I was recently made aware of an article by the creationist ministry, Answers in Genesis, which attempts to defend the traditional Christian doctrine of the “deity of Christ”. Since I’ve been discussing the Trinity and related doctrines for the past month on this blog, I decided that taking a look at the article, and debunking the arguments within, would be the perfect ending to this series on the Trinity. This article presents basically all of the scriptural arguments for the deity of Christ that have been made by trinitarian apologists, and so the fact that all of these arguments are so easily refuted surely says something about the truth or falsity of this doctrine.
Before beginning my critique of their article, I would like to point out one thing. Their arguments for Jesus being God all rest upon the assertion that Jesus possesses names, attributes, and works that only rightfully apply to Yahweh, the one true God. For this reason, their argument falls entirely apart if it can be shown that the titles, attributes, and works can apply to anyone other than Yahweh. Please keep this in mind when reading through my post.
Is unitarianism a cult?
Interestingly, Answers in Genesis (AiG) chooses to start off their article with an ad hominem attack on unitarianism itself:
Is Jesus God? There are many cults and false religions today that deny it. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, believe Jesus was created by the Father billions of years ago as the Archangel Michael and is hence a “lesser god” than the Father. The Mormons say Jesus was born as the first and greatest spirit child of the Heavenly Father and heavenly mother, and was the spirit-brother of Lucifer. New Agers claim Jesus was an enlightened master. Unitarian Universalists say Jesus was just a good moral teacher.
This gives the readers of this article the impression that unitarianism is something that is only believed by cults. There are certainly cults today that believe in unitarianism, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but these are by no means the majority of unitarians. Instead, most unitarians, in my own experience, are simply Christians who came to a different understanding of God’s nature based on the clear teaching of the Bible (like myself).
In fact, although 96% of Evangelicals profess a belief in the Trinity, 65% believe that Jesus was created by God, and 37% did not agree with the statement that the Son of God existed prior to Jesus’ birth. It seems that belief in trinitarianism is simply a professed, creedal belief, and not one that most Protestants fundamentally agree with. Many US Protestants would be better categorized as unitarian, or at the very most “confused trinitarian”. This just goes to show how AiG’s categorization of unitarians as cult members is false, and bound to poison the well for Christians who are simply seeking biblical truth.
Does Jesus have the names of God?
AiG begins their argument for Christ’s deity by attempting to show that Jesus possesses the names and titles of God.
Jesus is Yahweh. Yahweh is a very common Hebrew name for God in the Old Testament, occurring over 5,300 times. It is translated LORD (all capitals) in many English translations of the Bible.
We first learn of this name in Exodus 3, where Moses asked God by what name He should be called. God replied to him, “I AM WHO I AM. . . .Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’ ” (verse 14). Yahweh is basically a shortened form of “I AM WHO I AM” (verse 15). The name conveys the idea of eternal self-existence. Yahweh never came into being at a point in time for He has always existed.
Jesus implicitly ascribed this divine name to himself during a confrontation He had with a group of hostile Jews. He said, “I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Jesus deliberately contrasted the created origin of Abraham—whom the Jews venerated—with His own eternal, uncreated nature as God.
Actually, the title of God in Exodus 3:14 should almost certainly be translated, “I will be who I will be”. In the original Hebrew, this title is ehyeh asher ehyeh. The word ehyeh is elsewhere translated as the future tense of the verb “to be”, and was in fact used that way just two verses earlier:
And He [God] said, “Assuredly I will be [ehyeh] with you [Moses], and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” (Exod. 3:12 NASB)
Essentially, what God is saying here is, “I will be with you, and I will be who I will be” (meaning, “I will be whatever I need to be for my people Israel”). Today, this is the majority scholarly interpretation of this passage. J. Washington Watts, a professor at Syracuse University, wrote that
Such a translation as ‘I am what I am’ appears to be ruled out completely by the fact that the verbs here are imperfects. ‘I am’ is the normal translation of the Hebrew perfect, not an imperfect... The translation offered here relates this explanation of the name to covenants with the patriarchs. As such it was a basis of assurance concerning Yahweh’s presence and support. This thought is made explicit in the verse that follows, and the proper name Yahweh, the memorial name, is made synonymous with the description ‘I shall continue to be what I have always been.’ This makes the description a restatement of Yahweh’s faithfulness and assurance that he will fulfill the covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. [1]
Therefore, God’s title in Exodus 3:14 should be properly translated as “I will be who I will be”. This is how it was understood by several ancient translators as well, since both Aquila and Theodotion from the second century AD translated this title as εσομαι ο εσομαι (meaning “I will be what I will be”).
