Chapter IX:

CHAPTER IX: WHICH CONTAINS THE SECOND ARGUMENT DRAWN FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT FOR AFFIRMING THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY

[The second argument from the Old Testament: The Exodus.]

§ 134. We have taken the second principal foundation for our position from the benefit of liberation from the slavery of Egypt and of being led through the wilderness into the land of Canaan, which God gave to the Israelites. No one can have any doubts that among the Israelites the constant memory of this benefit flourished or certainly was supposed to flourish: (1) Because in His solemn promulgation of the Law, God calls the Israelites back to this very thing. Exod. 20:[2]: “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This is repeated in Deut. 5:6. Therefore as often as the people of Israel repeated in their solemn assemblies the teaching of the Law from the Decalogue, which happened every Sabbath, so often have they also confessed with heart and mouth that they acknowledge, worship, and invoke Him as true God who had led them out of Egypt and who, by giving the Law, had obligated them to obedience and worship.

(2) Because among other purposes the Sabbath was instituted to be a reminder of this benefit. Deut. 5:14–15: “On the seventh day there will be a sabbath to Jehovah … and you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Jehovah, your God, brought you out from there in His mighty hand and outstretched arm. Therefore God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath Day.” Therefore as often as they celebrated the Sabbath they renewed the memory of this benefit every seven days and worshiped and invoked Him as true God from whom they knew it had been given.

(3) Because the Israelites are quite often called back to the worthy consideration of this benefit not only by Moses but also by the prophets in their exhortations and reproofs. (See Lev. 11:45; 19:36; 22:33; 25:[38], etc.; Josh. 24:6; Judg. 2:1; 1 Sam. 10:18; 2 Sam. 7:6; Jer. 7:22; 34:13; etc.) As often, then, as Moses and the prophets called them back to the memory of this benefit, so often did they understand that they had to acknowledge and worship Him as true God, from whom they knew that it had been given to their ancestors. From this it is readily apparent that the perpetual memory of this benefit flourished among the Israelites.

§ 135. Therefore we draw this conclusion: He who led the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses; who drowned Pharaoh and his army, who had pursued them, in the sea; who fed them in the wilderness with manna, which rained down from heaven; who was tempted by the ungrateful people, who were unmindful of this benefit; who gave to that people obvious indications of His wrath and grace; and who finally led the Israelites into the Promised Land—He is the true God whom the Israelites acknowledged, invoked, worshiped, and certainly were supposed to acknowledge, invoke, and worship. But plural persons of the Godhead—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—led the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses, etc. Therefore plural persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are the true God whom the Israelites acknowledged and worshiped.

The major premise is clear: (1) From the promise of this benefit. In Gen 15:13–14 the true Jehovah, who entered the covenant with Abraham and to whom Abraham offered his sacrifices, says: “Your seed will be sojourners in the land, but I shall judge the nation that they are going to serve, and afterward they will depart with great possessions.” V. 18: “I shall give this land of Canaan to your seed,” that is, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. In Gen. 46:3 the true God speaks with the patriarch Jacob and says: “I am the God of your father. I shall lead you,” that is, your descendants, “as you return from Egypt.” In Exod. 3:8 the true God, who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” says to Moses: “I have come down to deliver My people from the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good land.” Here pertain all the divine promises made to the patriarchs of the Israelites about the multiplication of their seed and about their possession of the land of Canaan, for those promises include the benefit of liberation from Egypt.

(2) From the fulfillment of that promise. The entire account of the liberation from Egypt bears witness that this benefit was truly and purely divine, since the true and divine miracles done in Egypt, the leading of the Israelites through the Red Sea that had been divided miraculously, the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in the sea, the gift of manna from heaven as food, etc., can be attributed to no one except to the only true God, who used the external ministry of Moses in some of them but did so in such a way that all of them thoroughly belong to and are attributed to Him as the principal cause acting effectually.

