All Claims of The Son's Deity

you do not pay sufficient attention. Melchizedek basically remains undefined, unexplained and without apparent beginning or end. I can see how that idea does not register in a unitarian's mind, but for other people this is suggestive of a divine existence or of a type of Christ who has divine existence before creation and forever more.
But the reader understands that even though that is what the author of Hebrews said about Melchizedek, his point is entirely rhetorical. Of course we know Mel is not an eternal being, which is why the author compared Mel to Jesus, because Jesus is also not eternal. Are you saying the divinely inspired author of Hebrews is wrong because he contradicts trintiarianism repeatedly throughout the book?
 
But the reader understands that even though that is what the author of Hebrews said about Melchizedek, his point is entirely rhetorical. Of course we know Mel is not an eternal being, which is why the author compared Mel to Jesus, because Jesus is also not eternal. Are you saying the divinely inspired author of Hebrews is wrong because he contradicts trintiarianism repeatedly throughout the book?
If the writer had missed the elements of the Triune God, you might have a point. However, you miss even obvious points made about Melchizedek. So the writer is not wrong in relating Melchizedek beyond the constraints of beginning and end, just as the divine Son, in fact, has no beginning or end. It should be obvious that the mention of no beginning only serves to reflect that aspect of Christ's divinity; it does not have to be a factual attribute of Melchizedek. The (potentially) contrived attribute is all the more significant here when not factual of Melchizedek. The obvious details have to be distorted by unitarians to convince themselves of the obvious meaning, as you have continued to do here. Unitarians have blatant rejection of the obvious to make their arguments.
You should avoid discussing these verses like this that point to the divinity of Christ. That is your general inclination. That also is more strictly held by Peterlag.
 
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@Peterlag
Son of man means human. Why would not a human be called a son of man?
This is correct ~but the Lord Jesus was also called the Son of God, and with that title, makes him "equal to God", and thereby, he was God manifest in the flesh just as Paul said in 1st Timothy 3;16. Even Jesus' enemies understood him making himself equal with God by him confessing that God was his Father, and he was indeed according to Luke's gospel.

John 5:18​

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”

Philippians 2:6​

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

  • Paul uses Christ’s example to exhort us to greater humility and service.
  • Prior to becoming incarnate as Jesus Christ, He was the Word of God (John 1:1)
  • The only begotten Son given to Israel is and was the Mighty God (Isaiah 9L6-7; Micah 5:2)
  • Setting aside His eternal glory, He assumed a lowly position In this world (Isaiah 53:2).
  • He showed "Infinite humility" and service in dying for His enemies (Romans 5:6-19)

Micah 5:2​

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Jesus was more than just a male child born unto Mary ~ he was BOTH man, yes, fully man; and he was God, yes, fully God!
 
@Peterlag

This is correct ~but the Lord Jesus was also called the Son of God, and with that title, makes him "equal to God", and thereby, he was God manifest in the flesh just as Paul said in 1st Timothy 3;16. Even Jesus' enemies understood him making himself equal with God by him confessing that God was his Father, and he was indeed according to Luke's gospel.

John 5:18​

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”

Philippians 2:6​

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

  • Paul uses Christ’s example to exhort us to greater humility and service.
  • Prior to becoming incarnate as Jesus Christ, He was the Word of God (John 1:1)
  • The only begotten Son given to Israel is and was the Mighty God (Isaiah 9L6-7; Micah 5:2)
  • Setting aside His eternal glory, He assumed a lowly position In this world (Isaiah 53:2).
  • He showed "Infinite humility" and service in dying for His enemies (Romans 5:6-19)

Micah 5:2​

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Jesus was more than just a male child born unto Mary ~ he was BOTH man, yes, fully man; and he was God, yes, fully God!
Saying you are the son of God does not make you God.
 
@Peterelag
Saying you are the son of God does not make you God.
True, yet Jesus is the only begotten Son of God in the manner in which he was begotten. His flesh was conceived by the power of the Highest; mine by my earthly father, and I bear his fallen image, and Jesus was the express image of His Father, His likeness without a sinful nature!

Hebrews 1:3​

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
 
If the writer had missed the elements of the Triune God, you might have a point.
Then you believe is that God is a non-eternal being in a human priesthood like Melchizedek?
However, you miss even obvious points made about Melchizedek. So the writer is not wrong in relating Melchizedek beyond the constraints of beginning and end, just as the divine Son, in fact, has no beginning or end. It should be obvious that the mention of no beginning only serves to reflect that aspect of Christ's divinity; it does not have to be a factual attribute of Melchizedek. The (potentially) contrived attribute is all the more significant here when not factual of Melchizedek. The obvious details have to be distorted by unitarians to convince themselves of the obvious meaning, as you have continued to do here. Unitarians have blatant rejection of the obvious to make their arguments.
You should avoid discussing these verses like this that point to the divinity of Christ. That is your general inclination. That also is more strictly held by Peterlag.
You do realize that Melchizedek isn't an eternal being right? The writer of Hebrews was making a rhetorical point on a geneological techniciality. Melchizedek doesn't have a well-documented genealogy. Hebrews 7:3 says "Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life..." but Melchizedek has a father, mother, a geaology, a birthday, and a time of death. All just like Jesus. But it's not documented so in a legal sense Melchizedek must still be alive. Same with Jesus.

