Teaching: Reasons to Doubt that the Trinity Exists, Part Two

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Let’s get started:

You can read part one here.

(26) Despite all the people who speak of the “Deity of Christ,” the phrase never appears in the Bible, nor is Christ ever called “Deity.” “Deity” is from the Latin “Deus,” which means “God,” and the phrase, “the Deity of Christ,” as it is popularly (but not biblically) used, means “the ‘Godness’ of Christ.” However, Christ is not God, he is Lord, as many clear verses show. Colossians 2:9 says that in Christ the “fullness of Deity dwells bodily” (NRSV). This verse is stating that God (the Deity) placed all His fullness in Christ, which is quite different from saying that Christ is Deity. Earlier in Colossians, the concept is made clear: “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Col. 1:19). That is true. John 3:34 says, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.” The fact that Christ has “all the fullness” of God does not make him God. In Ephesians 3:19, the Bible says that Christians should be filled with “all the fullness of God,” and no one believes that this makes Christians God. Furthermore, if Christ were God, it would make no sense to say that the fullness of God dwelt in him, because, being God, he would always have the fullness of God. The fact that Christ could have the fullness of God dwell in him shows that he was not God.

2 Peter 1:4 says that through the great and precious promises “you may participate in the divine nature.” Having a “divine nature” does not make us God, and it did not make Christ God. The New International Version Study Bible note on 2 Peter 1:4 says that it means only that “we are indwelt by God through His Holy Spirit.” Likewise Christ, who was filled with holy spirit without limits, had the fullness of Deity dwelling in Him.

(27) Ephesians 4:5 and 6 says there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” The “one Lord” is Jesus. The “one God” is the Father. There are clearly two separate beings represented here, not “one God” composed of Jesus and his Father. Furthermore, there is no verse that says that Jesus and the Father are “one God.”

(28) 1 Corinthians 8:6 says, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father…and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ.” If there is one God and one Lord, then there are two, and they are not the same.

(29) Jesus called the Father, “the only God” (John 5:44). The New American Standard Version goes so far as to translate it as “the one and only God.” Jesus would not have said this had he believed he himself were God also.

(30) Christ made a distinction between speaking against him and speaking against the Holy Spirit. Luke 12:10: “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” If both the Holy Spirit and Christ were co-equal persons in one God, then there would be no difference between speaking against Christ and speaking against the Holy Spirit. [For further study read “34 Reasons Why the “Holy Spirit” Is Not A “Person” Separate From the Only True God, the Father“.]

(31) Christ said his doctrine was not his own. John 7:16: “My teaching is not my own. It comes from Him who sent me.” Christ could not have said this if he were God because the doctrine would have been his.

(32) Jesus and God have separate wills. Luke 22:42: “not my will but yours be done” (cp. John 5:30).

(33) Jesus counted himself and his Father as two, not “one.” John 8:17 and 18: “In your own law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father.” Jesus confirmed this truth in John 14:1 when he said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” There are literally hundreds of scriptures like these that set forth Jesus and God as separate and distinct beings. “Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the son” (2 John 9). Scripture clearly recognizes the Father and the Son, but not “both” of them as “one God.”

(34) The Bible always portrays God and Christ as two separate beings. Examples are far too many to list, but a few are: When Stephen saw them just before his death, he saw “the son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56); the Church Epistles are authored by both God and Christ; God and Christ rule in the eternal city of Revelation (Chapter 21).

(35) The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is an “heir” of God, and a joint heir with us (Rom. 8:17 – KJV). If Christ is a “person” in the “Godhead” and co-eternal with the Father, then he cannot be an heir, because, as God, he is full owner of all and there is nothing he could “inherit.” He simply would share eternal glory. By making Christ a co-heir with believers and an heir of God, the Bible makes it clear how much Christ is like us. We inherit from the Father, and Christ does too.

(36) The Bible is clear that Jesus is the “image of God” (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4). If Christ is the image of God, then he cannot be God, because you cannot be an image of someone and the real person at the same time. If you see a photograph of us, you see our image and you can learn a lot about us from it, but the image is not the real us. Christ is the image of God. We learn a lot about God from seeing Christ, but the simple fact that he is God’s image proves he is not God.

(37) “The only wise God” receives His glory through Jesus Christ (Rom. 16:27: “To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ”). To reference “God” apart from Christ and say at the same time that God was the “only” God is very clear. Jesus is not, and is not part of, the “only” God.

Trinitarian doctrine teaches that God and Christ (and the Holy Spirit) make up
“One God,” but the Bible teaches they are two distinct beings.

(38) Jesus grew in wisdom, but God is all wise (Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom”). Also, Jesus “learned obedience” (Heb. 5:8). God does not need to learn obedience.

(39) Jesus had limited knowledge. For example, Mark 13:32 says: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” [Although some Greek texts omit “nor the Son,” Trinitarian textual scholars now admit the phrase was in the original text of Mark. It was Trinitarian scribes who tried to have this phrase taken from the Bible because it disagreed with their theology and they could not explain it.] Even after his resurrection, Jesus still receives knowledge from God as Revelation 1:1 indicates: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him.”

(40) Scripture teaches that it was fitting that God should “make” Jesus “perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:10). God is, and has always been, perfect, but Jesus needed to attain perfection through his suffering.

(41) Jesus received the holy spirit at his baptism. If Jesus were God and the holy spirit were God, then God would have been anointed by God. What purpose would this have served? We know why people are anointed, but what power could God give to Himself? Jesus was given holy spirit just as believers are today.

(42) Jesus was “tempted in every way—just as we are” (Heb. 4:15), yet the Bible is clear that God cannot be tempted: “for God cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13).

(43) At times of weakness or difficulty, angels ministered to and strengthened Jesus. Luke 22:43 says, “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him [in the garden of Gethsemane].” Men need to be strengthened; God does not (cp. Matt. 4:11, Mark 1:13).

(44) Scripture teaches that Jesus died. God cannot die. Romans 1:23 and other verses say that God is immortal. Immortal means “not subject to death.” This term applies only to God.

(45) Hebrews 4:15 says that when Jesus was on earth, he was “just as we are.” None of us would have the feelings, the doubts, the fears, etc., that we do if we were God. To say that God feels like I do is to make a mockery of God. Jesus was the expected Messiah of God, the Last Adam, a “man accredited by God,” as Acts 2:22 says.

(46) Hebrews 2:10 and 11 say that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his “brothers,” because we have the same Father he does. The Bible teaches that we are “brothers” of Jesus and “sons of God.” The Bible never says or even infers that we are “brothers of God.”

(47) We are commissioned to do “greater works” than Jesus. This would be absurd if Christ were God, because then we disciples would be commissioned to do greater works than God does. John 14:12 (NASB) says, “He who believes in me [Jesus], the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.”

God is God because of certain attributes that He has. If Jesus Christ were God, he would have to have the attributes of God. Most theologians agree that these attributes are: unoriginated, self-existent, immortal, unchanging, omniscient, all wise, all good, all-powerful and omnipresent. But Jesus denied every one of these.

He was not unoriginated: Christ was begotten of God. “The Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26).

He was not self-existent: “I live because of the Father” (John 6:57).

He was not immortal. Jesus died and God resurrected him (See # 44 above).

He was not unchanging. He grew and learned, and he died and rose in a new and different body.

He was not omniscient. There were things he did not know (See # 39 above).

He was not all wise. Jesus “grew in wisdom” (See # 38 above).

He was not all good. He said the only one good was God (See # 20 above).

He was not all-powerful. Whereas “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37), Christ said “the Son can do nothing by Himself” (John 5:19).

He was not omnipresent. After Lazarus died, Jesus told his disciples, “I am glad I was not there” (John 11:15).

The attributes of God are what make Him God, just as there are certain attributes that make a man what he is. There is a common saying that “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.” This could easily be applied here. God “walks and quacks” like God. Jesus “walks and quacks” like a man, and Scripture says very clearly that he is a man. We assert that the Bible is clear in its teaching about who God is and who Christ is, and we ask Christians to carefully consider what they believe and why.

We also think that believing that Jesus is God, “the Holy Spirit” is God, and the Father is God actually demeans the only true God. Making God one of three co-equal “persons” takes from Him His exalted position as the only true God, the Creator of the universe, the Author of the plan of Salvation, the Father of Jesus Christ, and our one God.

Besides robbing God of His exalted position as God supreme, believing that Jesus is God also demeans him. One cannot appreciate how great Jesus really was until you make an effort to live like he did for even one day. His courage, mental tenacity, love and great faith are unparalleled in human history. His true greatness is lost if you believe he is God, for “with God all things are possible.” Believing Jesus is God also demeans God because Jesus himself said, “my Father is greater than I.”

Believing that Christ is God also means that he could not have sinned [which makes sense given that “God” cannot sin]. Christ must have been able to sin, for Scripture says he was “tempted in every way just as we are.” Christ went through life like each human does, with doubts, fears and concerns, and with the possibility of sin. To believe that Jesus could not have sinned makes it impossible for us to identify with him.

By restoring the Father to His unique and singular position as God, we give Him all the worship, credit, respect and awe He deserves as the one true God. By restoring Christ to his position as the man accredited by God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, the Last Adam, the one who could have sinned but voluntarily stayed obedient, the one who could have given up but loved us so much that he never quit, the one whom God highly exalted to be our Lord, we give Jesus Christ all the worship, credit, respect and awe that he deserves, and we can draw great strength and determination from his example.