WE took occasion some time ago to call attention to the unsound views of Professor David Smith, D.D., of the Presbyterian College, Londonderry, with respect to the Scriptural doctrine of the Trinity, as these views were expressed in the pages of the British Weekly. Professor Smith has been conducting a “Correspondence” column in this popular literary paper for several years past. Questions are invited from the readers on religious subjects, and Professor Smith undertakes to answer these enquiries in a short article from week to week. As we have almost always found these articles unsatisfactory from the standpoint of sound doctrine, we have not followed them closely, but recently we read one of them with care, and discovered with pain a reiteration of the same erroneous opinions about the revelation of the Trinity in the Scriptures as we took serious exception to about two years since. Professor Smith still maintains that “the Trinitarian idea” is not in the Old Testament, and that the unity of the Godhead is the only doctrine there to be found, see Deut. vi. 4, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” Let our readers observe that the orthodox Church has always held that there is only one God, but that within the one Godhead there are three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, “the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” The unity and the plurality are both revealed in the Scriptures. While it is allowed that the existence of the Three Persons is more fully and explicitly made known in the New Testament, it is also maintained on adequate grounds that the Old Testament contains a distinct revelation of the same ineffable Persons. As Professor Smith’s opinion expresses an error in relation to most vital and fundamental truth, and an error so plainly contrary, in our judgment, to what is revealed in the New Testament concerning the contents of the Old, we feel moved to attempt again a short refutation of his misleading ideas.
Professor Smith professes to accept the teaching of the New Testament with respect to the Trinity, and yet an important element in that teaching is to the effect that Father, Son, and Spirit are revealed in the Old Testament. There is no dispute as to the revelation of the Father therein, so we must fix attention upon the Son and the Holy Spirit.
First, the Son of God.
Let us observe the Son’s witness concerning Himself, as made known in the Old Testament. He said on one occasion to the Jews: “Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad” (John viii. 56). And when they answered, “Thou art not fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” Abraham saw His Messianic day by faith in the promises; and he saw Him personally—the self-existent I AM—in manifestation as the angel of Jehovah. The Son, on another occasion, calls attention to Himself as a distinct divine person in the 110th Psalm, where David saith, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Luke xx. 41-44). Consider, further, the inspired testimony of the Apostle Matthew (chap. i., 22, 23), where he quotes the Prophet Isaiah (vii. 14): “Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name, Emmanuel, God with us.” Still again, let us notice the testimony of the Apostle who writes to the Hebrews, in his first chapter. He describes the Son as the brightness of God’s glory, the express image of His person, and the upholder of the universe, and when he desires to confirm this account he proceeds to the Book of Psalms, and gives therefrom addresses by the Father to the Son, in which the personal Godhead of the Son is expressed: “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Ps. xl. 5). “And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands” (Psalm cii.) These are a few of the principal New Testament testimonies to the fact that there is a distinct revelation of the divine Person of the Son of God, as distinguished from the divine Person of the Father, in the Old Testament Scriptures.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit.
In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Peter bears testimony to the divine personality of the Holy Ghost as a speaker in the Old Testament: “Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas.” David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, made reference on his death-bed to his inspiration by the personal Spirit of God: “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue” (2 Sam. xxiii. 2). The Apostle’s testimony makes it clear that he recognised that the Psalmist spoke of “the Spirit of the Lord” not as a mere influence, but as a divine Person. The Lord Jesus Himself, on a memorable occasion in the days of His flesh, gives a striking testimony to the divine personality of the Spirit as referred to in the Old Testament. On the first occasion on which He taught in the synagogue at Nazareth, He opened the book of the prophet Esaias, and “found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,” etc. (Luke iv. 16, 21; Isaiah lxi. i.) After He read these words, He began to say to the people, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Now, it was shortly before this that His baptism took place, when, according to the sacred record, “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke iii. 22). Here the Holy Spirit is clearly represented as a distinct person from the Father who spoke from heaven with an audible voice, saying, “Thou art my beloved Son.” The Lord Jesus makes it plain in His utterance to the people of Nazareth that Isaiah spoke of the Holy Spirit who came upon Himself at His baptism, and still abide upon Him. If such were not the case, He could not say that this Scripture was “fulfilled.” In fact, Isaiah, as the messenger of Jehovah, recording the utterance of the coming Messiah, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,” gives an announcement that embraces the Three Persons of the Godhead: The “Lord God” is the Father, the “Me” is the Son, and the “Spirit” is the Holy Ghost.
As already remarked, Professor Smith professes to accept the testimony of the New Testament with respect to the grand truth of the Trinity of Persons in the unity of the Godhead, but it is to be feared that his acceptance of it is a very imperfect thing, and that he only accepts as much of its testimony as suits his own preconceived ideas. These ideas are, to a large extent, at variance with the teaching of Christ and His Apostles. It is perfectly plain that they recognise Father, Son, and Spirit as distinct, divine Persons in the Old Testament revelation, and not simply the unity of the Godhead. We feel we have handled very summarily the important theme taken up in this article, but we think we have indicated, to some extent, one of the lines along which the refutation of Professor Smith’s erroneous ideas may be accomplished. We consider it very deplorable that the Irish Presbyterian Church retains in one of her Colleges a teacher who is so far astray on fundamental truths of the Gospel.
A RELIGION that never suffices to govern a man will never suffice to save him; that which does not sufficiently distinguish one from a wicked world will never distinguish him from a perishing world.—Howe.