What I Said at the Debate

(The Following is My Prepared Text for Last Friday's Debate with Dan Mages Held on May 26th 2006)

Good evening, I am grateful to Almighty God to be here tonight in order to defend the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the record, we are orthodox, historical and Biblical Evangelical Christians and we believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.

We believe that God the Father sent God the Son through the power and agency of God the Holy Spirit into the world to die on the cross for our sins And rise again from the dead in order to give all those who sincerely repent and believe in Christ the hope of eternal life.


Throughout the annals of human history a tremendous debate has raged over the true identity of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. While the Historic Christian Church has always affirmed the Doctrine of the Trinity and affirmed that Jesus Christ is God the Son, the Second person of the eternal Godhead, there have been many heretical opponents of historic Christianity.

Over the centuries of church history. there have been many heretical and aberrant views of the person of Jesus Christ.

The heretical group known as the “Gnostics” argued for a Docetic view of Christ and said, that Jesus Christ only “appeared” to take on human flesh and that Jesus Christ never shared both human and divine natures as the Chalcedonian Creedal formulation on the Hypostatic Union Affirms.

The Arians of the Fourth Century argue that Jesus Christ was not God, but rather was a created being that did not possess the same nature as God the Father.

The Modalists of Sabbelians, early opponents of Biblical Christianity likewise denied the Doctrine of the Trinity and argued that only one person exists in the godhead, who takes on different modes of being, some times manifesting Himself as the Father, other times as the Son and then at times as the Holy Spirit.

Sabbellianism is very closely associated with the ancient heresy known as Patripassianism, the belief that God the Father and Son are simply different aspects of God. The implication of this belief is that God the Father suffered on the cross.

Another heretical view concerning the godhead that the historic Christian Church rejects is Tritheism, the belief that there are three equally powerful gods who form a triad. The gods are envisaged as having separate powers and separate supreme beings or spheres of influence but working together.

Still another heretical view concerning the nature of God is the Unitarian view, argued for by my opponent this evening Dan Mages.

Historic Unitarianism afirms the notion of Unitary monotheism and believes in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity that affirms that there are three distinct persons in the godhead. Historic Unitarians believe in the moral authority, but not the deity, of Jesus.

Oxford Trained and Leading Unitarian scholar Dr. Anthony Buzzard who I had the chance to speak with on Wednesday, argues in his book entitled, “The Doctrine of the Trinity” Christianity’s Self Inflicted wound” that in no place in the Bible does the Scriptures ever teach that Jesus Christ is God, rather Jesus is merely a human messiah who carried out the will of God the Father.

Dr. Buzzard says on page 335 of his book that contemporary othodox belief in the divine and human Christ is in all actuality a crypto-gnostic element that has been handed down to us in Trinitarian Christology.

On Page 275, in his chapter in that same book entitled, “The Challenge Facing Trinitarianism Today” Buzzard argues that nowhere in the New Testament is Jesus Christ called God.

Buzzard writes “God in the New Testament almost invariably means the Father of Jesus and never three persons”

However, despite Dr. Buzzard, Dan and the Biblical Unitarian oppostion to the view that Jesus Christ is God, there is nothing in their argument that gives us any reason to abandon the biblical and historic view concerning the Trinity and Deity of Christ. For we the historic and Biblical Church have always believed in the doctrine of the Trinity.

The Historic Christian Doctrine of the Trinity believed by all true Christians since the inception of the Church some two millennia ago states unequivocally the doctrine of Trinitarian Monotheism, in that, Almighty God is a singular being who exists simultaneously and eternally as a communion of three distinct and co-eternal persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who share a single divine essence.

We, the true and historic orthodox Christian Church, believe that there exists only one true and living God and in God exists three distinct persons who share the same essence or nature of being, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We, the historic Christian Church reject the cultic doctrine of the Unitarian position on the nature of God for many irrefutable reasons.

First of all there is nothing in Dan Mages unbiblical and hermeneutically suspect presentation that persuades us to abandon the Biblical and historic doctrine of the Trinity.

His thesis and that of leading Unitarian teacher Anthony Buzzard is guilty of forced exegesis that does not do justice to abundant Scriptural evidence that the Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity and in particular the Deity of Christ, our specific focus this evening. We want to state for the record that we reject the notion implied by Dan and the Unitarians that we are somehow affirming Tritheism; rather, we are strict monotheists.

The historic Christian Church has always believed that there is one true and living God. We affirm the Shema’s declaration in Deuteronomy 6:4 that states, “O hear oh Israel, the Lord Your God is one Lord”

We affirm Isaiah 43:10 which reads,
"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD,"and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
Yet, we believe in the historic doctrine of the Trinity affirming Trinitarian Monotheism. That in the one true and living God exists three distinct persons who share the same essence and divine nature.
The Bible clearly teaches there is one true God, yet it also teaches that those three distinct persons exist within the Godhead.
The Bible clearly calls the Father God, the Son God and the Holy Spirit God.
The Bible explicitly teaches and celebrates that Jesus Christ is God the Son.

The Old Testament clearly teaches the Divinity of the Messiah,


Isaiah 9:6-7 says,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
My question for Dan regarding Isaiah 9:6 is why is Jesus Christ called “Mighty God if He is not divine?”

