.:YES, YOU SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE
TRINITY!!!
—A Page-by-Page Response To The Watchtower
Society’s Brochure: “Should
You Believe in the Trinity?”
**Click HERE
to view the Yes, You Should Believe in the Trinity Book
Table of Contents**
CHAPTER 5: IS JESUS INFERIOR TO GOD?
WHAT ABOUT JESUS' SUBMISSION TO THE FATHER'S WILL?
| The Society endeavors to argue that because Jesus is “distinguished
from God” as a separate person from the Father, is considered
“subordinate” to God, being in a “secondary
position” to that of the Father, is “submissive”
to God’s will, and had “limited knowledge”,
He cannot be God. After all, the Society argues, “Jesus
never claimed to be God.” (Should You Believe in
the Trinity?, pp. 16-20) |
Many of these arguments against the Trinity are groundless when
viewed in light of the incarnation. As already discussed, when
Jesus became a man, He laid aside His privileges as God in order
to experience all the struggles of humanity.1. In His Deity, Christ
is “equal” to God the Father, but in His humanity,
He is in a lesser position than that of the Father (John 14:28).
Let’s discuss some of the passages addressed in the Trinity
brochure:
JOHN 20:17
“…I ascend to My
Father and your Father, and My God and
your God.”
| The Society argues that “Since Jesus had
a God, his Father, he could not at the same time be that God.” —Should You Believe in the Trinity?,
p. 17 |
One fact about this passage that the
Society fails to note is that Jesus was always very careful to
distinguish His relationship with the Father from the relationship
His disciples had with the Father. He never addressed God as “our
Father” in reference to Himself and the disciples, but rather
addressed Him as “My Father” and “your Father.”2.
This is significant to note because Jesus is God’s Son by
nature; whereas, His disciples are God’s sons by
adoption (John 1:12). As the “Son of God,”
Jesus has the same nature as God (John 5:18,
19:7), but in the incarnation, Jesus took on the nature of man
and thus became the “Son of Man.”3. While in His Divine
nature, Jesus still has all the power and authority of God, it
is in his human nature that Jesus refers to the Father as His
God.
“And He is the radiance of His
glory and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had
made purification of sins, He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high.…”—Hebrews
1:3
In human affairs, the “right hand”
is the symbol of strength and power. Someone who is said to be
the president’s “right hand man” is someone
who is in a high position of honor. Thus, Scripture often employs
the phrase “sitting at the right hand of the Father”
to denote Christ’s preeminence as the one in the highest
position of authority.
PSALM 98:9 |
JOHN 5:22-23 |
“Before the LORD; for He is coming to judge
the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.” |
“For not even the Father judges anyone, but
He has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He
who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
him.” |
1
CORINTHIANS 8:6
“yet for us there is but
one God, the Father...and one Lord,
Jesus Christ....”
| Arguing that because the Father is called “God”
and Jesus is distinguished as being the “Lord,” the Society endeavors to prove that Jesus cannot be God because
the Father is God. (Should You Believe in the Trinity?,
p. 17) |
When one considers the fact that no Jehovah’s
Witness would argue that the Father is not “Lord”
simply because Jesus is “Lord,” it is evident that
this argument is groundless. In the same way that both Jesus and
the Father are Lord, Jesus is just as much God as the Father is
God. In the New Testament, we read that Jesus is addressed as
God on several occasions.4. While 1 Timothy 1:17
reveals that there is only one God, it is also significant to
note that although the Father is called the “Lord of Lords”
at Deuteronomy 10:17 and Jesus is called the “Lord of Lords”
at Revelation 17:14 and 19:16, Jude 4 points
out that there is only one “Lord.”
JEHOVAH IS LORD OF ALL |
JESUS IS LORD OF ALL |
| MATTHEW 11:25: “At that time
Jesus answered and said, ‘I praise Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth….’ ” |
ACTS 10:36: “The word which
he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus
Christ ( He is Lord of all)….” 5.
|
| DEUTERONOMY 10:17: “For the
LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord
of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome
God….” |
REVELATION 17:14; 19:16: “…and
the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of
lords and King of kings….And on His robe and
on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.’” |
| “…ungodly persons
who…deny our only Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.”—Jude 4 |
MARK
10:17-18
“And as He was setting out on
a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began
asking Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you
call Me good? No one is good except God alone.’
”
| The Society argues that “…Jesus was saying
that no one is as good as God is, not even Jesus himself.” —Should You Believe in the Trinity?, p. 17 |
Nowhere in this passage does Jesus imply that He
is not good. On the contrary, according to the context, Jesus
was helping the rich ruler recognize that the attribute of “goodness”
which the ruler had applied to Him was a quality that only God
possesses. Thus, Jesus was forcing the ruler to recognize that
either He is “good” and is therefore God, or He is
bad and is therefore only a man.
