In the past week I saw two very compelling defenses of the Trinity from a Messianic, Torah keeping standpoint. When I say Trinity, I use it as a short-hand for every set of beliefs that says that Jesus is Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and earth.
Date: January 2, 2007
To: my friends
Subject: did Buzzard cover this Trinity verse? 1Cor10:4 Phil2:11In 1 Corinthians 10:4 it talks about the "rock that followed us" through the wilderness of Sinai, and then seems to call him "Christ". Now, Christ means "Anointed". Who was this rock? This was pointed out to me as a Trinitarian verse proving that Messiah pre-existed and was Yahowah, as if Yahowah is the Son and not the Father.
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Anthony Buzzard wrote The Trinity, Christianity's Self-inflicted Wound and was then knighted by the Queen of England. Did he cover this in his book? Also, does Anthony Buzzard cover the Peshitta? I was pointed at Philippians 2:11, where it says that every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is Lord. But in the Peshitta is uses the word "Maryah" or "Lord Jah" where the Greek only has "kurios" or "Lord". In the Peshitta, the tetragrammaton was taken out and replaced with Maryah throughout the Old Testament, so I was told that in the Peshitta this verse says that Jesus is Jehovah, because "Maryah" is used often in the Peshitta New Testament as well.
Philippians 2:10,11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Mar is the Aramaic word for Lord; so Maryah is "Lord Jah". This seems identical to the Jewish tradition of replacing YHWH with "Adonai" and the Anglican tradition of replacing YHWH with "the LORD".
Because the Aramaic does not have the sacred name YHWH, my inclination is to dismiss the Peshitta as corrupt rubbish, and to say that 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 is ambiguous until "the Rock that followed us" can be clearly identified, and "Christ" proven to mean Jesus the Christ, as opposed to some other anointed, of whom YHWH has had many, including Kings David and Solomon. Christ is a Greek word that means "ointed", an ointed one, a person ceremonially covered with ointment. Jesus was an ointed, but not the only one. As for God himself, who can oint God? Will he oint himself?
Jacob, congratulations on the miracles of healing and casting out demons that are happening in your congregation as you become more Torah observant. The weekly prayer meetings and Hebrew lessons at your church are an inspiration, as is the steady, rapid growth your congregation is experiencing. I find it a powerful testimony that you were led away from Yahweh and toward the Yehowah pronunciation this week while casting out a demon. I understand that Yehowah is not exactly how the name was pronounced, and what you wrote in your diary entry (Yahuwah) is probably as close to the pronunciation as Yehowah is. If you can ever spare $45, you may benefit from Gerard Gertoux book on the pronunciation of the name, The Name of God Y.eH.oW.aH Which Is Pronounced As It Is Written I_Eh_Ou_Ah: Its Story. It is the most complete coverage I could imagine, with copies of every ancient inscription and lists of every theophoric name, and vast amounts of information on transliteration between Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
Ted
If anyone reading this has some good explanations of Philippians 2:11, and 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, please write in.