Sacred Origins of Profound Things, page 33
As God in the Bible settles into having one benevolent personality, the terms used to describe him become more purely monotheistic. To express that another way: As the books of the Old Testament were continually edited and reedited, God matures and monotheism becomes the Bible’s principal theme.
A VENGEFUL GOD IS SILENCED:
THE BOOK OF JOB, C. TENTH CENTURY B.C.E.
The Jews arrange their Bible, or Tanakh, differently from the way Christians arrange their inheritance of the Old Testament from the Jews. In fact, Tanakh is not really a word, but an acronym that brings together the initial Hebrew terms for the three principal parts of Jewish Scripture:
PENTATEUCH—Torah. Also known as the Five Books of Moses, it consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
PROPHETS—Nevi’im. It includes several of the historical books (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings), the three major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), and the twelve minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).
THE WRITINGS—Ketuvim. This comprises the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles.
TORAH + NEVI’IM + KETUVIM = TANAKH. This Jewish arrangement of Scripture reveals a fascinating pattern. From Genesis through Second Kings, God acts. From later Prophets to Job, God speaks but does not act himself. After Job, God falls utterly silent.
“From the end of the Book of Job to the end of the Tanakh,” writes Jack Miles in God: A Biography (1995), “God never speaks again. His speech from the whirlwind is, in effect, his last will and testament.” God’s earlier speeches will be repeated, miracles will still be attributed to him, he’ll be glimpsed, but God gradually recedes from view, abandoning the stage he created, giving over the spotlight to the Chosen People of his covenant.
Why?
The author of the Book of Job is unknown. The work is complex and profound in that it poses, but can’t adequately answer, one of humanity’s most perplexing questions: If God is in complete control, and all-wise, why does he allow innocent people to suffer?
Job asks this of God. In fact, Job challenges God as to why he punished an innocent man. God is embarrassed, backs down, and makes amends. From then on, God is silent. Miles and others claim that through the Jewish arrangement of the Scriptures, we witness a previously wrathful, vengeful God—the God of Abraham and Moses—being muted into a Presence of compassion who then stays in the background of his own narrative. The sequence of God the Doer, God the Speechmaker, and the Silent God is fascinating to ponder.
CHAPTER
18
Christ
Son to Trinity
GOD THE FATHER, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three Gods in One. The Trinitarian formula. This concept is known only to Christians. In this chapter, we’ll examine its convoluted origin.
Pure, unadulterated monotheism is, of course, the Jews’ great legacy to Christianity and Islam. To religion, in general. The Jews posited monotheism. That concept, though, was a long time in coming. Its origins, however, are clear.
In brief: Jews developed monotheism, Greeks refined it, Christians elaborated upon it (with the Trinitarian Godhead), and Muslims centuries later went back to the basics. What Christians did with monotheism—adding to God the Father, the Son and the Spirit—offended Jews, and later incensed Muslims.
PROPHECY AS THE ULTIMATE ORIGIN:
INTERPRETING THE OLD TESTAMENT, FIRST CENTURY C.E.
For Christians of all denominations, the origin of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is foretold through messianic prophecy in Hebrew Scriptures. Let us juxtapose several prophecies and their subsequent fulfillment:
PROPHECY: A new ruler would come from the town of Bethlehem: “Out of thee [Bethlehem] shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning” (Mic. 5:2). The Jewish prophet Micah (whose name means “who is like God?”) penned that prediction in the eighth century B.C.E.
FULFILLMENT: “And Joseph went … unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…. To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child” (Luke 2:4–5). Jesus Christ is born around 6 to 3 C.E.; Luke recorded the events around 65 C.E.
PROPHECY: Date c. 1400 B.C.E. Author: Moses. “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15). The forecast in Deuteronomy was written about 1400 B.C.E., allegedly by Moses.
FULFILLMENT: “Now it came to pass … Jesus also having been baptized and being in prayer, that heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased’ ” (Luke 4:21–22). Jesus was baptized at the start of his ministry, around 24 to 27 C.E.; Luke wrote of the messianic event around 65 C.E.
