All four Gospels record Jesus as
saying, "Blessed are the peace-makers;
they will be called sons of God." The word ‘son’ cannot be accepted
literally because in the Bible, God
apparently addresses many of his chosen
servants as ‘son’ and ‘sons.’ The
Hebrews believed God is One, and had
neither wife nor children in any literal sense. Therefore, it is obvious the
expression ‘son of God’ merely meant
‘Servant of God’; one who, because of
faithful service, was close and dear to
God as a son is to his father. Christians who came from a Greek or
Roman background, later misused this
term. In their heritage, ‘son of God’
signified an incarnation of a god or
someone born of a physical union
between male and female gods. This can be seen in Acts 14: 11-13, where we
read that when Paul and Barnabas
preached in a city of Turkey, pagans
claimed they were gods incarnate. They
called Barnabas the Roman god Zeus,
and Paul the Roman god Hermes. Furthermore, the New Testament Greek
word translated as ‘son’ are ‘pias’ and
‘paida’ which mean ‘servant,’ or ‘son in
the sense of servant.’ These are
translated to ‘son’ in reference to Jesus
and ‘servant’ in reference to all others in some translations of the Bible. So,
consistent with other verses, Jesus was
merely saying that he is God’s servant. Additional problems with Trinity To a christian, God had to take human
form to understand temptation and
human suffering, but the concept is not
based on any clear words of Jesus. In
contrast, God does not need to be
tempted and suffer in order to be able to understand and forgive man’s sins, for
He is the all knowing Creator of man.
This is expressed in the verse: ‘And the Lord said: ‘I have surely seen
the affliction of My people that are in
Egypt, and I have heard their cry because
of their taskmasters; for I know their
pains.’ (Exodus 3:7) God forgave sin before Jesus’
appearance, and He continues to forgive
without any assistance. When a believer
sins, he may come before God in sincere
repentance to receive forgiveness.
Indeed, the offer to humble oneself before God and be saved is made to all
humankind. ‘And there is no God else beside Me; a
just God and a Savior; there is none
beside Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all
the ends of the earth; for I am God, and
there is none else.’ (Isaiah 45:21-22,
Jonah 3:5-10) Biblically, people can receive forgiveness
of sins through sincere repentance
sought directly from God. This is true at
all times and in all places. There has
never been a need for the so-called inter
cessionary role Jesus plays in attaining atonement. The facts speak for
themselves. There is no truth to the
Christian belief that Jesus died for our
sins and salvation is only through Jesus.
What about the salvation of people
before Jesus? Jesus’ death brings neither atonement from sin, nor is it in
any way a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Christians claim that in the birth of Jesus,
there occurred the miracle of the
incarnation of God in the form of a
human being. To say that God became
truly a human being invites a number of
questions. Let us ask the following about the man-God Jesus. What happened to
his foreskin after his circumcision (Luke
2:21)? Did it ascend to heaven, or did it
decompose as with any human piece of
flesh? During his lifetime what happened
to his hair, nails, and blood shed from
wounds? Did the cells of his body die as
in ordinary human beings? If his body did not function in a truly human way, he
could not be truly human as well as truly
God. Yet, if his body functioned exactly
in a human way, this would nullify any
claim to divinity. It would be impossible
for any part of God, even if incarnate, to decompose in any way and still be
considered God. The everlasting, one
God, in whole or in part, does not die,
disintegrate, or decompose: ‘For I the
Lord do not change.’ (Malachi 3:6) Did Jesus’ flesh dwell in safety after
his death? Unless Jesus’ body never underwent
‘decay’ during his lifetime he could not be
God, but if it did not undergo ‘decay’ then
he was not truly human. Bible says that God is not man ‘God is not a man’ (Numbers 23:19) ‘For I am God, and not man’ (Hosea 11:9) Jesus is called a man many times in
the Bible ‘a man who has told you the truth’ (John
8:40) ‘Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to
you by God with miracles and wonders
and signs which God performed through
Him in your midst, just as you yourselves
know.’ (Acts 2:22) ‘He will judge the world in righteousness
through a man whom He has
appointed’ (Acts 17:31) ‘the man Christ Jesus’ (Tim. 2:5) The Bible says that God is not a son
of man ‘God is not a man nor a son of
man’ (Numbers 23:19) The Bible often calls Jesus ‘a son of man’
or ‘the son of man.’ ‘so will the son of man be’ (Matthew
12:40) ‘For the son of man is going to
come’ (Matthew 16:27) ‘until they see the son of man coming in
His kingdom.’ (Matthew 28) ‘But so that you may know that the Son
of Man has authority’ (Mark 2:10) ‘because he is the son of man’ (John
5:27) In the Hebrew scriptures, the ‘son of
man’ is also used many times speaking of
people (Job 25:6; Psalm 80:17; 144:3;
Ezekiel 2:1; 2:3; 2:6-8; 3:1-3).Since God
would not contradict Himself by first
saying He is not the son of a man, then becoming a human being who was called
‘the son of man’, he would not have done
so. Remember God is not the author of
confusion. Also, human beings, including
Jesus, are called ‘son of man’ specifically
to distinguish them from God, who is not a ‘son of man’ according to the Bible. The Bible says that Jesus denied he
is God Jesus spoke to a man who had called him
‘good,’ asking him, ‘Why do you call me
good? No one is good except God
alone.’ (Luke 18:19) And he said to him, ‘Why are you asking
me about what is good? There is only
One who is good; but if you wish to enter
into life, keep the
commandments.’ (Matthew 19:17) Jesus did not teach people that he
was God If Jesus had been telling people that he
was God, he would have complimented
the man. Instead, Jesus rebuked him,
denying he was good, that is, Jesus
denied he was God. The Bible says that God is greater
than Jesus ‘My Father is greater than I’ (John 14:28) ‘My father is greater than all.’ (John
10:29) Jesus can not be God if God is greater
than him. The Christian belief that the
Father and son are equal is in direct
contrast to the clear words from Jesus. Jesus never instructed his disciples
to worship him ‘When you pray, say Our Father which art
in heaven.’ (Luke 11:2) ‘In that day, you shall ask me nothing.
