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Posts: 85958
Nov 22 06 9:59 AM
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Quote: But consider: The "Father" in the OT. Why was he called "Father"? One can only be a "Father" if one has a "Son" (or daughter). Yes, he is "our Father" and the "Father" of all creation in one sense, but what about even before creation? The orthodox Christian belief is that it was still "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit", not "the Big Guy, the Word and the Holy Spirit".
Quote:The plural form of the sentence raises the question, With whom took he counsel on this occasion? Was it with himself, and does he here simply use the plural of majesty? Such was not the usual style of monarchs in the ancient East. Pharaoh says, I have dreamed a dream Gen_41:15. Nebuchadnezzar, I have dreamed Dan_2:3. Darius the Mede, I make a decree Dan_6:26. Cyrus, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth Ezr_1:2. Darius, I make a decree Ezr_5:8. We have no ground, therefore, for transferring it to the style of the heavenly King. Was it with certain other intelligent beings in existence before man that he took counsel? This supposition cannot be admitted; because the expression let us make is an invitation to create, which is an incommunicable attribute of the Eternal One, and because the phrases, our image, our likeness, when transferred into the third person of narrative, become his image, the image of God, and thus limit the pronouns to God himself. Does the plurality, then, point to a plurality of attributes in the divine nature? This cannot be, because a plurality of qualities exists in everything, without at all leading to the application of the plural number to the individual, and because such a plurality does not warrant the expression, let us make. Only a plurality of persons can justify the phrase. Hence, we are forced to conclude that the plural pronoun indicates a plurality of persons or hypostases in the Divine Being.
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