Monday, October 9, 2023

Lutheran Theologian John Theodore Muller (1885-1967): The Old Testament Saints were Consciously Trinitarians

  

As a matter of fact the Old Testament contains not only mere “indications” of the Holy Trinity, but clear passages in which the doctrine is unmistakably set forth. Such passages are those: a) in which God speaks of Himself in the plural number, Gen. 1, 26; b) in which the Lord speaks of the Lord, Gen. 19, 24; c) in which the Son of God is expressly named, Ps. 2, 7; d) in which three Persons of the Godhead are distinctly enumerated, Gen. 1, 1. 2; 2 Sam. 23, 2; Ps. 35, 6; Is. 42, 1; 48, 16. 17; 61, 1; e) in which the name Jehovah or God is thrice repeated in the same relation, Num. 6, 24-26; Ps. 42, 1, 2; Is. 33, 22; Jer. 33, 2; Dan. 9, 19; f) from the trisagion of the angels, Is. 6, 3; g) from the passages in which the Angel of the Lord (מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה) is identified with God, Gen. 48, 15. 16; Ex. 3, 1-7; h) from the reference of Christ to the Old Testament when HE proved the true deity and divine personality of the Son of God, Matt. 22, 41-46 compared with Ps. 110, 1. Certainly no one has ever been saved who did not believe in the true God (The Triune God) and the true Savior of the world (the Second Person of the Godhead), since this truth is stated so clearly in Scripture, Acts 4, 12; John 5, 23; 1 John 2, 23. Nor is the plan of salvation which is taught in the New Testament different from that which was taught in the Old Testament, Rom. 3, 21-34; 4, 1-3. We rightly hold therefore that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so clearly set forth in the Old Testament that the believers in the Old Testament most assuredly had a true knowledge of God and of the promised Savior, His beloved Son. (John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics: A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology for Pastors, Teachers, and Laymen [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934], 159-60)