One God, One Lord

I think some things are clear in the scriptures, and I think some things are not. I am not infallible, and neither are the men who think they get to decide what truth is for everyone else. I encourage everyone to seek truth with all your heart, and to consider no man to be infallible. Some are more right than others, no doubt, and its not that people can’t be trusted, but we must remember that we are all human, and we can misunderstand some things. Believing certain doctrines will not save you, only the faith that works by love will save you.

I am more convinced than ever that the doctrine of trinitarianism is not the teaching of the Messiah and the apostles, but rather a theological construct created by men. I don’t want to judge their motives, but I can read the scriptures and realize that the words of trinitarians often contradict the words of the Lord Jesus. Obviously, I choose to believe the Lord’s own words over the creeds of men.

As I have stated before, I do not affirm that the Spirit is a third “self”, alongside the Father and the Son. I also am firmly convinced that the Son is subordinate to the Father, and that the only “equality” that the Messiah has with God is the fact that God has given his Son all authority in heaven and on earth. That’s it. All talk of ontological equality, or possession of the same nature, is the talk of theologians. Yahweh is the one true God, the Most High God, the Head of Christ, and greater than Christ. These are explicit scriptural expressions, not theological constructs. All that the Lord Jesus is and has comes from the Father. His life? It comes from the Father. His authority? It comes from the Father. His glory? It comes from the Father. I have no problem acknowledging the subordination of the Son, because the Lord Jesus himself speaks of his subordination. Nor do I resort to the common explanation that his is a “functional” subordination only. No, the Messiah is subordinate to the Father, period.

When the Lord Jesus walked the earth, he was no “mere man”, but I believe, with others, that he was only a man. Now he is a glorified man, a Spirit/man. That does not speak to whether or not he had a pre-human existence. That will be another topic. Even if he had a pre-human existence (there appears to be scriptural evidence that he did), I agree with Christians who gather from the scriptures that on earth he was a man (born to a virgin, sinless, he died for us and rose again) not a “god-man”, whatever that is. I think it is important to remember that the term God in the Bible does not tell us about a subject’s nature. The term God can refer to a ruler or someone that has been given divine (I use the term divine here, but I intend to develop my understanding of this term more fully in my studies) authority – including human rulers. In that sense, Jesus is called God in the New Testament. How many times is a matter of debate revolving around textual and interpretation issues.

As Paul said, we have one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. Not that no others are called God, or Lord, but as I see it - Yahweh is the one true God, and the Messiah, the Son of God, is our one true human Lord and King.