Unveiling Christianity

The word ‘God’ in the New Testament NEVER means Trinity

by Ibn Anwar, BHsc (Hons), MCollT

Trinitarian theology says that God is neither the Jewish nor the Muslim conception of God but that He is the Trinitarian Christian conception that defines the term ‘God’ as ‘three persons in one being.’ Unfortunately, the New Testament, which is the basis of Christian worldview, does not bear out the Trinitarian definition of the term ‘God.’ Of the more than 1300 occurrences of the word God (or ‘Theos’) in the 27 books of the New Testament, not a single one of them mean ‘the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ Some Trinitarians may simply dismiss this as an inconsequential anomaly in the New Testament record, but when one really weighs it against Trinitarian claims, the anomaly may prove quite significant.

Although believing that the New Testament as a whole reveals the Trinity doctrine, Trinitarian theologian Ben Witherington III, who is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church, readily admits that the New Testament data shows that the word ‘God’ never means the Trinity:

“In all but seven places in the New Testament the term theos refers to the one whom the Jews knew as their God and earliest Christians called “Father” or “Abba.”…The term [God] never refers to the Trinity in the New Testament…” [1]

As Jesus was not Omniscient, he should not be regarded as God

by Ibn Anwar, BHsc (Hons.), MCollT

Mark 13:32 (and Matthew 24:36) remains a huge conundrum for Trinitarians as it clearly negates Omniscience– an essential attribute of deity –in the person of Jesus. The text reads as follows:

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32; ESV)

All three so-called Abrahamic faiths (i.e., Judaism, Christianity and Islam) agree that one of the fundamental attributes of Almighty God is Omniscience (All-Knowing). The attributes of God are immutable and unchanging as He was, is and will be the same for all eternity and this is a doctrine that mainstream Muslims, Christians and Jews agree upon. And so Mark 13:32 presents an insurmountable stumbling block for the belief in Jesus’ divinity as it demonstrates Jesus’ evident lack of supreme and unconditional knowledge. The typical excuse that many conservative apologists offer to ameliorate the problem is that in the incarnation, Jesus gave up some of his divine attributes to fulfill his mission on earth as an obedient servant. To substantiate this proposal they appeal to the Pauline text of Philippians 2:7 which reads:

“Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,” (NLT)

‘Emptied himself,’ ‘laid aisde,’ or ‘veiled himself’ are some of the phrases that are commonly used to forward this concept, which is technically called the ‘kenotic doctrine’ or the ‘doctrine of kenosis.’ In this doctrine, it is alleged that when Jesus, as the second person of the Triune Godhead, added the human nature to his being in the so-called hypostasis, he lowered himself to the level of an obedient human being and by doing so, he “emptied himself” of some of the attributes that he had prior to the incarnation. One of those attributes that was subtracted, according to theologians that subscribe to the kenotic doctrine, was Omniscience. James White is one of those apologists that favour the kenotic doctrine, appealing to it whenever faced with Mark 13:32 or Matthew 24:36. In a debate in 2012 with Dr. Shabir Ally on the topic ‘Did Jesus Claim Deity?,’ Dr. James White says the following in answer to a question posed to him on the Markan verse in question:

“Your question is about Jesus saying not knowing the day or the hour, right? In this particular text, Jesus is talking as the Son and he says, “of that hour, no man knows, not the Son nor the angels or anybody else.”… There are certain things of Jesus’ divine attributes that were veiled in the incarnation, for example, his glory was not seen. He didn’t glow when he walked down the streets of Jerusalem… Obviously, Omnipresence, things like that, there was a veiling and for some purpose it is not explained to us. For some purpose, Jesus, in that particular instance, that particular piece of knowledge has been veiled during the time of the incarnation.” [1]

The Trinity is Confusing

by Ibn Anwar, BHsc (Hons), MCollT

A charge that is often levelled against the Trinity by Muslims is that the doctrine is way too complicated and is, in fact, very confusing. Because it is too confusing to behold, Muslims contend that the doctrine cannot possibly originate from God and must therefore be relegated into the category of man-made things.

It is a historical and theological fact that Muslims did not actually invent the allegation that the Trinity is a confusing doctrine.Rather, this is a view taken by many theologians, quite a number of whom are Christians. In the Princeton Theological Monograph Series, Dr. Dick Eugenio, who is Assistant Professor of Theology at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in the Philippines, writes concerning elements within the Christian community that were dissatisfied by the doctrine of the Trinity’s confusing nature:

“Meanwhile traditional Catholics and Protestants continued to affirm their belief in the Trinity, but the doctrine seemed to be rather esoteric, abstract, confusing, and irrelevant to the life and mission of the church.” [1]