have a name at that time! Unlike the other gods, he just IS. To give him a name at that time would make him like the other gods. Our God is special. He wasn't to assume a name until much much later! No, his name isn't "God"! His existence defines his position. He IS and his authority is GOD:
Genesis 17:1 "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."God tells Abram that he IS and his authority is "Almighty God". In our feeble attempts to magnify God our forebears came up with titles. The Jewish Masoretic Text assigned seven names of God, that when written, can never be erased, because they are so holy: the Tetragrammaton, El, Elohim, Eloah, Elohai, El Shaddai, and Tzevaot. (For that reason Jews do not write God's name, but leave it blank when writing about him).
The Tetragrammaton (Greek language) is not God's name! It's "yodh he waw he" (Hebrew Language), written right-to-left. Because "tetragrammatron" means "four letters", its an acronym for the Hebrew words transliterated to the Greek. It's normally written JHWH יְהֹוָה and pronounced "yah-wey" (written Yahwey) or in the English it's transliterated YHVH and pronounced and spelled "Jehovah', mostly in Christian circles. JHWH comes from the Hebrew I AM THAT I AM, hence although JHWH is defined as "God's name", he is without a name in Old Testament times. When we're told not to take the name of the Lord in vain, that obviously refers to what we call God or better yet, do not take "I AM THAT I AM" in vain, by whatever we use to describe God's existence! To avoid using God's name in vain the Jews call him what's transliterated as "Adonai" or "Lord" since he is "Lord of the Universe". Hence, we don't take the Lord's name in vain. "Lord" is not a name, but a title giving honor to God's authority.
Eloah "God)", Elohim "Gods or Powers", Adonai "Lord", Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh "I am that I am", YHWH "I am that I am", El Shaddai "God Almighty", HaShem "The Name" and YHWH Tzevaot (Lord of Hosts: Sabaoth transliterated in the Latin). These are the Jewish "Seven Names of God". There are many more names less used, but these can never be erased.
We are looking at God as an existence who has assumed titles of adoration. What is God's name? Here's where the term "Trinity" comes into play. It is not a term to be found in the Bible, but is an explanation of the monotheistic essence we refer to as God. Christians are monotheistic; we have a belief in the existence of one God.
Isaiah 44:6 "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."Hence it is apostasy if we don't believe in God and heretical if we believe in multiple Gods (polytheism). Hence, the criteria for Judaism or a Christianity is believing in and proclaiming one true God! The Jews always had trouble with this! Their most prevalent sins were worshiping other gods right along with God. This is called syncretism and since the destruction of the Jewish nation and the temple of God, the Jews have rightfully been careful of worshiping multiple Gods. They had been severely punished for their rebellion! That strong belief in monotheism is a roadblock to their believing in Jesus, not understanding Jesus as do Christians.
Christians too believe in the one true God. We too are monotheistic! The concept which we refer to as the Trinity is described well in Christian scripture:
1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."Jesus himself said simply John 10:30 "I and my Father are one." and as an excuse, was crucified for saying that!
These two verses rank among the most important in the Bible. In essence, it's saying that Jesus is God (as well as the Holy Spirit). Before Jesus was given human form his title was "The Word".
John 1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..."The Word is Jesus as can be seen from "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us". Like God, the Word, was always here. He was at the creation and was never created. The "Word" is the personality of God someday to assume a body of flesh. Since no man could look upon the personality of God we call the "Father" when the Old Testament patriarchs spoke with and saw God, they were communing with the Word. The Word is Jesus who assumed that name later:
Isaiah 9:6 "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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 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."Isaiah the prophet said hundreds of years before Christ's birth that he (the child) is "a son" and is "the Everlasting Father". Here we see how Jesus was to be the Son of God as well as God! That's a critical concept! Then in the New Testament at the time of Jesus' conception it was said:
Matthew 1:22 "Now all this (the virgin birth of Jesus) was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."Matthew revealed the truth of what the prophet Isaiah had said! Jesus at his birth was named "God with us" because he IS God with us!
Luke 2:21 "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."Just as with God, the Christ was called just plain "God" because he IS. His given name was "Jesus". That's when God was assigned a proper name! "Jesus" is God revealed to mankind. He's God in the flesh. He came to bear spirit with mankind and provide the Way! Isaiah acknowledged that Jesus, the Lord God, was to be the Savior of mankind when he wrote:
Isaiah 43:11 "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour."
Jesus saves! God saves! It's not God or Jesus saves! It's God Jesus, the Savior, who saves. He's the Son of God because he was born in the flesh, yet his Spirit always WAS and IS! The "Angel of God" was made "mortal", but indestructible, and showed the world that "mortals" are immortal if only they have faith! Jesus, witnessed to his own previous existence. He too is the beginning (and the end):
John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am"Ignatius, a pre-Nicene Church father, described God as the like the sun. The sun is light and emits that light as seen in the sun's rays. The rays are of the sun yet are still light as is the sun. The rays represent Jesus who is still light and of the sun and the Holy Spirit, also of God and light as is the sun. It is to be distinguished that the rays are not something different than the sun, but are as much sun as the sun itself. Mankind sees the sun by the light it emits. Likewise, we see the Father in the Light emitted (Jesus). We believe because of Jesus, but we were left with God in the form of the Holy Spirit, who is also as the ray of the sun. We don't see the ray, but we sense his presence, just as we sense the light of the sun by the heat of the ray of the sun!
It's crucial to believe that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father (God) are all God, but detected by man in different forms. Jesus as God on earth wasn't a separate being, but was still God! He was God with us (Emmanuel), but God the Father was still where he resides. The Spirit of God in Jesus bore witness to the Spirit of God in heaven. Jesus, being the Word who became flesh, was at one with the Father (God) in heaven. Hence, we are told to be baptized in the name of "Jesus". Who is Jesus? That's the earthly name of God and he is God. Likewise, we are to be baptized in the Name:
Matthew 28:19 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost..."If there exists A and B and B=3, and if A=B, then A=3! If one is baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Spirit), then that person is being baptized in the name of Jesus, because "Jesus" is God and God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
We cannot comprehend God's essence and this is a feeble attempt to reveal God. We put God in a box and within the bounds of our understanding. God's outside the box! God is a mystery and desires to remain so. Because we can't define him, doesn't dim his majesty. If we deny Jesus, we're denying God! If we grieve the Holy Spirit we are denying God. If we believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are three different persons, that's heretical and it misrepresents God. That's polytheism, called Modalism, one God manifested in three different discreet identities. Modalism is heretical and contends that God is not omnipresent. He is limited to being one place at one time. We know that Jesus spoke to his Father (God) in heaven. God is with us everywhere!
Study on these things. Until a Christian understands God who he worships, it makes it difficult to love God! We love God because he died for us! Jesus died for us. He is God! To love Jesus is to love God. Since, God came, put on flesh and died, we must accept that God did die for us. We must accept God Jesus and not only God the Father, because to deny Jesus is to deny the grace of God in feeling and responding to our condition!
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