A few general comments:
When I look back, considering it has been almost 2000 years, I find the circumstances becoming less and less important....like examining a religion stuck in amber. We are left today speculating on events, often reported by people who did not witness them, of doubtful authenticity, of various motivations, developed over several hundred years of debate....with the winners writing the history and developing the theology. If these events were not a major part of Western civilization they would be of academic interest only.
The arguments presented assume acceptance of various premises...basically circular arguments. If one accepts uncritically all texts without considering their development etc. one can make the argument seem likely. However.....I don't accept many of the premises.
Re: The Deity of Christ -
"It must first be admitted that Jesus never defines His place in the Trinity in theological language." Agree
"However, He made many statements about himself that would be not only inappropriate, but blasphemous if He was not God in the flesh." Ok, maybe he was a blasphemer.
""For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16)."
I see a clear distinction here betwen GOD and Son
""Have we not one God, and one Christ and one Spirit of grace poured upon us." Later, in his second letter, Clement tells his readers to "think of Jesus as of God , as the judge of the living and dead." One God..."and one Christ (messiah).... "to think of Jesus as "of" God...note...not "to think of Jesus "as" God. We are all of God...
""The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father."
I see a clear distinction here between Father and Son. Grandiosity?...possibly..out of hi religious conviction...seeing his life purpose as ushering in a new / renewed Judaism....
" "There is therefore . . . one God the Father, and one Christ Jesus our Lord, who . . . gathered together all things in himself. But in every respect, too, he is man, the formation of God: and thus he took up man into himself, the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in himself" (Against Heresies III,"
This makes sense? one God the Father...again..a distinction is clearly noted though not admitted....and one "Christ" = messiah Jesus our Lord...not the same.
Re: Critical Evidence....briefly, the bulk appears to consist of circular argumentation...one has to accept the premises for it to make sense.
"Jesus' prayer life demonstrates that He thought of Himself as the unique Son of God, set Him apart from everyone else, even His disciples. It is an established fact that Jesus addressed God as "Abba," which is almost like calling God "daddy." To the Jews of that day, the name of God was so sacred that no one would dare pray to God in such a familiar way. While Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God as "Abba," He still never prayed with them as "Our Father," but referred to God as "My Father" ( see John 20:17). Thus, Jesus saw Himself as God's son in a unique sense, shared by no one else."
This proves nothing....it states Jesus prayed to GOD....if Jesus was GOD..who was he praying to? Again, pity my lack of trinitarian understanding....I guess it is simply beyond me.
"If He did not know He was wrong, then He was radically deluded." This cannot be rejected.
Re: Doctrine of the Diety...much as above...circular argument...one has to accept the interpretations of the old testament prophecies as alluding to Jesus or things taken out of context etc.
So, depending on ones frame of reference...these arguments either convince you or they don't......for me...they don't....they seem too forced...to much effort to try and describe or interpret Jesus against expectations and hopes and also why things did not turn out as anticipated.
Here are my comments on the third one:
1. Explicit references that affirm the deity of Christ.
Oh, I can't wait! Explicit references! Here we go...
1. Jn.1:1 "In the beginning was (imperf. eivmi, eimi) the Word, and the Word was with God (separate person) and the Word was God"; cf. Jn.1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Uh...I don't see Christ mentioned here, nor Jesus, nor even Son of God. To be sure, the "Word" is said to "become flesh," and this flesh turns out to be Jesus, but that's more of an implication that an explication.
2. Jn.20:28 "Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and My God!'" (Jesus did not rebuke; see vs.29 for what He did say.)
I would agree that this seems to be an explicit affirmation of the deity of Jesus (the only one in the Bible I might add). But I am not so sure that the "Jesus-didn't-correct-him-so-it-must-be-true" argument is valid. After all, when people were bringing all sorts of false accusations against Jesus, he said nothing to correct them (Mark 14:55-61a).
