Oneness / Unitarian (Very Thorough)
Let me start with:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 KJVS Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord : [5] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. [6] And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: [7] And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. [8] And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. [9] And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
So here we have a clear emphasis: The fact that there is one God. That is to be taught at every opportunity. That is the foundation. That is the bases.
A Scribe came to Jesus in Mark 12:28-31 and asked him which is the greatest commandment? To which he replied, "The first of all the Commandments is “Hear oh Israel the Lord our God is one Lord.”
So I am stating the proposition that there is absolutely one indivisible God. We cannot speak of “Gods” (plural). We cannot speak of “persons” of God if we mean by “persons”: Multiple personalities, multiple minds, multiple wills, multiple bodies, in the Godhead.
In fact I would say you can not be IN the Godhead. The Godhead is the quality of being God. There is no one IN the Godhead. The Godhead is not a substance. The Godhead is a “person”, the one true God known in the Old Testament known as “Jehova” or “Yahweh.”(The Supreme name by which he revealed Himself to Israel.)
When He manifested Himself in the flesh He became known as Jesus, which the word literally means “Jehova Savior” or “Jehova is Salvation.”
So there is one indivisible God with no distinction of “persons.” That’s my first point and my second point is that Jesus is the incarnation of that one undivided Godhead. He is not one of three persons, he is not a subordinate person, and he is not a second person but He is the almight; The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, The incarnation of the fullness of God.
In Colossians chapters 2 verse 9 we find, the statement, speaking of Jesus, that in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The Godhead is the sum total of God’s Character, quality, atttributes, personality, it’s everything that makes Him who He is.
God was incarnate or infleshed bodily in Jesus Christ. When I speak of flesh or body I’m not only speaking of the physical flesh but usually in the bible flesh refers to human nature. So I would say that Jesus had the complete identify of humanity except for the sin. Sin is a foreign element intruded into humanity. So I am absolutely not saying that Jesus had a sinful nature. What I am saying is that anything we humans had, Jesus had, joined inseparably to the spirit of God. So that you have one God manifested in the flesh as Jesus Christ, the son of God.
The teaching of One God is persistent throughout the scriptures in such a way that it would exclude the concept of multiple persons.
A major point, which is absolutely essential to understanding everything else: Our doctrine derives foremost from the New Testament but the Old Testament is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. If we are studying Calculus and Trigonometry than we've got to make sure the arithmetic is right. The New Testament is first and foremost the clearest exposition of our salvation and the fullest revelation of truth is in the New Testament but to get us there the concepts and terms have to be defined for us and God did that through the people of God from the Old Testament, the Jews. When we come to the New Testament we cannot read it from the point of view of 4th Century Greek Philosophy, take those definitions, and when we see one God or Godhead, define it in terms of philosophy. Rather we need to start from the Old Testament, as far as out theological education, understand who the one God is and what it means to talk about Father, Holy Spirit, and so on. When we have understanding of the those essential things than we go into the New Testament we will have a greater ability to receive it.
Let me give you some example of oneness in Isaiah. Not just the sense of unity of compositive attributes but the sense of absolute singleness, aloneness, numerical oneness just like I am one person. I may have many attributes. You can speak of my mind, soul, spirit, body, will, but im one person. I may relate in different ways or have different ways of self revelation, different relationships, different titles, but in essence all of those point back to the one in same being.
Isaiah 43:10-11 KJVS Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord , and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. [11] I, even I, am the Lord ; and beside me there is no saviour.
“I am the Lord” which is capitalized meaning that in the original Hebrew it was actually the word “Yahweh” and not just the generic title meaning Master but the personal name of the God of the Old Testament.
He said I am the only saviour. There’s no other saviour beside me.
Isaiah 44:6 KJVS Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
If you want to think of it symbolically or literally it is the same thing. If you’re expecting one God sitting beside another God or one person sitting beside another person, Jehova God said that’s not going to happen. I am alone. There’s none beside me.
Isaiah 44:8 KJVS Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it ? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any .
