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The doctrine of a triune godhead comes from ancient paganism, not Scripture. The acceptance of this heresy created a thought environment in which a belief in the pre-existence of the Saviour became a “natural conclusion.” |
The earliest Christians, like the Jews before them, were monotheistic in the purest sense of the word. They believed in a single, eternally self-existing Creator-god. The nature of this all-powerful deity was explained by Moses in Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: Yahuwah our God, Yahuwah is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NKJV)
None of the New Testament writers, none of the apostles, and none of the earliest Christians believed in a triune godhead consisting of a “God the Father,” an equally co-existing “God the Son,” and a disembodied third person of the godhead, namely: “God the Holy Spirit.”
It was only later, as Christianity became corrupted by amalgamation with paganism, that the idea of three eternally co-existing entities operating in unity as “one Godhead” became widely accepted. This was a paradigm shift in thought but today, the doctrine of the trinity is considered one of the bedrock beliefs of Christianity. The acceptance of this pagan belief created an entirely new theological environment—one which had unforeseen ripple effects.
Christians today view the Messiah as “God incarnate in human flesh.” In fact, the immensely popular Christmas carol, “Hark! The herald angels sing!” contains the following words in its second verse:
Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord! …
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
What these same Christians do not realize, is that the idea of a pre-existent Christ is not found in Scripture. Certainly, there are Bible verses that are frequently quoted in support of this doctrine, but careful study of the Scriptures shows that this is an incorrect use of these passages.
An ancient heresy called Gnosticism is responsible for laying the foundation from which sprang the belief in a pre-existent Christ. In other words, as thought leaders in the Church wandered further and further from apostolic Christianity, the errors began to snowball and out of this avalanche emerged a belief in a pre-existent “God the Son.”
Gnostics believed that Yahuwah was fully detached from Creation. In fact, they did not believe He was the Creator at all. Gnostics viewed matter as evil. Consequently, the universe and nature itself was also evil. Obviously, Yahuwah is holy and could not have created an evil universe. So, the Gnostics believed that the universe was created by a lesser deity called a “demiurge.” This demiurge, they believed, was evil.
As the subtle influence of Gnostic doctrine infiltrated the Church, early Church leaders and teachers began to accept the idea that for Christ to have been the Redeemer, it was necessary for him to transcend creation, that is, be an uncreated being, part of an eternal godhead. Their reasoning was that creation could not be redeemed by a creature, but only by God Himself.1
To transcend, means to “be greater than … to exist above and independent of (material experience or the universe)”2
If “God the Father” was transcendent, separate and above the material world, it stood to reason that “God the Son” had to be as well. This conclusion, based on faulty theology, invariably led to the belief that for Yahushua to actually be the Messiah, he would have had to have “transcended” creation, because creation itself could not be redeemed by a mere creature. These Gnostic errors are not supported by Scripture. However, they are the foundation from which the incorrect conclusion was drawn that Yahushua was “God incarnate in human flesh.”
This heresy brought mysticism into the gospel message. The beauty and power of the gospel was summed up by Yahushua when he told Nicodemus: “For Yah so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, KJV)
Satan himself was behind this development of error. Belief in a pre-existing “God the Son” diminishes the full force of the gospel message by shifting focus from the Saviour’s triumphant resurrection to his assumed pre-existence.
The resurrection of Yahushua is the central theme of the gospel. It is the greatest confirmation that he was the true Messiah. The literal resurrection of Yahushua is the historical truth on which the Christian church was founded because it is the proof that he lived a sinless life! And, having lived a sinless life, having overcome where the first Adam fell, Yahuwah is able to impute his righteousness on all that believe and accept by faith his sacrifice in their behalf.
The resurrection of Christ is our assurance that his sacrificial death was accepted in our place. For, without a sinless life, he could not have been resurrected.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to Yah. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Yah in Christ Yahushua our Lord. (Romans 6:5-11, NKJV)
Yahushua, the only begotten son of Yah, was born fully human. Far from being “transcendent” and apart from Creation, the Saviour is forever part of the human race. He redeemed Adam’s fall and, after living a sinless life, was raised to life again. By faith, his victories are ours. This is the beauty and the power of the gospel message that Satan attempted to hide with the Gnostic doctrine of a pre-incarnate Christ.
Heaven is now restoring this ancient truth to the world. Start studying! Every restored truth protects the soul from Satan’s end-time delusions.
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To learn more, visit WorldsLastChance.com. We will be publishing a number of articles covering every aspect of this beautiful divine truth. You can also listen to a discussion of the subject on WLC Radio. Just click on the WLC Radio icon. Look for the program entitled “Shocking new light about the incarnation!” |
2 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.