Let’s compare Jesus’ Attributes with God’s Attributes by Tom Raddatz

I came across this post by Tom Raddatz on Facebook.

Let’s compare Jesus’ Attributes with God’s Attributes
and see if we can tell whether or not Jesus is the “true God”…

𝟭.𝗮. Jesus is NOT Almighty (John 5:19, 30 10:29, 14:28, 1Cor 15:27-28),
𝟭.𝗯. God is ALMIGHTY (Gen. 17:1, 35:11, Exodus 6:3, Rev. 21:22).

𝟮.𝗮. Jesus Received Life from God (John 5:26, 12:50),
𝟮.𝗯. God Gave Jesus LIFE (John 5:26, 12:50).

𝟯.𝗮. Jesus Received his Anointing (Acts 10:38 also Hebrews 1:9),
𝟯.𝗯. God Anointed Jesus (Acts 10:38 also Hebrews 1:9).

𝟰.𝗮. Jesus is NOT his own Father (Mat 7:21, 10:32-33, 36, 12:50, 16:17, 18:10, 19, John 20:17,
Acts 13:33, Heb. 1:5, 2 John 1:3),
𝟰.𝗯. God is the Father of Jesus (Rom 15:6, 2Co 1:3, 2Co 11:31, Eph 1:3, Eph 3:14, Col 1:3, 1Pe 1:3).

𝟱.𝗮. Jesus is the Son of Man (Mat 16:13, Mark 14:62),
𝟱.𝗯. God is NOT the Son of Man (Numbers 23:19).

𝟲.𝗮. Jesus is a Man (Mark 15:39, John 8:40, Acts 2:22, Romans 5:15, Heb 10:12),
𝟲.𝗯. God is NOT a Man (Numbers 23:19, Hosea 11:9, John 4:24).

𝟳.𝗮. Jesus is the Son of God (Matt. 16:16, Mark 15:39, John 10:36),
𝟳.𝗯. God is NOT the Son of God (Isaiah 45:22, 46:9 ).

𝟴.𝗮. Jesus was Sacrificed (1Cor 5:7, Eph 5:2, Heb 9:26, 10:12),
𝟴.𝗯. God was NOT Sacrificed (Eph 5:2).

𝟵.𝗮. Jesus Died - 3 Days (Mark 15:39, Acts 4:10, 13:30, 34, 17:31,
Rom 5:8, 4:24, 6:4, 9, 8:11, 10:9, Gal1:1, Eph 1:20, Col 2:12,
1Th 1:10, 2Ti 2:8, 1Pe 1:21, 1Cor 15:3-4),
𝟵.𝗯. God NEVER Died (1Tim 1:17).

𝟭𝟬.𝗮. Jesus had Brothers & Sisters (Matthew 12:50, Mark 3:35, 6:3)
𝟭𝟬.𝗯. God has NO Brothers/Sisters (Isaiah 43:10).

𝟭𝟭.𝗮. Jesus was Resurrected by God (Acts 4:10, 13:30, 34, 17:31, Rom 5:8, 4:24, 6:4, 9, 8:11, 10:9, Gal1:1, Eph 1:20, Col 2:12, 1Th 1:10, 2Ti 2:8, 1Pe 1:21, 1Cor 15:3-4),
𝟭𝟭.𝗯. God Resurrected Jesus (Acts 4:10, 13:30, 34, 17:31, Rom 5:8, 4:24, 6:4, 9, 8:11, 10:9,
Gal1:1, Eph 1:20, Col 2:12, 1Thess 1:10, 2Tim 2:8, 1Pe 1:21, 1Cor 15:3-4).

𝟭𝟮.𝗮. Jesus is our High Priest (Heb 3:1),
𝟭𝟮.𝗯. God was Never our High Priest (Heb 3:1).

𝟭𝟯.𝗮. Jesus was our Apostle (Heb 3:1),
𝟭𝟯.𝗯. God was Never an Apostle (Heb 3:1).

