Challenging Orthodoxy: Scriptural Witnesses Against the Trinity Doctrine

Challenging Orthodoxy: Scriptural Witnesses Against the Trinity Doctrine

Before I begin, I must repeat something I have stated very frequently over the past few decades, which is that no part of Scripture is a lie. One verse of Scripture does not disprove another verse. If there is a perceived conflict, sometimes it is a corrupt text, which, on occasion, can be rectified by examining ancient manuscripts. Sometimes it is merely a poor translation which is more easily corrected upon examining the original languages. Sometimes it is a poor understanding of the context in which . But much more frequently than any of these, is a poor understanding on the part of the reader, and a lack of knowledge which is rectified only through further study. Therefore all of the “gotcha” verses which a scoffer may pull out of his pocket to refute our claims here this evening, do not prove what the scoffers think they prove.

Yes, Christ, the man, often prayed to God the Father, and often spoke of God the Father, from the perspective of a man. But that which He had done, He did as an example to men. When He washed the feet of His disciples, He said, as it is recorded in John chapter 13: “15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Then, in 1 Peter chapter 1 we read: “21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously”, so that likewise, we would strive to live as He had lived, without sin and committing ourselves to His judgment. For that reason, to serve as an example for men, during His earthly ministry He behaved just as a man should behave, and not as God. After His resurrection, he was recognized as God. Yahshua Christ did not become a god, but rather, He is God who became a man, and His Resurrection proved that He is God. When the apostle Thomas had realized that it was Christ who was resurrected from the dead, he responded by declaring “My Lord and my God!” The prophet Isaiah was read in the synagogues, Christ Himself read from Isaiah and declared one Messianic prophecy to have been fulfilled in Himself, so men knew the other prophecies concerning their promised Redeemer, and they understood that those prophecies were fulfilled in Christ.

Then, in Hebrews chapter 2 we read, where it is speaking of Christ: “16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Note that Paul had said that “He took on Him the seed of Abraham”, where the form of the Greek verb he used there actually indicates that “He took on Himself the seed of Abraham”. So the Christogenea New Testament has verse 16 to read “16 For surely not that of messengers [angels] has He taken upon Himself, but He has taken upon Himself of the offspring of Abraham”.

Only God could make a conscious decision to take upon Himself the seed of a particular man, a choice which God must have made long in advance of the actual event, and no mere man can do that. Paul did not say “He put on Him”, as if God the Father created a separate person in God the Son. Rather, Paul wrote “He took on Him” because God the Father incarnated Himself as God the Son. Many modern translations read this verse to say things which are far from the meanings of the Greek words, but the context in verse 17 where we read that “it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren” fully supports our literal translation, as well as that of the King James Version. Paul was informing his fellow Hebrews that God took upon Himself the seed of Abraham, thereby becoming one of their own brethren in Yahshua Christ. That may be a paradox for many, but that is the first century controversy of Christianity, and since the persecutions and deaths of the first generations of Christians, men have mingled fleshly philosophies and pagan beliefs in their efforts to understand and describe it, and those same men often turned to jews for their learning.

If the mayor of some town was also the head of some corporation and the patriarch of a large family, and if he were to speak at a gathering for friends and family, he might be introduced as “His honor the mayor, chairman of the board and father of our clan”, but would the speaker be imagined to have been referring to three different persons? And if the answer is no, as it should be, then why is it that men have insisted on imagining this of God, who has repeatedly and explicitly warned us that there is only one God? If we think in merely fleshly terms, then we shall evidently suffer fleshly limitations and make fleshly mistakes. Many Judaeans of the time of Christ had denied that God could manifest Himself as a man, and they denied that a man could be one and the same with God, so for that reason they had rejected Christ, as jews continue to do today. They also perceive God only in fleshly terms.

Of this we have examples: In John chapter 5, Christ had healed a man who could not walk for thirty-eight years, and the man arose, picked up his bed and began to carry it away. But the adversaries of Christ saw what He had done, and rather than having rejoiced, we read: “16 And therefore did the [Judaeans] persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the [Judaeans] sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”

That word equal means the same as, and not only in amount, ability or quality. The adversaries of Christ knew what He had meant by His words, So in John chapter 10 where Christ had said “ 30 I and my Father are one”, we read: “31 Then the [Judaeans] took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 33 The [Judaeans] answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” To prove them wrong, Christ then cited the 82nd Psalm, using the content of that Psalm as a rhetorical device.

