In the last part we talked about the son born in time. Now let’s talk about the human substance of the son of God.

I believe that most Trinitarians will be shocked to learn that the Trinity doctrine, as formulated by the Early Trinitarian Christian Designers, expressly denies the Son that was made flesh and made of his mother Mary. This is according to explicit statements from Athanasius, the champion of Nicene Trinitarianism.

“…nor, as man from man, has the Son been begotten… ‘Son’ is nothing else than what is generated from the Father.” Athanasius, Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse 1, Chapter 5, par. 14.

“…We are driven to say that what is from the essence of the Father, and proper to him, is entirely the Son…that which is begotten is neither affection nor division of that blessed essence. Hence it is not incredible that God should have a Son, the Offspring of his own essence; nor do we imply affection or division of God’s essence, when we speak of ‘Son’ and ‘Offspring’; but rather, as acknowledging the genuine, and true, and Only-begotten of God, so we believe.” ibid., par. 16.

Note that Athanasius is adamant that the “only begotten” son is the son of God’s essence. That means that the son that was born of the flesh of David through Mary is not the son that Athanasius believes in. This is how Trinitarianism denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. They do so by claiming belief in a Son who is of no other substance than deific substance.

“Of no other” means that flesh is excluded. Trinitarianism explicitly rejects the biblical one and only begotten Son of God. Thus, any claim that Trinitarians believe in a human Son should be regarded as lip service.

Furthermore, Athanasius himself tells us that if the Son is made of flesh, then there can be no Trinity doctrine. He declares that if the Son is made of anything else but the “Father’s essence” (which necessarily excludes his mother’s essence), then there is not and never was a Trinity. He can be so candid because he is writing against the Arians, who do believe in a Trinity, but a different Trinity than Athanasius believes in. The circumstance doesn’t change the fact that Athanasius bluntly stated: if the Son was made of humanity, in the process of time, then the Trinity is no Trinity because these concepts are incompatible.

“…And further, if the Son is not proper offspring of the Father’s essence, but of nothing has come to be, then of nothing the Triad consists, and once there was not a Triad, but a Monad; and a Triad once with deficiency, and then complete; deficient, before the Son was originated, complete when he had come to be; and henceforth a thing originated is reckoned with the Creator, and what once was not has divine worship and glory with him who was ever.” ibid, Chapter 6.

With these words Athanasius rejected the biblical, prophetic promise of a human savior. Athanasius absolutely denied the scriptural human Son, born of the seed of Eve, Abraham, and David. He denied the Son that God Himself swore with an oath that He would be a Father to in a future tense. Athanasius was saying that if the Son the Bible describes is true, then there is no such thing as a Trinity.

To unpack Athanasius’ words just a little more, consider this statement: “…a Triad once with deficiency, and then complete; deficient, before the Son was originated, complete when he had come to be…” What he is implying here, is that, in the Arian view, for God to need to have a son in eternity, before creation, would be to assign imperfection and incompletion to God Himself! The ramifications are staggering when you understand what he is saying. But let’s just focus on this biblical statement:

“⁹But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone. ¹⁰For it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:9-11).

Let me point something out here that might otherwise be missed. Incarnationists make the unbiblical claim that Jesus had to be “God” in order to make “a perfect sacrifice.” There is no scripture that says that a perfect God would be the only acceptable sacrifice, or anything like that. But here, the scripture tells us, the son was made perfect through suffering. You can’t have it both ways. Either the sufferings made him perfect (which is biblical truth), or he had to come to these sufferings as a perfect being in his person, which is an unbiblical conclusion. The two concepts are not compatible.

So then, Athanasius reasons, if God was not perfected before he had a son, then He was never perfect to begin with. The biblical answer is that Jesus, being a creation of God was made “perfect through sufferings.” God certainly did not need to be made perfect through sufferings. But His son did. That speaks volumes for those who are willing to hear it.

The Son the Bible describes, therefore is a different Son than Trinitarians or Arians believe in.

“He…though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:7–9).

