The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Did Jesus teach the Trinity?

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

  1. Jesus did NOT say that He had seen Abraham. Nor did Abe see HIm - Abe did prophetically see His ‘day’; no doubt it was the Messiah whose day he saw.
  2. I think the Jews intentionally perverted what Jesus had stated. Maybe they were hoping for a 'Yes" answer, which would have given them a good excuse for stoning?
  3. Jesus did not answer Yes. He did not answer their fabricated question. He did, imo, state that as Messiah, He had been in the Father’s plans from the very beginning. Something like: "“Before Abraham was, I was already, in God’s plan, the Messiah.”

If He was speaking of his pre-existence, he could have said Yes. If he had spoken of his pre-existence, one would think that one or more of the other Gospels might have mentioned that, oh by the way, Jesus is very God of very God, or something to that effect? It would seem to be an important point.

Forgive the length of this, but here is a (fairly short) essay by Larry Furtado:

Questioning a Common Assumption
May 13, 2014
First, a quote: “The Church cannot indefinitely continue to believe about Jesus what he did not know to be true about himself,” J. W. Bowman, The Intention of Jesus (London: SCM, 1945), p. 108.

This is not really a historical claim but a theological one, and it reflects a common assumption: The assumption that the theological/religious validity of claims about Jesus rest upon what Jesus believed and taught about himself. In my book, Lord Jesus Christ (pp. 5-9), I’ve noted the irony of how this assumption has been shared by critics and advocates of Christian faith, and also how it has worked mischief in the historical investigation of Christian origins.

Operating on this assumption, apologists of traditional christological claims have striven to argue that Jesus really did teach them, e.g., that he is divine and worthy of worship. Typically, this has meant trying to show, for example, that the distinctive discourse that we find in the Gospel of John really is the best index of Jesus’ own self-perception and teaching about himself (thereby distorting this remarkable text and making it serve a purpose for which it was never intended).

Also, and ironically, operating on the same theological assumption, critics of traditional Christian faith have often argued that Jesus didn’t actually make direct claims for divinity and make himself worthy of worship. Instead, they have emphasized (with greater plausibility), it appears that these “high” claims about Jesus emerged only after Jesus’ execution (in what is sometimes called the “post-Easter” period). It is this sort of argument that is the burden of Bart Ehrman’s most recent book: How Jesus Became God (HarperOne, 2014). (Yeah, I know. Bart repeatedly claims that he’s not trying to “dis” Christian faith, and he generally maintains a respectful tone, but at times he slips and his disinterested claims seem a bit coy.)

So, how is it that this assumption came to be held as self-evident truth, shared both by apologists and critics of Christian faith? Well, it seems to derive from a very clever and historically successful move made in the 18th century by people now referred to as “Deists”. As Jonathan Z. Smith showed in his little tome, Drudgery Divine (1990), the Deists set out to drive a wedge between the “historical” Jesus and the NT (and traditional Christian faith). Taking a cue from the Protestant argument that church teaching had to be based in the NT, Deists argued in turn that NT christological claims had to be based in Jesus’ own teaching. They then further argued that a critical approach toward the “historical” Jesus did not provide a sufficient basis for traditional christological beliefs.

Now the interesting bit is that this (originally Deist) argument was wildly successful, at least in setting the terms of the ensuing theological and scholarly debate. That is, even those (e.g., advocates of traditional Christian faith) who opposed the Deists’ conclusions accepted their terms for the debate that followed (right down to our day): Jesus’ own teaching about himself was the criterion of legitimacy for any claims about him.

So, what you have is a fundamentally theological issue becoming the shared assumption for a great deal of subsequent historical investigation. And the result, as I’ve said, was a great deal of mischief: Christian apologists producing contorted historical arguments trying to pump up maximally what might be attributed to Jesus, and critics of traditional Christian faith (e.g., the Deists, the old religionsgeschichtliche Schule scholars and their intellectual descendants) contending that these claims were invalidated by the evident historical events/process through which they had emerged.

But I’d like to make two observations. First, the earliest extant Christian texts themselves make it perfectly clear that the “high” notions about Jesus sharing in divine glory, exalted to heavenly status, worthy of worship, etc., all erupted after Jesus’ ministry, not during it, and that the crucial impetus for these notions was what earliest believers saw as God’s actions, particularly their belief that God had raised Jesus from death to heavenly glory. (See, e.g., Philippians 2:9-11; Acts 2:36).

