Refuting all trinitarian proof-texts: The Biblical Case for Unitarianism (part 1 of 8)

Refuting All Trinitarian ‘Proof-Texts’

Biblical Case for Unitarianism

The Old Testament

The Synoptic Gospels

The Gospel of John

The Acts of the Apostles

The Epistles of Paul

Hebrews and the General Epistles

The Book of Revelation

    A few months ago, I tried to ‘steelman’ trinitarianism by compiling a list of all the verses in the Bible that can be used to support the doctrine of the Trinity. As I systematically went through each book of the Bible, I was impressed by the sheer number of passages that have been used to support the Trinity and deity of Christ, and for a short time this actually convinced me that trinitarianism was true. [1] However, after examining each of these passages in their original language and context, I discovered that the Biblical case for the Trinity and deity of Jesus is weak to non-existent. Neither of these doctrines can be found in the Bible.

    I thought it would be useful to provide my notes on each of these passages: both my original notes, in favor of trinitarianism, and my later responses to those notes which show how the trinitarian interpretation is flawed. Hopefully this will encourage some of my fellow unitarian believers. But before I publish all of my notes on these trinitarian passages, I’ll first provide a positive Biblical case for unitarianism, showing how the Bible teaches that God just is one person — the Father of Jesus — and what the Bible actually teaches about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

    God according to the New Testament

According to trinitarianism, God is defined as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each one of these is fully God (in some way) and yet altogether they comprise the one God, who is the Trinity. However, in the New Testament, God is not a Trinity of three persons; on the contrary, the one God just is a single person, the Father of Jesus. This is shown multiple different ways in the books of the New Testament. [2]

    First, of the instances of the word theos (“God”) in the New Testament, an overwhelming majority refer to the Father alone. This is admitted by the Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, who states in the first volume of his book Theological Investigations,

when the New Testament speaks of ο θεος [theos, “God”] it is (with the exception of the six texts mentioned) the Father as First Person of the Trinity who is signified. Ο θεος signifies him and does not merely stand suppositionally for him... ο θεος in the language of the New Testament signifies the Father... All that is meant is that when the New Testament thinks of God, it is the concrete, individual, uninterchangeable Person who comes into its mind, who is in fact the Father and is called ο θεος. [3]

Although Rahner remained a trinitarian because of Catholic tradition, he showed that “God” almost invariably signifies the Father. In fact, with the exception of seven verses which might apply the title “God” to Jesus, [4] and one passage that debatably applies the title to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4), every single instance of the word “God” just refers to the Father. There is not a single instance in which “God” refers to the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit together. Although this is compatible with (most versions of) trinitarianism, it strongly supports unitarianism over any other theology.

    Second, all of the greeting benedictions from the letters of the New Testament include “God, the Father” and “the Lord Jesus the Messiah” or equivalent titles reflecting these two persons. This can be seen in Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Tit. 1:4; Phlm. 3; 1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Pet. 1:2; 2 John 3; Jude 1; and Rev. 1:4-6. All of these greeting benedictions reserve the title “God” for the Father alone, and none of them include the Holy Spirit at all in their greetings, with the sole exception of 1 Peter. This again strongly supports the view that God is the Father alone, over any other theology.

    Third, all of the presentations of the gospel in the book of Acts refer to the Father alone as “God” and speak of Jesus as a human chosen by God. For example, Peter says that Jesus is “a man attested to you by God,” whom “God anointed with holy spirit and power” (Acts 3:22; 10:38), and Paul says that God “is about to judge the world through a man whom He has appointed” (Acts 17:31). In fact, rather than being contradicted, Jewish theology is endorsed (Mark 12:28-34; John 8:54). If the Trinity were really central to Christian theology, then the apostles would be certain to include this in their evangelism, especially since this would have been an important point of disagreement with the other Jews. Thus, the fact that they didn’t include this strongly suggests that trinitarianism was not a part of their theology.

    Fourth, even when the writers of the New Testament include triadic formulas — that is, statements that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together — they typically refer to the Father as simply “God.” For example:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)

[For there is] one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in you all. (Eph. 4:4-6)

Messiah offered himself through the eternal Spirit as an unblemished sacrifice to God (Heb. 9:14)

But you, dear friends, building up yourselves in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, unto eonian life. (Jude 20-21)

There are many more examples where the three entities are together referred to, but only the Father is said to be “God”: Matt. 3:16-17; Acts 2:38-39; Rom. 1:1-4; 5:5-6; 8:3-4, 26-29; 15:16, 30; 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 12:4-6; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:3-14; 2:20-22; 4:30-32; 5:18-20; Phil. 3:3; Col. 3:16; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; Tit. 3:4-6; Heb. 2:3-4; 10:29; 1 Pet. 1:2; 3:18; 4:14; 1 John 5:6-12; Jude 20-21. Thus, the authors of the New Testament did believe in a ‘trinity’ of God, His Son, and His Spirit; but in their view, God was a member of the ‘trinity,’ not the Trinity itself. This supports unitarianism over any other theology.

    Fifth, throughout the New Testament, the Father is said to be the God of Jesus, even in his post-resurrection exalted state. After being resurrected, Jesus says, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God” (John 20:17). Likewise, Paul and the other writers of the New Testament often refer to God as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah” (Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3, 17; Col. 1:3; Rev. 1:5-6; 3:2, 12). This shows that, in the thought of the New Testament authors, the Father of Jesus was the most supreme being, even more so than His Son Jesus. Again, this is very surprising given trinitarianism, but entirely expected given unitarianism; thus, it strongly supports unitarianism.

    Sixth, in the New Testament, “God” only ever takes singular referring terms, like “I” and “He” and “Himself.” There is not a single instance in the NT where a plural pronoun is used to refer to God. Nor are plural verbs and adjectives used to describe God, even when describing the act of creation, which in trinitarian theology was accomplished by all three persons (Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6; 13:19; Rom. 1:25; Col. 3:10; 1 Pet. 4:19). But whenever two or more persons are described together, such as Jesus and the Father, plural referring terms are used (John 10:30; 14:23; 17:20-22). This strongly suggests that the New Testament authors believed God to be one person.

    Seventh, there is no term used in the New Testament to describe the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together. Sometimes unitarians say that because the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible, trinitarianism can’t be true; but this is a weak argument, since other important theological words like “monotheism” are also not found directly in the Bible. What’s more surprising given trinitarianism is that there is no word or phrase to describe the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together. If the God of the New Testament really comprised these three persons, it is extremely surprising that the authors of the New Testament didn’t have a name for this God. This again supports unitarianism over trinitarianism.

    Eighth, the Father of Jesus is explicitly said in the New Testament to be the only one who is God. When Jesus prayed to his Father, he said, “This is eonian life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Likewise, when speaking to the Jewish leaders, he referred to his Father as “the only God” (John 5:43-44). Paul wrote, “there is no god except one... there is one God, the Father” (1 Cor. 8:4-6 cf. Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5). Compare this to later trinitarian authors like Augustine, who said, “the Trinity is the one and only and true God” (De Trinitate 1.2); but there is no similar statement in the New Testament. This strongly supports unitarianism over trinitarianism.

    Ninth, when Jesus is called “Lord” in the New Testament, it is in a lesser sense than God is “Lord.” One of the most quoted Messianic texts of the New Testament is Psalm 110:1, “The LORD [Yahweh] said to my lord [adoni], ‘Sit at my right hand.’” [5] Here, the Messiah is referred to as a human lord (adon) in distinction from “the LORD” Yahweh. Given their use of this psalm, it makes sense that the authors of the New Testament would call Jesus “Lord;” but the psalm itself shows that the title “Lord” for the Messiah is lesser than “the LORD.” In the thought of the New Testament, Jesus became the “Lord” Messiah when he was exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:34-36; Rom. 14:9; Phil. 2:8-11). The use of this lesser title for Jesus is surprising if the New Testament authors believed Jesus to be God; therefore, it supports unitarianism over any theology which includes the ‘deity of Christ.’

    Each of these nine points independently suggest that God, in the thought of the New Testament authors, was a single person: the Father of Jesus. Taken together, this makes an almost incontrovertible case that in the New Testament, the title God uniquely signifies the Father of Jesus, and that He alone is God. The few instances in which Jesus may be called “God” are compatible with this thesis, because in the Old Testament, other human representatives of God are also referred to as “God” (Exod. 7:1; Psa. 45:6-7). Thus, in the New Testament, God just is a single person, the Father of Jesus.

    Jesus Christ: son of David, son of God

But if God is only a single person, the Father, then who is Jesus? According to the New Testament, Jesus is a human being (John 8:40; Acts 2:22, 23; 17:31; Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Tim. 2:5) who was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:10-11; Luke 4:18; John 1:32; Acts 10:38), who died for our sins and was resurrected on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4), being exalted by God to become Lord of the universe (Matt. 28:18; Acts 2:33-36; Rom. 14:9; Eph. 1:20-23; 1 Pet. 3:21-22), second only to God Himself (John 20:17; 1 Cor. 3:23; 11:3; 15:25-28; Eph. 1:17). After his resurrection, Jesus has been the most exalted being in the universe with the exception of God Himself; nonetheless, Jesus is not God Himself, who is his Father.

    How, then, should we understand the similarities between Jesus and God? As trinitarian apologists have pointed out, Jesus shares many of the honors, attributes, names, deeds, and even the throne of God. [6] However, this does not imply that Jesus is God Himself; rather, as I hope to demonstrate, this shows that Jesus is an authorized representative of God, specifically the ideal human Davidic king. Consider the following comparisons between the Davidic kings of the Old Testament and Jesus:

• The Davidic king was the “son of God” (1 Chron. 28:5; Psa. 2:6-7; 89:20, 26; Luke 1:32; John 1:49); so also is Jesus (Matt. 16:15-17; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; John 20:31; Rom. 1:4).

• David was the “firstborn” of God (Psa. 89:20, 27); so also is Jesus (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:6).

• The Davidic king was worshipped and served alongside God (2 Sam. 18:28; 1 Chron. 29:20; Psa. 2:11-12; 72:9, 11); Jesus is also worshipped, not as God, but as son of God and firstborn (Matt. 14:33; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:13-14).

• Songs of praise were directed to the Davidic king (Psa. 45:1-2); now they are directed to Jesus (Eph. 5:19-20; Rev. 5:9-10).

• God invested his attributes, including glory, majesty, faithfulness, and lovingkindness, into the Davidic king (Psa. 21:5; 45:3; 89:24); the same is true of Jesus (John 1:14, 17; 17:1; Heb. 2:9).

• The Davidic king was referred to as “God” (Elohim) in a representative sense (Psa. 45:6; Zech. 12:8); so also is Jesus (Heb. 1:8).

• Solomon, as representative of God, was savior of Israel (Psa. 72:12-14); Jesus, as Messiah and representative of God, is savior of the world (John 4:42; Acts 5:31; 2 Cor. 5:19).

• David was given power to still the waters of the sea (Psa. 89:9, 25); so also was Jesus (Mark 4:35-41; 6:45-51). [7]

• God invested Solomon with the authority to judge Israel (2 Chron. 9:8; Psa. 72:1-2); God invests Jesus with the authority to judge the world (John 5:22-23; Acts 17:31).

• The Davidic king ruled over the kingdom of God (2 Chron. 9:8; 13:8); now Jesus rules over the kingdom of God (Col. 1:13; Rev. 11:15).

• Solomon sat upon the throne of God (1 Chron. 29:23; 2 Chron. 9:8); Jesus also sat down upon the throne of God (Rev. 3:21; 7:17; 22:1, 3).

    These comparisons show that many of the things said about Jesus in the New Testament are also said about the human Davidic kings of the Old Testament. Both Jesus and the Davidic king share the honor due God (worship), the attributes of God (glory and lovingkindness), the name of God (“God”), the deeds performed by God (saving and judging), and the seat of God (His throne and kingdom). However, neither Jesus nor the Davidic king is God Himself, as shown by the fact that they both were given their authority by God (1 Chron. 28:4-5; Psa. 2:6-9; 89:19-29; Acts 2:36; 5:31; Phil. 2:9-11) and God is still their God (2 Sam. 22:3; 1 Kgs. 3:7; John 20:17; Rev. 3:2, 12).

    To be sure, Jesus is exalted to a much higher degree than the Davidic kings of the Old Testament. The Davidic king was the son of God, but Jesus is the “unique” (monogenes) Son of God (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:8). Whereas the Davidic king was only given representative authority over the land of Israel, Jesus was “given all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). He is worshipped by angels, not just by other humans (Heb. 1:6). He was even given “the name above all names,” that is, the name of Yahweh (Phil. 2:9 cf. John 17:11, 12). Nevertheless, this does not somehow remove Jesus out of the realm of humanity, and agrees with the depiction of exalted humans and angels in contemporary Jewish literature. [8] Thus, Jesus is not God, but a human — a human who has been “crowned with glory and honor” and “made perfect” (Heb. 2:6-9; 5:9) but a human nonetheless.

    If you make Jesus into God, you miss some of the most important points of the New Testament, such as Jesus’ perfect obedience to God, which we should regard as an example to follow (Mark 14:36; John 6:38; 15:10; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 5:8-9). You miss the fact that Jesus, in his resurrection, has regained what Adam lost, becoming “the image of God” so that we can be remade like him (Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:22, 45-49; 2 Cor. 3:18-4:6; Phil. 3:20-21; Col. 1:15; Heb. 2:6-9). You also run the risk of falling into idolatry by worshipping Jesus instead of God, rather than to the glory of God (Rom. 1:25; Phil. 2:11 cf. John 5:23; 12:44). Moreover, if Jesus is God, then he did not die, because God is undying (Ps. 102:27; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16); which denies an essential part of the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-3). For all of these reasons, it’s important to recognize Jesus as a human being who is the exalted Lord of all, but not as God, who is his Father.

     Who or what is the Holy Spirit?

As I have shown so far in this post, God is the Father alone, and Jesus is His human Son who, as the ideal Davidic king and Messiah, has been exalted to God’s right hand over all things. Who or what, then, is the Holy Spirit, which traditionally is the third person of the Trinity? The Holy Spirit is typically considered by most Christians to be a conscious being, separate from the Father and Jesus. However, in the Bible, the Holy Spirit refers to the power and personal presence of God, the Father, rather than a conscious person separate from the Father and Jesus.

    In the Old Testament, the spirit of God is commonly used to describe God’s power in creating and giving life (Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; 33:4; Psa. 33:6; 104:30). God also empowered the prophets by His spirit, by which He told them what to speak and do (Num. 11:25-29; 24:2; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Chron. 15:1; 24:20; Neh. 9:30; Isa. 59:21; 61:1-3; Ezek. 3:24; 11:5; Zech. 7:12). The spirit of God is equated with the breath of God (Exod. 15:8; 2 Sam. 22:18; Job 33:4; 34:14) and the hand of God (Ezek. 3:14; 8:1-3; 37:1). It is also equated, by Hebrew parallelism, with the presence of God (Psa. 51:11; 139:7) and with God Himself (1 Sam. 16:14; 18:12; Psa. 143:10; Isa. 30:1; 40:13). Thus, the concept of God’s spirit in the Old Testament simply refers to God’s powerful presence, not a person separate from God. [9]

    The spirit of God was viewed the same way during the ministry of Jesus. The spirit of God is equated with “the finger of God” (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20) and “the power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35 cf. Acts 1:8; 10:38). Jesus, like the prophets of the Old Testament, was anointed and empowered by God’s spirit at his baptism (Mark 1:10-11; John 1:32; Acts 10:38) by which God told him what to say and do (Mark 1:12; Luke 2:27; 4:16-21; John 3:34). Those who say that Jesus’ power is from demons blaspheme the holy spirit by denying that God empowered him (Matt. 12:24-32). Jesus was resurrected by the spirit (Rom. 1:4; 8:11; 1 Pet. 3:18) — that is, by the power of God the Father (Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 6:14; Gal. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:10). Thus, in the ministry of Jesus, the spirit continues to refer to God’s power and presence, and not a person distinct from Him. [10]

    After Jesus’ ministry and exaltation, we now receive the holy spirit in a fuller sense than before. According to Paul, this spirit is as though we are gazing at God’s glory with unveiled faces; it is the full presence of God, so that “the Lord [Yahweh] is the spirit” (2 Cor. 3:13-18 cf. Exod. 34:33-35). [11] When the holy spirit comes to us, it is also said that the Father comes to us (John 14:16, 23, 26); and when the holy spirit is within us, it is also said that God is within us (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:22). Thus, the holy spirit still refers to the presence of God, but more completely than before.

    Furthermore, the holy spirit is now also the extended presence of Jesus himself. When Jesus was raised, he was given the privilege to pour out the spirit (John 20:22; Acts 2:33) although it is still ultimately God, the Father, who gives the spirit (Acts 15:8; 1 Cor. 2:12; Gal. 4:16; Eph. 1:17). Because Jesus is involved in giving the spirit, it is also said to be the spirit of Jesus (Rom. 8:9; Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19 cf. 1 Cor. 15:45). Therefore, when the holy spirit comes to us, it is said that Jesus comes to us (John 14:16-28; 15:26; 16:7, 17); and when the holy spirit is within us, it is also said that Jesus is within us (Rom. 8:9-10; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:16-17). Through the spirit, Jesus is able to extend his physical presence and be with believers at all times (Matt. 18:20; 28:20). [12]

    Thus, the holy spirit is the personal presence of God and Jesus, but not a person in itself. This is shown in multiple ways in the New Testament. For one, unlike God and Jesus, the holy spirit is never given a name, which is surprising if it were a separate person. Likewise, whereas the greeting benedictions of the New Testament epistles invariably include both the Father and Jesus, none of them include the holy spirit, with the sole exception of 1 Peter. In addition, believers are said to know and have fellowship with God and Jesus, but not the holy spirit (John 17:3; 1 John 1:3; 2:22-24; 2 John 9). No one in the New Testament ever speaks to, prays to, worships, or personally interacts at all with the holy spirit.

    How, then, should we understand the passages in which the holy spirit is said to perform personal actions, like “abide,” “teach,” “guide,” “speak,” “intercede” (John 14:17, 26; 16:8, 13; Rom. 8:26)? This is most likely personification. In the discourse where most of this personification takes place, Jesus says explicitly that he is speaking figuratively (John 16:25). Furthermore, the ‘actions’ of the holy spirit overlap those of the risen Jesus: both are said to be “the Advocate” (John 14:26; 1 John 2:1) and both intercede for us (Rom. 8:26, 34) and speak through us (Mark 13:11; Luke 21:14-15). Likewise, when the spirit of God is said to have emotions, this is the same figure of speech by which human spirits are said to have emotions (Gen. 26:35; Dan. 7:15; Matt. 26:41; Acts 17:16; 2 Cor. 7:13).

    In summary, the holy spirit is not a person in either the Old or New Testament. Instead, it is a description of God’s powerful presence; not God Himself, although it is sometimes equated with God, but one of His attributes by which He interacts with the world. After Jesus’ resurrection, the definition of the holy spirit was expanded to include Jesus’ extended presence, because God gave him the authority to pour out the spirit. However, although the holy spirit is certainly personal, being the personal presence of God and Jesus, it is not a person.

    Concluding remarks

The New Testament, and the Bible as a whole, clearly teaches unitarianism — that God just is a single person, the Father of Jesus. It also teaches that Jesus is the human Messiah who has been anointed and exalted by God over all things, and that the holy spirit is the personal presence of both God and Jesus which dwells within believers. Although there may be verses which, when taken out of their larger context, may appear to support trinitarianism and the deity of Jesus, that is not the overall teaching of Scripture. In the next post, I’ll begin to publish my notes refuting every verse that has been used to support trinitarianism, starting with the passages from the Old Testament.

Refuting All Trinitarian ‘Proof-Texts’

Biblical Case for Unitarianism

The Old Testament

The Synoptic Gospels

The Gospel of John

The Acts of the Apostles

The Epistles of Paul

Hebrews and the General Epistles

The Book of Revelation

______________________________

[1] You can see the list of passages that initially convinced me here.

[2] Dale Tuggy, “The Unfinished Business of the Reformation,” in Herausforderungen und Modifikationen des klassischen Theismus Band 1: Trinität, eds. Thomas Marschler and Thomas Schärtl (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2019): 204-223.

[3] Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations Vol. 1 (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1982): 143-146.

[4] Murray J. Harris, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1992): 270-275; but see Dale Tuggy, “Biblical Words for God and for his Son Part 1 — God and ‘God’ in the Bible,” YouTube, 23 April 2018.

[5] Direct quotations or allusions to Psa. 110:1 can be seen in the following passages: Matt. 22:44; 26:64; Mark 13:36; 14:62; 16:19; Luke 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.

[6] Robert M. Bowman and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007).

[7] J. R. Daniel Kirk and Stephen L. Young, “‘I Will Set His Hand to the Sea’: Psalm 88:26 LXX and Christology in Mark,” Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 (2014), 333-340.

[8] See the depiction of the exalted Enoch in 1 Enoch (46:1-4; 48:2-10; 62:5-9; 69:26-29; 71:14); the exalted Moses in Exagoge 68-86; the angel Yahoel in Apocalypse of Abraham 10; and the exalted Enoch-Metatron in 3 Enoch 11-12.

[9] JD Douglas, FF Bruce, JI Packer, N Hillyer, D Guthrie, AR Millard, and DJ Wiseman, The New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1982): 1137; James D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making, 2nd ed. (London: SCM Press, 1989): 133; Jacob Neusner and William Scott Green, Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996).

[10] James D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making, 137-141.

[11] Ibid., 143-144.

[12] Ibid., 141-148.