Is God a Trinity?

Is God Father, Son and Spirit? Is this concept of God upheld by the Scriptures? In this multi-part series of essays, we will examine in depth the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and determine if there is evidence beyond reasonable doubt that this doctrine is valid or is God to be identified in some other way. 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is David Kroll.  I am married and have three children and five grandchildren. I have been an ordained Christian minister for the past twenty years and presently co-pastor a Christian church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

IS GOD A TRINITY? PART THIRTEEN


DID JESUS PRE-EXIST AS A NON-DIVINE SON OF GOD?

       I believe the material presented in this series provides evidence beyond reasonable doubt that God is not a Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit and that Jesus did not pre-exist as the eternal Son of God.  Some, who have come to this same conclusion, believe God created the Son and then proceeded to create the universe through this Son.  Is there evidence that Jesus pre-existed as a created, non-Divine and non-eternal Son of God?  We have looked at passages of scripture that can be interpreted in a way to suggest the Son of God existed before becoming Jesus.  Those who hold to the position that Jesus pre-existed as a non Divine and non-eternal Being, generally conclude this Being divested Himself of the glory, power and authority with which He was created and was born as a totally mortal human person having only the limited power and authority the Father granted to Him as a human Son.  Since, as a created Being, He was not eternal and did not possess inherent immortality, this is felt to remove the Trinitarian problem of an immortal Being divesting himself of immortality.  

       It is believed that in divesting Himself of His former glory, He placed Himself at risk of forever losing this former glory should He not be successful in His mission to become the sinless Savior of mankind.  Since He was successful in completing His earthly mission, Jesus is seen as having restored to Him the glory He had before becoming a human.

       This position is very problematical.  Those who purpose that God created a pre-existent non-Divine Being called the Son who became the humanJesus, believe this pre-existent Being is the one through whom God created all things.  We are being asked to believe God created a non Divine and, therefore, non- eternal Being through whom He facilitated creation.  Yet in scripture we see it is through God’s word (logos) that the creation is facilitated.  We have shown in this series that the scriptures identify the logos of God as His wisdom, knowledge and understanding, His very breath, His very speech.  We have shown that the word of God is not an eternal Being called the Son or any other Being.  The word of God is Gods cognitive function as expressed by and through the power of His Spirit.  Therefore, the word of God is eternal as God is eternal.  Obviously, God’s word has always been with Him as a dynamic of who He is.

       This being the case, there is no reason to believe God created a non eternal Being through whom He created all things. God created all things through the power of His word which is eternal with God.  To conclude God created all things through a created non-Divine and non-eternal Being is to conclude this Being is His word which is to return to the Trinitarian position that the word of God is the Son and is eternal. If this Being is eternal, He could not divest Himself of his eternity to become the mortal man Jesus who was able to die. Therefore, this position is an oxymoron.

THE NATURE OF THE WORD OF GOD:

       What is the nature of the word (logos) of God?  This is the critical question of this entire discussion. If the word of God is the Son of God, then obviously the Son has existed eternally with the Father as the Father could not exist without His word.  If the word of God is not the Son, to postulate the Son was created at some point in eternity past and was the agent through whom God created all things is invalid as the scriptures plainly show God created all things by His word which by necessity is eternal with God.  If the word of God is not the Son, the Son is not the agent whereby God created all things. If the word of God is not the Son, both the Athanasian and Arian positions are invalid.  The only other position available is that the Son began His existence as the Christ, the anointed of God, nearly 2000 years ago in a small town called Bethlehem.      

       The phrase “word of God” (logos of God) occurs dozens of times in the NT narrative. By context this phrase is seen to express the words (speech) of God and does not in any way convey the idea the word of God is a person called the Son.  In John 17:17, Jesus said His Father’s word (logos) is truth. In Luke 4:4, Jesus said, man should live by every word (logos) of God. There is nothing here to indicate Jesus was referring to Himself as the literal word of God in these passages.  In Ephesians 6:17, Paul likens the word (logos) of God to being the sword of the Spirit.  The writer to the Hebrews says something similar.

       Ephesians 6:17: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (logos) of God.   

