The “deity of Christ” interpretation of John 20:28

Thomas’s statement in John 20:28 is touted as one of the chief evidences in the Bible for the “deity of Christ” and for the Trinity. But the “deity of Christ” interpretation gets it very wrong.

1. The “deity of Christ” interpretation ignores the biblical, Hebraic cultural background of Thomas’s declaration. Pagans may have believed in a deity resurrected from the dead, but biblically thinking Jews believed that God does not die, nor does He rise from the dead.
   Rather, God raises humans from the dead.
2. The “deity of Christ” interpretation ignores the reaction of all the other apostles to the resurrection of Jesus. The apostles never react to the resurrection of Jesus by declaring “Jesus is God”, but rather, “God raised Jesus from the dead”.
   The “deity of Christ” interpretation ignores tens of other clear biblical statements that “God (the Father) raised Jesus from the dead.”
3. The “deity of Christ” interpretation directly contradicts the Gospel of John’s statement that “no one has ever seen God” (John 1:18).
   Our interpretation of Thomas’s declaration agrees that “no one has ever seen God.” The Father figuratively was “seen”, i.e., perceived in the totality of the life of Jesus, especially in his death and resurrection.
4. The “deity of Christ” interpretation ignores the literary context of Thomas’s statement in the Gospel of John. Thomas initially doubted and eventually believed in the resurrection of Jesus, not the deity of Jesus. Further, not long before Thomas made his declaration, the resurrected Jesus declared “I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” [John 20:17]
   Jesus’s God and Father are the same God and Father as the apostles. And then, only [three] verses after Thomas’s declaration, John gave the reason he recorded the sign miracles that Jesus did. That purpose was not to show that Jesus is God. The “deity of Christ” interpretation doesn’t accept the author of the Gospel of John’s own purpose statement.
   [John 20.31]
5. The “deity of Christ” interpretation fails to understand the consistent biblical theme that the one God (Yehovah, the Father) is perceived, seen and made known in His acts among humankind. “To you it was shown, that you might know that Yehovah is God; there is none other than Him (Deut. 4:35. Isa. 43:10).
6. The “deity of Christ” interpretation misidentifies the God in Jesus.
   This is a serious error since it ignores and contradicts what Jesus told Thomas, fails to see the One God (the Father) at work in Jesus
   [John 14:7-11], and fails to give credit to the One God (the Father) for raising the dead.
   Trinitarianism claims it was “God the Son” in Jesus. But Jesus said that it was God the Father, the only God, who was in him
   (John 8:40, 10:38, 14:9-10, 17:3).

Should we believe Trinitarianism or Jesus?

John Bivens

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Did you know? God is Always One!

Did you know?
God is Always One, Never Three or Three-in-One in the Bible!

There are thousands upon thousands of singular personal pronouns that are used to describe God. It is not an assumption, but a fact that the Bible presents God as a singular person. Furthermore, Jesus himself says that
the Lord is One and to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’…”
(Mark 12:29).

Nowhere does any Scripture attest that God is three, three-in-one, or anything more than a simple one. Why are the majority of the church-going Christians telling everyone that Jesus is God? Stop It!
It confuses new believers and makes reading their Bibles complete and utter confusion.

Why would you do that? Seriously, I want an answer from a pastor that’s teaching this nonsense.

Why is God not allowed to use any personal pronouns?
IT’S HIS BOOK!
The Bible flat out says…

Deuteronomy 4:35
“YHWH, He is God; there is no other besides Him.”

Deuteronomy 32:39
“See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me.”

Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear, O’ Israel, YHWH is our God, YHWH is one.

“Isaiah 46:9
“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me.”

Nehemiah 9:6″You alone are YHWH…

“Malachi 2:10
“Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us?

“Mark 12:29
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is,
“Hear, O Israel; YHWH our God is one Lord.”

John 5:44
“…you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God.”

Romans 3:30
“… Since indeed God is one.”

1 Corinthians 8:6
“…for us there is but one God, the Father.”

Galatians 3:20
“Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.”

