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This is a follow up post to my article where I discuss the Trinity in Targum Neofiti  (TN for short): THE TRINITY IN TARGUM NEOFITI . TN contains a remarkable paraphrase of Genesis 1:1, where it is explicitly stated that YHVH has a Son who made creation in wisdom: From the beginning with wisdom  the Son of the Lord ( bara da-YYY’ ) created the heavens and the earth . Genesis 1:1 ( Targum Neofiti , p. 497   https://archive.org/details/neofiti1genesis/Neofiti%201%20-%20G%C3%A9n

In this post I will be quoting the interpretation of Genesis found in the Targum Neofiti , which is a Jewish paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. This ancient version furnishes evidence that there were specific non-Christian Jews that clearly saw from their reading of Genesis a plurality of divine Persons coexisting together as the one true God of Israel. Note, for instance, how they interpreted the creation account, specifically the creation of humanity and God’s use

The Torah describes a false prophet named Balaam as actually seeing the divine Angel of YHWH and being inspired by the Holy Spirit to utter prophecies, which point to the coming Davidic King at a time when Israel had no king! “But God was angry because he was going, so the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as an adversary against him . Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two young men were with him. Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with

In this post I will cite specific Psalms, which the Aramaic paraphrase called the Targumim  interpret as messianic prophecies. I will be employing Targum Psalms  — a new translation by Edward M. Cook, 2001. All emphasis will be mine. PSALM 18 “He gives great salvation to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his seed forever.” Psalm 18:50 Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) Targum 32.     For because of the miracle and deliverance that you will perform for

The following quotations are taken from the Midrash Tehillim . What makes this interesting is that the Midrash attributes the following OT texts to the Messiah and/or his days: Genesis 49:8-12; 1 Samuel 2:10; Songs 4:8; Isaiah 4:5, 11:1-10, 16:5, 49:23, 57:19; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Daniel 7:9, Joel 4:9-10; Zechariah 14. All emphasis will be mine. PSALM 1 “… Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that in the days of the Messiah, the righteous will return to their original form , as it is sai

This will be the final segment to my series discussing the clear, unambiguous witness of Genesis chapters 18-19 to the existence of two distinct divine Persons of YHWH, One of whom appeared on earth in the form of a Man and the other One that was in heaven. Here I will address a typical objection by both Arians such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and rabbinic Judaism to refute the claim that Genesis 19:24 refers to two Persons as YHWH. Their argument is that this is a case of thi

ADDENDUM Make sure to read this first: JUDE’S EPISTLE VERSUS ARIANISM  ( https://www.samshmnthelogy.net/post/jude-s-epistle-versus-arianism ) . It seems that not all the verses where YHWH speaks in the third person are cases of YHWH referring to himself. It may be an indication of the fact that YHWH is referring to another divine Person as YHWH God Almighty. For instance, in the following passages YHWH threatens to overthrow certain kingdoms an cities in the same way that God

In this post I will be addressing the claims made by the anti-Trinitarian polemicist and arian apologist Greg Stafford in respect to the epistle of Jude. Stafford seeks to employ Jude’s statement about Michael to refute the Trinitarian position that the Angel of YHWH who appears all throughout the Hebrew Bible is not a creature. The following comments where Stafford was responding to a Trinitarian can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFpczOK4Bxw&lc=UgyiRox5wYNq2

DISMANTLING ANOTHER ANTI-TRINITARIAN SMOKESCREEN In this post I intend to refute a typical claim by anti-Trinitarians that all throughout the Hebrew Bible there are angelic creatures, which are identified as Jehovah due to their being God’s authorized emissaries. The assertion is made that a created angel whom Jehovah sends to speak on his behalf can refer to himself as Jehovah God. This is not because the spirit creature is Jehovah, but because he has been authorized to spea

The following is taken from the monumental work titled  The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense , authored by Robert M. Bowman Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, published by Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, 2024, Part 2: Like Father, Like Son: Jesus’ Divine  Attributes , Chapter 13. Was Christ the First Creature?, pp. 251-255. In my estimation this is  THE  best and most comprehensive exposition and defense of the biblical basis for the Deity of Christ. Every seriou

