….三而一的神..The Trinity….
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Milton B.Lindberg撰寫
以色列啊，你要聽！耶和華—我們神是獨一的主。（申命記6︰4）
Hear, O Israel (Shema Yisrael): The Lord our God (Adonai Eloheinu), the Lord is one (Adonai Ehad). Deuteronomy (Humash Devarim) 6:4
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by Milton B. Lindberg
HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
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引言
《猶太信仰十三條法則 a 》中的第二條就是建基於以上的經文：「我以完全的信念相信，賜福予人的創造主，是一個個體，祂的名是應當稱頌的，祂沒有與跟祂相似的個體，以任何形式結合，唯獨祂是我們的神，昔日如是，現今如是，將來也如是。」
a《猶太信仰十三條法則“Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith”》是猶太哲學家Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon（又名Maimonides）編譯，他善於解構摩西五經，第二條法則是“The belief in G‑d's absolute and unparalleled unity”。
教義的由來
那麼，三而一（Trinity）的教義從何而來？世上許多自稱是敬拜神，就是那位在摩西和先知書中所啟示的神，然而，他們相信神是三而一的。
按基督徒之新約聖經的教導，「神」一字是指聖父，聖子和聖靈，這點是可以肯定的。但是，除非基督徒能從舊約聖經（猶太人的Tenach）中得着鐵證，神有多於一個位格；不然，他們便該停止宣稱他是敬拜亞伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的神，摩西和眾先知的神，摩西五經、先知書及聖卷b內的神。
b按猶太人的舊約聖經，分為三大部份，就是1. 摩西五經，Torah 2. 先知書，Nevi’im 3. 聖卷，Writings
我們必須承認，摩西五經的第一句：「起初神（以羅欣c）創造了天空（hashamayimd）和大地」。這裡的「神」字是複數，「天堂」及以下經文所指的神也是複數︰
十誡的第一誡：「除我以外，你不可有別的神（gods, 以羅欣）」（出埃及記20︰3）。
若有一個假先知說：「我們去隨從……別神（gods）」（申命記13︰2；希伯來聖經第6節）。
c 以羅欣（Elohim）是神的稱號，在希伯來文是複數，並在舊約聖經出現了2,000多次
d hashamayim原文為眾數，英文為heavens
以羅欣以複數形式出現，是不容置疑的。
此外，當摩西說到神創造的時候，他用了單數的動詞bara（創造）。可見以羅欣一詞既以複數，同時又以單數的形式出現在聖經中，因此奠定了神是「三而一」的立論。
有人質疑：「希伯來人以複數的以羅欣來形容單數的個體，為要強調神的尊榮，就是“Plural of Majestye”的用法；因此，以單數動詞bara來形容單數個體是完全合理的。」
e 一些解釋聖經的學者認為，希伯來文不同於英文，英文的比較詞有comparative及superlative之分，如good, better, best。如以賽亞書6︰3中的「聖哉、聖哉、聖哉」，把一個詞重覆3次，強調神極為聖潔
但是，用單數的動詞來形容複數的以羅欣並非是不變的定律。熟悉希伯來文聖經的讀者，不難發現，創世記20：13及35：7都用了複數的動詞；而申命記4：7（Elohim krovim, God is near）及約書亞記24：19（kedoshim , a holy God）則以複數的形容詞來形容這位以羅欣。
用以羅欣（Elohim）這複數的名字來形容神，意味着在希伯來聖經內，還有其他複數的字描述神，如：
神說︰「我們要照着我們的形象造人。」（創世記1：26）
神說：「現在，這個人變得像我們中的一個。」（創世記3：22）
神說：「讓我們下去，變亂他們的語言。」（創世記11：7）
