Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Yates Plural Vs Singular Argument

 In opposition however to the thousands and tens of thousands of passages, which imply by the use of singular pronouns, that God is one person, the Trinitarians have collected together as many as three, which by the use of plural pronouns are supposed to indicate a plurality of persons in the Godhead. [Gen. 1.26; 6.7; Isa. 6.8].

First, I would observe, that by bringing forward these passages [the trinitarian acknowledges] the validity of the opposite argument of the Unitarians, which is established upon similar grounds. He acknowledges, that the number of persons in the Godhead is indicated by the personal pronouns, employed in speaking of the Godhead. His argument proceeds on the supposition, that the use of a plural pronoun in speaking of God intimates, that there is in God a plurality of persons: of course he will admit, that the use of a singular pronoun in speaking of God, denotes that God is one person only. As a Unitarian, there is nothing, which I more desire than the concession, that the number of persons in the Godhead may be inferred from the use of the personal pronouns in the Sacred Scriptures. 

(A Vindication of Unitarianism: In Reply to the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, James Yates, 1850, pp 136-37.)

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