Well obviously we are going to disagree on that point. I think it is very clear that those ‘plain faced statements’ are not plain at all. And, I’m not a unitarian btw. But the following appear sound and faithful to the scriptures:

“Philippians 2:5-11 is not Paul’s attempt to explain the “Incarnation” or how a divine being divested himself of his divine prerogatives. It is not an exposition about the preexistence of Christ. Instead Paul uses a real life example from the life of Jesus to illustrate his appeal for humility and mutual submission. Like Adam Jesus was in the “form of God.” Unlike Adam he did not attempt to become “like God.” Instead he chose to deny himself his rights and took on the form of a servant. In obedience to his Father he embraced the shameful death of the cross rather than attempt to seize likeness with God.”
“The so-called “preexistence” of Jesus in John refers to his “existence” in the Plan of God. The church has been plagued by the introduction of non-biblical language. There is a perfectly good word for “real” preexistence in the Greek language (pro-uparchon). It is very significant that it appears nowhere in Scripture, but it does in the writings of Greek church fathers of the second century. These Greek commentators on Scripture failed to understand the Hebrew categories of thought in which the New Testament is written.”

so sometimes, plain is not plain.
But we’ve made our positions know, and I hope there is sweet peace between us.

Dave, you brought up a good point. I agree that Greek commentators may have failed to understand the Hebrew thought in which the scriptures were written. I don’t believe in the pre-existence of Jesus as a third person of the Trinity because I don’t believe in the Trinitarian theory. Eaglesway, there are things that are said of Jesus that also apply to man which have been written about in the Old and New Testaments. However, you did bring up a good point about the name of God. This is one of the reasons I believe that Jesus was God in the flesh. In John 17:26, Jesus says this: " And I have declared to them Your name. Who knows, I may be reading into this from my own perspective, but from what I understand, Jesus never called God by any specific name. I don’t even think He called God Yahweh. There are plenty of passages where He refers to God as the Father. So, what is God’s name? My answer is Jesus.

And His Father’s name is:

In ancient Israel, God’s name seems to have been expressed by the Tetragrammaton.

In English, this is expressed with the letters “YHWH.” By inserting vowels, the word “Yahweh” was formed.

However God commanded that his name not be taken in vain. So sometime in the past, the Israelites came up with the thought that if they never pronounced the name of God, then they could not possibly take that name in vain. I don’t know when or how that decision was made—but is was.
Whenever God’s name appeared in the Scripture, the term “The LORD” was substituted. This was carried over in to the Septugint, the Greek translation that was made several hundred years before Christ. The English transliteration of the Greek is “ho kurios”. And so the New Testament writers in Greek always used “ho kurios” wherever YHWH occurred. Jesus quoted such Old Testament scriptures, but of course the writers of the Gospel wrote “ho kurios”. Thus even if Jesus, in quoting the OT had uttered the name “YHWH,” the writers would have written “ho kurios” in its place.

This practice had some wierd results, such as the following verse:

“The LORD” is not a name. But YHWH is.

Thanks Paidon. Good information.

Dave, For me , the name of the Father is Jesus.

Paidion, Your post is very interesting. Does Jesus ever call the Father Lord? I haven’t studied too much into this, but from what I understand, Yahweh simply means “He is”. If this is the case, the name does not give us much information about who He is. I think that in the Old Testament days, the changing of one’s name had great significance. I believe God gave Himself a new name, Jesus, one that is everlasting.

For mine, I have to agree with Paidion… “YHWH” is a name not a title. Yes like many names it carries a given meaning, but it is a name nonetheless.

I see YHWH as being a name tells us a tremendous amount about God.

God is the one truly pure being. His character and divine nature are utterly one. With Him there is no shadow of turning.

Titles are defining aspects of His relationship with us, but everything proceeds from who He is, and He Is That He Is.

“I have glorified my word above all my name”.

There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby they may be saved, than the name above every name. That name is only important because it identifies a particular person, and that person is who He is, and to know His name- but not know Him, means very little. But the name, and faith in that name as a connecting point to Who He Is is incredibly powerful.

Jesus is “the radiance of the Father’s glory and the exact representation of His nature”

We are being conformed to the image of Christ, and thus- partakers of the divine nature.

The gospel is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“For so it pleased the Father to make all the fulness dwell in Him.” All the fulness means a compelling manifestation of exactly who God the Father is in character and in nature.

“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

Jesus was the icon of God. Click on Jesus, YHWH comes out- click on Logos, the one who was with God in the beginning YHWH opens like a rose blooming in the desert right before your eyes.

it is(imo) for this reason that as every knee bows, and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that as all things are gathered into one in Christ, that God will be ALL IN ALL, because to be in Christ is to be in God and to be cdonformed to the image of Jesus is to be conformed to the image of YHWH, to be "filled up to all the fulness of God.

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

LLC, are you with a “Oneness” group such as the UPC or one of the “Apostolic” churches?
I’ve heard the statement “God’s name is Jesus” only from those groups.

However, having said that, it seems that the Father and the Son share the name “Yahweh.”

In his “Dialogue With Trypho,” Justin Martyr used Genesis 19:24 in support of that belief:

Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

Two Individuals are called “Yahweh” in this verse—one in heaven who was the source of the sulfur and fire, and one on the earth who was the agent by which the heavenly Yahweh rained the sulfur and fire.

