Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Laws of Grammar Dictate that the One God is One Person, the Father.

The Shema in Greek reads: 
Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστιν

The grammar dictates that the One Lord God [Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς] = One Person [εἷς ἐστιν]. 

How do we know this? 

Grammarians and scholars alike confirm that εἷς [heis] means "one person" in their exegesis of texts like John 10.30:

Metzger, Lexical Aids to the New Testament:
“In the masculine, heis must be distinguished from the neut. hen. Heis means one numerically while hen means one in essence, as in John 10:30…Had it said heis, it would have meant one person.”

Thayer,  A Greek, English Lexicon of the NT:
"Heis means the cardinal numeral 1 where the word heis takes the place of a predicate it means one person.”

A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures of the Greek NT:
"One, when masculine, sets forth the idea of the cardinal numeral 1; when referring to people or beings ALWAYS the cardinal numeral is implied.”

Robertson's Word Pictures:
"One person.”

Wuest’s Word studies from the Greek N.T. v.1:
"The word 'ONE' is masculine in gender, and therefore is personal, referring to a person."

Vincent's Word Studies:
"The masculine εἶς, one person.”

Brown, John 10:
“From earliest times it has been observed that Jesus says, ‘I and the Father are hen’, not ‘heis’, i.e., one in action, not in person.”

Anchor Bible, The Gospel According to John:
“One is neuter, one thing and not one person. [Hen not heis. There is a similar expression in 1 Cor 3.8…We should also notice the usage in John 17.11; cf. 17.22ff.]”

Luke-Acts, David E. Garland:
“It is often noted that [John 10.30] uses the neuter hen (‘one [thing]’), rather than the masculine heis (‘one [person]’). The latter reading would lead to the unorthodox position that Jesus and his Father are one person.”

              There Is No Male And Female, D. 
MacDonald:
“Notice too that in Gal. 3:28 Paul claims that believers are no longer male or female inasmuch as they have become one male person (Gk. heis).”

The Point: there is NO other evidence in scripture which indicates that "heis" EVER refers to "persons" (as claimed by the doctrine of the Trinity where the word "God" = 3 Persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit).

Furthermore, heis appears 90+ times in the N.T. relating to people. Never is it used for MORE than One Person: Matt 19.17; 23.9; Mar 2.7; 10.18; 12.29-30, 32; Luke 18.19; Gal 3.20; 1Tim 2.5; Jas. 2.19; Rom 3.30; 1Cor 8.4, 6; Eph. 4.6.

Scripture time and again identifies the “One Father” as the Only Person of the Shema: cp. Mat 23.9; John 8.41; Heb. 2.11.

Summary:
1. The nominative masculine form 'heis' is used throughout the N.T. for one person.

2. Scholars confirm that 'heis' means one person.

3. No other evidence in scripture has been presented in Trinitarian controversies to indicate that "heis" ever refers to persons.

4. Whenever two or more persons are stated to be one in scripture, their state of unity is described by the neuter form of the word  "one" (hen). This form is used to depict the "one body" which consists of many members. 1 Cor.12:12

5. "Hen is never used in scriptures to modify the word "God"-NEVER.

6. Each time the Greek N.T. speaks of God as being one, it employs “heis" (i.e., heis theos, theos heis). 

7. Heis appears 90+ times in the N.T., relating to people. NEVER IS IT USED FOR MORE THAN ONE PERSON. NEVER!

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