The God OF Jesus
A Comprehensive Examination of the Nature of the
Father, Son and Spirit
INTRODUCTION
Most Christians believe God is a Trinity. It is believed God is co-eternal, co-equal and con-substantial (of the same essence) Persons of Father, Son and Spirit. These three Persons are believed to be the same in every respect short of being each other. There is no separation or subordination seen in the Triune God. The Persons of the Trinitarian God are seen as indwelling each other and always acting together as a single Being. The Trinitarian God is seen as having no beginning or end and eternally existing as Father, Son and Spirit.
This perspective as to the relationship between the Father, Son and Spirit began to develop in the second and third centuries A.D. and came to be more fully formulated at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 where it became part of what is known as the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed states the following:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; And in the Holy Ghost.
This Creed identifies Jesus Christ as being of the essence of the Father, being of one substance with the Father and being “very God of very God.” Therefore, Jesus Christ is identified as being God in every way the Father is God short of being the Father. The Son is seen as becoming God in the flesh in the person of Jesus. Jesus is seen as simultaneously being God and man in what is designated as the doctrine of the incarnation. The Nicene Creed was updated at the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381 to include the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father and worthy of worship as is the Father and the Son. Thus was established a Trinitarian concept of God.
In the pages that follow, I provide a systematic and comprehensive examination of the orthodox Christian doctrines of the Trinity and incarnation. My investigation takes into account the historical development of this theology and the manner in which Biblical scholars and theologians use the Scriptures to support these two mainstream Christian beliefs. In doing the research for this book, I have made every effort to accurately represent the Trinitarian/Incarnational position as commonly taught.
My initial goal in studying the doctrine of the Trinity and incarnation was to identify how these doctrines are supported by the Biblical Scriptures. It is here where I discovered these doctrines to be problematical. In studying the Scriptures and the scholarly material that relates to the doctrine of the Trinity and incarnation, it became apparent that Scripture is often taken out of context and exegesis is done based on assuming the thing to be proved, that God is a Trinity and Jesus is God incarnate. In carefully examining the many Scriptures that pertain to these doctrines, it became apparent to me that when these Scriptures are studied within the greater context of the whole of the Biblical narrative, they lead to a different perspective as to the nature of the Father, Son and Spirit from what is commonly taught within mainstream Christianity.
In looking at the nature of the Father, Son and Spirit in the context of the whole of Scripture, I was forced to reconsider orthodox doctrine and compelled by the evidence to understand that the Father is the one and only Supreme God over all reality. Jesus is not “God of very God” as the Nicene Creed proclaims. Jesus is the Father’s human agent to facilitate salvation for mankind and, in so doing, was glorified by the Father and elevated to a position of great power and authority at the right hand of the one and only God. The Holy Spirit is the mind and power of God whereby He creates and sustains all things.
The first twenty-four parts of this material will be devoted to discussion of the Father and the Son. Part Twenty-five will deal with the nature of the Holy Spirit and Part Twenty-six will provide a summary of what has been presented. All Scriptural quotations will be from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise indicated. I have inserted most of the Scriptures I reference right into the narrative. My hope is that this will enable readers to easily see the correspondence between what I write and what the Scriptures reveal.
I have chosen not to use footnotes within the body of this material. I do reference some resources in the narrative as I go along and provide a partial list at the end of this series of essays of the many resources I used in preparing this material. Also provided is a list of the Bible translations I reference and quote from.
I encourage readers to approach this discussion with an open mind and not draw any conclusions until carefully and objectively considering all the material presented.