Jesus Was Not a God-Man
The Hypostatic Union
The Hypostatic Union
The doctrine of the Trinity states that God is three persons in one nature or one essence; but the further Trinitarian dogma of the hypostatic union states that Jesus was one person with two natures—one divine and the other human. This is a contradictory position. If the three persons of the Godhead are one nature and then Jesus’ second nature, when he was on earth, is combined with it then God has two natures. And yet they are supposed to be one nature if Jesus was actually God. This would also mean that the entire Godhead was present on earth when Jesus was on earth. This is called ‘coinherance’ (explained in chapter 22 and in the glossary).
Messiah Was Never Prophesied to Be
a God-Man or Described as Such
a God-Man or Described as Such
The term God-man is another man-made concept and is nowhere to be found in the Bible. In fact, Messiah was foretold to be a fully human person as, “a man of sorrows” (Isa. 53:3) and as “the man whose name is the Branch” (Zech. 6:12). Messiah was never foretold to be a hybrid—part man, part God or a being from heaven. Centuries after the time of the prophets John the Baptist spoke of the coming of “a man who ranks before me” (John 1:30) and Jesus himself accused the Jews of seeking, “to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God” (John 8:40). The Apostle Paul confirmed this by saying, “For as by a man came death, by a man [Jesus] has come also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21). Here we see John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul all expressing themselves in harmony with what was prophesied concerning the Messiah, that is, him as fully human. Nothing is stated about him as being a so-called God-man. Such a concept originated with pagan nations.
COULD JESUS BE SOMETIMES GOD AND SOMETIMES MAN?
Did Jesus have one set of memories as a man and another set as the so-called ‘Eternal Son’? Such an idea smacks of pagan eastern religion its concept of individuals having lived ‘past lives.’ Did Jesus speak as a man on some occasions and yet speak as ‘the Eternal Son’ on other occasions? Trinitarianism proposes this scenario. But how does one tell when Jesus is speaking as God or when as man? The Trinitarian scenario would mean that at times Jesus was omniscient as God, and at other times lacked knowledge of things that the Father knows (Matt. 24:36, Mark 13:32). So, if Jesus, as God, remembered what “the day and the hour” would be for his return, how could he later, as man, forget that fact? Omniscience and ignorance regarding the same fact cannot exist together. In spite of the illogical Trinitarian statement that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man, in reality this picture gives us a Jesus who is not a complete and integrated man at any time—he is a hybrid! Such a view would contradict the biblical statements showing Jesus to be actually 100% human (Heb. 2:14, 17, 4:15; and 2 John 7) and nothing more or less. This is because he is “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45, 46)—fully human in the same sense that the perfect first Adam was—and nothing more! So, theologian J. A. T. Robinson (Church of England Bishop of Woolwich—deceased) stated in his book The Priority of John, p. 388. that: “There can be no residue or trace of a Christology that says that Jesus said or did some things as God and some things as man. That is wholly alien to the interpretation of John.” Please see Appendix C: Trinitarianism Teaches That “Jesus Was Not a Human Person.”
The Faulty Argument Regarding “Son of man”
and “Son of God”
and “Son of God”
One Trinitarian argument for the ‘sometimes man—sometimes God’ argument is that the title “Son of Man” applies when Jesus speaks or acts as a man, and “Son of God” applies when he speaks or acts as God. However, William Barclay demonstrates the faultiness of this argument when he says:
Destruction of Monotheism
If Jesus were an ‘Eternal Son’—a ‘God the Son,’ then he would have a personality different from the personality of “God the Father” and different again from the personality of a so-called ‘God the Holy Spirit.’ This makes three independent and different personalities and therefore three different Gods with three different wills. It, therefore, breaks down the biblical monotheism which shows God to have a single personality with a single centre of consciousness. So, in spite of the Trinitarian attempt to remove this problem with the concept of “one nature, three persons,” normal logical reasoning would reject the concept of Jesus as a second person of the Godhead. At this point many Trinitarians would fall back to the idea that it is all a mystery and then to ignore all of the contradictions in this entire Trinitarian concept! However, I repeat what is said in the introduction to this book, that is, that, Miami university professor Robert Hach reasons that:
So, if the Trinity is a mystery then its concept and details have not truly been revealed to anyone, including Trinitarians, so that they really have nothing to say on this subject. If, on the other hand, the Trinity has been revealed to them, then it is not a mystery and the doctrine must perfectly dovetail with God’s revelation of Himself in all of the Holy Scriptures! Because of this Trinitarian failure in logic an alternative Trinitarian understanding has been to say that the human part of Jesus is impersonal human nature. Yet this reasoning also flies in the face of the Scriptural record about the very human Jesus who wept, got hungry, needed rest, and finally suffered excruciating pain before dying. This hardly sounds like impersonal human nature! The fact is that “the God-Man” concept is contradicted when Peter speaks of Jesus as, “a man whom He [God] appointed” (Acts 17:31). Nevertheless, if Jesus is not a God-man why is he called “God” on at least two occasions?
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