It's quite possible to use the legal immortality of Melchizedek to create a quadrinity god. Why not? That's the very same line of reasoning you all use with the trinity.
 
@Peterelag

True, yet Jesus is the only begotten Son of God in the manner in which he was begotten. His flesh was conceived by the power of the Highest; mine by my earthly father, and I bear his fallen image, and Jesus was the express image of His Father, His likeness without a sinful nature!

Hebrews 1:3​

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
Are you your father because you bear his image?
 
Then you believe is that God is a non-eternal being in a human priesthood like Melchizedek?

You do realize that Melchizedek isn't an eternal being right? The writer of Hebrews was making a rhetorical point on a geneological techniciality. Melchizedek doesn't have a well-documented genealogy. Hebrews 7:3 says "Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life..." but Melchizedek has a father, mother, a geaology, a birthday, and a time of death. All just like Jesus. But it's not documented so in a legal sense Melchizedek must still be alive. Same with Jesus.

It's quite possible to use the legal immortality of Melchizedek to create a quadrinity god. Why not? That's the very same line of reasoning you all use with the trinity.
That sounds like desperate pleading on behalf of a lost argument you started. I remind people that unitarians reflect hyper-literalism. They cannot understand analogies. You missed the nuance that the addition of the idea of an undefined beginning only is needed to create the sense of eternally existing to relate to Jesus' eternal existence. This eternal existence otherwise is not something obvious or likely about Melchizedek. In other words, if not added as an analogy toward Jesus, the point of no beginning would not have been added.
There are many people these days who are like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. They have to have the nuances spelled out for them.
 
you do not pay sufficient attention. Melchizedek basically remains undefined, unexplained and without apparent beginning or end. I can see how that idea does not register in a unitarian's mind, but for other people this is suggestive of a divine existence or of a type of Christ who has divine existence before creation and forever more.
Here is the problem with the unitarian position

The book of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of Christ over all the types and figures in the OT including the old covenant. As you well know Melchezadek was a type or shadow pointing to Christ and Jesus is superior to him as a priest.

The uni conflates the type with the substance and who the type is pointing to in the Bible.
 
Here us the problem with the unitarian position

The book of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of Christ over all the types and figures in the OT including the old covenant. As you well know Melchezadek was a type or shadow pointing to Christ and Jesus is superior to him as a priest.

The uni conflates the type with the substance and who the type is pointing to in the Bible.
Indeed. So true. The unitarians undo what Hebrews seeks to accomplish.
 
Melchizedek is a pretty good runner up for that. Scripture states Melchizedek is a priest forever, but Melchizedek isn't God is he? So why is Jesus God just because he has something for all time, too?

Hebrews 7
3Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.
Do the Bible say that Melchizedek is a man?
 
In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was taught the unity of Jehovah, their God:

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord].
Deuteronomy 6:4

In the Christianity of the New Testament, we have revealed to us the Trinity of the Godhead, the “name” of the three Persons to be confessed in baptism.

19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).

Matthew 28:19–20

Not only did the Son come forth from the Father Who sent Him, but the Spirit proceeded from the Father, and was sent by the Father and the Son.

26 But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.
John 15:26

26 But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you
John 14:26
 
In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was taught the unity of Jehovah, their God:

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord].
Deuteronomy 6:4

In the Christianity of the New Testament, we have revealed to us the Trinity of the Godhead, the “name” of the three Persons to be confessed in baptism.

19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).

Matthew 28:19–20

Not only did the Son come forth from the Father Who sent Him, but the Spirit proceeded from the Father, and was sent by the Father and the Son.

26 But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.
John 15:26

26 But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you
John 14:26
The early church was always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until the development of the Trinity doctrine in the 2nd century. The Catholics acknowledge baptism was changed and Scripture such as Matthew 28:19 that was never in the Bible was added by them.

Baptism was changed from the name of Jesus to the words Father, Son and Holy Ghost in the 2nd Century. -Britannica Encyclopedia, 11th Edition, Volume 3, page 365.

The early church baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until the second century. - Canney Encyclopedia of Religion, page 53.

Christian baptism was administered using the words "in thename of Jesus." page 377. Baptism was always done in the name of Jesus until the time of Justin Martyr, page 389. - Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion,Volume 2.

Here the authors acknowledged that the baptismal formula was changed by their church. - Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, page 263.

The New Testament knows only the baptism in the name of Jesus. - Schaff & Herzog Religious Encyclopedia, Volume 1, page 435.

It must be acknowledged that the three fold name of Matthew 28:19 does not appear to have been used by the primitive church, but rather in the name of Jesus, Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus. - Hastings Dictionary of Bible, page 88.

And concerning 1 John 5:7-8 where it has the words "In heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth" are words that are not found in any Greek Manuscript before the 15th or 16th century and in no ancient Version. - E. W. Bullinger., A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament: (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, 1975), p. 11 of Appendix A.

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