Isaiah 61:1 — The Spirit Of Jehovah On The Anointed One

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me, because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the meek. He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and complete opening to the bound ones; – (Isaiah 61:1, Green’s Literal)

Isaiah 61:1 is often cited by trinitarians as an alleged reference to the trinity in the Old Testament. The claim is that all three alleged persons of the alleged triune God are mentioned in this verse, and thus it is claimed as a reference to the trinity. Actually, there is nothing in the verse at all about the trinity, nor is there any reference to three persons of the alleged trinity.

What we do find is that Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:15), is being presented as one person as He is throughout the Bible. The Messiah is presented, not as being Jehovah, but as the one whom Jehovah anointed and sent. Then the Messiah speaks of Jehovah as "our God" in Isaiah 61:2, thus including himself in the "our", showing that the Messiah has Jehovah as his God. This agrees with Micah 5:4. Jehovah is not presented as three persons, so what the trinitarian has to imagine and assume regarding the verse is that “Jehovah” is not speaking of the three persons of “Jehovah”, but only of the assumed “first person” of their assumed trinitarian dogma, and read their assumption into what is being said.

Then, regarding the one being anointed by Jehovah, they have to imagine and assume that this is really the second person of Jehovah being anointed by the assumed first person of Jehovah, and then they have to add that assumption to and read that assumption into, what is actually said.

Then the trinitarian has to imagine and assume that the spirit which is placed upon the one anointed is one of the imagined and assumed persons of Jehovah. Accepting what they have imagined and assume to be fact, they thus read into Isaiah 61:1 their imagined and assumed trinity concept. 

So what the trinitarian actually presents as evidence of the trinity, is not what is actually said in the scripture, but what has to be presumed upon what is actually stated.

In reality, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Jehovah/Yahweh) is presented here as He is presented throughout both the Old and New Testaments, that is, as one person, and the one anointed by that one person is distinguished from being Jehovah who anointed him. Indeed, in Isaiah 61:2, the Messiah is depicted as referring the Jehovah as "our God". That designates Jehovah of Isaiah 61:1 as only one person, in harmony with Micah 5:4 and Ephesians 1:3.

The spirit of Jehovah is put on the one anointed. The Messiah is anointed by God's Holy Spirit. The expression itself indicates that this is not a person; it is, however, the personal power of the one to whom the spirit belongs. (See Isaiah 11:1-3) There is no indication, here or anywhere else in the Bible, that the personal spirit of Jehovah is a separate and distinct person of Jehovah.