Godhead Grammar

It is very common for students of the Bible in our modern day to misunderstand certain things from the scriptures, especially when those things involve the original Hebrew and Greek.  One particular source of confusion is the way certain plural words function in the Hebrew language. One website I saw had this to say about the plural Hebrew word for God, Elohim (אֶלהִים):

In the Hebrew language the "im" ending imputes plurality. Therefore, "Elohim" is the plural from of the word "El."

It is interesting to note that each usage of this word throughout the Bible is grammatically incorrect. It is a plural noun used with singular verbs. According to Genesis 1:1, the Creator of the Universe, Elohim, exists as a plural being.

What the author says at first about the word Elohim is true; it is a plural form.  But the author makes a serious error when he says that using a plural noun with a singular verb is "grammatically incorrect".  In English, using a plural noun with a singular verb is a huge grammatical error; but the Hebrew language functions very differently from English.  In Hebrew, there are times when a plural noun can be used with a singular verb and there is no grammar problems at all.

In English (and many other languages) there are two numerical categories: singular , which refers to only one person/thing; and plural, which refers to only multiple persons/things.  In languages that function this way there is no middle ground---if a thing has a plural form then it is numerically more than one and if a thing has a singular form then it is numerically only one.  This is not the case in Hebrew, however.

In Hebrew, there are not two numerical categories, but three.  Just like any other language it has singular and plural; but the third option stands half way in between the other two.  The intensive plural refers to only one person/thing, even though it looks plural in form.  Intensive plurals LOOK plural, but in reality they only refer to one thing; and that is why they can be used with singular verbs, predicate nouns, and adjectives.  The intensive plural form is to express greatness, hugeness, authority, or majesty; not multiplicity.

Let's look a the Hebrew word אָדוֹן (adon), the word for a master, lord, or overseer.  This word will show us that there are certain times when it is perfectly natural in Hebrew to use a plural noun to refer to only one person .

• Singular
  When the children of Heth were speaking to Abraham in Genesis 26 they said "Hear us, my lord (אָדוֹן): thou art a mighty prince among us" (v.6).  Abraham is only one person so they used the singular form of the word. 
  
• Numeric Plural
  Isaiah prayed, "O LORD our God, other lords (אֲדֹנִים) beside thee have had dominion over us" (Isa. 23:16).  In this verse Isaiah is talking about multiple other rulers that have controlled Israel instead of God.  He uses the plural form "lords", אֲדֹנִים (adonim); and he uses it with the plural verb "[they] have had dominion".
  
  In Psalm 136:3 David called Jehovah "the Lord of lords (אֲדֹנִים)".  David is saying that God is the ruler over all of the other rulers that exist; אֲדֹנִים (adonim, "lords") here is obviously numerically plural.
  
• Intensive Plural
  In Genesis 42:30 Joseph is described as "The man, who is the lord (אֲדֹנִים) of the land", Egypt.  This verse uses the plural form אֲדֹנִים (adonim).  But this verse is only talking about one person; that is why the verse uses the singular word "man".  Joseph is only one person!  The intensive plural is used to show that he was a very powerful ruler.
  
  In Exodus 21:6 a servant's owner is called "his master (אֲדֹנִים)".  This verse is only talking about one owner, because this verse uses the singular verb "[he] shall bring".  The intensive plural is used because of the authority that a master has over his servant.
  
  In 2 Kings 2 there were certain men who told Elisha that God was about to take Elijah, Elisha's master, from him.  These men told Elisha, "the LORD will take away thy master (אֲדֹנִים) from thy head to day" (v.3).  Elijah is only one person, so the plural form אֲדֹנִים (adonim) cannot be numerically plural and refer to multiple people.  It is an intensive plural referring to only one person, Elijah.
  These are only three.  I could list multiple other times when the Hebrew word אָדוֹן (adon) uses a plural form even when it refers to only one person.  

Understanding the intensive plural in Hebrew grammar is important because some teachers (like the website I quoted at the beginning) abuse these plural forms and use them to teach that unbiblical things about God.  Trinitarian believers teach that God is multiple persons because he is described with plural words; and this is simply not the case.

God is described with the plural form אֲדֹנִים (adonim) in scripture; but that does not automatically mean that God is numerically plural or that he is more than one being.  In Malachi 1:6 God says "if I be a master (אֲדֹנִים), where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts".  Psalm 135:5 says, "I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord (אֲדֹנִים) is above all gods".  And Psalm 147:5 says "Great is our Lord (אֲדֹנִים), and of great power: his understanding is infinite".

A teacher who does not know about (or who chooses to ignore) the Hebrew intensive plural may look at these verses and say, "See there!  These verses describe with plural words so he must be more than one!"  But notice what else the verses say.  In the verse from Malachi, God uses singular self-descriptions "I" and "my".  In Psalm 135:5 and 145:5 the Hebrew word "great" is in the singular form.  אֲדֹנִים (adonim) in these verses is an intensive plural; God is only one person, speaks like only one person, and is described as only one person!  He is described with a plural word to show how mighty, awesome, powerful, and big he is.

In closing, there is one thing that you need to keep in mind about plural Hebrew words.  The numeric plural and the intensive plural look IDENTICAL.  The only way to know if you are looking at an intensive plural or a numerical plural is to know who you are describing.  The best example of this is in Deuteronomy 10:17:

"For the LORD your God is God (אֱלֹהִים) of gods (אֱלֹהִים), and Lord (אֲדֹנִים) of lords (אֲדֹנִים), a great God".

