_5_The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament

This is a highly controverted matter and deserves special discussion. Luther’s position may be summarized as follows: Although the doctrine of the Trinity is not revealed as clearly in the Old as in the New Testament, nevertheless this doctrine is unmistakably set forth in the Old Testament (St. L. X:1019). “Thus at the very beginning of the world the doctrine of the three Persons in the Godhead was indicated, later clearly understood by the Prophets, and finally fully revealed in the Gospel” (St. L. 1:274). In his exposition of Gen. 35:7 Luther says that the greater part of the Jews, of course, did not believe this doctrine, just as in his own time the Jew and the Turk rejected the Trinitarian doctrine. Yes, even many in visible Christendom do not heed or believe this doctrine. The same thing happens to them that Isaiah says of his hearers (6:10), namely, that their heart is fat, their ears are heavy, and their eyes shut, so that they do not see nor hear nor understand. (St. L. 11:940.) The Lutheran theologians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are agreed that the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed to such an extent in the Old Testament that the believers were able to perceive and believe the doctrine of the Trinity. The Helmstedt school of George Calixt, however, held that “the mystery of the Trinity was not contained in the Old Testament, but was given to the patriarchs and the Prophets by immediate and special revelation; that neither the Old Testament believers nor we today could learn it without the help of the New Testament; that the Old Testament contains only vestiges or intimations, but no clear and convincing statements of this doctrine” (Quenstedt I, 510). And Luthardt declares: “The Old Testament at best only prepares for the Trinitarian knowledge of God, because it contains only the germs of a Trinitarian revelation. The New Testament alone brings the Trinitarian knowledge, because it alone contains the Trinitarian revelation.” Luthardt condemns the Scripture proof of the Lutheran theologians: “It rests mostly upon a false and forced exegesis and in general on an unhistorical approach, which ignores the gradual and progressive development of revelation” (Kompendium, 10th ed., pp. 111–112). Kirn makes the sweeping statement: “Today no theologians will turn to the Old Testament for prooftexts in support of the doctrine of the Trinity” (R. E., 3d ed., XX, p. 112).

The question whether the Old Testament teaches the doctrine of the Trinity is settled once and for all in the Christian Church by the fact that Christ and His Apostles prove the divine personality of the Son and of the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament. From Ps. 110:1 Christ proves to the Pharisees that the Messiah is not only David’s Son, but also David’s Lord. (Matt. 22:41 ff.) Everyone will admit that the term “David’s Lord” does not denote the symbol or the germ of a personality, but a full and complete personality. And from the same Old Testament text Jesus incidentally also teaches the divine personality of the Holy Spirit when He says that David called the Messiah his Lord through the Holy Spirit (). The Savior thereby is confirming what David declares 2 Sam. 23:2: “The Spirit of the Lord () spake by me.” In Hebrews 1, the deity of Christ, and that can only mean His divine personality, is proved from six Old Testament texts: Ps. 2:7; 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 97:7; 45:7; 102:26-28; 110:1. As we examine these Old Testament texts concerning the Messiah (e. g., He laid the foundation of the world, loves righteousness, hates iniquity, rules, is worshiped), we see that the Messiah is not a Platonic idea, a mere concept, a symbol, a germinal personality, but that the Messiah is a real, living, and complete personality. The personality of the Messiah is evident particularly in Psalm 110, where He is described as the Ruler of both the universe and His Church, and as the Priest who reconciles God and man. Likewise the Old Testament clearly teaches the divine personality of the Holy Spirit in predicating of Him such activities (actiones et passiones) as creation (Gen. 1:2), reproving man (Gen. 6:3), speaking through David (2 Sam. 23:1-3), being vexed and embittered by Israel (Is. 63:10). And, finally, the doctrine of the Trinity is taught also in those passages which, like the New Testament in Matt. 28:19 and 2 Cor. 13:14, enumerate the three Persons of the Trinity side by side and as three separate Persons. This is obviously the case in Is. 63:8-10: “For He [Jehovah] said, Surely they are My people, children that will not lie; so He was their Savior. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.”

Thus the Old Testament unmistakably teaches the divine personality of the Son and the Spirit by ascribing to each of them divine names, properties, and works. It is therefore only natural to regard also those passages as a reference to the Trinity a) in which God speaks of Himself in the plural (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7), and b) in which God is worshiped in a threefold hymn of petition or praise, e. g., the Aaronic blessing (Num. 6:24-26), which significantly is followed by the explanation: “They shall put My name upon Israel” (v. 27), and the Trisagion (Is. 6:3).

