1. Introduction
* Since the apostles preached in the language of witness rather than the technical language of doctrine they did not preach the trinity, even if their preaching, as I will seek to explain, was in the trinity.
* The biblical language of the experience of God corresponds to technical language about the same reality. And even if the Christians of the first two centuries possessed different forms of thought from those of later times, there is adequate evidence they worshipped God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the same way as later believers.(See Appendix 1. Deity of Son and Spirit in the First Two Centuries)
2. What is Being Claimed
* The doctrine of the Trinity has no basis in culture, history, philosophy or religion outside of the Bible. (see Appendix 2: Supposed Non-Christian Parallels to the Trinity)
* It is in the Bible we first encounter is the concept of eternal persons who are essentially relational. (This means that the OT revelation of the covenant God presupposes the NT revelation of God as Father, Son and Spirit and unconsciously is a thought form implicitly operating in the spirituality of Orthodox Jews, Christadelphians, JW’S and many other religions.
* Contrary to popular misunderstanding, Christians have NEVER CLAIMED that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are to be individually confessed as Lord and God, simply because it denies that the Persons of the trinity are individuals.
* We confess that the 3 persons who constitute the 1 God do not exist outside of their relationships with each other; The relationships Father to Son and Son to Father in the Holy Spirit make God to be God; persons minus relationships = zero. The Father, Son and Spirit exist only in one another..
* All post – resurrection denial of God as Father, Son and Spirit by those who appeal to scripture is consequence of using a logic that denies the internal relational oneness of the Godhead (John 10:30)..
* Our western non- relational, analytical and individualistic/psychological thinking is essentially Greek in origin and cannot handle the revelation of God in scripture.
* If God is a series of relationships, then revelation is essentially relational. To deny this is to be without the true revelation of God (“3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”John 17:3 cf. en 4:1; Am 3:2; 1 Cor 13:12).
(Appendix 3: Logic and God)
* Jesus words in Matthew 28:19 reflect this relational logic of indwelling. “19 Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (not names) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,.”” Those baptised in this name are now immersed in God (cf. Mt 3:11; John 1:33; Ac 1:5; 2:38,39; 11:16; 1Co 12:13; Col 3:3) now know God on the inside, he is more than the name YAHWEH/LORD but “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.
* If God is not eternally relational, then his essence is not relational, and our relationships with him can never be intimate, only a reflection of how he has revealed himself “on the outside”. (cf. # 1 Cor 2:10 -11) That is, if the revelation of the Bible is not trinitarian, then we have the revelation of God who is essentially unknowable in himself. (Cf. God as an actor in a drama who puts on a good face for us.)
* But the God of biblical revelation is truly relational and conveys to us a knowledge of his own true inner being.
3. What is meant by “The Bible”
* There are two fundamentally different ways of relating to the Bible. The first sees the Bible as a source of rationalistic and conceptual knowledge. You read the Bible to collect facts from texts and to assemble them into a particular framework that fits the data most coherently. [(This is how I think some fundamentalist Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Unitarians, Christadelphians etc. use the Bible.)]
* The second view is essentially relational and personal. You go to the Bible to have fellowship with God.
* The pattern of scripture is a communication about the wholeness of the life of God as Father, Son and Spirit.
* The God who is essentially relational has breathed out his Word by his Spirit (Gen 1:1ff; Ps 33:6 “6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.”; John 1:1ff; Heb 4:12; 2 Pet 1:20 -21 “no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Etc.) in such a way that when I read it I am caught up into the “13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit ” (2 Cor 13:14)
* To receive revelation we must indwell the Biblical witness in the same way as God indwells himself (see below). Ps 119:11 “11 I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.” Col 3:16 “16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly ” James 1:21 “welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls ”cf. Deut 6:6; 11:18; 1 John 2:14
* Through the Bible we enter into the inner circle of the life of God.
* Inside the life of God he reveals himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit through scripture not as a rational theorem but as a life experience.