Whatsoever you ask of the Father in my
name.’ (John 16:23) ‘The hour cometh and now is, when the
true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth; for the Father
seeketh such to worship him.’ (John 4:23) If Jesus was God, he would have
sought worship for himself Since he didn’t, instead he sought
worship for God in the heavens,
therefore, he was not God. Jesus worshipped the only true God ‘that they might know you, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent.’ (John 17:3) ‘he continued all night in prayer to
God.’ (Luke 6:12) ‘Just as the son of man did not come to
be served, but to serve’ (Matthew 20:28) How did Jesus pray to God? ‘he fell with his face to the ground and
prayed, ‘My Father’ (Matthew 26:39) ‘During the days of Jesus’ life on earth,
he offered up prayers and petitions with
loud cries and tears to the one who could
save him from death, and he was heard
because of his reverent
submission.’ (Hebrews 5:7) Who was Jesus praying to when he
fell on his face? Was Jesus crying in tears to himself
pleading to be saved from death? No
man, sane or insane, prays to himself!
Surely the answer must be a resounding
‘No.’ Jesus was praying to ‘the only true
God.’ Jesus was the servant of the One Who sent him. Can there be a clearer
proof that Jesus was not God? The Quran confirms that Jesus called for
the worship of the Only True God: “It is Allah Who is my Lord and your Lord;
then worship Him. This is a Way that is
straight.” (Quran 3:51) Disciples did not believe Jesus was
God The Acts of the Apostles in the Bible
details the activity of the disciples over a
period of thirty years after Jesus was
raised to heaven. Throughout this
period, they never referred to Jesus as
God. For instance Peter stood up with the eleven disciples and addressed a
crowd saying: ‘Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of
Nazareth was a man accredited by God
to you by miracles, wonders and signs,
which God did among you through him,
as you yourselves know.’ (Acts 2:22) For Peter, Jesus was a servant of
God (Confirmed In Matthew 12:18) ‘The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his
servant Jesus.’ (Acts 3:13) ‘God raised up his servant’ (Acts 3:26) When faced by opposition from the
authorities, Peter said ‘We must obey God rather than men!
