Oneness of GOD

THE WORD WAS “GOD”

While I disagree wholeheartedly with the theory known as “the doctrine of the trinity”, the Oneness (apostolic) conclusion also falls short of a scriptural evidence. I guess one could say I fall somewhere in between the two.

The doctrine of the trinity teaches a belief in three gods (in spite of their claims to the contrary). My best example of this is that trinitarians are adamant that the son is not the Father, the Father is not the son, and the Holy Spirit is neither the son or the Father, yet, they are all three “God”. That my friend is polytheism, no matter what one claims.

On the other hand, the Oneness (apostolic) believes that the son is the Father, and the Father is the son. Further, it is held that “Jesus” is the new name of the Father. The Holy Spirit is believed to be the power of “God”, manifested to believers. This, while heading in the right direction, seems to dismiss the great miracle of the humanity of Messiah, and it opens the door to a lot of good questions by trinitarians – questions that Oneness people really can’t answer.

I do not hold to the belief that Jesus/Yeshua is “God”; I believe the Word (that is the spoken word of the Father) is “God”, and that word was made human/flesh. As the spoken word, Messiah is “God”; but as the man Jesus/Yeshua, he is not “God”. The word is eternal with no beginning, but Jesus/Yeshua had a beginning (his conception). Yeshua/Jesus is the Father, but only as it pertains to his eternal nature as the word. The Father never changed his name to Jesus or Yeshua; His name is eternally YaHWeH. There are not three PERSONS in the “godhead”, because YaHWeH the Father (and by extension the Holy Spirit) are not PERSONS. Yeshua/Jesus is the only person in the “godhead”.

All of this is made very clear, without ambiguity, in John 1:1-14. John does not say that in the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God, that is a eisegesis (eisegesis occurs when a reader imposes his or her interpretation into and onto the text). When John says, “The word”, he is being very emphatic. The word is what created all things, sustains all things, and is in all things. YaHWeH the Father spoke, and the word he spoke went to work. YaHWeH (through the agent of His angel) spoke the word into the womb of Mary/Miriam, and the word became flesh/human.

Everything Messiah did a was experienced as a human being; he was not “the God-man”, he was “God”,(the word) manifested as a man. Jesus/Yeshua was not praying to himself in the Garden; he was not praying simply as an example for us; Jesus/Yeshua was crying out to the Father, the Almighty, to save him from death on the cross. After his resurrection, Yeshua/Jesus told mary to tell his apostles that he was returning to his Father, and their Father; to his “God” and their “God” – “GOD’ DOES NOT HAVE A “GOD”!

This is a long debated enigma, and I will never allow it to become a stumbling stone for fellowship with my brethren. I love my brethren who are trinitarian, and I know they do not really believe there are three “Gods”, even if the theory they maintain does. I love my Oneness brethren (being raised Oneness myself), and I know they are doing their best to explain the monotheistic “God”. One day all these truths will be revealed to us, and we will be one, even as he is one.

The Torah Thumper
Jeremiah1616 Ministry