In the past we have discussed an archaeological discovery known as the Megiddo Mosaic, the floor of an ancient hall discovered below ground, which evidently belonged to the estate of a well-to-do Christian and is believed to date to the 3rd century, although it may be even older. On this floor were several inscriptions, one of which reads “Akeptous, the friend of God, has offered the table to God Jesus Christ for remembrance.” Communion is a sharing of things in common, and this is how Paul of Tarsus advised Christians to enjoy communion: in honor of Christ, as, for example, Paul had explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. This is also how Christians truly thought of Christ: as God, not as an avatar for God, and not as a person distinct from God.

In the later half of the 2nd century, Theophilus of Antioch might have been the first Christian writer to use a word similar to the Latin term trinitas or trinity, where he used the Greek word τριάδος or triad, and wrote that “The three days before the luminaries were created are types of the trinity [τριάδος]: God, His Word, and His Wisdom.” [2] This was a poetic analogy which Theophilus was making of the days of Genesis, which bears absolutely no resemblance to the Roman Catholic trinity, and defines only His Word and His Wisdom as having emanated from God.

The essence of what had later become the Roman Catholic belief in a trinity appears in the writings of Tertullian, which is the earliest example with which I am familiar, although it was not formalized into Church doctrine until the fourth century. Tertullian was the bishop of Carthage in the early 3rd century. While Tertullian had some perspectives which were good, he also had some ideas which were quite novel, and later in his life he was branded a heretic for supporting the sect of the Montanists. We would consider this acceptance of Tertullian’s trinity as one of the compromises which were made once Constantine had begun organizing and standardizing Christianity throughout his empire, in ways which were accommodating to the empire. Aside from Tertullian, Irenaeus also struggled with this issue, however he did not use the words trinity or triad nor any word like them to describe God. 

The concept of a trinity is not found in the earliest Christian writers, and it is certainly not found in Scripture even if, on occasion, we see references to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the translation of the Epistle to the Ephesians by Ignatius, in the Loeb Classical Library edition translated by Kirsopp Lake, we read in chapter 19, in part: “3 … for God was manifest as man for the ‘newness’ of eternal life, and that which had been prepared by God received its beginning.” That is how we should perceive Christ, as Yahweh God manifest as a man, upon which event He is the Son of the prophecies of David.

This might seem paradoxical, but it is actually quite simple, and in this understanding we may realize that there is no part of God without Christ, and there is therefore no part of the God of our Scriptures which jews or those of other worldly religions may claim to worship. Christ Himself had told His adversaries: “46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” With that, how do Christians think that jews really believe Moses, since they continue to reject Christ? Christ Himself had refuted that claim. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul of Tarsus taught that Moses could not be understood without Christ, where he had used the vail of Moses as an analogy.

But on account of all of the later opinions of the Roman Catholic Church writers and the Protestants who followed them, there is constant debate in certain circles of Christianity, both Christian Identity and other forms of so-called Christian Nationalism, whether it be Protestant, Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, over this subject of the trinity, and how Christians should perceive both God and Christ as God. This is sad, because even the New Testament Scriptures inform us on several occasions that there is only one God. So why is there even a need to attempt to divide that God into three parts? There is no legitimate reason for such a division in all of Scripture. But there is danger in doing so.

To imagine that Christ is a different person than God, who we would prefer to address by His Name, Yahweh, is to also open a door of opportunity for those who claim to worship the same God, but who reject Christ as God. This is the primary circumstance which has enabled the jew to slowly subvert all of Christian society to the point where in this day and age, the jew sits at the top of Christian society, and the judaized Christians in the denominational churches now worship jews instead of Jesus. This has also allowed many other heresies, to the point where a special prayer room for muslims has just now been opened in the Vatican Library [1]. After all, as at least several Roman Catholic popes have professed, that Christians, jews and muslims all worship the same God. But that is certainly not true. Doing that, they actually help jews drive the nails into the limbs of Christ. This is what their belief in a trinity has done: it has helped to enable the jewish gaslighting of Christianity for 1800 years.

So now we shall discuss various related subjects, with the assertion that a proper understanding of each not only refutes the belief in a trinity, but also negates any need for such a concept. One is either a Christian, as proper Christians are esteemed to be of the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”, or one has absolutely no part with the God of the Christian Bible – a Bible which has never been jewish from the beginning.