       Hebrews 4:12: For the word (logos) of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

       Is the writer talking about the person of the Son of God when discussing the word of God?  Is it the Son of God who is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword?  Some believe that because John, in the Revelation, writes that the name of Christ is the Word of God, Jesus is the actual literal word of God. Is this the case?

       Revelation 1:16: In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

       Revelation 19:13-15: He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word (logos) of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.

       Paul, the writer to the Hebrews and John are using symbolic language to describe the word of God.  This word is seen as coming out of the month of Christ.  If Christ is this word, then how can it be seen as coming out of His month?   In Revelation 1:2 John writes of testifying to the “word (logos) of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  Here we see Jesus as distinct from the logos of God. 

       Revelation 1:1-2: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw--that is, the word (logos) of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

       Logos is consistently seen as the expression of the thought, will and purpose of God.  Christ can certainly be looked upon as the word of God personified, as Jesus clearly represented the logos of God, His Father. This doesn’t mean the Son of God is the literal and actual spoken word of the Father.  In the OT the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek logos appears hundreds of times in association with God and by context is seen to express the thought and will of God.

       There simply is no scriptural reason to conclude the word of God is an eternally existing person called the Son or a created person called the Son. The word of God is the spoken expression of the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, purpose and overall will of God.  Jesus Christ, as the humanly begotten Son of the One God, was the human agent through whom the Father’s word was perfectly expressed. This doesn’t make Jesus that word but the vehicle through whom such word is expressed. Jesus is the personification of the Father's word. One dictionary definition of personify is to be “the perfect example of something.” Another definition is “to perfectly represent something.” Jesus perfectly represented the word of his Father God.  The scriptures symbolically picture the word of God as a sword.  The scriptures picture the word of God as a sword coming out of the month of Jesus because Jesus represents the logos of God. Representing something, however, does not make you that something.

       When the American Secretary of State travels abroad, she represents the President of the United States. She expresses his will in her dealings with other heads of state. She becomes the virtual mouth piece of the President. No one would conclude from this that she is the American President or that because she speaks for Him she is somhow an intrinsic part of him, that she is literally his speech.

       It is through and by the word of God that all things were created, including the Son. Because of the Son's direct begettal by the Father, the Son became the human personification of His Father's word. The Father's word is not a literal person called the Son.  The word of the Father is the expression of His attributes of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, will, purpose, light, truth, love and life. Jesus personifies these attributes.  Jesus is not intrinsically these attributes. Only the one God, the Father, is intrinsically these attributes. These attributes define the very nature of the Father. Christ was a reflection of these attributes.  Jesus mirrored these attributes of His Father. Jesus was the image of these attributes as scripture teaches. This is why Jesus could say, "If your have seen me you have seen the Father."

       Being the image of the Father, however, does not equate with being the Father as Oneness Theologians teach. It doesn't mean Jesus was co-equal with God as Trinitarians teach. Jesus said His Father was greater than He. Jesus also made a very telltale statement which is recorded in three of the Gospels. I will quote it from Luke:

       Luke 18: 18-10: A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"  "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 

       Jesus did not consider Himself good in the sense and to the extent that God is good. Jesus plainly said God alone is good. If Jesus was God in the flesh and knew He was God in the flesh, He could not have made such a statement. Even though Jesus never sinned, He did not consider Himself good compared to God. This statement clearly shows Jesus did not consider Himself God.

       Scripture reveals God wants us to reflect His attributes. He has made His Spirit available to us to provide the necessary help to accomplish this. As we grow in grace and knowledge we become more and more a reflection of the nature of God as expressed by His word. This doesn't make us God. Luke writes that Jesus "continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him" (Luke 2:40: NAS). If Jesus was the actual word of God in human form, why do we see Him growing in wisdom?  He would already have complete wisdom as God.  It should be obvious Jesus grew in wisdom and knowledge like we all do with the major exception that He was given a full measure of God's Spirit from birth to facilitate such growth. Growing in wisdom didn't make Jesus God but resulted in Him representing the nature of God as expressed by God's wisdom, knowledge and understanding which are all intrinsically part of His word.   

