Other Articles on the Trinity Controversy

Beware of Polytheism

The Doctrine 
of Christ

The Lord Our God Is One

Trinity Doctrinal Chart

The Lord Our God
Is One

The Only Begotten Son

CHAPTER 3

Another principal argument of Trinitarians is derived from Mic. 5:2, which reads: But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

They assert that, since Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting, Jesus must be Jehovah; for in the above verse he is said to be from everlasting. The weakness of this argument lies in the translation. There is no word in Hebrew that expresses the concept of eternity. The word olam here rendered "everlasting," more properly signifies an indefinite or extended period of time. It is translated "long" in Ps. 143:3, the context showing that it could not possibly refer there to infinite time: "he has made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead." Other translators have rendered olam. in Mic. 5:2 as follows:.

— whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. —Revised Standard Version.

— whose comings forth have been from of old, from the days of age-past time.—Rotherham

— And his comings forth are of old, From the days of antiquity.—Young’s Literal Translation .

— whose origin is from olden times, from most ancient days.—Leeser

The prophecy in this verse simply teaches Messiah’s pre-human existence. And to this interpretation the remainder of the passage agrees, for the fourth verse does not say that Messiah is Jehovah, but that he "will stand and feed in the strength of the LORD (Jehovah), in the majesty of the name of the LORD ( Jehovah) his God."

The spiritual, pre-human life of Jesus was glorious, but not without beginning. He was the first creation of God, and the only direct creation of God—the "only begotten" of the Father.

Everything else was made by the Father through his chosen instrument, the Son (Heb. 1:2). In proof that Jesus was a created being, we cite Col. 1:15, where Paul calls him the ‘"firstborn of every creature" (Greek lit., "of all creation"). Trinitarians assert, the term "firstborn" here indicates priority solely in position rather than in time. This does not harmonize with the context. Verse 18 compares Christ with the church and calls him the "firstborn from the dead." At his resurrection, Christ was the first in point of time to be born from the dead. The repetition of the word "firstborn" in verses 15 and 18 reveals that Paul is making a direct parallelism between Christ’s relationship to all creation in verse 15 and to the church in verse 18.

If "firstborn from the dead" denotes first to be born from the dead, as well as pre-eminence over all resurrected, then "firstborn of all creation" denotes the first to be created as well as preeminence over all creation. The attempt to explain away this verse as signifying "firstborn before all creation" is an unwarranted tampering with the text. The word "before" simply is not there. They are changing the facts to fit the theory.

Jesus is the "beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14), and he is the end for which all things are made, the heir of the universe (Heb 1:2). He is the first and last direct creation of God. The title of "Only Begotten Son" (John 1:18) is his alone for all eternity. No other son of the Highest was, or ever will be, made directly by the Father.

The Trinitarian claim that Jesus was not begotten, but is being eternally generated by the Father, does violence to Bible language.

The very same Greek word (monogenes) translated "only begotten" in reference to our Lord in John 1:14 is in Heb. 11:17,18, applied to Isaac, the son of Abraham: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall your seed be called.

Clearly, Isaac was not being continuously generated by Abraham. And the words "only begotten" and "Son" when applied to Jesus Christ are to be interpreted in their straightforward sense.*

 [* For detailed consideration of monogenes see Appendix.]

Jesus’ pre-human life (we believe he was the highest of all spirit beings, next to the Father) is referred to in Phil. 2:5-9, which we quote from the Revised Standard Version: Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him.

The above text, often cited in favor of the Trinitarian view because of its wretched translation in the King James Version, is here shown to clearly contradict that doctrine. Jesus did not, like Satan, attempt to usurp divine prerogatives (Isa. 14:13), but "emptied" (Greek, "divested") himself of his high position and spirit nature, becoming "the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). As a perfect man he suffered Adam’s penalty in his stead, thus releasing Adam and his posterity from the curse of death.—1 Cor. 15:21-22.