1. The Godhead

Of course, those identifying themselves with the historical denominations will argue and uphold the various heresies of those denominations. But even some people claiming to be Identity Christians also cling to the heresy of the trinity, sharing this concept of a Godhead, a sort of ecumenical panel, so to speak, which is said to contain three persons. The Greek word θεῖος and the related words θειότης and θεότης, each of which are translated as Godhead in the King James Version, do not even describe such a panel, or Godhead. The Greek words only refer to the nature of being divine, or the divine nature. According to Liddell & Scott the word θεῖος (Strong’s # 2304), as pagan Greeks had used it, means “of or from the gods, sent by the gods, issuing from them, divine...” and in Acts chapter 17 (17:29) Paul had used that word while addressing the pagan Greeks at Athens. Likewise θεότης (Strong’s # 2320), which Paul used in Colossians chapter 2 (2:9) is defined as divinity or divine nature and θειότης (Strong’s # 2305), which Paul used in Romans chapter 1 (1:20), is defined in that same manner. [I am persuaded that θειότης and θεότης are just alternate spellings of the same word.]

These words appear five times in the New Testament. The two other occurrences are found where the apostle Peter had used a feminine form of θεῖος twice in 2 Peter chapter 1, in verses 3 and 4 where he was speaking of Christ and in the King James Version it is translated as divine on both occasions, speaking of divine power and divine nature. The word θεῖος is an adjective, but where Paul had used it in Acts chapter 17 it is accompanied by a definite article, so it is a Substantive, which is functionally a noun. On the three occasions in Acts and the epistles of Paul, these three words are translated as Godhead in the King James Version, but they would have been more accurately rendered as divinity or something similar. In Colossians chapter 2, speaking of Christ Paul stated that “9 … in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” So if the Godhead is a panel of three persons, all those persons reside bodily in Christ, and why do Catholics divide God into three persons, when they are all in Christ? Of course, this is a silly rhetorical argument, but it is legitimately questioning a silly trinity belief. The truth is that Paul intended to state that the fulness of the Divinity or Divine Nature resides in Christ, so far as God could reside in the body of a man. 

But just as Paul had declared the fulness of the Divinity to reside in Christ, Christ Himself had also professed that He is both the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 10 Christ is recorded as having said that “30 I and my Father are one.” He did not say “I and My Father are each one out of three.” neither did He say “I am One, and there are two others in Me.” Then where, in John chapter 14, Philip had asked Christ to “shew us the Father”, He responded and said: “9 … Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” This is what Paul had meant where he wrote of Christ: “9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily,” as it is in the Christogenea New Testament. While other men have a spirit which is from God, the Spirit of Christ is God, although while He walked with men, He spoke of Himself as a man.

So a little further on in John chapter 14, where Christ is still speaking to His disciples, we read: “16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” Christ was speaking of Himself where He said “ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” That word translated as comfortless is the Greek adjective ὀρφανός (Strong’s #3737), from which we have the English word orphan. According to Liddell & Scott, ὀρφανός means orphan, without parents, fatherless. So Christ had told His disciples that He would not leave them fatherless. There are other words which mean comfort, even in that same passage. Then in the same clause, referring to the same Comforter which he had promised them, He said “I will come to you.” Therefore in that one clause He reveals that He is the Father, and He is also the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. 

Because Christ had spoken of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and said “I will come to you”, asserting that He Himself is that Spirit, we have a greater paradox where we read in Matthew chapter 1 that when Joseph had discovered that Mary was with child, he thought about putting her away privately, “20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” So if Christ is the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, then being God, He is also His Own Father. The phrase “Spirit of the Lord” appears in references to Christ several times in the writings of the apostles, notably in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 where, referring to Christ, we read, in part: “17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

So there is no “Godhead”, but there is a Divine Nature, the nature of a God who may represent Himself in the world as He sees fit. At various times before His incarnation as the Christ, He saw fit to manifest Himself as the burning in a bush, as a pillar of fire or a pillar of smoke, or as a rock in the desert. In 2 Samuel chapter 22 we read “32 For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?” The same expression is found in the 18th Psalm “31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?” Then again, in Isaiah chapter 17: “10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips.” Much later, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, where Paul was speaking of that same Rock from the accounts of Moses, we read: “1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” It wasn’t the rock of Horeb, nor was it the rock at Kadesh, which had followed the children of Israel through the wilderness.