All incarnation doctrines make this passage into a lie by saying the Son’s humanity added nothing. If the Son did not change, then he was simply not made flesh. He could have remained in heaven and not have gone through all the suffering. But the truth is the opposite of the Gnostic and Trinitarian position. In truth, the Son was purely human in his essence or substance. And that is why he had to be perfected through suffering, not the other way around.

The following passages clearly and consistently teach the truth that Jesus Christ was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and was made like us in all things. This should be as simple and as cut and dried as anything that ever was. It is almost as clear as the first commandment!

“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).

“Made of a woman” explains the substance of the son. To say, “declared to be the son of God” is not saying something he was “additionally made of,” but what he was “declared to be” by God to be. For example…

“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).

That is what a “declaration” looks like. This was God “declaring” that this Jesus is the son that He, God, swore would be born of David’s flesh…

“Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ” (Acts 2:30–31). See also Psalm 89:3-4, 35-36, 132:11.

These verses are simply explaining the truth…

“My relatives according to the flesh… Are Israelites… From whom is Christ as concerning the flesh…” (Romans 9:3–5).

“Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8, KJV/NKJV).

The Bible even clearly explains how Christ was made:

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4, KJV).

Notice carefully that this verse doesn’t say that only Christ’s “flesh” was “made of” a woman, it says God’s “Son” was made of a woman. “Made of” is two words and means literally “to become of” a woman. In Genesis 2:7 we are told, “God formed man of the dust of the ground.” Most Christians have no problem accepting this on faith since it is what God’s word declares. Next, we find in Genesis 2:21 that God made a woman out of one of Adam’s ribs (or, part of his side). Again, most Christians believe this on faith because it is written in God’s word. But then we come to Jesus, whom the Bible says was “made of a woman,” and now, people hesitate and doubt. But that is exactly what happened. God’s word says that God’s Son has been “made of a woman.” That’s the simple, biblical, and yet amazing truth.

Next, we examine a passage that has caused much confusion. Later, we will show exactly where that confusion originated. For now, let’s examine what it says.

“The book of the generation [genesis=beginning] of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham…” (Matthew 1:1).

Matthew is using genesis here as a Greek rendering of the Biblical Hebrew used when listing genealogies in the Bible (the “begats”). The word genesis/beginning used here means “source, origin, a book of one’s lineage, i.e. in which his ancestry or progeny are enumerated, used of birth, nativity… ” (“NT:1078” Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). So, Matthew has deliberately patterned his wording on that used in the Hebrew Bible: “the beginning of Jesus…”. That means, according to Matthew, Jesus didn’t begin before this.

This was explained by an angel…

“³¹Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ 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” (Luke 1:31–32).

This passage makes clear that Jesus would actually be the Son of David, but would be “called” the Son of the Most High (God), again, “declared to be the son”; and God would “give” him the throne of his father, David. No talk of Jesus being an incarnation of God here, just evidence that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s plan for the Messiah to be declared His own son, just as He had sworn.

This next passage confirms all that we’ve read so far and adds more detail to emphasize Christ’s humanity:

“¹⁴Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ¹⁶For most assuredly, not to angels does he give help, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:14–18).

How many things? He was obligated to be made like us in all things. Not in some things, as some would have it; not somewhat like us, as many suppose. How many of us are made up of 100% deity and 100% humanity? No one. If Christ was of deity at all, in his personality or anything, then he was not made like us in all things. It’s that simple, and anything else is jumping to conclusions. This Scripture even explains to us why this is so. Jesus had to be the same flesh as us because that is how he could save us.

As we’ve seen so far, this biblical truth was spelled out and described quite clearly, consistently, and thoroughly. However, the antichristian Gnostics came up with another idea, which is called the “Dual Natures of Christ” doctrine.

“Therefore did the Lord also say to his disciples…’Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that repentance for the remission of sins be preached in his name among all nations.’ Now this is he who was born of Mary; for he says: ‘The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected, and crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ The Gospel, therefore, knew no other son of man but him who was of Mary, who also suffered; and no Christ who flew away from Jesus before the passion; but him who was born it knew as Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that this same suffered and rose again, as John, the disciple of the Lord, verifies, saying: ‘But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have eternal life in his name,’ –foreseeing these blasphemous systems which divide the Lord, as far as lies in their power, saying that he was formed of two different substances. For this reason also he has thus testified to us in his Epistle: ‘Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that Antichrist doth come, now have many antichrists appeared…’” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 16, par. 5.