However, even if the title is meant to be a declaration of God’s eternal self-existence, as both AiG and most modern translators seem to want it to be, this still would not be translated into Greek as εγω ειμι (which is what Jesus says in John 8:58). The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation that was used in Jesus’ day, even by the writers of the New Testament, translates the full title as “εγω ειμι Ο ΩΝ”, meaning “I am the ONE WHO IS”, and the shortened title as simply “Ο ΩΝ”. Since Jesus never identified Himself as either the “I will be” or the “ONE WHO IS”, there is no evidence to suggest that He saw Himself as the recipient of the titles in Exodus 3:14.
Instead, the gospel of John repeatedly develops “εγω ειμι” as a Messianic title, not a divine one. When the Samaritan woman remarks that she has heard that the Messiah is coming, Jesus responds, “εγω ειμι”, meaning “I am [the Messiah]” (Jn. 4:25-26). Jesus tells the Jews that, unless they believe that “εγω ειμι”, they will die in their sins (Jn. 8:24); since we are told elsewhere that the message by which they are saved is that “Jesus is the Messiah” (Jn. 20:31), this again is not a claim to deity, but the implied statement is “I am [the Messiah]”. Jesus again states, “εγω ειμι”, where the implied predicate is clearly “Son of Man”, also a Messianic title (Jn. 8:28 cf. Mk. 14:62). In response to a Messianic prophecy, Jesus claims, “εγω ειμι”, meaning “I am [the One prophesied]” (Jn. 13:18-19).
We should give the author of the gospel of John enough credit to assume that he knew what he was talking about. John wouldn’t have translated Exodus 3:14 with such an inaccurate phrase as “εγω ειμι”, nor would he have expected his audience to know what he was trying to say if that were the case (since “εγω ειμι” is not how any other translation from that day translated Exod. 3:14). Jesus wasn’t claiming to be God here; He was claiming to be the Messiah.
Jesus is Kurios. The New Testament Greek equivalent of the Old Testament Hebrew name Yahweh is Kurios. Used of God, Kurios carries the idea of a sovereign being who exercises absolute authority. The word is translated Lord in English translations of the Bible.
To an early Christian accustomed to reading the Old Testament, the word Lord, when used of Jesus, would point to His identification with the God of the Old Testament (Yahweh). Hence, the affirmation that “Jesus is Lord” (Kurios) in the New Testament constitutes a clear affirmation that Jesus is Yahweh, as is the case in passages like Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 12:3, and Philippians 2:5–11.
Like the claim that Jesus’ “εγω ειμι” statements refer back to Exodus 3:14, this is blatantly false. There are three different Hebrew words that are translated into Greek as κυριος (kurios): the title adon (used of human lords), the title Adonai (used of God alone), and the personal name Yahweh. In fact, κυριος is repeatedly used of humans in the New Testament; in one place, Paul exhorts all Christian κυριοι to submit to their κυριος in heaven, Jesus (Col. 4:1)!
There is simply no evidence to suggest that the writers of the New Testament saw Jesus as Yahweh or Adonai rather than simply adon (human lord). However, there is evidence that they saw Him as an adon rather than Adonai. The Messianic prophecy of Psalm 110 uses adoni in reference to the coming Messiah:
The LORD [Yahweh] says to my Lord [adoni]: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” (NASB)
This prophecy is quoted or alluded to no less than twenty-four times in the New Testament as fulfilled by Jesus [2]. However, it does not describe the Messiah as Yahweh, or even as Adonai, but as merely adoni (“my lord”) — a title meant for human rulers which is not once applied to God Himself. This is strong evidence that the title κυριος, when applied to Jesus, is not a claim to divinity, but merely to superiority. Unfortunately, most translations mask this fact by capitalizing “Lord” when applied to Jesus and God, and keeping it uncapitalized when applied to anyone else.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean that I believe that Jesus was merely a “good moral teacher”, which is the caricature of unitarians that AiG paints. I believe that He is the greatest human being who ever lived, who died and was resurrected, and is now exalted to the highest possible position for a created being to hold, at the right hand of God. But the title of Adonai cannot be applied to anyone other than Yahweh Himself, whereas the title of adon applies to anyone apart from God who has authority. Since Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), He is the greatest adon — the only one who can properly be called our (human) Lord.
