Is Jesus Really God?

A common question I’ve often been asked is, “Can you explain the Trinity to me?” My answer then — as it is now — was: “I’ve read in great depth about that concept, but I don’t personally believe in the Trinity doctrine of God as three distinct persons sharing one nature.”

In my study of the Bible, the Trinity doctrine is not explicit anywhere in the New Testament. And historical Christian literature indicates that this trinity concept was first formulated between mid-second-century and later, by Christian leaders of the Church, not by Jesus or his immediate followers.¹

I do believe in God and his son and that Jesus was instrumental in the creation of humankind. Yet, I also acknowledge other relationship concepts not recognized by many Bible teachers and pastors, but are plainly imbedded in scripture.

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For instance, at the very beginning of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, it says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1, ESV).² This very first verse in the Old Testament references what God did, however the Hebrew word translated as ‘God’ is ‘Elohim’, a plural word meaning ‘gods’. Furthermore, Elohim is also commonly used to identify angels, magistrates, and judges, — or great or mighty ones.³ (Underlining is added to point out differences in scripture translation.)

Using the literal translation of The Scriptures Bible,⁴ this same verse says: “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1, TS). This more accurately suggests that in the beginning, gods or mighty ones or angels, created the heavens and the earth. Most any interlinear Bible will show you the actual word is Elohim, and most any dictionary of Hebrew words will tell you that this word is commonly plural. This definitely implies quite a difference from what is generally taught in churches today.

Let’s go to another verse in the first chapter of Genesis. In creating humankind, verse 26 of the English Standard Version states: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’,” (Genesis 1:26a, ESV). Whereas, the same verse using The Scriptures Bible literal translation states: “And Elohim said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’,” (Genesis 1:26a, TS).

We need to understand that the terms “our image” and “our likeness” did not necessarily mean physical characteristics, but having the attributes of creativity, decision making, compassion, and love.⁵

 

A Divine Council

One biblical scholar, Michael Heiser, said Elohim, is a term which “describes residence — it identifies the proper domain of the entity described by it. Yahweh, the lesser gods, angels, demons, and the disembodied dead are all rightful inhabitants of the spiritual realm.” This spiritual world, like our human world, has creatures of different rank and power. And the spiritual leaders in residence are a heavenly host that serves in a divine council which manages the affairs of heaven under the authority of Yahweh.⁶

To me, it is evident from the literal translations that a supreme God is speaking to someone else, or to a group of gods, to which he belonged. A simple explanation is that the words ‘us’ and ‘our’ reflect an announcement by a single God to a subgroup in his presence — a council, committee, or heavenly host. This multitude of workers act as helpers to carry out decisions for a project.⁷ And this is obvious elsewhere in the Bible too, for example in the Psalms where it is said, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment” (Psalm 82:1).

If you are unsure about believing in a Divine Council or Heavenly Host, understand that it is also mentioned elsewhere in the Bible: Deuteronomy 32:8; Job 1:6-7; 1 Kings 22:19b-22; Isaiah 6; Zechariah 3; Daniel 7. You can read much more about this Divine Council by using the link in References & Notes.⁸

So, there is a hierarchy of type, rank, power, and function, including administrators, archangels, regular angels, watchers, and maybe fallen angels and even Satan himself. These participants of the Heavenly Host or Divine Council periodically convene to discuss things and make plans and carry out important decisions.

 

New Testament

While most biblical references of a Heavenly Host are in the Old Testament, the New Testament is not without comment of this arrangement. The best known Greek scripture indication of this spiritual group describes how they praised God when announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the field. One Bible dictionary describes the incident by saying they served as a great choir of heavenly beings who glorified Jesus and participated in the background of the new age of salvation.⁹

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:13-14).

Of course, we know that this heavenly group was announcing and praising the birth of Yahweh’s son, sent on a mission to earth in the form of a human baby born to the virgin Mary. This was the son of God — Yahweh the son. His mission was to give his perfect human life in exchange for the sinful life of humankind’s earliest ancestor, Adam.

