There remain some other passages of the New Testament Scripture to be examined before leaving the topic of the Inferiority and Subordination of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Epistle to the Hebrews79 we read, “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever;” and therefore it is alleged that this proves the proper Deity of the Son. One would think it were only necessary to read the context to see that it proves no such thing, but only that the Son is addressed as God in the lower sense in which they were so addressed “to whom the word of God came.” Mark the language. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever… Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore GOD, even thy GOD, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Whatever rank or office the title God, in the first instance, implied, it was plainly subordinate to that of the Supreme. He to whom it is applied has himself a Superior, nay, a GOD—which could not be said of the Supreme; is rewarded for his fidelity, his love of righteousness—being “therefore anointed,” etc.—(but who could “reward” the Supreme?); has “fellows,” equals—which it were simply absurd to predicate of the Supreme. The passage is a quotation from one of the Messianic Psalms, or those which the Jews believed to be prophetic of their king Messiah;80 and nothing is more beyond dispute than that the Jews expected in their Messiah, although a King, a mighty leader, deliverer, conqueror; still, only “a man born of human parents;”81 with which ideas, assuredly, the entire passage is simply consistent.
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: Frederick A. Farley
Keywords: Thy Throne God, Trinity, Trinitarian, trinitarianism, Deity of Jesus, Deity of Christ, Jesus is God, Jesus is divine, Divinity of Jesus, divinity of Christ
Bible reference(s): Heb 1:8-9
Source: Unitarianism Defined (Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 1935).
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.