The God of our fathers raised
Jesus’ (Acts 5:29-30) The disciples prayed to God just as they
were commanded by Jesus in Luke 11:2,
and considered Jesus to be God’s
servant. ‘they raised their voices together in
prayer to God. ‘Sovereign Lord,’ they
said, ‘you made the heaven and the earth
and the sea, and everything in
them.’ (Acts 4:24) ‘your holy servant Jesus, whom you
anointed.’ (Acts 4:27) ‘of Your holy servant Jesus.’ (Acts 4:30) ‘I am indeed a servant of God.’ (Quran
19:30) The Bible says that Jesus was God’s
servant ‘Behold, My servant, whom I have
chosen, in whom My soul is well
pleased.’ (Matt 12:18) Since Jesus is
God’s servant, Jesus can not be God. The Bible says that Jesus could not
do anything by himself ‘The son can do nothing by himself; he
can only do what he sees his Father
doing.’ (John 5:19) ‘I can of mine own self do nothing.’ (John
5:30) The Bible says that Jesus did not
consider himself equal with God and that God performed miracles through
Jesus & Jesus was limited in what he
could do: ‘But when the crowds saw this, they were
awestruck, and glorified God, who had
given such authority to men.’ (Matt. 9:8) ‘a man attested to you by God with
miracles and wonders and signs which
God performed through Him in your
midst.’ (Acts 2:22) ‘he went about doing good and healing
all who were oppressed by the devil, for
God was with Him.’ (Acts 10:38) If Christ was God, the Bible would simply
say that Jesus did the miracles himself
without making reference to God. The
fact that it was God supplying the power
for the miracles shows that God is
greater than Jesus. Also, Jesus was limited in performing
miracles One time when Jesus tried to heal a blind
man, the man was not healed after the
first attempt, and Jesus had to try a
second time (Mark 8:22-26). Once a woman was healed of her
incurable bleeding. The woman came up
behind him and touched his cloak, and
she was immediately healed. But Jesus
had no idea who touched him: ‘At once Jesus realized that power had
gone out from him. He turned around in
the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my
clothes?’ (Mark 5:30) ‘He could not do any miracles there,
except lay his hands on a few sick people
and heal them.’ (Mark 6:5) Quite obviously, someone with such
limitations can not be God. The power of
miracles was not within Jesus. The Bible says that at times of
weakness angels strengthened Jesus God ,however, does not need to be
strengthened. Human need to be
strengthened; God does not because
God is All-Powerful. If Jesus had to be
strengthened, he must not be God. ‘An angel from heaven appeared to him
and strengthened him - in the garden of
Gethsemane’ (Luke 22:43) ‘Then the devil left him; and behold,
angels came and began to minister to
Him’ (Mark. 1:13) ‘And he was in the wilderness forty days
being tempted by Satan; and he was with
the wild beasts, and the angels were
ministering to him.’ (Mark 1:13) The Bible says that Jesus wanted
God’s will to be done ‘not my will but Yours be done.’ (Luke
22:42) ‘I do not seek my own will, but the will of
Him who sent me.’ (John 5:30) ‘For I came down from heaven, not to do
mine own will, but the will of Him that
sent me.’ (John 6:38) Are some members of the coequal Trinity
subservient, and less than equal, to other
members? Even though they have
different wills (‘I do not seek my own
will’), do they obey without question the
others’ commands (‘the will of Him who sent me’)? Jesus admits to
subordinating his own distinct will, yet
according to the Trinitarian doctrine they
should all have the same will. Should
one of the triune partners have to forgo
his own will in favor of the will of another member of the Trinity? Should not they
all have the exact same will? The Bible says Jesus regarded
himself and God as two ‘I am one who testifies for myself; my
other witness is the Father.’ (John
8:17-18:) ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust
in God; trust also in me.’ (John 14:1) If Jesus was God, He would have not
have regarded God’s testimony as
separate from his own. The Bible says that Jesus is
subordinate to God ‘Now I want you to realize that the head
of every man is Christ, and the head of
the woman is man, and the head of
Christ is God.’ (1 Corinthians 11:3) ‘When he has done this, then the son
himself will be made subject to him who
put everything under him, so that God
may be all in all.’ (1 Corinthians 15:28) Bible says that Jesus grew in wisdom
& learning But God is All Wise & does not need to
learn: Jesus grew in wisdom, but God is
all wise ‘Great is our Lord and abundant
in strength; His understanding is
infinite.’ (Psalms 147:5) ‘And Jesus increased in wisdom.’ (Luke
2:52) God does not need to learn, but Jesus
learned: ‘Although he was a son, he
learned obedience’ (Heb. 5:8) Jesus had limited knowledge, but god’s
knowledge is infinite. Since Jesus did not
know, he was not all-knowing, and
therefore, he cannot be the God whose
knowledge is all-encompassing. ‘No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the
son, but only the Father.’ (Mark 13:32) Bible says that Jesus was tempted,
but God cannot be tempted ’tempted in every way - just as we
are’ (Heb. 4:15) ‘for God cannot be tempted by
evil’ (James 1:13) Since God can not be tempted, but Jesus
was, therefore, Jesus was not God. Bible says that Jesus’ teachings
were from God, not from himself ‘So Jesus answered them and said, ‘My
teaching is not mine, but His who sent
me.’ (John 7:16) Jesus could not have said this if he were
God because the doctrine would have
been his. Bible says that Jesus died, but God
cannot die The Bible teaches that Jesus died. God
cannot die. Romans 1:23 and other
verses say that God is immortal. Immortal
means, ‘not subject to death.’ This term
applies only to God. Bible says that Jesus lived because
of God ‘I live because of the Father.’ (John 6:57) Jesus cannot be God because he
depended on God for his own existence. Bible says that Jesus’ powers were
given to him ‘All power is given unto me.’ (Matt 28:18) God is all-powerful, no one gives God His
powers, otherwise He would not be God
because He would be weak. Therefore,
Jesus could not be God. Bible says that Jesus was taught &
commanded by God ‘As my Father hath taught me, I speak
these things,’ (John 8:28) ‘The Father, who sent me, he gave me a
commandment.’ (John 12:49) ‘I have kept my Father’s
commandments.’ (John 15:10) No one can teach God, otherwise God
cannot be All-Knowing and would owe
His teacher. Since Jesus was taught and
commanded by God, Jesus cannot be
God himself. The teacher and the
student, the commander and the commanded are not one. Bible says that God made Jesus
‘Lord’! ‘God has made this Jesus both Lord and
Christ.’ (Acts 2:36) ‘Lord’ is used in many ways in the Bible,
and others beside God and Jesus are
called ‘Lord.’ For example: 1) property owners (Matt. 20:8) 2) heads of households (Mark 13:35) 3) slave owners (Matt. 10:24) 4) husbands (1 Pet. 3:6) 5) a son called his father Lord (Matt.