Isaiah 44:24 KJVS Thus saith the Lord , thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things ; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
When He created He did it all alone and He did it all by himself. No one helped Him. No one counseled with Him. He did it by himself.
Isaiah 45:5 KJVS I am the Lord , and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isaiah 46:5 KJVS To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
So there is nobody that’s Gods equal. Nobody is Jehova’s equal.
Isaiah 46:9 KJVS Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
If you find someone who’s exactly like God in every way you’ve found God because there is no one who’s exactly like God and yet a different being or person other than God.
I could go on and on but I think you see the point
Number one, there’s one God in the most absolute sense you could think of One God: numerically one, alone, by myself, none else, none beside me, none like me, I will not share my glory with another, and so on.
Also when we come to the New Testament we find that Jesus is the revelation of that one God.
Jehova says “I am the only saviour.” Let me read also in Isaiah 45:21-23 KJVS
Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord ? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. [22] Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. [23] I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
That is a prophecy. Jehova said “One day every knees going to bow to me, every tongues going to confess to me. That prophecy is fulfilled in Phillipians 2:9-11
Philippians 2:9-10 KJVS Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: [10] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;[11] And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
“At the name of Jesus” which literally means at the mention of the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We do not deny the Father but we confess Him when we recognize that we are giving glory to the one true God, the Father because the one true God has manifested Himself in the name and person of Jesus Christ.
So what we understand is that Jesus is the fulfilment when Jehova said every knee shall bow to me(Jehova) Jesus was that fulfillment of Jehova of the Old Testament revealed Himself in the flesh.
Jehova says “I’m the only saviour if you want to be saved you have to look to me.” How can we say Jesus is my saviour? Only if we recognize that He’s the Jehova of the Old Testament manifested in the flesh.
Now when we say Jehova of the Old Testament, Jehova cannot be divided. It’s subdivided. We’re not saying one part of Jehova or one aspect of Jehova. We’re saying Jehova. The one that says “Here oh Israel the Lord our God is one Lord.”
Now you may ask “If that’s true than why does the bible speak of Father, Son, or Holy Ghost?”
Let me say at the outset: We certainly do acknowledge the father, son, and Holy ghost. But we do not believe that they represent different persons.
As a simple human analogy I’m a father, I’m a son, and I’m a husband. I have different relationships and different ways of making myself known. But I’m one person and my name is Caleb Deese. That’s an analogy of how God can be our father.
He’s our father in creation. He came in the flesh as the son of God as our redeemer. And he fills our hearts today as the Holy spirit(God in action). He can do all those things simultaneously and yet be one God; not have separate minds or distinct minds or centers of consciousness. There is only one center of consciousness in God.
We talk about “persons” Well try to define it. It’s not a scripture word used of God. The Bible never speaks of God in persons (plural), as three persons, or a trinity. So I’m not just against the words because they’re not in the bible but the concepts behind the words are not in there either. I found it counter productive that do not relate to concepts.
If you’re going to talk about persons and you mean a role or you mean a manifestation than you can say, “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16), “The manifestation if the spirit”(1 Corinthians 12) That’s fine.
If you mean persons in the sense of centers of consciousness: as in There is one center of consciousness speaking to another center of consciousness, one center of consciousness thinking one thing and another center of consciousness thinking another thing, or if you go to Heaven there’s one body sitting on this throne and another body sitting on that throne, or One body on this throne and one invisible spirit that’s not invested in that body that you see than that’s where I have a problem thinking you could have One God when you think there are these different bodies or different centers of consciousness or whatever.
So if we’re going to speak of God in a plural sense of persons we have to define what that means.
God is our father in the sense of parental relationship. The word “Father” is a term of relationship. Before my daughter was born in was not a father, when they were born, I suddenly became a father. It did not change my nature, my personality, I didn’t split into two, I didn’t become a different person but I entered a new relationship. I’m just pointing out that when we say “God our father” we’re speaking of God in relationship to humanity.
Deuteronomy 32:6 speaks of God as the Father of the nation of israel, Malachi 2:10 God is the Father of all creation, and so on.
