How can God refer to a holy trinity before the trinity existed?

Question

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There's my first question of the day and it basically asked why one God would refer to himself in the plural sense. Most people answered that it was referring to the holy trinity, the father son and holy ghost. However the quotes I used come before the birth of Jesus (son) and his death (holy ghost) in Genesis of the old testemant. The trinity didn't exist until the new testament so how could that be an answer to the question?

Answer 1

That is not true. The trinity existed in Genesis. The Holy Spirit didn't come until Jesus left, but He always existed.

Answer 2

The quote you used from Genesis- means this= Jesus existed before He was born on the earth. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always existed together, uncreated. I know that it seems hard to understand the trinity- Or three-in-one God- however it is truth that we need to accept by faith. This is very simplistic, but I will try to explain it simply- I am one person- however, I have different roles- I am a mother, I am a musician, and I am a wife. But I am the same person. That does not explain all the theological issues behind the trinity, but I think it helps me to understand it just a little bit more. God, the Father, God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit always existed. The roles just were different.

Answer 3

The second Person of the Trinity didn't come into existence when He became a man. He had existed as God from all eternity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is described as "The Word of God". John's gospel tells us that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God". The Bible also tells us that during creation "The Spirit hovered above the waters". And finally, once the world was created, God said "Let US make man in OUR image and likeness".
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Answer 4

What do you mean that "the trinity didn't exist before the New Testament"?

Maybe the concept of the trinity was unknown to mankind until the New Testament times, but certainly God has always existed. God was not "created" during the New Testament.

Answer 5

My belief is the Trinity has always existed. I think in Genesis the Son (Jesus) is referred to as "The Word". It was much later that Jesus (The Word) took upon flesh and came to the world, but it does not mean that He did not exist before that.

Answer 6

The trinity is maybe the wrong word usage. Because it is very difficult to express triunity. The Bible never used the word. But even after Genesis 1, but before the NT, the three-one God is clearly shown. Genesis 18, the Lord appears to Abraham AS THREE MEN. Notice it didn't say the Lords. Not only that, but the three men refer to themselves as "I." Fascinating. So not only does God refer to Himself as "us," but, when showing Himself to Abraham as three men, He referred to Himself as "I." That is unique, and, understandably, hard to grasp.

Picture a pitcher of water. When poured into a glass, there is now water in two containers. The pitcher, and a glass. The pitcher is not empty, and both vessels contain the same substance. That is a crude representation, but the principle is the same. Nothing has been taken from the water in the pitcher. It is still water.

So, God is. He is one God, manifested in three persons, all of whom share the same substance. They are co-equal in their deity. This is not a doctrine of polytheism. Trinity is a word used to describe this reality of God's essence.

Answer 7

Notice that, in the first chapter of Genesis the Spirit of God is described as "hovering over the waters." As well, in many other places, such as in the case of Moses, King David, etc, the Spirit of God came upon them. And in the Gospel of John it tells us "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1), the Word here meaning "Jesus, as it would describe if you read on "2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men." So Jesus (the Son), and the Holy Spirit co-existed BEFORE and AFTER Jesus.

Answer 8

Because all modern religions are derivative. Maybe there's something else about threes that originally attracted people, but it caught on. Other derivative notions: Important persons set adrift in baskets only to be rescued and complete their "fate" (three religions before Judaism). Virgin births (almost universal) Demi-gods (half man-half god) obviously wildly popular before Christianity Prayer beads (Buddhism, Hinduism - both much older than Catholicism). the list goes on. Judeo-Christianity is just a mishmash of older beliefs. There's hardly anything new in it.

Answer 9

You are missing the point. The trinity DID exist before mankind was ever created.

"Let us create man in our image" That's a very plural statement.

Also, God repeated talked about sending his 'servant'. Mostly, that was Jesus.

When Nebuchadnezzar threw the three in the furnace for not bowing down, he mentioned seeing a 'fourth' person who was 'like the gods'. Again, Jesus.

If you haven't already, I suggest fully reading the OT. It is saturated with references to Jesus which all were fullfiled in the NT.

Answer 10

Well they'll say it always existed...which could be true. But why would God "write" about something that he hadn't shown to man? I have no idea.
Some people think that the OT was written and edited. There was a time in Jewish faith that there were more then one God. The God of Israel, Jehovahh, his female consort (Who I can't remember the name of) and the High God. They did some down sizing, gave ole' Jehova a promotion and did away with their Goddess. So that could possibly be the reference in the OT. This is one of the reason its theorized that Jesus disdained the OT was because he felt Jehovah wasn't the true God. I dunno though.