Unitarians and non-Trinitarians (Modalists, Oneness Pentecostals, Unitarian-Universalists) suggest Jesus is considered worthy of worship, and that He is counted as divine "in some sense," but merely in "a figurative sense." If the divinity and deity of Jesus is figurative then what does it figure? If the deity / divinity of Jesus is symbolic then what does it symbolize? My view is that Unitarians and Unitarian-Universalists cherish mystery to a degree that blinds them to biblical truth and revelation--meaning that their appeal to mystery is their means of willfully denying not only the Trinity but also the deity of Jesus Christ. By advocating mystery they imagine themselves free from being confronted by Scripture about the truth of the essence of God as Trinity--one God in compound unity of Three equally-divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
THE HERMENEUTICAL PROBLEM
Trying to find answers exegetically from Unitarian theology to these questions is difficult; after all, Unitarianism and Unitarian-Universalism are both "a non-creedal faith"; and, rather than "a common theology," both systems are "bound by [a] common history," an "affirmation of each person's [relativistic and subjective] spiritual quest, and the promises [they] make to one another about the spiritual values [they] uphold." Unitarian-Universalists Peter Morales and Melissa Harris-Perry explain their theology: "Whether you revere God, Goddess, nature, the human spirit, or something holy that you have no name for [cf. Acts 17:23]," you are welcome to join any Unitarian community.1 I find difficulty in naming this mess of a belief system a "false religion" because it resembles more of a club, an organization, rather than a religion.
Whether someone is pantheistic, panentheistic, polytheistic, tritheistic, monotheistic in some sense, deistic, non-theistic, merely "spiritual but not religious," a convinced naturalist / materialist who denies the supernatural, the metaphysical, or merely someone in love with the idea of Gaia or "the universal spirit" or just "the human spirit"--what one cannot believe (and become or remain a member of a Unitarian community) is that God is a compound unity, one in Essence, existing in Three equally-divine Persons, and that Jesus, the Son of God, is more than a mere man, but is in reality Deity Incarnate. One can believe almost any other notion under the sun and be Unitarian except Trinitarian theology. They are exclusivistic pluralists: All are welcome except, of course, Trinitarians. Trinitarianism is their only heresy.
DIVINITY OUTLINED
While some theological issues appear to possess grey areas (that which is not so explicitly taught in the scriptures wherein no doubt on the issue remains), that the eternal Jesus Christ (John 1:1 NLT) is Divine, Deity Incarnate (John 1:1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 18; 8:24, 28, 58), is not one of those subjects. Jesus cannot be Divine merely in a figurative sense, given that demi-gods do not exist, and given that one cannot be only partially Divine. Divinity, by definition--and if language maintains any semblance of meaning--is to exist in nature beyond mortality--to being infinite, ultimately superlative, otherly; and, yet, to being in reality more than mere spirit, but eternal, as well as self-existent.
When we insist that God our Father is Divine we mean that His Nature (Essence) is Supernatural (that which is beyond / above the natural) and Self-Existent. Though we refer to angels as beyond natural, we do not mean that they are inherently Divine, since they derive their existence (and sustenance) from their Creator, who alone is Divine. The Greek word for divine also refers to God's power (2 Pet. 1:3) and of His nature (2 Pet. 1:4)--that which proceeds from Himself. God, then, is that Divine Entity from which all other entities derive their existence.
Jesus, though, is self-sustaining and does not derive His existence from a Creator--He was not created (cf. John 1:1-4 NLT; 5:21-26; Heb. 7:16; 1 John 5:11, 12). This is because Jesus is supernatural, beyond His human incarnation, innately Divine (Ps. 45:6; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Matt. 1:23; John 1:1, 14, 17, 18; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6, 7, 8, 11; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:1) and also ontologically eternal (Isa. 9:6; Col. 1:17)--i.e., in His very being He has always existed (John 1:1 NLT). We can only know God as God reveals God's Self, God's Essence, in Jesus (Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:1, 2, 3):
DIVINITY QUALIFIED
Worship belongs to God alone (Deut. 13:4; Matt. 4:10; Lk. 4:8). If Jesus is not God then any worship of Him is idolatry. If He is merely a man, not God, then He cannot be worshiped. Even the angel in Revelation says to John, when he, over-wrought, bows down to worship him: "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus, NLT; His life and teaching are the heart of prophecy, AMP]" (Rev. 19:10 NRSV; cf. also Rev. 22:9). How, then, can Jesus maintain the alleged audacity to receive worship when He knows that worship is reserved for God alone--that is, if Jesus is merely a man, not Deity / Divine, the eternal Son of God (Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:1-3)?
