Following are some of the Bible texts which are quoted as supposedly supporting the Trinitarian doctrinal view on the nature of Jesus Christ together with explanations.
“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” John 3:13
- It is argued that “God the Son” pre-existed as a spirit creature in heaven prior to his “incarnation”, but the passage in John reads, “even the Son of MAN which is in heaven”. Did the Son of MAN literally come down from heaven?
- Christ did not literally come down from heaven. His origin was heavenly, (as the context states – John 3:31), in-so-far as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven and his teaching was not his own but his Father’s. (Luke 1:35, John 7:16, 17:14)
“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” John 5:23
1. The context to this verse is sufficiently emphatic that Christ is not co-equal with the Father. Consider the following:
- Jesus is worthy of divine honour because he is the “word made flesh” (John 1:14). In his person the wisdom, grace and truth of the divine purpose were embodied. (See John 1:14; Colossians 2:3). In honouring the Lord’s anointed, men were, in effect, honouring God. But this did not make Christ “Very God”.
“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven.” John 6:33
“I came down from heaven.” John 6:38
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” John 6:51
“This is that bread which came down from heaven.” John 6:58
- An understanding of the analogy with the manna provides the key to the right understanding of this passage.
- The bread “from heaven” (vs 31) did not mean that it was actually manufactured in heaven and descended through the atmosphere, but rather that it was produced on the earth by God’s Holy Spirit power. “From heaven”, therefore, emphasises the divine origin of the bread.
- Similarly, Christ came down from heaven, not literally, since it was the Holy Spirit which descended upon the virgin Mary to effect the conception. (Luke 1:35). “From heaven” emphasises his divine origin origin as a person (ie, his father was God) and the divine origin of his teaching.
“What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” John 6:62
- Did the Son of MAN literally come down from heaven?
- The context indicates that verse 62 is part of a discourse in which Jesus compares himself to the manna which God provided for Israel. The fact that this manna was referred to as “bread from heaven” (v 31) did not mean that it actually descended from heaven through the great expanse of space to the earth, but rather that it had its origin in heaven.
“Ye are from beneath: I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.” John 8:23
- Jesus said, “I know whence I came, and whither I go.” (John 8:14), but he did not literally come down from heaven. It was the Holy Spirit which came down from heaven and overshadowed the virgin Mary. The result was the conception of Jesus (Luke 1:35). Jesus referred to his divine origin when he declared: “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God’; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.” (John 8:42).
- Jesus was also “from above” in the following ways:
a. The thing he spoke came from his Father: “I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.” (John 8;26 cf vs 28).
b. His Father honoured and bore witness to him: “The Father that sent me beareth witness of me…It is my Father that honoureth me…” (John 8:18,54) - Jesus instructed his followers that they too must be “born from above”. (John 3:3). Obviously believers could not be born from above physically, as was Jesus. Only in a spiritual sense could they be born from above. By contrast, the Pharisees were motivated by the wisdom which did not come down from above, but which was “earthly, sensual, devilish.” (James 3:15).
- Jesus was “not of this world” because its constitution was the “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”. (1 John 2:16). “If any man love the world,” John said, “the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15). Similarly, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36). By this he did not mean that it had nothing to do with the earth, but rather that it was a heavenly kingdom whose constitution was not of the Jewish and Roman arrangement, but was designed by the Father from the “foundation of the world”. (Matt 25:34).
“…I have power to lay it down [my life], and I have power to take it again…” John 10:17,18
The Greek word “exousia” translated “power” is rendered “authority” in 29 other references. (eg Matt 7;29, 21:23; Luke 7:8, John 5:27). Weymouth renders this passage as follows: “no one is taking it away from me, but I myself am laying it down…I am AUTHORISED to receive it back again.” This translation is in harmony with the following statements of Jesus:
a. “…The Son can do nothing of himself…” (John 5:19)
b. “I can of mine own self do nothing…” (John 5:30)
“Jesus saith,…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father…” John 14:9
- Jesus told the Jews that they had “neither heard his (the Father’s) voice at any time, nor seen his shape.” (John 5:37). This would have been untrue if Jesus were himself the Father.
- The Father dwells “in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” (1 Timothy 6:16, cf 1 John 4:12). Those who saw Jesus, did not, therefore literally see the Father.
- Jesus said, “no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18). The Son “declared” the Father by the words which he spoke and the works which he performed. Jesus told Philip: “the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” (John 14:10). It was in this sense that Jesus meant, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:5
- How could Jesus have glory with his Father “before the world was” if he did not literally pre-exist? An illustration is helpful: An architect sees and knows the beautiful details of his proposed construction before the site is prepared, or the foundation-stone laid. But God is the great Architect and in His divine plan, Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) – the chief cornerstone “foreordained before the foundation of the world”. (1 Peter 1:20). The building will duly be fitly framed together (Ephesians 2:21) to constitute its part in the “kingdom prepared…from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34). Christ was “foreordained”, but not formed until born of the virgin Mary in the days of Herod the king. Likewise, the glory he had with his Father was in the divine plan of the great Architect. It was the subject of prophetic testimony “when it (the Spirit of Christ) testified beforehand the suffering of Christ, and the glory that should follow”.
- Scripture speaks as if others pre-existed, as well as Christ. Consider the following:
Of believers:
“Whom he did foreknow.” (Romans 8:29).
“He had afore prepared (not the past tense) unto glory.” (Romans 9:23 cf 2 Timothy 1:9)
“He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4).
Of Jeremiah:
The Lord said: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5).
But who would contend for the pre-existence of Jeremiah and other believers because the language employed states that God knew them before they were born? The language of John 17:5 must be understood in terms of this background.
“Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” Philemon 2:6,7
- If “in the form of God” means the very nature of God, then Christ could not have been “Very God” while on earth, as trinitarians assert, since this is what he is said to have sacrificed and left behind in coming to the earth.
- Christ had the resemblance and demeanour of the Father mentally and morally. His character was the express image of his Father’s person. (Hebrews 1:3).