To fully understand how one man can exchange his perfect life and regain everlasting life for all of humanity, please see the article titled “If Jesus died for our sins, explain how that works!” It is one of our most popular studies and is listed in References & Notes at the end of this article.¹⁰

 

The Problem with John 1:1

You might ask, “So how do you explain John 1:1, if there is no Trinity?” Well, I know that proclaimers of the Trinity theory use the first verse in the Book of John as their most convincing proof that God and Jesus (the Word) are one and the same: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” (John 1:1, ESV). On the surface, this statement seems to be a rather straightforward explanation of the combined relationship of God and Jesus. However, truth does not arise from single Bible verses taken out of context or blindly accepted without research and study. There are many translations of this verse, which give a different meaning.¹¹

Concerning John 1:1, Bible scholar Philip Harner wrote that John spoke in terms of relationship and contradistinction, which would mean that Jesus was ‘divine’, without specifying further in what way or to what extent he was divine.¹²

The 1935 Moffatt Version of the Bible translates this same verse as: “The Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.”¹³ The 1864 Emphatic Diaglott version gives this translation: “In a beginning was the Word, and the word was with the God, and a god was the Word.”¹⁴

And there are also differences concerning John 1:1 in these other versions too. “In the beginning the Word already was, the word was in God’s presence, and what God was, the Word was,” (REB).¹⁵ Another translation says, “In the beginning the Word was existing. And the Word was in fellowship with God the father. And the Word was as to his essence absolute deity,” (WET).¹⁶ Besides the four versions mentioned above, see six other Bible translations listed in References and Notes at the end of this article that indicate similar thoughts.¹⁷

Here is an interesting opinion. Biblical author E. A. Watson, writing about John 1:1, implied that ‘Elohim’ is a collective noun meaning more than one person, like the English words ‘army,’ ‘family,’ or ‘group’. Therefore John was stating that Elohim included Jesus as a member of divinity, just as is the Father.¹⁸

So, since many researchers believe Elohim is plural and can mean a group or family, let me present yet another Bible translation of John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim,” (TS). In this case, God the Father and God the Son could be inclusive of this family or group, but actually be two separate entities. This particular opinion is presented as still another point of view for you to think about.

At one time, during the Second Temple period (c 516 BC to 70 AD), Jewish intellectuals thought of “two powers” as heavenly rulers, one visible and one invisible. This consisted of two Yahwehs, each with a distinct personality. One was supreme and the God of Israel, while the other was subordinate to him (sort of like Yahweh the senior and Yahweh the junior). The early Christians accepted this idea and considered Jesus as the second individual personality of the Yahweh family, but subordinate to the almighty God of Israel.¹⁹

The new Jewish converts to Christianity worshiped both the God of Israel and Jesus of Nazareth. They thought both to be the “two powers” of the Jewish thinkers.²⁰ Sometime later, the Jews declared this “two powers” authority as unorthodox, quite possibly as a political move to stem the growing Christian movement. This is an overly simplified explanation of a very complicated subject originally presented in scholarly form, but gives a nebulous overview of the thought.

Others, also, think along these lines saying that Jesus pre-existed as one of the two ruling Yahwehs. It was Yahweh the Son who made visible appearances in the Old Testament, whereas Yahweh the Father was always the invisible God; as an example, it was Yahweh the Son who appeared to Abraham and other patriarchs.²¹ Yahweh the Father created all things by way of Yahweh the Son, therefore it was the Father who was speaking to the Son when it was said in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

The evidence indicates that Almighty Yahweh is the Father and Jesus of Nazareth is the son of the Father — both are now ruling from their heavenly realm. After Jesus’ earthly death and resurrection, he returned to his Father’s domain where he sat at the right hand of his parent (Mark 16:19). And he will soon return to rule on a renewed earth as our King for a thousand years.

 

If there is no Trinity, where does that leave the Holy Spirit?