Unitarian heretic and pseudo-intellectual Dale Tuggy is fond of quoting sources either out of context or quite selectively in his war against the Trinity. For instance, Tuggy is guilty of citing the following commentary on John in order to give the misleading impression that not all commentators think that the Evangelist in John 12:38-41 is identifying Jesus as the Yahweh whom the prophet Isaiah saw in his temple vision as recorded in Isaiah 6:1-10:   All four Gospels, and al

In this post I will provide further evidence from the inspired Scriptures that Christ is the true God, even though he is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew Bible describes YHWH as the God of truth, i.e., the God who is the truth, to whom believers entrust their spirits, e.g., entrusting their lives to him who is faithful. “ Into Your hand I commit my spirit ; You have ransomed me, O Yahweh, God of truth ( El emeth ).” Psalm 31:5 Note how the Greek versions called t

There is an attempt among certain analytic philosophers and/or apologists to prove that the Father is identical to the one God of holy Scripture. These include unitarians and Arians who deny the Trinity and/or reject the Divinity of Christ altogether. This group even include specific Trinitarians who also believe that the Father alone is God in the nominal sense, meaning God by way of identity. These individuals argue that the Father is numerically identical to the one God. I

In this post I will be using the argument employed by the pseudo-intellect and unitarian heretic Dale Tuggy to deny the Trinity against him, showing how his (il)logical syllogism ends up proving too much. I will demonstrate how Tuggy’s claims prove that the Father cannot be God. I will then use Tuggy’s (ir)rational points to also show that Eve cannot be an adam, even though the inspired Scriptures affirm that she is. TUGGY’S “LOGICAL” SYLLOGISM Here’s Tuggy’s 9 points which h

The following excerpts are taken from Dr. William Lane Craig’s essay, “Tri-Personal Monotheism”, in One God, Three Persons, Four Views: A Biblical, Theological, and Philosophical Dialogue on the Doctrine of the Trinity , edited by Chad A. McIntosh, and published by Cascade Books, Eugene, OR 2024. All emphasis is mine. Christ as  Kyrios The early Christians’ solution to this problem was startling and ingenious. They adopted the term kyrios  (“Lord”) as their principal means of

Sharp’s Rule Triumphs Again! In this post I will cite another example of Granville Sharp’s first rule in respect to texts that deal with the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sharp’s First Rule states that, “When the copulative kai connects two nouns of the same case, [viz. nouns (either substantive or adjective, or participles) of personal description, respecting office, dignity, affinity, or connexion, and attributes, properties, or qualities, good or ill], if the article ho,

In some of my previous discussions ( https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/biblical-verses-that-call-jesus-god/ ), I spoke of a specific Greek feature found throughout the NT writings, which scholars typically refer to as a Graville Sharp construction. The construction is in reality a rule of Greek grammar in regards to how the definite article ho (“the”) and all of its various cases function. According to this particular rule, when two singular nouns/adjectives

In this post, I am going to cite some of the biblical texts that apply the term God to Jesus. The prophet Isaiah announced that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a Son who would be called Immanuel: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 The Apostle Matthew provides an inspired commentary and the application of this prophecy and the meaning of the name: “Now the

The following excerpt is taken from Dr. William Lane Craig’s essay, “Tri-Personal Monotheism”, in  One God, Three Persons, Four Views: A Biblical, Theological, and Philosophical Dialogue on the Doctrine of the Trinity , edited by Chad A. McIntosh, and published by Cascade Books, Eugene, OR 2024, pp. 32-37. All emphasis is mine. Christ as Theos The use of the divine title kyrios  enabled NT Christians to regard the Father and the Son as equally divine while maintaining a perso

In the following post, JEHOVAH BECOMES OUR BROTHER ( https://www.samshmnthelogy.net/post/jehovah-becomes-our-brother) , I showed how the Hebrew Bible anticipates Jehovah God becoming mankind’s brother by taking on a human nature in order to become a human being to redeem human souls by his vicarious death and resurrection: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased w