Kingdom Ready Blog

As I mentioned in my last two posts, there are very few groups that have “Unitarian” beliefs – that is, the belief that only one person – our Heavenly Father – is Almighty God. (Almost all denominations state that God exists as “three persons in one Godhead”.)

Among the few groups that do have Unitarian beliefs, there are two main doctrines about who Jesus, himself, actually is. Those doctrines are called the “Biblical Unitarian” doctrine, and the “Arian” doctrine.

In my last post, I listed some beliefs that I considered “vital” – that is, beliefs that people must share, in order to have formal Bible studies with each other. (At least, in order to have Bible studies without constant disagreements…) The “vital” beliefs from that post (and from the comments) are as follows:

1. The belief that only one person – our Heavenly Father – is Almighty God.

2. The belief that Jesus is the Son of God – not “God the Son”.

3. The belief that the kingdom of God will be established on the earth, when Jesus returns.

Jesus Had To Be A Man

This is not meant to be an exhaustive consideration of this topic. I refer you to other Biblical Unitarian writers, all of whom back up from Scripture their view that Jesus is the Son of God and not God. It is important to recognize who he is, since his identity as the promised Messiah is part of the Gospel of the coming Kingdom, the acceptance of which is the key to eternal life.

If you subscribe to Anthony Buzzard’s excellent monthly newsletter “Focus on the Kingdom“, you probably are aware this year’s version of his annual Theological Conference (the 19th) is coming up at the end of next month.  KingdomReady’s very own Sean Finnegan has attended in year’s past, though his busy Masters school schedule will keep him away this time around.  However I’m planning on attending for the first time, and I wanted to invite all of you to attend if you have the opportunity.  There are so few chances for fellow truth-seekers like ourselves to get together in person and learn from one-another, fellowship, and hopefully build lasting friendships in our all-too-small (but hopefully growing) faith. Below is a nice overview from Anthony’s last newsletter.  Hope to see you there!

History and Development

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and not God the Son. His belief about God reflected the central tenet of Jewish faith, that God is One.

Where is the Proof?

Trinitarians know that the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible. When this is pointed out, they will sometimes respond that this doesn’t prove anything because, “The word ‘Bible’ isn’t in the Bible either!” But in fact the word Bible is from the Greek word biblos meaning ‘book’ and does in fact appear in the Bible, referring to the written Scriptures. Yet, even if that word weren’t used, the idea of written Scriptures is certainly present, and described by other good words, such as “scripture,” “writing,” and the oft-repeated phrase, “It is written.”

God’s Agent

Part of the reason westerners don’t understand the relationship between God and His Son is because they don’t understand the Hebrew concept of agency. In that culture, when an agent represented a principal, the agent was viewed as, and even addressed as, the principal. An agent speaking on behalf of another was looked on as if he were the person whom he represented. This is especially true of the Angel of the Lord representing God.

Is Jesus Called God?

Time after time in the Scriptures, Jesus is referred to as the Messiah, the Son of God. There are only a handfull of verses that even seem to call Jesus God, and most of those are questionable on textual and grammatical grounds. Only two verses unquestionably call Jesus God, and we shall see in what sense they do so. The vast amount of Scriptures refer to Jesus as the Son of God, though.

Lately the old arguments about the Trinity have surfaced once again.  In light of that I will be posting a series from my website.  Topics to be covered will be:

Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Is Jesus Called God?
Part 3 – God’s Agent
Part 4 – Where is the Proof?
Part 5 – History and Development
Part 6 – Jesus Had To Be A Man 

More Common “Proof Texts”

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is probably the primary passage that on the surface appears to support the popular notion that judgment, with resulting punishment and reward, is meted out before the resurrection. But this would contradict the rest of Scripture, which says that judgment will take place after the resurrection at the return of Christ (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28,29; Revelation 20:11-15).