If you look carefully at the Hebrew word for "God" and "gods" you will notice that they are identical in the original Hebrew; and so is the word for "Lord" and "lords".  How can this be?!?  It is because the first time (God/Lord) is an intensive plural; it looks plural but actually only refers to one person, Jehovah.  The second time (gods/lords) is a numerical plural; it looks plural and actually does refer to multiple other beings.

If you would like to read more about plural descriptions of our singular God, see my post These Are The Gods.  In the Bible God is certainly described in plural ways; but these plural words are always used to highlight his majesty, might, and glory.  Always remember, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD"!!      ~CJK

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

One day Jesus was walking to Galilee and he stopped by a well in Samaria.  While he was there a woman came and spoke with him; and Jesus asked her for some water to drink.  When the woman hesitated to give him any water, Jesus said " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water" (John 4:10).

This Samaritan lady did not understand what he meant by living water: "The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?" (John 4:11).  So Jesus explained what he meant to her.  I can picture him pointing to the well beside them: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again...But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13-14).

The woman still did not understand what Jesus was talking about; because Jesus was not talking about earthly water.  Jesus was talking about "everlasting life", and the "water" was God's Spirit.  Jesus told his disciples in another place, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:37-39).  

Notice that Jesus calls the Holy Ghost living water, the same thing that he told the woman at the well.  This Spirit, this living water, that Jesus is talking about is a gift.  Jesus said to the woman at the well, "If thou knewest the gift of God" (John 4:10).  Jesus is saying that the gift of God is his Spirit, the Holy Ghost, which "they that believe on him should receive".

The word for gift here in the original Greek New Testament is δωρεά (dorea).  Interestingly, the word δωρεά is used multiple times in the Bible to talk about people being filled with God's Spirit.  Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament says that δωρεά is used "with an epexegetical gen[itive] of the thing given, viz. τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος [the Holy Ghost]" (p. 161).  To put this in every-day terms, the word "of" explains what the gift is.  So when the Bible talks about the "gift of the Holy Ghost", the gift IS the Holy Ghost living inside of us.  The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says, "In [the book of Acts] the Spirit is called the δωρεά of God" (vol. 2, p. 167).  When the scriptures refer to "the gift of the Holy Ghost", it means "the gift that is the Holy Ghost".

 The very first time Christians received this gift--the Holy Ghost--was on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  They were gathered together in an upper room when they heard a sound like a rushing wind, they saw little flames of fire sitting on each other's heads, and "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (See Acts 2:1-4).  When people heard these Christians speaking in other languages, a crowd gathered and Peter preached Jesus to them.  When they asked how to be saved he told them "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift (δωρεά) of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38).  The word for gift here is the same word that Jesus used when he talked to the woman at the well.  Peter said the same thing as John 7:37-39: that converts would receive the "δωρεά of the Holy Ghost" as part of the salvation experience.

The Bible tells us that after the church was established at Jerusalem, Philip began to preach in Samaria and the people believed his preaching (Acts 8:4-6).  Not only did they believe, but "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (8:16, see v. 12).  So far this matches exactly what Peter told the people at Jerusalem; but the Samaritan converts had not received the Holy Ghost yet.  So Peter and John came and "prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them" (8:15-16).

When they laid their hands on the people they received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  And there was obviously some outward sign that they had received God's Spirit, because a Samaritan sorcerer named Simon offered the apostles money and said "Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost" (8:19).  Peter rebuked him: "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift (δωρεά) of God may be purchased with money".  The Samaritans had received the same δωρεά gift that Peter had preached about in Acts 2.

I submit that the initial outward sign that the Samaritans had received the gift of the Holy Ghost was speaking in other languages.  When the Apostles received the Holy Ghost in Acts 2, the Bible says "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (2:4).  

In Acts 10 Peter was preaching to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household.  "While Peter yet spake...the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word" (10:44).  The other Christians who came with Peter "were astonished...because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift (δωρεά) of the Holy Ghost" (10:45).  And how did Peter's associates know that they had received the δωρεά gift?  It says "they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:46).  When Paul laid his hands on some new converts  the Bible says "the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues" (Acts 19:6).  When Peter was questioned later, he said that God gave the gentiles "the like gift (δωρεά) as he did unto us" (Acts 11:17).  When the apostles received the Holy Ghost they spoke in other languages; and the gentiles received the same gift in the same way.

So we see from the scriptures that God's Spirit in us is a gift.  Hebrews 6:4 calls it "the heavenly gift (δωρεά)"; Jesus and Peter both called it the "the gift (δωρεά) of God".  It is living water and eternal life in us.  This gift is necessary for salvation; Romans 8:9 says "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his".  In other words, if you do not have God's Spirit (and remember, the gift IS his Spirit), then you are not God's; you have not been saved.  

When the Bible talks about people receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Bible says multiple times that they spoke with other tongues as the initial evidence.  This lets us know that a Christian will speak in another language when he first receives God's Spirit.  So let me encourage you; if you have never spoken in tongues then you have never received the δωρεά gift of God's Spirit.  Pray and ask God to fill you with his Spirit and earnestly seek for it; speaking in tongues will occur when God gives you the gift of the Holy Ghost.  

God's Spirit is a wonderful gift, it is necessary for salvation, and if God has it for me I want it!  The first time Christians received the Holy Ghost was Acts 2; and it was then that Peter said, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39).  We modern-day believers are certainly "afar off"; but the promise of the Holy Ghost with speaking in tongues is still for us today!  I hope that "the Lord our God shall call" you to experience this wonderful gift!