3. Rom.9:5 "and from whom (Israel) is the Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."
This is a mistranslation. Compare the translations of this verse.
4. Phil.2:6 "Who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality (acc.neut.pl. of i;soj, isos: equal things, i.e., attributes) with God a thing to be grasped."
The expression "existing in the form of God" is no more an explicit affirmation of Christ's deity than "God made man in his image."
5. Ti.2:13 "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."
This is another mistranslation. Compare the translations on this verse.
Okay, so those are all the explicit affirmations of Christ's deity. How many do we have?
2. Deity inferred from His eternal preexistence.
For this discussion, I will allow for the idea of preeexistence and concentrate only on the scriptures that assert eternal preexistence (because only these would suggest Christ is God).
1. Jn.8:58 "Jesus said to them (Jews) 'Verily, verily, I say to you, before Abraham came to be (literal translation of aor.dep.infin. of ginoma,i ginomai) I am (pres.act.inf. eivmi,, eimi).'"
Nothing about eternal preexistence here. As the argument sometimes goes, Jesus spoke in Greek and said "I am" as "ego eimi." Therefore he was claiming the title "Ego Eimi" used by God himself in Exodus 3:14 (in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which Jesus and his disciples were familiar with).
The question that arises immediately is: How do we know that Jesus was claiming the divine title? Is every appearance of "ego eimi" a reference to the divine title? No. Why should this particular passage be understood in a special sense? Is the sentence not understandable if the words "I am" are used in the ordinary sense (i.e., "I am before Abraham")? Of course it is. Is there anything else in the context of this passage that points to Exodus 3:14? No. Did Jesus even speak Greek? He was most likely speaking in Aramaic. Does the phrase make sense grammatically if "I am" is a title? No. In such a case, there would have to be an additional "I am" inserted (i.e., "I am 'I AM'"). Some might say that the use of the expression need not be perfectly grammatical because Jesus was merely alluding to the divine name, rather than saying plainly that he was God. Okay, but we would need to have some proof elsewhere that he really thought himself to be God in order to bolster such an interpretation. Is it reasonable to conclude that Jesus would state a fundamental teaching of Christianity by only beating around the bush or dropping a hint?
2. Micah.5:2: a Messianic prophecy of Christ's birth at Bethlehem and destiny as ruler declares of Him "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity" (Hebrew ~l'A[ ymeymi mime' olam; cf. Ps.90:2; Prov.8:22,23; Jn.1:1).
"Eternity" is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word 'olam, which denotes an unknown time in the past or future.
3. Isa.9:6 is another prophecy of Christ's birth. He is called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
I know of no writing in the Bible that says this scripture applies to Jesus.
4. Jn.1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
"In the beginning" does not signify eternity.
5. Col.1:16,17 after stating that all things were created through Him and for Him comes the expression "And He is before all things".
Being "before all things" does not signify eternity.
6. Rev.1:8 "'I am the Alpha and Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'"
This is God talking, not Jesus.
7. Eph.1:4 is associated with the divine decrees "chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."
Existing "before the foundation of the world" does not mean one has always existed.
8. Jd.25 "to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
This is talking about God through Jesus Christ, not Jesus Christ.
3. Additional evidences of His pre-incarnate existence (which supports His deity).
1. Jn.3:13 "And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man."
2. Jn.3:31 "He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all."
3. Jn.6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me."
4. Jn.17:5 "With the glory which I always had with You before the world was" (cf. Jn.17:24).
5. Other verses: Jn.1:15,30; 6:33,42,50,51,58,62; 7:29; 8:23,42; 9:36; Eph.1:35; 1Pet.1:1820. Most references to His preexistence are in the gospel that deals with His deity.
Pretty much all the same. Possible reference to preexistence, but not to eternal preexistence. The one exception might be John 17:5, except that the word "always" was inserted by the translator and is not in the original Greek.
4. The ascription of divine attributes to Him is conclusive proof of deity (Col.2:9 "For in Him all the fullness [plhrw,ma, pleroma] of Deity dwells [katoike,w katoikeo: dwell permanently] in bodily form").