21:30) 6) the Roman Emperor was called
Lord (Acts 25:26) 7) Roman authorities were called
Lord (Matt. 27:63) ‘Lord’ is not the same as ‘God.’ ‘Lord’ (the
Greek word is kurios) is a masculine title
of respect and nobility used many times
in the Bible. If Jesus was God, then for
the Bible to say he was ‘made’ Lord
would make no sense. Bible says that Jesus was lower than
angels ‘But we do see him who was made for a
little while lower than the angels, namely,
Jesus.’ (Hebrews 2:9) God, the Creator of angels, can not be
lower than His own creation, but Jesus
was. Therefore, Jesus was not God. Bible says that Jesus called the
Father ‘my God’ ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken
me?’ (Matt. 27:46) ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father,
and my God and your God.’ (John 20:17) ‘the temple of my God the name of my
God the city of my God comes down out
of heaven from my God.’ (Rev. 3:12) Jesus did not think of himself as God,
instead Jesus’ God is the same as ours. Bible says that God cannot be seen But Jesus was seen by others ‘no man
has seen God at any time.’ (John 1:18) Bible says twice that Jesus was
accused of being God But he denied it: According to the Bible,
on only two instances the Jews opposed
Jesus on the basis that he pretended to
be God or equal with God. Had Jesus,
may the mercy and blessings of God be
upon him, claimed to be God, he is likely to have been opposed on this basis more
frequently. Because in these two instances, when
charged, in the one case, with making
himself God, and in the other, with
making himself equal with God, he
denied the charges. In reply to the
charge of being an equal with God, he says immediately: ‘The son can do nothing of himself, but
what he sees the Father do’; and directly
after ‘I can of mine own self do
nothing.’ (John 5:19, 30) In answer to the charge of making
himself God, he appeals to the Jews in
substance thus: Your own Scriptures call
Moses a god, and your magistrates gods;
I am surely not inferior to them, yet I did
not call myself God, but only the ‘son’ of God (John 10:34-36). This is unlikely to have been Jesus’
actual response. Hastings in ‘The
Dictionary of the Bible’ says, ‘Whether
Jesus used it of himself is doubtful.’
Grolier’s encyclopedia, under the
heading ‘Jesus Christ,’ says, ‘it is uncertain whether the Father/Son
language (Mark 18:32; Matt. 11:25-27
Par.; John Passim) goes back to Jesus
himself.’ A University of Richmond
professor, Dr. Robert Alley, after
considerable research into newly found ancient documents concludes that: ‘The (Biblical) passages where Jesus
talks about the Son of God are later
additions. what the church said about
him. Such a claim of deity for himself
would not have been consistent with his
entire lifestyle as we can reconstruct. For the first three decades after Jesus’ death
Christianity continued as a sect within
Judaism. The first three decades of the
existence of the church were within the
synagogue. That would have been
beyond belief if they (the followers) had boldly proclaimed the deity of Jesus.’ Assuming Jesus did say that he was ‘son’
of God. What did it mean? We first need
to know the language of his people, the
language of the Jews to whom he was
speaking. The Bible says God had many ‘sons’ First, most people think there are no
other verses that contradict or give equal
divine sonship to other persons in the Old
or New Testament. For Jesus to be called son of God, does
not make him a true son of God, other
wise Adam, Jacob, Ephraim and many
more should also be considered as been
sons of God as such they should be
worshiped too according to such method. Adam: ‘Adam, which was the son of
God.’ (Luke 3:38) Jacob is God’s son and firstborn: ‘Israel is
my son, even my firstborn.’ (Exodus 4:22) Solomon: ‘I will be his father, and he shall
be my son.’ (2 Samuel 7:13-14) Ephraim: ‘for I am a father to Israel, and
Ephraim is my firstborn.’ (Jeremiah 31:9) is God’s firstborn, common people are
called the sons of God: ‘Ye are the
children of the Lord your
God’ (Deuteronomy 14:1)