To be sure, Jesus generated a devoted following during his ministry, and (as I have argued in Lord Jesus Christ, 53-64) also generated a strong polarization of opinion about himself, which led to him being crucified. Indeed, as numerous scholars judge, Jesus (whether intentionally or not) likely generated the claim that he was (or was to be) Messiah, which seems to have been the cause of him being executed. But Messiah isn’t necessarily a “divine” figure in any real sense of that term, and certainly not typically a figure who receives the sort of devotion that was given to the “risen/exalted” Jesus in earliest Christian circles. (See my discussion of the question of how Jesus was reverenced during his ministry in my book, How on Earth did Jesus Become a God? esp. pp. 134-51).

To underscore the point, the remarkable escalation in the status/significance of Jesus to the “right hand” of God, to sharing the divine name and glory, and to the central and programmatic place he held in earliest Christian devotional practice all rested on the fundamental conviction that God has exalted him and now required that Jesus’ exalted status be recognized, and that he should be reverenced accordingly.

My second observation is this: Why should this be taken as some kind of threat to the theological legitimacy of traditional Christian faith? Why should the clever Deist tactic of the 18th century continue to be treated as a self-evident truth and the basis for apologists and critics of Christian faith in their continuing wrangles and debates? The fundamental theological basis given in the NT for treating Jesus in the “high” terms advocated is a theo-centric one: God’s actions form the basis of the responding christological claims and devotional practices. Considering this might be a really helpful move for all sides in any theological debate.

And setting aside the assumption that the validity of Christian faith can be weighed on the basis of the historical process by which it emerged could also make for better (or at least less antagonistic) historical work on Christian origins too.

Dave, what do you make of this account in John 20 (ESV):

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Was Thomas addressing the risen Jesus as “My Lord and my God”? Or was He just expressing surprise to find that Jesus was actually alive again, as some people express surprise by exclaiming, “My God!” But if the latter, why did he include “My Lord” as part of the expression? By exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” he seems to have regarded “My Lord” and “My God” as the same person.

Unless Thomas was actually making a Trinitarian claim, then there are 2 alternatives, I think.

  1. Thomas really thought that Jesus was in fact God the Father.
    or
  2. Thomas recognized Jesus as the Father’s true expression of what He Himself is like.

I opt for number 2.

Yep likewise. I suspect this would be one reason Jesus could say with all confidence… “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” i.e., Jesus was without doubt “the express image of His person…” etc.

I accept number 2 as well. Nonetheless, Thomas was calling Jesus both “Lord” and “God.”
That Jesus was the unique Son of God (there was no other) and the exact expression of the Father’s essence, implies that He was and is divine, and therefore qualifies Him to be called “God” without claiming Him to be the Father Himself.

Jesus often said that He was the son of man. The son of man is man. Jesus was a man. Although He didn’t go around saying that He was the Son of God, when asked the question, He didn’t deny it. Just as a son of man is man, so the Son of God is God.

I respect the position you have presented, Paidion - like everything you say, you have actual reasons and have put thought into them.

I’ve gotten to the point on this and other discussions - with all kinds of members here - where I have to stop and ask myself: What, in my striving to be found worthy in God’s judgment, does drawing a line in the sand actually accomplish? :

-the Deity of Christ
-the pre-existence of Christ
-the Trinity
-libertarian free will
-original sin

  1. Those topics have never been settled to everyone’s satisfaction but I have to believe : none of them are necessary for salvation, for Christian growth in grace, for bearing the fruits of the Spirit.

  2. Equally God-loving and God-honoring men/women have confessed those topics negatively and positively, agreeing or disagreeing.

  3. Such a magnificent doctrine as the Atonement is still not a settled matter; how much less important are distinctions such as those topics above, which can devolve into analytic philosophy or minutiae of Greek/Hebrew grammar?

  4. Those topics listed above are HUGE in evangelical circles. So HUGE that they tend to hide other rather large topics, that are more to the heart of the matter: the sovereign Love of God, the merciful and loving Grace of Jesus Christ, the fellowship and comfort of our Advocate, the Holy Spirit.