(3) From the prophetic description of God. In the Old Testament, as often as the true God wanted to describe Himself on the basis of His external work and to distinguish Himself from the fictitious idols of the heathen, He took that description from the benefit of liberation from Egypt. Thus when promulgating the Law He says: “I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt; you shall have no other gods before Me,” that is, you should acknowledge, invoke, and worship only Me, who provided you with the benefit of liberation from Egypt, as the true God. Accordingly also, when Aaron wished to signify that they were erecting and worshiping the molten calf in honor of the true God alone, he said to the people: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Exod. 32:4). Also in their prayers, poured out to the true God, the Israelites recalled the memory of this benefit into their minds, as is clear from Jer. 32:21.

(4) From the obvious exclusion. Deut. 32:12: “Jehovah alone did lead him, and there was no foreign strong one with him.” V. 3: “The Lord God Himself will go ahead of you in the wilderness.” However, there is no need for more examples in this obvious matter.

§ 136. We prove the minor premise: (1) In general, that plural persons are in the one divine essence, or are the one true God, who led the Israelites out of Egypt. (2) In particular, that the plural persons in the one divine essence, or the one true God, are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To the prior class of Scripture passages belong these: Deut. 5:26: “What is all flesh that it should hear the voice of the living God, who speaks out of the midst of the fire?” He who spoke out of the midst of the fire when promulgating the Law led the Israelites out of Egypt (Exod. 20:[2]). Yet He who spoke out of the midst of the fire when promulgating the Law is Himself Elohim, plural persons. Therefore He who led the Israelites out of Egypt is plural persons. 2 Sam. 7:23: “What one nation on earth is like Your people Israel, whom Elohim went [plural] to redeem to be His people [ad sibi redimendum]?” A plural verb is connected to the plural noun to express more clearly the plurality of persons. However, in 1 Chron. 17:21, where the same passage is repeated, a singular verb is added to the plural noun Elohim to denote the unity of the divine essence.

§ 137. To the latter class belong those passages in which the benefit of liberation is attributed to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There can be no doubt concerning the Father, and all those statements that attribute this benefit to the Son also mention the Father, which will become clear from the following.

[Concerning the Son.]

Concerning the Son, it can be made evident that He led the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses and led them through the wilderness into the Promised Land on the basis of these passages: (I) Gen. 28:12. The Son of God appears in a dream to the patriarch Jacob. He stands on a ladder set upon the earth with its top reaching to the heavens, saying: “The land upon which you are sleeping I shall give to you,” that is, to your descendants. V. 15: “I shall be your Guardian wherever you go. I shall lead you into this land, and I shall not leave you until I have fulfilled everything.” However, we gather that this person who spoke with Jacob and promised possession of the land of Canaan to him, that is, to his seed, was the Son of God. We conclude this not only from the New Testament in John 1:51, where Christ applies this type clearly to Himself, but also from Jacob’s vow of thanksgiving in Gen. 48:15–16, where he blesses the sons of Joseph with these words: “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me from my youth to the present day, the Angel who has rescued me out of every evil, bless these lads.” Here he does not mean a created angel, for the benediction could not and should not have been requested from a created angel through prayers. Instead, he means the Son of God, the uncreated Angel who had said to him in a vision: “I shall be your Guardian wherever you go; I shall give that land to your seed.”

(Concerning the Angel whom Jacob mentioned here, observe: (1) The hayediah²⁹ is prefixed to His name so that someone categorically superior to the rest and not someone common is understood. (2) From this Angel, Jacob asks the same thing that he asks from God and he joins Him with Jehovah by an undivided bond in the work of benediction. (3) He attributes to Him the honor of the invocation owed to God alone.)

** [Rashi] on this passage: “ ‘The Angel who redeemed me’ is the angel whom God would send to me in my distresses according to the statement by which it is said (Gen. 31:11): ‘And the Angel of the Lord said to me in a dream: “Jacob, I am the God of Bethel.” ’ ” **

This very point will become clearer from what follows.

