The Trinity and the Deity of Jesus Christ - The error of the Jews, Muslims, Jehovah Witness, Unitarians, Modalists etc.

The Jews, Muslims, Jehovah Witness, Unitarians etc. commit a similar mistake in their approach to the Bible and Jesus Christ. Firstly, they make a wrong perception and theory about the Bible.  And then they attack the Biblical truth, based on their wrong theory. They attack the wrong doctrine of trinity, not the Biblical trinity. They misunderstand the temporary theophany of the trinity as the permanent structure of God. The particular revelations of God do not make up the structure of God. Unitarianism is a system of that maintains the uni-personality of God, and rejects the trinity and the deity of Jesus. In the Islamic context, it is somewhat synonymous with Tawhid, which is the doctrine of the oneness of God. In Judaism also, God is one. This is explained by the Shema, which states Hear O Israel, Thy Lord God is One. The Lord is One. 

Unitarianism is not wrong in focusing on the oneness of God but become wrong in denying the deity to any member of the Trinity revelation of God. Unitarianism regards God as one Person. For them this Person is God the Father. Hence, the other revelation members of the Trinity such as Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are stripped of their deity status. Thus, according to their narrative, Jesus Christ is reduced to a mere man, and the Holy Spirit is turned into an impersonal force that emanates from God.

The unitarians mostly believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the New Testament and other early Christian writings. They believe that Jesus was a great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural being, but not God himself. They falsely argue that Jesus did not claim to be God. They believe in the moral authority of Jesus, but not in His deity. Their theology is thus clearly distinguishable from the theology of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, mainline Protestant, Pentecostal and other Christian denominations which hold the Trinity doctrine as the core of their faith.

Unitarianism is best understood in distinction from Trinitarianism. Unitarianism teaches that Jesus, is not the eternal Son of God; rather, he was created by God in the womb of Mary. Jesus was later exalted by God and given authority over creation, making him like God, but he remains a finite, separate being with a beginning. Unitarians also have a false view of the Holy Spirit, whom they consider to be identical to the Father. Since God is “holy” and also a “spirit,” they reason, “Holy Spirit” is simply another name for God the Father. Unitarianism is also known for the rejection of several other Christian doctrines such as original sin, infallibility of the Bible, existence of hell etc. They usually reject the Bible as the divine revelation and replace it with human reason. Unitarianism is inspired by rationalism and anti-supernaturalism. In the final analysis, Unitarians reject the specific teaching of Scripture regarding the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

THE BASIC REASON WHY THEY ALL GO WRONG

They all go wrong, because they do not use a comprehensive, consistent and systematic method of interpreting the Bible. They are based on a faulty and partial reading of the Biblical texts through irrational presuppositions. They fail to understand the Biblical truth, because they are hindered by the barriers of their prejudices. They place in their mind something other than the Bible to interpret the Bible. They do not allow the Bible to speak for itself. They are forcing the Bible to speak out, their own personalized ideologies. When their views don’t fit into the Bible, they accuse that the Bible is corrupted. John’s writings are replete with declarations of the full deity of Jesus. But they blindly deny all such passages to justify their own partisan views. Thus, their consistent bias against the Holy Scriptures is sufficiently proven.

Father is the only true God argument is faulty. The Denial of the Trinity and the deity of Jesus, and then the affirmation that the only true God is Jehovah the Father, is the common ideological tenet of Judaism, Arianism, Islam, Jehovah Witnesses etc. According to them, Father is the only true God, at the exclusion of Jesus Christ; They believe that the Old Testament Yehowah is God the Father, and hence Jesus is not God; They believe that Jesus is only a teacher, prophet, angel etc; They believe that Jesus is not Yehowah, and Yehovah is not Jesus; They believe that Jesus is only the created son of God, appointed to be the savior of mankind. Hence, in their opinion, those Christians who believe in the Trinity and the deity of Jesus Christ, and worship Jesus Christ are polytheists and idolaters.

They sometimes admit that Jesus is the son of God but deny His deity. They will not accept Jesus as the creator. They believe that Jesus is a creation. The obedience and humility of Jesus is misunderstood as weakness and is used to deny His deity. They recognize the 3 persons of the trinity. But will not accept that they are equally God. They exalt the Father, subordinate Son and ignore the Holy Spirit. Arianism is the belief that Jesus Christ is a created being, and that Jesus Christ is not equal to God the Father. This is what Islam, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons etc. think about Jesus Christ. Their real focus is the rejection the deity of Jesus. Their real focus is not proving that the Father is the only true God, or that Jesus is the Son of God. Their focus is on diminishing the status of Jesus by denying His deity. There is no merit in preaching that Jesus Christ is a great teacher, a prophet or the Son of God, or that the Father is the only true God, after denying the deity to the Son of God.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND ONENESS PENTECOSTALISM: SIMILARITY IN THEIR ERRORS

Jehovah’s witnesses are erroneously unitarian because they consider Jehovah Father as the only true God. They deny the deity of Jesus Christ, and view the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force. The Jesus only group or the oneness Pentecostal group is also erroneously unitarian because they consider Jesus as the only true God, while denying the distinct persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  They believe that the Father manifests as the Son in Jesus Christ. But the truth is that the Son of God is manifesting as the Son of man in Jesus Christ.

Both the groups deny the true trinity and the true deity of Jesus Christ. The Trinity faith may not be essential for salvation, but is essential to prove the deity of Jesus in the right manner. The Jesus only groups accept the deity of Jesus. But in denying the reality of Trinity, they in effect end up in denying the deity of Jesus.

One can understand and believe in the incarnation and the redemptive work of God in Jesus, only if one can rightly grasp almighty nature of the true God, who can manifest Himself in any manner He determines.