by Ivan Maddox
Atlanta, GA


It is common knowledge that the Jews and "orthodox" Christians have very different concepts of who God is.

The Jews, since the time of Abraham, have worshipped God as one undivided being, one "person": the Father. At no point before Christ did God reprove the Jews for their strict monotheism; nor did He give them any reason to suspect that their conception of Him was incomplete at best.

The "orthodox" Christian, on the other hand, believes that God is a three in one being, and that Jesus Christ is one of the three "persons" who make up the Trinity.

John 1:18 tells us that Jesus Christ came for the express purpose of declaring or making known God to man. In Matthew 15:24 Jesus declared that he had only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. If, then, Israel had the wrong idea about who they were to worship as God, and if Jesus Christ's primary purpose during his ministry in the flesnh was to make known God to Israel, it seems that clarifying the trinity in unity that is God should have been at or near the top of his list of priorities.

Is this what he did? It's pretty clear from reading the gospels that it is not. In fact, it seems that he did the opposite. He confirmed the truth of what they believed, without qualifying or correcting it.

In John 4 we have the record of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. At one point in their discussion she asked a theological question.

John 4:19-20.
4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

When Jesus answered her, he gave his assent to the worship of the Jews.

John 4:21-24.
4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

But Jesus did more. Three times in this passage, once in verse 21 and twice in verse 23, Jesus identified the Father as the proper object of man's worship. In doing so, he effectively excluded not only himself, but the Holy Spirit as well, as proper objects of our worship; for he dealt not only with her question about worship in the present, but went on to talk about worship in the future as well.

This is not the only instance in which Jesus reaffirmed the strict monotheism of the Jews. In Mark we have the record of a scribe who asked Jesus a question about the commandments.

Mark 12:28-33.
12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

This scribe was laboring under the very untrinitarian notion that God consists of one "person" alone: the Father. If Jesus himself was God, he had not only the right but the responsibility to set the record straight. But Jesus did no such thing. Instead, he gave the impression that the scribe had answered well.

Mark 12:34.
12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

These are only two examples. We could give others. To the best of my knowledge, there is not one record of Jesus reproving the Jews for their strict monotheism, and setting the record straight about the triune nature of the one true God. In that respect he left the Jews as he found them: with the understanding that the Father alone is God.

---

Click to go back...

Created 6/23/97, by Ivan Maddox