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Anti-trinitarians perceive a contradiction between verses like John 14:28:
"You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to
you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to
the Father,' for My Father is greater than I" -- and the traditional
Christian affirmation that the Son is equal to the Father. But far
from being in contradiction with scripture, Christians say what they do
about God because that's what the scriptures say:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of
no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found
in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the
death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11).
This passage portrays a dynamic roller-coaster ride, from the glory of
heaven to the depths of suffering on the cross...then back again. It is
thus inattentive to read passages like John 14:28 as describing a static
condition. How can One who 'humbled himself' remain as great as before?
"And not, therefore, without cause the Scripture says both the one and the other, both that the Son is equal to
the Father, and that the Father is greater than the Son. For there is no confusion when the former is understood as on account
of the form of God, and the latter as on account of the form of a servant. And, in truth, this rule for clearing the question
through all the sacred Scriptures is set forth in one chapter of an epistle of the Apostle Paul, where this distinction is commended
to us plainly enough. For he says, 'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied
Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and was found in fashion as a man.' The Son of
God, then, is equal to God the Father in nature, but less in 'fashion.' For in the form of a servant which He took He is less than
the Father; but in the form of God, in which also He was before He took the form of a servant, He is equal to the Father. In the form
of God He is the Word, 'by whom all things are made;' but in the form of a servant He was 'made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law.' In like manner, in the form of God He made man; in the form of a servant He was made man. For if the
Father alone had made man without the Son, it would not have been written, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'
(Augustine, On the Trinity, Book I, Chapter 7.14).
So it's on account of Philippians 2:6 that believers describe Jesus as
equal with the Father, not unmindful that He then laid aside His divine
prerogatives. With astonishing condescension, the mighty God "humbled
himself"!
That the Son "thought it not robbery" to be equal to God the
Father means that by nature and by right, He is equal to God the
Father. It is robbery, or theft, to take what is not rightfully
yours; picking up what is by right your own is not robbery. This
should be sufficient to refute those, like Wayne Grudem, who assert
that the Son, from the beginning, is lesser.
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