Sect. 95The Doctrine of the Old Testament on the TrinityThe Doctrine of the Old Testament on the Trinity

We learn from the New Testament that many texts in the Old Testament point to the Blessed Trinity, although in themselves (and probably in the minds even of the inspired writers) the meaning attributed to them as quoted in the Gospels and Epistles is not evident. There are, however, many passages unmistakably referring to God the Son, and describing Him with a distinctness and fulness almost equal to anything in St. John and St. Paul. As an instance, we may refer to the doctrine on the “Logos” or Son of God in John 1 and Heb. 1, as compared with Prov. 8 and Wisd. 7.

It is natural to expect more references to the Son than to the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament, because it prepares and announces the coming and manifestation of the Son in the Incarnation. Where the Son is spoken of as the “Begotten Wisdom,” Sapientia genita, the Spirit Who proceeds from Him is designated, with sufficient clearness, by the term Spiritus sapientiæ, the Spirit of Wisdom. The central point, however, of all the teachings of the Old Testament on the Trinity is the Second Person. The allusions to, or more distinct expositions of the mystery of the Trinity in the Old Testament are of more interest to the commentator on Holy Scripture, and to the historian of Dogma, than to the dogmatic theologian, who finds his demonstration perfect in the New Testament, and rather throws light upon than receives light from the older references. For this reason we shall reduce the present section to the smallest compass, confining ourselves to the outlines, and giving references to material for deeper studies.

The Second of the Divine Persons appears in the Old Testament in three progressive forms, distributed over three periods. The first period is prelude to the future sending of the Son, and is found in the theophanies in the times of the Patriarchs, Moses, and the Judges. At this first stage, the Second Person bears the general and indefinite character of an ambassador, coming from God, representing God, and Himself bearing the name of God. The second form is the direct prophecy of the Incarnation of a Divine Person, including the information that a son of David shall be at the same time Son of God and God, and that, in virtue of His Divine Sonship, He shall appear as King and Priest pre-eminently, and as the spiritual spouse of souls. The third form exhibits a comprehensive description of the Divine origin and essence of the Second Person, upon which His threefold functions as man are founded.

I. The “Angel of the Lord, Jehovah, Elohim,” spoken of in all the theophanies in question, is probably a created Angel, acting directly in the name of God. Still, upon the whole, the theophanies make the impression that a higher Divine envoy is at work, Whose instrument the created Angel is, and to Whom the titles “Angel of Jehovah,” etc., really belong. Among the Fathers a diversity of opinion exists as to particular theophanies, but, on the whole, they agree in recognizing in them manifestations of the Son of God. See Franzelin, De Trin., th. vi. Cf. Gen. 16:7, 8, 13; 18:1–19; 19:24; also 22:11, 14; 31:3, 11, 13; Exod. 3:2 (Heb. and Greek); 13:21; 14:19; 23:20; 33:14.

II. In David’s time, when the Messiah was prophesied as prefigured by Solomon, the Son of David (2 Kings 7), He is also marked out as Son of God: first in the prophecy of Nathan (2 Kings 7), to which Ps. 88 is similar in its typical form; then, in a more marked form, in Pss. 2 and 109, where His Sonship is attributed to Divine generation, and His eminent dignity of King and Priest is founded upon His Sonship. In Ps. 44 the Messias is represented as God and as the Divine Spouse of souls. His Divine Sonship is only mentioned a few times more in later books of Scripture, e.g. Prov. 30:4; Micheas 5:2, and Ecclus. 51; but His Divinity is asserted very frequently. It ought, however, to be remarked that the Messias always appears as the Ambassador and as the Anointed of God; hence, when He is mentioned as God, He must be conceived, as in Ps. 44, as a Person distinct from and originated in the God Who sends and anoints Him. The signification which we attribute to the above passages of Holy Scripture is confirmed by the fact that in the New Testament many of them are expressly applied to Christ, and adduced as proofs of His Divinity. Cf. Isai. 7:14, with Matt. 1:23; Isai. 40:3–11, with Mark 1:3; Baruch 3:36–38; Zach. 11:12, 13, with Matt. 27:9; 12:10, with John 19:37.

III. Whereas the Psalms (and similarly the Prophets and the first three Gospels) represent the Second Person in God as Son of God, and as God, the Sapiential books describe, under the title of Divinely begotten Wisdom, His Divine origin and essence with such comprehensiveness that nearly all the utterances of the New Testament may be considered as a repetition or a summing up of the older Revelation. The subject designated as “Wisdom,” is represented as the substantial exhalation and the personal representative of the Divine Wisdom, begotten and born of God from all eternity; as splendour, mirror and image of God, distinct from God as from His principle, but of the same Essence, and therefore existing in God and with God; executing and governing with Him all His external works, and hence the principle and prince of all things, their source and ideal, the mediator and the initiator of that participation in Divine Life which consists in wisdom.

These figures are, on the one hand, an introduction to or a preparation for the fuller understanding of the Incarnation, and, on the other hand, a commentary on the words of the Psalms concerning the Divine Sonship and the Divine Nature of the Messias. The figures of the three Sapiential books correspond with the three principal elements of the prologue to the Gospel of St. John; and again, each of them corresponds with one of the three principal passages in the Psalms, so as to set forth, in order, how the Anointed of the Lord, in virtue of His Divine origin and essence, is, in Ps. 2, the King pre-eminently; in Ps. 109, the Priest according to the order of Melchisedech; and in Ps. 44 the beatifying Spouse of Souls. In Prov. 8. Wisdom appears as the born Queen of all things, who has dominion because she has made all things (cf. John 1: “The Word by Whom all things were made”); in Ecclus. 24. Wisdom appears as the born priestly Mediator between God and man, who possesses the priesthood of life—not of death, like the Levitical priesthood—and who, therefore, is the real Mother of life (cf. John 1, the Logos as Life and full of grace); lastly, in Wisd. 7, 8, Wisdom appears as a Bridegroom, entering into the closest connection with souls, filling them with light and happiness (as in John 1, the Word as Light which enlighteneth every man). And, as in these three expositions there is an unmistakable progress of tenderness and intimacy, so there is a progress in the spirituality, sublimity, and completeness in the exposition of the Divine origin and essence of the Eternal Wisdom. In Prov. 8, Wisdom simply appears as begotten from all eternity; in Ecclus. 24, as the Word proceeding from the mouth of the Most High; and in Wisd. 7, as the splendour of the glory of God, one with God in essence and existence.

During the last centuries before the Christian era, the Jewish theology had substituted the Chaldaic name Memrah (= Word) for the name Wisdom. The change may have been due to Ecclus. 24, describing Wisdom as proceeding from the mouth of God, or to the influence of the Greek philosophy (cf. Plato’s Logos). Memrah was made equivalent (parallel) to the several names of the Angel of the Lord (= Maleach Jehovah, Schechinah, Chabod). Thus, the name of Word, as signifying the mediator between God and the world, was well known to the Jews when St. John wrote his Gospel, and this circumstance explains the use of the term by the Evangelist. See Card. Newman, Arians, 196, and Athanasius, ii. 337.