Answered from A CHRISTIAN UNITARIAN PERSPECTIVE
Other Thoughts
Let's recap some of the information provided.
- God speaks and is spoken of with singular pronouns constantly (I, me, my, myself, he, him, himself)
- The messiah was to be a man like Moses, a man
anointed with God's spirit.
(Isa 42, 53, 61, Deu 18) - The only number ever associated with God is ONE (not three, threeness,
trinity, triune).
(1Tim 2:5, 1Cor 8:4-6, Eph 4:4-6) - Jesus affirmed the Jewish unitarian monotheism and said he has the same
God everyone else does.
(Mark 12:29, John 17:3, 20:17) - Jesus' disciples describe Jesus as the Christ and Son of God and
distinguished him from the God of the bible.
(Acts 2:36, 3:13, 5:30) - Nowhere in the bible is there an effort to change the unitarian monotheism of the Jews or to explain a trinity.
- Trinitarians need to create all kinds of nonbiblical terminology to support their presuppositions (trinity, triune, god the son, eternally begotten, hypostasis, substance/essence).
- Jesus ceases to be a man, the Messiah, and Son of God in any genuine sense when he is made into a member of a 3-person God.
- The trinity is constantly read into the bible by trinitarians because they presume it to be true. They then make unnatural and unnecessary qualifications on Jesus' plain statements to get them into some kind of trinitarian compatible fashion.
- The trinity is totally unnecessary to explain Jesus' life, ministry and
exaltation and in fact only demeans and minimizes Jesus' accomplishments.
- Jesus was sent by God
(John 3:16, 1John 4:15). - Jesus was anointed with the holy spirit
(Acts 10:38). - Jesus was ordained the judge of the world
(Acts 10:42, 17:31). - Jesus was given all power in heaven and earth
(Matt 28:18). - Jesus was given authority over all flesh, so he can give eternal life to
who he wills
(John 17:2). - Jesus was exalted and given a name above all names
(Php 2:9-11) - Jesus was given life in himself
(John 5:26,27)
The idea that Jesus was a member of a 3-person God that added a human nature
to himself by being turned into an egg in a virgin’s woman is utterly absurd.
There is a good rule of thumb that says that when trying to interpret something,
the simplest explanation that requires the fewest presuppositions is the best.
- So when God says, "this day I have begotten you" and "I will be his Father
and he will be my Son", a simple understanding of these passages is that the Son of God came into
existence at a certain point in time.
- So when God says "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods
before me" and "I am the LORD, who made all things, who
alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself", a simple understanding of these passages is
that God is a single person.
- So when Jesus says "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent", a simple understanding is that Jesus is not God.
- So when Peter says to the Jews in the temple "The God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and
denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him", a
simple understanding is that Jesus is not God.
- So when Paul says, "For there is one God, and there is
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," a simple
understanding is that Jesus is not God.
- So when Paul says "there is no God but one.... to us
there is one God, the Father", a simple understanding is that Jesus is
not God.
The trinity says there is one God substance shared by 3 distinct persons,
under this definition, God could have potentially been, 30 persons, 300 persons,
even 3,000 persons and still remained one God! Does that sound like Monotheism
to you? Trinitarians can try to define God as "1 what in 3
who's" but the bible certainly doesn't. Trinitarians have simply created
their own god to accommodate multiple persons. Jews and Muslims rightly see this
as polytheism masquerading as monotheism. This
trinity doctrine was developed over centuries and supported by nothing more than
creeds of men. A simple majority rule. Trusting the majority isn't wise from a
biblical standpoint. Many will go down the broad path to destruction according
to Jesus but few walk the narrow path that leads to life. The many called out
"crucify him, crucify him" while the few trusted him as Lord and Savior. Did
churches ordain gay bishops 100 years ago? Nope, things can certainly change
over 100 years can't they?
Is it any surprise that when Gentiles living
in the pagan Roman Empire converted to Christianity many did not have a very
firm grasp of the Hebrew bible? Is it a surprise if they went from Greek
mythology and emperor worship to Christianity, that maybe after a couple hundred
years they could have turned Jesus into a godman? The Greeks turned Jesus' legal
agency into ontological identity because of their backgrounds and lack of
familiarity with the Hebrew bible and Jewish thought. Once they decided Jesus
was the same substance as God they then had to create their own terminology to
go with it. Later they added a Holy Spirit person to the mix and then they had
to explain how exactly Jesus could be both man and God at the same time. All of
these problems were resolved in various institutional church councils, all based
on the false premise that Jesus and God are the same substance, a word never
used in the bible. This is all the result of Greek philosophy and unbiblical
terminology all of which is utterly unnecessary in the first place.
God created the first Adam, the first Adam blew it. So
God created a second Adam to fix it. God coming down from heaven and becoming a
man has no business in the equation at all.
If Jesus says he has
the same God we do and that his God is the only true God then that is good
enough for me.
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they know you
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
John 20:17
Jesus
said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but
go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.'"
Taken from: www.JOHN17-3.ORG
Slightly edited
