Unitarian Christians believe Jesus God’s anointed one to be the son of God and the saviour of men. They believe in the divinity of his mission and in the divinity of his doctrines. They believe that the Gospel which he proclaimed came from God; that the knowledge it imparts, the morality it enjoins, the spirit it breathes, the acceptance it provides, the promises it makes, the prospects it exhibits, the rewards it proposes, the punishments it threatens, all proceed from the Great Yehovah. But they do not believe that Jesus God’s anointed one is the supreme God. They believe that, though exalted far above all other created intelligences, he is a being distinct from, inferior to, and dependent upon, God Almighty. For this belief they urge, among other reasons, the following arguments from the Scriptures.
1. Because Jesus God’s anointed one is represented by the sacred writers to be as distinct a being from God the Father as one man is distinct from another. “It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me,” John 8:17, 18.
2. Because he not only never said that himself was God, but, on the contrary, spoke of the Father, who sent him, as God, and as the only God. “This is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus the anointed one whom You have sent,” John 17:3. This language our Saviour used in solemn prayer to “his Father and our Father.”
3. Because he is declared, in unnumbered instances, to be the son of God. “And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, this is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased,” Matthew 3:17. Can a son be co-equal and the same with his father?
4. Because he is styled the anointed of God. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power,” Acts 10:38. Is He who anoints the same with him who is anointed?
5. Because he is represented as a Priest. “Consider the ….High-Priest of our profession, God’s anointed one Jesus,” Hebrews 3:1. The office of a priest is to minister to God. God’s anointed one, then, as a priest, cannot be God.
6. Because God’s anointed one is Mediator between the “One God,” and “men.” “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man God’s anointed one Jesus,” 1 Timothy 2:5.
7. Because, as the Saviour of men, he was sent by the Father. “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the son to be the saviour of the world. 1 John 4:14.
8. Because he is an Apostle appointed by God. “Consider the Apostle, …God’s anointed one Jesus, who was faithful to Him that appointed him,” Hebrews 3:1,2.
9. Because God’s anointed one is represented as our intercessor with God. “It is God’s anointed one that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us,” Romans 8:34.
10. Because the head of God’s anointed one is God. “I would have you know, that the head of every man is God’s anointed one; and the head of every woman is the man; and the head of God’s anointed one is God,” 1 Corinthians 11:3.
11. Because, in the same sense in which we are said to belong to God’s anointed one, God’s anointed one is said to belong to God. “And you are God’s anointed ones; and God’s anointed one is God’s,” 1 Corinthians 3:23.
12. Because God’s anointed one says, “My father is greater than all,” John 10:29. Is not the Father, then greater than the son?
13. Because he affirms, in another connection, and without the least qualification, “My Father is greater than I,” John 14:28
14. Because he virtually denies that he is God, when he exclaims, “Why call you me good? There is none good but one, that is God,” Matthew 19:17.
15. Because our saviour, after having said, “I and my Father are one,” gives his disciples distinctly to understand that he did not mean one substance, equal in power and glory, but one only in affection and design, &c; as clearly appears from the prayer he offers to his Father in their behalf, –“that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us,” John 17:21
16. Because the Father is called the God of the anointed one as he is the God of Christians. “Jesus says unto her, ….Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God,” John 20:17.
17. Because an Apostle says of God, in distinction from the “Lord Jesus God’s anointed one,” that He is the “only Potentate,” and that He “only has immortality,” 1 Timothy 6:15,16.
18. Because it is the express declaration of the same Apostle, that the Father is the one God, and there is none other. “Though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,” 1 Corinthians 8:5,6.
19. Because the power which God’s anointed one possessed was, as he affirmed, given to him. “All power is given unto me,” &c., Matthew 28:18.
20. Because he positively denies himself to be the author of his miraculous works, but refers them to the Father, or the Holy Spirit of God. “The Father that dwells in me, he does the works,” John 14:10. “If I cast out devils by the spirit of God,” &c., Matthew 12:28.
21. Because he distinctly states, that these works bear witness, not to his own power, but that the Father had sent him, John 5:36.
22. Because he expressly affirms that the works were done, not in his own, but in his Father’s name, John 10:25.
23. Because he asserts, that “he has God the Father sealed,” i.e. to God the Father he was indebted for his credentials, John 6:27.
24. Because he declares that he is not the author of his own doctrine. “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me,” John 7:16, 17.
25. Because he represents himself as having been instructed by the Father. “As my Father has taught me, I speak these things,” John 8:28.
26. Because he refers invariably to the Father as the origin of the authority by which he spoke and acted. “The Father has given to the Son authority,” & c., John 5:26,27.
27. Because he acknowledges his dependence on his Heavenly Father for example and direction in all his doings. “The son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do,” John 5:19. “The Father loves the son, and shows him all things that himself does” John 5:20.
29. Because he declares, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honors me,” John 8:54.
30. Because an Apostle declares, that in God’s anointed one dwelt all fullness, because it so pleased the Father, Colossians 1:19.
31. Because God’s anointed one is uniformly represented in the scriptures, not as the primary, but the intermediate, cause of all things relating to our salvation. “One God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one lord Jesus God’s anointed one, because of whom are all things, and we because of him,” 1 Corinthians 8:6.