* If one does not worship God as he is (doxologically);) one does not know God as he is. For example, in praising Jesus in Romans 9:5 (cf. other doxologies 2 Cor 13:13-14, 1 Thess 1:2- 5) Paul says, “from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is (ὁ ὢν)over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν. Contained within the expression “who is over all” is a Greek phrase identical to that used of God the Father in similar contexts of blessing in 2 Cor 11:31 ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ οἶδεν, ὁ ὢν εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας and Rev 1:8 Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸὮ, λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός, ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ παντοκράτωρ.
Even more significantly, in the O.T. Bible of the early church (Septuagint) it is used as a part of the revelation of the divine name to Moses “I Am Who I Am” in Exodus 3:14- 15.
13 καὶ εἶπεν Μωυσῆς πρὸς τὸν θεόν Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐλεύσομαι πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς Ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἐρωτήσουσίν με Τί ὄνομα αὐτῷ; τί ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς; 14 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς. 15 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πάλιν πρὸς Μωυσῆν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν, θεὸς Αβρααμ καὶ θεὸς Ισαακ καὶ θεὸς Ιακωβ, ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς, τοῦτό μού ἐστιν ὄνομα αἰώνιον καὶ μνημόσυνον γενεῶν γενεαῖς. (Ex 3:13- 15)
13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations. (Ex 3:13- 15)
* This means that Jesus not only has the divine name within him (like the angel of the LORD Ex 23:21); but he himself is internal to the name of God. This is exactly as Paul says in another place which too is a context of praise and worship:
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In restoring his Son from his earthly state of humiliation to the eternal glory he had with the Father in eternity, God reveals to the whole creation that which he spoke of himself in Isaiah 45:23, Jesus is the bearer of the name LORD = YAHWEH/Jehovah and as such the object of divine worship.
4. The Trinity’s Witness in the Bible
* The glory God is the sum total of all his attributes in their declaration and manifestation
* “23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified….28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ” John 12:23,28 “After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,…. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. ” John 17:1, 5 “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:21- 23
* Father glorifies the Son (John 8:54; 13:32; 17:1), Son glorifies the Father (John 13:31; 14:13; 17:4; Heb 1:3), Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:14).
* The important thing about these statements is that they are totally mutual and reciprocal, Jesus and the Father love and indwell one another to the same degree. In a manner that is equally eternal, glorious, loving and unified. This means that these two persons are equally eternal, glorious, loving and unified. Likewise, “22 The Father judges no one but has given (when?) all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.” This perfect correlation of dignity is the Trinitarian revelation.
* Because “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9), the totality of the revelation of the fatherhood of God i.e. his glory, without diminution, refraction or limitation is seen in Christ. As Hebrews says, the Son “the radiance of His glory and the exactrepresentation of His nature” (1:3) ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ
* Only if Jesus is God as well as man, could he fully image God as a man (Col 1:15).
* This is why, for example that in meeting the Son we meet the Father and vice versa. “15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ” (1 John 4:15)
* Knowledge of the personhood of Father and Son are locked into one another in scripture in such a way that either to know one is to know the other, if this were not the case the Father would be essentially unknowable.
* In scripture Jesus not only speaks of making God seen (14:9 “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”), like the burning bush or the manifestation of God on Sinai, but claims to have seen God in a unique way.
* John 1:18 “8 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” 3:31- 32 “31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen (pf.) and heard” (i.e. “heavenly things” 3:12); 6:46 “46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.” 8:38 “38 I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence;”
# theophanic manifestations of OT nor even representations of the LORD (Ex 24:9- 11; 33:11; Num 12:6- 8; Acts 7:2)/God Almighty (Ex 6:2- 3)
1. claims direct access to heavenly realities
2. perfect tense (enduring state of affairs based on a past condition) of “seeing” relates back to John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God πρὸς τὸν θεόν “face to face”/”look to”, and the Word was God”
3. see the essence of God viz. as the only Son he alone sees God as Father
* The words of Jesus are the words of God, “but I say to you” (Matt 5:21f., 27f., etc.). “35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matt 24:35 cf. Isa 40:8) because Jesus is the Word who is God (John 1:1, 14).
* As such, in his relationship with the Father he exercises supreme authority.
