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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam In The Bible Unitarian Answers to Trinitarian claims Trinitarian claim: `The New Testament clearly presents Christ as God. The names applied to Christ in the New Testament are such that they could properly be applied only to one who was God.

For example, Jesus is called God in the phrase, "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (Titus 2:13; compare John 1:1; Hebrews 1:8; Romans 9:5; 1 John 5:20-21).' Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter, Living Books, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, 1973, page 11. Unitarian Answer: The New Testament does not clearly present Christ as God.

The names applied to Christ in the New Testament could properly be applied to one who represents God and has received `all authority in heaven and earth' from Him. McDowell claims that the following texts clearly call Christ God. Titus 2:13. `Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.' McDowell assumes that the expressions `great God' and `Savior' are in apposition, that is, that they both refer to one and the same individual.

The English translation is ambiguous. The fact is that the `of' in English, which translates the Greek genitive is repeated in the Greek with the words `Savior, Christ Jesus' so that a more literal translation would be: `the glorious appearing of our great God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ'. There is no reason to assume that these are one and the same being. The text does not `clearly' present Christ as God. John 1:1.

`In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Our task is not to explain what this text actually means, but to demon­strate that it does not clearly present Jesus as God. The first point is that there is a difficulty in conceiving that the Word is with God on the one hand, and is God on the other.

The first clause states that there is a distinction between the Word and God (since the one is with the other), while the second states that they are one and the same. As it stands the sentence does not make sense. It does make sense, however, if we realize that the word theos in Greek used here is an equivalent of the Hebrew word Elohim. Now Elohim can mean God, gods, a god, judge, exalted one, and even angel. The first word refers to God, while the second to another entity.