I was previously unsure about the identity of the three men mentioned in Gen 18, at first suspecting this was a representation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I had a few people contact me and argue with me that the other two men were angels that visited lot in the next chapter, but neither chapter 18 or 19 said that. The problem I had was men and women writing me (or somehow hunting down my cell phone number and trying to call me--a problem I have recently fix so they can't do that anymore) and all they would do is quote Genesis 18:2 and 19:1, and think they had proven the matter:
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
-Gen 18:2
And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
-Gen 19:1
The correction I'm making is that I do believe now that these two angels were the two accompanying the Lord God in chapter 18, but not because of these verses. These two verses do not prove that point, and I had a lot of contention from some folks because of that matter. They got angry with me and departed from our ministry, rather than calmly listening to my argument and discussing it with me, but looking into the matter in more detail, and then getting back with me on it at a later time. I would encourage Christians not to act in such a childish manner with anyone, let alone one another, just because you're unable to prove a point; it just means you need to be patient and study more, until the Lord God gives you the answer.
My initial suspicion as to why it was God in Three Persons visiting Abraham was because of how Abraham was addressing God, both in the plural and singular sense:
And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy [singular] sight, pass not away, I pray thee [singular], from thy [singular] servant: Let a little water, I pray you [plural], be fetched, and wash your [plural] feet, and rest yourselves [plural] under the tree:
-Gen 18:3-4
What I started noticing when I went back over it in more detail is that the plural and singular pronouns were always separated by verse, meaning that Abraham never addressed God with both singular and plural in the same verse. In other books of the Bible, groups are addressed both plural and singular on the basis of agreement with one another, not that they were all speaking at once. Then, later in Genesis 18, there was one instance that really convinced me this was God with two angels, and that's when they separated:
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
-Gen 18:22
So in this passage, because Abraham stood before the LORD, but the other two men started on their journey beforehand, this indicates that the two men were not part of the LORD, but rather, serving his command, and that led me to the conclusion that they more reasonably God with two angels. If these were all one God, and Abraham stood before the LORD, then why would they not all three remain because the three are one? The fact that the two men started out on their own with God staying behind to talk with Abraham demonstrated enough evidence to show the three men were God and two angels.
I had originally taught this in my teaching on God in Three Persons vs Trinity article, but I have since removed it from that. What I now need to apologize to everyone for is that I had, in the past, taught it in my audio teaching, and that's something I cannot go back and fix now. I will do my best to study more to catch those things before I say them; fearing God that I would not knowingly teach something wrong.
On the other hand, never once did any of those people who raised contention against me on the matter ask to sit down and hear my argument on the matter, and walk through the Scripture step-by-step together so we could look at it in more detail. In other words, their real intention was something other than understanding the truth, and all the contact I got on the matter was very aggressive from the start. However, I have also been guilty of doing that very thing; so I too need the same rebuke, and thus, I should watch how I approach these matters also, that I would not judge in hypocrisy, so hopefully, we can all be more charitable to one another in our conversation on the Scripture.
