At this point it would be well to introduce to our readers the name of a Unitarian writer, whom we shall have to quote more than once. James Martineau (1805-1900) stands out as the most prominent speaker and writer of Unitarianism. One of their writers describes him as, " The best representative of modern Unitarianism in that his free criticism of the Bible was united with an intense reverence for Jesus and a profound faith in God. His sermons are classic in their beauty of expression, and in their depth of spiritual experience. They interpret the life and teaching of Jesus in terms of modern thought and modern needs. They appeal to the best in human nature, and they are filled with the sense of the infinite value of life and the goodness of God. On the other hand this confident religious faith was united with a complete repudiation of the Bible as an ultimate authority." (The Unitarians, p. 117).
James Martineau was just the kind of agent the enemy would like to use, intellectual, educated, cultured, earnest in his beliefs, however false they might be.
Hear what he said about the Lord being only human. " The Christ of the Unitarians, being wholly man, carries in himself the alienated nature, and lies under the disqualification he is needed to remove. He may be an example upon the human level, but cannot, it is said, lift us to the Divine." (Freedom and Truth, p. 27).
In these intensely solemn words not only is there the denial that the Lord was Divine, but also the affirmation that our Lord's humanity was sinful, and that He needed a Savior like the rest of us. Could so few words contain more deadly poison, though much he wrote was sugar-coated with " beauty of expression "? But here we fail to see Martineau's " intense reverence for Jesus." How highly inconsistent to write in glowing terms of our Lord, and yet to deny the truth of His Holy Person, as the SON, in the Unity of the Godhead, the Sent One of the Father to be the Savior of the world. (1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)). Did not our Lord say, " If ye believe not that I AM He, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:2424I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)). To show the meaning and importance of the Divine title, I AM, we refer you to our Lord's own claim as to it in these words. Please note the word, He, in our Bibles, is in italics, showing it is not in the original Greek, which simply stands as " I AM." When Moses was commissioned by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, and was backward in accepting this commission, he asked the Lord, " Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you: and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel. I AM bath sent me unto you." (Ex. 3:13,1413And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:13‑14)). If the Lord's words were true, that He was the I AM (and they were and are forever true), what a terrible future for any man, denying the truth of the Lord's Holy Person.
If the Lord were not more than human, why did the Prophet Isaiah, seven long centuries before our Lord was born into this world, write, " Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, the Prince of Peace." (Isa. 9:66For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6))? Would any writer in his wildest dreams have written that a Child of days should be the everlasting Father; and that the Son given should be the mighty God? And yet the Prophet was inspired of God to put on record that which no man could have guessed at, a prophecy, which by no means could man's reason have arrived at, yet in complete harmony with Scripture throughout, viz., that our Lord should be God and Man, one blessed Person—God from all eternity, yet, blessed be God, Man in time to meet by His atoning death on the Cross of Calvary the sinner's deep need.
The same Prophet wrote, " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name IMMANUEL." (Isa. 7:1414Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)). Here we have the same truth, the virgin's Son, HUMANITY (sin apart); and yet IMMANUEL, " God with us " (Matt. 1:2323Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:23)), DEITY.
And why did the Prophet Micah, writing seven centuries before our Lord was born into this world, tell us that the promised Messiah to be born at Bethlehem Ephratah would be " FROM EVERLASTING "? (Mic. 5:22But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)). The only Being, who is " from everlasting," who has neither beginning nor end, is GOD. What uninspired writer would have dared to connect One born into this world as being " from everlasting "? Why should prophet after prophet unite, and that without each other's knowledge in most cases, if not all, in testifying that the Savior to come should be God and Man, One Blessed Person?
And when we come to the New Testament we find the same truth enunciated. Why does the Apostle John, referring plainly to our Lord Jesus Christ, tell us that, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." (John 1:1-31In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1‑3)); and that, " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth " (John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)). The meaning of this profound passage is most manifest. The Word was GOD—Deity. The Word became flesh—Humanity (sin apart). In the simplest language, and yet in a most profound and blessed way, we have presented to us the mystery of the Person of our Lord, and that in fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament many centuries before. Could there be a grander and clearer presentation of the Lord's Godhead and Manhood as presented to us in John's Gospel? Do not the cold negations of Unitarianism stand utterly condemned in the presence of this glorious truth? Unitarianism has no Savior, no atoning sacrifice to meet God's holy demands as to sin, nothing but barren sterility in the things of God, nothing to offer a poor needy sinner
And why did the Apostle Paul, referring to his fellow-countrymen, the Jews, write, " Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, GOD blessed forever, Amen." (Rom. 9:55Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:5))? In plainest language we are here told that Christ was God. Again the same writer tells us, " Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH." (1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)). Could language be more explicit? God, DEITY; manifest in flesh, HUMANITY (sin apart).
A Unitarian minister invited an orthodox minister to preach in his Church. In the vestry before the service the Unitarian minister was concerned lest the orthodox minister should proclaim Trinitarian views. He said to the orthodox minister, " Remember, there must be no controversy." " Yes," replied the orthodox minister, " there shall be no controversy." Judge of the surprise and dismay of the Unitarian minister when the orthodox minister announced his text in the very words of Holy Scripture, " WITHOUT CONTROVERSY God was manifest in the flesh."
How cold are the negations of Unitarianism as compared with the Divine love, that tells us of such a wonderful Savior as being none the less than " The Word made flesh."
The Apostle Paul also wrote, " In Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily " (Col. 2:99For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)). Amazing words! too profound for any mortal to grasp the fullness of their meaning How could there be the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in a body, unless it were in Christ -God and Man—One Blessed Person. How do the Unitarians explain such explicit Scriptures, that leave no doubt as to their meaning? They get out of the difficulty by simply denying the Scriptures.
Again the Apostle John wrote, " We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life " (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)).
All this most clearly teaches that our Lord was God and Man, yet One Person, a mystery no man shall ever know. Hear the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, " All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him " (Matt. 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)). This is a verse of which to take very particular notice. As to knowing the Father there are two statements made: (1) The Son knows the Father; (2) The Son is pleased to reveal the Father to whomsoever He will, most evidently to believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. We read, " And because ye [believers] are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, FATHER." (Gal. 4:66And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)). But when we come to the knowledge of the Son we have our Lord's own most emphatic words, " NO MAN KNOWETH THE SON BUT THE FATHER," and note carefully, there it stops. There is no knowledge of the Son outside the Father. We must take special notice of this.
But you may ask, Do not we, believers, know the Lord as our Savior, and are we not privileged to have communion with Him? Surely this is so, thank God, again and again. Believers are all welcome to enjoy the place in the affections of our Lord that John of old enjoyed (John 13:2323Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. (John 13:23)). But none of us shall ever know or can know, the unfathomable depths of the Lord's Person; that is, we can never fathom the mystery of the union of God and Man in one Person, our Lord Jesus Christ. That knowledge is only shared between the Father and the Son.
The writer has often looked at an ant-hill, and watched its busy denizens, and thought how impossible it would be for an ant to understand the being of a man. Yet man and ant are both creatures. They can be compared, though the ant is very tiny, and the man very great in comparison. And then his mind passed to higher themes. How can one compare God with man, the Infinite with the finite? Impossible for finite minds! It is by not paying strict attention to this statement of our Lord, that " no man knoweth the Son but the Father," that has led to many unholy and dangerous speculations as to this sacred mystery, resulting alas! in great schisms, which rent the Church of God soon after apostolic days and lasting to this present time. Let us pay particular attention to this, and refrain from the folly and worse of speculating on that, which is forever beyond the comprehension of human understanding.