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