32. Because he declares, “I am not come of myself” into the world, “for I proceeded forth and came from God,” John 8:42; 7:28. Jesus knowing… that he came from God, and went to God,” &c., John 13:3.
33. Because he affirms that he had not the disposal of the highest places in his own kingdom. “To sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father,” Matthew 20:23.
34. Because our saviour, referring his disciples to a future time, when they would understand more accurately concerning him, expressly declares that then they would know him to be entirely dependent upon the Father. “When you have lifted up the son of Man (i.e. crucified him), then shall you know that I am he (i.e. the Messiah), and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things,” John 8:28.
35. Because our saviour always professed to have no will of his own, but to be ever entirely guided and governed by the will of his Heavenly Father. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” John 6:38.
36. Because he expressly denies that he is possessed of the divine attribute of independent existence. “As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father,” &c., John 6:57
37. Because he expressly disclaims the possession of the divine attribute of underived existence. “As the Father has life in Himself, so has he given to the son to have life in himself,” John 5:30.
38. Because he positively denies that he is possessed of the divine attribute of omnipotence. “I can of mine own self do nothing,” John 5:30.
39. Because he expressly disclaims the possession of the divine attribute of omniscience. “But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but my Father only,” Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32.
40. Because God’s anointed one is said in the Scriptures to have been “tempted of the devil,” Matthew 4:1. But “God cannot be tempted with evil.” James 1:13.
41. Because it is related of our saviour, that “he continued all night in prayer to God,” Luke 6:12. Why should God’s anointed one thus pray, if he himself were God?
42. Because, in the presence of a numerous company before the resurrection, he gave thanks to the Father for having heard him. “Father, I thank You that You have heard me, and I knew that You hear me always,” John 11:41,42.
43. Because Jesus asked his Father to glorify him. “And now, O Father, glorify You me with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was,” John 17:5. The being who prayed to God to glorify him, cannot be God.
44. Because he implored that, if it were possible, the bitter cup might pass from him, adding, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will,” Matthew 26:39.
45. Because he said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 Can he who uttered this be the supreme God?
46. Because he never paid his adoration to himself, the son, nor to the Holy Spirit, as he should have done, had the son and the Holy Spirit been God; but always to the Father.
47. Because he never instructed his disciples to worship himself or the Holy Spirit, but the Father, and the Father only. “When you pray, say Our Father who are in heaven,” Luke 11:2. “In that day, you shall ask me nothing. Whatsoever, you ask of the Father in my name,” &c., John 16:23. “The hour comes and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship him,” John 4:23.
48. Because it was not the practice of the Apostles to pay religious homage to God’s anointed one, but to God the Father through His anointed one. “I thank God through Jesus God’s anointed one,” Rom. 7:25. “To God only wise, be glory through God’s anointed one,” Romans 16:27. “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus God’s anointed one,” Ephesians 3:14.
49. Because St. Peter, immediately after being filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, thus addressed the Jews: “You men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs which God did through him, in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; whom God has raised up,” &c., Acts 2:22-24.
50. Because St. Paul expressly states, that “all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus His anointed one,” 2 Corinthians 5:8.
51. Because the same apostle gives “thanks to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus God’s anointed one,” 1 Corinthians 15:57.
52. Because it is said that it is “to the glory of God the Father,” that “every tongue should confess that Jesus His anointed one is lord,” Philippians 2:11.
53. Because the scriptures affirm that “God’s anointed one glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but He (glorified him) who said unto him, You are my son, this day have I begotten you,” Hebrew 5:5.
54. Because it is expressly asserted that God gave to His anointed one the Revelation which was made to the author of the book of Revelation, Revelation 1:1.
55. Because an apostle speaks of God’s anointed one, only as the image of God. “Who is the image of the invisible God,” Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4: 4. It would be absurd to call anyone his own image.
56. Because God’s anointed one is stated to be “the first-born of every creature,” Colossians 1:15.
57. Because he is said to be “the beginning of the creation [the new creation ] of God,” Revelation 3: 14.
58. Because the scriptures affirm, in so many words, that “Jesus was made a little lower than the angels,” Hebrews 2:9. Can God become lower than his creatures?
59. Because Peter declares that “God’s anointed one received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is My beloved son,” &c., 2 Peter 1:17.
60. Because it is represented as necessary that the saviour of mankind should “be made like unto his brethren,” Hebrews 2:17.
61. Because, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, God’s anointed one is compared with Moses [as that prophet like unto me] in a manner that would be impious if he were the supreme God. “For this man (God’s anointed one) was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch,” &c., Hebrews 3:3.
62. Because he is represented as being the servant, the chosen, the beloved of God, and the recipient of God’s Spirit. “Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put My Spirit upon him,” &c., Matthew 12:18.
63. Because he himself expressly declares that it was in consequence of his doing what pleased the Father that the Father was with him and did not leave him alone. “He who sent me is with me; the Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him,” John 8: 29.
64. Because he is said to have “increased in wisdom, and in favor with God and man,” Luke 2:52.
65. Because he speaks of himself as one who had received commands from the Father. “The Father, who sent me, he gave me a commandment,” John 12:49.
