From time to time over the years I have been asked about my view of the doctrine of the trinity. Today on my YouTube channel, someone even asked me to do a video teaching on the subject.
Actually, I have very little to say on the subject, except that I fear that any explanation any man (including myself) could proffer on the subject of the “Godhead” would be just that: man’s explanation of it. How can the mind of man with its limited intellect and language that is only capable of describing earthly and physical things comprehend much less explain the unexplainable — namely the “Godhead”? Think about it for a moment. If he could, then he would be an a par intellectually with Elohim (Hebrew for God). For man, this is an impossible feat.
Moreover, for a man, or a men, regardless of the height of their intellectual capacities to quantify the “Godhead” in human terms would be a violation of the second commandment — idolatry or making a god in our own image. Man is incapable of comprehending much less explaining that which is uninvestigatable, uncomprehendable and unexplainable.
Having made these disclaimers, let me share with you what I tell people when they ask what my view of the trinity is. I simply tell them what the Bible says. Elohim is a plural noun, yet we know that Elohim is one. The Hebrew word that explains this oneness is echad (see Deut 6:4) meaning “a compound unity.”
What’s more, in the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament) we learn that Elohim is comprised of the Father, the Son (Yeshua the Messiah) and the Set-Apart Spirit.
I will go one step further. The Scriptures reveal that Elohim is both male and female (Gen 1:27 and 5:2). When Elohim created male and female it was a reflection of the “Godhead.”
As already noted, Elohim is plural and is the Hebrew word that comes the closest to our term “Godhead.” But there are two other Hebrew words that are roots of this uni-plural noun. They are El and Eloah. Both are found in the Scriptures. Now this is where it gets fun, and might challenge some people’s traditional concept of the trinity being all male entities. What I’m about to say I’m not making up. It’s in your Scriptures. I’m just reporting what’s there and what most people have been blind to all along. The Hebrew lexicons tell us that El is a masculine singular noun. No problems here. They also tell us that Elohim is a masculine plural noun. No problems here either. However, when it comes to Eloah, they leave out the gender. In Hebrew, the ah ending or suffix on a noun almost always makes it feminine. Hmm. This is interesting. Why did the lexicologists leave out this interesting tidbit of information?
As mentioned above, the Testimony of Yeshua reveals to us that the “Godhead” is comprised of the Father, the Son and the Set-Apart Spirit. Well, it’s a no brainer that the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, but what part of Elohim is the feminine side? Process of elimination. That leaves the Set-Apart Spirit or in Hebrew Ruach haKodesh. Guess what? Ruach in Hebrew is a feminine noun.
I don’t like labels like “the trinity.” Labels put the limitless Elohim in a box — the box of man’s limited understand where he creates false concepts of who he thinks Elohim is or is not. We have to be careful when we start venturing into this territory. I fear Elohim too much to diminish him by my pea sized brainal capacities. I also could really care less how many people believe a wrong or unbiblical concept — labels and all. It is still an unbiblical concept!
P.S. I can hear some women out there in the audience clapping!
I think your disclaimer is the meat of the essay. I can tell someone how the godhead makes sense to me, but it’s just that, my interpretation. I would definitely be in trouble if my salvation depended on understanding how it all worked. Shalom.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way when trying to understand or explain the Godhead.
I agree. It’s a good thing my salvation doesn’t depend on my understanding this subject, or else I’d be in trouble. I prefer to have a simple, childlike faith on the subject without overly quantifying it. I figure in due time, when I have my glorified mind and body, I will be able to more fully comprehend this difficult subject.
Good job ….explained it well………..disclaimers and all!!!!
Thank you. Sometimes we have to kind of step out there to address difficult and sensitive subjects. Because they are thusly, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t address them. When doing so, we just need to be certain that we’re standing on the sold rock of YHVH’s Word, even if it flies against cherished manmade doctrines and traditions.
” I also could really care less how many people believe a wrong or unbiblical concept — labels and all. It is still an unbiblical concept!” Are you refering to the traditional trinity doctrine, or the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is not a seperate personality.
Growing up a Catholic, I had to shake off lots of things! In time that was easy and I saw the Truth. I am no brain at all, simple Faith is what I have but somehow I always knew Yahweh is male and female. I suppose because we were made after Their Image? Then, Y’shua is YAH and Son and They all plus Ruach ha Kodesh together since infinity. Call Them what you like, They are Three in One (Echad) .