       Jesus said He was the light of the world. Was He this light because He is God or because God was in Him and He therefore  personified the light that is His Father God. In 1st John chapter one, John writes that God is light. He goes on to distinguish between the God who is light and His Son whom He sent.

       1 John 1:5-7: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him (God) yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all  sin.

       John is saying that God is light and he distinguishes between God who is light and His Son Jesus.  This same John, in the Gospel of John chapter one, writes of the true light coming into the world. He associates this light with Christ. He is not saying Christ is intrinsically this light and therefore God. He shows in his epistle that God is light in distinction from the Son He sent. John is seeing Christ as the personification of the light that is God. When Jesus said He was the truth and the life, He was expressing the truth and life that is from the Father. Jesus did not have intrinsic life.  Jesus plainly said His life was given to Him by the Father.

       John 5:26: For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.

       Jesus makes it plain that it is the Father who has intrinsic life. Other scriptures, as covered in this series, show that God alone has innate immortality. All life, both temporal and eternal, comes from the one God.  This includes the temporal and eternal life granted to the Son of God who was the Christ, the prophesied  anointed of God. Jesus said He came to reveal the life which is intrinsic to the Father and that is exactly what He did.

       As to the matter of Christ's glory, the scriptures do not show Jesus being restored to glory but being exalted to glory as a result of successfully completing His earthly mission. The scriptures show Jesus being exalted to the right hand of God as a virtual reward for what He accomplished as Messiah.  Jesus is described in scripture as a prophet like Moses and a descendant of David who was obedient to the will of God. While the scriptures show His birth was supernaturally facilitated, the scriptures also show He became the Son through this birth and not that He already was the Son. Luke and Matthew show the conception of Jesus resulting from the power of God and because of this Divine conception, Luke says the “holy one that will be born will be called the Son of God.”  Jesus is to be called the Son of God because He is conceived by God and therefore God becomes His Father. This gives strong indication that Jesus became the Son at His human birth and did not pre-exist as the Son or any other Being.        

       We must be careful not to jump to the conclusion that when scripture speaks of God sending His Son into the world that this indicates a pre-existence for the Son.  In John 1:6 it is recorded “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.” This doesn’t mean John pre-existed because God sent him.  It was a common Hebrew and Aramaic idiom to say that something came down from God when God was the cause. Something or someone coming down from heaven is a common expression in scripture.  This doesn’t mean a literal coming down but an identification of the cause or source of the thing coming down. Even though the NT was written in Greek, the thoughts and idioms are often Hebrew or Aramaic as this was the language spoken by the people.  

       The primary scriptures used to support a non-Divine pre-existence are Paul’s comments in his letter to the Philippians and several  statements by Christ alluding to a former glory to which He was about to return to.  We have examined these passages and found they can be interpreted in a way other than to suggest a pre-existence for Jesus.  I believe a non-pre-existence interpretation is justified for these passages as I believe the overall scriptural evidence is much weightier in support of a non-pre-existence for the Son except for pre-existing in the purpose and plan of God.        

       Our discussion throughout this series has brought me to believe the evidence points to the conclusions delineated in these final installments in this series. As I wrote at the beginning of this series and reaffirmed throughout this series, I was going to go where the evidence led me.  I believe the evidence leads to the conclusions expressed in these final installments.    

       I know the Trinitarian concept of God is entrenched in the Christian consciousness. I know my conclusions will appear radical to many.  I know there are other Non-Trinitarian concepts as to the origin and nature of Jesus.  I only ask that readers carefully study the material presented in this series before reacting to the conclusions I have drawn.  If someone can effectively show the Trinitarian concept to be correct despite the many challenges to its validity, or can effectively show a different Non-Trinitarian view to have greater evidence than the one I am proposing, I will be more than happy to consider the evidence.  I only ask that responses to what I have covered be constructive and evidence based and not just emotional reactions to what I have written.

       This concludes this series of essays examining the issue of the Trinity and the nature of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. What follows are several addendum's that examine some of the teachings of Athanasius who is considered by some "the father" of Trinitarianism.

ADDENDUM #1