Pauline Theology, Jesus is not God

[Part 2]

Sami Zaatari

 

We now resume our discussion on the writings of Paul concerning the divinity of Jesus, for those who have not read part one, then be sure to do so by clicking here (*).

 

1 Thessalonians:

for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead?Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)

Again, clear distinction between Jesus and God! God is the one who raises Jesus, is the one who will send Jesus who shall rescue us from the coming wrath. God didn't raise himself, didn't send himself, no, he sends someone else, his servant Jesus. Paul continues to repeat this message:

 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13)

Again, distinction between Jesus and God! Jesus is never being identified as God; rather he is always separated from God, and as we can see, Jesus is working and carrying out God's orders.

Other verses which show that Jesus is not God:

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

 

2 Thessalonians:

Paul once again begins a letter by separating Jesus from God:

Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:1-2)

He repeats the theme again in the same chapter:

We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:12)

And again:

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself AND God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

Is all of this a big coincidence?

 

1 Timothy:

It's almost getting repetitive now, but Paul begins another letter by separating Jesus from God:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior AND OF Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Timothy 1:1-2)

In the next chapter Paul makes it very explicitly clear that Jesus is not God, he writes:

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)

Wow, talk about making yourself crystal clear! Paul makes it clear there is ONE GOD, and ONE MEDIATOR between humans and this God, and that mediator is the MAN Jesus Christ!! How clearer can it get? Notice the huge distinction between God and Jesus, there is one God, and there is the man Jesus who mediates between God and men.

Off course Trinitarians will still try to spin this verse even though it's clearly against them, but just incase they try to work their magic then I have some questions. For starters, why does Paul (YET AGAIN) say there is ONE God? Why not Three in One, or there is a Trinity? Furthermore why didn't Paul call Jesus the man God Christ Jesus? Why did he simply say the MAN Jesus, and did not allude to any supposed dual natures? Heck why didn't Paul say there is one mediator between God and Men, and that was God the Son? Why simply say MAN and leave it at that? (PERHAPS BECAUSE JESUS IS A MAN AND JUST THAT!)

So Trinitarians really have no way in working their magic, all they will be able to do is add their own text into what is not there, but if you let the text speak for itself, then their Trinity is shattered beyond shattered!

We read more verses which prove that Jesus is not God:

I charge you, in the sight of God AND Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. (1 Timothy 5:21)

And here is one really interesting one:

which God will bring about in his own time?God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:15-16)

So according to Paul, God has NOT been seen, nor can anyone even see him, this would obviously disqualify Jesus as God because everyone saw him! Furthermore Paul states that God is immortal, well Jesus was not immortal, he DIED, and even Paul continuously tells us about how God raised Jesus from the DEAD and how Jesus' DEATH was a great thing, hence Jesus is not immortal.

 

2 Timothy

Paul begins this letter by writing:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father AND Christ Jesus our Lord. (2 Timothy 1-2)

And another verse from 2 Timothy:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 4:1)

 

Book of Titus:

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ (Titus 1:1)

So as you can read, Paul AGAIN begins a letter by making a clear distinction between Jesus and God, again I ask, is this all one big coincidence? Why does he never say Paul a servant of God Jesus or greets someone with writing peace in God our Jesus?!

And other verses from the book of Titus:

To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father AND Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously THROUGH Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:4-6)

So according to the above, God saved the people through Jesus. God didn't save the people through himself by sending himself; rather he saved them by generously sending Jesus.

And finally:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God AND our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13)

Ironically some Christians try to use the above verse to prove that Jesus is God, yet the verse is an obvious separation between Jesus and God, Trinitarians claim that Jesus both the God and saviour being mentioned, which is not the case at all, rather what we see is a separation of the two.

If the Trinitarian is not satisfied with that, then we let context determine it, and when one examines the context of Paul's writings as a whole, we see that he often separates God from Jesus, and I have already provided the many verses where he does so, often writing peace from God our Father AND  Jesus etc.

A Unitarian Christian also explains the above passage:

Of course, the glory will come at the appearing, but Scripture says clearly that both the glory of the Son and the glory of the Father will appear (Luke 9:26). God's Word also teaches that when Christ comes, he will come with his Father's glory: "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory" (Matt. 16:27). Keeping in mind that what is revealed in other places in the Bible about a certain event often clarifies what is being portrayed in any given verse, it becomes apparent from other scriptures referring to Christ's coming that the Bible is not trying to portray God and Christ as one God. In this case, the glory of God that we are waiting for is Jesus Christ.


2. It has been stated that the grammar of Titus 2:13 forces the interpretation that Jesus is God because of the Granville Sharp Rule of grammar. That is not the case, however. The Granville Sharp rule has been successfully challenged. The point is that when Scripture refers to "our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ," it can mean two beings?both the "Great God," and the "Savior," Jesus Christ. The highly regarded Trinitarian Henry Alford gives a number of reasons as to why the grammar of the Greek does not force the interpretation of the passage to make Christ God. [36]


3. The context of the verse helps us to understand its meaning. The verse is talking about saying "no" to ungodliness while we wait for the appearing of Jesus Christ, who is the glory of God. Its purpose is not to expound the doctrine of the Trinity in any way, nor is there any reason to assume that Paul would be making a Trinitarian reference here. It makes perfect sense for Scripture to call Christ "the glory of God" and for the Bible to exhort us to say "no" to ungodliness in light of the coming of the Lord, which will be quickly followed by the Judgment (Matt. 25:31-33; Luke 21:36). (http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=136)

 

Book of Philemon:

Here is the verse from this single chapter showing a separation between Jesus and God:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philemon 1:3)

There is only one verse to show from this book as this book is only one chapter, hence there isn't much else to show, yet one verse is more than anything. In fact this is probably the most interesting one out of all, since this letter is the shortest one, only one chapter, and yet Paul still makes sure to point out the separation of God and Jesus.


We shall not be dealing with the book of Hebrews as most scholars agree that the book of Hebrews was not written by Paul, hence there is no need to waste time on showing the passages from Hebrews which prove that Jesus is not God! Although for the sake of truth, we shall examine all the verses from the Book of Hebrews in a separate article and a later time, for now we want the two part articles to be solely with the writings of Paul.


So in conclusion let us summarize everything we have from the writings of Paul:


1-Jesus has a God

2-Jesus is at God's right hand side acting as a mediator

3-There is one God

4-The one God is identified as the Father

5-The one God is never identified as Jesus

6-Jesus the man is the mediator between God and man

7-God cannot be seen nor has he been seen at any time

8-God is immortal

9-Jesus is not immortal, he died.

10-God raised Jesus from the dead

11-God sent Jesus as a sacrifice

12-God granted Jesus authority

13-God made Jesus the leader of the Church

14-God is the head of Jesus

15-Jesus is below God and subject to God

16-God is not under Jesus' authority or rule

17-It is an abomination to worship the creation

18-It is an abomination to lower God to a mortal man

19-Jesus was the firstborn of creation, meaning he is part of creation

20- Jesus is separated and distinguished from God


You put all of that together and you are left with the conclusive fact that Jesus is not God according to Paul's writings!


And Allah Knows Best!


www.muslim-responses.com


Recommended reading (By Christian authors):


http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=109

http://www.christianmonotheism.com/media/text/Gary%20Fakhoury%20-%20The%20Theology%20of%20Paul.pdf