What Does the Bible Say About God and Jesus? - Not a Plural God

JESUS called God "the only true God." (John 17:3) Never did he refer to God as a deity of plural persons.  That is why nowhere in the Bible is anyone but Jehovah called  Almighty.  Otherwise, it voids the meaning of the word  "almighty."  Neither Jesus nor the holy spirit is ever called that, for Jehovah alone is supreme.  At Genesis 17:1 he declares: "I am God Almighty." and Exodus 18:11 says: "Jehovah greater than all the other gods." 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word 'eloh'ah (god) has two plural forms, namely, 'elo-him'(gods) and 'elo-heh' (god's of)  These plural forms generally refer to Jehovah, in which case they are translated in the singular as "God".  Do these plural forms indicate a Trinity? No, they do not. In a Dictionary of the Bible, William Smith says:  "The fanciful idea that ['elo-him'] referred to the trinity of the persons in the Godhead hardly fins now a supporter among scholars. It is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God." 

The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature says of 'elo-him'. "It is almost invariably construed with a singular verbal predicate, and takes a singular  adjectival attribute ."  To illustrate this, the title 'elo-him' appears 35 times by itself in the account of creation, and every time the verb describing what God said and did is singular.  (Genesis 1:1-2:4) Thus, the publications concludes: "['elo-him'] must rather be explained as an intensive plural, denoting greatness and majesty." 

Next time: What Does the Bible Say About God and Jesus? - Conclusion of Not a Plural God

From the jw.org publications