James 2:19
“You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

The Word of God says that God is Only One. But your common church-going so-called Christian will tell you something different… They say…
“Well, not really, you see He’s really 3″… Or, God is one, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father.

They are believing in unbiblical traditions and creeds without even realizing it, knowing it, or investigating it. They do not read or believe in what the bible says. Most Christians today will only learn the Athanasian Creed inside of today’s church buildings and not “The Word Of God.”

Despite all of this, Christians today are in a unique position. We have access to better manuscripts, Bible-study tools, and a wealth of scholarship that can help the modern disciple of Christ recognize the errors of tradition, and ultimately recover the faith of the New Testament. With God’s help, you can join the thousands of Christians whose lives are now being changed through this rediscovery of the word of God.

We believe Jesus when he told Mary… “Do not cling to me, Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell my brothers, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

It’s time to act boldly. What is at stake is nothing less than the truth about God. What have you got to lose by fully investigating the matter? The Bible can stand up to scrutiny. Our doctrine should, too.

Contrary to tradition, the Bible doesn’t tell us that you have to believe in the Trinity doctrine to be saved. In fact, it doesn’t explain anything about the doctrine at all. But what it does tell us is that the Lord Jesus expects each one of us to “worship God in spirit and truth,” that is, to worship God for who he truly is.

Blessings everyone

John Bivens

Have You Ever Wondered About The doctrine of the Trinity?

Have You Ever Wondered About The doctrine of the Trinity?

Millions of wonderful people of faith have – often without serious consideration – vested their confidence in the post-biblical concept that three different “Persons” compose the one God. Those Christians have often not considered that God’s prophets and people of old held that only one individual is God – the Father himself (Isaiah 64:4, 8). And, they often have not realized that our Lord Jesus declared that his Father is the only one who is truly God and that he (Jesus) is the Christ (John 17:3).

Because only one individual is God, the later innovation of Gentile Christians that two or three “Persons” are one God divides the honor and glory that is due to the Father alone. The Scripture requires that we serve only “one” as God and that we must love “him” with all of our hearts, souls, and might (Deut. 6:4, 5; Mark 12:28-32).

Hence, the idea of more than one individual being God Almighty is not the teaching of Jesus and the original Christians. Under the later multiple “Persons” God approach, the glory that should be given to “one” as God has now been divided between three – our faith has been confused and thwarted.

There is a Better Way…
J. Dan Gill in his book “The One – In Defense of God” writes that there is a better – more scriptural way to understand these matters.

Rather than the confusion of multiple “Persons” supposedly being one God, “as believers we should hold that the Father of Israel — the Father of Jesus Christ — is the only one in the universe who is truly God (Isa. 45:5; John 17:3); that God’s spirit is not another person of Deity but rather the Father himself at work in his presence and power (Matt. 10:20). We should believe in Jesus as God’s Christ: his Messiah — the one whom God has made Lord of all (Acts 2:36; Ps. 2:2 cf. Acts 4:26); that he is God’s only begotten human son; that he came into existence by a miracle in a young virgin by the name of Mary (Luke 1:35); that Jesus is our redeemer, our savior — but not our God (Acts 5:31; 13:23); that to truly follow Christ, we must serve his God ( John 20:17).
So, to us, there is one God, the Father, who interacts with and touches his creation – not by another “Person” called “the Spirit” – but by his own personal spirit. It is the Father in presence and power.
And, there is one whom God has made Lord over all – Jesus the Messiah! So,There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). -21st Century Reformation-

Blessings everyone

John Bivens

Did you know?

Did you know?
Jesus says the Father is the Only One Who is True God.

We are instructed by Christ to believe in two distinct entities, one who is God, and the other who is Jesus. God, for Jesus and his Apostles, is always “the Father.”

A friend of mine pointed this out to me one day about John 17:3, and it’s had a huge impact on me ever since. She said, “these words came from the lips of Jesus.” Wow! Think about that.