𝟭𝟰.𝗮. Jesus was Tempted by Evil (Mat 4:1, Heb 2:18, 4:15-16),
𝟭𝟰.𝗯. God was Never and Cannot Be Tempted by Evil (James 1:13).

𝟭𝟱.𝗮. Jesus received the holy spirit (Matthew 28:18, Acts 10:38, 1Cor 15:27),
𝟭𝟱.𝗯. God gave Jesus the holy spirit with power (Matthew 28:18, Acts 10:38, 1Cor 15:27-28).

𝟭𝟲.𝗮. Jesus utterly depends on the Father
(John 5:19-30, 5:26, John 8:29, John 15:10, John 14:31, John 10:17–18),
𝟭𝟲.𝗯. God is utterly independent and works all things according to the counsel of his own will
(Exodus 3:14, Eph 1:11, Heb. 2:4, Jam. 1:18).

𝟭𝟳.𝗮. Jesus’ existence depends on the Father (John 5:21, John 10:18),
𝟭𝟳.𝗯. God’s existence originates from and has no source other than Himself (called aseity)
(Exodus 3:14, Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 46:10).

𝟭𝟴.𝗮. Jesus was a sacrifice to God and never demanded or received sacrifices (Heb 10:10, Mat 26:42),
𝟭𝟴.𝗯. God demanded and received sacrifices (Leviticus 1:1-17, 4:1-35, 7:11-38).

𝟭𝟵.𝗮. Jesus prayed to God the Father (Mat 26:42),
𝟭𝟵.𝗯. God the Father prays to no one (Psa 65:2).

𝟮𝟬.𝗮. Jesus was born, meaning he had his literal beginning as a man (Matthew 1:1, John 18:37),
𝟮𝟬.𝗯. God always existed (Psalm 102:25-27).

𝟮𝟭.𝗮. Jesus grew in stature and favor before God and man Luke 2:40, 52),
𝟮𝟭.𝗯. God always was, and never was not, all-knowing (I change not) Job 21:22.

𝟮𝟮.𝗮. Jesus was perfected through suffering (Hebrews 2:10),
𝟮𝟮.𝗯. God was always perfect and didn’t need anything or to go through anything to be perfected.
(God is not a man that he should repent) Job 21:22.

𝟮𝟯.𝗮. Jesus had to sacrifice for his own sins because God laid upon him the sin of us all (Hebrews 5:3, 23. Isaiah 53:12, 2 Cor 5:21, Romans 3:25, Heb 9:14),
𝟮𝟯.𝗯. God never took upon Him any sin (James 1:17, Matt 19:17, 1 John 1:5).

𝟮𝟰.𝗮. Jesus had faith in God to save him (Heb. 5:7),
𝟮𝟰.𝗯. God never needs faith in anyone, neither his son nor anyone else
(Acts 17:25, Job 22:2, Luke 17:10, Romans 11:35-36.

𝟮𝟱.𝗮. Jesus was given all authority by God (Mat. 28:18),
𝟮𝟱.𝗯. God has all authority by nature of His being (Psalm 90:2, Psalm 102:25-27.

𝟮𝟲.𝗮. Jesus’ “all” authority has one exception, God, who gave him his authority (1 Cor. 15:27),
𝟮𝟲.𝗯. God has no one who is excepted from being under His authority (1 Cor. 15:27).

𝟮𝟳.𝗮. Jesus’ office of sonship authority over others will end when God is all in all (1 Cor. 15:28),
𝟮𝟳.𝗯. God’s authority had no beginning and will have no end, ever (1 Cor. 15:28).

'Heretic' by Khrista Nelson

This is a call to all trinitarian and deity of Christ believers. Whether you are a friend or foe to me, I invite you to please, prayerfully consider consider my words here:

I know it’s hard to read anything from someone you identify as a “heretic” and actually internalize what they are saying. God forbid you swallow any of their heresy and they convert you into their cult! I know, you really want to skim it all and not let anything I’m about to write actually sink in. We all do it though... When we strongly disagree with someone on a topic, it’s natural to not actually read and digest the things the other person is saying. It’s easier to quickly skim over their rebuttals while only thinking about what we are going to say to “refute them.” 

