It is
sometimes said that the Unitarian and Free Christian churches are
non-creedal. Whilst Free Christians may
legitimately make this claim we, as Unitarians, cannot. If ‘creed’ is taken to mean a statement of
belief, then our belief - whether we like it or not, is defined by that one
word: Unitarian.
That single
word sets us apart from those churches which affirm the doctrine of the
Trinity, the accepted Christian orthodoxy. Whereas Unitarians believe in the
undivided unity of God, the mainstream churches declare a trinitarian creed,
classically formulated by the Council of Nicaea in 325 and later refined in the
Athanasian Creed. The resultant doctrine describes God as ‘one in three and
three in one’. That is, the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is
God.
The controversy
focuses on our understanding of the status of Jesus. Who is the man we encounter in the gospels
meant to be? He is depicted variously as
an itinerant teacher, healer and prophet - Jesus of Nazareth and as Jesus
Christ – the messiah, the anointed one. In
Trinitarian theology, Jesus Christ is the unique and exclusive Son of God and is
God. In Unitarian theology, there is
only God and therefore, Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ although revered is
not worshipped as the exclusive Son of God.
The much loved
Unitarian minister, David Doel, would often tell the story of William Blake,
eighteenth century painter, poet and mystic; asked if he believed in the
divinity of Jesus Blake replied “He is the only God… and so am I and so are
you”.
The classic
rebuttal to the idea that God exclusively
assumed human flesh and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ was given by
the 19th century Unitarian and theologian, James Martineau: ‘The
incarnation is true, not of Christ exclusively, but of Man universally, and God
everlastingly.’
In his book The
Man they Called the Christ (2009), David Doel gave a very clear exposition
of the Trinity. In his view ‘it is
perfectly possible, indeed theologically necessary, for us to elaborate a doctrine
of the trinity acceptable to Unitarians.’ It may seem strange indeed that Unitarians
should wish to accept the concept of a trinity until one realises that our
contention arises, not from the concept of God expressed as a trinity, but
rather from the associated theology set out as dogma within the Nicene Creed.
The Trinity of
the Nicene Creed has often been used by the Church to define those who are –
and are not – able to subscribe to its theology. For the mainstream churches, acceptance into the
faith community has traditionally been conditional on accepting a statement of
belief that includes the virgin birth, the physical resurrection of the
crucified Christ and the notion that Jesus is the incarnate God, fully human
and fully God, who came down to live amongst us, to suffer and die for our
sins. An account of how the Church developed this dogma can be found in How
Jesus Became God: the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
(Bart Ehrman, 2014).
Answers to the
question “Who was Jesus?” also develop through the gospels as can be seen by
comparing the three earliest (synoptic) gospels with the later Gospel of John. For Mark, the divinity of Jesus is expressly
denied “Why do you call me good? No one
is good except God alone” (10:17-18). In
contrast, the opening proclamation of the John’s gospel is an unambiguous
statement that Jesus, the Word, is God.
In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The
Word was with God and was truly God. From the very beginning the Word was with
God. And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the
Word. (John 1:1-3) (CEV)
This sounds a
bit like reading the opening verse of the first chapter of Genesis. And that’s
exactly how it’s meant to sound. Jesus
Christ, the exclusive Son of God, was right there with God at the very
beginning; co-eternal with the Father. John’s Christology shows a fusion of Greek
philosophy - the Logos (Word), and Jewish religious thought (the Christ/ Messiah)
which come together to create the second person of the Trinity.
In the opening
lines of Genesis, in the King James Bible, we are told that in the beginning the
earth was ‘without form and void’ and that ‘darkness was upon the face of the
deep.’ Perhaps we can imagine a great
loneliness and an overwhelming and ultimately uncontainable love breaking forth
and pouring itself out. The great Creator manifesting the Word as all creation,
in all creation.
Thus, the
indwelling Logos, the likeness of God is embodied in all that is. It exists in all places and at all times,
within all that is and every person (Genesis 1:27). Again, in Martineau’s
words, the incarnation ‘is true, not of Christ exclusively, but of Man
universally, and God everlastingly.’
Bearing in
mind those words of David Doel, and his desire to elaborate a doctrine of the
Trinity acceptable to Unitarians, I suppose we can only ask how this could be achieved
with any unanimity? The answer may not be obvious but these words of Richard
Rohr offer inspiration and fresh hope:
‘Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else
could it really be? ‘Christ’ is a word for the Primordial Template (‘Logos’)
through whom ‘all things came into being, and not one thing had its being
except through him’ (John 1:3). Seeing in this way has reframed, reenergised,
and broadened my own religious belief, and I believe it could be Christianity’s
unique contribution among the world religions.’ The
Universal Christ (Rohr, 2019)
Rohr’s concept
of the Primordial Template (‘Logos’) could be the paradigm shift we desire. If we can see that of God in everyone we meet,
if we can see the glory of God in all creation and if we can see the goal of the spiritual life as really
the discovery of the indwelling Logos and our essential and indestructible
unity with it, maybe we could embrace the Universal Christ in a new Trinitarian
understanding.
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