I was pleased to make your acquaintance at the recent area fair and to discuss with you the fundamental Bible issue of the trinity. While we did talk for over an hour with Bibles in hand, I do not feel I gave a good account of why Christadelphians reject the doctrine of the trinity.
Scripture cannot be discussed properly unless the passages in question are studied carefully within their immediate context and within the overall context of scripture. For this reason, I’d like to consider each of the passages you advanced so that you can more clearly see our reasoning.
A vital issue
Before we begin, however, let me just say that I’m sure you agree that this is an important matter. John 17:3 states: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
This is clearly not an issue which can be taken lightly, accepted without question or left to the conclusion of our minister or priest. Our personal eternal life is at stake here, and we cannot leave that in someone else’s hands.
The trinity defined
When we speak of the trinity, this is what I think we are talking about particularly in respect to Jesus Christ. Trinitarian teaching defines Jesus as the second person of the godhead, “God the Son” (“God the Son” is not a scriptural term) who is part of the one God stated in the Old Testament. Just like God the Father, “God the Son” is from everlasting and was coequal with the Father before his tenure on earth. The trinitarian believes Jesus was directly involved with the Genesis creation along with God the Father. And he believes “God the Son” was incarnated in Mary’s womb and, in due time, born of the virgin.
This is about as much as I have been directly told about the doctrine of the trinity. But there is much more that scripture tells us about Christ that can’t be left out if the doctrine is true. If the trinity is true and scripture is true then, at the time of his incarnation, God the Son lost all his previous knowledge and power. He also lost favor with God the Father. This must be so for we are told wisdom and favor with the Father both had to be regained (Lk. 2:52). All knowledge that he had to relearn was not of his own power but was from God the Father (John 5:19) and much of his previous knowledge was kept secret from him (Matt. 24:36).
During his life on earth, he did not follow his own desires but did the will of the Father in heaven (Matt. 26:39). Furthermore, Jesus was not saved because of his previous status but through his prayers, supplications, crying and obedience through the things which he suffered (Heb. 5:7,8). Because of his obedience unto death, not because of his prior status, God the Father raised him back to life and exalted him to His own right hand in heaven (Phil. 2:9; Matt. 28:18). He presently sits in heaven as a man (I Tim. 2:5) where he is still receiving directions from his Father (Rev. 1:1) and is subject unto his Father (I Cor. 15:28).
I’m confused by the trinity
When we look at the whole doctrine of the trinity, I find it very confusing. I can’t understand one God being three persons and three persons being one person. I can’t understand a son who is as old as his father. I can’t understand a person who lived before he was born, who loses all his prior knowledge and has to regain it again. I can’t understand a person having to regain favor with a previous co-equal nor can I understand previous coequals with a common plan having separate wills or desires once the plan is in action. I can’t understand a previous co-equal God having to suffer and cry in order to regain his prior status. I can’t understand one who was co-equal from eternity now being a man in heaven. And I can’t understand a co-equal still being subject to the one with whom he was equal.
I truly can’t reconcile biblical teaching regarding the nature of Jesus Christ with the doctrine of the trinity. Remember, you must understand the nature of God and Jesus Christ in order to obtain eternal life.
My own understanding
I believe that the nature of Jesus Christ and his purpose is simple and plain. I believe that Jesus Christ was foreknown by God in the beginning (I Peter 1:20). God’s dealing with the earth is centered on Christ for God’s purpose is that all the earth will one day be filled with His glory (Hab. 2:14) with Jesus Christ being the king (Lk. 1:32-33). He was the very reason that God created all things and is the very reason that all things exist today (Col. 1:16).
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary (Lk. 1:31-35). He grew into manhood, increasing in knowledge and in favor with God and man (Lk. 2:40,52). Jesus was tempted as we are, could have sinned but didn’t (Heb. 2:18; 4:15), prayed for strength and guidance to his Father (5:7), learned obedience through the things which he suffered (v.8) and humbled himself, becoming obedient unto the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8).
Jesus was not raised from the dead because of his status but because he feared God who was able to bring him back to life (Heb. 5:7). Because Jesus lived a life without sin, God exalted him and gave him power and a name which is above every name (I Pet. 2:22; Phil. 2:9; Matt. 28:18). He is now the first, not in physical existence but in rank over all things. He is the first human raised to immortality and is the author of our salvation (Col. 1:18; Heb. 5:9). If God had not raised Christ from the dead, the earth will not be filled with the glory of the Lord and there would be no purpose to the believer’s life (I Cor. 15:17,19).
Christ is currently sitting at the right hand of God in heaven awaiting the day when God, his Father, will send him to earth to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 2:14; 17:31). Christ will reign until he has put all enemies under his feet, at which time he himself will be subject unto his Father who put all things under him, that God may be all in all (I Cor. 15:28).
When I look at Jesus as a man, instead of a second person of the trinity, I can understand why the Son wrestled with temptation and why he learned obedience through the things which he suffered. You can’t have it both ways. He was not a God and a man. We must make a choice based upon scriptural evidence. I ask you to look at the summation of the trinitarian view and that of Christadelphian teaching and ask yourself which one makes more sense.
Contrary verses
You brought up a number of verses which you felt proved that Jesus Christ is “God the Son.” None of them actually said that, as the phrase, “God the Son” does not occur in the Bible. But you felt these passages supported a trinitarian explanation of God and His Son rather than the Christadelphian one. I think, however, that if we look at the verses carefully, they do not prove the trinitarian view.
Colossians 1:14-18
This is a good example of a passage that, when read carefully, does not support the trinity. For convenience, I’ll put down the verses in question:
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
You state that the passage clearly reveals that Christ created all things in the beginning. But when read carefully, it is not talking about creating the heavens and earth, the sea and dry land, the sun, trees, vegetation, fish, birds and animals. Rather the passage refers to things “in” heaven and earth, “invisible” things and thrones, dominions, powers. These verses are not about the Genesis creation but the new order which came into being through the Lord Jesus. Verse 20 proves this by speaking of all things being reconciled in Christ “by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
It is not the trees and rocks that are reconciled in Christ. It is the people who believe in God and the nations that will eventually be subject to Christ in the kingdom.
The new creation through Christ is referred to in II Corinthians 5:17,18: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.” This is the new order that Paul is talking about and this is an order where, under God, Christ is the head and in him all things consist.
Christ as the firstborn of all creation is also explained in the context. He is “the beginning, the firstborn from the dead” (v.18). His resurrection to immortality was not the beginning of the Genesis creation but it is the beginning of a new order that will last forever.
Being “firstborn” also expresses status. The firstborn son in the patriarchal system had preeminence; he was head over all. That is the position of the Lord Jesus; he is before all things in status; he is “the head of the church” and will be king over all the world.
Thus when this passage is read carefully, it is seen to be self-explanatory and to have nothing at all to do with the Genesis creation. It is rather talking of the new creation in Christ Jesus in which we can have a part if we believe the gospel and are faithful to it.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One