So is Yahweh God the Rock, or is Christ the Rock? Do the first person of the trinity and the second person of the trinity pass a rock avatar back and forth, taking turns with it? Or is it much more natural for Christians to accept the fact that Christ is the Rock because Christ is also Yahweh God the Father? That is what Paul is telling us, that Christ is Yahweh God who had led His people out of Egypt. For this reason, we would also assert that Christ was speaking in reference to Himself where it is recorded in Matthew chapter 15 that He had told the apostle Peter, a name which also means stone, “18 And I say to you that you are a stone [petros], yet upon this bedrock [petra] shall I build My assembly and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it!” So Christ is the Rock upon which His Christian assembly is built, and that is true from the first words uttered in Genesis, as we shall see. In truth, God was not the literal rock, but the Rock represented the presence of God among His people, so in that manner, Christ is an allegorical Rock, because at the time which He had determined, Yahweh God had chosen to manifest Himself within His creation as Christ. This is the meaning of “the Word made flesh”, which is the next subject of our discussion. 

2. The Word Made Flesh

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Yahweh, and the Word was Yahweh. 2 He was in the beginning with Yahweh. 3 All things were through Him, and without Him was not even one thing. That which was done 4 in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

This is the Christogenea New Testament, but aside from having God rather than Yahweh, in substance it is not any different than the translation found in the King James Version, except where we have He rather than the same at the beginning of verse 2. The pronoun is masculine, but so is ὁ λόγος, the noun to which it refers, so either choice is acceptable. Therefore the first logical question to answer is this: What word was at the beginning? The word genesis actually means beginning, or origin, and so does the Greek word which John had used here, which is ἀρχή. The Hebrew word ראשׁית or reshith (# 7225) is a beginning and it appears in the opening verse of Genesis. 

In Genesis the phrase “and God said” is repeated ten times, and each occurrence introduces an act of His creation. So the Word of God is the Word which was made flesh, and for that reason Christ is credited with the act of creation, for example, by Paul of Tarsus, in Hebrews chapter 1 where we read: “1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. There Paul had also professed that Christ is the “express image” of the person of God, so Christ cannot be a separate person in some make-believe Godhead. Then later, in Hebrews chapter 11 we read: “3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Christ is that Word made flesh, so Paul had said earlier that it is Christ by whom God had “made the worlds”, as it is in the King James Version.

The word λόγος (Strong’s # 3056) has a deeper meaning than word, although that is its basic English definition. The noun λόγος can denote much wider meanings, such as reckoning, account, tale, esteem or value. It can also refer to an explanation, and therefore it is variously interpreted as a plea, pretext or ground, and even a case in law. It can be used to describe a statement of theory or an argument, a rule, principle or law. In logic, it can refer to a proposition. In other contexts it can mean a thesis, hypothesis, reason or formula, even a definition, or a continuous statement or narrative, as well as a mere verbal expression or utterance. Among the other possible definitions evident in the use of the word λόγος by the Greek writers, any and all of these encompass the concept of the Word of Yahweh God in Scripture. Our assertion concerning John’s intention in using this analogy of the Word made flesh, is to make the statement that Yahshua Christ is the physical embodiment of the entire estimation of God which was portrayed through His Word in the Old Testament and often expressed in passages containing phrases such as “word of the Lord” or “word of God”, or “Thus saith the LORD” which appear over seven hundred times in the King James Version of the Bible.

In 2 Peter chapter 3 we read: “5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.” Then in Revelation chapter 19: “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”

That is a reference to the returning, conquering Christ, whose Name is called “the Word of God”. We would assert that in Genesis, the Word of God is the first manifestation of God within the physical creation, the Word having been described as effecting His Will in the world, and it is first heard in the declaration “Let there be light”, which is an announcement of His presence within His creation, which we shall also discuss here. In turn, Christ is that Word made flesh, and therefore He also is a manifestation of God in the physical creation, as one of His Own sons. The only beginning and the only Word of which John had written must be found in the opening chapter of Genesis, and throughout the entire Old Testament.

