Why does Judaism reject the Trinity?

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Uploaded: 09 May 2015 (11 years ago) · Shared: 28 Mar 2017

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Rabbi Tovia Singer answers pastor's question at FEBIAS College of Bible, Manila’s oldest Christian Bible College, on May 7th, 2015: Tovia Singer explains to Filipino pastor why Judaism rejects the

Christian Doctrine of the Trinity. https://outreachjudaism.org/ http://www.toviasinger.tv/

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Overview & Key Concepts

Who is Tovia Singer?

Tovia Singer (born 1960) is a Jewish rabbi. Singer is the founder and director of Outreach Judaism, Indonesia.

What is Trinity?

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Latin: trinus "threefold") holds that God is one God, but three coeternal consubstantial persons or

hypostases. These being the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit - as "one God in three Divine Persons". The three Persons are distinct, yet are one "substance, essence or nature" (homoousios).

What is Judaism?

Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, with the Torah as its

foundational text (part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship that God established with the Children of Israel.
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Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah.
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The Jews are an ethnoreligious group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2012, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14 million, or roughly 0.2% of the total world population. About 42% of all Jews reside in Israel and about 42% reside in the United States and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.How were the Triadic or 'Trinity-like' Pagan Gods presented?

The pagan Triadic dieties were shown as a single-head with 3 faces, 3 mouths but only 4 mouths. Such images were preserved across the Roman Empire.

2.Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties?

Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties? Yes. The core teachings of the Trinitarian Christian churches today do not come from Jesus.

The three-in-one Gods are pagan concepts that existed long before Jesus arrived. Later on, Christians adopted this concept and instantly made Christian doctrine an appealing alternative to the pagan God worshipping masses.

3.Why is the Trinity so difficult to understand?

"It is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that any formulation of it can be found in the Bible."
(Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

Trinitarians have been looking for Bible texts and even twisting verses to find support for the Trinity teaching.

4.How did the Christian Trinity come about?

The concept of a dual human and divine nature in the person of Jesus is known as the Hypostatic Union, an essential component of modern Trinitarianism.

Yet it wasn�t until the Council of Chalcedon that we see the emergence of an official doctrine of the Trinity in a form that is recognisable with what Christian Trinitarians believe in today. This took place in the fifth century, over 400 years after Jesus!

The evangelical theologian and Professor Wayne A. Grudem sums this up as follows: "A precise understanding of how full deity and full humanity" argues Grudem, "could be combined together in one person was formulated only gradually in the church and did not reach the final form until the Chalcedonian Definition in 451 AD

Source: [Grudem, Systematic Theology: Chapter 26 � The Person of Christ, 1994, p. 554.]

5.Does the Bible support the Trinity (3-in-1) God concept?

This verse mentions the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) in the King James Version Bible (KJV). Bible critics agree the KJV verse is a forgery that was added into the Bible. More modern, accurate Bibles give different text:

And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth - (RSV Bible)

And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth - (ASV Bible)

For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (NIV Bible)

6.Does the Old Testament teach the Christian Trinity?

The Old Testament does not teach the Trinity, or even set forth the Messiah would be God. There is no evidence of anyone knowing about, or believing in, the Trinity in all the Jewish literature before Christ, including the Old Testament, the Jewish targums and commentaries, the Apocrypha or other apocryphal literature, or the Dead Sea Scrolls.

7.What is the Christian Trinity?

Orthodox Christian theologians define the doctrine of the Trinity is that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and together these 'three Persons' make one God; and these three are co-equal and co-eternal, the Son having been 'eternally begotten' of the Father, and Jesus being simultaneously 100% God and 100% man.

Today, many Christians think they are Trinitarians simply because they believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit - but that is not the Trinity!

8.What do Christian 'Trinity' scholars say about the Old Testament?

The distinguished Trinitarian scholar Bertrand de Margerie in his book The Christian Trinity in History (p.3) writes:

"�contemporary exegetes [Bible teachers] affirm unanimously that the Old Testament did not bring to the Jewish people a clear and distinct Revelation of the existence of a plurality of persons in God. In this they agree with the clear and frequent affirmation of Fathers such as Irenaeus, Hilary, and Gregory of Nazianzus: that the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed only in the New Testament."

So any person who lived before Jesus' ministry did not have to believe in the Trinity to be saved because the Trinity is not mentioned in the Old Testament.

9.What do Christian scholars say about the Trinity?

Scholars freely admit that the Trinity is never presented as a complete doctrine in the New Testament, but rather is built from scattered Bible verses.

In the NT there is no explicit statement of the doctrine�.
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (p. 1112)

�it is not a Biblical doctrine in the sense that any formulation of it can be found in the Bible�.
New Bible Dictionary (p.1221)

The New Testament does not present a systematic presentation of the Trinity. The scattered segments from various writers that appear throughout the New Testament reflect a seemingly accepted understanding that exists without a full-length discussion.
Holman Bible Dictionary (p.1372)

Theologians admit the New Testament does not define the Trinity. Furthermore, there is no clear teaching that salvation depends on the belief in the Trinity.

10.How did the Early Jewish-Christians practise their religion?

The Jewish-Christians practised three daily prayers, male circumcision, ritual washing for purity, fasting, attention to clean/unclean foods, giving charity and pilgrimage to a central temple.

