God the Father
The doctrine of the Trinity insists that you believe Jesus is a divine “person” who is equal with the Father. To us this seems glaringly at odds with a host of scriptures that clearly and explicitly say otherwise. God our Father even seems a little indignant when He asks “To whom then will you liken me or shall I be equal?” (Isaiah 40:25) and in another place He says “I am YHWH and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” (Isaiah 45:5) The Old Testament is filled with statements like these and the New Testament likewise declares the unique supremacy and singularity of God’s Being. “For us (Christians) there is one God, the Father, and no other besides Him.” (I Cor 8:4-6)
Trinitarian Dogma Says God is Not Even a Person!
The trinitarian dogma we have inherited insists that God is not even a person! C.S. Lewis said it this way, “We must remind ourselves that Christian theology does not believe God to be a person.” I would suggest that instead of listening to C.S. Lewis we should remind ourselves that this kind of thinking is radically anti-biblical. How is it even possible that our theology has reduced God to some type of “substance” or “essence”? Another good question is this… Is Jesus Christ or any other being equal with God the Father?
The Trinity Says God is One Substance
Scripture has been subjugated to philosophy to create the illusion that God is a single essence or substance instead of a single divine Being. In the words of one writer, “God is one what in three whos” (whatever that means). The truth that the God of Israel is an intensely personal God has been replaced by a new belief that God should be thought of as one divine “essence or substance” instead of one Supreme Being. This drastic change transforms the God of Israel into an incomprehensible abstraction thereby depersonalizing the most personal of all beings!
The Trinity Has Some Big Problems
One Catholic scholar observes “a fundamental crisis over plausibility and acceptance of the church’s Christology (read trinity). Incomprehensibility, complexity and remoteness from life and the Bible are the themes of a crisis of belief.” Another notable Trinitarian scholar has acknowledged “We may have to admit that we don’t really know in what way God is one and in what different way He is three.” These are open admissions of the weakness and failure of trinitarian theology. We appreciate this kind of honesty! These are modern scholars who recognize the trinity has some very big problems.
The Bible Says God Has No Equal
On the other hand, “We speak that we do know…” (John 3:11) “For us there is one God, the Father, and no other besides Him” (I Cor 8:4-6) “For us there is one God the Father, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Tim 2:5) There is only one divine person we call God and He has no equal. We know Him as the Father and Jesus Christ is His miraculously conceived, resurrected and glorified human Son. This truth is so straightforward and clear that even children can understand it. It is absolutely and utterly biblical to say that God the Father has no co-equal “persons” beside Him. Remember this… God has no equal.
Jesus Never Claimed to be God’s Equal
The man Christ Jesus made it abundantly clear to His disciples that He did not consider Himself to be God’s equal. “My Father is greater than I…” (John 14:28) and that He (Jesus) said and did only what He had been taught by His Father. For example: “Of my own self I can do nothing…” (John 5:30) Jesus never claimed to be God’s equal but he did claim to be God’s son! Believing that Jesus is co-equal with the Father overrules the words and teachings of Jesus Himself and we think that’s a very bad idea. If you have accepted the notion that Jesus is co-equal with the Father you might want to reconsider. For your own sake please do.
PS: This isn’t hard to understand! The only reason it seems difficult is because our vision has been clouded and our hearing has been dulled by the archaic creeds and dogmas that still afflict the church. Be brave dear friend! Read the scriptures for yourself. See what Jesus said with your own eyes. Hear His words with your own ears. You’ll be glad you did. God Bless.
PPS: Please share this with a friend.
Copyright 2022 by Bob Shutes
Hello. You had some great points in this article, but I did want to address some fallacies. Within the point of Jesus having “never claimed to be God’s equal,” that is false. He absolutely did. In John 10:30, in the words of Jesus, He says “I and my Father are one.” That very much is claiming to be equal with God. Second, on the part of the “problems” with the Trinitarian belief, 1 John 5:7 should put any issues to rest. “For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word,* and the Holy Ghost: these three are one.”
*Throughout John 1, “the Word” is used in reference to God (vs. 1) and Jesus (vs. 14), which also speaks to the oneness and equality of Jesus and God
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for visiting WonderfulTheology and for your thoughtful comments. Please forgive my long delay in getting back to you but we have had some ongoing problems with the way our website forwards responses to comments like yours. Hopefully these issues are resolved now and we have at least a temporary workaround (that I am attempting to use today.) I would appreciate it if you let me know you have received this email, that you are able to open it and that it is readable.
I would like to reply first of all to the notion that Christ’s statement in John 10:30 “I and my Father are one.” means that the Father and the Son are equal. It seems to me that the main focus and intent here is to emphasize the unity of purpose and intent shared by the Father and the Son, not that they are somehow equal in being. Jesus did, after all, say “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28) and there is no reason to discount or neutralize this very clear statement about equality with the statement in John 10:30 that does not directly address that particular issue.
The idea that the Father and Son are one in shared purpose is the essence of what Jesus wanted to convey in John 10:30. This is in harmony with I Cor 3:8 that declares,”he that plants and he that waters are one”…. not one in any sense of personal equality but that they are one in purpose. I Cor 3:8 is speaking of a unity of will, intent and purpose. The one who plants and the one who waters share a single goal and I believe that is the message Jesus was trying to convey when He said “I and my Father are one.”
I’ll get back to you on I John 5:7 after I hear from you and know this got through to you.
God Bless,
Bob Shutes