The King James Version, which reads, "thought it not robbery to be equal with God," controverts the passage’s true meaning, presenting as much a problem to Trinitarians as to their opponents.

For if Jesus were already God, there could be no thought of him robbing God by attempting to be equal with himself. In support of our interpretation of this verse we cite the following:

— Not a thing to be seized accounted the being equal with God.—Rotherham

— Yet he did not regard equality with God as something at which He should grasp.—Weymouth .

— did not violently strive.—Dickenson .

— did not meditate a usurpation.—Turnbull .

— did not meditate a usurpation.—Wilson

The word harpagmos, variously translated above, is defined by Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon as "robbery, anything that is seized, plunder." Because Jesus did not arrogate to himself divine prerogatives, but, contrariwise, humbled himself as the Father’s servant, God gave to him at his resurrection "a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth." (Phil. 2:9,10). Jesus was not worshipped by the angels until he was thus exalted above them to the divine nature and glory.

"When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."—Heb. 1:3,4 "The Man Christ Jesus".

And the Word was made flesh (John 1:14).

Jesus Christ set aside his spirit nature and became a mere man—a perfect man, to be sure, but a man, nevertheless. Nowhere do the Scriptures refer to Christ as a God incarnate in human flesh. Nowhere in the Bible is taught the extravagant mystery of a Christ consisting of two natures combined into one person. The traditional doctrine of the incarnation is simply without scriptural support. Trinitarians, in fact, are forced by their doctrine to treat our Lord Jesus as though he were two separate persons, saying it was the human, not the divine, Christ who prayed in Gethsemane, "take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what you will" (Mark 14:36).

How, indeed, could God pray to himself and have his own prayer refused? And when Christ was highly exalted by the Father at his resurrection, they say that his human body was somehow mysteriously "invested with divine attributes." Christ as God, they say, was always divine and, therefore, could not be exalted. Yet they claim that this deified body remains truly human! Sympathy with our Christian friends cannot prevent us from realizing that, when treating the humanity of Christ, Trinitarianism becomes a species of (well-intentioned) double talk.

How much simpler and more scripturally harmonious is the Bible declaration that Christ was "put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" (1 Pet. 3:18, R.S.V.). The King James Version reads, "quickened by the Spirit," but the word "by" simply is not contained in the Greek text.* Paul says of Christ that at his resurrection he was "made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45). For though after his resurrection he appeared to his disciples in various human forms assumed for those occasions, he is now a glorious divine being, "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see."—1 Tim. 6:16

[* The words "in the" and "by the" have no equivalent Greek words in this passage. Though the dative case of sarki (flesh) and pneumati (spirit) require a preposition in translating into English, the evident contrast between the words themselves indicates that the same preposition "in" should be used in both instances: "put to death in (the) flesh, but made alive in (the) spirit."]

When difficulties with their teachings are pointed out, Trinitarians often respond that their doctrine is the "historic" position of the church, that any inconsistency therewith is a "mystery" —a line of argument which could be used to support almost anything. Some even cite 1 Tim. 3:16 to prove their claim that the relationship between Christ and the Father need not make sense: Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He* was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

[* So reads the Revised Standard Version. The King James Bible says, "God was manifested," but that is incorrect. The most ancient manuscripts read "who"—in English read, "He who."]

The Greek word for "mystery" means "a secret," and so the Gospel has ever been a mystery to unbelievers, though understood by those to whom Christ is revealed. The fallacy of their argument is that in this very verse, Paul explains the mystery or secret of which he is speaking.

Neither are we seeking to detract from the glory of the risen Christ, for in him "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead (theotes, "Deity") bodily" (Col. 2:9). The fullness of divine glory (Col. 1:19) —the plenitude of wisdom, grace, and power—make him the able executor of the Father’s wonderful plans. All power in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus since his resurrection (Mt. 28:18). The counsels of God, before kept secret (Mark 13:32), are now entrusted to his care (Rev. 5:1-5). We look forward with rejoicing to the day when all mankind will join the heavenly chorus, singing, "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." —Rev. 5:l3