§ 138. (II) In Exod. 3:2 the Angel of the Lord appears to Moses and speaks out of the flaming fire in the bush, saying: “I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt; I have come down to deliver them” (vv. 7–8). We showed earlier that this Angel who appeared to Moses in the bush was not one of the created angels but the Lord of all the angels—the Son of God. We showed this: (1) From His name. He is called “Jehovah,” the proper name of God. After all, if this were not the proper name of God, the true God could not have been distinguished by it from the idols and fictitious gods of the heathen. But He was indeed supposed to be distinguished by that name from false gods and all creatures (v. 14).

(2) From the description of the one who appears. He calls Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” In v. 6 He says that He had “heard the outcry of the people.” In v. 7 He calls the Israelites “My people.” In v. 10 He sends Moses to Pharaoh, and in v. [12] it is promised to Moses that he would show Him divine worship after being led out of Egypt. All these befit no one but the one true God.

(3) From a comparison with parallel passages. In Deut. 33:16 Moses, with prayers, asks the Angel who appeared in the bush for the blessing of Joseph’s descendants. Thus he imitated the patriarch Jacob, who had asked the same Angel for the blessing on Joseph’s sons (Gen. 48:16).

(4) From His majestic appearance. He appears in the burning bush, yet He is not consumed by the fire. This was a type of His incarnation—that the full light of divine majesty that He was to assume in His human nature in time would dwell in it without destroying it at all.

(5) From the witness of the fathers and the rabbinic scholars.

(6) From the concession of our adversaries. He who spoke with Moses from the bush is called [“God”] with the article in Matt. 22:[32] and Mark 12:[26]. But now our adversaries teach: “When the name ‘God’ is placed absolutely and especially with the article, then it is proper to the true and eternal God alone.”

From all these it becomes obvious that He who speaks with Moses from the bush is not a created angel but the Creator of the angels—the true God. Moreover, it is clear that He who speaks with Moses is a person distinct from the Father. This is clear because He is called “the Angel of God,” that is, one sent by Him. Surely, then, He is a different person from the Father who sent Him. This will become clearer from what follows.

§ 139. (III) Exod. 11:1–3: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘Tell the people that every man should ask his friend for gold and silver vessels. And the Lord will give favor to His people in the sight of the Egyptians.’ ” Here the Lord is speaking of the Lord, Jehovah of Jehovah, and from this we conclude: the Jehovah who spoke with Moses is a different person from Him who gave favor to the people of Israel. Yet the Jehovah who spoke with Moses is the same who led the Israelites out of Egypt. Therefore the Jehovah who led the Israelites out of Egypt is a different person from Him who gave favor to the people of Israel, and consequently it must be acknowledged that there is more than one person in this benefit of liberation.

(IV) In Exod. 16:7–8 Moses says to the people: “In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because He has heard your murmurings against the Lord. Your murmuring is not against us but against the Lord.” V. 10: “And, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.” Here again the Lord is speaking about the Lord, and it says the Lord heard the people murmur against the Lord. Who that Lord was, however, is explained in 1 Cor. 10:9.

§ 140. However, let us go on in our historical description of that benefit. (V) In Exod. 23:20–21 the Lord says: “Behold, I shall send My Angel, who will go before you and protect you in the way and bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay attention to Him and listen to His voice. Do not rebel against Him, for He will not let you go unpunished when you sin, and My name is in His midst ().” Here the Angel, the leader of the Israelites through the wilderness, is presented as a person distinct from the Father, the cause of that liberation. Cajetan understands this angel to be Moses himself. Justin (Contra Tryph., f. 58), Eusebius (Demonstrat. evang., bk. 4, c. 28), and Rabanus (commentary [on Exodus]) take this to mean Joshua. Cornelius à Lapide in his commentary understands this as a created angel. However, Athanasius (a little before the conclusion of his book De communi deitatis essent.) and Hesychius (In Levit., bk. 7, c. 26, f. 653) understand Him as the very Son of God.

This is absolutely correct, for it is clear that the Angel was not a created angel but the Son of God. This is clear: (1) From His name, for He is called [“Jehovah”]. Exod. 13:21: “And Jehovah went before them in a pillar of cloud to show them the way by day, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light and to lead them on their journey.” In this passage the proper name for God is said to be “in His midst,” that is, it is His proper and inmost name.

