The Trinity on Trial An in-depth examination of a doctrine

Genesis 19:24

"Then the LORD rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven (Genesis 19:24).

The Issue: The identity of Yahweh who rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah


The Trinitarian Claim

Trinitarians claim "the LORD" *Yahweh) is God the Son who rained down destruction from "the LORD" (Yahweh) in heaven who happens to be either God the Father or the Triune God (depending on the Trinitarian making the claim).


What the Evidence will Show

The evidence will show that Trinitarians are denying Scripture in order to make this claim and once again imagine their three person God into the text. The evidence will show that "the LORD" in question here are three angels representing God as we often find in many other places of the Bible.


Examination of the Evidence

In this passage, the term "the LORD" is literally the Hebrew word "YHVH" usually written in English as "Yahweh." So the passage literally says, Then Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

Yahweh appears to Abraham

The Trinitarian claim starts way back at Genesis 18:1 where we read:

"Now Yahweh appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth" (Genesis 18:1).

Here we read that Yahweh appeared to Abraham and this is described as three men suddenly standing before him. At this point, some naive Trinitarians will count "one, two, three" and imagine their Triune God into the text. However, more informed Trinitarians do not take this seriously because they themselves realize that Trinitarians deny angels are God, or vice versa, and this interpretation will not work for them since two of these men are later identified as angels.

Now the first observation that we must make is that the appearance of these three men IS the appearing o0f Yahweh to Abraham. How do we know this for certain? Because we are told Abraham ran out and bowed down before all three of them and then said, "My Lord..." in the singular. Hence, we can see that all three men together are understood to be an appearance of Yahweh, one Lord.

The Three men are identified as Angels

Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.... Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom... Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. (Genesis 18:16-19:2).

Angels are often portrayed as men in the Bible and so there is nothing unusual about this concept.

Abraham is left standing before Yahweh

Now the crucial point here made by Trinitarians is that only two men/angels arrived at Lot's house and we started out with three men who had appeared to Abraham. Hence, two of the three men are specifically identified as angels. It is here where Trinitarian apologists like to claim the other one of the three "men" was not an angel. The main reason for making this claim is found in the following passage:

Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Yahweh. (Genesis 18:22).

Hence the Trinitarian claims that two of the three men were angels but the other one was not. It is now important to understand the nature of the Trinitarian claim. When it is reported that Yahweh appeared to Abraham, they claim these three men were not all Yahweh. Rather we are to understand that only one of them is Yahweh. And when the other two men/angels leave for Sodom, we find the Bible saying that Abraham remained standing before Yahweh. Hence the Yahweh in Genesis 19:24 is a reference to this Yahweh on earth as opposed to Yahweh in heaven and therefore this must be "God the Son." The reason they say it must be "God the Son is because Trinitarians know very well that the Bible states that no one has seen, or can see, God the Father. And well it is pretty doggone hard to claim anyone saw the Holy Spirit because spirits are... well... invisible. So they essentially claim this Yahweh standing before Abraham is the Son of God, that is, Jesus.

We are also later told in chapter 18 that Yahweh departed after talking to Abraham. A literal rendering of verse 22 actually reads, "and the men turn from there and go towards Sodom and Abraham is yet standing before Yahweh." That sounds just a bit different doesn't it? We will return to this verse in just a moment.

Now the Trinitarian claims that one of these men was not an angel but was Yahweh. Are we really to believe that Yahweh was mysteriously appearing in the form of a man here just as the angels did? We find this concept nowhere else in the Bible. In fact, we are told God is not a man (Hosea 11:9). Are we to believe that God could be misleading Abraham? What we are expected to believe here is left somewhat vague by Trinitarian apologists.

Just who destroys Sodom and Gomorrah?

Now when we come to chapter 19, we are not to believe that the two angels did rain down fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah but this third man "Yahweh" did it. We are to believe that two angels went down to Sodom and left Yahweh and Abraham behind to discuss the sin of Sodom. We are to believe it is not an angel talking to Abraham. And we are to believe that Yahweh departed after talking with Abraham. And then we are to believe that this particular Yahweh unexpectedly reappears at Genesis 19:22 to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But is that what the account actually says?

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom....they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them.... Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here?".... for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it." (Genesis 19:12-13).

Who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? It was these two angels. Yahweh who rained down fire is obviously these two angels. In the Bible it is very common to see angels referred to as Yahweh. Here are a couple of examples:

Now an angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai." Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority." Moreover, the angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count." The angel of Yahweh said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because Yahweh has given heed to your affliction. "He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone's hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers." Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?" (Genesis 16:7-13).

An angel of Yahweh appeared to Moses in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Yahweh said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt.... God said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.' " (Exodus 3:1-14).

The identity of Yahweh who stayed behind with Abraham

We find that two of the three men in question went to Sodom and are specifically identified as two angels. If we look at the facts reasonably we can see that three men are the way in which Yahweh appears to Abraham. When two of the men/angels leave for Sodom we then read that "Abraham is yet standing before Yahweh." Why does it say Abraham is still standing before Yahweh? The answer is quite simple. Only two of the men appearing as Yahweh left for Sodom. One of the men appearing as Yahweh remained with Abraham.

The identity of Yahweh who stayed behind with Abraham

In chapter 19, we read that Yahweh rained down fire from Yahweh out of heaven. Are we really expected to believe that Yahweh was one of the three men and the other two were not, and this Yahweh stayed behind with Abraham, and then departed, but then showed up again with Lot when Sodom and Gommorah was destroyed? No, we are never told such a thing. We are only told the two angels were there with Lot and his family. And it is these two angels who are identified as "Yahweh who rained down fire" just as these three men were described as Yahweh appearing to Abraham at Genesis 18:1.

How Lot identified these men

Notice how Yahweh destroying the city and these angels destroying the city are considered to be the same thing:

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom....they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them.... Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here?".... for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it." Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.".... Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven (Genesis 19:12-14).

Summation of the Facts

  • The Scripture indicates three men appeared to Abraham. Hence, we are to understand all three are the same type of being and represent the appearance of Yahweh. This is proven by the fact that Abraham bows down to all three men and addresses them with the singular term "Lord."


  • The Scriptures often portrays angels as "men."


  • The Scriptures often portray angels as if they were Yahweh God himself. Indeed, it was an angel of Yahweh who spoke the words, "I AM" to Moses. As His representatives, visiting angels are Yahweh on earth.


  • Two of the men went to Sodom where they are identified as angels.


  • When the two angels went to Sodom, we are told that Abraham was still standing before Yahweh. Since all three of these angels are described as a manifestation of Yahweh, there is nothing unusual about describing the third one as Yahweh. They were all described as Yahweh.


  • The two angels indicate they will destroy Sodom.


  • Lot understands the angels destroying Sodom as Yahweh destroying Sodom.


  • We are then told Yahweh destroyed Sodom from Yahweh out of heaven. Clearly, these two angels who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah are Yahweh who rained down fire from Yahweh out of heaven.



Call for Discernment

Once we observe these plain facts, the truth is plain to see. Three angels appeared to Abraham in the form of men. These three angels are understood to be Yahweh in some sense just as we have seen in other examples from Scripture. The angels declared they would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Hence we know the angels are doing the destroying. Lot understand this to mean Yahweh would be doing the destroying. So when we read that Yahweh fire rained down fire from Yahweh out of heaven, it is quite plain that the destroying Yahweh is the two angels, in the very same sense these angels/men who appeared to Abraham were understood to be an appearance of Yahweh.

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