Those dark and narrow back rooms comprise a sprinkling of scattered, isolated bible verses usually having more than one way of translating or interpretation. These back room bible verses are typically arguable and many translators are uncertain over how they should be rendered in the English translations.
Today I would like to comment on three of these popular "back room" verses which are often quoted by Trinitarian Christians in defence of their belief in the doctrine of the Triniy. At the end of my commentary, I shall contrast such verses with the occurence of an abundance of verses from all over the New Testament verses that explicitly and undeniably tell us of our One and Only True God. I liken the abundant occurence of such verses to our well-lit and refreshing living room.
[All quotations in this post are taken from the Good News Translation, formerly know as Today's English Version.]
Back Room verses quoted by Trinitarian Christians:
(1)Hebrews 1:8 (Quotation of Psalm 45:6,7)
Your kingdom, O God, will last forever and ever . . .
The footnote of my Bible states that this verse can also be translated as,
"God is your kingdom forever . . ."
It tells us that bible translators are divided over how Hebrews 1:8 should be exactly translated. Is this prophetic Messianic verse addressing the Messiah as "O God" or is it instead saying, "Messiah, God is your kingdom . . ."? We can answer this question if we read on to verse 9:
Hebrews 1:9
You love what is right and hate what is wrong.
That is why God, your God, has chosen you
and has given you the joy of an honor far greater
than he gave to your companions.
It is succinctly clear from verse 9 above that God is the God of the Messiah. "Your God has chosen you", this prophetic verse says. If so, then the alternative, "footnote" version of Hebrews 1:8 would be more consistent with the context of Hebrews chapter1 and therefore a better choice.
(2)
Titus 2:13
" . . . as we wait for the blessed day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ will appear."
Like Hebrews 1:8, this verse can also be translated in another way, i.e.
" . . . when the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ will appear."
Again, when we look at this second way of translating Titus 2:13, we realize that it is actually very consistent with the rest of the New Testament, with statements made by both our Master the Messiah as well as by his apostles.
That is, we have One God, and One mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
(3)
1 John 5:20
". . . We live in union with the true God - in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life"
Please note the significance of the phrase, "the true God" and contrast it with "His Son". It is clear that our True God has given us His Son. Our God is the true God. And the True God is our God. We are to be one with our God and one with the Son of God in our new life. The meaning of 1 John 5:20 comes alive to us when we recall the very words of the Son of God in his prayer in John 17:11 and 17:21,
John 17:11
Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me,[a] so that they may be one just as you and I are one.
John 17:21
I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.
THIS, then is what 1 John 5:20 really means when it says "When we are in Him who is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ". The GNT/TEV renders it more succinctly by, "We live in union with the true God - in union with his Son Jesus Christ."
So who then is the true God? It is Him who is true. It is not the Son, who is Christos, the Messiah, the One Anointed by the True God.
Leaving the above verses with their alternative translations and non-explicit interpretation in their little back rooms, let us move out to the spacious, bright and refreshingly airy living room:
Living Room verses, often ignored by Trinitarian Christians:
Anyone who goes through the New Testament, even with a casual reading, cannot help but notice an abundance of passages and verses, from Matthew all the way to Revelations, that tell of our One True God.Every single reference to God in the New Testament refers to the Father in Heaven, often addressed as God our Father, or the Father, or God the Father, and very often simply as "God". In other words, every single reference to the Father refers to God, and nobody else.
While the phrase, "God the Father" or "God our Father" is found all over the New Testament, you can never find one single mention of "God the Son" or "God the Spirit:" anywhere in any book or chapter.
Most distinctly is the repeated use by the apostles of the expression, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" or "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ", telling us that our Master the Messiah has a God, his God and our God.
For a list of examples, too long to include in this post, please view the following:
(a) Thanksgiving, Prayer and Praise in the Epistles
(b) Reasons why you should not believe in the Trinity
(c) Implicit allusions vs Explicit assertions
(d) How can you deny the deity of Yeshua
Dear Christian brothers and sisters, there is no trinity in this brightly lit and well ventilated living room of the New Testament. It is as clear as daylight. The fictitious concept of God-the-Father, God-the-Son and God-the-Holy Spirit, a 3-in-1 trinitarian God-head is nowhere to be found in this large and spacious living.
I urge all who are still dwell in dark corners of their crammed little back rooms, holding on tightly to their questionable interpretations of arguable translations of isolated bible verses, trying to prove the existence of a Trinity, to come out for some fresh air and a clear view of the truth of the One True God.
Let's go to the living room.
