Consider yourself pulled back.
You need a minimum of two Scriptures to establish a Truth. That would be two Scriptures that stand on their own without a need to twist them to fit your opinion.
I would drop the "plurality of excellence" stuff. Where do the Scriptures clearly teach such a concept? Not your opinion or the opinion of others, but from the Scriptures? Let the Scriptures speak for themselves. The Truth doesn't need editorial comment.
Thank you
JfromK for the reply, but allow me to clarify...
This has been the question currently on my heart, please don't misconstrue my intent. I believe all that I've learned here from Ray on Bibletruths, but I'm sure others can attest to this...
Knowledge increased is useless without a greater measure of wisdom to guide us in our understanding of the depths of God. All my questions are simply, just me studying aloud with the council (BT forum members) that I trust; and always for reproof and correction on
my part.
I'm not trying to establish, or argue any doctrinal ideas. But, it is imperative to understand how
words and
phrases were used, and their
intended meanings in the original languages (Hebrew, Greek, etc.) Otherwise we can only debate the various interpretations from man's "wisdom", and that will only lead to gross error. I'm not basing anything on "my opinion" (If this were a cooking forum, comparatively all I could contribute is:
"how to make a pop-tart".) so believe me I'm definitely only here to learn! LOL, and I read every last line that is written in response to this post. And every post.
Here are clear examples of plurality being used in scripture (not used numerically, but for significance/excellence/majesty etc.) I hope this will give anyone reading this post a better understanding of
why I still ask the question, and hopefully show where I was coming from with my initial question. And why it is not a matter of "dropping the plurality of excellence stuff." But, more a question of
understanding it. And I believe the
concept is obvious in the following scriptures.
1. Exodus 21:29
"Its owner (be'alav, "
owners")
also shall be put to death" 2. 2 Samuel 16:20 Absalom is looking for advice for
himself, yet he refers to himself as
"we" i.e., said to Ahithophel,
"Give your counsel what we shall do"3. Nehemiah 3:5
"...put not their neck into the service of their lords" Rotherham's Emphasized Bible has an "
a" marking for a footnote that reads:
(as pl. of excellence): "Their lord" or "Lord"4. Nehemiah 9:18
"...||This|| is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt,..." Rotherham's Emphasized Bible has an "
e" marking for a footnote that reads:
Pl. ? "of excellence."5. Isaiah 19:4 uses 'adonim for
lords instead of 'adon for
lord even though referring to one person:
"Into the hand of a cruel lord" Jews believe, and have always taught the
plurality of majesty in regards to the use of Elohim in Genesis. And also they believe that the "our" in "Let us make man in
our image..." (Genesis 1:26) is
GOD speaking to the ministering angels during the creation epoch (i.e., Job 38:7.)
I don't know if any other Churches teach this, though I was taught this same thing in my Apostolic upbringing.
Again thank you John from Kentucky for pulling me back a bit.
I appreciate you and everyone for taking the time to read and respond.....and I agree to let the scriptures speak for themselves - that being the
very reason I have this question in the first place.
I'm going to sound like Capt. Obvious here for a minute, but...
"The Word of GOD is Deep!"