Micah 5:2 says,

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

Dr. Thomas McComiskey, esteemed professor of OT & Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity school states in the Expositor’s Bible commentary that the Hebrew grammar & syntax of Micah 5:2, in the terms “Old (qedem) & (yeme olam) denote great antiquity as well as eternity in the strictest sense. He argues that, Christ pre-existed in eternity past & only in Jesus Christ does this prophecy find fulfillment. (p427). Dr. Pocock, the late and highly respected English Arabic & Hebrew scholar, who occupied both the chairs of Arabic & Hebrew at Oxford argued that the term “of old, from everlasting” signals a description of Christ’s eternal generation, or His going forth as the Son of God, begotten of His father before all worlds”


In the New Testament there are very clear and unambiguous passages that teach that Jesus Christ is God.

Matthew 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
The Trinitarian language of Matthew 28:19-20 is reminiscent of that which Paul used in 2 Corinthians 13:14:

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”

My question for Dan is why is Jesus Christ included in the Triadic formulations if He is not God and equal with the Father. Why do we baptize in the name of Christ if He is not equal with the Father. Why does it say baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit if only the Father is God, why is Jesus and the Holy Spirit included in the “name” in that Greek Grammatical construction? Why is the singular Greek term (onoma) used here and not a plural form?

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And John 1:14 says,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 the Apostle John writes, “& the Word became flesh & dwelt amongst us & we beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace & truth”I am well aware of the fact that Buzzard & the Unitarians argue that the Logos mentioned here by the Apostle John is not referring to a person, however, taken in context, when you view John 1:1-14 as a literary unit, the Logos can only refer to Jesus Christ who had a pre-existence & ultimately became flesh.If these verses do not refer to Jesus Christ who became flesh, what in the World does He mean when He says, “The Word became flesh & dwelt amongst us & we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father” who then, if not Jesus, is the Only begotten of the Father? The context of these passages conclusively demonstrate that:1. The Logos existed from the beginning with God.2. The Logos is Himself God. The lit. Greek renders it ‘& God was the Word”3. The Logos had preexistence as God.4. All things came into being through the Logos.5. The Logos became flesh.6. The Logos is Himself Jesus Christ as evidenced by the fact that the Logos becomes flesh & is called the only begotten of the Father.It is clear from the writings of the Apostle John that the only begotten of the Father refers to Jesus.

John the Baptist also argues for Christ’s divine preexistence when he says in John 1:15 “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.” He even says it again in 1:27


John 1:18 says,

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

But the best old Greek manuscripts (Aleph B C L) read monogenhß qeoß (God only begotten) which is undoubtedly the true text.


John 5:17-18

But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.


John 8:24,
I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

John 10:30-33 Jesus said,

I and the Father are one."

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God."


John 14:5-10

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

In John 17:5
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed

John 20:28

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Acts 20:28

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Romans 9:5

To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.


Philippians 2:5-11

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:13-19 says,

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Colossians 2:8-10


See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.


Hebrews 1:1-8

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"?

Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"?

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."

Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire."

But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

Now the two primary lines of New Testament Argumentation that demonstrates the Deity of Jesus Christ from the Bible pertain to the Doxologies to Christ and the Pre-existence of Jesus Christ.

A Doxology is a Word said or sung in praise of the Holy Trinity demonstrating God’s worthiness of being venerated.
Usually a doxology is an expression of praise to God, especially a short hymn sung as part of a Christian worship service.
It is important to understand that doxologies of worship in the Bible are only directed towards God.
The fact that there are doxologies in the Bible to Jesus Christ demonstrates that His disciples in the New Testament viewed Him to be more than a mere man, but in all actuality God Himself.
If Jesus Christ is not God, then why then, did the disciples worship and pray to Jesus? Why then did the disciples direct their prayers to Christ?
If Christ is not God, then the disciples, who were strict Jewish monotheists engaged in the highest form of blasphemy by praying and worshipping Jesus as though He were God.
In John 9:35-39, the blind man who was healed worshipped Jesus as God, if Jesus was not God He would have rebuked the formerly blind man for blasphemy just as the Apostle John was rebuked by an Angel in Revelation 22, when John tried to worship the Angel
Please follow the contrast between John 9:35-39 and Revelation 22:8-9

John 9:35-39 says,

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

Acts 7:59-60

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Steven’s calling upon Christ, which is a prayer demonstrates that Peter believed that Jesus was God.


Revelation 22:8-9 says,

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."

Revelation 1:5-7 contains a doxology to Jesus Christ,

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail[c] on account of him. Even so. Amen.

In Revelation 5: 8-14 we read about another glorious doxology to Jesus Christ

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.

In Revelation 7: 9-12

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."

It is clear that this great multitude worshiped God the Father and the Lamb who is Jesus Christ simultaneously.

As Dr. Morey states in his excellent book on the Trinity, that Christ is not only the direct object of worship in the Book of Revelation, but He is also pictured as receiving equal worship with the Father. (Page 383).

Hebrews 13:21 also is another clear example of a doxology to Jesus,

“Equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”

2 Peter 4:11 contains a doxology to Christ as well.
whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.