Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_094.TXT

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94                                  OF A PLURALITY IN THE GODHEAD, &e.                                                        Boo~c I.
~ I:        .                   ~
possessed of creative powers; nor were they concerned the many ideas in him, the same with what we call de-

in the creation of man, nor was he made after their image
and likeness; nor can it be reasonably thought, that God
.spoke to them, and held a consultation-with them about
it; for with whom took he counsd? Isa. xl. 14. Not
with any of his creatures; no, not with the highest angel
in heaven; they are not of his privy council. Nor is it
to be thought that God, in the above passage, speaks
regio more, after the manner of kings; who, in their edicts
and proclamations, use the plural number, to express
their honour and majesty; and even they are not to be
considered alone, but as courtorating their ministers and
privy council, by whose advice they act; and, besides,
this courtly way of speaking, wits not so ancient as the
times of Moses; none of the kings of Israel use if; nor
even any of those prorid and haughty monarchs, Pharaoh
and Nebuchadnezzar; the first appearance of it is in the
letters of Artaxerxes,'king of Persia, Ezra iv. 18. and vii.
23. which might take its rise from. the conjunction of
Darius and Cyrus, in the Persian empire, in both whose
names edicts might be made, and letters ,,vrote; which
might give rise to such a way of speaking, and be con-
tinued by their successors, to express their power and
glory: but, as a learned man {7} observes, "It is a very
extravagant fancy, to suppose that Moses alludes to a
custom that was not (for what appears) in being at that
time, nor a great while after." The Jews themselves are
sensible that this passage furnishes with an argtament for
a plurality in the Deitys.
A like way of speaking is used concerning men, in
Gen. iii. 22. And the Lor'd God said, Behold, the man
is become as one of us; not as. one of the angels, for they
are not of the Deity, nor the companions of God, and
equal to him; for whatever private secret meaning Satan
might have in saying, Ye shall be as gods; he would
have it understood by Eve, and so she understood it, that
they should be not like the angels merely, but like God
himself; this was the bait he laid, and which took, and
proved man's ruin; upon which the Lord God said these
words either sarcastically, "Behold the man whom Satan
promised, and he expected to be as one of us, as one of
the persons iu the Deity; see how much he looks like
one of us! who but just now ran away from us in fear
and trembling, and covered himself with figcleaves, and
now stands before us clothed with skins of slain beasts !"
or else as comparing his former and present state toge-
ther; for the words may be rendered, he was as one of
us; made after their image and likeness: but what is he
now ? he has sinned, and come short of that glorious
image; has lost his honour, and is become like the beasts
that,perish, whose skins he now wears. Philo {9}, the
Jew, owns that these words are to be understood not of
one, but of more; the \~en kai polla\~, the one and many
so much spoken of by the Pythagoreans and Platonists;
and which Plato ,0 speaks of as infinite and eternal, and
of the knowledge of them as the gift of the gods; and
which, he says, was delivered to us by the ancients; who
were better than we, and lived nearer the gods; by whom
he seems to intend the' ancient Jews; this, I say, though
understood by their followers of the unity of God, and

~ Kidder's Demonstration of the Messiah, part 8. p. 90. edit. foL
a See my Doctrine of the Trinity, p. 35,36.
~ \~tou poihswmen plhyov emfainontov\~, De Coafus. Ling. p. 544, 345.

crees; I take to be no other than the one God, and a
plurality of persons in the Deity; which was the faith of
the ancient Jews; so that the \~polla\~, of Plato, and
others, is the same with the \~plhyov\~ of Philo, who was
a great Platonizer; and both intend a plurality of per-
sons.
God sometimes uses the plural number when speaking
of himself, with respect to some particular affairs of pro-
vidence, as the confusion of languages; Go to, let us go
down, and there confound their lang.uage ; which also
cannot be said to angels; had it, it would rather have
been, go 3re, and do ye confound their language: but,
alas! this work was above the power of angels to do;
none but God, that gave to man the faculty of speech,
and the use of language, could confound it; which was
as great an instance of divine power, as to bestow the
gift of tongues on the apostles, at Pentecost; and ihe
same G-od that did the one, did the other; and so the us
here, are after explained of Jehovah, in the following
verse, to whom the confounding the language of men,
and scattering them abroad on the face of the earth, are
ascribed, v 8, 9. In another affair of providence, smit-
ing the Jewish nation with judicial blindness; this plural
way of speaking is used by the divine Being; says the
prophet Isaiah, I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
Whom shah I sen4 and who will go for us ? Isa. vi. 8.
not the seraphim say this, but Jehovah; for to them
neither the name Jehovah, nor the work agree; and
though there is but one Jehovah that here speaks, yet
more persons than one are intended by him; of Christ,
the Son of God no question can be made, since the
Evangelist applies them to him; and observes, that Isaiah
said the words when he saw his glory, and spoke of him,
John xii. 40, 41. nor of the Holy Ghost, to whom they
are also applied, Acts xxviii. 25, 26. There is another
passage in lsa. xli. 21, 22, 23. where Jehovah, the King
of Jacob, challenges the heathens, and their gods, to
bring proof of their Deity, by prediction of future events;
and, in which, he all along uses the plural number;
"shew us what shall happen, that we may consider them;
declare unto us things for to come, that we may know
that ye, are gods, and that we may.be dismayed; see also
Isa. xliii. 9-
And as in the affairs of creation and providence, so in
those of grace, and with respect to spiritual communion
with God, plural expressions are used; as when our
Lord says, If a man love me, he will keep my words;
and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him, John xiv. 23. which
personal actions of coming and making abode, expres-
sive of communion and fellowship, are said of more than
one; and we cannot be at a loss about two of them,
Christ and his Father, who are expressly mentioned;
and hence we read of fellowship with the Father, and
his Son Jesus Christ; and also of the communion of
the Holy Ghost, 1 John i. 3. 2 Cot. xiii. 14. To all
these instances of plural expressions, may be added
Cant. i. 11. John iii. 11.
3. A plurality in the Deity may be proved from those

~o In Philebo, p. 372, 378. Ed. Ficin. ¥id. Parmenidem, p. 111 i,
111~, 1117, 1120, 1122.