How does the Unitarian explain the use of the word, Father, when he affirms that the only God is " God, THE FATHER "? The Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus was from all eternity the unique Son of God, that is, as being THE ETERNAL SON along with the Holy Spirit—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—in the unity of the Godhead. This the Unitarians deny, affirming that our Lord was " wholly man." In relation to believers on the Lord Jesus Christ Scripture teaches us that they have received the adoption of sons (Gal. 4:55To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)), not as altering their relation to the Creator as creatures, not as lifting them to the level of Deity, that were impossible, but as being " partakers of the Divine nature " (2 Peter 1:44Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:4)), that is they have the moral qualities of that Divine nature, such as love, holiness, truth, tenderness, compassion—graces seen in all their loveliness in our Lord when here among men.
How then does the Unitarian explain the Fatherhood of God? One of their authors, Sydney Herbert Mellone, writes, " The very essence of the Unitarian gospel, the foundation on which the whole structure is built, the only binding force which alone gives it whatever cohesion it possesses, is the Fatherhood of God: not as an object of lip-service, not as a comfortable generalization to be listened to, or a vague theme of merely emotional assent; but as a great Ideal, whose meaning demands realization alike in personal, social, national and international life: carrying with it, spiritually and even logically, the Divine Sonship and Brotherhood of MAN—and this, once more, not merely as a Truth to be assented to, but as an Ideal to be realized, a task to be achieved." (Freedom and Truth, p. 56). The same writer says plainly, " The son-ship of every human soul to God is an eternal fact. Nothing that can come to pass in time can destroy it." (Freedom and Truth, p. 76).
But what does Scripture tell us is the condition of man before God? Are they all sons of God? How does Scripture describe them? Unbelievers are said to be " children of disobedience " and " children of wrath " (Eph. 2:2,32Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:2‑3)). " ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God " (Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). Did not our Lord tell the Pharisees plainly who boasted of being Abraham's seed, and in bondage to no man, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." (John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44))?
The Unitarian tells us that all men are sons of God, using the expressions, " Divine Sonship and Brotherhood of Man." He refers to this as " a great Ideal." Ideal is a word, meaning, existing only in the imagination, and Idealist, as an unpractical person. (Chamber's 20th Century Dictionary). We notice in this Unitarian definition there is no sort of explanation how this idea is arrived at. It is merely stated in high-sounding language without any attempt at proof, surely to be expected on such a momentous theme.
The well-known expressions, The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, with the popular meaning attached to them, ignore the ruin of man by sin, and the need of the atoning death of our Lord for sinful man's salvation. They are unscriptural, based on utterly false premises, and blasphemous in their implications. In the hands of the devil they are opiates to lull multitudes to a fatal spiritual slumber, only alas! to wake up when too late to discover how cruelly they have been deceived. Such will have eternity in which to regret the terrible delusion, that has robbed them of the inestimable gift of God's pardon and love.
Whilst the Unitarians teach that all men are sons of God, they go to the other extreme of teaching the " DIVINE Son-ship of all men," whatever that may mean. We read, " When the brilliant young Welshman, Henry Jones, fresh from the lecture-room of Edward Caird in Glasgow, began to preach near Bangor (where he held a professor's chair), he soon earned the reputation of a heretic. We are told,' said a colleague, ' that you deny the divinity of Christ!" I deny the divinity of Christ!' said Jones; I do not deny the divinity of any man.' " (Freedom and Truth, p. II). To such straits of explanation are these purveyors of evil doctrine reduced.