In a unique way God is the Father of the baby Jesus because Joseph did not cause the conception. The one who causes the conception by definition is the father and the spirit of God supernaturally caused a Virgin to conceive so God was literally the Father of the baby Jesus. That’s all relationship to humanity.
God is the Father of born again believers. That’s a relationship.
The Bible speaks of God as the Holy Spirit. Not a different person. God is the only Holy one. Over 50x the bible speaks of God as the Holy one. Never Holy two, Holy three, Holy trinity, anything like that. Always Holy one.
“God is a spirit” (John 4:24)
“There is one body and one spiriy” (Ephesians 4:4)
So when we say “The Holy Spirit” that is not a different person from God that is God in his spiritual nature. And that title speaks of God in spiritual nature.
Genesis 1:1-2 KJVS In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The first mention of the spirit is God in action.
When we think of God in relationship we pray “God our Father.” When we think of God in work of spiritual action wrote say “The Holy Spirit is moving here.” We don’t say “The Father is moving here.” Because thay implies that were looking for some personage but we say “The Spirit is here” we know we’re talking about the invisible power and presence of God.
The Son is God manifested in the flesh. The Bible never says “The eternal Son.” Only “The begotten Son”. It never says “God the son” always “Son of God.”
Luke 1:35 Tells us why Jesus is the son of God.
Luke 1:35 KJVS And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
“Therefore” because God is causing the conception and that’s why the son is called the son.
Galatians 4:4 KJVS But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
The son is the human incarnation of God. God manifested in the flesh.
Father, son and Holy ghost is one God and it’s all wrapped up in Jesus.
In Him dwelleth ALL the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
1 Timothy 3:16 God manifested in the flesh
Titus 2:13 Our great God and savior Jesus Christ
John 20:28 Jesus is called Lord and my God
John 1:1 and 14 The word was with, was God, and word became flesh
There’s no doubt that Jesus is then one true God and when say the one true God we mean the God of the Old Testament and all of His fullness. He is revealed as the Lord Jesus Christ.
Regardless of the opinion a person has of the nature of God we serve the same God. The nature of God is often stretched but there remains one eternal God regardless of religious differences. The understanding of that God is the thing that loses most people. If I met the president of the United states and recognized him as the president and you met the president and he was dressed casually and didn’t know who he was we would still have met the same person even though we have slitely different understandings of who that person is.
The trinity teaches that there are 3 different persons but you will never find a place in scripture where it discusses 3 distinct persons.
The classic trinity statement is “We do not believe that God is three separate persons but 3 distinct persons.” There is a difference. It’s important that if you believe in trinity you stress that but because of it, it falls from scripture as well.
Now let me talk about common “misinterpretations” of Trinity in their own context and explain why it’s impossible to believe it using Gods own word. It is irrefutable.
Trinitarians often use…
Genesis 1:26 KJVS And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
…to explain the trinity. This scripture says “God said” and if you believe that God is a trinity of the Old Testament and he is the Godhead than the trinity was talking to a different person and I would like a Trinitarian to define who that person was.
Most will use verse 26 and then skip verse 27 in their argument
Genesis 1:27 KJVS So God created man in HIS own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
There’s the explanation. Adam was the one creature who reflected the image of God. No were not like God in every way but in this context he is saying “this is my image creature and this is a reflection.” So we would expect to see the reflection.
Isaiah 44:24 KJVS Thus saith the Lord , thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things ; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
How can we explain that?
Ephesians 1:11 KJVS In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
I’ve heard Trinitarians describe God as a schizophrenic in desperation of proving trinity. If we saw someone say “Let us” we would think they were schizophrenic. I dare say you and i would be schizophrenic in that category if you’ve ever said sat and said “Let’s see, what am I going to do today? Let us see.” Multiple times in the bible you will find examples where kings will say “We will” or “Let us do that” and it was one king sending out a letter.
If humans can say that than how much more can God.