* Jesus says, John 14:1 “Believein God, believe also in me.” Literally, “Believein God, also in me believe.” ““Do you believe in the Son of Man?”36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.” Πιστεύω, κύριε· καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ (John 9:35- 38).cf. Ex 3:6 Moses a the revelation of the name of God at Sinai
Uniquely Jesus ranks himself with the Father as an object of faith and accepts worship cf. Matt 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17.
* This is because, to faith and worship, Jesus is not an individual, but the person of the Son in God revealed.
* What then are we to make of words like these? John 5:30 “30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”14:28 “28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.”
* This is the reality of the deity in the humanity of the Sonship of Jesus. The distinction of Father and Son as eternal giver and eternal gift is perfectly preserved, but there is nothing in the Father that is not given to the Son except what cannot be given, Fatherhood.
* Jesus never speaks of the Father as the creator of him as a person, only of his body or flesh, “flesh and blood” i.e. humanity (John 1:14; Rom 8:3; Heb 2:14; 5:7; 10:5).
* It is the resurrection of Jesus reveals his deity and opens the way to the disclosure of the divine self –revelation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit e.g. Phil 2:9ff., Heb 1:3, 6; 2 Pet 3:18; Rev 5:12 -14 (worship of Jesus).
* This comes out not only in passages like Phil 2:5- 11 but also in Romans 1:3- 4 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 1:3 – 4)
* In the resurrection the mortal humanity of Jesus is, so to speak, finally adopted back in the person of the Son into the eternal glory of God by the climax of the process begun with his incarnation, declared a this baptism and completed with his resurrection.
* This return to glory (John 12:23, 28; 13:31- 32 31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once; 17:5) depends on the sacrifice of the cross.
* Only if the sacrifice of the cross is the sacrifice of God (John 1:18, God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart) is God’s inner being essentially touched by our condition cf. John 3:16; Acts 20:28 “to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son ”
* This logic of mutual indwelling personhood, glory, authority… could also be applied to the Spirit.
* Spirit (sent from Father) bears witness to Jesus in same way as Jesus bears witness to Father (John 14:16f., 26; 15:26; 16:13 -15 . Jesus to Father and Spirit to Jesus are perfectly correlated.
* 1 John 3:24; 4:13 “24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.” “13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”
* 1 Cor 2:10 -11 “the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.”
* Spirit as Lord in same way as Father and Son (“the Lord is the Spirit” 2 Cor 3:17- 18 based on Ex 34:34 “whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off”)
5. Conclusion
* If the Godhead is not constituted by mutually indwelling triunity of Persons then God is essentially, that is, internally, unknowable. Intimacy is not a part of the being of God.
* The revelation of Jesus Christ, and pre- eminently his sacrifice (John 3:16; Rom 5:8) brought a new logic of God into the world “8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:8 – 10). This is the revelation of the fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that constitutes the eternal life of God.
* To “participate in the divine nature”2 Peter 1:4 is to share in “13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13). This is how God shares the interior of his life with us (= grace+ communion +love).
* No relational intermediaries between God and humanity other than those interior to the life/being of God himself i.e. Jesus and the Spirit.
* “In Christ”, humanity has been taken into God so the relational distance between God and humanity has been overcome forever.
* To abide in this fellowship involves a painful reorganisation of our whole consciousness from that of an isolated ego corresponding to an isolated deity thought of as alone in eternity to an identity that is essentially and eternally other- centred.
* [* “23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.” (1 John 2:23 - 24) n.b. “has” = “has”, equal abiding in Father and Son. (A present salvific reality of eternal life. Cf. John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”)]
* 1 John 5:11 -12 “And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
* We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1- 3) Life = Son’s eternal fellowship with the Father.
(Very few direct references to “God the Son”, “God the Spirit” because inside God, God does not refer to himself as God – just Father, Son , Holy Spirit cf. “father Yates”, “son Yates” etc. Also, dangers of perceptions of polytheism (by both Jews and Gentiles) )
Appendix 1: Deity of Son and Spirit in the First Two Centuries
[E.g. Pliny the Younger as governor of Pontus/Bithynia from 111-113 A.D. wrote (in his Letters 10.96-97) to Emperor Trajan regarding the early Christian church, their worship of Christ, and how he persecuted, tortured, and murdered them:
"They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so."
