Historically, some unitarians regarded Jesus as the first creature and highest creature. However, apostate Dale Tuggy subscribes to a "humanitarian Christology". On that view, Jesus is just a human being.
In a sense, that's a simpler, more consistent version of unitarianism. But it faces daunting problems.
i) If Jesus is just a man, then presumably he came into being in toto at the moment of conception. The alternative would be like Hinduism, with a warehouse of preexistent souls that are beamed into bodies.
ii) But a major problem with humanitarian Christology is that Scripture says Jesus/the Son was the Creator (or co-creator) of the universe (Jn 1:3,10; 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2,10-12).
That means a human being, a human male, created the universe. A human male created life on earth. Consider the amount of knowledge and power that's required to create the universe or life on earth.
If a humanitarian unitarian subscribes to theistic evolution or old-earth creationism, that means a male human being created the universe 14 billion years ago. He existed for billions of years before any other human beings existed. He preexisted Adam and Eve.
You are certainly right, these two things do not go together. Fortunately for my position in christology, all of the supposedly Christ Creator passages can be divided into two categories. Those which have to do with the Genesis creation, but do not actually ascribe it to Jesus, and those which ascribe creation to Jesus, but which refer to the "new creation" which he accomplished.
ReplyDeleteHebrews 1:10-12 is a quotation of Ps. 102 applied to Jesus and addresses the first/old creation, not the new creation. I doubt the new creation will "perish" and be "rolled up".
ReplyDelete11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed.- Heb. 1:11-12a
Also, Jesus being described as the first and last, the beginning and end, and the alpha and omega is hardly consistent with a Jesus who first became conscious as a real person in the middle of Redemptive History. I've argued that Revelation 22:12-13 most likely refers to Jesus in my blogpost HERE.
Annoyed, Heb 1:10-12 is, I think, the most difficult passage for our view. See the learned and insightful unpacking by Anthony Buzzard in his book Jesus was not a Trinitarian. The case involves differences of the LXX and the Hebrew MT.
ReplyDeleteIt is important, in formulating doctrines, to rely more on the clear passages. Whenever creation is clearly spoken of in the NT, it is ascribed to the Father.
Rubbish. Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3 say Jesus is the creator of all things.
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