Until the incarnation of Yahshua Christ, Yahweh God was only known to men by each man’s estimation of His Word, His λόγος. Now Yahshua Christ is that Word made flesh, and we can know God through Him. For this, Christ had asked His adversaries, as it is recorded in Luke chapter 20: “41 And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David's son? 42 And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord , Sit thou on my right hand, 43 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 44 David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?” There Christ had cited a prophecy of David found in the 110th Psalm. Only this viewpoint, that Yahshua Christ is Yahweh God incarnate, could explain how Christ had told his opponents in John chapter 8 that “Before Abraham was, I am” and that alone explains how Christ is David’s lord, although He is also David’s son.

So a little further on in the first chapter of his Gospel account, John referred to the Word of God once again, which brings us to discuss the tabernacle of God:

3. The Tabernacle of God

14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His splendor, splendor as the most-beloved [μονογενής] by the Father, full of favor and truth. 

The Greek word μονογενής literally means “only begotten” but was also used in Greek literature to describe something unique. Among men, Christ certainly is unique. In Hebrews chapter 11 Paul used the same word μονογενής where the King James Version has “17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” So in Hebrews, Isaac is called the “only-begotten” son where Abraham had other sons, and Isaac was only the most loved of those sons, as he is described in Genesis chapter 22, for which reason we translate the word as “most-beloved”, because Adam was also the son of Yahweh, as we read in Luke chapter 3. and the sons of Adam are also called sons of God.

The verb tabernacled is from the Greek word σκηνόω (Strong’s # 4637), which only appears elsewhere in the New Testament in four passages of the Revelation (7:15, 12:12, 13:6, 21:3). The verb is derived from the noun σκηνή (# 4633), which is “a covered place, a tent”, according to Liddell & Scott, and this word along with the related synonyms σκῆνος (# 4636) and σκήνομα (# 4638), appear in the New Testament quite frequently. Paul of Tarsus was described as a σκηνοποιός, or tent-maker, in Acts chapter 18. The Feast of Tabernacles was called ἡ ἑορτὴ... ἡ σκηνοπηγία in John chapter 7, which may be roughly interpreted as “the feast of the setting up of tents”, πηγία being from a verb πήγηυμι which means to stick, fix or fasten, or of tents, to pitch. A tent is something in which a man may dwell. The words are tent are often translated as tabernacle throughtout Scripture.

Here John, by describing the body of Christ as “the Word which became flesh” and which “tabernacled among us”, is certainly making another allusion to prophecy and one more assertion on behalf of Christ, that He is the Old Testament God who had promised to tabernacle among the children of Israel. Yahweh had promised to set His tabernacle, or tent, among the children of Israel, in direct connection with a promise of a new covenant in Ezekiel chapter 37: “26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the Nations shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” 

So Paul of Tarsus also made the analogy of the physical body of Christ as the tabernacle of God in Hebrews chapter 9: “11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” If He entered into the holy place by His Own blood, then the “more perfect tabernacle” was His Own body, and the tabernacle was the place in the temple, or at first, the tent in the wilderness, where Yahweh God was said to have dwelt. Having this understanding, Paul wrote to the Colossians and said of Christ (2:9): “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Divinity bodily.” In other words, within the person of Yahshua Christ dwelt as much of the essence of Yahweh God as could dwell in the body of a man, and the body of that man is the promised tabernacleof Ezekiel chapter 27. This is substantiated in John chapter 2, where we read “19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then John wrote in explanation: “21 But he spake of the temple of his body.”

So we read of the City of God in Revelation chapter 21, where Christ had also repeated other assertions concerning Himself which had been made in diverse places: “2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

Later, the apostle Peter in the first chapter of his second epistle had used the same analogy in relation to his own flesh as “this tabernacle” and “this my tabernacle”, understanding, as Paul had also, that the flesh was only a vessel for the real person, which is found in the spirit. So Peter wrote: “ 13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.”

Paul had also elucidated this in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, where he wrote: “1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Therefore the tabernacle in these contexts is the body of a man, each of our bodies is a tabernacle for our own spirits, and in the case of Yahweh where He promised that “My tabernacle also shall be with them”, He was referring to the body of Yahshua Christ. 

Therefore here in verse 14 of John chapter 1 the apostle declared the fulfillment in Christ of that very promise seen in Ezekiel: “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us”, but now we must once again wait upon Him as it is promised in the Revelation, for the time promised in Revelation chapter 21 when it shall be said that “the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” To fulfill all of the promises and all of the words concerning Christ, that tabernacle must be Christ, who is Yahweh God incarnate. 

