Kingdom Ready

Paul and the Pastoral Letters

What did Paul have to say about God and Jesus in his pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus? Did Paul believe that Jesus was God?

 1.       Paul believed and taught that God was the Father.

 1 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2.       Paul believed and taught that there was a distinction between God and Jesus. This clearly implies that God is separate from Jesus. Jesus is not God.

Red-letter Bibles can be both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because they highlight the important words of our Lord Jesus, but a curse to the uninformed reader because occasionally the words highlighted in red are not actually the words of Jesus! One influential example of this may be found in the book of Revelation. In the New American Standard Bible, Revelation 1:8 is highlighted in red, Cheap Jerseys free shipping suggesting that the following words are the words of Jesus. This verse reads “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” This red-letter emphasis conveys the idea that Jesus is the Lord God, the Almighty. However, a careful reader of the book of Revelation will question the accuracy of this red-letter emphasis, which is an editorial interpretation and not of the authoritative inspiration of God.

Both the Gospels and the book of Acts make a clear distinction between the Lord God, the Father, and His Son Jesus, the Lord Messiah. Luke makes this apparent in his birth narrative, by identifying two distinct persons, each identified by the title “Lord.” He writes that Jesus, “the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26), “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32). He would be begotten by the power of the Most High, and designated “Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). From this, it may be seen that by His power the Most High, the Lord God, created a human child in the womb of Mary who would be known as the Lord’s Christ, or Christ the Lord.

Victor Gluckin presents a balanced yet stirring case for getting the word out that the Father is the only true God. Too often biblical unitarians equivocate or chicken out for fear of rejection or excommunication. This is not to say we should belligerently pick theological fights, but it is to say we should be proud of who our God is to such a degree that we endeavor to share it with others in love. This is from the 2007 One God Conference held in Albany, NY. I just recently put this on Youtube and re-watched it. Victor’s words are just as poignant and needed today as they were when he spoke them.

Tragically, Christianity is in a muddle over who their God is. The Bible says that there is only one true God, but there are many different understandings of who the only true God is – all coming from the same Bible! It’s no wonder the secular world thinks Christians are crazy – they can’t even agree on who their God is!

Are you struggling to understand a Scripture related to Christ’s identity? Are you interested in hearing some debates? Are you looking to better inform yourself about the biblical unitarian position? Would you like something edifying to listen to in the car or while exercising? Look no further, because we now have a podcast for christianmonotheism.com, featuring over 150 teachings, lectures, explanations, and debates. Podcasts are a great way to get a bunch of audios onto your phone or tablet so you can listen to them on the go. By subscribing to our podcast you will also keep updated anytime we add new audio resources.

by Kenneth Westby

In previous installments we presented the uncontested historical evidence that John Calvin had Michael Servetus burned at the stake. The charge against him, unproved, was heresy. What was Servetus’ heresy?

The Spanish theologian and physician taught against infant baptism and the doctrine of the Trinity. He engaged Calvin in spirited scholarly discussion by letter for over a decade. Servetus maintained that neither doctrine was rooted in Scripture; in fact, he provided detailed evidence that both doctrines were contrary to the scriptures and to biblical principles.

by Kenneth Westby

Michael Servetus was on the run, wanted by the Spanish Inquisition for heresy, and more recently, by John Calvin for the same charge. The brilliant theologian and medical doctor had written books calling for the Catholic Church and the new Protestant movement to return to the scriptural beliefs and practices of the primitive church. He contended that since the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) the church had fallen into paganism with such unscriptural doctrines as the Trinity and infant baptism.

by Kenneth Westby

He lied about, betrayed, hounded and finally murdered a fellow Christian. John Calvin, the Frenchman, born Jean Chauvin, found a man he couldn’t bully and whose arguments he couldn’t refute. The man he murdered was one of the greatest minds of the sixteenth century and a match for the equally brilliant John Calvin. The great reformer would not be satisfied with a simple execution, he demanded torture and slow burning with green wood to insure that his adversary suffer greatly.

I thought I would publish here on KR an excellent paper by Ken Westby.  Ken runs the great One God website www.Godward.org  – also known as “The Association for Christian Development”.  This paper actually just ran as a paid-for full-page ad in “The Journal”.  This is the little newspaper that the Churches of God put out.  And the interesting thing here (some might call it a bold move), is that the Churches of God (off-shoots of the Armstrong World-Wide movement) are decidedly Binitarian (the “God Family” belief).  Ken sent a pdf copy of the entire newspaper (link is here) along with a note saying that his article (on page 19 – and printed here below), was followed up by a 9 PAGE rebuttal in support of the binity belief. I think he may have struck a nerve!