這些複數代名詞中所表達的，究竟神向誰說話？此外，又是誰在說話？＃
創世記1：1記述：「以羅欣（複數）創造了天地；而下一節經文中是這樣：「神的靈（羅亞·以羅欣 Ruah Elohim）運行在水面上」。而26節是：「按着我們的樣式造人」，這裡豈不是指到神（以羅欣）自己和祂的靈嗎？豈不也詮釋了所羅門的話：「記念你的創造主」嗎（按傳道書12：1的原文，主是複數）？
箴言30：4發出了挑戰人類的問題︰
「誰升天又降下來？誰聚風在掌握中？誰包水在衣服裏？誰立定地的四極？他名叫什麼？他兒子名叫什麼？你知道嗎？」
試問神豈會有兒子呢？
神的兒子
詩篇第2篇載述了一個具預言性的景象，值得我們細閱。第2和第3節描述到一個時期，那時列邦宣稱要敵擋神並祂的受膏者（Mashiho，中文的彌賽亞一詞由此而得）。第6節神這樣說：「我已經立我的君在錫安我的聖山上了」。
第7節神進一步宣告與君王加冕相關的諭旨：
「……我要傳聖旨。
耶和華曾對我說：『你是我的兒子，我今日生你。你求我，我就將列國（goyim）賜你為基業 ……』。
接着，在詩篇2：11-12，神嚴肅地吩咐：
「當存畏懼事奉耶和華，又當存戰兢而快樂。當以嘴親子（nashqu bar），恐怕祂發怒，你們便在道中滅亡，因為祂的怒氣快要發作。凡投靠祂的，都是有福的。」
「以嘴親子」的希伯來文是nashqu bar。這詞翻譯成「純正地尊崇（Do homage in purity）」，這尊崇實際上是向主（第2節，Lord）及兒子（第7節，Son）。因此，舊約聖經清楚說明，「神的兒子」是有神聖的位格，且配得我們的尊崇，若我們信靠祂，必然蒙福。
按詩篇110篇記載，神指派一位具有神聖性格的君王，日後在錫安統治。詩人大衛這樣描述：
「耶和華對我主說︰你坐在我的右邊，等我使你仇敵作你的腳凳。耶和華必使你從錫安伸出能力的杖來；你要在你仇敵中掌權。」（詩篇110：1-2）
有一位「主」向大衛的主說話，叫祂坐在祂的右邊；直至一天，那些現今作祂敵人的，會臣服於祂。顯然這詩篇談及兩位具神聖位格的，其中一位他日會成為以色列的君王！
「耶和華必作全地的王。」（撒迦利亞書14：9）
「那時，人必稱耶路撒冷為耶和華的寶座；萬國必到耶路撒冷，在耶和華立名的地方聚集。他們必不再隨從自己頑梗的惡心行事。」（耶利米書3：17）
神降生為人，成為兒子
舊約聖經有否提示那位既是神性又是永恆的位格怎樣成為一位兒子？既是兒子，祂必須經母胎，在人的家譜中有份，這豈不是天大的難題嗎？在神那裡有解決的辦法，就是藉着神降生為人，取了人性，成為兒子。
請聽先知以賽亞的話：
「因有一嬰孩為我們而生；
有一子賜給我們。
政權必擔在他的肩頭上；
祂名稱為「奇妙策士、全能的神、永在的父、和平的君」。
祂的政權與平安必加增無窮。
祂必在大衛的寶座上治理祂的國，以公平公義使國堅定穩固，從今直到永遠 ……」（以賽亞書9：6-7）
「大衛家啊，你們當聽！你們使人厭煩豈算小事，還要使我的神厭煩嗎？ 因此，主自己要給你們一個兆頭f，必有童女懷孕生子，給他起名叫以馬內利。」（以賽亞書7：13-14）
f 非一般的出生、極不尋常、明顯是神蹟
「以馬內利」意思是「神與我們同在」，神降生為人，與人同在！
以賽亞書48：11-16（Yeshaiah Hanavi）記載了三位神聖的位格，究竟祂們是誰？
「雅各－我所選召的以色列啊，當聽我言：我是耶和華，我是首先的，也是末後的（只有神是永恆的）。我手立了地的根基；我右手鋪張諸天（創造主在說話）……
現在，主耶和華（第一位具神聖位格的）差遣我（第二位具神聖位格的，是永恆的創造主）和祂的靈（第三位具神聖位格的）來＊。
以賽亞書48：17-18：耶和華－你的救贖主，以色列的聖者如此說：
我是耶和華－你的神，教訓你，使你得益處，引導你所當行的路（這位受差遣、具神聖位格的，自稱為救贖主、以色列的聖者；祂陳述自己及神的靈皆是受耶和華所差遣）。甚願你素來聽從我的命令！你的平安就如河水；你的公義就如海浪。
根據以賽亞書48：17-18，誰在說話？答案是救贖主 (以色列的聖者) 。非常可惜，不僅以色列沒有聽從祂，世人都沒有留意這位救贖主；直到人全心全意地轉向祂，才會有和平。
彌賽亞：以色列的救贖主
許多猶太人哀嘆：「假若有神，那麼祂似乎已忘記了猶太人」。但是，以色列漫長的苦難並非沒有目的。神允許以色列人經歷艱辛，讓他們曉得他們受苦是因棄絕神的緣故，好使他們知罪悔改回轉歸向衪。彌迦書5：2（希伯來文聖經第1節）記述：
「伯利恆的以法他啊，你在猶大諸城中為小，將來必有一位從你那裏出來，在以色列中為我作掌權的；祂的根源從亙古，從太初就有。」
