לתשובת המינים

Unity of God

While there are several significant theological disagreements between Christianity and Judaism, one difference stands head and shoulders above the rest in significance. This disagreement is whether or the Mashiach is God "incarnate." Prior to analyzing the correctness of this doctrine we must try to gain some understanding of what is meant.

I will, for the most part, be dealing with a traditionally orthodox Christian view of the Trinity. While it is correct to say, "the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the New Testament, and it may confuse the issue for you",¹ I believe the doctrine of the Trinity found in the traditional creeds represents the best attempt at reconciling the various relavent passages in the Christian Bible. Furthermore I’m inclined to believe that the orthodox Chrsitan Trinity is probably the least theologically problematic approach to the belief that the Nazarene is divine, short of those who reject this belief altogether (and a number of those still tend to show a level of devotion to the Nazarene that is inappropriate for a mere human.) As such while I may touch on [contextually] heterodox notions of the Trinity, they will not be my main focus. Similarly while we well attempt to deal with other aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity which are troublesome, our main concern is with the claim that the Nazarene is divine, the "second person" of the Trinity.

Even if we were to concede that the Trinity does constitute monotheism, it consistently undermines the monotheistic theology of the T’nakh. Even if the T’nakh’s conclusions about monotheism were consistent with the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity unravels its threads and assaults the premises upon which those conclusion are drawn.

The Severity of the Issue
The "Incarnation"
The "Kenosis"
Elijah's Taunt

¹Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus vol. 2, page 3. While the "may confuse the issue for you" in this context refers to non-Chrisitan Jews, in our context the use of the term "Trinity" may also put off readers who hold modified forms of the belief, while rejecting the term.