But I ask you, if you KNOW you are in the truth and are confident I am in error, what is there to be afraid of? Nothing I could say could disprove your position anyway, right?

The reason I’m writing this one is not because I want to convince you to leave Trinitarianism. But because I am very concerned for certain individuals within Trinitarianism and their very bold behavior of damning to hell people like me who deny the Trinity and deity of Christ, labeling them “antichrist.” You may think this isn’t a valid concern because the scriptures support you doing this. But do they???

Do the scriptures support you damning someone who confesses Jesus as Lord and Christ, but deny that he is Almighty God and Creator of the universe?

Do the scriptures support you damning someone who confesses that Jesus was in fact the sent Messiah, who came as a man and whom God raised from the dead to prove that he was in fact the Messiah? But because I don’t confess that he was God Almighty in human flesh, you have the authority to damn me and label me antichrist? Does scripture support you in this?

Do the scriptures really support you damning someone who denies trinitarian dogma that says Jesus, the Father, and the holy spirit are co-equal, co-eternal persons, yet one God sharing the same essence?

Do the scriptures support you labeling someone who confesses Christ did in fact come and that he was a real human person of flesh and blood an antichrist? Just because they deny he was GOD residing in that flesh?

So, what is my position? If I say Jesus isn’t God Almighty, the genesis Creator of all things, and he is not the second person of a triune God, then who do I say that Jesus is? And is my confession biblical and does it qualify me as a person of the faith?

And if in fact my confession is what God requires, and I am in fact a child of God, who has been filled with the spirit of God, and you are labeling me, my confession, and my testimony about who Christ is “antichrist,” don’t you think you better repent? Do you remember when the Pharisees attributed to Satan what was actually from God? Do you remember what Jesus called that? He called that blasphemy of the holy spirit and said it was the unforgivable sin. How close do you want to toe that line? Are you sure that what I’m saying is from the antichrist spirit? Have you even heard me out and listened to what I’m actually saying and compared it with the scriptures?

So, what is my confession and who do I say Jesus Christ was and is?

I say that Jesus was THE CHRIST (the anointed one, the son of the Living God. The very definition of Christ/Messiah is one who is anointed by God.

”If anyone confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.“ 1 John 4:15

I confess the same thing Peter did when Jesus asked him “who do you say that I am?” I, like Peter, say Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God (Matt 16:16). Jesus said it is the Father in heaven who reveals this. I agree with Peter. I also agree with John when he gives his reason for writing the book of John:

“but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:31

The scriptures say that those who do not love the ones who confess that Jesus is the Christ do not have the love of the Father in them. Maybe that’s why trinitarians never talk about the Father. The Father is actually who Jesus came to reveal to the people. 

Jesus said it was the Father working through him, doing the works (John 14:10).

”Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and follow His commandments.“ 1 John 5:1-2

I believe Jesus is Lord and Christ because the Father made him those things and gave Jesus that authority.

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:36

I believe Jesus was a man, anointed and appointed by God, whom God performed miracles and works through, proving that Jesus was in fact His sent Messiah, the one prophesied about by the prophets. I agree with Peter’s gospel when he says:

”Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, releasing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its clutches.“ Acts 2:22-24

Not only do I confess that Jesus is the Christ and is Lord... But I also confess and believe that the Father God raised Jesus from the dead! I agree with Paul’s gospel here:

“That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-11

I agree with Jesus’ confession and the confirmation he made to Peter about being the Christ (Messiah) and also the confession he made to the Samaritan woman in John 4:

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Note that the bible even confirms for us that “Messiah” is the Hebrew is equivalent of the Greek word “Christ”. Same meaning, different language.