根據上述和其他舊約聖經的彌賽亞預言，我們可以得出以下的推斷：
1．祂以人的形像出現；2．祂被棄絕（參以賽亞書53章和詩篇22篇）；3．祂出生於伯利恆（每年世界都慶祝祂的降生，這事在1,900多年前發生，在猶太人流散之前）；4．這位將會是以色列的君王；5．祂是神，因為祂的「根源從亙古，從太初就有」。
三而一的神
既然舊約聖經已揭示了神有三個位格，為何摩西仍說神是一位呢？《猶太信仰十三條法則》中的第二條：「賜福予人的創造主，是一個個體（absolute Unity），祂沒有與跟祂相似的個體，以任何形式結合」。作者Maimonides以希伯來文yahid一字表達神是「個體，absolute unity」。但是，yahid這個字的涵義是指「一」的絕對性，而非個體 (Unity) 。因此，yahid 的意思是指「一」的絕對性。
對於每一位在信仰上認真的人，都會以希伯來文的舊約聖經作為信仰的依據，而非《猶太信仰十三條法則》。
法則的第七條g記述：「願平安歸給我們的教師摩西，對於他傳道的對象，或是他的跟隨者而言，他都是眾先知之首；我完全相信，他的預言是真確的」。
g The belief in the primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher.
談到摩西時，我們把申命記6：4再讀一遍：
以色列啊，你要聽（Shema Yisrael）！耶和華—我們神（Adonai Eloheinu）是獨一的主（Adonai ehadh）。（申命記6：4）
h 聖經原文是ehad (composite unity)，和合本聖經譯作「獨一」，用來形容神是個個體，並非Maimonides所用的yahid ( absolute unity) ，其涵義指「一」的絕對性，而非個体 (Unity) 。
摩西在創世記2：24中也用了ehad ：
「二人（夫妻）成為一體（basa ehad）。」
當神對以西結說話時，也用了ehad：
「你要使這兩根木杖（以色列及猶大國）接連為一（ehad），在你手中成為一根。」（以西結書37：17）
稀奇又完全的結合
誠然我們在世上「未能找到像神的那樣結合」，因為神那樣的結合超越了一切的結合。按上文，先知以賽亞提到童女生子（以馬內利），這兒子與那稱為全能的神、永在的父結合，這結合是何等稀奇！
神其中一位位格–兒子（Son）曾成為肉身，於某時間出現於世上，然而，衪與父神同等，同樣是自有永有的，而父與子這關係是永恆的。這兩位既神聖，又不受時空規範的位格，祂們的結合是何等完全！這位兒子在過去、現在、直至永遠與那永在全能的父神同為一。
這永恆的兒子曾在1,900多年前來到世上，全世界都以這日為基礎，定立公元前（B.C.）或公元後（A.D.）。這日成為歷史的焦點，這事實能被推翻嗎？或許猶太人更喜歡用B.C.E（Before the Common Era）及C.E.（Common Era），即便如此，時間的坐標都是一樣。那些既細心又誠實的求知者從舊約聖經得出這結論，神是三而一的（Trinity as well as Unity）。
神對摩西宣告說：「我必在他們弟兄中間給他們興起一位先知，像你。我要將當說的話傳給祂；祂要將我一切所吩咐的都傳給他們。 誰不聽祂奉我名所說的話，我必討誰的罪。」
（申命記18：18-19）
「當趁耶和華可尋找的時候尋找祂，相近的時候求告祂。惡人當離棄自己的道路；不義的人當除掉自己的意念。歸向耶和華，耶和華就必憐恤他；當歸向我們的神，因為神必廣行赦免。」
（以賽亞書55：6-7）
譯者按：
回應上述「說話」內容，請想一想下列問題。
- 神 (Elohim) ：複數名詞
- 「我們」：代名詞 (複數)
- 神 (Elohim) 是複數名詞。為何上述說話內容使用神的複數名詞？
- 神向誰說話？為何使用「我們」這複數代名詞？究竟誰是「我們」？
- 若知道「我們」是誰，你能否知道誰在說話？
＊根據以賽亞書48：11-16，請思考以下問題。
- 誰在說話？答案：永恆的創造主
- 主耶和華差遣誰？答案：永恆的創造主和衪的靈
- 以賽亞書48：11-18記載了三位神聖的位格，究竟祂們是誰？
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Hear, O Israel (Shema Yisrael): The Lord our God (Adonai Eloheinu), the Lord is one (Adonai Ehad). Deuteronomy (Humash Devarim) 6:4.