In Clavis, col. 726, Flacius says that this phrase denotes three things: (a) The true deity of that Angel: “My name,” that is, My essence, will be in Him, because the name is the thing itself. (b) The personal property, because the name contains the image and, as it were, the picture of the thing: “My name will be in Him,” that is, My substantial image and character. (c) The mystery of the incarnation: I shall be who I shall be; I shall assume the flesh; I shall provide a spiritual liberation. There is no doubt that many angels were encamped around the Israelites as they came out of Egypt and went through the wilderness to the Promised Land. For if the army of God, that is, the angels in the form of armies, appeared to the patriarch Jacob at Mahanaim (Gen. 32:1–2), it is all the more likely that the angels of God were close to the Israelites as their protectors. Here, however, God is not speaking about those created angels but is mentioning a special Angel as their leader and guide in whose midst is the very name of God, who is Himself also Jehovah. This is the kind of thing that is never said about a created angel (Heb. 1:4–5). Augustine, Contra Faustum, bk. 16, c. 19: “Not only every Manichaean but also every Jew should investigate this passage to see if God said about an angel, ‘My name is in Him,’ if He did not say it about this leader of the people.” Therefore He is the one about whom Deut. 1:[33] says: “Jehovah went ahead of you by fire in the night.” (See Ps. 78:14; 105:39.) Just as it is said of this Angel, the leader, “My name is in His midst,” so also it is said of the Son of God: “On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ ” (Rev. 19:16).

** (The Kabbalists ask who that [“My Angel”] is and answer that by a transposition of elements it is [“Michael”], and this is what Christ is called in Dan. [12]:1; Rev. 12:7.) **

(2) From the attribution of divine work. The Angel who led the Israelites through the wilderness into the Promised Land is the same Angel who led them out of Egypt, as is evident. But the Angel who led the Israelites out of Egypt is not a created angel but the Son of God, the Lord of all the angels, which is clear from Exod. 14:19–20, 24–25: “The Angel of the Lord who went before the host of Israel lifted Himself up and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud in which He appeared also went with Him and stood behind them. It stood between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel, and there was a cloud dark and lighting up the night. … And, behold, the Lord, looking down upon the Egyp-tian host in the pillar of cloud and fire, terrified their army,” etc. Now, it is clear that the Angel who looked upon the Egyptians from the pillar of cloud and terrified their army was Jehovah Himself, the true God. This is clear from Exod. 15:1–2: “Let us sing to the Lord, for He has been magnified gloriously. The horse and its rider He has cast into the sea. This one is my God, and I shall make Him a tabernacle.” Concerning the same pillar we read: “They have heard that You, O Lord, are among this people, and Your cloud stands over them, and that in the pillar of cloud by day and the column of fire by night You go ahead of them, and that You have killed so great a multitude” (Num. 14:14–15). Therefore the Lord Himself went ahead of the Israelites in the cloud, which for this reason is called “the cloud of the Lord,” protecting them and destroying their foes.

Thus we use this argument: Preserving the Church and leading His people into the Promised Land is the proper benefit of God. Deut. 31:3: “Your God, Jehovah Himself, will go before you. He Himself will destroy the Canaanites before your face.” Yet the preservation of the Church and the leading into the Promised Land is attributed to that Angel. Therefore. The same Angel forgives the people their sin at the prayers of Moses (v. 20), which is proper to the true God alone. In Exod. 33:9; Deut. 31:15; Ps. 99:7, it says that “the Lord Himself descended in a pillar of cloud and spoke with Moses.” Thus He was not a created angel. This is clearer than the sun from Num. 12:5–8: “The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tabernacle and said to Aaron and Miriam: ‘If there is any prophet of the Lord among you, I shall appear to him in a vision. Not so with My servant Moses. With him I speak mouth to mouth, and he sees the Lord in vision and not in enigmas and figures.’ ” Therefore surely He who appeared in the cloud was true Jehovah Himself. Cf. also Exod. 16:8: “Come near into the sight,” or before the face, “of Jehovah,” where that pillar that was the symbol of His presence is understood. Therefore He who led out the Israelites in this pillar was the true Jehovah. Consider also the fact that the power to punish those who transgress the Law of God is attributed to this Angel. But “all judgment has been given to the Son” (John 5:[22]). To this Angel is assigned the common act with the true God of destroying the heathen Canaanites. Therefore He is the true God along with the Father.