Col. 2:9 is taken out of context. The very next verse says that Christ's followers can obtain that same fullness of deity that Jesus has.
1. Sovereignty (Mt.28:18 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me"; Rom.9:5 "Who is over all"; 1Pet.3:22; Jn.3:27 "And He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man"; Act.2:36; 1Cor.12:3; Phil.2:9,10; Col.1:18; 1Pet.3:22; Rev.1:5,6 "Ruler of Kings of the earth...to Him...the glory and dominion forever and ever"; Rev.17:14 and 19:16 call Him "King of kings and Lord of lords").
The kings of Israel are said to have this same sovereignty. (Notice that God gives Jesus this authority. Jesus doesn't already have it.)
2. Eternal Life (Isa.9:6; Micah.5:2; Jn.1:1; 8:58; Col.1:17; Rev.1:8; 22:13).
Humans are said to gain eternal life too.
3. Righteousness and Justice (Jer.23:5,6; Lk.1:35 "holy offspring"; Act.3:14 "The Holy and Righteous One"; Heb.7:26 "holy of His priesthood"; Rev.3:7 "He who is holy").
Humans are often said to be righteous and just.
4. Love (Jn.13:1,34; 1Jn.3:16; cf. Jn.3:16).
Humans are said to have love too.
5. Omniscience (Jn.2:24,25 "He Himself knew what was in man"; Jn.16:30 "We know that you know all things"; Jn.6:64 "But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him"; Jn.13:11; Mt.9:4 "And Jesus knowing their thoughts/hearts said, 'Why are you thinking evil?'"; 1Cor.4:5 "Until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts"; Rev.2:23 "I am He who searches the minds and hearts").
Most of the scriptures simply say that Jesus knew something that people were thinking or feeling. We have that ability sometimes too. But even in those instance where Jesus is said to have a special ability to know something inside of people, this does not mean he is omniscient. Omniscience means there is no limit to his knowledge. The only verse that suggests this is John 16:30 ("We know that you know all things"), but can it be said for certain that this is not a figure of speech such as we use to refer to "all things" about a certain subject? Can it be said for certain that the disciples are most definitely speaking about all possible things to know, and that they are correct?
6. Omnipresence (Ps.139:7-10; Deut.4:39; Prov.15:13; Isa.66:1; Jer.23:24; Act.17:27; Mt.28:20 "I am with you always"; Mt.18:20 "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst"; Jn.3:13).
These verses only suggest presence, not omnipresence.
7. Omnipotence (Mt.8:25, calmed the storm; Jn.10:18 "No one has taken it from Me"; Phil.3:21 "Who (the Lord Jesus Christ, see vs.20) will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself"; Heb.7:25 "He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him"; 2Tim.1:12 "I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day"; Jd.24 "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory irreprehensible with great joy"; Rev.1:8 "The Almighty").
These verses suggest great power, but not omnipotence. Rev 1:8 doesn't even refer to Jesus. The "all things" mentioned in Phil. 3:21, according to the context, refers to all people, not every possible thing in the universe.
8. Immutability (Heb.13:8 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever"; Heb.1:1012; cf. Ps.102:25-27; 1Jn.1:9).
Being the same and being immutable are two different things. Besides, immutability isn't even discussed in the Bible in reference to God.
9. Veracity (Jn.14:2 "If it were not so, I would have told you"; 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life"; Rev.3:7 "He...who is true").
Humans can tell the truth too. The expression, "I am the way and the truth and the life" is open to interpretation. Way to what? Truth of what? What kind of life?
5. His deity is affirmed in trinity passages (Mt.28:19; 2Cor.13:14; 1Pet.1:2).
Huh? No it isn't. I don't get this argument. Is it trying to say that if a person is mentioned alongside the Father, then that person must be God? (In other words, if I said "God the Father and Fred," then Fred must be God?)
