Fellow pastors, church leaders and Christian friends:
So-called “biblical” unitarianism is not a fresh recovery of apostolic Christianity. It is not a twenty-first century reformation. It is a repackaged heresy that denies the saving Christ of the Christian gospel, and it should not be entertained as a harmless in-house disagreement within the life of the church.
Here is one reason why:
The issue is not merely whether Jesus differs from the Father. Orthodox Christianity has always affirmed that the Son is not the Father, that the Son became incarnate, that he obeyed, prayed, suffered, died, and was sent. Pointing to those things does not refute Trinitarianism. It only refutes a straw man of it.
The real question is what kind of differences these are. Are they the differences of a mere creature standing outside the divine identity? Or are they the differences proper to the eternal Son made flesh, who came in humility to accomplish our redemption?
That question cannot be settled by isolating a few texts that distinguish Jesus from the Father while ignoring the broader witness of the New Testament. Because the same New Testament that distinguishes Jesus from the Father also includes him within what belongs to Yahweh alone: his name, his worship, his throne, his role in creation, and his divine prerogatives.
That is why this matters so deeply. This is not an abstract puzzle for theological hobbyists. It is about the Christ we worship, the one who died and rose again, the gospel we preach, and the name we call upon to be saved. Any worship of a “Jesus” who stands outside the divine identity of Israel’s God is not Christian worship at all, but creature-worship – and therefore idolatry.
The Christ of the New Testament is too glorious, and too Yahweh-shaped to be reduced to an exalted creature. He is not the Father. But nor is he merely a man. He is the eternal Son made flesh, worthy of the worship, trust, and honour that belong to the one, true and living God of Israel. May we celebrate that Jesus this Easter.
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