All I know is, I am Grateful and Thankful and Humbled !
JoAnn, Growing up Catholic says a lot for I too grew up Catholic and went to Catholic schools, it was a good education but a lot of trash filled my head too, but not my heart. It was that trash that Father took out of my head to fill me with the truth and I thank Him every day for it. I was very glad to read this and very glad to know that I am not the only one too see the male and female of Elohim for I saw it years ago but put it on the back burner until today.
And anyway how can a finite mind understand an infinite mind? Can’t be done no matter how hard some idiots try to.
I always wondered where the female side of God was? How is there male and female humans & almost every animal yet only the male side of Elohim?? This answers my long held question.. thank you again for sharing your insights.. My next question is just like with our Father and we probably will not know for awhile… is what will mother Elohim look like? I look forward to the day when we will actually get to see not only Yahshua face to face, but also, our heavenly Mother & Father face to face…. What a day that will be… 🙂
Keep in mind that YHVH is echad……..:<)
Natan, I have an off topic question for you that enters my mind a lot that I don’t have an answer for and is really strange to me.. This question was very prevalent in my mind this morning & I can’t figure it out…
We are called the BRIDE of Yahshua. How are we males a bride (known to be female)?
How are we males marrying Yahshua a male?
And maybe i have a misunderstanding, but when male and female get married part of the reason is to have offspring. So if we males are the BRIDE of Yahshua and we will be in our new spirit bodies during the millina, then how will us males procreate with Yahshua.. Maybe we won’t and that is a misunderstanding of mine..
but still, how are us males a BRIDE?? I can’t put my mind around that at all???
This is a good question that has perplexed me as well.
This is my understanding, as limited as it is, on the subject.
Physical things (marriage, male, female, children, etc.) are types and shadows of spiritual realities. They are like parables — for illustrative purposes only and aren’t a perfect representation of the heavenly or spiritual realities. How can, for example, the Tabernacle of Moses, be a perfect representation of the throne room of Elohim? How can the sacrificial or levitical systems be a perfect representation of Yeshua’s salvific work at the cross and beyond? These physical illustrations are for humans’ teaching and learning. They are shadows of the spiritual and higher realities. As such, they fall short, but at least they help our feeble minds to somewhat grasp the higher level.
Similarly, the Bible reveals that YHVH Yeshua is not only our Husband, but our Creator, or Brother, our King, Counselor and so on. What’s more, as Darlene correctly pointed out in her response, the New Jerusalem along with the land of Israel and the saints are all the bride of Yeshua. How can we wrap our brains around such things when we’re so limited in our understandings and so bound by the temporal examples we see around us? We can’t. These are all mysteries that we’ll understand in the future.
You wondered how a male saint can consider Yeshua to be his Bridegroom? How can a nation be considered in the feminine gender when it is comprised of both male and female? Interestingly, the Bible at times likens Israel to a bride or a woman, and at other times to a son. We can’t take these illustration too literally. They’re for teaching and illustrative purposes only. The idea of Yeshua as our Bridegroom is mystery that points to a higher spiritual reality that our minds at this time are incapable of comprehending.
Paul mentioned in a couple of places that in the body of Yeshua there is no longer male or female. Does this mean that Yeshua is marrying an androgynous being? The bottom line is that we have to take all these spiritually analogies somewhat figuratively, or else our brains will short circuit trying to reconcile everything with everything else as we try to figure out the literalness of it all.
How can we, for example, wrap our brains around the concept of the incarnation? How about the fact that Elohim has existed for eternity? We can’t. We just have to “take it by faith.”
Face it. We’re all like little children with pale and bucket in hand standing on the beach trying to grasp the limitless expanse of the ocean before us.
Hi Kirt. I am not Natan and I don’t know anything about anything, but I will throw out a thought that I have had and that our fellowship has discussed. I am not so sure that this is completely literal. I think that the relationship that Father desires with us is like that of a bride and groom……..joined together as one, and that maybe this example is used frequently to indicate the relationship that He desires with us and that perhaps a literal translation can be considered further. Several places in Scripture refer to the New Jerusalem as being the bride. How can a place be a bride? What about the places where people are referred to? MAYBE we can see something more of this by considering a Hebrew word/thought………..Eretz (spelling may be wrong) can mean both land AND people. So what if when the New Jerusalem is “coming down” as a bride and the people of YHVH are a part of that place and therefore the land and people are joined together and “one” and that Yeshua will be living there with us in the land as one……..not unlike when He lived in the Garden at the beginning……the land, the people, Yeshua all one………..as a bride and groom……………? . I don’t know, but like you, I have struggled with a literal meaning of the bride. Perhaps Natan will have 2 cents to add!!!