In the context preceding this verse, three “men” came to Abraham. Two of them went on to Sodom, and one remained, whom Abraham addresses as “Yahweh.” Finally, Yahweh leaves Abraham and goes to Sodom to carry out the destruction.

There is also the concept that YHWH can take the face of His messengers. “He makes His messengers winds, His ministers flames of fire.” So in some cases you have angels speaking in the first person, as if, like water, He is able to move through out all His servants and appear in the first person.

"For it is God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness” who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."1 Cor 4

The wind blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it but you dont know where it is coming from or where it goe. So t is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.Jn 3:5

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights(photon),** with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow(YHWH)**. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. Jam 1:17

The word for lights is photon… interesting to me.

“A photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of all forms of electromagnetic radiation including light. It is the force carrier for electromagnetic force, even when static via virtual photons.”

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits(pneumaton) and live heb 12:9

The one true God is the father of all spirits, and with that He is the Father of Lights of whom Jesus is the brightest and through whom all the other lights came to be.

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. Heb 1:1-3

All this goes to the name YHWH who is who he is.

For He is the fulness of deity in bodily form,the glory of God in the face of Christ

“If any man has not believed out gospel it is because the god of this world has blinded the eyes of Him so that He cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ”

The veils will all be burned away by the light, “Upon this mountain I will destroy the veil that covers all the peoples”(Isaiah)… We are that mountain(Heb 12).

Come let us go to the mountain of the house of the Lord to seek His face and learn of Him

As we become transparent… pure of spirit, broken and contrite of heart, the glory of God shines out of us because we are no longer double minded, drinking and speaking out of two wells.

We are who we are, conformed to His image. He is all in all. We have no shadow of turning. Every hidden thing has been brought to light. His face is in our face. His words in our words. The fire has become the water of life. The clay become like a shining, transparent inwardly illuminated jewel…

and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory(Ez 43:2).

youtu.be/xNLtPLFECNw

Paidion, I am not part of a Oneness group. It is basically what I believe the writers of the Bible are trying to say. To me, one true God does not mean two or three. It means one true God. If Jesus is not that one true God, then He would only be a god who represents God. If Jesus is not the Spirit of the Father, then who is? I suppose each one of us must decide for ourselves what God or gods we want to follow. I’ve already decided who my God is. His name is Jesus.

So when Jesus prayed to the Father, was He talking to Himself?

To me, that sounds like two different divine Individuals.

But Jesus Himself addressed his Father as the only true God:

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

With that little conjuction “and”, Jesus identified Himself as someone OTHER THAN the only true God.

That’s true, Paidion, and could anything be clearer?
When (some - not all) Trins say they have a richer understanding than the rest of us, I just shake my head. What could be richer than knowing the Father, the only true God, and his only-begotten Son the man Jesus Christ, and knowing the fellowship of the Spirit? Adding some terminology to that does not make it ‘richer’ or a ‘deeper understanding’ - I think the Scripture is sufficient.

My belief also comes from what is written in the Bible.
Paidion, You mentioned 1 Corinthians 8:6. I understand this verse as saying that Jesus is both the one Lord and the one true God. For example, if I said I have one sister and one best friend, Cheryl, what I am saying here is that Cheryl is both my best friend and my sister. My best friend and my sister are not two separate individuals. So in this verse there is only one God (Jesus) who is both the Father and the Lord.

Isaiah 45:21 says this: “And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.”
Isaiah 43:11 “I even I , am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior.”
Acts 4:12 (speaking of Jesus) “Nor is there salvation in any other name under heaven given to men by which we may be saved.”
If the one true God is the only Savior, and there is no other name besides Jesus by which we may be saved, then I would say that Jesus is the one true God.

John 20:28 "And Thomas answered and said to Him(Jesus) “My Lord and My God”.

Isaiah 9:6 “And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, EVERLASTING FATHER, Prince of Peace.”

Jesus says this in Matthew 4:10 “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”
If we are only to worship the Father, the one true God, then why does Jesus not say anything when people worship Him as in Matthew 2:11,14:33, 28:9 ?
Paidion, you also asked if Jesus was praying to Himself. My question would be, that if Jesus told us to pray in private, then how do the writers of the Bible know what Jesus is saying in His prayers?

This sentence is frequently quoted by Modalists ("oneness people) as proof that the Messiah IS “the mighty God and everlasting Father.” However, this sentence is not found in the Septuagint. The New Testament writers when quoting the Old Testament used either the Septuagint, or the Hebrew text type found in Cave 4 at Qumran. In any case, their quotes correspond to the Septuagint (around 300 B.C.) and not to the Masoretic text which was not completed until the 9th century. What follows is an English translation of the Septuagint rendering of Isaiah 9:6,7.

Jesus did ask his disciples to pray in private instead of shouting prayers in public as the Pharisees did to demonstrate how devout they were.
However, there were times when Jesus prayed in the presence of his disciples. John 17:1-26 is a record of one such prayer.

Your understanding is not obvious from the text. In any case, Paul clearly distinguished between the one God and Christ:

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)

1John 5:20 says this: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

From what I understand the Lord is God. They are one and the same. Acts 17:24 “God , who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”
Deuteronomy 10:14 “Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it.”
Mark 12:29-32 Jesus said "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…32 “So the scribe said to Him, 'Well said Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.”
Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords.”

If Jesus is Lord of all as it says in Acts 10:36, then to me, what the New Testament writers are saying is that Jesus is the one true God.

“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.”
1 Cor 15.24 NIV

He does not hand over the kingdom to Himself!