I believe Jesus was telling the truth when he unrolled the scroll of the prophet Isaiah while standing in the synagogue professing that it was he (the anointed one of God) who the prophet was talking about saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:17-21

Now, do I believe Jesus is Almighty God? No, I do not. Because I believe the testimony of Jesus himself when he said that there is only ONE God and that God is the Father who is the God and Father of all. Jesus said this one God is his God and our God as well.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3

I also believe the testimony of the apostles who said there is only ONE God, who is the Father, and one Lord, who is Jesus Christ. Two separate persons. Only one of them is God.

“yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” 1 Corinthians 8:6

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and the Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:5-6

However, I DON’T agree with the Pharisees who falsely tried to condemn Jesus for blasphemy for saying he was the son of God. The Pharisees didn’t believe Jesus was truly the sent Messiah and didn’t believe he had the authority from God to say and do the things he was doing. I believe Jesus did have the authority to say and do the things he was doing because I believe he WAS in fact the Messiah. As the Messiah, Jesus was given that authority by his anointer, God Himself.

Jesus asked them: “do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

To claim to be the son of God was claiming to be the Messiah.

Psalm 2:6-7: “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: YAHWEH said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

And Jesus claimed to be exactly that. The anointed one of God (The Messiah).

At his trial they asked Jesus: “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 

Jesus said to them: “You have said so.” Jesus is telling them! “Yup, that’s me.”

Another time they asked him: “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said: “You have said so.”

Another time, Pilate asked him: “So you are a king?”

Jesus answered: “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world–to bear witness to the truth.”

When they tried to stone him for making the claim that he was in fact the son of the Living God confirming his authority as the sent Messiah, Jesus reminded them of what the scriptures said (what was written in the law), pointing out their hypocrisy and making special note that the ones whom the word of God comes to (like the prophets and judges of Israel) are actually called “gods” in the scripture. 

Jesus reminds them of what Psalm 82:6 said, and tries to tell them again “I AM HE.” Not, I am God in human flesh, but I am the one God has sent as the Messiah, bearing God’s words, not my own. God gave me this authority. I’m not a false Christ, I’m the real one!

Here is the Psalm Jesus was quoting to them. 

Psalms: 82:6: ”I said, ‘You are “gods”; And all of you are sons of the Most High.’

I believe we are the brethren of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), and we share the same God and Father as Jesus (John20:17). Jesus is the head of the church. The first born from the dead of the new creation, as he was the first to be raised to immortality (Colossians 1:8, 1 Corinthians 15:20).

I believe and confess that Jesus was the prophesied Christ, who came in real human flesh. He was a real human person. Not a phantom like the docetists of John’s day were saying. John referred to such teaching as antichrist. 

They were teaching there was no way Jesus could have a real human body. I am not teaching what the docetists of John’s day were teaching. I DO believe Jesus had a real human body and that he was the Messiah, made of real human flesh like the rest of us.

“By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.” 1 John 4:2

According to Paul, Jesus had to be a real human person to fulfill the role of “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45) and be like his “brothers” in every way. I agree with Paul.

Hebrews 2:17: “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every way....so that he might make propitiation for their sins.”

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam)..how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.... For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:12,15,19

I believe it’s the antichrist spirit that actually makes Jesus out to be some hybrid and not a real human person, born of a woman, carrying the seed of Abraham. Just like in John’s day when the docetists were claiming Jesus didn’t have a real human body but was a phantom. Today, trinitarians make all sorts of unbiblical claims about Jesus. “He was 100% God and 100% man.” “Only his human side died.” “He had two natures.” They make Jesus out to be NOT a real human person like Adam.

I believe Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father and that the Father GAVE Jesus (a now glorified man) the authority to judge mankind.

”For He (God) has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:31

So, I ask you trinitarian and deity of Christ believers, what authority do you have to sit on the lofty seat as judge and tell someone like myself who confesses Jesus as Lord and Christ that she is not saved and is an antichrist? 

What authority do you have to change the gospel and say one must confess Jesus as God Almighty, creator of the universe to be saved? 

What authority do you have to say Christ was not a real human person and condemn those who say he was?

Is it because you wrongly think that Christ/Messiah=God Almighty?

