I think the Bible teaches that Jesus is God’s only begotten son who was sent so that by believing in Him we might have eternal life. He is the Son of God and the son of man, our Messiah, the mediator between us and God, the only way to Heaven.
I have always attended trinitarian churches even though I have not understood the trinity and have never found any clear bible verses that teach the idea. I decided to see what Jesus said about God, the Father, the Spirit and Himself. Jesus’s words are recorded in the four gospels so I looked there for clear bible verses that share His thoughts.
Mat 11:25a-27 ISV 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 26 Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you. 27a All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. (Jesus praised his Father who is Lord of heaven and earth and his Father entrusted all things to Jesus. If Jesus was the coequal God, the Father would not have to have entrusted all things to him.)
Mat 12:50 ISV because whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”(Jesus doesn’t tell us to do his will, but instead tells us to do the will of his Father who is in heaven and if we do we will then be Jesus’ brothers and sisters or sons and daughters of God!)
Mat 16:13b,15 & 16, ISV 13 Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He(Jesus) asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Jesus was making a pointed effort to find out who people thought he was and Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. If Peter or the others thought He was God this would have been an ideal time to express it.)
Mat 26:39 ISV Going on a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.” (in both vs. 39 and 42 Jesus asked his Father to remove his crucifixion and death from him but said his Father’s will was the priority will. They had different wills and desires. If Jesus was coequal with God they would had the same will.)
M27:43&46, 43 ISV He trusts in God. Let God rescue him, if he wants to do so now. After all, he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 46 About three o’clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, eli, lema sabachthani?”, which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Jesus said he was the son of God and Jesus wanted to know why his God had forsaken him.
Mar 10:18 ISV “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Nobody is good except for one—God.(Jesus said he is not good…only God is good! If Jesus was God he would be good.)
Mar 14:36 ISV He(Jesus) kept repeating, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.” (Jesus begged his Father to take the cup away from him but in the end it is what God wants not what Jesus wants. If Jesus was coequal with God he would have had the same will as the Father and he would have known that God can’t die.)
Joh 3:16-18 ISV 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life.. (Jesus is God’s Son. God sent Jesus so that we might have eternal life. We have to believe in God’s unique Son for salvation!)
Joh 7:16-17 ISV 16 Jesus replied to them, “My teaching is not mine but comes from the one (God) who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he’ll know whether this teaching is from God or whether I’m speaking on my own.(Jesus’s teaching is not his, it actually came from God and Jesus says there is only one God with no mention of a triune God.)
Joh 8:40 AKJV But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God:………. (Jesus is a man that speaks the truth he had heard from God. If Jesus was God would he have heard it from himself?)
Joh 14:1 ISV “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. (Jesus told us to believe in God and also in him (Jesus.) two different entities 1 God and another one Jesus, the Son of God.)
Joh 16:26 & 27 ISV 26 At that time, you will make your requests in my name, so that I will have no need to ask the Father on your behalf, 27 because the Father himself loves you, and because you have loved me and believed that I came from God.(Jesus said the Disciples believed he came from God, not that they believed he was God.)
Joh 17:2-3 ISV 2 For you (Father) have given him (Jesus) authority over all humanity so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. 3 And this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent—Jesus the Messiah. (Jesus says that the Father gave him authority and that the Father is the only true God who sent Jesus. Jesus says that he is the Messiah.)
Conclusion: Jesus’s audiences were primarily Jews who had always thought that their God was One God. If Jesus was a part of a triune God it seems he would have made that abundantly clear in the four Gospels where his words are recorded. But instead, in the preceding clear bible verses Jesus makes a clear distinction between himself and God and shows that he is not God. As Jesus said there is only one true God, his God and our God, his Father and our Father!
To see the complete list of Jesus’s quotes and scores of additional New Testament quotes indicating Jesus is not God please go to my website: www.clearbibleverses.com to the topics tab, then click on Is Jesus God and then click on IS JESUS GOD #2. God Bless, Ron
His claims to be God are found in multiple verses of Scripture.
Jesus told His disciples, “I and the Father are one… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 10:30, 14:9).
When Thomas (a disciple who doubted that Jesus had been raised from the dead) met Christ after the resurrection, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”—and Jesus accepted his praise (John 20:28).
Even the enemies of Jesus knew He claimed to be God. In one of those instances, they picked up stones to try to kill Him “for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33).
Lots of people throughout history have claimed to be divine, but did Jesus do anything to support His claims? Yes, and in various ways. His miracles were witnessed by thousands of people and plainly displayed His unique nature.
Jesus’ claim to be God was verified after He rose from the dead. Not only that, Jesus Christ told His disciples several times He would be killed but would come back to life. “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:18-19).
But why is this important? It’s important because only God could truly save us from our sins. If Jesus were just a great religious teacher, He would have no power to bring us forgiveness. But because Jesus is God, He could die as the perfect and complete sacrifice for our sins.