Jesus is worshiped by angels (Isa. 6:1-5; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:12, 13, 14); by mortals (Ps. 45:11; Matt. 8:2; 15:25, 26, 27, 28; 28:17; Luke 24:51, 52; John 9:38; Acts 1:24; 7:59, 60; 1 Cor. 1:2; Phil. 2:9, 10, 11; 1 Thess. 3:11); by all living beings (Rev. 5:13); He is prayed to as God (Acts 1:24; 7:59, 60); and He is honored equally with God the Father as though He is very God Himself (John 5:23; 8:24, 28, 58; Heb. 1:6, 8; Rev. 1:5, 6).3 Why did Jesus not warn people, warn us in the future, against worshiping Him if He was just a mere mortal? This further attests to the fact that Jesus is not Deity in a figurative sense, given that the worship due to His divine Person is not granted by others figuratively, but practically and realistically. Jesus' own claim to being equal with the Father is cause for the Pharisees to charge Him of blasphemy (John 10:22-39). Here is His opportunity to set the record straight, to correct their errant thinking that He alluded to being equal with God the Father, yet really He meant that He was "divine" in some figurative sense. But this Jesus does not do--this Jesus cannot do--because Jesus is the Eternal Word of God, who was with God in eternity past (He already existed with the Father from all eternity), and who is God (John 1:1 NLT; Heb. 1:1, 2, 3).
WHAT JESUS SAYS
Unitarians, and others who deny the deity of Jesus, side not with Jesus on this matter but with His accusers, who state, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone You, but for blasphemy, because You, though only a man, are making Yourself God" (John 10:33). This means Unitarians and their ilk are every bit the children of the Devil as are the Pharisees of old (John 8:39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47). Jesus instructs these children of the Devil, the Unitarian Pharisees, to view the works of His to be the works of God His Father and of Himself who is worthy to be counted equal with God (John 10:37, 38; 17:1-5, 6, 10, 11, 12). He could have agreed with their low view of Himself, as being only a man, and explain why He is making such claims (that the claims are only stated in a figurative sense). Instead, He defies their ignorance, and claims further that His works are tantamount to the works of God His Father--a claim that only substantiates His equality with God and with the Triune Godhead (Phil. 2:6) to God's glory (Phil. 2:11). Otherwise Jesus allowed us to be deceived. There is no alternative.
THE DIVINE NAME BELONGS TO JESUS
Furthermore, Jesus shares the Divine Name of God, revealed in the Exodus: YHWH (Yahweh). God confesses His name to Moses: "'I Am Who I Am' [YHWH] ... God also says to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "The LORD [YHWH] the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you": This is my Name forever, and this my Title for all generations'" (Ex. 3:14, 15). Jesus claims, in prayer, "While I was with them [His disciples], I protected them in Your Name [YHWH] that You have given Me" (John 17:12, emphasis added). Paul adds: "Therefore God also highly exalted Him [Jesus] and gave Him the Name [YHWH] that is above every name, so that at the Name of [or the Name belonging to] Jesus every knee should bend, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD [YHWH, Yahweh, Sovereign Creator (Col. 1:16, 17), Sovereign God], to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9, 10, 11, emphases added). This is in no sense imaginable figurative language regarding Jesus but is, rather, the eternal ontological reality of absolute truth in the manner that God knows and contextualizes and gives definition of absolute truth.
