Bishop's Epistle: HEBREW MONOTHEISM, Second Edition

This article is an excerpt from my book "Godhead Theology," Look for it at Amazon Books.

Paul tells us that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. Ask any Hebrew, in the days of Christ, about deity, and you would discover that there was no confusion in his theology. The answer was a universal one: “Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). THE SHEMA!

With the coming of Jesus, the radical monotheism of the Hebrew prophets was enforced. The Great Teacher rehearsed the SHEMA to a young man that would know of the first commandment of all, “The first of all commandments,” Jesus said, “is , Hear, O Israel! The Lord Our God Is One Lord” (Mark 12:29).

Much is learned about a man by listening to him pray. No doubt the apostles were listening in on Jesus’ John 17 prayer. (I have no doubt but that the prayer was prayed, entirely, for their benefit.) Jesus taught his hearers by His prayers. We hear him pray in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God.” Jesus sat on the brim of a well just outside of Sychar (The Well sitting on a well) and instructed a woman in the correctness of Jewish theology. After hearing the words of Christ on this occasion, one would never think that Christianity could add an iota to the Hebrew concept of deity. Hear the words of the teacher: “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4: 21, 22). Here, once for all, Jesus validated the Hebrew idea of God! “You all,” Jesus said (meaning, the Samaritans), “do not know what you worship, we” (meaning, the Jews) “know in what we worship.” Here, Jesus put His stamp of approval on the radical monotheism of the Jews (The belief in and worship of One Only indivisible, eternal and sentient God-being.). No matter what men may think of Jesus, he had not come to clear up a misunderstanding concerning Hebrew theology of God’s person; He had come to confirm it! Just where He, personally, fit into the scheme of that Godhead, was a question that would be debated, almost from the very beginning, and, right on down to our day.

One thing is certain, the Jews knew absolutely nothing of a Trinity; nor, did they know, of a plurality of persons in their Godhead. Moses Maimonides (A. D. 1135–1204, original name Moses Ben Maimon, also called Rambam, Arabic name Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh (born March 30, 1135, Córdoba [Spain]—died Dec. 13, 1204, Egypt), Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician, the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His first major work, begun at age 23 and completed 10 years later, was a commentary on the Mishna, the collected Jewish oral laws. A monumental code of Jewish law followed in Hebrew, The Guide for the Perplexed in Arabic, and numerous other works, many of major importance. His contributions in religion, philosophy, and medicine have influenced Jewish and non-Jewish scholars alike.), the Jewish scholar, writes: “… worship of a trinity is polytheism.” He called Christians “heathens,” “idolaters,” “violators of the command-ment, ‘thou shall have no other gods before me’” (Exodus 20:3). Maimonides considered only Jews and Muslims to be true monotheist. Alfred J. Kolatch, in “The Second Jewish Book of Why” pages 76 and 204 states: “Judaism cannot be denied the glory of being the only genuinely monotheistic religion on earth.” (Maimonides and Kolatch only knew of Rome Catholic Christianity.) The Jews of Christ day, the Jews of our day, even the Jews of the days in between, knew nothing of a God that existed in a plurality of entities.

The apostles of our Lord accepted the radical monotheism of their Hebrew forefathers. That Jesus was God, they knew; that Jesus was a man, they knew. Instead of taking pain to examine this acceptance of Christ into the Hebrew system of deity it was simply assumed. When a teaching has no rivals, it is unnecessary to attempt a proof, or to defend. I mean, what do you defend from? If there is no offensive opponent? To whom do you offer proof, if there is no questioning rival? Onto such a landscape stepped the apostles of our Lord: assuming, not proving, the deity of Christ, and the Modalistic Monarchianism (the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ, and maintain that the names Father and Son were only different designations of the same subject. One ruler (Monarch) was manifested in “modes.” ) that was to characterize the first 300 years of the churches history. Not until pagan priest, supposedly, converted to Christianity was the position of Christ, as God Almighty (Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.), brought into question. When men such as Marcion (85-160), Justin Martyr (100-165), Tertullian (160-225), Hippolytus (170-235), and Origen (184/185 – 253/254), to name but a few of the better-known, arrived on the scene, they found the Hebrew concept of one God and the Hebraic-Christology (the theology concerning Christ based on the revelations of the Hebrew prophets.), with Jesus as the “monarchy,” deeply entrenched in the heart and soul of the rank-and-file of Christianity.

The Hebrew concept of God is clearly seen in the Shema Israel, “HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The ONE, here referred to, is a Solitary, not a Compound, One. We do see this beyond question in Deuteronomy 32:39. Let us look closely at this scripture:

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is not God with me, I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Here the spokesman is Yahweh, Who alone is the Most High. He speaks of Himself as a single Being. “I” first person singular per-sonal pronoun. “He” third person masculine singular personal pronoun. “With me” it is the preposition ‘immad’ suffixed with the first person singular personal pronoun. The personal pronouns in an abbreviated form are affixed to nouns, prepositions, etc, to express the genitive and objective cases. THEREFORE, THE OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION IS A SINGLE PERSON. “My hand” is the first person singular possessive pronoun. THE HAND WAS THE POSSESSION OF ONE PERSON. All the verbs of this verse are the first person singular form. In Hebrew the verb must agree with its subject in number and gender.

Thus, the Divine person, in this verse, spoke of Himself as a single person and stated that no other person of deity exists.It is abundantly clear that Hebrew Monotheism was a believe in one solitary God. It was not an understanding of “one” in a compound sense. To believe in God as a solitary being is of so much importance that Jesus taught it to be the first of all commandments. When Jesus was asked, by a young man, which of the Commandments was the first of all, he was told by Christ that the first commandment was “Here O, Israel the Lord Our God Is One Lord.” (Mark 12:29).

Excerpted from the author's book entitled "Godhead Theology." Published by Seven Millennium Publications. Order your personal copy today: https://www.amazon.com/Godhead-Theology-Modalism-Original-Orthodoxy/dp/1516983521/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Godhead+theology%2C+Hayes&qid=1554054212&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull

Defense of 1 Timothy 3:16 (Answering Objections to Modalism)

http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/06/defense-of-first-timothy-316-answering.html

Godhead Theology is a study of Christian Godhead theology. ... Was He God or not? In Godhead Theology Bishop Jerry Hayes follows that debate through the first 300 years of the Church's history. Our book is in five sections: Section One ... demonstrates Modalistic Monarchianism as the original orthodoxy of the Chruch; Section Two introduces the Apostolic Creed ... ; Section Three is an affirmation of Modalistic Monarchianism; Section Four is Modalism's responses to objection from the pluralists Trinitarians, Binitarians, Arians and Semi-Arians. Included are two comprehensive indexes: Subject Index and Scripture Index. 613 pages.

Own this classic book today by ordering from the link provided here:https://www.amazon.com/Godhead-Theology-Modalism-Original-Orthodoxy/dp/1516983521/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=Bishop+Jerry+hayes&qid=1554244653&s=books&sr=1-4

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT BY

PURCHASING OUR BOOKS OF YOUR LIBRARY

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the Bishop's Podcast: Apostolic Bishop, at:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-apostolicbishops-podcast/id1472262392?fbclid=IwAR2FlRYnNsw5Vu_Bz4PjyEdiAxFMawhtD2BFr_S7WysrpFcYjuQYSHGAlZ

Bishop's Epistle

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

HEBREW MONOTHEISM, Second Edition

No comments:

Post a Comment

Bishop, Abbot General