A treatise on the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament is incomplete without a discussion of those passages from Genesis (22:11 f.) to Malachi (3:1) in which divine names and attributes are ascribed to the Angel of the Lord: . In Gen. 22:11-12 we read: “The Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I. And He said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.” Aside from any other consideration, the phrase “from Me” (Luther: “um meinetwillen”) is in itself sufficient reason to reject the idea that a created angel is here speaking. But more: not only does Abraham call the name of the place Jehovah jireh (the Lord shall see), but in the subsequent address the Angel of the Lord calls Himself the Lord who has sworn by Himself to bless Abraham and multiply his seed (vv. 15-18). No created angel could make that statement. The story of Moses at Mount Horeb (Ex. 3:1-15) reveals in great detail the identity of the Angel of the Lord. The Angel who appeared to Moses in the burning bush could not have been a created angel, because in v. 4 the Angel of the Lord identifies Himself with Jehovah. But more: the Angel of the Lord describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of His people Israel, which Moses is to liberate from the Egyptian bondage. Upon Moses’ insistent pleas for a more precise identification the Angel of the Lord identifies Himself as the essential and unchanging God, the , “I AM THAT I AM.” There is absolutely no ground for Luthardt’s claim that as Jehovah’s ambassador a created angel could identify himself with Jehovah. Imagine the English ambassador at Washington introducing himself as “His Majesty, the King of England!” He would be recalled at once as an impostor.

There are many passages in which the Angel of the Lord is identified with Jehovah. Gerhard furnishes a list of these passages and interprets them (Loci, locus “De Natura Dei,” § 36, 37). On Gen. 48:15-16: “The God which fed me… . The Angel which redeemed me from all evil,” etc. Luther says in a sermon for Trinity Sunday: “Jacob here distinguishes the Persons in the Holy Trinity. He applies the term ‘Angel of the Lord’ to Christ, not as though He were an angel by nature, for it would be manifest idolatry to pray to an angel and invoke his blessing. By his prayer Jacob actually ascribes deity to the Person whom he designates as the Angel. Jacob, however, calls Him Angel to indicate that this divine Person shall not always remain the invisible God, but shall be sent into the world, be clothed in our flesh, and be sacrificed for our sins. Christ uses the same language when He says, The Father hath sent Me.’ Again, in the Prophet Isaiah: The Lord hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted’ (61:1); also: ‘and the Angel of His presence saved them’ (63:9). And Malachi calls Christ ‘the Messenger of the covenant’ (3:1). The two names ‘God’ and ‘Angel’ as used by Jacob therefore designate two distinct Persons and yet one and the same divine essence.” (St. L. XIII:670 f.) Similarly Philippi: “The Angel of the Lord is different from Jehovah in regard to His Person, and yet one with Him in essence.” He adduces the following prooftexts: Gen. 16:7-14; chaps. 18-19; 21:17-19; 22: 11-18; 31:11-13, cp. 28:11-22; 33:25-30, cp. Hos. 12:5; 48:15 f.; Ex.3: 1-7; 13:21, cp. 14:19; 23:20 f.; 33:14 and Is. 63:8-9; Joshua 5:13; 6:2; Judg. 6:11-24; 13:3-25. Philippi says: “In their native sense these passages teach that the Angel of the Lord is the uncreated angel, identical with Jehovah, to whom divine attributes, works, names, and worship are ascribed. If we found in these passages only Oriental hyperbolism, then we would sacrifice the solid basis for Scripture interpretation, and, following such a course consistently, would with the rationalist dissolve and cancel even the firmest and most indestructible revelation.”27

What Scripture teaches concerning the “Angel of Jehovah” confirms what Luther says concerning the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament in general: “In the New Testament everything is clearly and powerfully attested of the holy, divine Trinity that in the Old Testament is not so clearly set forth, though it is strongly indicated also there” (St. L. X:1019). And here we have Kirn claiming that in our day no reputable theologian will any longer seek prooftexts for the Trinity in the Old Testament! That does not speak well for the theology of today. These theologians are ready to cast doubt on the theological ability of Christ and His Apostles, who, as we have seen, proved the Holy Trinity from the Old Testament.28