Jesus is Elohim. Elohim is a Hebrew name that is used of God 2,570 times in the Old Testament. The name literally means “strong one,” and its plural ending (im in Hebrew) indicates fullness of power. Elohim is portrayed in the Old Testament as the powerful and sovereign governor of the universe, ruling over the affairs of humankind.Jesus is recognized as both Yahweh and Elohim in the prophecy in Isaiah 40:3: “Prepare the way of the Lord [Yahweh]; make straight in the desert a highway for our God [Elohim].” This verse was written in reference to John the Baptist preparing for the coming of Christ (as confirmed in John 1:23) and represents one of the strongest affirmations of Christ’s deity in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 9:6, we likewise read a prophecy of Christ with a singular variant (El) of Elohim: “And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God [El], Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The argument based on Isaiah 40:3 commits an error that I like to call the “fulfillment fallacy”. According to this argument, anyone who fulfills a prophecy about God, or a statement that God will do something, must be God Himself. However, if this argument were applied consistently across the entire Bible, we would have to conclude that not only is Jesus God, but Moses was God (Exod. 3:7-10), Aaron was God (Exod. 17:17-20), all the judges of Israel were God (Judg. 2:16-18), and so on.
The fact is that God often acts out His will through the use of intermediary agents, and when those agents fulfill His will, it can be said that He is the one doing those things. I wrote a lot more about this subject in my earlier post, “Understanding the concept of agency”, and if you are curious, please go and check out that article.
In the other verse quoted here, Isaiah 9:6, we are told that the coming Messiah would be called el gibbor, which is usually translated as “Mighty God”. However, the title el gibbor is by no means unique to God alone; in fact, in one of the only two other places in the entire Old Testament where this title is used, it is applied to human rulers (Ezek 32:21), where it is usually translated as “mighty chiefs” or similar. This is the result of trinitarian translator bias. The Jews of that time would have had no concept of Yahweh Himself coming down to be born as a human, and the title el gibbor (which is elsewhere applied to humans) certainly wouldn’t get that idea across. It should more likely be translated here as “Mighty Chief” or “Mighty Hero” rather than “Mighty God” [3].
Jesus is Theos. The New Testament Greek word for God, Theos, is the corresponding parallel to the Old Testament Hebrew term Elohim. A well-known example of Christ being addressed as God (Theos) is found in the story of “doubting Thomas” in John 20. In this passage, Thomas witnesses the resurrected Christ and worshipfully responds: “My Lord and my God [Theos]” (John 20:28).Jesus is called Theos throughout the rest of the New Testament. For example, when a jailer asked Paul and Silas how to be saved, they responded: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). After the jailer believed and became saved, he “rejoiced, having believed in God [Theos] with all his household” (verse 34). Believing in Christ and believing in God are seen as identical acts.
In fact, there is only one place in the entire New Testament where Jesus is called θεος (theos) with certainty, and that is in Hebrews 1:8-9. That passage is a quotation of Psalm 45:6-7, a psalm which was originally written about an unnamed king of Israel who was being married to the daughter of the king of Tyre (go ahead, read it for yourself). Scholars are divided on who exactly this psalm was originally written for, but there are two main viewpoints: either it was written for Solomon, or for Ahab. Either way, it should be clear that this psalm was not originally written for God, and so interpreting its quotation in Hebrews 1:8-9 any differently simply shows trinitarian bias.
But then, if Psalm 45:6-7 is referring to a human king, how can it call that king “God”? And why does Hebrews 1:8-9 call Jesus “God” if not in the same sense that Yahweh is God? The fact is that throughout the Bible, those who work out God’s will on His behalf are sometimes called “God” in a representational sense. For example, when Moses was told that his brother Aaron would speak on his behalf to the pharaoh of Egypt, Yahweh told him that he would be God to Aaron (Exod. 4:16), and again in Exodus 7:1, Moses is said to be God to the pharaoh. In Psalm 82:1, 6, God tells the human judges of Israel that they are elohim (gods) because of the authority which He has given them. Even the burning bush in Exodus 3 who entrusted Moses with the personal name of God is later said to be merely an angel through whom God commissioned Moses (Acts 7:30, 35).
Therefore, even when Jesus is called θεος in Hebrews 1:8-9, this does not mean that Jesus is actually the same as Yahweh (at least, not any more than Solomon or Ahab are the same as Yahweh, one of whom Psalm 45 was originally written about). Rather, He is the representational agent through whom God works out His will, as I discussed in my earlier article, “Understanding the concept of agency”. As for John 20:28, I gave several unitarian interpretations of this verse at the end of another post, so please go check that out if you are curious.
Finally, I find it curious that AiG states that “Believing in Christ and believing in God are seen as identical acts” and sees this as evidence that Jesus is God. This doesn’t mean that Jesus is God, but rather corresponds quite nicely to what Jesus Himself told us earlier about His relationship to the Father who sent Him:
“Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me does not receive Me but Him who sent Me.” (Mk. 9:37 NASB)
Now Jesus cried out and said, “The one who believes in Me, does not believe only in Me, but also in Him who sent Me. And the one who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” (John 12:44-45 NASB)
“Truly, truly I say to you, the one who receives anyone I send, receives Me; and the one who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (John 13:20 NASB)
Because Jesus is God’s representative agent, those who believe in Him believe in the Father who sent Him, in the same way that those who receive His disciples are also receiving Him. This certainly doesn’t prove that Jesus is God any more than it proves that Jesus’ disciples are Jesus.
In summary, there is no evidence from scripture that either Jesus or the writers of the New Testament saw Him as ontologically the same as God, such that all the titles of God apply to Him. In the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is called θεος with certainty, Hebrews 1:8-9, this is a quotation from a psalm that was originally about the king of Israel; so Jesus can no more be considered God than Ahab or Solomon can be considered God.
If the writers of the New Testament wanted to prove that Jesus was God, they could have easily done so. There is one title that is applied to God, and only God, in the Greek Septuagint, and that is “Ο ΩΝ” (the “ONE WHO IS”). All that the writers of the New Testament needed to say is “Jesus is the ONE WHO IS” (“Ιησους εστιν Ο ΩΝ”); their silence on this issue truly speaks volumes.
Does Jesus possess the attributes of God?
Answers in Genesis next tries to convince us that Jesus is God by showing us how Jesus possesses attributes that only rightfully belong to God.
Jesus is eternal. John 1:1 affirms: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The word was in this verse is an imperfect tense, indicating continuous, ongoing existence. When the timespace universe came into being, Christ already existed (Hebrews 1:8–11).
Setting aside for a moment the fact that the “word”, or λογος, in the prologue of John should almost certainly be understood as God’s wisdom, and not the “pre-incarnate Christ”, this argument is still false. The imperfect tense in Greek indicates any ongoing action, but does not require the action to continue prior to the time in question. To say that “in the beginning was the word” means just that: that the word existed in the beginning, but says nothing about whether it existed before the beginning.
Jesus is self-existent. As the Creator of all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2), Christ himself must be uncreated. Colossians 1:17 tells us that Christ is “before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
These first three texts are the main prooftexts for the position that Jesus created the universe. However, there are several other passages that clearly distinguish between the Creator of the universe and Christ, which would be rendered nonsensical if Jesus were the one who created the universe (Mk. 10:6; Acts 17:24, 31; Heb. 2:10). If the three texts that AiG cites truly prove that Jesus created the universe, this would seem to create an irreconcilable contradiction. So let’s take a look at each one in turn:
All things came into being through it [the word], and apart from it not even one thing came into being that has come into being. (Jn. 1:3)
This passage is supposed to prove that Jesus created all things, because the “word” in John 1:1-13 is said to be the “pre-existent Christ”. However, this is not a view that is inherent in the text; it must be eisegeted into the prologue of John, not exegeted out of it. The context indicates that the “word” here is the divine wisdom that became embodied in Jesus, but was not conscious prior to His birth. See this article for more information on the prologue of John and its relation to both biblical and extra-biblical wisdom literature.
in him [Christ] was created the all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities, the all things has been created through him and for him. (Col. 1:16)
This passage is also cited to show that all things were created by Jesus. However, this passage is not referring to the original creation, but the new creation of all things in Christ. In the beginning, what was made was “the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1); here, what is being made is “all things in the heavens and upon the earth”, which shows that it is not referring to the original Genesis creation.
Furthermore, throughout Paul’s writings, the term “in Christ” refers to those things that have been redeemed (cf. Col. 1:14), and so by saying “in him was created the all things”, he is clearly referring to the new, redeemed creation which has been made in Christ and through Christ. See the following comparison between 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, a passage describing the new creation, and Colossians 1:16:
So then if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation. The old passed away; lo, the all things has become new! Now the all things [are] out of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ (2 Cor. 5:17-18)
in him was created the all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities, the all things has been created through him and for him. (Col. 1:16)
From these contextual clues, it is clear that Colossians 1:16 is not referring to the original creation, but to the new creation, which was indeed made in Christ and through Christ.
upon these last days [God] spoke to us in a Son, whom He established inheritor of all things, and through whom He made the ages. (Heb. 1:2)
This is the last text thought to prove that Jesus was the one who created all things. However, the only reason to think that it is referring to the original creation is because most Bible versions translate the last part of this verse as “through whom He made the world” or even “the universe” rather than “the ages”, which is the literal translation of τους αιωνας. This is another clear case of trinitarian translator bias.
This is not saying that Jesus created the universe, but that God has created the ages through Him, referring to the oncoming ages during which Jesus will be reigning, and we alongside Him (Lk. 1:33; Eph. 2:6-7). Therefore, none of these three texts prove that Jesus created the universe in the beginning; instead, they are either referring to God’s wisdom by which He created the universe (Jn. 1:3), or else they are referring to the new creation (Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2).
However, it should be noted that even if Jesus was the creator of the universe, this does not prove that He Himself was uncreated, as AiG wants us to think. Many unitarians, especially Arians, do indeed believe that Jesus was the conduit through whom God created the universe. This does not prove that Jesus is uncreated, much less that Jesus is God, but (if true) it would merely show that God created through Him.
Jesus is everywhere-present. Christ promised His disciples, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Since people all over the world gather in Christ’s name, the only way He could be present with them all is if He is truly omnipresent (see Matthew 28:20; Ephesians 1:23, 4:10; Colossians 3:11).
Just because Jesus is with believers does not mean that Jesus is truly omnipresent. Rather, Jesus is supernaturally connected to the members of His body through the holy spirit which God gives to us, and through that spirit He lives within us (Jn. 16:12-14; Rom. 8:9-11; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 3:14-17). This does not show that He is everywhere at once, but merely that He is with those who believe in Him, which is in no way incompatible with the biblical depiction of Christ Jesus as the human Son of God who has been exalted to God’s right hand in the heavens.
Jesus is all-knowing. Jesus knew where the fish were in the water (Luke 5:4, 6; John 21:6–11), and He knew just which fish contained the coin (Matthew 17:27). He knew the future (John 11:11, 18:4), specific details that would be encountered (Matthew 21:2–4), and knew from a distance that Lazarus had died (John 11:14). He also knows the Father as the Father knows Him (Matthew 11:27; John 7:29, 8:55, 10:15, 17:25).
Again, this does not show that Jesus is omniscient, but merely that He knows far more than a regular human would. This is not incompatible with the unitarian view that Jesus is a human being, a man who was filled by God with holy spirit without measure (Jn. 3:34). In fact, He cannot have been truly omniscient, as He only knew those things that the Father revealed to Him (Matt. 11:27; Jn. 8:40), needed to learn (Heb. 5:8), and did not know the time of His return (Mk. 13:32).
Jesus is all-powerful. Christ created the entire universe (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2) and sustains the universe by His own power (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). During His earthly ministry, He exercised power over nature (Luke 8:25), physical diseases (Mark 1:29–31), demonic spirits (Mark 1:32–34), and even death (John 11:1–44).
The assertion that Christ created the universe has already been dealt with and shown to be unscriptural. The fact that Jesus is sustaining the universe by His power is not incompatible with His current position at the right hand of God, with all things in heaven and earth having been put under His authority (Matt. 28:18). And though Jesus certainly performed many miracles throughout His life, He also explicitly stated that He could only do those things that the Father gave Him the authority to do (Jn. 5:19-23). This means that Jesus cannot be omnipotent, although as the Son of God, He certainly has been given much power.
Jesus is sovereign. Christ presently sits at the right hand of God the Father, “angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him” (1 Peter 3:22). When Christ comes again in glory, He will be adorned with a majestic robe, and on the thigh section of the robe will be the words, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16).
Of course I do not disagree that Jesus is sovereign. But AiG seems to be unaware that the fact that all things have been made subject to Christ actually disproves the idea that He is God. God, who created the heavens and the earth, is already inherently the Lord of all things (Acts 17:24). Jesus needed to be given His authority (Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:27-28; Php. 2:9-11; Heb. 2:8-9), which means that He cannot be inherently the Lord of all, but as Peter said, God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). At the consummation, Jesus will be King of all kings, and Lord of all lords, subject only to the One who subjected all to Him (1 Cor. 15:24-28).
Jesus is sinless. Jesus challenged Jewish leaders: “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46). The apostle Paul referred to Jesus as “Him who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is one who “loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Hebrews 1:9), was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), and was “holy, harmless, [and] undefiled” (Hebrews 7:26).
Jesus is indeed sinless, and the death of a sinless being was necessary to effect the redemption of all. But the fact that Jesus is sinless does not mean that Jesus is necessarily God — and thank God for that, because if He were God, He wouldn’t have been able to truly die (1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16)!
Does Jesus possess the authority of God?
Jesus always spoke in His own divine authority. He never said, “Thus saith the Lord” as did the prophets; He always said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you. . . .” He never retracted anything He said, never guessed or spoke with uncertainty, never made revisions, never contradicted himself, and never apologized for what He said. He even asserted, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31), hence elevating His words directly to the realm of heaven.
This is a surprisingly common claim made by trinitarians - “surprising”, I say, because it is complete and utter nonsense. It is simply false that the prophets always said “Thus saith the LORD [Yahweh]” before quoting Yahweh’s own words. In fact, there are many instances in the Old Testament where a prophet begins speaking in the first person as Yahweh without using the formulaic expression “Thus says Yahweh” first. See the following examples:
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them... “Yet to this day Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. And I [Moses] have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am Yahweh your God.” (Deut. 29:2, 4-6 NASB)
“For behold, the Lord Yahweh of armies is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support, the entire supply of bread and the entire supply of water... And I will make mere boys their leaders, and mischievous children will rule over them” (Isa. 3:1, 4 NASB)
“For Yahweh’s anger is against all the nations, and His wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them, He has turned them over to slaughter... For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven; behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, and upon the people whom I have designated for destruction. The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood” (Isa. 34:2, 5-6 NASB)
“Return, Israel, to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled because of your wrongdoing. Take words with you and return to Yahweh... I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, because My anger has turned away from them.” (Hos. 14:1, 4 NASB)
“Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh when the spoils taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city. Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle” (Zech. 14:1-3 NASB)
Although there are many more examples of this in the Old Testament (e.g., Micah 1), these should suffice to show that it is not true that prophets always introduced Yahweh’s words with the formula “Thus saith Yahweh”. If these prophets were given the authority to speak in Yahweh’s name, how much more Jesus, the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15 cf. Jn. 1:18; 12:45; 14:9) and perfect representative of God on earth?
Furthermore, even though Jesus never introduced His words with the formula “Thus saith Yahweh”, He did make it explicitly clear that the words He spoke were not His own, but those of His Father.
“I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.” (Jn. 8:28 NASB)
“For I did not speak on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.” (Jn. 12:49 NASB)
“The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works.” (Jn. 14:10 NASB)
“Now they have come to know that everything which You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them” (Jn. 17:7-8 NASB)
Therefore, the trinitarian argument that, whereas the prophets spoke on the authority of God and introduced His words with “Thus saith Yahweh”, Jesus spoke on His own authority, is patently false and duplicitous. It not only ignores clear evidence to the contrary, that the prophets were allowed to speak on the authority of God without using the introductory formula first, but also contradicts Jesus’ own statements that He was speaking the words that the Father gave to Him.
Did Jesus perform the works of God?
Jesus’ deity is also proved by His miracles. His miracles are often called “signs” in the New Testament. Signs always signify something—in this case, that Jesus is the divine Messiah.
Some of Jesus’ more notable miracles include turning water into wine (John 2:7–8); walking on the sea (Matthew 14:25; Mark 6:48; John 6:19); calming a stormy sea (Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:39; Luke 8:24); feeding 5,000 men and their families (Matthew 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16; John 6:11); raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43–44); and causing the disciples to catch a great number of fish (Luke 5:5–6).
The miraculous signs which Jesus performed certainly show Him to be God’s anointed one, the Messiah, but not that He is “the divine Messiah”. In fact, “divine Messiah” is an oxymoron, since the Messiah was repeatedly prophesied in the Old Testament to be a human king of the Davidic line, separate from Yahweh (as I argued in a previous post).
The miracles of Jesus demonstrate that He is a man given much authority by God, but not that He is God Himself. One example that trinitarians often like to give is Jesus’ forgiveness of sins in the synoptic gospels, quoting Mark 2:7, “who can forgive sins but God alone?” However, they conveniently ignore the fact that the gospel of Matthew explicitly states that He was a man given authority by God to forgive sins:
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” And he got up and went home. But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Matt. 9:6-8 NASB)
As a matter of fact, this applies to all of Jesus’ other miracles as well. As Jesus said to the Jewish leaders,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.” (Jn. 5:19-20 NASB)
Based on these passages, it can be clearly seen that Jesus’ miracles are not evidence that He is God. Instead, they simply show that He is a man who was given much authority by God, as His Son and anointed one.
Was Jesus worshipped as God?
Jesus was worshiped on many occasions in the New Testament. He accepted worship from Thomas (John 20:28), the angels (Hebrews 1:6), some wise men (Matthew 2:11), a leper (Matthew 8:2), a ruler (Matthew 9:18), a blind man (John 9:38), an anonymous woman (Matthew 15:25), Mary Magdalene (Matthew 28:9), and the disciples (Matthew 28:17).
Scripture is emphatic that only God can be worshiped (Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:10). In view of this, the fact that both humans and angels worshiped Jesus on numerous occasions shows He is God.
No one would doubt that Jesus was and is worshipped, this is made absolutely clear in the passages cited above by AiG. Furthermore, the Bible also makes clear that the worship of Jesus was considered to be okay and not against any commandment of God; after all, the Father actually commands the angels to worship Him (Heb. 1:6). However, this does not mean that Jesus is the supreme Deity, as I will show in this section.
The word “worship” is translated from shachah in Hebrew and προσκυνεω in Greek. These words literally mean “to bow down” and “to kiss [the hand] toward”, respectively, both of which were actions that expressed respect and reverence in ancient society. However, these words are used in the Bible to describe worship of both God and others (including humans). See the following examples:
So Abraham stood up and bowed [shachah] to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. (Gen. 23:7 NASB)
But he himself [Jacob] passed on ahead of them and bowed down [shachah] to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother [Esau]. (Gen. 33:3 NASB)
Now Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down [shachah] to him with their faces to the ground. (Gen. 42:6 NASB)
“So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself [προσκυνεω] before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’” (Matt. 18:26 NASB)
“Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down [προσκυνεω] before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.” (Rev. 3:9 NASB)
These practices were never condemned by God and were considered to be innocuous gestures of respect. In fact, Jesus proclaims that He will force one group of people to worship (προσκυνεω) the human members of the church at Philadelphia. Furthermore, in at least one case (that of the divinely appointed kings of Israel), it seems to have been institutionalized and encouraged by God. David, the “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22), not only worshipped others but also accepted worship, and was never condemned for doing so:
Afterward, however, David got up and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed [shachah] with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. (1 Sam. 24:8 NASB)
And Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself [shachah], and blessed the king (2 Sam. 14:22 NASB)
They informed the king [David], saying, “Nathan the prophet is here.” And when he came into the king’s presence, he prostrated himself [shachah] before the king with his face to the ground. (1 Kings 1:23 NASB)
Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless Yahweh your God.” And all the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and bowed down and paid homage [shachah] to Yahweh and the king. (1 Chron. 29:20 NASB) [4]
Clearly, then, worship (either shachah or προσκυνεω) is not limited to Yahweh God alone, and was often received by humans as well. But how can this be reconciled with the passages quoted by AiG, which appear to say that worship does belong to Yahweh God alone? The context of these passages (Exod. 34:14-15; Deut. 16:13-14; Matt. 4:8-10) makes clear that these commandments are only forbidding the worship of false, pagan gods, and not forbidding the worship of humans in a position of authority (of which Jesus is absolutely one; Matt. 28:18). This is because biblical “worship” simply refers to the act of paying respect and honor to either a ruler or a deity.
Unfortunately, in the vast majority of Bible translations, the exact same words that are translated as “worship” when used in reference to God and Christ are variously translated as “bow down” or “pay homage” when used in reference to other humans. This obfuscates the true meaning of the word “worship”, making it seem as though Jesus is God, and is yet another example of blatant trinitarian translator bias. In summary, yes, Jesus is worshipped - but worship is not, nor should it be, limited to God [5].
Do Old Testament parallels prove that Jesus is God?
A comparison of the Old and New Testaments provides powerful testimony to Jesus’s identity as God. For example, a study of the Old Testament indicates that it is only God who saves. In Isaiah 43:11, God asserts: “I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior.” This verse indicates that (1) a claim to be Savior is, in itself, a claim to deity; and (2) there is only one Savior—the Lord God. It is thus highly revealing of Christ’s divine nature that the New Testament refers to Jesus as “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13).
This trinitarian argument, like so many others, is simply sheer nonsense. Certainly, God is the only savior, but this does not preclude the clear scriptural fact that many humans can also be called saviors. Many other passages in the Bible state that certain humans are saviors, raised up (i.e., commissioned as agents) by Yahweh: Othniel ben-Kenaz (Judg. 3:9), Ehud ben-Gera (v. 15), David (2 Sam. 3:18), Jeroboam ben-Jehoash (2 Kings 14:27), and many unnamed human saviors (Neh. 9:27, Obad. 1:21).
Does this mean that all of those other humans were actually God incarnate? Certainly not! The fact is that God is the only savior only in the sense that He is the ultimate source from whom all salvation comes, but He often acts out this salvation through the use of intermediaries. See, for example, Judges 2:16-18:
Then Yahweh raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them... And when Yahweh raised up judges for them, Yahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Yahweh was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them.
In almost the same breath, we are told that the judges saved Israel (making them, by the most basic definition of the word, “saviors”) as well as that Yahweh is the one who saved Israel. Which is correct? Both, because although the judges were the immediate cause of Israel’s salvation, God was the ultimate source of their salvific actions, being with them “all the days of the judge”. In the same way, we are told by Paul that “God was in Christ conciliating the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).
But what about Titus 2:13, which AiG quotes to ‘prove’ that Jesus is both God and Savior? As a matter of fact, this verse could either be translated as “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”, or “the great God and Jesus Christ our Savior” (in which case it would not be calling Jesus “the great God”). To use the Granville Sharp Rule in order to make this verse prove the deity of Christ is actually circular reasoning, as I argued in a previous post, because that rule requires that only one individual is in view (which is not true if Jesus isn’t the same as God). All that this verse definitely shows is that Jesus is our savior, which neither trinitarians nor unitarians would deny.
Likewise, God asserted in Isaiah 44:24: “I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself” (emphasis added). [sic] The fact that God alone “makes all things” (Isaiah 44:24)—and the accompanying fact that Christ is claimed to be the Creator of “all things” (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2)—proves that Christ is truly God.
As shown in the previous section, none of those three verses actually prove that Jesus was involved in the original Genesis creation of “the heavens and the earth”. Other verses show that Jesus was not involved in the original creation (e.g., Acts 17:24, 31; Heb. 2:10). Jesus is the creator of the “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17-18), not the old creation, and so this argument for the deity of Christ also fails.
In the next part of this critique of Answers in Genesis’ trinitarian apologetics, we will deal with their defense of the Trinity doctrine against “unitarian objections”. Spoiler alert: many of their so-called “objections” are complete straw men of actual unitarian arguments, and don’t engage with any of the objections that I raised in this post.
Part 2: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/05/is-jesus-god-answering-answers-in_01051501047.html
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[1] From A Distinctive Translation of Exodus With An Interpretive Outline
[2] Matt. 22:44; 26:64; Mk. 13:36; 14:62; 16:19; Lk. 20:42-43; 22:69; Acts 2:34-35; 5:31; 7:55-56; Rom. 8:34; 1 Cor. 15:25; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12-13; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22-24.
[3] Martin Luther’s translation translates el gibbor as simply “Held”, meaning “hero”.
[4] Notice the similarity of the Israelites worshipping “Yahweh and the king”, and Thomas’ exclamation in John 20:28, “My Lord, and my God!” In both cases, it seems likely that the worshippers are worshipping God along with someone else (in these cases, David and Jesus).
[5] Although there is definitely a sort of reverence that God alone deserves, which is why Jesus commands us, “the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk. 12:29-30). This sort of reverence is deserved by the Father alone, however, which is why Jesus says “the Lord our God” at the beginning of this passage rather than “the Lord your God” (cf. Jn. 20:17), and why Jesus elsewhere says that true worshippers worship the Father (Jn. 4:23-24).
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