Is it because you fail to see that there are two types of “Lords” present in scripture? Human Lords and LORD God Almighty?

Is it because you fail to see the clear distinction made between Jesus and God all throughout the NT and the fact that Jesus called the Father HIS GOD?

If the Father is the God of Jesus (which Jesus and the apostles say many times), then the Trinity confession that the Son and the Father are “co-equal” and both God cannot be true. The one who is God of another is greater than the one who is subordinate to Him. 

They are not “co-equal.” And Jesus confirms this when he says that his Father is greater than all (John 10:29), including himself, and that the Father is the ONLY one he called good (Mark 10:18), refusing himself to be called good.

If you want to stay a trinitarian, stay a trinitarian. But please, for the sake of your own soul, get off the self-appointed judgement seat and stop adding to the scriptures to condemn people, just like the Pharisees did. When you do this, the one preaching “another Jesus” and “another gospel” is actually you. WOE unto you!

- Khrista Nelson

The above was taken from this Facebook post - slightly edited.

I Am Not a Heretic By Kermit Zarley

 I am accused of being a heretic because I believed in the doctrine of the Trinity for twenty-two years and then changed to believing that the Bible teaches there is only one God, numerically speaking, whom Jesus called “Father,” and therefore Jesus is Savior and Lord but not God. I have believed this ever since, for the past thirty-five years. But I am not a heretic. To call me a heretic because of this change in my theology is a misunderstanding of what a heretic is according to the Bible.

Heretics disrupt the unity of the church. I am not disrupting the unity that God gives his church through his Spirit. Rather, I am attempting to restore the true identity of God and Jesus that existed in the apostolic church of the first century, in which only the Father was viewed as God, so that Jesus was not considered to be God.

For example, the Apostle Paul provides a salutation in First Corinthians, as he does with most of his letters. In it he concludes, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 3 NRSV). So, he says God is our Father, and he never says God is Jesus or Jesus is God. Paul adds, “I give thanks to my God” (v. 4; cf. Phil 1.3). He obviously refers to the Father. In all of Paul’s NT letters, he never calls Jesus “my God.” For Paul, only the Father is God.

Paul reveals in this letter of First Corinthians that there were divisions in this church. Thus he writes, “I appeal to you, . . . that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (v. 10). Paul reveals what some of these divisions are, and they do not have to do with theology. Actually, Paul addresses “matters about which you wrote” (1 Cor 7.1), indicating they had written to him and asked him questions about which they disagreed.

One disagreement was about whether or not to eat meat purchased in the marketplace that had been offered to idols (1 Cor 8.1). Paul explains, “we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists,’ and that ‘there is no God but one’” (v. 4), referring to the Shema (Deut 6.4-5). He obviously means “one” numerically, thus not a triune God, since he compares this God to the gods that pagans worship. This is clear as Paul continues, “Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ” (vv. 5-6).

It is amazing to me that so many Trinitarians ignore Paul saying that “there is one God, the Father,” and focus only on how Paul ends 1 Corinthians 8.6 by saying of Jesus, “through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” They cite this as evidence that Jesus preexisted and created all things, and they think that if Jesus preexisted, that necessarily requires that he is God. But that is not what Paul means either here or in Col 1.15-16, which they also cite as a supposed preexistence text. Rather, Paul means that all things were created (by God) with Jesus in mind, since God has a plan for his kingdom in which he will make Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords over all the earth.

I believe 1 Cor 8.4-6 is one of the four, primary New Testament (NT) texts which affirms that only the Father is God, so that Jesus is not God. (Others are John 17.3; Mark 12.28-32; Ephesians 4.4-6.) It is Paul’s style throughout all of his NT letters to identify God as “Father” and Jesus as “Lord.” Paul certainly also believed that God was Lord; rather, this was Paul’s style for differentiating God and Jesus.

