This is a great question that pops up a lot:
Is Jesus God? Or the son of God? If God is One through Three then there never was a son to be sacrificed? It is very confusing to me. Also, why did Jesus pray to himself if he was God? How can God die?
Belief 1: The trinity assumes God is composed of 3 separate entities (God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and the holy spirit). They all combine to form one “God head.” This is confusing to people who even believe in the trinity, and often called a “mystery”. In sum, trinity teaches that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.
The trinity is not in the bible, however, and people who believe the trinity say its main concepts are taught, but the exact term “trinity” wasn’t applied until later.
Belief 2: The other popular theory among Christians is that there is only one “God.” Jesus is the son of that God. The holy spirit is being filled with a sense of holiness or divine feeling which also comes from God.
I personally agree with # 2. I believe there is 1 God. This is what I believe about Jesus: I believe he was the messiah, I believe he was God’s son (as he states several times), I believe he had the nature of God and because of that almost God-like (he was a human reflection of God Almighty), but was not God fully. Just like a child has some reflections of the parents, but aren’t the parents totally.
I believe Jesus was the perfect sinless sacrifice, and that in his sacrifice God gives us forgiveness if we seek it. I believe he died on the cross for our sins, and that God raised him from the dead and he sits at the right hand of God’s Holy throne. Just like in the old times before Jesus, they used a lamb to offer to God as a forgiveness. Christ is now our lamb.
I also believe Christ has authority over us, just as God gave King David authority over the land of israel. We can call Christ “Lord” because that denotes his authority. Just remember that God is who gave Christ that authority. Just like a business has a worker, a manager, and a boss. God is the boss, Jesus the manager, and we are the worker. God has authority over Christ, Christ has authority granted by God over us. God is the ultimate authority.
If Jesus was fully God as some people say, then why did he say the father is greater than him? Why was he praying to himself? Why did he not tell people he was God? Why did he instead refer to himself as God’s son, and the son of man? How did he die? Who brought him back to life? etc. Just doesn’t make sense.
Even in the end times, it says in the new earth there is a throne of God, and Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne. So does that mean we go up to Jesus and say “hey god.” Then go up to god and say, “hey god.” Just doesn’t make sense. God is God, Jesus is Jesus, and Jesus was God’s Son (the firstborn of all creation), as the bible teaches. He was created by God spiritually before existing in human form.
I also believe Christ shines the light to the Father (God). His teachings are how God wants us to be to each other.
I fully respect people who believe in the trinity. I can see why some people feel that way. But at the same time I think the 2nd belief makes much more logical sense, and the Bible supports belief #2 way more than it does # 1 in my personal opinion.
God was never created, yet the Bible teaches Jesus is the Begotten (created/made) son of God. God is self sustaining, and God is almighty.
If Jesus=X, and X=God, and I believe in God, then I am not wrong because they are one in the same, right? But if Jesus=X and God=Y, they are different. If I believe Jesus is God, and Jesus is not really God, then God may not like that. So I feel more comfortable saying I believe in God, and Jesus is the son of God.