The use of this text by Binitarians is examined and shown to be incorrect. This paper examines the prophecy of this text in relation to Messiah and his relationship to God. 

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We understand that the text of Micah 5:2-3 is being misconstructed by Binitarian ministers to justify Binitarianism or the Dual Power heresy as it was anciently known. It is the contention that there are two co-eternal Gods in heaven, whether or not they are held to be co-equal as in Trinitarianism. This heresy logically impugns the omnipotence of God and attempts to deny the texts of John 17:3 and 1John 5:20 that assert that there is only One True God and that Jesus Christ is His son.

This text is translated to make it appear that the term True God, and eternal life could perhaps refer to Christ which it does not. The True God, is the One True God and is not Jesus Christ whom He sent. Only He is immortal. He is visible only in the Spirit (1Timothy 6:13-16). Note here that it is God who gives life to all things. He alone has immortality. Hence, He alone gives life to all things. Thus He alone gave life to Christ.

Let us examine the text.

The assertion is based upon the text in the KJV, which is rendered to make the assertion possible. The text is translated here as whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. The RSV renders the text Whose origin is from old, from ancient days. Thus the construction of eternality rests on the KJV construction of everlasting, which is of itself a flimsy construction of the English language. The text is translated in the Interlinear Bible as: And you, Bethlehem Ephratah, being least among the thousands of Judah, out of you He shall come forth to Me, to become Ruler in Israel; and His going forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.

From the days of eternity are translated from two Hebrew words. The first is miymy (*/*/) derived from SHD 3117 yowm (.&*) meaning a (those) day(s), from sunrise to sunset, being derived from an unused root meaning to be hot. The second word is SHD 5769 ‘owlawm (.-&3) which means concealed, or to the vanishing point. It means time out of mind or practically eternity (Strongs) hence always, or from ancient times etc. The text in no way can be construed as rendering eternality on a being who is subordinate to The One True God. The Messiah can be taken from this text to have had pre-existence from ancient days. It does not confer co-equality or co-eternality with God. Indeed from this text we can see that Messiah comes forth to God and hence is not co-equal. The Soncino translates Micah 5:1[2] as: Whose goings forth are from old, from ancient days, and interprets the text thus: goings forth. i.e. lineage. from ancient days. It is possible that this phrase gave rise to the later Jewish doctrine that the Messiah existed in the mind of God from time immemorial, as part of the Creator’s plan at the inception of the universe. In the Talmud, the name of the Messiah is among the seven things created before the world was brought into being.

It is only God that inhabits eternity (Isa. 57:15 Zech. 12:8), This text shows that the household of David shall be as Elohim. The Soncino renders elohim here as a godlike being. Thus the term elohim is understood to extend to others.

It is Messiah who heads the Household of David. At no stage is it implied that either the household of David or the Angel of the Lord, by being or becoming elohim were co-eternal with Eloah who is God the Father (Prov. 30:4-5). Eloah alone is the object of worship of the temple (Ezra 5:1-8), which was His temple (Ezra 6:16-18). Eloah was the object of sacrifice (Ezra 6:9-10), the God of heaven and the source of the Law (Ezra 7:14). The assertion that Micah 5:2-3 confers co-eternality is a misconstruction of the text in isolation from the rest of the texts which deny such a position.

It is important to examine the concept of co-eternality. Co-eternality demands that Messiah was another God who existed independent of the One True God. Thus the One True God texts have to be ignored. There would have to be, in fact, Two True Gods, but the Scriptures say there is only One True God (Deut. 6:4; Jn. 17:3). If there are not Two True Gods then one being is dependent upon the other for his existence. One is therefore God and the other is a creation or generation of the other. As the son is a generation of the Father, so too is the son a product of the Father. There are multiple sons of God from the beginning (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7), who are partners to Christ (Ps. 45:6-7; Heb. 1:8-9). So too then was God a Father from their generation.

It can thus be seen that the use of Micah 5:2-3 to confer co-eternality on Messiah and hence propound Binitarianism or the Dual Power heresy is an imputation against the omnipotence of God and a breach of the structure of Monotheism. It ignores a host of significant explanatory Scriptures, which show the interpretation to be erroneous.