Hebrews 1:2 creation was made by the son There was only one creator. Jehova who did it alone and by himself. The son was not there as a separate person however the bible speaks in 1 Peter 1 and also in the book of Revelation. A lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. When God created the world he had the son in view. He predicated all of creation on the redemptive nature of the Son because he knew without that redemptive plan his creation would be destroyed. So in the scripture it’s literally “ī-oh-us” he created all of the ages. “With the son in view” is used on the occasions because it’s depending upon the son of God.
Another point John 1:3 does not say that the son created the worlds. It says the word created the worlds. And that is Gods self revelation or plan whom we know to be Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1 does establish Jesus as the creator. He wasn’t the creator in separate persons. He was the creator and God himself. If I say president Clinton was born in Arkansas it does not mean that he was president when he was born. I mean the man that I have met as president was born in Arkansas. Jesus was the creator. He wasn’t the son. He wasn’t the lamb when he was creator but he was the eternal spirit of the one true God.
Hebrews 1 talks about “conversations” Trinitarians say that conversations of the Godhead but it’s a prophecy of psalms. It’s the word of God speaking in Psalms that was prophecized of the son. So it’s not one God sitting beside another God talking to him. God said in scripture “I’m going to have a messiah. I’m going to have a king. He’s going to come forth. And he’s not only going to be a man he’s going to be the one true God. And remember God has no equal. So if a prophecy says that messiah is going to be the one true God it doesn’t mean another God. It means the same God we already know and already met.
They argue God speaks to God but Trinitarians believe there is one God in different bodies so than how can God speak to God. What definition of "One” are we using? That really would be schizophrenic.
Now that I’ve covered both the doctrine of Oneness and what it means and the character and nature of God and now that I’ve explained the Trinitarian misconceptions and their contexts I want to add some personal notes that I didn’t learn from someone else but God has given to me:
Understanding Oneness in an easy analogy =
You take a pitcher of water(God) and poor some water out. As the water is falling through the air(Holy Ghost) from the pitcher it is still the same water. As the water lands inside a glass(Jesus) it is still the same water. The only thing that has changed is it’s form and the only reason to poor water from a pitcher to a glass is to be used, because that glass is what is being used in order to drink from. Our mouth can relate much easier to the glass than the pitcher in terms of accepting the water into us. Do you understand this analogy?
There is one indivisible God. He is a spirit. His only relationship type image is Jesus Christ. The image Adam walked with in the garden, the image Enoch may have walked with, the image we will see on the throne is Jesus Christ.
My spirit and my body are not separate. Why would God’s spirit be any different? God used his spirit and poured it into Jesus for us to be able to accept that spirit into us just like a glass of water. We argue the understanding of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit but that was the way God had designed it from the beginning to be. God said he would reveal the mysteries of his word to those who want to know it.
Some evidence: (All referring to Jesus/God/Holy Spirit) Number of Times appearing in the Bible:
“Trinity” = 0 “Three Gods” = 0 “Two Gods” = 0 “Jesus is not God” = 0 “I and my father are separate.” = 0 “The Lord our God is two Lords” = 0 “The Lord our God is three Lords.” = 0 “I know of two other Gods beside me” = 0 “Jesus and I God made Earth beside each other.” = 0 “I God am not alone.” = 0 “Jesus is a different God than the father.” = 0 “Jesus is A god.” = 0 “We are your Gods.” = 0
“One God” = 8 “The Only true God” = 1 “The Only Lord God” = 1 “The Only wise God” = 2 “One Lord” = 5 “God alone” = 1 “I am He” = 11 “God is one” = 3 “The God” = 289 “The Lord God” = 464 “The Lord” = 5,997
The Bible points to a numerically one, single, indivisible, Alone, individual of all nature and imagination God.
If you’re standing in line alone than you are the first person in line and the last person in line at the same time. God cannot be the first and the last if there is another God. It common sense. I don’t even know why people doubt it. This is what God means when he says he is the alpha and omega. The Beginning and the end. The first and the last.
Show me a single Trinity pushed scripture that cannot be interpreted into oneness. I’ll show you over 7,000 scriptures on Oneness that cannot be confused for trinity because no matter how many times you add 1 to 0 it always comes out 1.
- Caleb Deese