I have been on a spiritual journey over the last 2 years. I have had a number of questions and have always asked God for godly wisdom. i.e. I have been searching for truth and understanding.
I have been made aware that Gnosticism and Greek thought had impacted Christianity over the centuries. So I wanted to know how far this influence had impacted our bibles and doctrines. Translators are influenced by their understanding of the Godhead and if they are Trinitarians then they will translate with that bias.
If we have the wrong ideas about certain parts of the gospel this might be a cause for apostasy when severe persecution and/or the 70th week (The Tribulation) starts. The enemy Satan will know which doctrines and teaching is in error and use this against Christians. Their faith could fail and bad decisions made.
This blog has made a number of posts on Jesus being begotten at the Beginning of Creation by God based on Tim Warner’s teaching. However my error was that it was still influenced significantly by Trinitarian thinking. A brother in Christ contacted me about my posts on Jesus being begotten by God as part of creation and posed a number of questions.
Genesis 1 has how many God’s?
Firstly he asked me the below question about which description of Godhead fits when reading Genesis 1:5 without any religious glasses on as a new believer would read it.
a. Monotheism = Eternal God = Father Alone = Unitarianism
Genesis 1:1-5 “In the beginning God (Father alone) created the heavens and the earth.
2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God (Father alone) was hovering over the face of the waters
3 “Then God (Father alone) said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.
4 “And God (Father alone) saw the light, that it was good; and God (Father alone) divided the light from the darkness.
5 “God (Father alone) called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day
Isaiah 44:24 “Thus says the LORD (YHVH), your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who makes all things , Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;
b. Monotheism = Eternal God = Father, Son & Holy Spirit (Co-eternal) = Trinitarianism
Genesis 1:1-5 “In the beginning God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) created the heavens and the earth.
2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) was hovering over the face of the waters
3 “Then God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.
4 “And God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) saw the light, that it was good; and God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) divided the light from the darkness.
5 “God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day
c. Monotheism = Eternal God = Father & Son (Co-eternal) = Binitarianism
Genesis 1:1-5 “In the beginning God (Father & Son) created the heavens and the earth.
2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God (Father & Son) was hovering over the face of the waters
3 “Then God (Father & Son) said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.
4 “And God (Father & Son ) saw the light, that it was good; and God (Father & Son ) divided the light from the darkness.
5 “God (Father & Son) called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day
He also quoted a few scriptures from the NT like John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
If you read the above three options for who is being referred to when the word “God” is used the only one that would come to mind is God the father alone. Thus the word “he” in verse 5 would refer to God.
I then watched some videos on Trinitarianism including one by Sean Finnegan on 5 Major Problems for Trinitarians and this really had an impact on me.
Here are some slides from that teaching:-
Therefore I have come to the conclusion that Jesus was not there at the beginning of Creation. He was begotten when the breath of God came upon Mary and this represents the position of Unitarianism. Trinitarianism does not stand up to scrutiny. The Catholic made this doctrine a foundation for their gospel and this teaching has been taught for centuries without ever being studied and challenged.
If you use the 8 points in Principles for Christians Studying the Word Of God that I have posted on this blog then Jesus being begotten at the beginning of creation does not meet the criteria.
The early church leaders and Jews did not have an understanding of Jesus being God or never being created. There should have been a specific teaching on the trinity and Jesus being God in the New Testament. There is not! There are scriptures that seem to indicate that Jesus is God but only if you have a Trinitarian mindset and assume that the term “Lord” (lowercase) relates to deity in the New Testament. It does not. The Greek word translated as Lord is “kurios” which does not denote deity.
Paul would have had to deal with dissent about Jesus being God as the Jews believed in the Shema that the true God was ONE. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29,32; John 17:3). We dont see any teaching by Paul defending the concept of the “trinity”.
In the Old Testament YHWH is translated as LORD (All Caps) over 6500 times and this does mean deity. It is God the Father proper personal name. But in the New Testament they translate the Greek word kurios as Lord (Matthew 8:8) and not master which is what it generally means. The writers of New Testament seem to change their use of Greek kurios to use only for Jesus once He had been resurrected and does not use this term for anyone else.
Many will have questions about the meaning of various scriptures that seem to indicate that Jesus is God and this blog will deal with those over the coming weeks and months.
Jesus being a man begotten by God (John 1:14,18; John 3:16,18; Acts 13:33, Hebrews 5:5; 1 John 4:9) via the spirit of God does not in any way undermine or lessen what Jesus did and accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection.
Jesus will be “god” (Supreme Authority) when he comes back to earth and reigns from Jerusalem. It is all about defining our terms properly.
Raymond
Living as a Christian in this World 