Upon the rock of this declaration rests the second of the Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith: “I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is a Unity, and that there is no unity in any manner like unto His, and that He alone is our God who was, is, and will be.”
From where, then, comes the doctrine of the Trinity? A large part of the world, though professing to worship the God who is revealed in the writings of Moses and the prophets, nevertheless believes in God as a Trinity.
Although it may be granted that the Christian’s New Testament teaches that the term God may be applied to God the Father, to God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, the Christian should cease to claim that he worships the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses and the prophets, the God of the Torah, the Neviim, and the Ketuvim, unless there is found in the Tenach (Old Testament), indisputable evidence that God exists in more than one personality.
The first words of the Torah declare: “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens (hashamayim) and the earth.” It must be admitted that the word for God here is in the plural form, even as is the word for heavens, and that it is the same as used in the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods (Elohim) before me” (Exodus 20:3). Likewise in Deuteronomy 13:2 (v. 6 in Hebrew text): “If he (a false prophet) says, ‘Let us follow other gods.”‘ Elohim is invariably a plural form. Additionally, when speaking of the act of creation performed in the beginning by Elohim, the Triune God, Moses used a verb in the singular number, bara (created).
It is reasoned by some that the plural Elohim is the “plural of majesty,” used to ascribe majesty to one who is nevertheless a single individual, and that therefore the use of the singular verb would be entirely reasonable. But a singular verb is not invariably used with the plural Elohim. Readers familiar with the Hebrew text can check the plural verbs used in Genesis 20:13 and in Genesis 35:7. Plural adjectives are also used to describe this Elohim. For examples see Deuteronomy 4:7, Elohim krovim (God is near), and Joshua 24:19, Elohim kedoshim (a holy God).
The plurality of the name Elohim leads naturally to a consideration of the fact that other plural words are also used in referring to God. In Genesis 1:26 God said: “Let us make man in our image.” In Genesis 3:22 God said: “The man has now become like one of us.” And in Genesis 11:7 God said: “Come, let us go down and confuse their language.” To whom, and of whom is God speaking with the use of these plural pronouns?
We have seen in Genesis 1: I that Elohim (plural) created the heavens and the earth; and in the next verse we read: “And the Spirit of God (Ruah Elohim) was hovering over the waters.” Was it speaking for himself and his Spirit that God (Elohim) said in verse 26: “Let us make man in our image?” Is this why Solomon said: “Remember your Creator (plural, in the literal translation of Ecclesiastes 12: 1)?
In Proverbs 30:4 the challenging question is presented to mankind: “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands?
Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his Son? Tell me if you know!” Does God have a Son?
In Psalm 2 we have a prophetic picture which should be read in its entirety. In it is described (vv. 2 and 3) the time when the nations will declare themselves against God, and against his Anointed One (Mashiho, from which our English word Messiah comes). God says in verse 6 that he will nevertheless establish this Messiah as his King on Zion, his holy hill.
In verse 7 Messiah steps forward to declare the decree by which his coronation shall be accomplished saying: “I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations (goyim) your inheritance.”‘
Furthermore, in Psalm 2:11-12 we are solemnly instructed: “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son (nashqu bar), lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
The Hebrew for “kiss the Son” is nashqu bar. Even if this is translated, as some would have it, “Do homage in purity,” the homage is to the Lord of verse II and to the Son of verse 7. The Tenach clearly indicates that there is a divine personality who is called the Son of God, who is worthy of homage, and if we put our trust in him, we are blessed.
