Theological Term of the Week
Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at 7:53PM Unitarianism
“[T]he view that there is only one God—the Supreme Being whom Jesus referred to as ‘Father’—and that Jesus himself was not divine, at least not in any literal sense.”1 (Although Unitarians do not believe Jesus was divine, they do claim to follow him.)
- Scripture that proves that Jesus’ disciples were not Unitarians, and neither was the author of Hebrews:
And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. (Matthew 28:9 ESV)
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” (Hebrews 1:6 ESV)
- From What’s Your Worldview?: An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions
by James N. Anderson:
The first problem for Unitarianism is that the writers of the New Testament, some of whom were among Jesus’s first disciples, undoubtedly believed that there is only one God, yet they also referred to Jesus as God. What’s more, they said things about Jesus that could be true only if he is divine; for example, that he existed before the creation of the universe and was instrumental in its creation. Most significant of all, Jesus himself said things that implied he was equal with God, with the result that he was charged with blasphemy by his fellow Jews, who were all strict Monotheists. On one occasion, they tried to stone him to death for that very reason.
Learn more:
- Christian Apologetis and Research Ministry: Unitarianism and What is Unitarianism?
- GotQuestions.org: What is Unitarian Universalism? and What is Socinianism?
- Theology Network: The Racovian Catechism
- James White: A Reply to Anthony Buzzard (video) and A Second Response to Anthony Buzzard (video)
Related terms:
1Quoting from What’s Your Worldview?: An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions
Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.
Clicking on Theological Terms in the navigation bar above will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.
Reader Comments (2)
This is a nice collection of theological terminology but the demotion of certain terms is disappointing. Many ideas, such as this one, have passages that can be used to support and refute. Bias makes exegesis trickier.
Mr Bear,
The theological terms are all defined and explained from the historical Christian perspective. That "bias" (as you call it) has been clear from the start.