For many Christians (all Roman Catholics, at least), even the virgin birth of Christ is foretold.
PROPHECY: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). Date of prophecy: eighth century B.C.E. Author: Isaiah.
FULFILLMENT: “Do not be afraid, Mary … thou shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and his name shall be Jesus” (Luke 1:30–31). Luke writing about 65 C.E. of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary. The name “Immanuel” means “God with us.” (For more on the virgin birth, see the chapter “Virginity of the Virgin.”)
For all Christians, even Christ’s death on the cross is foretold.
PROPHECY: “He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Date: eighth century B.C.E. Author: Isaiah, relating how a servant of the Lord would be rejected by his people and suffer.
FULFILLMENT: “They crucified him there, and the robbers, one on his right hand and the other on his left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ ” (Luke 23:33–34).
These are the biblical “origins” (or roots) for key events in Christianity. In religion, a divine prophecy is the ultimate origin for a later event.
For Christians, the Book of Isaiah, written in the eighth century B.C.E., forecasts (or is the origin of) most of the Christian faith’s highlights. Isaiah’s theological message has to do with the coming of the Messiah, and the Jewish prophet’s words are quoted frequently by the New Testament authors of the first century C.E., often attributed to Jesus Christ himself.
The Jewish Book of Psalms, written between the tenth to the fourth centuries B.C.E., was used by Christian Gospel writers of the first century C.E. as the “origins” of Christ’s agonies and humiliations on the cross, as well as his glorious Resurrection:
PROPHECY: The Messiah would be mocked and insulted (Ps. 22:7–8).
FULFILLMENT: Bystanders sneer at Christ on the cross (Luke 23:25).
PROPHECY: The Messiah would be given gall and vinegar (Ps 69:21).
FULFILLMENT: To quench his thirst, Christ is given vinegar mixed with gall (Matt. 27:34).
PROPHECY: The Messiah’s clothing would be divided up by lot (Ps. 22:18).
FULFILLMENT: As Christ hangs on the cross, the Roman soldiers divided up his clothes by casting lots (Matt. 27:35).
PROPHECY: God would raise the Messiah from the grave; his body would not decay (Ps. 16:10, 49:15).
FULFILLMENT: Jesus’ Resurrection becomes the pivotal event in Christianity (Mark 16:6–7).
The writers of the Four Gospels—Matthew (“gift of Jehovah”), Mark (“polite”), Luke (“light-giver”), and John (“grace”)—were well acquainted with old Hebrew Scriptures and scoured the scrolls for prefigurements of Christ as the Messiah.
On the hill at Golgotha, a Roman soldier pierces Christ’s side with a sword, and John, writing of the event around 95 C.E., finds in the Book of Zechariah (12:10), written some six centuries earlier, a prediction that the Messiah’s body would be pierced.
As we’ll see, it was this kind of interpretation of old texts that allowed Christian theologians in the third and fourth centuriès C.E. to discern in the Gospels evidence of the Trinitarian Godhead.
But before the doctrine of the Trinity could be declared—indeed, before Christ could be prophesied as the Messiah; before Christianity itself could be born—monotheism had to emerge.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
MONOTHEISM TO POLYTHEISM:
NEAR EAST, C. 1800 TO C. 1400 B.C.E.
The history of religion is a progression of ever-narrowing “isms”: animism to polytheism to monotheism.
Bacchus, Roman god (left). Poseidon, Creek god. Kali, Hindu god.
Animism, in its broadest sense, is the belief that all things possess spirits or soul: babbling brooks, yellow maize, sturdy oaks, sly cats, sagacious humans. Innumerable spiritual beings are the animating forces that gave life to living things. As well as meddle in human affairs, for better or worse.
Animistic religions probably dominated the world in prehistoric times; they were the first religions; they are still found among tribal peoples. The word “animism” has its roots in the Latin anima, “soul.”
