@slimboyfat
In the intertestamental and Second Temple periods, Jewish literature
explored a wide range of theological ideas, including personalized portrayals
of Wisdom (cf. Proverbs 8), the Logos (notably in Philo), the Memra
(in Targums), the Shekinah (Divine Presence), and the Angel of the
Lord in Genesis and Exodus. However, it is crucial to recognize that these
were literary, not doctrinal, developments. Judaism at that time had no
central theological authority defining the nature of these concepts.
Instead, we find a variety of Jewish voices wrestling with how to maintain
monotheism while affirming God’s activity within the world in tangible,
personal terms. Importantly, some of these figures are depicted in personal
terms, despite the claim to the contrary. For example:
- Wisdom in
Proverbs 8 speaks and acts as an agent in creation (vv. 22–31).
- The Angel of the Lord speaks as God, bears
God's name, forgives sins (cf. Exodus 23:20–21), and is identified as YHWH
himself in multiple passages (e.g., Genesis 16:10–13; Exodus 3:2–6).
- Philo’s Logos functions as God's agent in
creation, providence, and revelation, and while not personal in the
Christian sense, he is more than a mere metaphor.
These Jewish ideas laid the intellectual and theological groundwork
for Christian Trinitarianism. They were not a contradiction of it, but a seedbed
in which the doctrine later found mature expression after the Incarnation and
Resurrection of Christ forced the early Church to articulate more precisely who
Jesus is.
The argument assumes a false dichotomy: that if something is personal, it
must be created and subordinate to God, and if it is uncreated, it must lack
personhood. This is a philosophically and theologically unjustified leap. Trinitarianism,
grounded in divine revelation and clarified over time, does not argue that God
is three beings but that God is one being in three persons
— a distinction rooted in the ontological unity of the divine nature and
the relational distinctions among the persons. The early Church
concluded from the evidence of Scripture that:
- The Father is God.
- The Son is God (John 1:1; 20:28;
Colossians 2:9).
- The Spirit is God (Acts 5:3–4; 1
Corinthians 2:10–11).
- Yet there is one God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor.
8:6).
This is not derived from pagan ideas or philosophical speculation alone but
from grappling with revelation — particularly in the person of Jesus
Christ.
The claim that subordination of the Son (or Wisdom, or Logos) implies
inequality of nature misunderstands both Jewish categories and the doctrine of
the Trinity. Within the Trinity, functional subordination (e.g., the Son
is sent by the Father, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son) does not
imply ontological inferiority. Jesus himself declared: “The Father is
greater than I” (John 14:28) — but this was said in the context of his incarnation,
not of his eternal divine nature. Philippians 2:6–7 is explicit: though Jesus was
in the form of God, he humbled himself, taking on the nature of a
servant. His subordination was voluntary, rooted in the economic
(salvific) order, not the ontological order of the Trinity.
The objection falsely claims that early Christianity, up until the 4th
century, held that Jesus was a created being — a position compatible with
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ theology. This is historically inaccurate. Well
before the Council of Nicaea (325), Church Fathers affirmed the eternity and
deity of Christ:
- Ignatius of Antioch (early
2nd century): “[Jesus Christ] is God in man, life in death, … the Son of
Mary and of God.” (Letter to the Ephesians, 7.2)
- Justin Martyr
(mid-2nd century): refers to Christ as “God” (Dialogue with Trypho,
128).
- Irenaeus (late
2nd century): says the Son is “eternally co-existing with the Father.” (Against
Heresies, 2.30.9)
The idea that the Son is begotten of the Father does not
imply createdness. The Nicene Creed clarified this: “begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father.” The Church rejected Arius’ claim that
“there was a time when the Son was not” — a claim much closer to JW theology
than anything biblical or apostolic.
The claim that Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation” does not
mean he is the first created being. The Greek word prōtotokos
(πρωτότοκος) often means preeminent heir, not necessarily first in time.
Psalm 89:27 calls David “firstborn,” though he was the youngest son of Jesse.
In Colossians 1:15–17, Jesus is said to be the one “through whom all things
were created” and who holds all things together. That cannot be said
of a creature.
