By Sonny Hernandez
The multi-personality of God and the coessential deity of Christ, God the Logos, are essentials of the Christian faith. True Christians worship “one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity” (excerpt from the Athanasian Creed), because they believe the one true God exists in a plurality of distinct and consubstantial hypostases or persons.
But modalists think God is a singular person, who can be seen throughout Scripture in different modes, meaning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are referring to the same hypostasis. Put another way: these modern-day Sabellians think Jesus is either an abstraction in the mind of God, or the Father suffered and died on the cross in the mode of Christ.
Since Unitarians reject the plurality of persons in the Godhead, the preexistence and full deity of Christ, and the dual nature of the person of the Son who became incarnate, this article will provide concise refutations to a few proof texts that Unitarians will twist.
I. Triadic Formula
Oneness theologians do not believe Matthew 28:19 is a Triadic formula, because “name” is singular, not plural. But this does not mean God is not multi-personal. Trinitarian scholars have historically and exegetically demonstrated that the noun šēm [LXX: “onoma”; trans. “name”] in Genesis 11:4 is singular, but points to many.
The context of Matthew 28:19 is problematic for those who think there is not a plurality of personal or hypostatical distinctions. Linguistically, in this passage, the conjunction kai (“and”) is connective, not ascensive, and the definite article (“the”) stresses particularity.
Even if one does not embrace the Granville Sharp Rule (See Wallace, GGBB, 1996, pg. 270-290), it’s impossible to deny the Trinal distinction of persons in Matthew 28:19, because each noun (Father, Son, Ghost) shares the same case (genitive), each noun is connected by the copulative or conjunction (“kai”), and each noun has the article (“the”).
Therefore, the following grammatical construction [def art + noun (gen) + conj + def art + noun (gen) + conj + def art + noun (gen)] in Matthew 28:19 proves God is not a singular person, but is the one true God (ousia) who exists in three persons (subsistence), i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Regarding the Tri-personality of God, the Father is not ontologically greater than the Son, the Son is not eternally subordinate to the Father, the Spirit is not inferior to the Father or Son, nor is one person more glorious than the others. Since all three persons share the same undivided essence, they are co-equal, co-glorious, and co-eternal with each other. Therefore, the Trinity of persons in the Godhead are to be equally worshiped and served. Praise the Triune God!
II. “His Son” & “True God”
Moreover, since “God” is articular and “Son” is anarthrous in Hebrews 1:1-2, Unitarians think the absence of the article for “Son” means Christ and the Father refer to the same person. But the context of Hebrews 1 proves “o theos” (1:1) and “en yhios” (1:2) do not refer to the same, but distinct persons.
Grammatically, “His Son” indicates the consubstantiality of the Son, and many exegetes would agree. For example, Leon Morris said that “en yhios” (1:2) means, “...in one who has the quality of being Son” and “it is the Son’s essential nature that is stressed” (Morris, Hebrews, 1981, pg. 13). Amen.
Christ, the preexistent Son of Man, was co-glorious with the Ancient of Days, and He became flesh, but without sin. As the God-man or Theanthropos, He is the being of all beings, and the apocalyptic judge of all humanity.
Furthermore, 1 John 5:20 says, “…even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (emphasis mine). Consequently, many Unitarians and even scholars have argued that “true God” refers to the Father, not the Son, because Christ is not regarded as alēthinos theos in Scripture.
But the only way to know whether true God refers to the Father or Son is to examine the context and determine what's the antecedent of outos or “this.” This is not a difficult task, especially since the dative Christos is immediately followed by the demonstrative pronoun outos, and both "Christ" and "this" agree in number (singular) and gender (masculine). Nonetheless, the persons in the Godhead are distinct, not divided, and they share the same undivided essence. Therefore, each person is wholly God, and each person should be referred to as the “true God.”
Christ is the true God, and His gospel teaches that He is in every way God, but distinct from the Father, and the person of the Son became incarnate. He died a substitutionary and propitiatory death for the sheep, not goats, and He resurrected for the elect, not reprobate.
III. The Spirit is a person, not impersonal force
Lastly, false teachers think the Holy Spirit denotes an impersonal force, not a person, but they are not hard to refute. Many of them will adamantly argue that only a human being is a person, and Scripture never teaches that the Spirit is a person. When they make these imbecilic assertions, ask them to read Acts 13:2. This text states, "...the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them” (emphasis mine). Then ask them, "If the Spirit is not a person, why does the Spirit refer to Himself in the first person” ("I" and "me")? Only a self-aware, rational, and moral individual or hypostasis can say “I” or “me.” Again, heretics are not hard to refute.
Closing
Arius, a fourth century heretic, believed there was a time when Christ was not. Similarly, Eusebius of Nicomedia agreed with Arius’ gross conviction, indicating that he also denied the preexistence and coessential divinity of Christ, God the Logos. Eusebius’ Christology was not overlooked, but was addressed by the bishops, who said: “You lie!” “Blasphemy!” “Heresy!” According to a notable church historian, “We are told that his speech was snatched from his hand, torn to shreds, and trampled underfoot” (Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, vol 1, pg. 164). This is exactly how Christians should respond to heresies that deny the multi-personality of God, or the completed and saving work of Christ, who is both God and man simultaneously, yet one person.
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