Let these words sink in: “blasphemous systems…divide the Lord…saying that he was formed of two different substances.”

The antichristian Gnostics were the ones who invented, or at least introduced into Christianity, the doctrine of dual natures. You will not find any Christian source before the Gnostics speaking of Jesus as having two natures. The idea comes from paganism and philosophy, not the Bible. That isn’t to say that some people don’t read it into the Bible to assert their biases upon the text. The idea of “two natures” also corresponds closely with the pagan doctrine of “gods come to earth in the form of men” (Acts 14:11).

Furthermore, Irenaeus testifies that it was the dual nature doctrine in specific that led John to write against the antichrist spirit that was come into the world.

So let’s see what John had to say about Christ’s flesh in speaking in response to the antichristian Gnostics. Keep in mind that Irenaeus said these next verses were written to testify against the “two natures” doctrine of the antichristians:

“…Many deceivers… don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist” (2 John 7).

“…Every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist…” (1 John 4:2–3).

Note that John didn’t say Jesus came in “a” flesh, but rather in “the” flesh. In this way we know that John obviously agreed with Paul that there is only one type of human flesh:

“All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals…” (1 Corinthians 15:39).

There simply are not two or more types of human flesh. What does this mean? It means that if Jesus came in a different flesh, or different type of humanity than that of the rest of us, then he was a different kind of creature than us. And if he was a different kind of creature than us, then he was not biblically eligible to be the high priest for us, according to Hebrews 2:17. And if anyone says that he is of a different humanity than us, John calls this the spirit of antichrist.

Now let’s read what Jesus said about being born human:

“⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Don’t marvel that I said to you, You must be born anew” (John 3:6–7).

Jesus was confirming an obvious truth: that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Consider that in connection with what John said, that those who don’t confess “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” are of the spirit of antichrist.

The word “born” never means “incarnated.” All the “begets” in Matthew 1 testify that Jesus was born in the same way all his forefathers were from Adam on down. Even we are told to be “born again.” When Nicodemus was told by Jesus that he must be born again, his response was “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). He had no concept of a “reincarnation.”

In that we are told to be born again, it isn’t to “resurrect” or “reincarnate” our old self. It is so that we can be entirely new creations in Christ!

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).

The Bible says Jesus came in the flesh. Jesus said that to be “of the flesh” one must be “born of the flesh.” And that is what happened when Jesus was “made of a woman.” Therefore, to deny that Jesus was born of Mary or that he was made of something other than the one flesh of man when he was born would be to make both Jesus and John out to be untrue.

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6).

“…Every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist…” (1 John 4:3).

This is where “homoousios” (same substance) should apply! Jesus is the same flesh substance as we are! He was born that way! Jesus said as much…

“¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer… ⁵I am the vine. You are the branches…” John 15:1, 5).

In saying he is the vine, we are the branches, and the Father is the husbandman, Jesus is clearly portraying himself as the same organism, thus the same substance and nature, as us. Just as clearly, the Father is a separate whole being from Jesus and us. And again Jesus solemnly testified this truth in Revelation…

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

Clearly, offspring means downstream genetically from David. But the root means the same thing. The root here signifies Jesus as the true remnant of the lineage and house of the Davidic kingdom. Root does NOT mean “father”, that is reading bias into the text and not letting scripture interpret scripture. For examples of this see 2 Kings 19:30–31, Job 14:1-10, Isaiah 11:10-12, Romans 15:12. God is never portrayed as a “root” in scripture.

An interesting thing about the “root of Jesse” is that “the Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him… The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh… his delight will be in the fear of Yahweh” (Isaiah 11:1–3). Would God need to have his own Spirit rest upon him? Would God need to be filled with the Spirit of the fear of Yahweh? Would God fear Himself? Such ideas are, of course, ridiculous and show that the root of Jesse was simply not an indication of an incarnation of Yahweh Himself.