(3) From His symbolic appearance. The pillar of cloud and fire in which the Son of God appeared not only provided the people a benefit in the present by showing the way in the wilderness, by protecting them from the harm and heat of the sky (Ps. 105:39), by cutting through the darkness of night and, like a fortress, defending the Israelites from the sudden attacks of their foes (Ps. 121:5–8: “The Lord protects you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord guard you against every evil; may He protect your life. The Lord protect your coming in and your going out from this time forth and forevermore.” Cf. Wisdom 10:17; 18:3; 19:7). But that pillar also showed to the people a type of the future incarnation. You see, fire was the symbol of the divine nature, but cloud was the symbol of the human nature that would one day be personally united with the Son of God. Accordingly, the angel uses a word from this vision when he says to Mary: “The power of the Most High ” [“will overshadow you”] (Luke 1:35), because “in her womb the incorporeal Light assumed a body. Now a shadow is gotten in no other way but through light and a body” (Gregory, Moral., bk. 33, c. 3). And the poet sings sweetly:

Thus Christ is light in the dark, thus cool in the heat,

True God in the fire, man under cover of cloud.

(4) From the exhibition of divine worship. The Israelites were supposed to show divine worship to the Angel who led them out of Egypt through the wilderness into the Promised Land. Therefore He was not a created angel, because one owes divine worship to no one but the true God alone. The former is clear because the people offered Him sacrifices (Exod. 3:12) and are ordered to be careful “not to sin against Him by rebelling” (Exod. 23:21). But one sins against God alone (Ps. 51:[4]). For as God alone is the highest good and every norm of uprightness, so also one sins primarily and properly against no one but God, and improperly and accidentally against creatures. This is the same Angel of whom we read: “Hear Him” (Matt. 17:5) and “I shall avenge anyone who does not obey His voice” (Deut. 18:19). Consequently, God is exhorting the Israelites to be obedient to this Angel and is signifying that He demands of them the same obedience He demands for Himself. If one observes all these points carefully, it will become clear that the Angel who led the Israelites through the wilderness into the Promised Land was not a created angel but Jehovah Himself—the Son of God.

§ 141. We conclude this very thing from other passages of Moses too. (VI) Exod. 32:[33–]34: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘Go, lead the people to the place of which I told you. My Angel will go before you. On the day of My vengeance I shall visit their sin upon them.’ ” Just as it had been said concerning the Angel, the leader of the people, “He will not leave you unpunished when you sin” (Exod. 23:21), so Jehovah says here, “On the day of My revenge I shall visit their sin upon them.”

(VII) In Exod. 33:[1–2] the Lord again says to Moses: “You and your people, go up into the land that I swore I would give to your fathers, saying: ‘To your seed I shall give it.’ And I shall send My Angel before your face that I may drive out the Canaanite.” (The sense is this: I indeed promised in Exodus 23 that I wanted My Angel to accompany you and to lead you out into the land of Canaan, but because the people have violated My covenant, I am no longer bound to it. Go with the people wherever you wish and by whatever route you wish.) “I shall not go up among you because you are a stiff-necked people; if I once go up in your midst, I will also destroy you.” VV. 12, 14–20, 23: “Moses said to the Lord, ‘You commanded me to lead this people, and You do not let me know whom You will send with me.’ The Lord said, ‘My face will go ahead of you, and I shall lead you.’ Moses said, ‘If Your face will not go, do not lead us away from this place. For wherein shall we be able to know, Your people and I, that we have found favor in Your sight unless You walk with us?’ And the Lord said, ‘The word that you have spoken I shall do, for you have found favor with Me.’ And Moses said, ‘Show me Your glory.’ The Lord answered him, ‘I shall cause all My goodness to pass before your face, and I shall proclaim it before you in the name of the Lord.’ … And again He said, ‘But you will not be able to see My face, for no man will see Me and live. … You will see My back, but My face you will be unable to see.’ ” The fulfillment of the promise follows in Exod. 34:5–9: “And the Lord descended through the cloud and stood with him (Moses) and there proclaimed the name of the Lord. And Jehovah passed before him and proclaimed, ‘Jehovah, Jehovah, strong, merciful’ . … Moses quickly bowed and lay on the ground and worshiped Him, saying: ‘If I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I beseech You to go with us, for Your people are stiff-necked, to take away our iniquities.’ ”