* Graffito depicting a crucifixion, from the Palatine Hill, Rome, first half of 3rd cent. AD. The crude graffito shows a crucifix with a donkey's head, seen from behind and dressed in a short tunic. To the left stands a man with the same clothes and his arm raised. Between the two figures is a Greek graffito: "Alexamenos sebete theon" (Alexamenos worships his god). Apparently, the author of the drawing is making fun of a Christian, Alexamenos, who is praying to a god with a donkey's head. The Y visible on the plaster, to the right, at the top, has been interpretered as a symbol of a gallows, or a transcription of a scream of pain. This is one of the oldest representations of the crucifixion.
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/romanciv/Romancivimages18/day18captions.htm
* "...the satirist Lucian of Samosata (ca. 115-ca. 200) wrote a mocking life of a convert to and then apostate from Christianity, The Passing of Peregrinus. The Christians are said to be so enamoured of Peregrinus that they revered him as a god '...next after that other, to be sure, whom they still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world."
- John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew - Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Vol. 1.
* Early Church references to Jesus’ deity (Ignatius, Clement, Polycarp, Justin etc.) http://www.letusreason.org/Trin1.htm
* early references to Spirit as part of a divine triad see JND Kelly Early Christian Doctrines pp.103 – 108 Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus ]
Appendix 2: Supposed Non–Christian Parallels to the Trinity
* So called trinities in other religions turn out to be either 3 major gods and a host of minor gods (polytheism – Egyptian triad of Isis, Horus, and Sub), three manifestations of the one substance that makes up God (monism – Hindu triad of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) or 3 gods (tritheism) http://www.letusreason.org/Trin8.htm
Appendix 3: Logic and God
http://www.quodlibet.net/rauser-trinity.shtml
Aristotle’s principle of non –contradiction (Metaphysics (chapter 7)).
Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues Paul G. Hiebert Baker Academic
This is a collection of essays by one of the best missiologist/anthropologist writers of our day. Paul Hiebert provides lucid and stimulating papers on epistemology (also see his “Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts” (Trinity Press, 1999)
Appendix 4:Relational Pre- Conditions for Revelation
* Paul proclaimed: “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (I Cor 1:20d NRSV) and “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (I Cor. 1:25 NRSV) Apprehension of divine truth depends upon humility.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8 -9)
* There could be no true contradiction within the being of God.
* Impossible to grasp the doctrine of the trinity if we stay within the thought forms human beings operate with outside of the trinitarian revelation
* All the major biblical categories – covenant, image of God, “God is love” (1 John 4:8), salvation as participation in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4) depend upon the fact that God is essentially i.e. eternally
Appendix 5: Biblical Anthropomorphisms