Thus, the “dual nature doctrine” of the Gnostics has been proven to be an unbiblical doctrine. But that same doctrine has been adopted by all Incarnationists. And, according to Irenaeus, it was precisely that antichristian spirit, or attitude, that John was warning us against! This also explains why Jesus had to be baptized and receive the Spirit of God just like the rest of us: he also was born of the flesh!

Another clear indicator that Jesus was also born of the flesh as we are, is that he also had to be born again of the Spirit. Jesus said so…

“¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴But John would have hindered him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?’ ¹⁵But Jesus, answering, said to him, ‘Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed him. 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 3:13-17).

John explains this in one of his epistles…

“⁵Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three who testify: ⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. ⁹If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. ¹⁰He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son” (1 John 5:5-10).

Please note carefully that this says Jesus “came by water and blood” and then it says the Spirit testifies. It doesn’t say that Jesus “came by water and blood and spirit”, rather, his baptism by John showed that he had to receive the Spirit just like the rest of us humans do. In fact, it says, this is how we also receive the “witness in” ourselves that we also are sons of God! For us, repentance is the blood, water is baptism in water in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and the Spirit is receiving the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is how we are “born again,” not “incarnated” by the Spirit.

And all of this helps to explain why denying that Jesus was born in the flesh, is an antichrist spirit.

And that is why pointing out these doctrines is critical, even if we get accused of being “divisive” or contentious or whatever for doing so.

And finally, all of this explains why the apostles, when preaching the gospel and Jesus in the book of Acts, never ever preached Jesus to be anything other or in addition to being “a man approved of God” …

“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… ³⁶Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:22-36)

“²⁰…Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before… ²²For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. ²³It will be, that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’… ²⁵You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶God, having raised up his servant, Jesus, sent him to you first, to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from your wickedness.” (Acts 3:20-26)

“¹⁰be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole. ¹¹He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ ¹²There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!” (Acts 4:10-12)

“³⁰The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, hanging him on a tree. ³¹God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. ³²We are His witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:30-32)

“³⁷…Moses…said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’…” (Acts 7:37, also 39-41, 51-52)

“³⁶The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all— ³⁷you yourselves know what happened, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; ³⁸even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ³⁹We are witnesses of everything he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree. ⁴⁰God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed.” (Acts 10:36-40)

“²⁶Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you. ²⁷For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed. ²⁹When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him from the dead, ³¹and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. 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.’ ³⁴“Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ ³⁵Therefore he says also in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’ ³⁶For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw decay. ³⁷But he whom God raised up saw no decay. ³⁸Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins, ³⁹and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets: ⁴¹‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.'” (Acts 13:26-41)

“²⁴The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands… ³⁰…now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, ³¹because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:24-31)

“⁶Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷…Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa! ⁸Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?… ²²…I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen, ²³how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:6-8, 22-23

 

In Conclusion

In this series of studies, I have taken on the Trinitarian challenge against three falsehoods I was presented with…

1. The false idea that the Trinity is based on Jewish views of a multi-person deity.
2. The false idea that there were “no” trinities whatsoever in the pagan world from which they derived their dogma, and there are no “legitimate” scholars that believe there was any pagan sources from which the Trinity was derived.
3. The false idea that the Trinity is “spiritual” and couldn’t have been conceived by the natural mind.

I have demonstrated quite to the contrary…

1. Where and how the pagan philosophers explained a Trinity in pagan, philosophic terms, AND,
2. That the Christian Trinitarian apologists themselves admitted they got the concepts of “persons” and “trinity” from those same philosophers, AND,
3. That they viewed their doing so as being in opposition to Jewish dogma, not in harmony with it (even going so far as calling the Jewish dogma heresy), AND,
4. That plenty of modern historians confirm that adopting concepts from philosophy was what the early Christian Trinitarians did in developing a “Christianized” version of the Trinity.

And finally, I have shown that the Jesus that Trinitarians preach is “another Jesus” than the one the apostles preached.

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