Here, the Angel who led the Israelites is called: (1) Jehovah, because Jehovah proclaims concerning Jehovah. (2) The face of the Lord, because He is the substantial image of God the Father. (3) All the goodness of God, because the Father has shared with Him all His goodness—His divine essence and majesty—through His eternal begetting, and through the same He confers on us the things of heaven. (4) He is introduced as a mediator who reconciles God and men so that God, who is a “consuming fire,” may not immediately ruin and destroy them because of their sins. However, none of these names befit a created angel. (5) The same Son of God reveals to Moses that He is to be seen in human form, as is understood from these words: “You will not be able to see My face”—that is, My bare divinity and majesty—“but you will see My back parts” (or “My back”), because in the fullness of time He would assume human nature personally. This is just as in Exod. 24:10, where He had revealed that Moses and the seventy elders of Jerusalem would see Him in human form, because “they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet there was, as it were, a work of sapphire stone, like the heaven when it is calm.”

§ 142. (VIII) Finally, we compare also Num. 14:21: “ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘the glory of the Lord will fill all the earth.’ ” Later, Isaiah saw this glory: “The whole earth is filled with His glory” (6:[3]). Concerning Isaiah, he is said to have seen “the glory of Christ, the Son of God” (John 12:41). All these passages prove clearly that the Son of God led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt through the wilderness. Deut. 4:37: “He led you out of Egypt with His face in great power.” The Targum has rendered it , “in His own word,” because the face of God is His Son (Exod. 33:14). From the New Testament, in addition to 1 Cor. 10:9, the words of Jude v. 15 compared with v. [5], etc., can also be referred to this.

[Concerning the Holy Spirit.]

§ 143. Concerning the Holy Spirit and, therefore, concerning each of the three persons, we have clear testimony in Isa. 63:7–11: “I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praises of the Lord for all the things that the Lord has rendered to us, and for the multitude of goodness to the house of Israel, which He has given them according to His kindness and according to the abundance of His mercies. And He said, ‘Surely, they are My people …,’ and He became their Savior. The Angel of His face (plural with suffix) saved them because of His love, and because of His gentleness He Himself redeemed them. He bore them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved the Spirit of holiness (or “His Holy Spirit”) and He became their enemy. He Himself fought against them. And He remembered the days of old.”

Here three distinct persons are clearly enumerated. To each of them is attributed the benefit of liberation from Egypt and leading through the wilderness. Furthermore, the Son of God, the Second Person, is distinctively called “the Angel of His face”: (1) With respect to His person. ( also means “person.”) For He is the “character of the hypostasis,” “the icon of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). Concerning Wisdom, it is said that it is “the brightness of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness” (Wisdom 7:26). Just as a son who has exactly the appearance of his parent could be called the son of his father’s face, so also the uncreated Angel, the Son of God, possesses His Father’s face—that is, the very essence of the Father—communicated to Him by the Father through His eternal begetting. However, in this there is a great difference because among humans the similarity of the father’s face or form that a son has is accidental and transitory, but in the Godhead the likeness of His Father’s face that the Son has is essential, substantial, and consequently unchanging, because this depends on the unity of essence. Therefore as Moses calls this Angel “the face of God,” so Isaiah calls Him “the Angel of the face of the Lord” in exactly the same sense. 2 Sam. 17:[11]: “Your face will go into battle,” that is, “You Yourself will go,” as the Targum has translated it. Therefore in this way, He who is the one true God with the Father is called “the Angel of the face.” Just as it says the Holy Spirit “is from the face of God” (Isa. 57:16) because He proceeds from the Father through eternal breathing, so the Son is called “the Angel of the face” because through His eternal begetting He is born of the Father as light from light.

