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In the closing hours of his ministry on earth Jesus told his disciples, ”You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 NIVUK boldface emphases are mine throughout).

What did our Lord Jesus Christ mean when he said that the Father is greater than him?

Some Bible scholars say that Jesus made the statement in the sense that the Father is the one who sent him (John 14:24); and as he is the one sent, the sender is greater than him, the sent (John 13:16). It is true that the sender is greater than the one sent. This conclusion has a scriptural support. Therefore, it is plausible. But this may not be the only reason why Jesus made the statement.

Most Bible scholars and commentators say that Jesus Christ did not mean that he is inferior to the Father as a literal interpretation of the statement would suggest. They say that our Lord had two natures while he was on the earth; that he was God as well as a man. They say that, as God, he was equal to the Father, but inferior to the Father with regards to his manhood. They conclude that the statement made by our Lord Jesus Christ in John 14:28 was in regard to his human nature. This perspective is purely in conformity with the Trinitarian Christology. In the Athanasian Creed, it is written in lines30-35 the following:

30. “For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. 31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world. 32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. 33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead [Godhood], and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. 34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. 35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God.”

This is where the vast majority of Bible scholars get their own ideas from. But there are theological and logical arguments that can be brought against this teaching:

• There is no single passage in the Bible which says that Christ had two natures while he was on the earth.
• Line 35 says that Christ did not convert his Godhood into flesh but that he, being God, simply put on human flesh. So, while he was on the earth, he was 100 percent God and 100 percent human. This is what the Creed meant by “perfect God and perfect man.” Three problems are present in this: (i) God is immortal (1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16); humans are mortal (Psa. 103:15; Isa.  51:12; Heb. 9:27). Mortality and immortality cannot coexist in the same body. Mortality must give way to immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-54). In the light of this, what Trinitarians have written about Christ is false. (ii) Since Christ, according to the Creed, was God and man in one body, he was equal to God and less than God while he was on the earth. This is logically impossible. It is an absurdity. (iii) If he was God and man in one body, what happened to his Godhood on the day he was hanged on the cross? Did God die?
• The statement, “the Father is greater than I” is so explicitly made that there is no tenable reason not to accept it on its face value. It is as plain as when Christ said that God is in heaven. It is very bewildering and unfortunate that most Christians are defending a doctrine that is glaringly unbiblical and hopelessly full of absurdities and confusion. Unfortunately for Trinitarians, it does not matter if the Trinity dogma is unbiblical; what matters is that the Trinity dogma stays. Therefore, the Bible must be twisted and recklessly misinterpreted until it conforms to the Trinitarian hoax.

What did Jesus and his apostles say about God?

Before we can make an acceptable conclusion about what our Lord Jesus Christ meant in John 14:28b, it is helpful to consider what Christ and his apostles said about God.

Jesus called the Father “the one God,” “the only true God” (John 5:44; 17:3). He said the Father is his God and Father (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34; John 20:17; Rev. 3:12). In John 17:3, he made a distinction between himself and the true God. By implication  he has said he is not truly the one uncreated, supreme God who is called the Father of all (Eph. 4:6). He called himself the son of God (John 10:36). By these statements it is evidently clear that he placed himself in a class lower than that of the Father. It need not be the same as that of lesser Gods (or gods) among whom are some human beings (Psa. 82:1-6; John 10:34-36), it is nonetheless not that of God. Satan the Devil has been called the God (or god) of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). Therefore the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ has been called God in some places does not necessarily equate him with God.

We must understand that there is more than one definition of god. There is the Supreme God known in the Hebrew Bible as YHWH (or Yahweh). He is the only uncaused being (Psa. 90:2) who brought all other beings, including Jesus Christ, into existence. He has no equal (Isa. 45:5, 21, 22; 46:5, 9; 47:8; 43:10-12; 44: 6, 8). Only Him is called the Almighty in the Bible.

Another definition of God is “a spirit or being that has great power, strength, knowledge, etc., and that can affect nature and the lives of people.” The God or god of this category is not the perfect and supreme God, the All-powerful YHWH (Yahweh). By calling the Father ”the only true God,” and by calling Him his God, our Lord Jesus Christ impliedly placed himself in this second  category of God. Therefore, even though Jesus is called God in John 1:1 and 20:28, John and Thomas never regarded him as coequal with his God and Father. The modern day Trinitarian argument that Christ and God are coequal because they have the same nature is deceptive. The inferiority of Christ arises from having the same nature as God. The Godhood of the only begotten Son of God is not of the same status as that of the Almighty God. Jesus Christ is a God who has someone as his God (Psa. 45: 6-7; Eph. 1:3, 17; Rev. 3:12).