Thus, I am not disrupting the true unity of the church of God and Jesus Christ. Instead, I am seeking to restore the true unity that is based on the true identity of God and Jesus that existed in the early church of the first century and is taught in the NT. This teaching is what the Nazarenes believed. They were the first Jewish believers in Jesus who lived in the land of Israel (Acts 24.5). They were called Nazarenes because Jesus was called “the Nazarene,” and he also called himself that (2.22; 3.6; 4.10; 6.14; 22.8). Church fathers reveal in their writings that these Nazarenes existed through at least the fourth century CE. They believed that the God of Israel, whom Jesus called “Father,” is numerically one so that only the Father is God. They also believed Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died for our sins on the cross, and God raised him from the dead; but they did not believe Jesus was God.

It was later, Gentile, church fathers who began to say that Jesus is God. That was a departure from first century writings that later came to be called “the New Testament.” So, the Jewish Nazarenes had it right about the identity of God and Jesus, and writing church fathers, all of whom were Gentiles, got this wrong. At first, church fathers of the second and third centuries, called “apologists,” taught that Jesus was God, but not to the extent that the Father is God. Thus, they said the Father was a greater deity than Jesus was.

But in 325, the Catholic Church held its so-called First Ecumenical Council in which it decided that Jesus is “very God of very God.” That was Greek philosophical language that meant Jesus was and is just as much God as the Father is God. These purported 318 bishops drafted the Nicene Creed that included this statement. And this creed furthermore condemned to hell with several “anathemas” anyone who said otherwise. They did not discuss the nature of the Holy Spirit. So, the doctrine of the Trinity did not even exist then. Many Christians and some scholars get this history wrong. It was “the three Cappadocians” in the 370s who first taught that God is a triune being.

So, in 381, at the Second Ecumenical Council, church fathers augmented the Nicene Creed with the teaching that God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From then on, the church has always been mired in quicksand, in the predicament of explaining how God can be one and at the same time three. Over a thousand years later, the Protestant church failed to critically examine this teaching and therefore adopted it. Many Christians have never questioned it. For instance, Daniel Webster, of dictionary fame, was asked, “How can an intelligent man like you believe one is three and three is one?” He answered seriously, “I do not question the arithmetic of heaven.”

Christians should do with the doctrine of Trinity what the Science Channel says on TV: “question everything.” The first sign of it being a red herring is that the word “trinity” is not even in the Bible. Moreover, nowhere does the Bible say God is “three,” “triune,” or anything of the sort. But let us lay to rest this accusation about being a heretic for not believing in the Trinity and do with this matter what Isaiah the Prophet says, “Let us reason together” (Isaiah 1.18 NIV).

See a similar post on 1/13/2016, “Am I an Evangelical or Not?”

…………….

Taken from here

Snippets from the UCA - Regarding John 8.24, 28, 58

Is Jesus God in Hebrews 1.8? By Kermit Zarley

Traditionalist Bible scholars cite Hebrew 1.8-9 as one of their major texts to support their view that Jesus is God. It reads in the NASB, “But of the Son He says, ‘YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM. YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.’” Full capitals the New Testament (NT) in the NASB signifies an Old Testament (OT) quotation.

In the Greek text of Hebrews 1.8-9, the author quotes Psalm 45.6-7 from the Septuagint (LXX), the 3rd century BCE Greek version of the Hebrew Bible rather than from the Masoretic Text (MT). He applies it to “the Son,” namely, Jesus. But both texts have grammatical problems that make it difficult to determine whether the author of Hebrews therein calls Jesus “God” or not. We need to first consider the meaning of Ps 45.6-7 and then Heb 1.8-9.

Psalm 45 is a wedding song, entitled “a song of love,” that is addressed to “the King” (v. 1). It may depict an ideal king, or it may have been composed for the royal marriage of some specific king, perhaps King Solomon, or both. The psalmist says to the king, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows.”

Scholars regard the first clause in Ps 45.6 as one of the most difficult texts to translate and interpret in the OT. Most English Bibles treat elohim (God) here in the MT as a vocative and thus translating it “Your throne, O God,” identifying the king as God. But some versions render it as an adjective, genitive, subject, or predicate, such as “your divine throne” or “your throne is (from) God,” which do not call the king “God.”