In Psalm 1 10, the one who is in a future day to rule in Zion is addressed as a divine personality by another who is also deity. “The Lord says to my Lord,” writes David the (7-8) psalmist, “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies” (Psalm 110:1-2).
Here is one who is “the Lord” speaking to David’s Lord and telling him to sit at his right hand until the time comes for him to rule in the midst of some who are now his enemies. Surely the psalm is speaking of two divine personalities, one whom is yet to be Israel’s King! “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:9). “At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts” (Jeremiah 3:17).
Does the Tenach indicate how a divine eternal personality can be a Son? Is this not a great problem, since being a son suggests the idea of generation and birth? The divine solution: deity becomes a Son by way of incarnation, God taking upon himself humanity.
Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Isaiah 9:6-7b).
“Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign (no ordinary birth, but something so unusual, remarkable, and miraculous as to constitute a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:13-14). Immanuel means “God with us,” deity incarnate, dwelling with men!
Who are the three divine personalities Isaiah 48:11-18 (Yeshaiah Hanavi) speaks about? “Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last. (Only God is eternal.) My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens (the Creator is speaking)-, . . . And now the Sovereign Lord (one divine personality) has sent me (the speaker is eternal and the Creator, and therefore a second divine personality), with his Spirit (a third divine personality).
“This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. (This divine personality, the sent one, calls Himself the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; and he says that he and God’s Spirit have been sent by the Sovereign Lord.) If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”
Not only has Israel failed to listen to him, but mankind generally has failed to heed the Redeemer, and until men turn to him wholeheartedly, there will be no peace.
Many Jewish people express the lament that if there is a God, he seems to have forgotten the Jews; but Israel’s long night of suffering is not without purpose. God permits her hardship in order that Israel may be brought to acknowledge her rejection of her God and return to him. In Micah 5:2 (verse 1 in Hebrew text) we read: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Thus we have corroboration of other predictions already considered concerning Messiah: 1) that he was to appear in human form; 2) that he was to be rejected (see Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22); 3) that he was to be born in Bethlehem (and every year the world celebrates the birth which took place there more than nineteen hundred years ago, before the dispersion of the Jewish nation); 4) this one is to be Israel’s King; and 5) that he is deity, for his “origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
But if three divine personalities are revealed in the Tenach, why does Moses speak of God as one? The second of the Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith says: “The Creator, blessed be His name, is a Unity, and there is no unity in any manner like unto His.”
The Hebrew word Maimonides used in the Principles of Faith for unity is the word yahid. The word yahid carries the thought of absolute oneness rather than unity. True, yahid always means oneness in the absolute sense. But the appeal of every honest seeker after truth is not to the Thirteen Principles of Faith, but to the Holy Scriptures, the Tenach. The seventh of those Principles states: “I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace be to him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both of those that preached and of those that followed him.”
Therefore, to Moses we turn in Deuteronomy (Humash Devarim) 6:4, and read: “Shema Yisrael (Hear, 0 Israel): Adonai Eloheinu (the Lord our God or Gods), Adonai ehad (the Lord a unity; not yahid, an absolute one, an only, but ehad). Ehad is the word that Moses also uses in Genesis 2:24, when he says: “And they (husband and wife) will become one flesh (basar ehad). Ehad is the word that God uses when he tells Ezekiel: “Join them together into one stick so that they (the two sticks for Israel and Judah) will become one (ehad) in your hand” (Ezekiel 37:17).
Truly, “there is no unity in any manner like unto His,” for the unity which is God’s transcends all other unity. So unique is his unity, that the virgin born son, Immanuel, of whom we read in a former paragraph, is by the same prophet (Isaiah) called the Mighty God and Everlasting Father. So completely are the divine and timeless eternal personalities joined, that although one of them appeared in time as an incarnate Son, yet, being equally and eternally self-existent with the Father, he is said to exist eternally as the Son. At the same time he was, is, and ever will be one with the mighty God, the everlasting Father.
Is it not also a remarkable fact that the eternal one’s appearance in time nineteen hundred years ago marks the focal point of all history, so that all the world reckons time as either before or after his coming, B.C. or A.D.? Jewish people may prefer the designations B.C.E. (before, the common era) and C.E. (the common era), but the dividing point between the eras is the same.
The careful and honest inquirer therefore comes to the conclusion that the Tenach teaches the Trinity as well as the Unity of God.
God declared unto Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God (Eloheinu), for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
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