I have a Bible passage that drives me crazy. You’ll have to look at it to understand my problem.

Read Genesis 18:1-15

God appears to Abraham. That’s clear. Abraham sees three men. That’s also clear. Here’s my problem: are all three of these men God or is only one of them God? Abraham addresses them “my Lord” which in the Hebrew text is the traditional form for addressing God. However, the Hebrew words might also mean “my lord,” a polite way of addressing a stranger, or it might mean “my lords” a polite way of addressing several strangers.  The word “you” is singular, but at the end of verse 5 all three of the men reply to Abraham. Then at verse 10, only one of them speaks.

Confused?

I know from reading scholarly books about this passage that it is likely that before this story was written down almost 2,900 years ago, there were two slightly different versions of this story passed on orally. In one version, all three men together represented God. In the other, one man represented God and the other two were angels. This version went on to tell about the destruction of Sodom. We’re probably supposed to understand this story as one God, two angels. But . . .

In the 15th century a Russian painter named Andrei Rublev thought the three figures were the three persons of the Trinity. So he painted this famous icon.

I still don’t know how to un-confuse the story, but as you can see, it has been an inspiration to some people. In any case,

remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne