A while back (a year ago, in fact) there was a long debate on this site about the Trinity, starting with the posting of a debate between Brant Bosserman and Sean Finnegan at the One God Conference. The comments continued for a couple of months, and the thread was picked up again a few times since then, the most recent being February of this year. One of the better arguments brought up by the Trinitarians was that Jesus said in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” This is taken by Trinitarians to mean that Jesus raised himself from the dead.
A new player on the biblical unitarian field is a man who calls himself “Servetus the Evangelical.” Michael Servetus, was the incredibly brilliant medical doctor who discovered pulmonary circulation and the remarkably talented theologian who wrote De Trinitatis Erroribus (On the Errors of the Trinity) in 1531 and Christianismi Restitutio (The Restoration of Christianity) in 1553. He was immediately banished from Spain after his first book was published and he changed his name from Miguel Serveto to Michel de Villeneuve. After a time he began correspondence with the famous French reformer John Calvin who was running Geneva, Switzerland as his own utopian project. Calvin sent Servetus his famous Institutes of the Christian Religion, which Servetus promptly read and filled its margins with annotations and corrections before sending it back to Calvin. Naturally, Calvin was enraged and actually cooperated with the Catholic authorities (whom he despised) to get Servetus arrested. Fortunately, Servetus successfully escaped but then found himself on the run.
I’ve often thought that the “incarnation” excuse of trinitarians is totally absurd. A “fully God” AND “fully man” Jesus just wouldn’t be temptable. One of the givens about God that we know from Scripture is that he is NOT capable of being tempted (James 1:13).
Therefore if Jesus is God, then Satan has got be a total moron. Trying to tempt God (who cannot be tempted) would be a total waste of time. And I for one don’t think that if Satan is capable of deceiving the entire world (Rev 12:9), he would be stupid enough to even try to tempt God Himself. Therefore if Satan really did tempt Jesus (and that’s what our Bibles tell us) then it would seem to me that ol’ “serpent of old” knows something the trinitarians don’t know.
Randy recently made the following query:
I agree with your theology regarding One God… my question today tho after reading an article is how does one explain this verse which seems to speak of the pre-existance of Christ:
John 8:55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
I thought I would do a 2-for-1 for this post. The first is raising the question, who raised Jesus from the dead? This almost seems like a trick question. I recently came across an article by this title on the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals web site. For those of us who believe that the Scriptures teach one God, the answer is quite simple. It gets a little more complicated if you believe in the trinity. Here is an excerpt from that article:
But one thing the Bible is not shy in speaking about is the answer to the question “Who raised Jesus from the dead?” Perhaps the most pointed answer was given by Peter in his Pentecost sermon, just weeks after the resurrection: “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). The answer is that “God raised him up.”
How Would You Respond? (HWYR)
I received the following email from a fellow biblical unitarian:
Sean,
I Peter 1:11 says, “seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
What do you think about this passage? It’s rather a strange text and no other one quite like it that I’ve found.
I had a trinity friend of mine, bring this to my attention… I’ve read it a million times and never thought about it as pre-existence until she thought she had a proof text for me!
How can the Spirit of Christ be in the prophets if Christ was not yet alive? What do you think?
In my personal theology library I have a lot of materials that my father (a life long unitarian Advent Christian and devout arm-chair theologian) collected over the years. It is my quest to go back through these many papers, booklets, pamphlets, letters, magazines, & books and share (where possible) many of these excellent works. Many if not most of the writers of these are now dead and their works were never converted into the digital realm - certainly not posted out on the world-wide web where others can find/read them. Here is one such work that I have been wanting to get out for quite some time. This is a terrific piece by a former Advent Christian pastor (and family friend of my grandfathers) entitled “The Two Adams”. The booklet is 16 pages long, so I will break it up into four sections of four pages. I will transcribe it as faithfully as possible and keep everything just as it is presented in the booklet. I’m not exactly sure when this was written, but I’m guessing sometime in the 1960’s. Enjoy!
“He Was Calling God His Own Father, Making Himself Equal with God”
A Study of John 5.18
Jesus had just healed someone who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. I am not certain that he was born without working legs or that something crippled him. Whichever is the case, it is certain from what we are told in the Scriptures that for the last thirty-eight years this man could not walk. Unlike the disabled in America in the twenty-first century, at that time there were no government assistance programs, no wheelchairs, no handicapped parking spots, no mandatory wheelchair accessibility for public buildings, no prosthetics, and no advanced surgical procedures. Furthermore, there were social stigmas attached to being infirmed in their society. Quite often people would think that the person had sinned, and so the lameness was divine retribution. In addition, the man would likely have been reduced to begging on the street just to make ends meet. No doubt, this man had great need.
A thorough consideration and refutation of the doctrine of the Trinity. Originally released as 12 tapes but now available on mp3, this series examines the doctrine of the Trinity proposition by proposition. Not only is this series approached from a biblical perspective, Don Snedeker also taps into the rich biblical unitarian resources of several authors from the 19th century. Furthermore, Don works through a number of texts typically used to support the Trinity and he demonstrates their true meaning based on their context. Click on the audio icon above to see the titles for each of the 12 mp3s in this comprehensive examination.
- Introductions A and B; Biblical Unitarianism Explained
- Three Types of Trinitarianism; The Word “Persons”; Language of Trinitarianism Not in the Bible
A Biblical View of God the Father
by Joel W. Hemphill
from the back of the CD set
Joel and LaBreeska Hemphill have been married for over 50 years. They have three children and six grandchildren. They have been preaching and singing gospel songs for over 45 years. Joel pastored Pentecostal Temple in Bastrop, LA for 10 years and also pastored Peytonsville Baptist Church in Thompson Station, TN for 13 months. They have traveled around the world, and along with their family, have written and recorded over 300 gospel songs. They have received six Dove Awards and had numerous number one songs.