Polytheism established a pantheon of named gods—male, female, or a gender hybrid. Most significantly, these deities often existed “elsewhere”—high up in the heavens, on Mount Olympus, or in some other remote and sacred place. Often one sky god dominated all the others. Scholars call this primitive monotheism.
Origin of the word “polytheism”: Greek polys, “many” + theos, “god.”
As we’ll see, even the Islamic Allah once was a high sky deity who ruled over a host of lower gods, until the Prophet Muhammad identified him as the One and Only and banished other gods to oblivion.
Thus, it was only one step from a multiplicity of celestial gods to one exclusive heavenly Creator—but it was a giant step.
How did one monotheistic God—exclusive monotheism—come to be the center of worship for Jews, Christians, and Muslims?
The answer has to do with the Zeitgeist, or spirit of the times, that existed in the Near and Middle East some three thousand years ago.
MONOTHEISM TRIUMPHS DURING THE BABYLONIAN EXILE: BABYLON, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.E.
In ancient Babylon, there was no such thing as monotheism. A Babylonian could pick from among a pantheon of gods one deity to worship above all others—could ignore the others, in fact. This is known as henotheism, from the Greek words hen, “one,” and theos, “god.” It is the worship of one God without denying the existence of others. Hints of it can be found in the Old Testament, though in the Hebrew Bible, these other gods are usually classified as false gods.
Molech was the national god of the country of Ammon (Zeph. 1:5). Marduk was the chief god of Babylon (Jer. 50:2). Baal was a main storm god of Canaan (1 Kings 16:31–32). El, as we saw in the previous chapter, was the head of the pantheon of Canaan.
Hence, henotheism was not unknown to the ancient Israelites. In fact, some biblical scholars speak of the Old Testament conception of God as “monolatry”—worship of one among many—rather than pure monotheism. They claim that the God of Abraham (c. 1800 B.C.E.) was not yet the exclusive God or Yahweh of Moses (c. 1400 B.C.E.).
EGYPTIANS ALMOST TRY MONOTHEISM. In ancient Egypt, under religious reform initiated by the pharaoh Akhenaton in the fourteenth century B.C.E., we see the Zeitgeist of henotheism again. From a celestial multitude of gods—so many they were hard to keep track of—the pharaoh singled out Aton, the sun god, to be revered above all others.
As time passed, Egyptians became intolerant of the lesser gods—those less mighty than Aton—and their names were deleted from the registry of deities. Egypt was on the verge of exclusive monotheism: one god, Aton.
But for some reason, the tide turned, and Egyptian rulers eventually reinstated many of the lesser gods. Their religion backtracked to polytheism.
But the idea of exclusive monotheism was in the air.
JEWS BECOME A MONOTHEISTIC PEOPLE. The God of Israel, Moses’ Yahweh, could not have been more explicit in his demand for exclusive monotheism. “I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children … of them that hate me” (Exod. 20:5).
It was the Israelites under Moses who embraced the concept of pure monotheism. Their passionate rejection of other gods became the Judaic affirmation of faith: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” (Deut. 6:4).
In their pledge to monotheism, the Israelites did occasionally slip into idolatry, from the time they made the golden calf until the Babylonian Exile. Old ways die hard.
For Jews, however, strict monotheism can be dated from the time of their Exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E.; from 586 to 539 B.C.E., when their nation was lost. The once-glorious Temple and capital city of Jerusalem now lay in ruins. But the spiritual catharsis of the Exile forever exorcised the impulse toward idolatry from the Jewish people. Paradoxically, it was the painful Exile that led to the final victory of monotheism over pagan worship. In its monotheism, Israel was utterly unique.
As the eminent Old Testament scholar Theodorus Vriezen observes: “It is striking how the whole life of the people is seen as dominated by Yahweh and by Yahweh alone. Faith in Yahweh is the foundation of the life for the Israelite.”
This is the legacy that Jews would pass on to Christians.
