Isaiah 48:16 - "Come near to me, hear this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I." And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit. Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go." --
RLIVThe claim is made that this verse shows three persons in one Godhead. The thought evidently is that Yahweh is the Father, the one speaking of himself as being sent is supposed to be Jesus, and the holy spirit is supposed to be another person of Yahweh.
As usual with the trinitarian proof-texts, there is nothing in this verse about three persons in Yahweh. The idea has to added to and read into the scripture.
Isaiah is the prophet who is writing the above, and the one referred to as being sent (Isaiah 6:9,10) by Yahweh. Isaiah speaks of himself as sent to Israel by Yahweh, and he also speaks of Yahweh's spirit being sent. In much of the book Isaiah is quoting what Yahweh has said, but in this verse he suddenly stops quoting Yahweh and speaks of himself as being sent by Yahweh. This is not all that unusual in Isaiah's writings, that is, that he stops quoting Yahweh, and starts speaking of himself without giving any indication of such a change.
A similar case is Isaiah 8:1-3. One could read verse three as a continuation of the quotation of Yahweh's words in verse one, thus making Yahweh as the one who went to the prophetess, but common sense tells us that Isaiah stopped quoting Yahweh and began referring to himself.
Likewise in Isaiah 48:16,17. There we can see that the the latter part of verse 16 goes with the beginning of verse 17, and is not part of the quotation of Yahweh, but rather Isaiah's own remarks: "And now the Lord Yahweh, and his spirit, has sent me -- this what Yahweh says, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel,..." after which Isaiah returns to quoting the words of Yahweh.
Below are some translations that have punctuation similar to ours.
"Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit. -- Revised Standard Version.
"Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true." (Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.) -- Today's English Version
"Come to me and listen to this. From the beginning I have spoken openly. From the time it began, I was there." Now, the Lord God has sent me with his Spirit. -- New Century Version
"Come near to me, YOU people. Hear this. From the start I have spoken in no place of concealment at all. From the time of its occurring I have been there." And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has sent me, even his spirit. -- New World Translation, 1971 edition.
A slightly different punctuation appears in this translation:
Come to me and hear this! Not from the beginning did I speak it in secret; At the time it comes to pass, I am present; "Now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his spirit." -- The New American Bible
Even if this verse were referring to Jesus as the one sent, it still does not say anything about three persons in one Yahweh. The one who sent Jesus is still the only true God, and the one sent by the only true God is still not the only true God who sent him. -- John 17:1,3.
Thus it should be apparent to all that the doctrine that Jesus is Yahweh is not found in Isaiah 48:16 (as it is not found anywhere else in the Bible). There is definitely nothing here to indicate that God's spirit is a separate sentiency yet the Supreme Omniscient Being.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. -- 1 Peter 1:3.
In service of Jesus and his God,
Ronald
http://godandson.reslight.net/isa-48-16.html
