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The Trinity Doctrine- Biblically Founded?

An Example of one Web critic of the NWT !

Trinity 'Proof Texts'
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'Babylon' rebutted

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Trinity 'proof' texts refuted

Below is an actual reproduction of a web page(with the absence of only it's graphics made up mostly of 'knock-out punches'- indicating that the proof offered is without refutation !!)located on a website that continually criticises the WTB&TS and the New World Translation. We will refute the so-called "Proof Texts" for the Trinity doctrine offered by this page. We use the word "refute" in the sense of "disprove" rather than "oppose." It behooves each person to believe as they so wish. But it also equally behooves each and every person who claims to be a Christian to make a defense for the hope within us. This is the spirit in which this page has been created. Admittedly , it has been said, that it is "easier to deny than it is to believe." However, you, the reader, will be able to make up your own mind whether the "proof texts" do indeed 'prove' the Trinity doctrine or they do not. Our additions will be in green. Please remember that the definition of "proof" is "that which ascertains or establishes truth or fact."-The New Universal Dictionary.

The page is as follows:

Old Testament Trinity Proof Texts

     
Isaiah 45:23,24   I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. "They will say of Me, 'Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.' Men will come to Him, And all who were angry at Him shall be put to shame.

The quotation of Isaiah 45:23-24 is supposed to show that Paul had this passage in mind when he wrote at Philippians 2:9-11;
"Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
But is this the case? We have quoted the Philippians passage from the New American Standard Bible. To be fair to the webpage author many Bible version do indeed 'link', by way of a marginal reference, these two passages of scripture. But is Philippians a quotation of the one in Isaiah?
Back in a 1960 Watchtower(p.318), in a 'Question From Readers' article, we find the NWTTC answer a charge of 'theological bias' against them in their rendering of Philippians 2:9. We herewith supply that article.

""[Question]Dr. Bruce M. Metzger, a member of the faculty of Princeton, New Jersey, Theological Seminary, writes: "In the New World Translation it is stated (page 9 of New Testament volume), "To each major word we have assigned one meaning and have held to that meaning as far as the context permitted." My question arises from the failure to abide by this self-imposed rule at Philippians 2:11, where the word kyrios, elsewhere rendered "Jehovah" 237 times, is not rendered "Jehovah" despite the clear allusion to Isaiah 45:23 and following where the word Jehovah appears. Could it be that the Arian theology of the translators overrode their expressed rule of translating?" Do you deem this inquirer's question deserving of a sound and thorough reply?