It is possible that the psalmist in Ps 45.6 applies the Hebrew word elohim (God) to the king as with Israel’s rulers in other psalms (“gods” in Psalm 58.1 and 82.6). The psalmist, being a monotheist, likely meant no more than the king as God’s vice-regent (cf. John 10.34). Many esteemed rabbis, as well as a Jewish Targum, interpreted Psalm 45 as messianic just as does the author of Hebrews.

The context of Psalm 45 favors elohim/ho theos in v. 6a not calling the king/Messiah “God.” That is, “God” is clearly distinguished from the king/Messiah in v. 2 (“God has blessed You”) and in v. 7 (“God, Your God, has anointed You”). This is further amplified in both verses by God being portrayed as acting upon the king/Messiah. To also call the king/Messiah “God” in such a context would introduce a most inexplicable ambiguity—God acting upon God, thus two Gods. Don Cupitt well explains, “No exegete would suggest that the Hebrew writers thought of either their present king or their ideal future king as literally and co-equally divine…. the meaning is rather that the king rules by divine right and is endued with the fullness of God’s power.”

So, the immediate contexts of Ps 45.6-7 and Heb 1.8-9 show that their authors did not intend to identify the one they were writing about as “God.” Rather, they distinguish God and the king/Messiah by saying, “God has blessed You” (Psalm 45.2), and “God” and “His Son” (Hebrews 1.1-2). It is unlikely they would have addressed the king/Jesus as “O God” and then contradict this by saying, “God, Your God, has anointed You.”

The larger context of the book of Hebrews reveals that its author does not intend to call Jesus “God.” First, he says in his prologue, in Heb 1.1-3, that the Son is “the exact representation” (image) of God’s “nature” (v. 3). A representation or an image is not the original. Second, since he does not say in his prologue, which serves as an outline, that Jesus is God, it is unlikely he does so in his text. Third, he spares no effort in trying to prove that the heavenly-exalted Jesus is superior to angels (vv. 5-14) and all other men. This includes Moses (3.1-19), all of Israel’s priests, and the esteemed Melchizedek (7.1-16), saying Jesus’ priesthood is greater than his (9.1-28). Establishing that Jesus is greater than angels and men is superfluous if the author of Hebrews says Jesus is God.

The book of Hebrews is written to Jews. They were monotheists, and so was this author. If he had called Jesus “God,” he would have been aware that such a provocative proclamation would have stirred up a hornets’ nest in the Jewish community to which he wrote. To not provide any reasons for such a bold assertion would have been a serious literary lapse. Instead, he did not intend to attribute any more status to Jesus than what the psalmist did about the king/Messiah.

What do NT scholars say about ho theos in Hebrews 1.8? The majority treat it as a vocative, thus calling Jesus “God.” But its context and that of Psalm 45.6 suggest that both authors did not intend to call the king/Messiah “God.”

Vincent Taylor insists that ho theos in Hebrews 1.8 should be treated as a nominative. Yet he argues that “nothing can be built upon this reference, for the author shares the reluctance of New Testament writers to speak explicitly of Christ as ‘God.’” Taylor contends that this verse “supplies no ground at all for the supposition that the author thought and spoke of Christ as God…. the writer frequently uses the name ‘the Son,’ and he does so in introducing this very quotation. He has no intention of suggesting that Jesus is God.”

William Barclay often does a good job in summarizing scholarly debates about whether or not specific NT texts call Jesus “God.” He says of Hebrews 1.8, “This is a passage in which no one would wish to be dogmatic. In both cases both translations are perfectly possible … But, whatever translation we accept, we once again see that the matter stands in such doubt that it would be very unsafe to base any firm argument upon it.”

Some Trinitarians claim the word “Lord” in Hebrews 1.10-12 refers to Jesus, so that the rest of the text affirms his preexistence as creator. It reads, “And, THOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT, AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.”