IRONY IN JESUS STUDIES
Irony of ironies, Robert Bowman and Ed Komoszewski quote The Jesus Seminar as warning: "Beware of finding a Jesus entirely congenial to you."4 The authors of Putting Jesus in His Place respond: "As attracted to Jesus as a lot of people seem to be, many are looking for merely a human Jesus--or at least a Jesus who is entirely on their side of the line between Creator and creature."5 Why might so many people be seeking for a merely human Jesus--one who is not Deity Incarnate, Son of God, Righteous Judge? They highlight one scholar's explanation that "belief in the Deity of Jesus--His unique status among human beings as God in the flesh--implies that Jesus is the only way [John 14:6] for people to be properly related to God"6 (emphasis added). Unitarians and Unitarian-Universalists cannot embrace the truth of Jesus as Deity / Divine because such a belief undermines their pluralistic advocacy. For this reason, as Jesus said, they die in their sins (John 8:24, 28, 58).
The same is true for any brand of Christianity that seeks to supplant Jesus as being the one and only Way to the Father (I'm talking to you, Episcopal Church!, my own people), the one and only Truth of God, the one and only Lifegiver (John 14:6). The exclusive claims of Jesus are rejected by those who, even if inadvertently, reject His Sovereignty, Rulership, Lordship and Salvation. In other words, Unitarians and other non-Trinitarians (even those heretical liberal-types of professing Trinitarians who are pluralists and overt inclusivists) cannot embrace Jesus' Sovereign Deity, Jesus as God's one and only Divine Son, the only Mediator between humans and God (1 Tim. 2:5), and the only Way to the Father (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), and at the same time welcome all who may "revere God, Goddess, nature, the human spirit, or something holy that you have no name for." This latter confession betrays and contradicts Jesus' statement, not only about Himself, but also about the salvation of humanity. This is why we must view all non-Trinitarian, pluralistic, inclusivistic persons who deny the Deity of Jesus, and His exclusive way to the Father, as being non-Christian, for they neither have a Savior, nor advocate a Gospel of God's salvation.
__________
1 Peter Morales and Melissa Harris-Perry, The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide, fifth edition (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2012), Kindle edition.
2 W.E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997), 320-21.
3 Taken from Kevin J. Conner, The Foundations of Christian Doctrine: A Practical Guide to Christian Belief (Portland: City Christian Publishing, 1980), 170-71.
4 Robert M. Bowman, Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007), 18.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
THE HERMENEUTICAL PROBLEM
Trying to find answers exegetically from Unitarian theology to these questions is difficult; after all, Unitarianism and Unitarian-Universalism are both "a non-creedal faith"; and, rather than "a common theology," both systems are "bound by [a] common history," an "affirmation of each person's [relativistic and subjective] spiritual quest, and the promises [they] make to one another about the spiritual values [they] uphold." Unitarian-Universalists Peter Morales and Melissa Harris-Perry explain their theology: "Whether you revere God, Goddess, nature, the human spirit, or something holy that you have no name for [cf. Acts 17:23]," you are welcome to join any Unitarian community.1 I find difficulty in naming this mess of a belief system a "false religion" because it resembles more of a club, an organization, rather than a religion.
Whether someone is pantheistic, panentheistic, polytheistic, tritheistic, monotheistic in some sense, deistic, non-theistic, merely "spiritual but not religious," a convinced naturalist / materialist who denies the supernatural, the metaphysical, or merely someone in love with the idea of Gaia or "the universal spirit" or just "the human spirit"--what one cannot believe (and become or remain a member of a Unitarian community) is that God is a compound unity, one in Essence, existing in Three equally-divine Persons, and that Jesus, the Son of God, is more than a mere man, but is in reality Deity Incarnate. One can believe almost any other notion under the sun and be Unitarian except Trinitarian theology. They are exclusivistic pluralists: All are welcome except, of course, Trinitarians. Trinitarianism is their only heresy.
DIVINITY OUTLINED
While some theological issues appear to possess grey areas (that which is not so explicitly taught in the scriptures wherein no doubt on the issue remains), that the eternal Jesus Christ (John 1:1 NLT) is Divine, Deity Incarnate (John 1:1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 18; 8:24, 28, 58), is not one of those subjects. Jesus cannot be Divine merely in a figurative sense, given that demi-gods do not exist, and given that one cannot be only partially Divine. Divinity, by definition--and if language maintains any semblance of meaning--is to exist in nature beyond mortality--to being infinite, ultimately superlative, otherly; and, yet, to being in reality more than mere spirit, but eternal, as well as self-existent.
