Many plural forms of inspired words within the Old Testament denote God’s triune nature. These terms were not an oversight or error by the original writers but intentional and deliberate choices by the Holy Spirit to accurately describe and define God. He later inspired the New Testament writers to reveal God more precisely as one God in three divine Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
One evidence of God’s plurality in the Old Testament is in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” The Hebrew word for one in this passage is “echad,” which is a compound unity and means a single entity made up of more than one part. If God were “one and only one; singular,” the Holy Spirit would have inspired Moses to use the word “yachid,” which means singular. Yet, “yachid” is never utilized in the Old Testament to describe God because He is one God in three divine Persons, as the New Testament reveals. Therefore, the inspired usage of “echad” expressed God’s plurality.
Additional proof of God’s triune nature is in the Hebrew word for “God,” used consistently throughout the Old Testament. This word is “Elohim,” which is a plural noun, not singular. This word means “more than two,” and the Holy Spirit divinely inspired its use to describe and identify the God of the Bible. Translators of the English Bible used the plural pronouns “us” and “our” in passages like Genesis 1:26, 3:22, and 11:7 to express this compound unity accurately.
One more piece of evidence from the Old Testament to demonstrate God’s plurality as one God is in Isaiah 6:8. In this passage, Isaiah recorded God’s words, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” The Hebrew word used for “us” is a plural pronoun and is used 1,452 times in 1,094 Bible verses to signify “more than one.”
Lastly, it is important to understand that God is not three parts that make one God (i.e., the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), nor is He three Gods. Rather, God is one God in three Persons. Such is the mystery of the Godhead or Trinity.