6. His deity is required, since He is said to perform the tasks of deity.
Okay, what sorts of tasks does Jesus undertake that are tasks that only God can do?
1. Creation (Jn.1:3 "All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being"; Jn.1:10 "The world was made through Him"; Col.1:16 "For by Him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him"; Heb.1:2 "Whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world"; Heb.1:10 "You, Lord, in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands"; cf. Gen.1:1).
I looked at all these passages and see that they all say that things were created through Christ or in Christ, but not by Christ. (Col. 1:16 is mistranslated above.)
As far as Heb 1:10 is concerned, it is a quotation of a psalm that refers to the king of Israel. If that verse can apply to the king of Israel without the king being God, then it can apply to Jesus without Jesus being God.
2. Providence (Lk.10:22 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father"; Jn.3:35 "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand"; Jn.17:2 "Even as You have given Him authority over all mankind, that to all You have given Him, He may give eternal life"; Eph.1:22 "And He put all things in subjection under His feet and granted Him as head over all things to the church"; Col.1:17 "And by Him all things hold together"; Heb.1:3 "and upholds all things by the word of His power"; Rev.1:5 "ruler of the Kings of the earth").
It is amazing to me that someone could think that if God hands something over to Jesus, then Jesus must be God.
See my comments about about the expression "all things," which can refer to all things within a certain category.
3. Forgiveness of sins (Mt.9:27; Mk.2:710 "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"; Col.3:13; 1Jn.1:9).
If only God can forgive sins, then why are we told to forgive others?
4. Resurrection and judge (Mt.25:31,32; Jn.5:19-29; Act.10:42; 17:31; Phil.3:21; 2Tim.4:3).
Prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures resurrect the dead. There were judges in ancient Israel too.
5. Dissolve and recreate the universe (Heb.1:10-12; Rev.20:11; cf. 21:5 "Behold I make all things new").
These passages are likely to be figurative.
7. Christ possesses the titles of deity.
Okay, show me the titles or names that only God is supposed to have.
1. Yaweh, hw"hy> translated kurios in the New Testament (Zech.12:10b;cf. Rev.1:7; Ps.68:18; cf. Eph.4:8-10; Ps.102:12; cf. Heb.1:10,11; Isa.6:5; cf. Jn.12:41; Jer.23:5,6; cf. 1Cor.1:30; Mt.3:1; cf. Mt.12:6; 21:12,13 [Lord of the temple]; Mt.12:8 [Lord of the Sabbath]).
Kurios means "Lord," not Yahweh. The replacement of Yahweh for kurios in the NT is a matter of substitution, not translation.
2. Adonai, ynIdoa] translated kurio,j (kurios) in the NT (Ps.110:1; cf. Mt.22:44 and Mk.12:36; Lk.10:43; Act.2:34,35; Heb.1:13; 10:13 [the NT equivalent is kurios]).
God is not the only one who is entitled to be called "Lord." Lots of people are called Lord in the Bible.
3. Elohim, ~yhil{a/ translated Qeo,j (Theos) in the NT. In Isa.40:3, Christ is spoken of as both Yaweh and Elohim (cf. Lk.3:6).
Isa 40:3 is applied by Luke to John the Baptist, who will clear up the way of Yahweh/God. But this does not mean that this is the way of Jesus.
8. The title "Son of God" and Christ's deity.
1. It is used of men and angels (Rom.8:14,19; cf. Job.2:1).
Okay...
2. It is used of Christ in a unique way, as seen in the term "only begotten" (monogenh,j monogenes; Jn.1:14,18; 3:16,18; 1Jn.4:9; cf. Lk.7:12 "only son"; 8:42 "only daughter"; 9:38 "only child"; Heb.11:17, "offered up his only begotten son"; Christ is God's only uniquely begotten Son).
Fine. Christ is God's only uniquely begotten Son. What does that have to do with deity?
