In our first article on this subject we noted that all man can know about God and the Godhead is that which has been revealed by God him self. Let's examine what God has revealed about himself.

1. The Godhead

The word "Godhead" is a form of Godhood." The word Godhead is used three times in the King James Version of the New Testament. In Acts 17:29 Paul said, "For as much as ye know that we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Also, in Rom. 1:20 Paul said, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that we are without excuse." In Col. 2:9 we read, "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily." However, in the American Standard Version of the New Testament, the word Godhead in Rom. 1:20 is translated "Divinity." These words come from the Greek word "Theos."

Just here, let us make a comparison of the words Godhead and Godhood with the words Manhood, Childhood or Royalty. I believe we will be able to see what is meant by this word when we make this comparison.

When we talk about one being in his "childhood", we are talking about one who possesses the characteristics of a child, one who has not yet attained manhood. However, when we grow to manhood, or womanhood, we know that these are mature people that possess all of the characteristics and attributes of one who is "grown up" (I Cor. 13:11). The word "Divinity" denotes the "Quality or state of being God; the sum total of attributes or Characteristics that axe common with Deity." Also, as we mentioned earlier, those of the Royal family are simply those who possess the attributes or characteristics of royalty. When such characteristics and attributes are possessed, we say they are of the royal family, or they are royalty.

Frequently, the word or term God is used in the sense of Godhood or Deity, simply showing that those who are referred to as such are those who possess the characteristics of attributes of divinity. If we will keep this in mind in our study, it will help us a great deal to better understand the three persons in the Godhead. When we talk about the Godhead then, we are having reference to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We are talking about a plurality of beings in the Godhead, because the Scriptures reveal such a plurality.

For example, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). However, we learn that God was not alone in this creation, for in Gen. 1: 26 God said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." You will note that he used the personal plural pronoun "us" in this passage. Who was with God the Father in the beginning? We read in John 1:1-2, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, and without him was not anything made that was made." You will note that the writer here says that the Word (Christ) was both WITH God and WAS God. Remember, we just pointed out how this could come about at the beginning of this article. Not only was Christ WITH God, but he also possesses the attributes, the characteristics: of God, or Divinity.

But again, in Gen. 1: 2, we read that "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." What does he mean by the Spirit of God? Simply is the third person in the Godhead that is referred to as Spirit, which also possesses the characteristics and attributes of Divinity.

Again, in Gen. 3:22, God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good from evil . . ." Hence, the pronoun "us" is used again by inspired writers to show there was more than one that possessed the attributes of divinity.

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XII: 11, p. 1
August 1968