There is one more significant aspect of the opening verses of John chapter 1, which we shall now read in part once again from verse 3, and a little further than we had read earlier:

4. The Light of the World

3 All things were through Him, and without Him was not even one thing. That which was done 4 in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Then, after a reference in verse 6 to the ministry of John the Baptist, in verse 7 John had written a brief description of its purpose:

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 Not that he was the light, but that he would testify concerning the light. 9 The light was the truth, which coming into the Society enlightens every man. 

In part, this is how John the Baptist had prepared the way for Christ, which was his purpose as it was described in the prophets. The light of verses 4 and 5 must be the same light of verses 7 through 9. Then the theme is continued in verse 14 of this chapter, and the connection to the God of Genesis is reiterated, where John wrote: 

14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His splendor, splendor as the most-beloved by the Father, full of favor and truth. 

There the Greek word for splendor, or glory in the King James Version, is δόξα. This word δόξα characterizes what we had said of the word λόγος, that λόγος is not only the thought projected by God in His Word, but it is also the estimation which men have of the Old Testament God by His Word, the concept of God as it can be understood from the body of His Word, since before Christ men could only know God through that Word. This word δόξα, translated as glory in the King James Version and as splendor here, is primarily defined as an expectation, a hoping for, opinion, estimation or repute. The meaning is deeper than a mere appearance and here in verse 14 it describes the character of Christ, it refers to the truthfulness of His words as well as to His ability to express them; to its form and substance, not merely to its form, or appearance. 

The very first Word of God which is explicitly described as having been expressed by God in Genesis chapter 1 is found in verse 3 of the chapter:

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

As far as we can know, this light had never been seen by man. This light was created before any of the the sun, moon and stars or other things by which men may have light had been created. So we believe that this aspect of the creation account in Genesis is actually describing an important concept, that before anything else existed on earth or in the heavens, light and darkness are distinguished as what emanates from God, and what is not of God. Then as Genesis continues we read: “4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” We would assert that this light represents the presence of God and His Truth in the world, as opposed to darkness, as He had foreseen the rebellion of men and angels which would plunge the world into darkness. So Day and Night are used as allegories to represent that concept 

In his epistle to the Ephesians, in chapter 5, Paul of Tarsus made an analogy of this darkness, and the contrasting light which is Christ, where he wrote: “6 No one must deceive you with empty words, for on account of these things the wrath of Yahweh comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore you must not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Prince [or Lord]. Walk as children of light. 9 (For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justness and truth, 10 scrutinizing what is acceptable to the Prince [or Lord].)” 

In the opening verses of 1 John chapter 1 the apostle once again refers to Christ as both the Word and the Light where we read: “1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” This light of Genesis 1:3 was first seen by men in the person of Yahshua Christ. 

Where John wrote “that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”, he is associating Yahweh God with the light of Genesis chapter 1 (1:3), where light was also divided from darkness. The Father is the invisible God, but the Son is God in His Tabernacle, so that He may fellowship with men. The Father is Light, and the Son is the Light come into the world. Christ is also the Life, which was with the Father, and Christ Himself had said, as it is recorded in John chapter 14: “6 … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” No man may come to the Father but by Him because God is invisible, and Christ is His tabernacle in the world. To see Christ is to see the image of the invisible God, and to see God one must see Christ. True Christians should have no need for any silly trinity in order to describe this from Scripture. If Yahweh wanted us to see Him as a trinity, He would have used that term to describe Himself, and He did not. He did use a word which denotes a number in order to describe Himself, and in English we call it “one”. 

That Christ is the light is also attested in Luke chapter 2, in the words of the elderly Simeon, where we read: “29 Now release Your servant, Master, in peace according to Your word: 30 Because my eyes have seen Your Salvation, 31 which You have prepared in front of all the people: 32 a light for the revelation of the Nations and honor of Your people Israel!” In Psalm 43 in a plea to Yahweh we read: “3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” In Psalm 119: “105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Of course, John had already described Christ as that Word made flesh, and it is evident that the Word serves as a light to guide the people. Yahshua Christ, whom John tells us is the Light, had also asserted for Himself to be the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, as it is recorded in Revelation chapter 13. So John’s words certainly seem to imply that Christ being the Light come into the world is also Yahweh God Himself coming into the world as an element of His Own creation, and that Yahweh had understood the necessity of His coming into His creation even before He created the world.