11.Did Jesus claim to be 'King of the Jews'?

A placard where Jesus was accused of claiming to be 'King of the Jews' was nailed to his cross. Today this placard can be found at the Church of Santa Croce in Rome.

12.How was Jesus Jewish?

In many ways, Jesus was Jewish:

He did not preach a new religion He taught people to do the Will of God; not a new God
He never went to Church
He fully observed the Jewish Law
His followers continued attending and meeting at the Temple
His followers observed the dietary regulations of the Torah and continued the practise of circumcision

Therefore, the early Jewish-Christians did not give up Judaism, nor did Jesus every ask them to do so.

13.What did early Jewish-Christians think of Apostle Paul?

Paul's popularity was in decline between 55-66 CE because missionaries from the Church of Jerusalem publicly rejected his innovation and claim to be an Apostle.

14.Were the early Christians Jews?

Yes. Jesus himself and his immediate followers observed all Jewish law, customs and practise.

15.Did Saul kill the early Jewish-Christians?

Prior to becoming a Christian, Saul of Tarsus hated Christians. He made it his goal to capture, then bring Christians to public trial and execution.

1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
(Acts 8:1-3)

Saul believed that he was serving God by finding Christians, throwing them into prison, and even executing them when possible.

16.How did the Jews view Apostle Paul?

Paul's salvation theory was considered blasphemy by faithful Jews. The Jews knew Pauls teachings ridiculed all previous revelations from God as expressed through the Torah.

The Jews after all, were the one race of people in the world who were taught God was One, without form or substance, and did not bear the likeness of anything in the universe.

17.According to Apostle Paul, why did God give Jews the Torah?

Paul claimed God gave Jews the Torah so that they could be saved later on by believing in Jesus Christ. This was God's divine plan.

18.How did Apostle Paul differ with the Jewish Rabbis?

The Jewish Rabbis preached a person was saved so long as their intention was to remain within the covenant, and one truly repented and seek forgiveness for their sins.

Paul preached that every person was 'damned' until they was offered salvation. Mans problem was that he was 'in the flesh' in bondage to the Law, sold under Sin, enslaved by the fundamental spirits of the universe (ie. dead).

Paul preached the only cure was liberation from slavery and death by union with Christ, who had conquered death and sin.

19.How did the early Jewish-Christians view Jesus' resurrection?

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
(Acts 2:22-24)

The early Christians assumed Jesus had been raised by God, and not that he was God.

20.Who seperated Christianity from Judaism?

It was Paul's dramatic conversion to Christianity that resulted in the seperation of Christianity from Judaism. Within months of his disappearing, Jesus' teachings were changed.

21.Why Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah?

The Bible claims the Messiah will accomplish certain signs:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world�on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).

The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.

Christians counter that Jesus will fulfill these in the Second Coming, but Jewish sources show that the Messiah will fulfill the prophecies outright, and no concept of a second coming exists.

Read More

22.What does the Quran say about Jews and Christians?

The Jews say "The Christians have nothing [true] to stand on," and the Christians say, "The Jews have nothing to stand on," although they [both] recite the Scripture. Thus the polytheists speak the same as their words. But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.
[Quran 2:113]

23.How was Apostle Paul viewed by the Jews?

24.Does the Quran tell Jews and Christians to refer to their Scriptures (Torah and Bible)?

When the Quran refers to the previous Scriptures (Torah, Gospel etc.), this is understood to mean the original revelations sent to Moses and Jesus, and not the 'corrupted' versions we have today

25.In the time of Jesus, what qualities would identify the Messiah, to the Jews?

A human empowered by God. Not a God-man, a person of the Godhead or part of a Triune God (Trinity)
From the lineage of Abraham (Gen. 22:18)
From the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10)
A descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12)
A Lord under Yahweh, the God of Israel (Ps. 110:1)
From amongst their own people (Jer. 30:21)

26.How did the 1st century Jews view the Holy Spirit?

First century Jews believed the Holy Spirit was another name for God, similar to Yahweh, Elohim or El Shaddai - not a separate Person in the Trinity!

There is no record of Jesus ever trying to correct the Jews and prove the Holy Spirit was a third Person in the Trinity.

27.Jesus claimed to be God. The Jews must have understood this, as they accused him of blasphemy and were ready to stone him?

The Jews were mistaken. Jesus did not claim to be God, claim divinity or commit blasphemy. In the next verse (John 10:34), Jesus tells the Jews to read their own books, Psalm 82:6 where men in power, eminence, dignity, government, judges, magistrates, in high office posts are called Gods too. i.e. the term God does not literally mean GOD.

28.Why do Jews let the hair grow on the sides of there head?

In the Torah, God forbids the cutting of the hair on the sides and the beard

29.How did Jews view the Greek Bible (Septuagint)?

For the Jews, the Septuagint would always be a translation of the Hebrew bible.

30.In the time of Jesus, how were the Jews viewed by the Greeks?

Judaism was views as an inward looking, demoralized by centuries of Roman occupation, declining economic fortunes and ongoing emigration.

31.Who seperated Christianity from Judaism?

It was Paul's dramatic conversion to Christianity that resulted in the seperation of Christianity from Judaism. Within months of his disappearing, Jesus' teachings were changed.

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