Trinity

== Old Testament ==
The [[Old Testament]] has been interpreted as referring to the Trinity in many places. One of these is the prophecy about the [[Messiah]] in Isaiah 9. The Messiah is called "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Some Christians see this verse as meaning the Messiah will represent the Trinity on earth. This is because Counselor is a title for the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), the Trinity is God, Father is a title for God the Father, and Prince of Peace is a title for Jesus. This verse is also used to support the [[Deity of Christ]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=For to Us a Child Is Born: The Meaning of Isaiah 9:6 |url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/isaiah-9-6 |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=Zondervan Academic |language=en}}</ref>

Another verse used to support the Deity of Christ is<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 1): The Second Coming of Christ |url=https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-3/s3-doctrine-of-the-last-things/doctrine-of-the-last-things-part-1 |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=Reasonable Faith |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|"I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the [[Ancient of Days]] and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."
|title=Daniel 7:13–14 ESV}}

This is because both the Ancient of Days (God the Father) and the Son of Man (Jesus, Matt 16:13) have an everlasting dominion, which is ascribed to God in Psalm 145:13.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 145:13 – New International Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20145%3A13&version=NIV |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=Bible Gateway |language=en}}</ref>

Some also argue

{{blockquote|"Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven."|title=Genesis 19:24 ESV}}

to be Trinitarian in apparently distinguishing between the Lord in heaven and the Lord on earth.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

People also see the Trinity when the OT refers to God's word (Psalm 33:6), His Spirit (Isaiah 61:1), and Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1), as well as narratives such as the appearance of the three men to [[Abraham]].{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=1652}} However, it is generally agreed among Trinitarian Christian scholars that it would go beyond the intention and spirit of the Old Testament to correlate these notions directly with later Trinitarian doctrine.{{sfn|Joyce|1912}}

Some [[Church Fathers]] believed that a knowledge of the mystery was granted to the [[prophet]]s and [[saint]]s of the Old Testament, and that they identified the [[Angel of the Lord|divine messenger]] of Genesis 16:7, Genesis 21:17, Genesis 31:11, Exodus 3:2 and [[Wisdom (personification)|Wisdom]] of the [[Wisdom literature#Biblical wisdom literature and Jewish texts|sapiential books]] with the Son, and "the spirit of the Lord" with the Holy Spirit.{{sfn|Joyce|1912}}

Other Church Fathers, such as [[Gregory Nazianzen]], argued in his ''Orations'' that the revelation was gradual, claiming that the Father was proclaimed in the Old Testament openly, but the Son only obscurely, because "it was not safe, when the Godhead of the Father was not yet acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the Son".<ref name="nazianzen"/>

Genesis 18–19 has been interpreted by Christians as a Trinitarian text. The narrative has the Lord appearing to Abraham, who was visited by three men.<ref>{{bibleref2|Genesis|18:1–2}}</ref> In Genesis 19, "the two angels" visited [[Lot (Bible)|Lot]] at Sodom.<ref>{{bibleref2|Genesis|19}}</ref> The interplay between Abraham on the one hand and the Lord/three men/the two angels on the other was an intriguing text for those who believed in a single God in three persons. [[Justin Martyr]], and [[John Calvin]] similarly, interpreted it such that Abraham was visited by God, who was accompanied by two angels.<ref name="Watson"/> Justin supposed that the God who visited Abraham was distinguishable from the God who remains in the heavens, but was nevertheless identified as the (monotheistic) God. Justin interpreted the God who visited Abraham as Jesus, the second person of the Trinity.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Augustine, in contrast, held that the three visitors to Abraham were the three persons of the Trinity.<ref name="Watson"/> He saw no indication that the visitors were unequal, as would be the case in Justin's reading. Then in Genesis 19, two of the visitors were addressed by Lot in the singular: "Lot said to them, 'Not so, my lord{{' "}} (Gen. 19:18).<ref name="Watson"/> Augustine saw that Lot could address them as one because they had a single substance, despite the plurality of persons.{{efn|name=Augustine3}}

Christians interpret the [[theophany|theophanies]], or appearances of the [[Angel of the Lord]], as revelations of a person distinct from God, who is nonetheless called God. This interpretation is found in Christianity as early as Justin Martyr and [[Melito of Sardis]], and reflects ideas that were already present in [[Philo]].{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=573–578}} The Old Testament theophanies were thus seen as [[Christophany|Christophanies]], each a "preincarnate appearance of the Messiah".<ref name="bakerdict"/>