Everyone who is of God can understand Yahshua Christ, because there is light in them, that light representing the spirit of man which comes from God. So we read in Isaiah chapter 8: “16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Where Christ had said “I am the light of the world”, as it is recorded in John chapter 8, we may read in the 18th Psalm: “27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. 28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.” Then in the 112th Psalm: “4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.” Then in John chapter 12 Christ had once again attested that: “46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” We would assert that all of these references to light relate to that light of Genesis 1:3, which is otherwise unidentified and cannot be seen by men, unless it is seen in the person of Yahshua Christ. The Word of God represents the Light, the first words spoken by God in Scripture called that Light into existence, and Christ being that Word made flesh is also that Light come into the world. Christ is God, because He is the physical manifestation of God in this physical world, just as the Word and the Light had represented the presence of God in the world before the coming of Christ.

Finally, in Revelation chapter 21, there is a description of the City of God where we read, in part: “22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” The person of Christ remains as the tabernacle of the invisible God, the physical manifestation of Yahweh. Then where it continues, we find that He is also its light: “23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.” Yahshua Christ is the creator of Light, He was the only Light at the beginning, and He shall be the only Light at the end.

Since John, in the opening verses of his Gospel, had also said of Christ that “in Him was life”, we shall now discuss another aspect of His Divinity: 

5. The Resurrection

In John chapter 11 we read:

23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Where Christ had said “I am the resurrection”, in the promises of redemption from death in the prophets we read the Word of Yahweh first in Hosea chapter 13: 

14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Then there is a similar promise in Isaiah chapter 28, in a prophecy characterizing the sin of Israel: 

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

There is little doubt that the stone laid in Zion is Christ, the Rock of Israel, as the apostles had cited this very passage in reference to Christ. So here we have a revocation of the covenant with death explicitly related to a prophecy of Christ, of whom Christ Himself had said “I am the resurrection”, and of whom John had also written “in Him was life”. So we would assert that Christ is the physical embodiment of that same God the Father, Yahweh, who had promised to redeem Israel from the grave, and revoke their covenant with death. 

In chapter 5 of his first epistle, the apostle John wrote: “10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. ” With that, once again Christians should must that jews, muslims, and all those who reject Christ have no life. So how could Christians imagine that jews and muslims may worship some part of God which is apart from Christ, if “he that has not the Son of God has not life”? They are the walking dead, just as the apostle Jude had described them as twice dead.

Now, because Yahweh had promised to redeem Israel from death, this leads to our next subject, which is redemption:

6. The Redeemer 

In Isaiah chapter 44 we read: 

6 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.

Where we read “and his redeemer”, the pronoun is a reference is to Jacob, who was the subject of verse 5. So Yahweh is the king of Israel, and Yahweh is the Redeemer of Israel. He is First and Last, and there is no God besides Him, which is explicit language here. So how do Christians claim that Christ is King, if Yahweh is King? Both can be true only if Christ is Yahweh incarnate, since besides Yahweh, there is no God. 

Then in Isaiah chapter 48 we read:

17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

So Yahweh has declared that He is the Redeemer of Israel, and besides Him, there is no God. Therefore if Christ is also our Redeemer, we must be of Israel and He must be Yahweh God incarnate. Otherwise Christians have two kings, two redeemers, and much confusion. But in Zechariah chapter 14 we read: “9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” Christ is King, and He is Yahweh, being One and the Same with Him.

In Hebrews chapter 9 Paul of Tarsus had written:

15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 

They which are called are all of Israel, those who were under the first testament, a reference to the covenant at Sinai which they had transgressed, and in Isaiah chapter 45 we read:

4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

So the Word of Yahweh says: “there is none else beside me”, and again He says “there is no God beside me”, stressing the meaning of the first clause. Yahweh God must be our Redeemer, yet Christ is described as our Redeemer. How can the children of Israel have more than one Redeemer, especially where Yahweh had said “there is no God beside me” and “I will not give my glory to another”? 

Attempting to construct a false stage which creates three persons out of one God, and call it a godhead is a cope, a poor excuse for theology, and a flawed philosophy which gives a part of ourGod over to the whims of devils, that they may even further deceive men. We do not have to accept this false theology. Both trinity and godhead are artificial constructions with pagan implications, and therefore trinity is also idolatry. 

