“This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3)

The real issue here is that there is a different teaching about God’s Son Jesus in the Bible that is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in the scriptures, and it is neither the Trinity doctrine nor the Oneness doctrine. Following, then, is how the “son of God” doctrine is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in the Bible. That “AND” right there cannot be overemphasized. Neither the Trinity doctrine, nor the Oneness doctrine can be shown to be named, proclaimed, confessed, OR explained in the Bible. The “Son of God” doctrine, however, can demonstrate all of the above.

Named:

“³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David… ³⁵The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born [out] from you will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:32-35)

“Concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 1:3–5)

Proclaimed:

“¹⁶Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. ¹⁷Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’.” (Matthew 3:16–17; also found in Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22)

“While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5; also Mark 9:7 and Luke 9:35).

“³²We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers, ³³that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father‘… ³⁸…through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins, ³⁹and by him everyone who believes is justified…’” (Acts 13:26-31)

“…the Son of God, Jesus Christ… was preached among you by us.” (2 Corinthians 1:19)

Preached is what proclaimed means.

Confessed:

“I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:34)

“Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!’” (John 1:49)

“Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, ‘You are truly the Son of God!’” (Matthew 14:33)

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 16:15–17)

Many others could be added to this list, such as Mark 1:1; John 20:31; Mark 15:39; Acts 8:37; & Acts 9:20.

Jesus confessed he was the son of God in the final chapter of the last book in the Bible:

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David; the Bright and Morning Star.” (Revelation 22:16)

(In all the occurrences of the word “root” in the Bible, not once can any one of them be shown to be ascribed to God in any way. Rather, “root” means “remnant,” the living but underground element of a single, living organism, in this case, of the lineage of David…

“The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” (2 Kings 19:30)

In this case, the “root” analogy was applied to the whole family of Judah. Although much of the family may die off or be scattered, there is a remnant, a small number of individuals that can be likened to the root of a tree.

Jesus explained what he meant by being the root when he said this: 1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer… 5I am the vine. You are the branches” (John 15:1–5).

“¹⁷I see him, but not now; I see him, but not near: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, A scepter shall rise out of Israel… ¹⁹Out of Jacob shall one have dominion… (Numbers 24:17, 19)

Numbers 24:17–19 teaches that a star will arise “out of” Jacob, once again indicating offspring.

So, in Revelation 22:16, Jesus testified, or confessed, that he was of the remnant of David’s seed, and was David’s offspring, nothing more, nothing less.

Explained:

“²²Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know, ²³him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed; ²⁴whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.” (Acts 2:22-24).

Here is God’s first explained mention of Messiah:

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

Here is another major explanation of Messiah as given to Abraham:

“For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13:15, also 17:7, 8, 28:4, 13, 35:12, & 48:4)

Paul explains:

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16)

That verse in Galatians just explained who and what Christ is. The same as in Deuteronomy 18:

“¹⁵Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. ¹⁶This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.’ ¹⁷Yahweh said to me, ‘They have well said that which they have spoken. ¹⁸I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. ¹⁹It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)

That passage openly and clearly explained exactly who and what Messiah was to be.

David was given more details when God Himself explained and defined who His own son was to be:

“¹¹…Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house. ¹²When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he shall be my son…’” (2 Samuel 7:11-16)

This is where the term “son of God” comes from regarding the title being used by Jesus. This is what a “didactic focus” looks like, where a topic is being purposely and clearly taught in detail. This is God the Father’s own clear, explicit, detailed explanation and definition of who His son would be, and He didn’t describe his son to be God himself in a man suit or a “mode” of His person. Let God be true.

Here is another example of a “didactic focus” where the son of God is explained:

“Concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake.” (Romans 1:3–5)

“¹For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God… ⁴Nobody takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just like Aaron was. ⁵So also Christ didn’t glorify himself to be made a high priest, but it was he who said to him, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father’.” (Hebrews 5:1-5)

Notice that all the above quoted scriptures make distinctions in their combined explanations in who Messiah, the son of God was to be. In these explanations the Messiah is identified by being peculiar, distinguished, and differentiated from all others. When others, like Trinitarians or Onenessians explain the particulars of their view, they ultimately negate these biblical descriptions and explanations of the true and biblical son of God.

The above are examples of quoting scripture and allowing the words of the Bible to express distinct elements of what we are to hear and believe and teach. In this case, these clearly teach what is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in scripture that which we call “the son of God” doctrine because that is what the Bible calls the one so described, Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God.

Where is the Trinity Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in detail like this in the Bible?

Where is the Oneness Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in detail like this in the Bible?

Neither is. So, which of the above two is more “biblical” than the other?

Between the above two, which is more “biblical” than the “son of God” doctrine that has just been Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in detail for you by scriptural quotes?

How can a doctrine like the “Son of God” doctrine that is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in the Bible NOT be biblical?

How can a doctrine like the Trinity and the Oneness that are NOT named, proclaimed, confessed, NOR explained in the Bible BE biblical if something else IS Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained?

How much LESS biblical, then, would a doctrine like Trinity or Oneness have to be before being rejected for not being biblical by “Bible believing” Christians?

This kind of detailed explanation of either the distinctive details of the Trinity or the distinctive details of Oneness are never found articulated and explained like this in the Bible. That’s what you are being challenged to prove and discover or disprove for yourself. if you take this challenge, you will find, that the Oneness doctrine, just like the Trinity doctrine, is not treated anywhere in the Bible, like the above, as a “didactic focus” where the distinctive details are purposely spelled out. Both Trinity and Oneness are ideas, imaginations of men, that must be read back into the Bible which is called “eisegesis.” “Eisegesis” means, “interpretation, especially of Scripture, that expresses the interpreter’s own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text.” Jesus called it, “reasoning in your hearts.”

“And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?” (Mark 2:8)

Jumping to conclusions, “reasoning these things in your heart,” and eisegesis are all basically synonymous. These words explain the method used by both Trinitarian and Onenessian theologians to conclude, describe, and explain the distinctives of their respective positions. This is not how to rightly determine doctrine, nor how to properly interpret the Bible. That is how “imaginations” of men that aren’t there are read into the text. And what does the Bible say about the imaginations of men?

“⁴…the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, ⁵throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; ⁶and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience will be made full.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-6)

This is the scripture that authorizes us to challenge unbiblical imaginations. According to this passage, doing so is the front line in our battlefield to “fight the good fight” of the “Christian warfare.”

On the other hand, the son of God doctrine is none of these. It is not an imagination, not a jumped to conclusion, nor from reasoning in the hearts, nor is it from creating false dilemmas. It is clearly Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in the Bible.

So, again, the challenge on the table is simply this:

Where is the Oneness doctrine Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in the Bible? In other words, please find and quote the scriptures that in and of themselves openly and clearly and purposely explain and describe the specific details and distinctive elements of Oneness beliefs, without jumping to conclusions, without creating false dilemmas, and without negating what is openly and clearly explained in the Bible.

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