- "Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)..." (Galatians 1:1).
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Is Jesus Christ God or man?
The Bible answers, Yes!:
Wise men still seek Him!
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He Humbled Himself
Why does Jesus say, "...for My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28)?
Back to the Bible
Given that many modern Unitarian Universalists do not venture to describe
themselves as Christians much less as Bible-believers, it might surprise
readers to discover that modern Unitarianism began as a back-to-the-Bible movement:
- "OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
Question. I would fain learn of you what the Christian Religion is.
Answer. The Christian Religion is the way of attaining eternal life, discovered by God.
Q. But where is it discovered?
A. In the holy Scriptures, especially that of the new Covenant."
- (Racovian Catechism).
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"..the Christian religion is defined at the outset as a way of attaining...eternal
life, divinely revealed in the Scriptures (especially the New Testament),
which certain proofs show to be true, which are easy to understand, and
which contain all things necessary for salvation. Throughout the book,
therefore, the proof of its teaching is drawn from the Bible, and only
in a few instances are orthodox doctrines opposed on the ground that they
are unreasonable." (Our Unitarian Heritage, 'Faustus Socinus and the
Full Development of Socinianism in Poland, 1579-1638,' Earl Morse Wilbur, p. 160).
Faustus Socinus' disciples ultimately quit the Bible high ground, not by
choice; they were forced from it by the nature of the case. The Bible does
not say about Jesus what they say:
The Eternal Son
". . . since he had necessarily a human nature, he could not be God,
nor, indeed, have existed antecedently to his birth." (Racovian Catechism).
The Son in the Old Testament
"Obviously the Son did not actually exist before Bethlehem,
else we should have no difficulty locating Him as being actually present
in the Old Testament and the period it covered." (Chapter 4, Gordon Magee,
Is Jesus in the Godhead or Is the Godhead in Jesus?). Where was 'the Son' in the
Old Testament? He's in there! "Who has ascended into heaven, or
descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the
waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is
His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?" (Proverbs 30:4).
"'Look!' he answered, 'I see four men loose, walking in the midst of
the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God.'" (Daniel 3:25).
Here are some of the exploits of the Son of God, as reported in the Old Testament:
The First and the Last
Christians sing, "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the
Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world
without end. Amen." The God of the Bible does not change: "For
I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons
of Jacob." (Malachi 3:6). The God we meet on the first page
of the Bible is the same as the God we meet on the last page: He is Father,
Son and Holy Spirit:
What is the Doctrine of the Trinity?:
Bible Proof:
The Nescience of the Son
Anti-trinitarians demand an explanation for Mark 13:32:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father."
Omniscience is one of the essential attributes of Deity. If Jesus
Christ is God incarnate, as Christians confess, then He must be omniscient. He is elsewhere
so stated to be: "Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should
question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God." (John 16:30). How,
then, could there be a circumstance of which He is ignorant? Some thoughts on this very
difficult issue:
"As the Word or Mind of God become flesh Jesus Christ was the incarnate wisdom of God,
but incarnate in such a way as really to share with us our human ignorance, so that we might share in
his divine wisdom. That was not just an appearance of ignorance on his part, any more than
his incarnating of the Word or Mind of God was only in appearance...Unless the Son of God had assumed
the whole nature of man, including his ignorance, man could not have been saved. The wonderful
exchange that lies at the heart of the interaction of incarnation and atonement operates right here,
as at every other point in the relation between God and sinful human being, for the human mind is an
absolutely essential element in creaturely being. Hence God in Christ Jesus took it up into
himself along with the whole man, in order to penetrate into it and deal with the sin,
alienation, misunderstanding, and darkness that had become entrenched within it. Jesus Christ
came among us sharing to the full the poverty of our ignorance, without ceasing to embody in himself
all the riches of the wisdom of God, in order that we might be redeemed from our ignorance through
sharing in his wisdom...Thus throughout his earthly life Christ laid hold of our alienated and darkened
human mind in order to heal and enlighten it in himself. In and through him our ignorant
minds are brought into such a relation to God that they may be filled with divine light and truth.
The redemption of man's ignorance has an essential place in the atoning exchange, for
everything that we actually are in our lost and benighted condition has been taken up by Christ
into himself in order that he might bring it under the saving, renewing, sanctifying, and enlightening
power of his own reality as the incarnate wisdom and light of God." (The Trinitarian Faith, T. F.
Torrance, pp. 187-188).
Satan tempted Jesus to use His divine powers to overcome
the inconveniences and weaknesses of the humanity He had assumed, thus ensuring a pleasant and
painless incarnation. To hunger is an affliction of flesh, but God can turn even stones
to bread, raining down manna on His children in the wilderness: "And when He had fasted forty days and
forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are
the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'" (Matthew 4:2-3). So did He do it?
No; He did not become incarnate to evade our ills and burdens, zooming by suffering humanity in
an air-conditioned limousine, but to take them upon Himself: "Surely He has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4).
The Bible: God's Word?
Jesus was of the opinion that the Holy Spirit spoke through
prophets like David: "Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, 'How is it that the
scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy
Spirit: "The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand,Till I make Your enemies Your
footstool."'" (Mark 12:35-36). He quotes Exodus as "spoken to you by God": "But concerning
the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?" (Matthew 22:31-32).
Eager-beavers step forward, ready to 'correct' the odd notions found
in scripture, like that Jesus Christ is God. Some of the Talmudists had a similar 'attitude': "When
the sages refused to accept Rabbi Eliezer's view, he called upon the forces of nature to prove his
theory correct, crying: 'Let the carob tree be uprooted from its place, let the water change the
direction of its flow.' To this Rabbi Joshua replied: 'You cannot cite evidence from the carob.'
Then Rabbi Eliezer appealed to Heaven to prove that his ruling should be accepted, and a divine voice
was heard saying: 'What do you want of my son, Eliezer, whose rulings are universally accepted.'
Still Rabbi Joshua was firm in his opinion, saying: 'Torah is no longer in Heaven. God has given it to
men, and it is they who will decide this matter.' Most of the scholars then ruled against Rabbi
Eliezer." (The Essential Talmud, Adin Steinsaltz, p. 218).
That's an attitude, but it's wrong: "LAMED. For ever, O LORD,
thy word is settled in heaven." (Psalm 119:89). Why not allow God to offer His input into the
discussion? If He wanted to author a book, who could stop Him?
Authenticity of the Gospel
Record: Ancient testimony
Early testimony is available respecting the reliability
of the gospel record: "We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those
through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a
later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of
our faith...For, after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from on
high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His gifts], and had perfect
knowledge: they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things
[sent] from God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who indeed do all equally and
individually possess the Gospel of God. Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in
their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of
the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand
down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded
in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned
upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia."
(Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 1.1)
Mark's gospel has the authority of Peter to back it up:
"'Mark, having become Peter's interpreter, wrote down accurately everything he remembered, though
not in order, of the things either said or done by Christ.'" (Fragments of Papias, The Apostolic
Fathers, Second Edition, J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, p. 316). John Mark turns up in Acts, along
with his mother: "And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of
John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter
knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda." (Acts 12:12-13). His
gospel reports the odd incident of a young man who drops his drawers in his haste to escape: "And
there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the
young men laid hold on him: And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked." (Mark 14:51-52).
Is this comedic relief, or a 'signature'? - was that young man Mark himself?
Luke turns up in Acts, when the voice of the narrator
shifts to 'we'. He makes no claim to have witnessed anything prior to that, but knows those
who did: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning
were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect
understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent
Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been
instructed." (Luke 1:1-4).
Modern scholars scoff at the idea that any of the gospels
originated amongst people who had any first-hand knowledge of Jesus, or even knew anyone who had.
Their rule of thumb seems to be that anyone who wrote about Jesus must not have known Jesus.
But well-placed observers who lived in that time report it quite differently: "So Matthew
composed the oracles in the Hebrew language and each person interpreted them as best he could."
(Fragments of Papias, from Eusebius, quoted in The Apostolic Fathers, J. B. Lightfoot and J. R.
Harmer, p. 316.)
Justin Martyr likewise, in the mid-second century,
described the gospels as the "memoirs" of the apostles and their followers: "For in the memoirs
which I say were drawn up by His apostles and those who followed them, [it is recorded] that His sweat
fell down like drops of blood while He was praying and saying, 'If it be possible, let this cup
pass'..." (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter CIII.)
To outweigh Irenaeus', Papias', and Justin's early testimony, where is
the countervailing contemporary testimony?
"I have seen God face to face"
The church sings, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, God in three
persons, blessed Trinity!" Is this language Biblical?
Is Person a Biblical Word?
Three-in-One
One proof of God's triunity -- His 'Three-in-One'ness -- are the many instances
where scripture ascribes one divine work indifferently to Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. The principle: "With regard to the divine nature,
on the other hand, it is otherwise. We do not learn that the Father
does something on his own, in which the Son does not co-operate. Or
again, that the Son acts on his own without the Spirit. Rather does
every operation which extends from God to creation and is designated according
to our differing conceptions of it have its origin in the Father, proceed
through the Son, and reach its completion by the Holy Spirit." (Gregory
of Nyssa, On Not Three Gods):
Humble, Meek and Mild
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is humble: "Take My yoke upon
you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will
find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29).
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:5).
But hear the words of Jesus: "He who loves father or mother more than
Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is
not worthy of Me." (Matthew 10:37).
"Is He, if He be not God, really humble? Is that reiterated self-assertion, to the accents of which we have been
listening...consistent with any known form of creaturely humility? Can Jesus thus bid us believe in Him, love Him, obey Him,
live by Him, live for Him; can He thus claim to be the universal Teacher and the universal Judge, the Way, the Truth, the Life of
humanity---if He be indeed only man? (H.P. Liddon, Lecture IV,
The Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, The Witness of His Consciousness, Was He Really Humble?)
Is God the 'Father-only'?
- "Q. Shew how it is also repugnant to the Scripture that Christ should
have a divine Nature.
A. First, because the Scripture proposeth to us but one God by nature,
whom we formerly demonstrated to be the Father of Christ."
- (Racovian Catechism).
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