Editing Trinity (section)

== Old Testament ==
The [[Old Testament]] has been interpreted as referring to the Trinity in many places. For example, in the [[Genesis creation narrative]], the first-person plural [[pronoun]]s in Genesis 1:26–27 and Genesis 3:22 have been used to argue for a Trinitarian understanding of God:

{{blockquote|Then God said, 'Let ''us'' make man in ''our'' image, after ''our'' likeness [...]'|title=Genesis 1:26}}

{{blockquote|Then the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of ''us'' in knowing good and evil [...]'|title=Genesis 3:22}}

A traditional Christian interpretation of these pronouns is that they refer to a plurality of persons within the [[Godhead in Christianity|Godhead]]. Biblical commentator [[Victor P. Hamilton]] outlines several interpretations, including the most widely held among Biblical scholars, which is that the pronouns do not refer to other persons within the Godhead but to the 'heavenly court' of [[Isaiah 6]]. Theologians [[Meredith Kline]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kline |first=Meredith G. |title=Genesis: A New Commentary |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers Marketing |isbn=978-1-61970-852-5 |location=Peabody, Massachusetts |publication-date=2016 |pages=13}}</ref> and [[Gerhard von Rad]] argue for this view; as von Rad says, 'The extraordinary plural ("Let us") is to prevent one from referring God's image too directly to God the Lord. God includes himself among the heavenly beings of his court and thereby conceals himself in this majority.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=von Rad |first=Gerhard |title=Genesis |publisher=W. L. Jenkins |location=Chatham, Kent |publication-date=1961 |pages=57 |translator-last=Marks |translator-first=John H.}}</ref> Hamilton notes that this interpretation assumes that Genesis 1 is at variance with Isaiah 40:13–14, ''Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?'' That is, if the plural pronouns of Genesis 1 teach that God consults and creates with a 'heavenly court', then it contradicts the statement in Isaiah that God seeks the counsel of nobody. According to Hamilton, the best interpretation 'approaches the Trinitarian understanding but employs less direct terminology'.<ref name="Hamilton-1990">{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |title=The Book of Genesis: chapters 1–17 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8028-2521-6 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan}}</ref>{{Rp|page=133}} Following [[D. J. A. Clines]], he states that the plural reveals a 'duality within the Godhead' that recalls the 'Spirit of God' mentioned in verse 2, ''And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.'' Hamilton also says that it is unreasonable to assume that the author of Genesis was too theologically primitive to deal with such a concept as 'plurality within unity';<ref name="Hamilton-1990" />{{Rp|page=134}} Hamilton thus argues for a framework of [[Progressive revelation (Christianity)|progressive revelation]], in which the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed at first obscurely then plainly in the New Testament.

Another of these places is the prophecy about the [[Messiah]] in Isaiah 9, where the Messiah is called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". Some Christians see this verse as meaning the Messiah will represent the Trinity on earth. This is because Counselor is a title for the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), the Trinity is God, Father is a title for God the Father, and Prince of Peace is a title for Jesus. This verse is also used to support the [[Deity of Christ]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=For to Us a Child Is Born: The Meaning of Isaiah 9:6 |url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/isaiah-9-6 |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=Zondervan Academic |archive-date=19 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919153312/https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/isaiah-9-6 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Deity of Christ can also be inferred from certain passages in the [[Book of Daniel]]:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 1): The Second Coming of Christ |url=https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-3/s3-doctrine-of-the-last-things/doctrine-of-the-last-things-part-1 |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=Reasonable Faith |archive-date=15 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715195122/https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-3/s3-doctrine-of-the-last-things/doctrine-of-the-last-things-part-1 |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
|title=Daniel 7:13–14}}

This is because both the [[Ancient of Days]] (God the Father) and the Son of Man (God the Son, Matt 16:13) have an everlasting dominion, which is ascribed to God in Psalm 145:13.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 145:13 – New International Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20145%3A13&version=NIV |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=Bible Gateway |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112021513/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20145%3A13&version=NIV |url-status=live}}</ref>

People also see the Trinity when the Old Testament refers to God's word (Psalm 33:6), His Spirit (Isaiah 61:1), and Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1), as well as narratives such as the appearance of the three men to [[Abraham]].{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=1652}} However, it is generally agreed among Trinitarian Christian scholars that it would go beyond the intention and spirit of the Old Testament to correlate these notions directly with later Trinitarian doctrine.{{sfn|Joyce|1912}}

Some [[Church Fathers]] believed that a knowledge of the mystery was granted to the [[prophet]]s and [[saint]]s of the Old Testament and that they identified the [[Angel of the Lord|divine messenger]] of Genesis 16:7, Genesis 21:17, Genesis 31:11, Exodus 3:2, and [[Wisdom (personification)|Wisdom]] of the [[Wisdom literature#Biblical wisdom literature and Jewish texts|sapiential books]] with the Son, and "the spirit of the Lord" with the Holy Spirit.{{sfn|Joyce|1912}}

Other Church Fathers, such as [[Gregory Nazianzen]], argued in his ''Orations'' that the revelation was gradual, claiming that the Father was proclaimed in the Old Testament openly, but the Son only obscurely, because "it was not safe, when the Godhead of the Father was not yet acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the Son".<ref name="nazianzen" />

Genesis 18–19 has been interpreted by Christians as a Trinitarian text. The narrative has the Lord appearing to Abraham, who was visited by three men.<ref>{{bibleref2|Genesis|18:1–2|esv}}</ref> In Genesis 19, "the two angels" visited [[Lot (Bible)|Lot]] at Sodom.<ref>{{bibleref2|Genesis|19|esv}}</ref> The interplay between Abraham on the one hand and the Lord/three men/the two angels on the other was an intriguing text for those who believed in a single God in three persons. [[Justin Martyr]] and [[John Calvin]] similarly interpreted it as such that Abraham was visited by God, who was accompanied by two angels.<ref name="Watson" /> Justin supposed that the God who visited Abraham was distinguishable from the God who remains in the heavens but was nevertheless identified as the (monotheistic) God. Justin interpreted the God who visited Abraham as Jesus, the second person of the Trinity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: Dialogue with Trypho, Chapters 55-68 (Justin Martyr) |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01285.htm |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=New Advent}}</ref>

Augustine, in contrast, held that the three visitors to Abraham were the three persons of the Trinity.<ref name="Watson" /> He saw no indication that the visitors were unequal, as would be the case in Justin's reading. Then, in Genesis 19, two of the visitors were addressed by Lot in the singular: "Lot said to them, 'Not so, my lord{{' "}} (Gen. 19:18).<ref name="Watson" /> Augustine saw that Lot could address them as one because they had a single substance despite the plurality of persons.{{efn|name=Augustine3}}

Christians interpret the [[theophanies]], or appearances of the [[Angel of the Lord]], as revelations of a person distinct from God, who is nonetheless called God. This interpretation is found in Christianity as early as Justin Martyr and [[Melito of Sardis]] and reflects ideas that were already present in [[Philo]].{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=573–578}} The Old Testament theophanies were thus seen as [[Christophanies]], each a "preincarnate appearance of the Messiah".<ref name="bakerdict" />