66. Because he is represented as obeying the Father, and as having been “obedient unto death,” Philippines 2:8. “Even as the Father said unto me, so I speak,” John 12:50. “I have kept my Father’s commandments,” John 15:10.
67. Because God’s anointed one “Learned obedience by the things he suffered,” and through sufferings was made perfect by God, Hebrews 5:8.
68. Because he is spoken of in the Scriptures as the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29. Has God brethren?
69. Because God’s anointed one calls everyone who obeys God his brother. “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my brother,” Matthew 12:50.
70. Because he offers to the faithful the like distinction and honor that himself has with the Father. “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne,” Revelation 3: 21.
71. Because God, in the later ages, has spoken by his son, and appointed him heir of all things, Hebrews 1:2.
72. Because God’s anointed one is styled the first-begotten of the dead, Revelation 1:5.
73. Because it is declared that God raised him from the dead. “This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses,” Acts 2:32; Romans 10:9,10.
74. Because God poured out upon the apostles the Holy Spirit, through Jesus His anointed one, Titus. 3:6.
75. Because the reason assigned for the Holy Spirit not having been received earlier, is that Jesus was not then glorified. “The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified,” John 7:39.
76. Because it is affirmed that God’s anointed one was exalted by God to be a Prince and a Saviour, Acts 5:31.
77. Because God made that same Jesus, who was crucified, both Lord and Messiah, Acts 2: 36.
78. Because God gave him a name which is above every name, Philippians 2:9.
79. Because God’s anointed one was ordained of God to be the judge of those who are alive and those who are dead, Acts 10:42.
80. Because God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus His anointed one, Romans 3: 16.
81. Because all judgment is committed to God’s anointed one by the Father, John 5:22.
82. Because our saviour grounds the importance of his judgment solely upon the circumstances, that it is not exclusively his own judgment which he pronounces, but that of the Father who sent him. “If I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me,” John 8:16.
83. Because it is said, that, when he was received up into heaven, he “sat on the right hand of God,” Mark 16:19.
84. Because Paul affirms, that God’s anointed one, since his ascension, “lives unto God,” and “lives by the power of God,” Romans 6:10; 2 Corinthians 12:4.
85. Because it is affirmed of God’s anointed one, that “when all things shall be subdued under him then shall the son also himself be subject unto Him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all,” 1 Corinthians 15:28.
86. Because the apostle John asserts that “no man has seen God at any time”; which would not be true, if God’s anointed one was God.
87. Because, in the prophecies of the Old Testament that relate to God’s anointed one, he is spoken of as a being distinct from and inferior to God, Deuteronomy 18:15; John 1:45.
88. Because the Jews never expected that any other than a being distinct from and inferior to God was to be their Messiah, and yet there is no evidence that our saviour ever so much as hinted to them that this expectation was erroneous.
89. Because it does not appear from the scriptures, that the Jews except in two instances, ever opposed our saviour on the ground that he pretended to be God or equal with God; whereas, had it been his custom to assume such identity or equality, in his conversation with a people so strongly attached to the doctrine of the divine unity, he would have found himself involved in a perpetual controversy with them on this point, some traces of which must have appeared in the New Testament.
90. 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 positively denies the charges. In reply to the charge of assuming to be 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.
91. Because, had his immediate disciples believed him to be the Almighty God, would they have been so familiar with him, have argued with him, betrayed him, denied him, fled from him, and left him to be dragged to the cross?
92. Because the apostles, after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, did not preach that God’s anointed one was God; but preached what was altogether inconsistent with such a doctrine, Acts 2:22; 13:23; 17:3, 31; 22:8.
93. Because there is no evidence to prove that the first converts to Christianity ever incurred the imputation of idolatry from the Jews, as they must have done had they believed and taught that the son, as well as the Father, is Yehovah; while it is notorious that this imputation has been among the most common of the Jewish reproaches against Christians, since the Trinity became a doctrine of the Church.
94. Because there are in the New Testament seventeen passages, wherein the Father is styled one or only God, while there is not a single passage in which the son is so styled.
95. Because there are 320 passages in which the Father is absolutely, and by way of eminence, called God; while there is not one in which the son is thus called.
96. Because there are 105 passages in which the Father is denominated God, with peculiarly high titles and epithets, whereas the son is not once denominated.
97. Because there are 90 passages wherein it is declared that all prayers and praises ought to be offered to God, and that everything ought to be ultimately directed to His honor and glory; while of the son no such declaration is ever made.
98. Because of 1,300 passages in the New Testament wherein the word God is mentioned, not one implies the existence of more than one person as God.
99. Because the passages wherein the son is declared, positively, or by clearest implication, to be subordinate to the Father, deriving his being from Him, receiving from Him his divine power, and acting in all things wholly according to His will, are in number above 300.
100. Because, in a word, the supremacy of the Father, and the inferiority of the son, is the simple, unembarrassed, and current doctrine of the scriptures.
The following was written in 1825 by Samuel Barrett (Boston: American Unitarian Association) and edited by Bruce Lyon
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