E. Anthropomorphisms for God
1. Arm Deut 33:27, 2 Chron 6:32; Job 40:9; Ps 44:3; Ps 77:15; Ps 89:10, 13 Ps 98:1; Isa 52:10; Isa 59:1,16; Isa 63:12, Jer. 27:5
2. Back Exod. 33:21–23; Jer. 18:17
3. Beauty Ps 27:4
4. Bodily Form Gen. 18:1; Gen. 35:9; Gen. 48:3; Exod. 24:9–11; 2 Chron. 7:11–12; Isa. 6:1; Ezek. 1:26–28; Ezek. 8:1–3; Dan. 7:9–10; Amos 9:1; Rev. 4:2–3
5. Breath 2 Sam. 22:16; Job 15:30; Job 33:4; Job 37:10; Ps. 33:6; Isa. 11:4; Isa. 30:28; Isa. 30:33
6. Ears 2 Sam. 22:7; 2 Kings 19:28; 2 Chron. 7:15; Neh. 1:6; Ps. 34:15; Ps. 102:2; Ps. 116:2; Isa. 59:1; 1 Pet. 3:12
7. Eyes Deut. 11:12; 1 Kings 8:29; 2 Chron. 16:9; Ps. 33:18; Ps. 34:15; Ps. 139:16; Prov. 15:3; Prov. 22:12; Amos 9:4; Heb. 4:13; 1 Pet. 3:12
8. Face Gen. 32:30; Exod. 33:11; Exod. 33:20, 23; Num. 6:25–26; Num. 12:8; Deut. 5:4; Deut. 34:10; 1 Chron. 16:11; 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 27:8–9; Ps. 34:16; Ps. 67:1; Ps. 80:19; Ps. 105:4; Ps. 119:135; 1 Pet. 3:12
9. Feet Gen. 3:8; Exod. 24:9–10; 2 Sam. 22:10; Isa. 66:1; Nah. 1:3
10. Fingers Exod. 8:19; Exod. 31:18; Deut. 9:10; Ps. 8:3; Luke 11:20
11. Give Birth Deut. 32:18; Job 38:28–29; Isa. 46:3–4
12. Hair Dan. 7:9
13. Hand Exod. 15:6; Exod. 33:22–23; Ezra 7:9; Ps. 8:6; Ps. 21:8; Ps. 31:15; Ps. 44:2–3; Ps. 63:8; Ps. 89:13; Ps. 95:4–5; Ps. 118:16; Ps. 138:7–8; Ps. 139:10; Prov. 30:4; Isa. 1:25; Isa. 62:3; Isa. 64:8; Hab. 3:4; Acts 13:11; Heb. 1:10
14. Head Dan. 7:9
15. Hearing Num. 11:18; Ps. 69:33; Ps. 94:9; Ps. 116:1; Isa. 59:2
16. Heart Gen. 6:6; 2 Chron. 7:16; Hos. 11:8
17. Laughter Ps. 2:4; Ps. 37:13; Ps. 59:8
18. Lips Ps. 89:34; Isa. 11:4; Isa. 30:27
19. Mouth Deut. 8:3; 2 Sam. 22:9; Job 15:30; Ps. 33:6; Isa. 40:5; Isa. 45:23; Isa. 48:3
20. Nostrils 2 Sam. 22:9; 2 Sam. 22:16
21. Palm of Hand Isa. 49:16
22. Remembering 1 Sam. 1:19; Ps. 78:39; Ps. 98:3; Ps. 105:42; Ps. 106:45; Ps. 136:23
23. Shoulders Deut. 33:12
24. Seeing Ps. 10:11; Ps. 33:13
25. Sitting Ps. 29:10
26. Smelling Gen. 8:21
27. Standing Amos 7:7; Amos 9:1
28. Tongue Isa. 30:27
29. Voice Exod. 3:4; Exod. 19:19; Deut. 4:12; 1 Kings 19:12–13; Job 37:5; Ps. 29:3–5, 7–9; Ezek. 10:5; Ezek. 43:2; Luke 3:22; Acts 7:31; Heb. 12:18–21;
30. Waist Ezek. 1:27; Ezek. 8:2
31. Walking Gen. 3:8
32. Watching Gen. 31:49; Ps. 1:6; Ps. 11:4; Ps. 66:7
What does an uncreated mouth or eye or ear mean conceptually? In OT God is not essentially invisible e.g. Num 12:8 Moses sees the form of the LORD. Cf. Gen 2- 3; 32:30; Ex 3:6; 24:9- 10; Judges 13:22; Isa 6:5
Spiritual concepts are just as anthropomorphic as concrete perceptions. The finite power of human thought and speech is overcome by an “omnipotent miracle of divine condescension” (Barth CD II/1 223). All the ways God speaks of himself in scripture are acts of grace. To think otherwise (whether we think of God in material or immaterial forms) is to hypostatise (make our ideas into a reality) our thought and speech.
All OT anthropomorphisms are representations of the proclamation about God in terms of the person and work of Jesus Christ. God’s self- knowledge is communicated in the human nature of Jesus Christ. This is the highest possibility of the creature as such. In taking on a human nature God both obscure his difference from creatures and revealed himself.