The Deity of Christ

Was Christ merely a man with no pre-existence?

E-mail: secretary@ccg.org

This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
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To assert that there is One True God and deny the pre-existence to Christ is called Radical Unitarianism and the following shows this position to be a non-biblical heresy.  We see in John 1:1 there are two divine beings, one,
"The" God, and one "god", as the Greek grammar indicates.  "The" God refers only to the Father.

Christ’s pre-existence is asserted in John 1:2-3, and his role in creation in John 1:10. Christ, the Word, became flesh and lived as a man, being the only god born of a woman.  He was not "The" God but the only born god, being in the bosom of the Father who spoke or declared (Jn. 1:18).

God brought him into the world (Heb. 1:6) and verses 8 and 9 identify him in Psalm 45:6-7. He is the firstborn (Col. 1:15-18) of creation, and hence the beginning of creation (Rev. 3:14).

This Lord (or kurios) spoke for the Father in the wilderness (Acts 7:33). In John 17:5 Christ clearly asserts His pre-existence.

Christ was not the only son of God, as there were multiple spirit beings (Job 38:4-7) called sons of God.  These beings accessed the throne of God regularly (Job 1:6, 2:1), including Satan, who is god of this world (2Cor. 4:4). Not all these sons were faithful (Jude 6; Gen. 6:4; Rev. 12:7-9).

Christ shared God’s nature through the power of the Holy Spirit, and thus was in the form of God.  He did not grasp equality with God (Phil. 2:7-8). Similarly, the elect share this nature (2Pet. 1:4).

Christ became a man in every respect so that He could become a High Priest who could understand our infirmities, and he was tempted in all things (Heb. 2:17-18). He died as propitiation for the sins of mankind, being without sin (see Heb. 4:15).

Nonetheless, he possessed the essence of God (Col. 2:9) and this divine nature is available to humans also (Col. 3:10).

As elect, we can become co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8.17; Gal. 3:29; Tit. 3:7; Heb. 1:14; 6:17; 11.9; Jas. 2:5; 1Pet. 3:7), being developed by the Holy Spirit, in order that God can become all in all (1Cor. 15:28).

But there is only One True God (Jn. 17:3; 1Jn. 5:20) who alone is immortal (1Tim. 6:16), and Christ is His son (Jn. 17:3).

God the Father is named Eloah (Pro. 30:4-5) and Most High God, as distinct from Christ (Gen. 14:18; Num. 24:16; Deut. 32:8; Mk. 5:7).

No man has seen God or heard His voice (Jn. 1:18, 5:37).

The use of the name Jehovah (Yahovah) is by delegation. Yahovih Elohim is "The" God, the God of Jehovah who is the national God of Israel, and this is the sense in Psalm 45:6-7 and Hebrews 1:8-9.  Messiah stands in the name of Yahovah Elohim (Mic. 5:4).

The Lord of Hosts sends Yahovah to the nations (Zec. 2:8-9).  See also Zechariah 12:8 where Messiah is identified as elohim from Psalm 45:6-7 and Hebrews 1:8-9.

There are more than two elohim.  The Psalms show that the elohim are a council (Psa. 82:1; 86:8; 89:6-7; 95:3; 96:4; 97:7,9; 135:5). The rank is extended to humans (Psa. 82:6 and Zec. 12:8).

Christ became a son of God in power from his resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4), and as co-heirs with Christ the elect also achieve this power.

The multiple elohim are identified as bene elyon or sons of the Most High. The full explanation is in Revelation 4:1 to 7:14, and reflects the Council, which has an inner and outer structure of qadosim SHD 6918, or angelic saints (see Psa. 89:1-8; Job 5:1; Zec. 14:5).  The members of the Church at present on earth are also saints.

The Sanhedrin numbered seventy plus two, and when Christ ordained the seventy He effectively withdrew power from the Jews, and placed it in the Church.

The Sons of God who formed the Host were variously known as messengers, angels, watchers (Dan. 4:13, 17, 23) and dwelt not with flesh (Dan. 2:11).

All sons of God, angelic and human, share the divine nature of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 1:9).

Greek philosophy could not understand that the sacrifice of the harmless to reconcile the inferior to the superior was a thought process integral to Hebrew worship, as they believed only like could atone for like.  So Christ had to be elevated to equality and eternality to God for that purpose. Trinitarianism seized upon this concept to enable the changing of the biblical times and laws. They asserted the Holy Spirit to God and Jesus Christ only, thus denying the divine nature to others – spirit or human. Modalism placed Christ as an entity distinct from God, but not separate. Trinitarians could then say that Christ, as equal to God, had the right to do away with the laws of the Hebrews. Christ could then give new laws and undermine the superiority of God the Father as Lawgiver, and as the One True God (Jn. 17:3).

God the Father has Sons (Gen. 6:4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7) and Christ is one of them (Jn. 17:3). He alone is immortal (1Tim. 6:16) and lives forever (Rev. 4:9).  By His will all things exist and were created (Rev. 4:11).

Christ lives by the power of God, and we live in him (2Cor. 13:4; 1Pet. 1:5). There is no authority except from God (Rom. 13:1).

As created beings, the Sons of God are inferior in rank, though of one substance.  The physical sons are of a different substance, but can access the power and essence of God (2Pet. 1:4), and are destined to become elohim (Zec. 12:8) and have eternal life (1Jn. 2:25; 5:11).

Obedience is the key to receiving eternal life as Christ demonstrated (Heb. 5:6,8,9).  God gave Christ life (Jn. 5:26) and power (Eph. 1:17-23) by the Holy Spirit. God gives life to all things (1Tim. 6:13).

The Doctrine of Antichrist is identified in the correct text of 1John 4:1-3, by Irenaeus (Ch. 16:8, ANF. Vol. 1, fn. P. 443).  Socrates the
Historian says (VII, 32, p.381) that the passage had been corrupted by those who wished to separate the humanity of Jesus Christ from his divinity.

Trinitarians deny that Mary had other children, though Jesus is her firstborn (prototokos) (Mat. 1:25; KJV).  Jesus is the firstborn (prototokos) of creation (Col. 1:15). They do this to establish Mary as a virgin, ignoring Matthew 12:46; 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3, in order to establish her divinity.

Christ is the only born God (Jn. 1:18), the first created, and the first to be raised from the dead.

Before His incarnation, Christ was part of the angelic host but after his resurrection He was elevated to a higher rank (Heb. 1:3-4) by the Holy Spirit, which is the power of God.

Mankind will be equal to angels (Lk. 20:36). Jesus confesses us before angels (Lk. 12:8-9) who are our brethren  (Rev. 12:10).

The attributes of God are by delegation to Christ and the Host who are subordinate to God.  God exalted Christ, bestowing on him a name and authority (Phil. 2:5-11).  Thus the right of the Father to confer authority is undeniable. This does not infer equality.  Christ never claimed to be God, and referred to the Father only as God.

The Messiah speaks in God’s name but he is not "The" God.  He is an elohim, one of the sons of God, and has always been faithful to Him who made him (Heb. 3:2). (lit: to the (one) making him; Marshall’s Interlinear).

There is only One True God who is the God and Father of Jesus Christ and God and Father of us all (Jn. 20:17). He confers on all those who obey Him the capacity to be sons of God, and thus elohim or theoi.  Hence God is One.

Read the paper The Deity of Christ (No. 147), which covers many of the problems of Trinitarianism, and gives the biblical solutions.