According to those who hold to the false doctrine of the Trinity, Jesus is God… A couple of their favorite passages that they use are these:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen 1:1)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God._
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (See: Who Created the Heavens and Earth?) (Jn 1:1-3, 14)
This is where all the confusion comes in (what they have to call a “mystery”). The problem here is that we call Jesus’ Father, “God”. That is not his name — the word “God” is not a name, it is a title. It is a title like lord, officer, sir, madam, your honor, judge, mister, misses, etc. But we have gotten accustomed to calling Jesus’ Father, God.
His was referred to as Lord in the Old Testament. The reason for using Lord and God was to not use his name in vain. Most Christians today don’t even know what his name is. Jesus has a name and his Father has a name. The Messiah’s name, the one he was born with, was Yeshua — not Jesus. His father’s name is Yahweh or Jehovah — not ‘God’.
A Metaphor
So we they put one and one together and they get two. It’s just that simple — or is it? The problem is that they are taking a metaphor and applying it literally. Take this analogy to understand it: Officer Johnny Cop is a man who is called The Law. Now no one would could say he is literally The Law — this is a metaphor.
By definition a metaphor is “A figure of speech in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two…“
By saying Officer Johnny Cop is The Law, we are using a figure of speech. the officer is called this because of who he is and what he does. He lives the law; he carries out the law; he enforces the law; he represents the law. But Johnny is not literally the law, that is what he is called because of what he and the law have in common.
Now watch this: In the beginning was the law and the law was with Johnny Cop and the law was Johnny Cop. Metaphorically speaking Johnny Cop is the law. But Johnny is tangible and the law is not — they are two different things with some qualities shared by the two. You see how that works?
Metaphorically speaking Jesus is even more than the Word. He is the light, the life, the truth, the bread of life, the living water, etc. These are all metaphors. The same applies to his Father.
But the reason he is known as the Word is that what was taught to Jesus by his Father was the only thing that came out of the mouth of Jesus. He lived, breathed, taught, lived and died for the Word of God that he received from his Father.
This was a very fitting metaphorical title to apply to Jesus. Jesus is called the Word of God. Literally speaking, the Words of God are the words spoken by God, that proceed from the mouth of God. Being a metaphor, what Jesus has in common with the the Word is that he learned the Word of God from his Father; he came to earth with a message that was the Word that he brought from His Father; he lived the Word of God; he taught the Word of God and risked his life for the Word of God.
The phrase, “Jesus is the Word of God” is obviously not literal. It is used as a metaphor because of what he was, who he was, and what he did. Jesus and his Father are not one and the same.
“The beginning of the creation of God”
With that in mind, the Word that was in the beginning was that which proceeded out of the mouth of God; that with which he created the heavens and the earth. But it also says that he was in the beginning with God. If fact, he was with God before the creation of the world; he was the “beginning of God’s creation”; he was there at the creation; and was himself the very first creation of God.
…thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. (Jn 17:24)
…by him (God not Jesus) were all things created. (Col 1:16)
…The same was in the beginning with God. (Jn 1:2)
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Rev 3:14)
Jesus was the Beginning of the creation of God.
If it were said that “the Model A in 1903 was the beginning of the creation of Ford Motor Company”, what would you understand? You would understand that the Model A was the first creation of Ford Motor Company, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t for a minute think that it was the Model A that created the Ford Motor Company.
The Creation Created Itself?
And if Jesus were a creation, he couldn’t be the creator, since a creation can’t create itself. The phrase: “…by him were all things created“, couldn’t possibly be true therefore. This is obviously referring to Jesus — since Jesus (they say) is God, and God is the Creator, therefore Jesus all things were created by him. It’s the same circular logic — failed logic.
So, how can they tell you that, “Jesus… the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev 3:14) means that Jesus created everything in the beginning and was God Almighty Himself? Jesus was created by God at the beginning of God’s creation. That’s exactly what this should mean.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God…”
How is it that God, Who is eternal, has a beginning? If Almighty God had a beginning, then He would not be eternal. The word that they translated into “God” couldn’t have possibly been Almighty God. This is, again, a metaphor. It says “the Word was God” because it’s what He did. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Gen 1:3)
He is metaphorically “the Word” because he said the word and it came in to existence. Christology says that Jesus is the Word and Jesus is God because Word is God. It’s all kind of a literal interpretation of a Greek concept that was interpolated into the fourth gospel — a metaphor in reality.
God has no beginning.
Jesus had a beginning because he was a creation of God. Therefore, he couldn’t be God.
God says in all four gospels of the baptism of Jesus: “Thou art my son, this day (today) have I begotten thee” (at least that’s what it used to say before the correctors changed it)
Jesus had a beginning
He had to be a part of the creation of God. (this is most likely the reason they interpolated these passages. However they didn’t think of changing Psalm 2:7 and Hebrews 5:5) Another thing, the word they translated into “the Word” is actually “Logos”.
Logos is a Greek philosophical idea which originally meant “intermediary divine being” and to Philo (20 BC – 50 AD), a Hellenized Jew, “The Logos” was the highest of these intermediary beings, and was called by Philo “the first-born of God.”
If the “Logos” was Jesus and he was “the first-born of God” then he was a creation of God. And, God was not an “intermediary divine being”, He was the Almighty God and the origin of all things.
The logic follows then, if Jesus was a first-born son of God, then logically, there is a second-born, a third-born and so on — NOT the “only begotten” of God. So if he was the first-born, then he is a creation of God (in the sense that he was begotten of his Father), not God himself.
Paul says that Jesus is “…the firstborn of every creature“ (Col. 1:15). This is saying that Jesus was the first creature that God created. Jesus had a beginning and was created. Almighty God is eternal.
He was sent from God and not sent of himself.
He was taught by God, his Father and only spoke the words that His Father taught him to say.
…I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (Jn 8:42)
…as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (Jn 8:28)
…he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak (Jn 12:49)
…the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. (Jn 14:24)
And he returned to his Father that sent him:
Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. (Jn 7:33)
But now I go my way to him that sent me… (Jn 16:5)
…I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. (Jn 16:10)
“ I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. ” (Jn 16:28)
…and I come to thee. (Jn 17:11)
I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (Jn 20:17)
Jesus couldn’t possibly be himself and God his Father at the same time since he is literally, according to the Bible, now at the right hand of his Father in Heaven:
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. (Act 7:55, 56)
…where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Col 3:1)
…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;(Heb 1:3)
…after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Heb 10:12)
Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1Pe 3:22)
And God said, Let us make man in our image. (Gen 1:26) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us… (Gen 3:22)
Conclusion:
Jesus was the “beginning of the creation of God”, or God’s first creation. Moreover, Jesus was sent by his Father to the earth; Jesus spoke and prayed to his Father while here; he returned to his Father in Heaven; and he sat down at the right hand of the thrown of his Father. Now how all that can be called a “mystery” is beyond me. It all sounds so clear and not mysterious. There is no mystery to that at all as far as the Trinity is concerned — it doesn’t exist!
So what is God’s name if it isn’t God?
That is a good subject for another article…
Next: Who Was Jesus Part 3 | My Father is IN me