HABAKKUK
1:12
“…Are you not from long
ago, O Jehovah? O my God, my Holy One, you do not die.”
—New World Translation
| The Society argues that Jesus can’t be God because
God doesn’t die, and the Bible clearly reveals that
Jesus died. (Should You Believe in the Trinity?,
p. 18) |
One of the attributes of our immutable God is that He does not die; and in this passage, Jehovah God is called “the Holy One” who does not die. Yet, at Acts 2:27, 3:14, and John 6:69 we read that this “Holy One” is Jesus who, as foretold by David at Psalm 16:10, was to die but whose body would not “undergo decay.” How can this be? If the Holy One does not die, how can Jesus as the “Holy One” die? We can reconcile this by recognizing that according to Psalm 49:7, more was required than just a mere man to atone for the sins of mankind. 6. Thus, it was necessary for Jehovah God to become man in the person of Christ in order to die and atone for the sins of the world. Although Jesus (in His human nature) had completely died, He (in His Divine nature) still possessed the power to raise Himself.
“...I lay down My life that I may
take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but
I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority
to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.…Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”—John
10:17-18; 2:19
| ISAIAH 43:15;
47:4; 54:5 |
JOHN 6:69 |
| “I am Jehovah your Holy One, the
Creator of Israel, your King.…There is One
repurchasing us. Jehovah of armies is
his name, the Holy One of Israel.… Jehovah
of armies being his name; and the Holy One of Israel
is your Repurchaser. The God of the whole earth he will be
called.”—New World Translation |
“And we have believed and come to know that you
are the Holy One of God.”—New
World Translation
ACTS 2:27:
“Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades,
Nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.”—New
American Standard Bible |
MARK
13:32
“But of that day or hour no
one knows, not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
| “Had Jesus been the equal Son part of a Godhead,
he would have known what the Father knows. But Jesus did not
know, for he was not equal to God.”—Should
You Believe in the Trinity?, p. 19 |
Prior to the incarnation, Jesus was
one in person and one in nature—being totally Divine. At
the incarnation, Jesus took on a human nature and henceforth became
two in nature while yet remaining one in person. As a
result, attributes from His Divine and human natures both became
credited to His one person. In this passage, Jesus was
speaking from the standpoint of His human nature; thus, demonstrating
the limitations of His human nature by not being able to foretell
the future. Nevertheless, there where many other occasions where
Jesus, speaking from the perspective of His divinity, demonstrated
the Divine quality of omniscience. Note the following passages:
1 KINGS 8:39 |
JOHN 2:24-25 |
“then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and
forgive and act and render to each according to all
his ways, whose heart thou knowest, for Thou alone dost know
the hearts of all the sons of men;” |
“But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself
to them, for He knew all men, and because
He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for
He Himself knew what was in man.” |
· JOHN 16:30: “Now we know
that You know all things....”
· JOHN 18:4: “Jesus therefore,
knowing all the things that were coming upon
Him, went forth....”
· MATTHEW 9:4: “And Jesus
knowing their thoughts said....”
· JOHN 21:17: “...And he
said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things;
You know that I love you....’ ”
JEREMIAH 17:9-10 |
REVELATION 2:18,
23 |
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I,
the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give
to each man according to his ways, according to the results
of his deeds.” |
“The Son of God, who has eyes like
a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says
this: ‘….and all the churches will
know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I
will give to each one of you according to your deeds.’ ” |
At 1 Kings 8:39, we
read that God is the only one who knows the hearts
of all men; yet as seen in these and many other passages, Jesus
knew the hearts of all men. How can Jesus have the very omniscience
of Jehovah and not be Jehovah Himself?
1
CORINTHIANS 11:3
“But I want you to understand
that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head
of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”
| The Society uses this passage as well as 1 Corinthians
15:28 to try to prove that since Jesus is “subordinate” to the Father, He cannot be God. (Should You Believe in
the Trinity?, p. 20) |
1 Corinthians 11:3 states that “the
man is the head of a woman.” Are women inferior to men because
men are to be in authority over women? Luke 2:51
states that Christ was in “subjection” to Mary and
Joseph. Was Christ inferior to them because He
was in “subjection” to them?
While it is true that a functional subordination
or functional hierarchy exists among the persons
of the Triune God, they are still equal in their Divine nature.
Jesus is equal to God the Father in His Divine being (John 10:30).
Yet, because Jesus still possesses His human nature (1 Timothy
2:5), He is still in submission to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28).
In the same way that a wife is not considered “inferior”
to her husband because she is in subjection to his authority,
the functional subordination that exists among the persons of
the Trinity does not in any way imply that Jesus is inferior to
the Father or any less God than the Father is God. What 1 Corinthians
15:28 is really teaching concerning the subjection of Christ is
that once Jesus’ mediator role is completed and all things
are in subjection to Him, He will surrender His kingdom to the
Triune Jehovah God who will rule forever.