When we insist that God our Father is Divine we mean that His Nature (Essence) is Supernatural (that which is beyond / above the natural) and Self-Existent. Though we refer to angels as beyond natural, we do not mean that they are inherently Divine, since they derive their existence (and sustenance) from their Creator, who alone is Divine. The Greek word for divine also refers to God's power (2 Pet. 1:3) and of His nature (2 Pet. 1:4)--that which proceeds from Himself. God, then, is that Divine Entity from which all other entities derive their existence.
Jesus, though, is self-sustaining and does not derive His existence from a Creator--He was not created (cf. John 1:1-4 NLT; 5:21-26; Heb. 7:16; 1 John 5:11, 12). This is because Jesus is supernatural, beyond His human incarnation, innately Divine (Ps. 45:6; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Matt. 1:23; John 1:1, 14, 17, 18; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6, 7, 8, 11; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:1) and also ontologically eternal (Isa. 9:6; Col. 1:17)--i.e., in His very being He has always existed (John 1:1 NLT). We can only know God as God reveals God's Self, God's Essence, in Jesus (Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:1, 2, 3):
in the Son [at Colossians 2:9] there dwells all the fullness of absolute Godhead; they were no mere rays of Divine glory which gilded him [deriving His light from another source], lighting up His Person for a season, and with a splendour not His own; but He [Jesus] was, and is, absolute and perfect God; and the Apostle [Paul] uses theotés to express this essential and personal Godhead of the Son. Theotés indicates the Divine essence of Godhood, the Personality of God ... the attributes of God, His Divine nature and properties.2The qualities of divinity, then, require an innate power of self-causing and self-sustaining existence. Jesus owns this quality ontologically.
DIVINITY QUALIFIED
Worship belongs to God alone (Deut. 13:4; Matt. 4:10; Lk. 4:8). If Jesus is not God then any worship of Him is idolatry. If He is merely a man, not God, then He cannot be worshiped. Even the angel in Revelation says to John, when he, over-wrought, bows down to worship him: "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus, NLT; His life and teaching are the heart of prophecy, AMP]" (Rev. 19:10 NRSV; cf. also Rev. 22:9). How, then, can Jesus maintain the alleged audacity to receive worship when He knows that worship is reserved for God alone--that is, if Jesus is merely a man, not Deity / Divine, the eternal Son of God (Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:1-3)?
Jesus is worshiped by angels (Isa. 6:1-5; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:12, 13, 14); by mortals (Ps. 45:11; Matt. 8:2; 15:25, 26, 27, 28; 28:17; Luke 24:51, 52; John 9:38; Acts 1:24; 7:59, 60; 1 Cor. 1:2; Phil. 2:9, 10, 11; 1 Thess. 3:11); by all living beings (Rev. 5:13); He is prayed to as God (Acts 1:24; 7:59, 60); and He is honored equally with God the Father as though He is very God Himself (John 5:23; 8:24, 28, 58; Heb. 1:6, 8; Rev. 1:5, 6).3 Why did Jesus not warn people, warn us in the future, against worshiping Him if He was just a mere mortal? This further attests to the fact that Jesus is not Deity in a figurative sense, given that the worship due to His divine Person is not granted by others figuratively, but practically and realistically. Jesus' own claim to being equal with the Father is cause for the Pharisees to charge Him of blasphemy (John 10:22-39). Here is His opportunity to set the record straight, to correct their errant thinking that He alluded to being equal with God the Father, yet really He meant that He was "divine" in some figurative sense. But this Jesus does not do--this Jesus cannot do--because Jesus is the Eternal Word of God, who was with God in eternity past (He already existed with the Father from all eternity), and who is God (John 1:1 NLT; Heb. 1:1, 2, 3).