Apostles Peter and Paul  said the Father is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 11;31; Eph. 1:3, 17; 1 Pet. 1:3). They heard this from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself and they believed just what he said. But those who have been fooled by the Trinitarian dogma will not believe the words of the Master unless it agrees with the God-denigrating doctrine of men called the Trinity. Paul went further to say that the Father is the one God and that Jesus Christ is the Lord and mediator between men and God (1 Cor. 8:5-6; 1 Tim. 2:5). Apostle Peter informed us that God is the one who made Jesus the Lord and the Christ or Messiah (Acts 2:36). Paul made an analogy where he showed that Jesus is subordinate to God. He said:

“But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. (1 Cor. 11:3 NASB2020).

We need not be great thinkers before we understand that, if Christ is God, and someone else is his God, then his Godhood must be in an inferior position when compared to the Godhood of that other person. This is what the Psalmist has said under the inspiration of God’s spirit in the verses quoted below:

[6] “Your throne, O God [Jesus, cf. Heb. 1:8], will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. [7] You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God [Yahweh], your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Psa. 45:6-7 NIVUK, words in square brackets added for clarification).

These scriptures have shown that God’s superiority over our Lord Jesus Christ is not in regard to Christ’s manhood. Even as God, Yahweh was his God. Contrary to the imaginations of the formulators of the Trinity, Christ has never been equal with God the Father in any sense of the word. He will never be (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

Salvation Issue in the New Testament

The New Testament nowhere requires us to believe that Jesus Christ is God. The thrust of the New Testament message is the belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. John 3;16 is well known by all Christians. Although John’s prologue started in the first verse where he said “and the word was God,” he did not call on anyone to hold on to the Godhood of the Son as a canon of faith. This is evident from his epilogue where he wrote, ”but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31 NASB2020).

The apostle stated here that the purpose of his writing the fourth gospel is to make his readers believe in Jesus as the Messiah and as the Son of God. In his epistles, he laid a very strong emphasis to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. He wrote, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:14-15 NASB2020).

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. [13] I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:12-13 NIVUK).

After Philip had preached to an Ethiopian eunuch on his way back home from Jerusalem, the man asked to be baptised. Philip said he was willing to baptise him only if he believed. The man said he believed. Believed that Jrsus is God? No! Read his confession below:

[37] “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (Acts 8:37 KJV).

The belief that was needed in the New Testament was that Jesus is the Messiah and is the Son of God. The other thing was that God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9).

What Does Son of God Mean?

The Bible makes us know that the angels, Adam, Israel, Solomon, and believers in Christ, are sons of God (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7; Dan. 3:25, 28; Luke 3:38; Exod. 4:22; 2 Sam. 7:14; John 1:12; 1 John 3:1, 2). Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ is not the only son of God. But he is the only begotten Son of God. However, one thing common to them is that they are all sons of God. The term “son of God” simply means that God is the one who brought them into existence. This is true of the angels and humans. It is also true of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no single biblical support for the Trinitarian conjecture that the term “Son of God” connotes Godhood with regards to Jesus Christ. Neither has the Bible ever taught that Jesus Christ self-existed. All the spirits and humans who are called the sons of God derive their existence from God. They are members of God’s family in heaven and on earth ( Eph. 3:14-15). The idea that the sonhood of Jesus connotes Godhood stems from the Trinitarian conjecture about God. It is not derived from the Bible.

Conclusion

We have seen from Psa. 45:6-7 (quoted by Paul in Heb. 1:8) that Jesus, the King/God has someone who is his God. Jesus and his apostles  affirmed the fact that God is his God. Therefore, his Godhood (or godhood) cannot be equated with the Godhood of the Father. The fact that the Father is greater than him has been from the beginning when God brought him into existence. It is not only in the sense that he was human that makes God greater than him. Moreover, God has ever been greater than our Lord Jesus Christ before God sent him into the world for the reconciliation of mankind back to God.

It is ridiculous to teach that Christ was equal with God and less then God at the same time. This teaching has no shred of support in the Bible. It is an absurdity. It is equally fatuous to say that God put on flesh. This suggests that mortality and immortality coexisted in Christ during his incarnation. This is scripturally false (cf. 1 Cor. 15:51-54) and logically untenable. If he was a perfect God while he was on the earth, how was it possible that he died? God is immortal (1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16).

It is spiritually unwise for any Christian to try to magnify Jesus Christ while at the same time demean the Almighty Father. What the Trinitarian dogma has succeeded in doing is to strip God of His excellent position and supremacy and give it to Jesus. But they need to know that such things never glorify God nor gladden the heart of Jesus Christ.

It is not surprising that Trinitarians are twisting the unambiguous statement from the mouth of Jesus to mean something else. See 2 Pet. 3:15-16. It is part of the grand Trinitarian scheme to reject anything that shows the Most High (known as YHWH in the Hebrew Bible) as the Supreme, Almighty, All-wise, and the only true God. Unknown to many Christians, no other teaching rejects the Supremacy of the Almighty Father like the Trinity has done. It is an anti-God doctrine.

Trinitarians should stop deceiving themselves and the world by using their cliché that the Trinity is a mystery. The Trinity is not a mystery; it is a mischief packaged in the fourth century against the Almighty God. There is perhaps no doctrine in Christendom which is so insidiously dangerous and heretical as the Trinity dogma.