MONOTHEISM CATCHES THE GREEK FANCY:
GREECE, FOURTH CENTURY B.C.E.
The Jews really practiced what’s called ethnic monotheism—there is One God, and that God belongs only to his Chosen People. The Greeks saw this as limited.
Greek philosophers, beginning in the sixth century B.C.E., broadened Judaic ethnic monotheism in a direction that would influence Christianity, and later Islam. Basically, the Greeks said: If there is only One God, He then must be the Creator of everybody. And belong to everybody. It was a democratic notion.
The Greeks previously had been pure polytheists. But monotheism impressed them as a sophisticated idea. And philosophically they had been moving toward the idea of “the unity of all things.”
The single best-known document to express the Greek shift toward monotheism is the fourth century B.C.E. hymn to Zeus, by the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. It praises Zeus as the essence of divinity, creator and ruler of the cosmos, omnipotent, the giver of every gift, father of all mankind. Monotheism was taking hold.
“ISMS.” It’s interesting to note that in the East, no local form of monotheism evolved; any notion of a single, exclusive god was an import from the West. Although in many cases one god eclipsed others in importance—Shiva or Vishnu, for instance—the emphasis never negated other deities.
Two basic “isms” have offered differing views of God for centuries:
DEISM, posited by the Greeks, claims God created the world, set it in motion, and stepped back to watch passively—perhaps bemused. This view would deny all claims of divine providence, miracles, and God’s intervention in human affairs.
Furthermore, deism (from the Latin deus, “god”) claims that the laws of nature and moral laws are discoverable by man, through the use of man’s own rational powers; revelation from God is unnecessary.
THEISM is the basis for the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It regards God as the Creator of the world, who continues to work with his power in the world.
But the Greeks did not buy the idea of God’s absolute dominion over nature and over man. Yes, monotheism was clever as a concept, good for consolidating the many gods in a pantheon, but the One God could not be all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present.
For the Greeks, the monotheistic God served as a unifying principle, in the abstract, satisfying their love for “the unity of all things.” The Jewish God was a personal, knowable Lord, but in Hellenized monotheism, God is absolutely unkn’own: deus absconditus, “god concealed.”
The word “theism” is rooted in the Greek theos, “god.”
PANTHEISM, an entirely different “ism,” is found in the East. Pantheism holds that God is the world, identical to it and indistinguishable from it. Its essence is found in Hinduism, where God—or Brahman—is the sole reality; the world of human sense experience is mere appearance. Illusion.
Origin of the word “pantheism”: Greek pan, “all” + theos, “god.” The word was coined in 1705 by English deist J. Toland. Its roots lie in the much older word “pantheon,” home of “all of the gods.”
Early Christians, as we’re about to see, borrowed aspects of monotheism from the Jews and from the Greeks and gave it a unique triple twist.
TRINITY—THREE GODS IN ONE:
CHRISTIANITY, SECOND CENTURY C.E.
Christianity borrowed not only the Jewish concept of monotheism, but the Hebrew Bible as well. Christians referred to the Testament of the prophets as “the Old Testament” to acknowledge God’s “old” covenant with the Jews, as opposed to God’s “new” covenant with the followers of Jesus Christ. Thus, the new Scripture became known as “the New Testament.”
But among the three great monotheistic religions, only Christianity embraces the Trinitarian Creed: the coexistence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in a single Godhead, distinctly different, yet one and the same. Little wonder that Romans eavesdropping on early Christians suspected them of idolatry; how many gods did these people worship?
The Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
One might ask—as Jews and Muslims repeatedly have—isn’t it cheating for a religion to claim to be monotheistic if it recognizes three distinctly different Gods? Three Gods; three different names; three different functions: the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sanctifier. Should, Muslims suggested, this not be called “tritheism”?
How did Christians come to develop the Trinitarian creed?
Significantly, the Christian books of the Bible—the Gospels, Acts, Epistles (or letters), Revelation, and the Apocrypha (“things that are hidden”)—make no explicit reference to a threefold Godhead.