You bring up some very good points. Thanks for the input. I bring some of these points up in my answer to Kirt and elucidate on them a bit.
Compared to YHVH, we all don’t know anything!
Natan & Darlene,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question…. Both your answers helped me understand it better.. My hang up, and I should have known better, is I am reading those verses about us being the bride of Yahshua literally.. as though we are a literal bride… when those verses are to be taken symbolically..….
Yahshua does not literally marry the New Jerusalem which is inanimate.. It seems more likely that that the symbolism being used is telling us that we will all be ONE as a bride and husband are ONE….
Natan, being on that beach with pale in hand is challenging to say the least.. and I’ll add, I think my pale has a hole in it…. Thank you both.. 🙂
Praise Yah. I’m blessed to see the interaction between the readers on this blog. May this be a place where one member of the body of Yeshua ministers to another. I don’t have all the answers, and don’t have to be the one doing all the talking. Thank you Darlene for helping to answer Kirt’s question.
You are both welcome.. Most of the time, I sit scratching my head and looking to Father to say something like, “huh??!!” I am glad that I had something to contribute that was helpful. Father bless you both:<)
Hi Natan..
.Bruce showed me your article today…and I am pretty sure that this is a “Subject D’Jour”…because it has come up in totally different conversations and situations now either 3 or 4 times in the last 2 days!..
things I have been thinking about before I got your article today:…(offered here, to consider if they help in the subject!)
.the “Velvet-covered steel”… the “upper Hey and Lower Hey” the PATTERNS in earthly–from Heavenly–
Adam sleeps and Chavah/eve is withdrawn OUT OF HIM..
(Was she already fully “THERE” yet unified–only to be separated…?
just as the LAND was “Drawn Out Of the Waters/Seas”…not created from nothing, but revealed instead of concealed as before…
the Feminine and Masculine roles in a family~echad~ including a son~~>>is reflected in t Yod (mighty, active/building/defending Right arm)
Hey…the gentle/breath/whisper/ “softer”–spirit/Nurturing ‘Imma”>>
VAV>the vessel/”6=man”…the son–the vessel-vassal-one Who Is Sent–container who embodies– the messiah/the Right Arm of the father…”seated at the right hand” Hey–now/unseen/invisible (YHVH–is beyond our limited senses
I.E.>the 2nd Hey)//
//UNTIL “the unseen ‘comes down/allows Himself to “descend”…to BE
“If you have seen Me you have seen the Father”>>How?
Yod-Hey-Vav -Hey + Shin Ayin..
.the 2econd Hey descends upon the VAV Man/Son–at His Mikvah
“as a Dove/with the Voice of the Father saying
“This is My beloved Son in Whom I am Well Pleased…”
Onto/INTO Yod HeyVav Shin Ayin (YahShua)
The father/spirit(F)son/embodied–“with Teeth/Shin and Eyes/Ayin”,,,,
(or could we infer>
>YHVH”with teeth and eyes and the Spirit within”>>”with skin on??”
We see “Wisdom” referred to as “feminine”…
Is this another touchstone on the Way Home?…to allow for gentleness and nurture to join with justice and righteousness?? Will “Mama’s Torah” allow for drawing near like a child gathered into mother’s “wings” to be safe and learn Torah while a little child as Proverbs counsels (as preparation for the Instructions from the Abba)?
…Not exactly your casual little subject…just sayin’ ! There are some Very Amazing Things that can arise out of this line of questions and observations!!…we really liked what you had to say…Shalom from our house to yours…Debra
On Adam-Chavah…”Let US (Elohim-echad?) make Adam(echad?) in Our Own Image… is the M+F aspect part of a clue to this??? What are we supposed to be learning as our assignment? For sure–this–that HE is Smarter–and BIGGER–than we are!! And we still have a ways to go–but we will finally grow up When We Know as we are fully Known 🙂 Hallel u YAH!!