The "Godhead"?

[Guest]

What exactly is meant by this term Godhead? I usually hear this term used in the following sense:

"There are three persons in the Godhead"

This suggests that "the Godhead" is the class/type/kind that is God, and that three persons are in this class/type/kind. Is this accurate?

[Guest]

What exactly is meant by this term Godhead? I usually hear this term used in the following sense: "There are three persons in the Godhead"

This suggests that "the Godhead" is the class/type/kind that is God, and that three persons are in this class/type/kind. Is this accurate?



Yes that's my understanding, that it means the Trinity. Any thoughts on the Trinity and how three beings who are divine could be one God?

[Guest]

steve7150 wrote:

Any thoughts on the Trinity and how three beings who are divine could be one God?

just because! (that's about the best I can muster)

TK

[Guest]

Any thoughts on the Trinity and how three beings who are divine could be one God?


just because! (that's about the best I can muster)


Thanks, but Isaiah said "come let us reason together" Isa1.18

[Guest]

This suggests that "the Godhead" is the class/type/kind that is God, and that three persons are in this class/type/kind. Is this accurate?

Just to clarify, I meant is this an accurate description of the Trinitarian understanding of things.

Personally, I really don't see that the Bible ever refers to the Almighty Creator, Yahweh, as being an impersonal class/kind/type. It seems that the one true God is everywhere referred to as one personal being and that this is the most basic starting point of true religion (Deuteronomy 6:4/ Mark 12:28-30, James 2:19 etc.).

[Guest]

Steve7150-

nobody, to my knowledge (even the really super smart guys), is able to explain the trinity, and will admit to same. we all know this, but we still try to fathom it. it's like me, math phobic that i am, trying to fathom how isaac newton could have "invented" calculus to solve math problems. i can't fathom it.

i guess the more important question is: does God WANT us to be able to fully fathom the concept of the Trinity?

TK

[Guest]

i guess the more important question is: does God WANT us to be able to fully fathom the concept of the Trinity?

TK

This is such an important question. The question is, really, what does God want man to to know and understand (to "fathom") about Him?

Well, in Deuteronomy 4 - as Israel were about to enter into Canaan - Moshe told them the reason that Yahweh had done all that He had in bringing them out of Egypt:

35 To you it was shown, so that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.

Again, he says:

"39 Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."

Yahweh was trying to communicate a simple-sounding point to the Israelite men, women and children, a basic truth about Him which they were to know and to settle in their hearts. What was this truth:

a) That Yahweh is a type/kind (a Godhead) and It alone is the true God?

or

b) That Yahweh is a personal being and He alone is the true God?

[Guest]

if i am not mistaken, Ely, you seem to be leaning more toward choice b.

there is no doubt the verses you quoted seem to suggest that, but perhaps scripture taken as a whole indicates otherwise.

what do you think of the Holy Spirit?

TK

[Guest]

Hey TK,

You are right in your hunch. Much as I now I am letting myself in for some "great tribulation" among my brethren (not here though, thankfully), I am now Unitarian in my understanding of Yahweh. And passages such as this are a big part of the reason why.

As for the spirit of Yahweh, I do not believe that this is a person. Rather, I now believe (as I have often suspected) that the Ruach Hakodesh is the power and presence of Yahweh. Yes, sometimes it is personified, but so are other non-personal things such as wisdom (Proverbs). But that's for another thread perhaps.

But, I'd really like to hear how the idea of a Triune (or even "Biune") Godhead is reconciled with passages such as this.

[Guest]

I just did a word study: "GODHEAD" appears three times in KJV

Acts 17:29, neXt Bible
"So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity (Greek, theion) is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination."
theion:
Definition: BDAG has "divine being, divinity"
Theion was also a general name of deities or divinities as used by the Greeks: "the gods."
I have read that some interpretors see theon as the OT equivalent for elohim (literally, "the gods"). I don't know enough about the original languages to substantiate this. But if this could be demonstrated to be true it would be quite interesting for NT studies!

Romans 1:20 neXt Bible
"For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature (Greek, theiotes) – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people 1 are without excuse."
theiotes:
Noun
Defnition: "divinity, divine nature"

Colossians 2:9, neXt Bible
"For in him [Christ] all the fullness of deity (Greek, theothtos*) lives in bodily form,"
theothtos:
Noun
Definition: 1) deity, 1a) the state of being God, Godhead

*note, the "h" above in "theothtos" is the Greek letter: Eta (it is pronounced "ay")
____________________________________________________

I've read that some interpret theion as the NT equivalent of the OT elohim (literally, "the gods"). But I don't know enough about the original languages to confirm this. I have found that there are some instances in Greek literature. If this could be substantiated it could have serious implications for NT studies!

Anyways....