(2) With respect to His office, because He is the Mediator through whom the Father speaks with us and reveals to us His invisible face. Consequently, the Lord is said to speak with Moses “face to face” (Exod. 33:11), and the patriarch Jacob says that he “saw the Lord face to face” (Gen. 32:30) because both men saw the Son of God in human form. “He who sees Me sees the Father,” He says in John 14:9. Consequently, the Targum of Isa. 63:9 has translated “Angel of the face” as , “sent from Him,” because the Son is the person through whom God in the Old Testament spoke to the patriarchs and revealed to them His face, that is, Himself and His counsel or will. Just as we recognize a man by his face, so we recognize the Father by Christ.

Lest anyone doubt that the Holy Spirit also was present in leading the people through the wilderness, we cite the passage Neh. 9:19–20: “You, O Lord, in Your many mercies did not forsake our fathers in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud for showing them the way did not depart from them . … And You gave them Your good Spirit to make them understand.” Notice also that the word [“brood”] is used in Deut. 32:11 concerning the leading through the wilderness. This is the word used by Moses in Gen. 1:3 to refer to the work of the Holy Spirit in the first creation, and nowhere else in all of Scripture is that word used to refer to God.

§ 144. Schmalz (Contra D. Frantzium, disp. 1, p. 13) makes the exception: (I) “Three are mentioned. Therefore there are three persons. What is the connection? What is the consequence? Three are mentioned. Therefore there are three persons in the one essence of God.” p. 14: “We do not deny that mention is made of Jehovah, the angel of the face of Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit of Jehovah, but we do deny: (a) That the angel of the face of Jehovah is the Son of God. (b) We deny, even if this angel were the Son of God, that He is the same kind of divine person as is the Father. (c) We deny that the Holy Spirit is a person. (d) We deny that these three are the one essence of God. None of these is proved from the passage cited.”

We respond. On the contrary, from the points we have made up to now these four parts can be gathered quite well. The personality of these three is gathered: (1) From the fact that three distinct names are used: Jehovah, the Angel of His face, His Holy Spirit. (2) From the fact that to each of these three the actions of an intelligent, willing, subsisting person are attributed. It says Jehovah bestowed blessings upon the people of Israel, the Angel of the face redeemed the people because of His love, and the Holy Spirit turned to be the enemy of the Israelites. (3) From the fact that distinct works are attributed to each of these three. Compassion for His people is assigned to Jehovah; the salvation and redemption of His people, to the Angel of the face; and the affliction of and warfare against the people, to the Holy Spirit. (4) From the fact that through the possessive pronoun the Angel and the Spirit are related to the Father, for the Angel is called “the Angel of His presence” and the Spirit is called “His Holy Spirit.” Surely, then, they are distinct from the Father, but not essentially (because the divine essence is one) nor accidentally (because accidents do not belong to God). Therefore personally. Therefore as distinct persons and because the Father is a person, the Son and the Holy Spirit are also persons.

The true divinity of these three is proved from their predicates because the predicates or attributes that are attributed here to the Angel of the face and to the Holy Spirit belong to no one except the one true God. You see, in the entire account of Moses, He who as the chief cause led the Israelites through the wilderness and, when tempted by the Israelites, inflicted plagues upon them is described as the true God of Israel. The former is clear from what we have said; the latter, from Num. 14:11f.; 32:10; Deut. 1:34; Ps. 78:18, 21; etc.

§ 145. (II) “The discourse is about the angel of the face, that is, one of His angels who would stand before His eyes, awaiting His orders” (p. 14). He supports this interpretation from Vatablus, Calvin, and Oecolampadius.

