How many persons are there in the Godhead?

This is the last of a series of 3 articles in response to challenges brought forward during the debate between Dr. Shabir Ally and Mr Nabeel Qureshi on Tawhid and Trinity, organized by RZIM. I had stated via tweeter that there were some interesting arguments that unfortunately had not been answered during the debate.

As you would expect, some people challenged my opinion saying that all what Mr Ally had said is true. Even, someone challenged any christian scholar to refute the challenges made by Mr Ally. This statement was done by the administrator of the youtube channel Muslim By Choice. I must say in all fairness that the answer to my tweet is appropriate. Hence I decided promising to post in the youtube channel Muslim by Choice my answers to 3 challenges:


  1. Why not worshiping the Torah, if the Torah is eternal? (answer found here)
  2. Jesus can't be God and Man because that would mean He was both perfect and imperfect (answer found here)
  3. How do we know there are not more than 3 persons in the Godhead?, this is the subject of this blog entry.

The Argument

In response to Nabeel Qureshi's argument that in the end of Matthew it clearly appeared a Triunity formulation, Dr. Ally argued (1):

"In Revelation chapter 1 verse 4 actually speaks about God and Christ and the seven spirits. So now, how do you know how many gods are in that complex one that you talk about? You say one Holy Spirit?  What if there are actually 7 Holy Spirits as hinted in Revelation chapter 1 verse 4?" Dr. Shabir Ally during the debate about Tawhid and Trinity, organized by RZIM on April 2015.

The Response

First I would like to point to a gross misrepresentation Dr. Ally presented. When He says "how many gods are in the complex one that you talked about, Dr. Ally misrepresents the definition of the Trinity. The Trinity that there exist 3 gods in one Godhead, but 3 persons in 1 God. This misrepresentation could be interpreted as a argumentation trick know as "creating a straw man".

But let us focus on the book of Revelation, and the reference to 7 Spirits. The verse Dr. Ally speaks about reads as follows:

 Ἰωάννης*  ταῖς  ἑπτὰ  ἐκκλησίαις  ταῖς  ἐν  τῇ  Ἀσίᾳ·  χάρις  ὑμῖν  καὶ  εἰρήνη  ἀπὸ  ὁ  ὢν  καὶ  ὁ  ἦν  καὶ  ὁ  ἐρχόμενος,  καὶ  ἀπὸ  τῶν ἑπτὰ  Πνευμάτων  ἃ  ἐνώπιον  τοῦ  θρόνου  αὐτοῦ, (2)
The New International Version translation to English presents the verse as follows:
John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spiritsa before his throne (Rev 1:4 NIV)
The New International Version has a footnote next to the word seven spirits (3):
a 4 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
Where is this note coming from? The greek words ἑπτὰ  Πνευμάτων - "hepta pneumaton". The first point to make is that the immediate translation is in plural, seven spirits. However, the common biblical interpretation is associating this verse with Isaiah 11:2
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD-- (Isaiah 11:2 NIV).
Isaiah 11:2 does not speak about 7 different spirits, but of one single spirit, The Spirit of YHWH. The wide context of the Bible shows us that The Holy Spirit is associated to seven spiritual characteristics. Is there any portion within Revelation confirming that the Holy Spirit is the Sevenfold Spirit, to confirm this thesis in the immediate context of Revelation 1? The answer is yes. In the immediate context of the book of Revelation, John presents a prophetic message to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In these chapters we find a message to the 7 churches. At the end of the message, it's found the following statement:
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.(Rev 2:7,11,17,29 Rev 3:6,13,22 NIV)
So the immediate context also confirms that the Spirit is only one, though there is a sevenfold charateristics associated to Him.

In summary, How many persons are the in the Godhead? The wide contents of the New and Old Testament indicate that there are 3 persons in the Godhead: The Father, The Son and The Spirit. How many Spirits are there? The wide contents of the New and Old Testaments indicate that there is only one Spirit within the Godhead. The book of revelation does not hint that there are 7 different Spirits in the God head.


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Footnotes
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvBlnIXfiH8 Mr Ally's argument is found after 19:30

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