“ ‘Thou hast put all things in subjection
under His feet.’ For in subjecting all things
to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.
But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
—Hebrews 2:8
DEUTERONOMY 32:39 |
JOHN 5:21; 10:28; ACTS 9:34 |
“See now that I, I am He, and there is
no god besides Me; It is I who put to death
and give life. I have wounded, and it
is I who heal; and there is no one who can
deliver from My hand.” |
“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives
them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom
He wishes….and I give eternal life
to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall
snatch them out of My hand….And Peter said
to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you;
arise, and make your bed.’ And immediately he arose.” |
JOHN
14:28
“...I go to the Father; for
the Father is greater [meizon —meizon]
than I.”
| “The Bible’s position is clear. Not only is
Almighty God, Jehovah, a personality separate from Jesus but He is at all times his superior….And
this is why Jesus himself said: ‘The Father is greater
than I.’—John 14:28”—Should You
Believe in the Trinity?, p. 20 |
There is a significant reason why Jesus (in indicating
His relationship to the Father) chose to use the term meizon
(meizwn) translated “greater” rather than the term
kreitton (kreittwn) which means “better”.
Meizon denotes a greater position, whereas
kreitton denotes a better nature. The
difference between these two words can be seen at John
14:12, where we read that believers will do “greater”
(meizon) works than Jesus. Since we know that this verse
is not implying that we will do “better” works than
Jesus, it is clear from the context that Jesus used this same
word to demonstrate the greatness of the Father’s position
(being in heaven) as opposed to Jesus’ position (being here
on earth).
A modern illustration of this type of relationship can be seen
when we analyze the Watchtower’s own authority structure:
A Presiding Overseer can be said to be “greater” than
an elder. Yet, by saying this, one is not implying that the elder
is of an inferior nature than the Overseer, but rather, that the
Overseer’s jurisdiction is “greater” than the
elder’s jurisdiction. In the same way, it is only in Jesus’
human nature that the Father can be said to be
“greater” than He. However, this illustration cannot
be used to refer to Jesus’ relationship to angels because
at Hebrews 1:4 the other term (kreitton), translated
“better,” is employed to demonstrate that Jesus is
“better” than the angels in His very nature.
BULLETIN
OF THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
On pages 19-20 and 28 of the Society’s brochure,
they reference the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
in England endeavoring to support their assertion that Jesus is
not God and never claimed to be. They quote the Bulletin
as stating: “The fact has to be faced that New Testament
research over, say, the last thirty or forty years has been leading
an increasing number of reputable New Testament scholars to the
conclusion that Jesus...certainly never believed himself to be
God.” However, the Society left out a very important statement
in their quotation. The part they left out is as follows:
“...New Testament scholars to the conclusion
that Jesus himself may not have claimed any of the
christological titles which the Gospels ascribe to him, not even
the functional designation ‘Christ’, and
certainly never believed himself to be God.” —Bulletin
of the John Rylands Library, vol. 50, p. 251
The idea that Jesus never claimed to be the “Christ”
is unquestionably against the plain teaching of Scripture.7. Even
the Society would agree that the idea that Jesus never “claimed”
the title of “Christ” is erroneous. Thus, in order
to conceal the fact that this source is not credible, they placed
an ellipsis in the quotation and concealed this inaccurate statement
from their readers.
On page 28, in reference to the Greek word for God (theos)
being used for Christ, the Society goes on to cite the Bulletin
as stating that Catholic theologian Karl Rahner taught that “in
none of these instances is ‘theos’ used in such a
manner as to identify Jesus with him who elsewhere in the New
Testament figures as ‘ho Theos,’ that is, the Supreme
God.” However, it is difficult to justify Rahner’s
position on this subject in light of the fact that the Bulletin
mentioned that Rahner “considers that there are reliable
applications of ‘theos’ to Christ in six
texts (Romans ix. 5f.; John i. I, 18. xx. 28: I John v. 20: and
Titus ii. 13).”—Bulletin of the John Rylands Library,
vol. 50, p. 253.
 NEXT CHAPTER
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1. i.e., having limited knowledge, needing to “learn obedience” through suffering, experiencing hunger, sleep, pain, death, etc.
2. In the Lord’s prayer of Matthew 6:9 where Jesus address the Father as “Our Father,” Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray rather than including Himself in that prayer.
3. See John 6:62 c.f. Daniel 7:13. The term “Son of Man” is a Messianic title which points to Jesus’ humanity as His second coming will be in the flesh.
4. See Matthew 1:23; John 1:1,18; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1
5. The Watchtower’s New World Translation mistranslates this verse by adding the word “[other]” to the text of Acts 10:36: “…through Jesus Christ: this One is Lord of all [others].”—New World Translation
6. Psalm 49:7: “No man can by any means redeem his brother, Or give to God a ransom for him.”
7. See Matthew 16:20 |