We respond. (1) To whatever angel purely and truly divine works are attributed, which are proper to God alone, this one is not a created angel but uncreated. Yet to the Angel of the face, of whom Isaiah speaks, purely and truly divine works are attributed: saving, redeeming, carrying the people. Therefore. (2) Isaiah is speaking about the Angel of whom Moses bore witness that He went ahead of the Israelites in a pillar of cloud and of fire, that the name of God was in His midst, that He cast the Egyptians into the sea, etc. Yet these do not befit any created angel. (3) On the basis of the benefits and works that are attributed to this Angel, the Son of God is uniquely called and (“Savior” and “Liberator”), and in Heb. 1:3 the apostle declares that “He bears up all things by the word of His might.” (4) The Angel about whom the prophet is speaking is placed ahead of the Holy Spirit in order. But if he were speaking about a created angel, he could not be placed ahead of the Holy Spirit in order because the Photinians themselves say that the Holy Spirit is the might of God, which is certainly more worthy than the created angels. (5) No passage of Scripture can be cited in which created angels are called “angels of the face,” who save, redeem, and carry the people.

§ 146. (III) “It is strange that those who believe that Christ is the same God as the Father take ‘the angel of the face’ to mean Christ, because this undoubtedly denotes something far less. Also, from the fact that someone is called ‘the angel of His face,’ one can quite plainly conclude that He is in no way the same God of whose face He is the angel, unless perhaps someone can be the angel of Himself” (p. 14).

We respond. More is being inferred in the consequence than the antecedent allows, for only this follows: that that Angel of His face is another person, because sender and sent are distinct persons. By no means, however, can one infer that He is another God, because the Father who sends and the Son who is sent by the Father have one and the same divine essence. The sending of the Son by the Father does not remove this consubstantiality, because one must distinguish between the sending of an inferior by a superior and the sending of an equal by an equal. For the sake of instruction, we can call the former authoritative and denoting power but the latter voluntary and economic or denoting dispensation. The former conflicts with the unity of essence and equality of honor; the latter, on the other hand, has no such conflict. The Photinians cannot deny this since even they wish to appear to assert the equality of the Father and Son with respect to honor and dignity and since they meanwhile cannot deny that the Father sent the Son into the world. Accordingly, Socinus (Contra Bellarminum et Wiek., p. 253) and the Catech. Racoviens. (p. 122) infer: “The Savior is equal to the Father. Therefore He is not the same nor one with God Himself.” However, they are playing games with an ambiguity in the word “God,” which at times is taken essentially and at other times personally. When the Son is said to be equal to God (John 5:18), the word “God” is taken personally³⁰ and denotes the Father, and in this sense it is correct to say that the Son is equal to the Father. Therefore He is not the Father, or He is not the same person. But it is not correct to infer that He, therefore, is not one God with the Father.

(IV) “Just because He is called the Holy Spirit of God or the Spirit of Jehovah one cannot necessarily conclude that He is not the same God whose Spirit He is.” We respond. This is the same sophism as the former exception. With what impudence can the Photinians deny that the Holy Spirit is not the same God with the Father when they call the Holy Spirit “the might of God” and deny that He is a creature?

(V) “One cannot prove that the word ‘Jehovah’ signifies God the Father. You see, though the God Jehovah is no one else than the Father according to the truth and in our mind, yet in the mind of the Trinitarians, ‘Jehovah’ frequently is someone other than God the Father, that is, the three-and-one God. But if this is so, how can He who is the angel of the three-and-one God, or the Spirit, be that same one-and-three God?” We respond. There is a shameful overprecision in the word “Jehovah,” which also is taken sometimes essentially and sometimes personally. The Father is Jehovah, the Son is Jehovah, the Holy Spirit is Jehovah; nevertheless there are not plural Jehovahs but one Jehovah, because the divine essence common to these three persons is not a fourth thing distinct in reality from these three persons. Rather, the one true Jehovah is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three persons are the one true God.

29 That is, the Hebrew definite article for a known person.

30 Reading instead of Gerhard’s .

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