Hebrews 1.10-12 is a quotation of Psalm 102.25-27 in the LXX. The psalmist relates his personal affliction in vv. 1-11. He presents it as a complaint to the “LORD” (YHWH in MT: Ps 102.1, 12, 16, 18-19, 21). He then affirms God’s eternal enthronement, saying he will rise up and deliver Zion at “the appointed time” (vv. 12-13). This theme continues through v. 23. So, six times the psalmist mentions Yahweh in the MT as his addressee.

This LXX quotation of Psalm 102.25-27 in Hebrews 1.10-12 fairly represents the MT. However, in Ps 102.25 the MT relects only “you,” referring to Yahweh, whereas the LXX has kurie, the vocative for “lord.” Scholars have disagreed on whether “Lord” in Hebrews 1.10 refers to Yahweh, as in the MT, or Jesus. It is more likely that the author of Hebrews refers to God, here, rather than Jesus.

First, Heb 1.10 is about creation. The OT repeatedly says Yahweh created the heavens and the earth. The first occurrence is in Gen 2.4-25. It mentions “the LORD God” (Heb. yhwh elohim) as Creator eleven times. Jesus is not Yahweh.

Second, mention of the creation of the earth and the heavens in Heb 1.10 should be compared with the beginning of this book. It reads in vv. 1-2, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” Major English versions have the last word here and in Heb 11.3 “world(s)” (NASB, NRSV) or “universe” (NIV, ESV); but the Greek text in both cases has tous aionas, which means “the ages.”

Some Trinitarians claim the Greek word di (“through”) in Heb 1.2 and v. 10 means in both cases that Jesus created the universe, or the ages, thus requiring his preexistence. (This concept, with the word di, occurs in other NT texts, e.g., John 1.3, 10; 1 Cor 8.6.) On the contrary, it only means that when God created the heavens and the earth, or the ages, he had Jesus in mind to eventually make him the head of creation. Thus, God, not Jesus, created the universe.

For example, Paul distinguishes God and Christ and then states, “God, who created all things” (Eph 3.9). And John the Revelator relates his vision of the twenty-four elders of heaven who exclaim concerning the enthroned God, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created” (Rev 4.11).

In NT Greek, the preposition di can be translated “through” or “by,” with “through” much more common. In Col 1.16b, Paul says of Jesus, “all things have been created through Him and for Him.” In this v. 16, Paul reveals that God creating all things “through” (Gr. di) Jesus means the same as “in” (Gr. en) Jesus at the beginning of the verse. Many versions wrongly translate that first en in the Greek text of Col 1.16 as “by” while inconsistently translating the second en as “in” in the clause, “in the heavens.”

Third, the idea in Ps 102.26 and Heb 1.11-12a of the cosmos wearing out like a garment and being changed is in two other OT texts (Isa 34.4; 51.6; cf. Rev 6.14). Both texts indicate it is “the LORD” (Heb. yhwh) who will accomplish it. It seems this action will not be initiated by Jesus since he said only God the Father knows the date of the end of the age when it will occur and Jesus will return (Mt 24.36; Mk 13.32; Ac 1.7).

Fourth, similar to Heb 1.12b (“BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END”), the author of Hebrews says later, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13.8). All of this signifies immortality. But Paul reveals that immortality belonged solely to God, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever” (1 Tim 1.17). Paul adds, “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality” (1 Tim 6.15-16). Thus, Jesus revealed that his imminent immortality would be derived from God and bestowed upon him by God raising him from the dead (John 5.26).

Fifth, Heb 1.5-13 is a catena containing OT quotations which scholars generally believe preexisted in the early (Jewish?) church. So, the author of Hebrews is merely using it here. Besides vv. 10-12, in all of these other quotations in the catena, God is the person who speaks. Thus, in the OT texts the prophet speaks on behalf of God or about God. So, as with these other quotations in this catena in Heb 1.5-13, it most likely is God who speaks in vv. 10-12, with “lord” referring to himself.

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Taken from here