John 17:1-3Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father… This is eternal life, that they may know You,
the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

John 14:1
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

John 8:17-18
“I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”

1 Corinthians 8:6
“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

1 Timothy 2:5
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Here it is again… You have the word of God (The Bible) that says one thing and your common so-called Christian church buildings are going to tell you something completely different. They are teaching a creed, people. A creed that is Not in your Bible.

It is Not The Word Of God.
I want to encourage all Christians to challenge your pastor’s teachings whenever they do not line up with the word of God.
Stop them from teaching this false concept of God.

Ask your pastors why you are not allowed to believe the words of Jesus. Open up your Bible and show him… Jesus said that eternal life is “KNOWING” The God Of Jesus. (John 17:3)
Jesus wants YOU to “KNOW” that his God is Also Your God. (John 20:17)

The Bible is CLEAR as the day is long. The false Trinity doctrine is Not Biblical. It Is Confusing.
And what does your Bible say about Confusion? “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
(1 Cor 14:33)

Believing what Jesus believed about his God has changed my entire walk in Christ. If you truly want to know what it feels like to be “set apart” like Jesus was… Believe in your Bible.

Blessings everyone.

John Bivens

MOST Christians Do Not BELIEVE Jesus.

HOW MANY IS GOD? – ACCORDING TO JESUS

According to Jesus, God is strictly one Person, not three. Christians who value Jesus as the supreme revealer of truth should consider his classic words, uttered in a final prayer. “You, Father, are the only one who is truly God” (John 17:3). He defined salvation as belief in that One and only true God, and in himself as the Messiah (John 17:3).

It is a serious hijacking of the words of Jesus if one adds to Jesus’ creed. For Jesus, his Father is “the one who alone is truly God, the only one who is truly God, the one true God” (see also John 5:44 and Mark 12:29).

Those utterances are more than clear. They are without a hint of ambiguity. Yet they have been abandoned by the church bearing the name of Jesus. The church has for centuries, since post-biblical times, defined God as three Persons. Jesus defined God as one Person, the Father. There is a very great difference. That difference calls for extensive rethinking and reform. We cannot risk fragmenting God. Jesus believed and taught strict unitary monotheism. He had never heard of the Trinity – or if he had he rejected it. So should his followers.

Centuries later, after church councils had invented iron-clad creeds and imposed them on the faithful, Augustine came face to face with Jesus’ definition of God as the “only one who is truly God.” What was he to do? The church by then had lost Jesus’ creed. It propagated everywhere belief that God was three Persons. That innocent sentence in John 17:3 stated that God was a single person, not three persons. Here is Augustine’s “solution.” He wrote: “The proper order of the words is:
‘that they may know You and Jesus Christ, the only true God’” (Homilies on John).

One can have the words of Jesus on this great issue or the words of the post-biblical creeds. It is hard to see how one can have both at the same time. Following Jesus means believing his teachings. Jesus’ teaching about how many Persons are the One God is really not difficult: “You, Father, are the only true God.”
Jesus is the Lord Messiah (Luke 2:11; Ps. 110:1), the Son of God (Matt. 16:16), but not the One True God. The word “one” should be clear to all.

If anyone has any questions about this, let him consult the thousands upon thousands of singular personal pronouns used for God in the Bible. “I,” “Me,” “Mine,” “Myself,” “Thee,” “Thy,” “Thine,” “Thyself,” “He,” “Him,” “His,” “Himself.” All these words, as well as God’s proper name Yahweh, followed by singular verbs (6700 times), ought to convince the open-minded that God is one Person, not more. And monotheism – belief that God is one – is, according to Jesus, of critical importance (Mark 12:29).

Jesus, the Son of God, is the perfect human reflection of the One God, his Father. But he is not God. He is the sinless second Adam and the “prophet to be raised up from the house of Israel” (Deut. 18:15-18). Created and begotten in the womb of his mother under the power of God’s spirit, he is designated “Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The idea that he is “eternally begotten” not only has no recognizable meaning in language, but it is false to Scripture. “Eternal generation” contradicts the important biblical fact that the Son of God was begotten “today,” not in eternity (Ps. 2:7; …)

Blessings everyone

John Bivens