  5. I guess I’m saying that for fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, those topics are not decisive. A broken and contrite heart , love for God and one’s neighbor is worth more than all the disputes on those issues.
    6, The ARE, unfortunately, important for Christian 'fellowship". More important than the REALLY BIG STUFF, to many.

I enjoy discussions with the members here, and it is worthwhile to discuss Scripture in a way that we learn from one another. Sometimes, I just lose sight of the really big picture, though.

Dont we all.

From my perspective, I see it the way Paidion does. I think the burden of proof rests on the Trinitarians. Though for me it is a non-issue. that said, I have an issue when people try and push trinitiarianism on other people. In our church, I heard our elder worship the Holy Trinity and make it into some huge doctrine that was crucial to the Christian faith. I don’t think it is so crucial.

I suppose I am against dogmatic approaches to illogical and ambiguous things in the Bible. Hell, being a great example and and also the Trinity. Both defy logic of the known world. God created us to use logic and while logic could, in theory, fail us, it is clearly been given to us as a gift by God to use it.The people who claim logic is dangerous use logic to conclude that, which makes it altogether a ridiculous position in my mind.

Just to be clear, I have no issues with someone saying “I believe in the Trinity” - great. But when someone cross the lines and says “The Trinity is the Biblical position” or “True Christian’s must believe in the Trinity”, I have a problem with that. That said, since I don’t see any man as in authority over me, I don’t really care if someone is dogmatic over it in relation to my own opinion. But pushing it on the congregation to get more on your side is pretty messed up, in my opinion.

MacDonald said it best… People are better off with God teaching them and taking daring risks than sitting in the pew doing nothing but taking in traditional doctrines that are fed them by those who have been fed them without challenge or thought.

BTW - The ancient world is such a great example of this. The violence is perpetuated because their parents taught them that way, because they were taught that way, whose parents were also taught that way and so forth… The cycle will break eventually, when someone challenges the traditional approach and beliefs. But until then, violence perpetuates. Luckily we can see civilizations rise above this behavior. We see, at least in the civilized world, peace and pro peace and not to return violence for violence. As a general rule the 1st world as whole has rejected the ‘eye for eye’ mentality. It took some generation with great courage to challenge it for society to have progressed to where it is today in the 1st world. But in the 3rd world? It is still ruled by violence and cruelty. Not enough people have challenged what they were taught to change those cultures/nations to be what the rest of the 1st world is at this point. I see this exactly like traditional teachings passed on from religion. Most people only believe them because the were taught them at a young age and the kicker is… the people that taught them were also taught them at a young age and it goes forth back all the way to the beginning of when those traditions ensued. That is not to say I am anti-tradition, but I am when it comes to forcing beliefs and systems onto other people and claiming tradition as authority on the matter.

Well said, Gabe.

I don’t have a problem with Trinitarians either, Bob. I fellowship with Trinitarians every Sunday. The problem lies with some Trinitarians who insist that one cannot be a true Christian unless they believe that God is a Trinity. I have also occasionally fellowshipped with a group of Modalists some of whom believed that unless a person believes that God is a single divine Individual who expresses Himself in three modes of existence: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he is not a true Christian.

Exactly, I would even say that what I believe could be described as a blend of trinitarianism and modalism. Alas, I am bound for the fire wherever I turn :laughing:

I have taught in Modalist churches and Trintarian churches and received in fellowship by both. I have also ministered at the Biblical Unitarian bible college in Atlanta, and argued with Sir Anthony Buzzard, one of the main proponents of that view- but we also had sweet fellowship in Christ… In all those places I found more diversity of belief than any of the leadership would have been comfortable with. Too bad I cant quite figure it all out perfectly, my questions always get me expelled in the long run… it is the company line that gets the nod eventually, and you dont want to run afoul of it, until you are so assured in God of the delightful extent of the unfathomable mystery, that you no longer care if you are identified as a heretic, or wishy washy, or deceived :slight_smile:

Who has known the mind of the Lord,
Who has been His counselor.

[size=120]It isn’t only in Christendom, that it was taught that God is a Trinity:[/size]

[size=130]The Roman god Cerberus[/size]

[size=130]The god Kunst[/size]

[size=120]I am not sure what people group worshipped this god. I tried doing a google search, but all I could find was that “kunst” refers to art.[/size]

I guess even if we hang our hat on “the Word of God made flesh” then it again boils down to the meaning of “Word.”