"[Answer]A number of Watchtower readers, evidently unacquainted with New Testament Greek, have written us a similar question, apparently inspired by the publicity that Dr. Metzger has given to a discussion of this matter. The doctor quotes from the second paragraph on page nine of the Foreword, where we read "To each major word we have assigned one meaning and have held to that meaning as far as the context permitted. This, we know, has imposed a restriction upon our diction, but it makes for good cross-reference work and for a more reliable comparison of related texts or verses. At the same time, in order to bring out the richness and variety of the language of the inspired writers, we have avoided the rendering of two or more Greek words by the same English word, for this hides the distinction in shade of meaning between the several words thus rendered." The theological doctor quotes part of the above and leaves his reader to imagine that the translators of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures were arbitrary, or self-determining, in their rendering of the Greek word ky'rios (without the Greek definite article) by the divine name, Jehovah. But in its very Foreword the translators show that they were not acting arbitrarily in rendering the Greek word ky'rios (without the definite article) into English as Jehovah. If Dr. Metzger has read the Foreword of the above volume through, then he should have learned on what basis the New World translators restored the divine name, Jehovah, to the English translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Beginning on page 19, he should have read the following:
" RESTORING THE NAME: What is the modern translator to do? Is he justified, yes, authorized, to enter the divine name into a translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures? Every Greek reader must confess that in the LXX the Greek words kyrios and the theos have been used to crowd out the distinctive name of the Supreme Deity. Every comprehensive Greek-English dictionary states that these two Greek words have been used as equivalents of the divine name. Hence the modern translator is warranted in using the divine name as an equivalent of those two Greek words, that is, at places where Matthew, etc., quote verses, passages and expressions from the Hebrew Scriptures or from the LXX where the divine name occurs." Then to that paragraph there is added a footnote of three paragraphs quoting from three different Greek-English lexicons to show that in the Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures the Greek words ky'rios and theos' were used to substitute for the divine name, Jehovah.
Now on page 20 of the Foreword, paragraph one says: "How is a modern translator to know or determine when to render the Greek words [kyrios]and [theos]into the divine name in his version? By determining where the inspired Christian writers have quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures. Then he must refer back to the original to locate whether the divine name appears there. This way he can determine the identity to give to [kyrios] and [theos] and he can then clothe them with personality."
This Foreword shows that in the course of time nineteen translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures, or of parts of them, have been made from the Greek into the ancient Biblical Hebrew, and that these Hebrew translators, including Professor Franz Delitzsch and also Dr. Isaac Salkinson and Dr. Christian David Ginsburg, used the name Jehovah or the Hebrew tetragrammaton (with vowel symbols) in translating the writings of Christ's apostles and disciples, generally known as the New Testament. Thus, before the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures came along, these Hebrew translators put the divine name in the Christian writings officially called the New Testament.
Consequently on page 20 of the Foreword the New World Bible Translation Committee says in the second paragraph: "To avoid overstepping the bounds of a translator into the field of exegesis, we have tried to be most cautious about rendering the divine name, always carefully considering the Hebrew Scriptures. We have looked for some agreement with us by the Hebrew versions we consulted to confirm our own rendering. Thus, out of the 237 times that we have rendered the divine name in the body of our version, there are only two instances where we have no support or agreement from any of the Hebrew versions. But in these two instances, namely, Ephesians 6:8 and Colossians 3:13, we feel strongly supported by the context and by related texts in rendering the divine name. The notes in our lower margin show the support we have for our renderings from the Hebrew versions and other authorities."
In view of the above we wonder why the faculty member of the Princeton Theological Seminary quoted only partially from page 9 of the above-mentioned Foreword, but left unquoted to you all the above information in the Foreword concerning how the translators determined upon the fitness of putting the divine name back into the Christian Scriptures. These portions, which the theologian fails to call to your attention, show why ky'rios (without the definite article) is not always rendered as Jehovah in the New World Translation.
The theologian says that Philippians 2:11 clearly alludes to Isaiah 45:23 and following material. Let us see. These verses, as translated by the American Standard Version, read: "By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all they that were incensed against him shall be put to shame. In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."
However, Philippians 2:9-11 in the American Standard Version reads: "Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [ ky'rios ], to the glory of God the Father."
This is not the same as the Isaiah quotation. Philippians 2:11 does not say that every tongue should swear to Jesus. It says that every tongue should confess something concerning Jesus to the glory of God the Father. So this is not an allusion to Isaiah 45:23 such as would require Jesus to be identified with Jehovah.
Remember that "Jehovah" is a name, the divine name, but Philippians 2:9-11 says that the name of the Son of God is Jesus, not Jehovah; and the name Jesus really means "Jehovah is salvation" or "the salvation of Jehovah." So what Philippians 2:11 says is that every tongue is going to confess the occupancy by Jesus of a certain titular office, to the glory of God the Father, namely, lordship. This title "Lord" in the Greek text is ky'rios (without the definite article).
Anyone familiar with the New Testament Greek knows that this word ky'rios (without the definite article) is used in places when addressing a person and hence does not mean Jehovah. It means Lord or Sir. That is the way the New World Translation and other versions render the anarthrous ky'rios in the appropriate places. Also, when ky'rios is used as a title it appears without the definite article, as in cases like that of Philippians 2:9-11.
All the English versions of Christendom, even those in Hebrew, show that in Philippians 2:11 the ky'rios without article is used as a title, not as a personal name. That is the reason why the New World Translation renders Philippians 2:11: "Every tongue should openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." No Christian has to confess that Jesus Christ is Jehovah, because that is not the truth. Jesus told us to pray for his Father's name to be hallowed or sanctified, and every informed Bible scholar knows that the name of God the Father is Jehovah.
The apostle Paul at 1 Corinthians 8:5, 6, says:" For even though there are those who are called 'gods', whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many 'gods' and many 'lords' , there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him, and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him" So what Christians must confess is that Jesus Christ is Lord, or ky'rios (without the definite article).
The word ky'rios without the definite article is thus used also in 1 Corinthians 12:3. There in the Greek text the same expression occurs as in Philippians 2:11, namely, KYRIOS YESOUS. In both texts the Greek word ky'rios is a title by which a person of a certain name is to be addressed. Hence it would be wrong, in fact ridiculous, to render that expression KYRIOS YESOUS "Jehovah Jesus." None of the Hebrew translations render it "Jehovah Jesus", but recognize the Greek word ky'rios there as a title and hence use the Hebrew word Adonai, meaning Lord, instead of the name Jehovah.
Hence the New World Translation is consistent, and it violates no general rule of action set forth in its Foreword when it renders the expression in 1 Corinthians 12:3, as well as in Philippians 2:11, "Jesus is Lord," not "Jesus is Jehovah." So the translators are not to be charged with being influenced by the theology of the antitrinitarian Arius for doing so.
A recent translation entitled "The Authentic New Testament" by a Jew named Hugh J. Schonfield, published in 1955, renders the expression as an address to Jesus, reading: "And no one is able to say, 'Lord Jesus!' except by the holy Spirit."(1 Corinthians 12:3) This Jewish translator renders Philippians 2:11: "And every tongue acclaim Jesus Christ as Master, to the glory of God the Father." It is very easy for a trinitarian theologian of Christendom to carp at a Bible translation that does not agree with his trinitarian doctrine. But when he does so by concealing the basis upon which the criticized translation makes its consistent rendering, is he fair and scholarly? Or has he proved his point? We leave you to answer the question."

