Category: Biblical Unitarian

Biblical Unitarian: Isaac Newton

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The climate in England during Newton’s time prevented him from speaking too openly about his faith.  Isaac Newton rejected Trinitarianism (the belief that God existed as three persons in one being), a stance England punished by death.    Isaac Newton’s religious writings were unknown for a very long time because England’s repressive religious laws prevented him from publically disseminating these religious writings. His secret essentially died with him until a famous economist purchased a trunk full of Newton’s writings. John Maynard Keynes purchased the papers that were thought to consist primarily of Newton’s writing on the subject of Alchemy, one of Newton’s most passionate subjects, second only to the Bible. Keynes donated these papers to Kings College Cambridge, where scholars soon discovered the real Isaac Newton. The world’s leading scholar of Isaac Newton’s religious writings is Dr. Stephen Snobelen, who happens to be a Christadelphian.

Newton strongly disagreed with the Trinity, believing the Father was God, Jesus was a human that was the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit was a personification of God’s power. The evidence often cited by the Catholic Church was 1 John 5:7-8, which adds, “these three are one.” However, this is only found within the Textus Receptus, which the King James Version was translated from. Newton believed “these three are one” was an addition and forgery to the text. Textual scholars, who dubbed the forgery the “Johannine Comma”, would later vindicate Newton. Newton also believed that the Trinity was not originally the Christian doctrine of the Godhead, a position later vindicated by scholars. The method Newton used in determining the authenticity of the Johannine Comma, or the lack thereof, was to compare texts and writings of some early Catholic Church Fathers. None of the text mentioned the phrase, including those trying to prove the Trinity. Accordingly, Newton concluded it was not authentic.

Sources:
Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee

When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome

Divine Truth or Human Tradition?: A Reconsideration of the Orthodox Doctrine of the Trinity in Light of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures

The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound

Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian

Biblical Unitarian: Rambam

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Rambam, or Maimonides, was a Jewish philosopher and educator, and fierce defender of Jewish doctrines. Rambam did not write extensively on the Trinity since this was not a subject in Judaism, but he did have a few things to say about it in his letter on the resurrection:

“It is not rare that a person aims to expound the intent of some conclusions clearly and explicitly, makes an effort to reject doubts and eliminate far-fetched interpretations, and yet the unbalanced will draw the reverse judgment of the conclusion he sought to clarify. Some such thing occured even to one of God’s declarations. When the chief of the prophets wished by order of God to teach us that He is One, without associates, and to remove from our hearts those wrong doctrines that the Dualists propound, he proclaimed this fundamental: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone [Deut. 6:4]. But the Christians utilized this verse to prove that God is one of three, teaching that Lord, our God, the Lord makes three names, all followed by one, which indicates that they are three and that the three are one. Far be God from what they say in their ignorance. If this is what happened to God’s proclamation, it is much more likely and to be expected to happen to statements by humans.”

Rambam resented the fact Christians were “finding” the Trinity in places that made no grammatical sense. For this reason, Rambam replaced the word “echad,” meaning “one,” with “yachid,” meaning “alone”; thus, his translation “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (most translate as “the Lord is One“). His hope was to clearly convey the true meaning of the text, and not impose some esoteric message that is simply not in the text.

The source used can be purchased here:
Epistles of Maimonides: Crisis and Leadership

Biblical Unitarian: Rashi

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There have been many attempts to find the Trinity in the Old Testament. One of the most cited is the “Us” language used in Genesis. However, this was disproven hundreds of years ago by the rabbis.

The following is Rashi‘s commentary on Genesis 1:26:

“Let us make man: From here we learn the humility of the Holy One, blessed be He. Since man was created in the likeness of the angels, and they would envy him, He consulted them. And when He judges kings, He consults with His Heavenly household, for so we find regarding Ahab, that Micah said to him, (I Kings 22:19): “I saw the Lord seated on His throne, and all the host of heaven were standing by Him, on His right and on His left.” Now do “left” or “right” apply to Him?! But rather, [the passage means that] these [angels] were standing on the right to defend, and these [angels] were standing on the left to prosecute. Likewise, (Dan. 4:14): “By the decree of the destructive angels is the matter, and by the word of the holy ones is the edict.” Here too, He took counsel with His heavenly household. He said to them, “Among the heavenly beings, there are some in My likeness. If there are none in My likeness among the earthly beings, there will be envy among the creatures of the Creation. ” – [from Tanchuma, Shemoth 18; Gen. Rabbah 8:11, 14:13]. Let us make man: Even though they [the angels] did not assist Him in His creation, and there is an opportunity for the heretics to rebel (to misconstrue the plural as a basis for their heresies), Scripture did not hesitate to teach proper conduct and the trait of humility, that a great person should consult with and receive permission from a smaller one. Had it been written: “I shall make man,” we would not have learned that He was speaking with His tribunal, but to Himself. And the refutation to the heretics is written alongside it [i. e., in the following verse:]“And God created (וַיִּבְרָא) ,” and it does not say, “and they created וַיִּבְרְאוּ.” – [from Gen. Rabbah 8:9].”

These sources can be purchased here:
Sapirstein Edition Rashi: The Torah with Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated and Elucidated, Vol. 1 [Student Size], Genesis [Bereishis]

Midrash Rabbah (10 Vol. Set)