And here is where non Trinitarians get things wrong. Look up the difference between Trinitarianism and Tritheism which we as Trinitarians don’t believe in.

And Cerberus is not classified as a god but as a 3 headed monster hound that guarded the Greek Underworld.

Well. What do you know. The Calvinist site Got Questions, actually made a 5 minute, YouTube video - on this topic. :smiley:

According to the following source re the Gnostic Valentinus:

“In the fourth century, Marcellus of Ancyra declared that the idea of the Godhead existing as three hypostases (hidden spiritual realities) came from Plato through the teachings of Valentinus,[10] who is quoted as teaching that God is three hypostases and three prosopa (persons) called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:”

" “Now with the heresy of the Ariomaniacs, which has corrupted the Church of God… These then teach three hypostases, just as Valentinus the heresiarch first invented in the book entitled by him ‘On the Three Natures’. For he was the first to invent three hypostases and three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he is discovered to have filched this from Hermes and Plato.[11]” "

“Since Valentinus had used the term hypostases, his name came up in the Arian disputes in the fourth century. Marcellus of Ancyra was a staunch opponent of Arianism, but also denounced the belief in God existing in three hypostases as heretical, and was later condemned for his teachings. Marcellus attacked his opponents (On the Holy Church, 9) by linking them to Valentinus:”

" “Valentinus, the leader of a sect, was the first to devise the notion of three subsistent entities (hypostases), in a work that he entitled On the Three Natures. For, he devised the notion of three subsistent entities and three persons — father, son, and holy spirit.[12]” "

“It should be noted that the Nag Hammadi library Sethian text Trimorphic Protennoia identifies Gnosticism as professing Father, Son, and feminine wisdom Sophia or as Professor John D. Turner denotes, God the father, Sophia the mother, and Logos the son.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinus_(Gnostic

James, this non-Trinitarian knows the difference. Subscribers to Tritheism believe in three Gods. Each of the heathen gods whose “picture” I posted was a single god with three heads. That is not tritheism.

Subscribers to Trinitarianism also believe in a single God, but a compound God consisting of three divine Individuals, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I understand that pretty well. I was a Trinitarian until I was over 30 years old.

However, some people who believe that God is a single Individual who expresses Himself in three different modes: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, think they are Trinitarians, but actually they are Modalists.

Some Modalists don’t want to accept that label. For example, the United Pentecostal Church prefers the label “Oneness.” David K. Bernard has written a book entitled, “The Oneness of God.” You can get Volume 1 free as a pdf file here:

pentecostalsofdadeville.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/the-oneness-of-god.pdf

I am not a Trinitarian. I am not a Modalist. I am not a classic Unitarian (in the sense that Jesus is not divine).

My belief is that of primitive Christianity—that the first of God’s acts was the begetting of the Son. I think that act marked the beginning of time.

God begat only ONE Son; Jesus is the only-begotten Son. When we beget children, they are human like us. When God begat His Son, that Son was divine like God. Just as all offspring of Adam and Eve can be called “man,” so the only-begotten Son of God can be called “God.” This is the sense in which the Word “was God” in John 1:1. Indeed, all extant manuscripts that date prior to 300 A.D. have the phrase “the only-begotten God” in John 1:18. The NASB has it right:

Speaking of fathers, Jesus had many. According to Luke 3:23-38, He was the son of Abraham to whom God made this promise: Gen. 17:5-6 “No longer shall your name be called Abram; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.”

He was the son of David to whom God made this promise: 1Kings 2:4 “So that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me(David), saying 'If your sons are careful of their way to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.”

He planted the same seed(the word of God per Luke 8:11) as His father Isaac. Gen.26:12 “Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold and the Lord blessed him.”

He was the son of Noah to whom God said this: Gen.9:1-2 "So God blessed Noah and his sons , and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on all that moves on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.”

He was the son of Adam, the son of God.

All these men were led by the Spirit, and according to Romans 8:11, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God(the Holy Spirit), they are sons of God. So in speaking of being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I believe the Father would be these Patriarchs who had the wisdom of God, as it says in Luke 1:17, “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just…”