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Acts 20:28 Many of trinitarian neighbors would have us believe that this text means that the Almighty God himself died for the church. If so, then, the Almighty God himself died, which of course, scripturally is totally impossible. If God Almighty had flesh and blood, this would make him lower than the angels. -- Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7. We might note that the Alexandrine manuscript as well as some other manuscripts read as "to shepherd the church of the Lord which..." Thus the *New English Bible* renders this verse: "Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has given you charge, as shepherds of the church of the Lord, which we won for himself by his own blood." The Antigua Version de Casidoro De Reina, Revisada por Cipriano de Valera (1602), Revision de 1960, reads "iglesia del Senior", that is, "church of the Lord" instead of "iglesia de Dios" (Church of God). However, let us look at how several other translations render this verse: Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. -- New Revised Standard Version Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. -- Revised Standard So keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock which the Holy Spirit
has placed in your care. Be shepherds of the church of God, F32 which he
made his own through the blood of his Son. F33 -- Today's English
Be careful for yourselves and for all the people the Holy Spirit has given to you to care for. You must be like shepherds to the church of God, which he bought with the death of his own son. -- New Century Version Take heed, therefore, to yourselves and to all the flock, in which you the Spirit Holy placed overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased through the own blood. -- Jay Green's Interlinear. Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, wherein the Holy
Spirit has set you as overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God, which he
has purchased F184 with the blood of his own. F185
Thus Darby, although believing that Jesus is God Almighty, realizes that it is "absurd" to look to this scripture as proof of the trinity doctrine, although we know many do so. Regarding this, Mark Miller states on his website:
Alternately, in The New Testament in the Original Greek, by Westcott and Hort, Vol., 2, London, 1881, pp. 99, 100 of the Appendix, Hort stated: "it is by no means impossible that [hui·ou', "of the Son"] dropped out after tou i·di'ou, "of his own"] at some very early transcription affecting all existing documents. Its insertion leaves the whole passage free from difficulty of any kind." *** Regarding the above choices which would agree with 1 John 1.7: ‘The blood of
Jesus (God’s) Son cleanses us from all sin.’ (See Re 1.4-6l Jn 3.16)
If it were actually the blood of God rather than the blood of the man Jesus
Christ, then there has been no ransom, for it is the blood of one lower than
the angels -- a human -- that was needed to make satisfaction for the sin of
Adam. (Of course, I realize the trinitarians claim that Jesus was both a
spirit being in nature and a human being in nature at the same time, but no
scripture says such a thing.) Jesus, being our high priest appointed by the
only true Supreme Being, offers his own blood to the only true Supreme
Being; he is not the the only true Supreme Being who receives the
sacrifice. -- Psalm 8:5; John 17:1,3; Hebrews 2:9; 3:1,2; 9:14.
Of course, in reality, God Almighty is a spiritual being and does not have flesh and blood. (John 3:24; 2 Corinthians 3:17) Jesus was made a spiritual being in his resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:45) He was not a spiritual being while he was a human being. -- 1 Corinthians 15:38. Nothing in the verse says that Jesus is God Almighty. There is definitely nothing in the verse about three persons in one being or three persons in God Almighty. Updated July 19, RRD
The following links provide more information concerning John 10:30. We do not necessarily agree with all statements or conclusions reached by the authors. HOW DID JESUS ANSWER THE QUESTION REGARDING EQUALITY WITH
GOD? John 10:30 - Hear O Israel! Jehovah Our God is One -- Jehovah." (Zion's Watch Tower, July 1882) John 10:30 - The Atonement Between God and Man The Lord Our God, The Lord is One" The Trinity - Satan's False Doctrine God is One Person Who Is Jesus? Related Books
Concepts of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by Matthew Alfs
The Great Debate Regarding The Father, Son & Holy Spirit An exhaustive verse-by-verse, side-by-side comparison of four historical paradigms. The four views compared are Oneness, Trinitarian, Arian, and Unitarian. The first section compares answers to interview questions such as: "What are the consequences for others not believing as you do?". This is followed by several hundred passages of Scripture and a comment on each verse by each view. Finally the book has a variety of notes: John 1:1 is compared by various scholars. Notes showing the progression of the creeds, quotations from early church fathers, notes from Adolph Harnack's History of Dogma, notes from Hans Kung's Christianity: Essence, History and Future, and a couple of articles dealing with the origins and reasonableness of the Trinity finish up the 120 page 8.5 X 11 book (plastic comb binding). Jesus - God or Son of God? by Brian Holt An analysis of the most common arguments used to both prove and disprove the notion that Jesus is God. Beginning with the book of Matthew and continuing through Revelation, it tallies and discusses every scripture that implies Jesus is God and every scripture that implies he is not. Not to be left out of the discussion is a comparison of the arguments from the Hebrew scriptures. This work discusses the common arguments used by both sides and provides the response given by the opposing view. It concludes by asking the reader to review the arguments from both sides and determine for himself what he believes. If you want to know what evidence there is that Jesus is God (or what evidence there is that he is not), this is the book that presents a fair and balanced discussion of the matter. Before you discuss this subject with a Trinitarian or a non-Trinitarian, make sure you know why he believes what he believes. A comparison of the arguments is in order.
Two Babylons or the Papal Worship by Alexander Hislop
The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation History of Dogma - by Adolf Harnack See Quotes Paul S. L. Johnson's books, including the book GOD, referenced above, may be obtained from The Bible Standard
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