We might just add here that in Isaiah 45:23,24 only one person is in view and in the Philippian passage (only) two persons are. How then, we might ask,; Is this "proof" of the Trinity doctrine? In the Trinity there are said to be three persons in One God. Clearly then, the webpage writer has not thought deeply enough with his "proof text"?
Now, the trinitarian may answer by saying that we mere earthly mortals cannot comprehend the incomprehensible God. However, we would answer that if indeed the God of the Bible is said to be one person yet three persons then we would accept this even though it is beyond our comprehension. But if the Bible nowhere articulates this then this agruement has no longer any 'immunity'against disagreement. Then, the Trinitarian might retort that they do not believe in "three persons in one person." We then would reply that the linking of the two texts cannot be used to prove a Trinity of persons! Nowhere in human experience is a person and at one and the same time three. We therefore can be certain, on both the Bible's authority and our God-given reason, that the Trinity is agianst both.

     
Micah 5:2   But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.

This appears to be from the New American Standard Version. This definitely is a prophecy of where the Christ would be born.

According to the Revised Standard Version the "ruler's" origin is not from "eternity" but "from old, from ancient days." The above text then does not have to mean that this one who was born as a man, Jesus Christ, had no beginning and hence must be God and not a creature.

     

New Testament Trinity Proof Texts

     
Mark 2:5-12   Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?

We must point out immediately to the writer of the above that we can see no "proof" of "three persons in One God"!

Still, is Mark 2:5-12 saying that Jesus is "God"?

The Jews reasoned that because only God can forgive sins and Jesus said to the child, "your sins are forgiven," then Jesus was claiming to be God.
But how did Jesus himself 'answer' the Jews' reasoning? In verse 9 he asks them which it is easier to "say." "Your sins are forgiven," or "Get up and pick up your cot and walk"? Then in order to show that he, as the "Son of man has authority to forgive sins upon earth," Jesus says to the paralytic: "I say to you, Get up, pick up your cot, and go to your home."
So it was easier to say "Your sins are forgiven" than to actually do the healing where the man would then have to 'get up and walk'!
Notice that he, as the Son of man, had "authority" to forgive sins. Did he have this "authority because he was "God." Or was this authority given him by someone else? Allow Peter to tell us which one it is. At Acts 10:38 he says: "..Jesus who was from Nazareth, how God annointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil; because God was with him."
Yes, it was not because Jesus "was God" that he could heal all, but because "God was with him." And if God was with him, that is, was the authority behind Jesus' healing works, which God was for it was God that "annointed him with holy spirit and power" then Jesus could also say "Your sins are forgiven" as it was easier to say that than do the healing. So if the harder 'healing' does not make Jesus 'God' then nor did it when he said "Your sins are forgiven"! This verse does not say Jesus was God and certainly says nothing about "three persons in One God." We fail to see this as anywhere near a "proof text" for the Trinity!

We would also like to point out this. When this kind of 'proof' is given by those who believe in the Trinity then we might ask them-"In what way are you using the term 'God'"?
They do not mean when they say "Jesus is God," that "Jesus is the Trinity" do they. They do not believe that is so. So they must mean that Jesus is 'God' in the sense of what they must believe he is, namely, "the second person of a consubstantial triad."
Is Mark 2:5-12 teaching us anything like that? Or, are post-biblical thoughts and terms being read into such texts? We would ask all who read such "proof texts" offered by Trinitarians to keep this always in mind!

John 1:1   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

Once again, only two beings are here in view. Not three! We need not go into how this text can be translated, or understood, that has been done elsewhere on this site. Suffice to point out once more this text says nothing about "three persons in One God." So is this another "proof text"?

Please click here for more on John 1:1.

     
John 5:18   For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

(refutation coming)

     
John 19:7   The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God."

(refutation coming)

     
Romans 14:11   For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God."

(refutation coming)

     
Philippians 2:9-11   "Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

We would, of course, refer you to the above on Isaiah 45:23,24.

     
Revelation 22:3   "And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall [latreuo] serve Him." Jesus worshipped in the highest sense of "latreuo"

(refutation coming)

     

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