We will now touch on one further topic this evening, because Yahweh God considered Himself the Husband of Israel, and Israel as a nation to be His Wife, while Christ also called Himself the Bridegroom and Israel as His bride. 

7. The Husband as the Bridegroom

Speaking of the children of Israel, we read in Isaiah chapter 50:

1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

The mother is the nation, the bride of Yahweh, and in a prophecy of redemption, we read further in Isaiah chapter 52: 

2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

Again, in Isaiah chapter 54 we read:

5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Yahweh had divorced, or put away, both Israel and Judah. The divorce of Israel was described quite explicitly in Jeremiah chapter 3 (3:6), but the divorce of Judah is found in a parable announced in Ezekiel chapter 23. Then He attested in the words of the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 33, where He spoke of His enemies, and said: 

24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

So much later, after the Resurrection of Christ, Paul of Tarsus explained how Christ had redeemed Israel from transgressions, and how He would reconcile Israel to Himself, in Romans chapter 7:

1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Under the law, the children of Israel were liable for death for having committed adultery against Yahweh their God, who was described as their Husband. When He died on the cross of Christ, Israel, the Wife of Yahweh, was freed from the judgments of the law, and in that manner she could live. So continuing with Romans chapter 7, Paul wrote:

4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

In Galatians chapter 4, Paul wrote:

4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Both the Son and the Spirit of his Son, which is the Holy Spirit, are manifestations of the otherwise invisible God. Among other places, Paul had equated Christ to God in 1 Timothy chapter 1: 

15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Then again, in 1 Corinthians chapter 8:

6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

The incarnation of Yahweh as Yahshua Christ and His being the Bridegroom of the reconciled children of Israel fulfills a promise which Yahweh had made to Israel in Hosea chapter 2, after the people had been put off in divorce, and they had been called “Not My People” and “No Mercy”, in the meanings of the names of Hosea’s children:

19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

For this very reason, Christ referred to Himself as the Bridegroom, where in Matthew chapter 9 we read:

14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? 15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

John the Baptist is recorded as having said, in reference to Christ, as it is recorded in John chapter 3:

29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

But Christ was not stealing His Father’s wife. As Paul had explained in 2 Corinthians chapter 5:

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore Yahweh is once again betrothed to Israel, because Yahshua Christ is the embodiment of Yahweh. But the law forbids a son from marrying a father’s wife, under any circumstances. So, for example, we read in Deuteronomy chapter 22: “30 A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.” Then in Leviticus chapter 20: “11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” 

When the husband is dead, the wife is released from the law, it is no longer in effect over her. But there is no such provision for a father and a son. Nevertheless, if Yahweh God is both the father and the son, dying and then having been resurrected, He can evidently transcend the law and keep His promise in that passage of Hosea, because the law of the husband ends upon the death of the husband, as Paul had also explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 7:

39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

The law also forbids a man from remarrying a wife who was divorced, and who had been with another husband. But if the husband dies the law is fulfilled, and if He can live again, as Christ had been resurrected, there is nothing further which may prevent him. There is no other means by which the letter of the entire law can be satisfied without further transgression. Yahweh God has kept His law, He died as a man so that He could keep Israel and not transgress His law, and used His divine nature as God to overcome our faults and preserve us in spite of our sins. On the other hand, if a son dies, that does not free his mother from the law of her husband. For the wife to be free of the law of her husband, the husband must die, and not a son. 

This is a much more marvelous understanding of the accounts of Scripture than some confused trinity doctrine which cannot demonstrate how the law was upheld, and which is a doctrine of men who knew none of the actual and Scriptural accounts of the ongoing nature of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel, or the nature of the fulfillments of the promises to the fathers, which is the foundation for Christianity in the first place, according to both Paul (Romans 15:8) and the testimonies in the Gospel of Luke (1:70-75). 

Here we shall pause this discussion, but we are not finished with it as we still have at least several more important points to discuss. Yahweh willing, we shall return to this in the near future. 

Footnotes

1 Vatican Library grants Muslim scholars a prayer room, The Catholic Herald, https://thecatholic herald.com/article/vatican-library-grants-muslim-scholars-a-prayer-room, accessed October 29th, 2025. [Screenshot.]

2 Theophilus to Autolycus, Book 2 (2:15), Theophilus of Antioch, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, https://ccel.org/ccel/theophilus/autolycus_ii/, accessed October 29th, 2025.