3. The above is explained in a threefold application under the title "firstborn", prwto,tokoj, prototokos (background: primogeniture).
1. To teach the doctrine of eternal generation (Col.1:15 "And He is the firstborn of all creation"; Heb.1:6 "And when He again brings the firstborn into the world").
2. To read His humanity into the doctrine (Mt.1:25; Lk.2:7 "She gave birth to her firstborn son").
3. To further read His glorified humanity into the doctrine (Ps.2:7 "He said to me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You'"; cf. Rom.8:29 "That He might be the firstborn among many brothers"; Col.1:18 "The firstborn from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything"; Rev.1:5 "The firstborn from the dead").
4. Summary: as eternal God the Son, He has always been the firstborn. Via the virgin birth, His humanity became firstborn in hypostasis, and at His resurrection His glorified hypostasis achieved firstborn status.
Okay, this gets a little complicated. The argument in number 1 seems to be that being called "firstborn" means that the Son is eternally generated. How one gets from point A to point B, I have no idea.
The arguments in numbers 2 and 3 have nothing to do with deity at all.
9. The Angel of Yaweh identification proves His deity.
1. The Angel of Yaweh (Gen.16:7-13, esp. vs.13; cf. Gen.22:15-18; 31:11-13; 48:15,16; Ex.3:1ff; 14:19; Judg.6:11-23; 13:920).
2. The Angel of Yaweh is distinguished from Yaweh (Gen.24:7,40; Ex.23:20; 32:34; Num.20:16; Judg.2:15; 1Chr.21:15-18; Isa.63:9; Dan.3:25-28; Zech.1:12,13).
So far I see nothing about deity. Is an angel necessarily God? If the angel is distinguished from Yahweh, how can he be Yahweh?
3. The Angel of Yaweh is the second person of the Godhead.
1. He is the visible God of the Old Testament (OT).
2. He no longer appears after the incarnation.
3. God sent both.
4. Christ is called Yaweh in NT quotations of OT passages, (translated kurios, see point VII.A.).
Point 1 has not been established. Point 2 does not constitute proof. Just because something happens after something, this doesn't mean that the first thing and the second thing are causally related. Point 3 is another logical fallacy: (1) God sent X. (2) God sent Y. (3) Therefore X and Y are the same. Point 4 was addressed above.
10. Other OT theophanies of the second person of the Godhead.
1. The burning bush (Ex.3:2), where He became known as the "I am" (Qal.perf. and Qal.imperf. of hy"h'), hayah; Greek, cf. eivmi, eimi, reflected in the "I Am's" of John's gospel (Jn.6:35 "I am the bread of life"; 8:12" I am the light of the world"; 10:9 "I am the door"; 10:11 "I am the good shepherd"; 11:25" I am the resurrection and the life"; 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life"; 15:1,5 "I am the vine").
2. The pillar of cloud and fire (Ex.13:21; 14:19; 23:20-23; 32:34; 33:2; Num.20:16; Isa.63:9).
3. A man (Gen.18:1-33 [to Abraham]; 32:24-32 [to Jacob]; cf. Hos.12:4).
None of these passages identify Jesus as a participant.
11. Observations on those who deny it.
1. They are called Antichrists (1Jn.2:22 "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son"; 1Jn.4:3 "and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the (spirit) of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now is already in the world"; cf. 1Jn.2:18 "and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen").
2. It is the basis for eternal condemnation (1Jn.5:12 "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life").
3. It is a characteristic of cults (Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Armstrongism, etc.).
4. It is prophesied of liberalism (2Pet.2:1 "Who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves"; cf. Jd.4).
Haha. Can you believe this part is included? It's the old "These-people-have-bad qualities-therefore-they-must-be-wrong-about-doctrine" argument.
12. The Lord taught it (Jn.10:30 "I and the Father are one"; vs.31 "And the Jews took up stones again to stone Him").
Yes, well the Lord also taught that his followers were one with God too (John 17:20-21).