WHAT JESUS SAYS
Unitarians, and others who deny the deity of Jesus, side not with Jesus on this matter but with His accusers, who state, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone You, but for blasphemy, because You, though only a man, are making Yourself God" (John 10:33). This means Unitarians and their ilk are every bit the children of the Devil as are the Pharisees of old (John 8:39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47). Jesus instructs these children of the Devil, the Unitarian Pharisees, to view the works of His to be the works of God His Father and of Himself who is worthy to be counted equal with God (John 10:37, 38; 17:1-5, 6, 10, 11, 12). He could have agreed with their low view of Himself, as being only a man, and explain why He is making such claims (that the claims are only stated in a figurative sense). Instead, He defies their ignorance, and claims further that His works are tantamount to the works of God His Father--a claim that only substantiates His equality with God and with the Triune Godhead (Phil. 2:6) to God's glory (Phil. 2:11). Otherwise Jesus allowed us to be deceived. There is no alternative.
THE DIVINE NAME BELONGS TO JESUS
Furthermore, Jesus shares the Divine Name of God, revealed in the Exodus: YHWH (Yahweh). God confesses His name to Moses: "'I Am Who I Am' [YHWH] ... God also says to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "The LORD [YHWH] the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you": This is my Name forever, and this my Title for all generations'" (Ex. 3:14, 15). Jesus claims, in prayer, "While I was with them [His disciples], I protected them in Your Name [YHWH] that You have given Me" (John 17:12, emphasis added). Paul adds: "Therefore God also highly exalted Him [Jesus] and gave Him the Name [YHWH] that is above every name, so that at the Name of [or the Name belonging to] Jesus every knee should bend, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD [YHWH, Yahweh, Sovereign Creator (Col. 1:16, 17), Sovereign God], to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9, 10, 11, emphases added). This is in no sense imaginable figurative language regarding Jesus but is, rather, the eternal ontological reality of absolute truth in the manner that God knows and contextualizes and gives definition of absolute truth.
IRONY IN JESUS STUDIES
Irony of ironies, Robert Bowman and Ed Komoszewski quote The Jesus Seminar as warning: "Beware of finding a Jesus entirely congenial to you."4 The authors of Putting Jesus in His Place respond: "As attracted to Jesus as a lot of people seem to be, many are looking for merely a human Jesus--or at least a Jesus who is entirely on their side of the line between Creator and creature."5 Why might so many people be seeking for a merely human Jesus--one who is not Deity Incarnate, Son of God, Righteous Judge? They highlight one scholar's explanation that "belief in the Deity of Jesus--His unique status among human beings as God in the flesh--implies that Jesus is the only way [John 14:6] for people to be properly related to God"6 (emphasis added). Unitarians and Unitarian-Universalists cannot embrace the truth of Jesus as Deity / Divine because such a belief undermines their pluralistic advocacy. For this reason, as Jesus said, they die in their sins (John 8:24, 28, 58).
The same is true for any brand of Christianity that seeks to supplant Jesus as being the one and only Way to the Father (I'm talking to you, Episcopal Church!, my own people), the one and only Truth of God, the one and only Lifegiver (John 14:6). The exclusive claims of Jesus are rejected by those who, even if inadvertently, reject His Sovereignty, Rulership, Lordship and Salvation. In other words, Unitarians and other non-Trinitarians (even those heretical liberal-types of professing Trinitarians who are pluralists and overt inclusivists) cannot embrace Jesus' Sovereign Deity, Jesus as God's one and only Divine Son, the only Mediator between humans and God (1 Tim. 2:5), and the only Way to the Father (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), and at the same time welcome all who may "revere God, Goddess, nature, the human spirit, or something holy that you have no name for." This latter confession betrays and contradicts Jesus' statement, not only about Himself, but also about the salvation of humanity. This is why we must view all non-Trinitarian, pluralistic, inclusivistic persons who deny the Deity of Jesus, and His exclusive way to the Father, as being non-Christian, for they neither have a Savior, nor advocate a Gospel of God's salvation.
__________
1 Peter Morales and Melissa Harris-Perry, The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide, fifth edition (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2012), Kindle edition.
2 W.E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997), 320-21.
3 Taken from Kevin J. Conner, The Foundations of Christian Doctrine: A Practical Guide to Christian Belief (Portland: City Christian Publishing, 1980), 170-71.
4 Robert M. Bowman, Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007), 18.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
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