As far as the supposed third person of the Trinity — the Holy Spirit — how should we understand that part of the three-in-one belief? I believe the Holy Spirit is not a person or entity at all, but is God’s great power – his invisible, active, penetrating, and vital force that he and his son use to accomplish their goals. The Trinity idea appears not to be a biblical truth, and research suggests the concept is man-made.

The whole idea of this article is presented to neither start debate, nor to suggest any conversion of thought, but only to present options for Christians who have a different point of view. We should all search the scriptures so we can learn and decide for ourselves what is true or not. Our Creators gave us the free-will to investigate and make up our own minds.

But whether you, or I, or others believe in the Trinity or not, it really isn’t critical to being saved. There was a specific reason for Jesus’ human birth, death, and resurrection. If we live as Jesus suggested, repent of our transgressions, and believe that he died for our sins, then we will gain everlasting life — a free gift. The Bible says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).

Copyright © 2025, Ray Hermann
OutlawBibleStudent.org

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Reference & Notes

1. “Trinity”, (Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 March 2025), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity
2. Unless otherwise indicated, scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
3. Elohim: Strong’s Hebrew word #430. (plural) – gods in the ordinary sense, sometimes used of the supreme God; and sometimes as a superlative:— angels, × exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), × (very) great, judges, × mighty. (From the singular form: elowahh, Strong’s Hebrew #433.)
   Strong, James, The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996).
4. The Scriptures, (Northriding, Republic of South Africa: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009).
5. Barry, John D. et al., (Eds.), Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ge 1:26.
6. Heiser, Michael S., “Divine Council” in Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
7. Barry, John D. et al., (Eds.), Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
8. Hermann, Ray, “What is God’s Divine Council?” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 20 March 2023), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/what-is-gods-divine-council/
9. Youngblood, Ronald F., et al., (Eds.), Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), ‘Host of Heaven’.
10. Hermann, Ray, “If Jesus died for our sins, explain how that works!” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 1 January 2025), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/if-jesus-died-for-our-sins-explain-how-that-works/
11. Hermann, Ray, “John 1:1 – Does this bible verse prove Jesus is God?” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 7 October 2018), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/john-11-does-this-bible-verse-prove-jesus-is-god/
12. Harner, Philip, “Qualitative Anarthrous Predicated Nouns”, (Journal of Biblical Literature, The Society of Biblical Literature, 1973), vol. 92, no. 1, pp. 81-87.
13. Moffatt, James, A New Translation of the Bible, (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1935).
14. Wilson, Benjamin, The Emphatic Diaglott, (New York: Fowler & Wells Co., 1864).
15. The Revised English Bible, ©1989 by Oxford University Press.
16. Wuest, Kenneth S., Wuest Expanded Translation, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1961).
17. Note: Also, see these additional resources for similar translations:
    (1) Kneeland, A., The New Testament in Greek and English, 1822.
    (2) Heinfetter, H. (Frederick Parker), A Literal Translation of the New Testament, 1863.
    (3) Thompson, J. S., The Monotessaron; or, The Gospel History According to the Four Evangelists, 1829.
    (4) Young, R., Concise Commentary on The Holy Bible, 1885.
    (5) Horner, G. W., The Coptic Version of the New Testament, 1911.
    (6) Tomanec, James L., The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Anointed, 1958.
18. Watson, E. A., “Was Yahshua Created?” (treatis published 2006, retrieved 1 September 2018), pp. 5-6, https://www.assemblyofyah.com/pdfs/Was-Yahshua-Created.pdf
19. Hermann, Ray “Why did God say ‘Let us make man in OUR image after OUR likeness?’” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 6 January 2019), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/why-did-god-say-let-us-make-man-in-our-image-after-our-likeness/
20. Barry, John D., et al., (Eds.), Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham WA: Lexham Press, 2016), “Old Testament Godhead Language,” by Michael Heiser.
21. “The Preexistence of the Messiah,” (Garden Grove, CA: Qadesh La Yahweh Press, 2001), p. 4, http://yahweh.org/publications/articles/preexistence/preexistence_messiah.pdf