Is Christ Coequal And Coeternal With God The Father?

Published in Pasugo, Setp-Oct 1988


DURING THE FOURTH century A.D., the question on whether Christ is coequal
and coeternal with the Father found a prominent place among the clergy
foremost of whom were Arius the presbyter and Athanasius the bishop. It had
been the same question that greatly influenced the formulation of the
doctrines on Christ’s alleged Deity and the so-called Trinity. Religious
history particularly on Christology would not be perfectly choate without
mentioning the influence of this controversy to “Christianity.”

Throughout the centuries down to the twentieth century, this has remained a
controversial issue 0 baffling the minds of learned theologians, Bible
scholars, ministers, and laity as well.

On matters of faith, particularly on the truth behind this question, any
belief which contradicts, denies, or which is out of one’s ignorance of the
truth, would mean as Apostle Paul implied in his letter to Timothy – no
salvation! (I Tim. 2:3-4)

This necessitates, therefore, an answer, for us to know whether or not we
possess the genuine belief on the relation of our Lord Jesus Christ to His
Father, and, consequently, to be certain of salvation.

To help the confused know the truth by putting him in the proper
perspective, here is a brief comparative study between God the Father and
His Son Christ Jesus. Two vital points would serve as our basis of
comparison, to wit:
A. In point of Power and Wisdom, and
B. In point of Beginning or Existence.
After subdividing the principal question into two aspects in question
Form for a detailed study (such as: 1. Is Christ coequal with God the
Father? And 2. Is Christ coeternal with God?), each of the two points
presented above would provide answers to these questions.


Of Power And Wisdom

“Omnipotence” and “omniscience” are attributes inalienable and belonging
only to the true God. The first means His unlimited power – the power to do
whatever He chooses to do, whereas the latter denotes the infinite wisdom of
God – His knowledge and understanding of all things.

God the Father possesses both of these attributes as recorded in the Holy
Scriptures:

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluiah: for
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” (Rev. 1:6, King James Version)

“Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”
(Pl. 147:5, Ibid.)

How about Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father? Does He also possess such
unlimited power and infinite wisdom? In point of power, let me quote Origen,
a polemicist and theologian adjudged by Jerome as the greatest teacher of
Early Church after the Apostles, thus:

“For we plainly teach that the Son of the Creator who formed this sensible
world is not mightier than the Father; but inferior. This we affirm, on the
authority of the Son himself, who says: ‘The Father who sent me is greater
than I’.” (William G.T.Shedd, D.D., History of Christian Doctrine, 9th ed.,
Vol. I, p. 295)

Likewise, since we believe that Christ the Son had been sent by God the
Father, we must then believe in what the Son says as recorded in John 13:16:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord;
neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” (KJV)
This does not exclude Christ for He emphatically declared (upon which
Oregen based his belief and teaching that Christ is not mightier than the
Father) the fact that He is sent by the Father:

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If
ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my
Father is greater than I.” (Jn. 14:28, Ibid.)

Baptist writers Alex Wilson and Christine Tetley in their book, Witnessing
to the Cults are frank in saying that –

“(By ‘subordinate’ we mean; one who is placed in a lower position.)
Indication of Christ’s subordinate position are illustrated in the names
‘Father and Son’.” (p. 102)

In point of wisdom, Michael Schmaus, author of Dogma 3: God and His Christ,
admits that,

“Even though no one knows the Father but the Son, Jesus’ knowledge as man
has limitations: he does not know the hour of the parousia, this is known
only to the Father (Mk. 13:32). …” (p. 193

Do the statement and the cited verse mean that Christ the Son is coequal
with God the Father in terms of wisdom? Obviously they don’t.


Of Beginning Or Existence

God’s messenger, Moses, tells us that God is eternal:

“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:
and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy
them.” (Dt. 33:27, KJV)

The word “eternal” here shows that God does exist from eternity and has
neither beginning nor ending. This is clearly defined by the Psalmist when
he declared that:

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
(Ps. 90:2, Ibid.)

God does exist from the infinite past to the infinite future. And for God,
nothing existed before Him. But, to whom does the expression “eternal God’
refer? The Book of Psalms unveils His real identity, thus:

“He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my
salvation.” (Ps. 89:26, Ibid.)

The God who is eternal is none other than the Father. This plain and simple
truth does not qualify or designate the Son as God nor as coeternal with God
the Father. To assert then that Christ the Son does exist in eternity with
God the Father would vilify the Father. And it would mean also that the
Father shares His attribute of eternity with another. But, would God the
Father allow anybody to be likened to Him? Would He share His attribute or
glory with anybody?

“For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? Who among the sons of
the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?” (Ps. 89:6, Ibid.)

“ ‘I alone am the LORD your God. No other god may share my glory;’ …” (Is.
42:8, Today’s English Version)

On the other hand, our Lord Jesus Christ began to exist only when He was
conceived and born of a woman:

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law,…” (Gal. 4:4, Douay Version)

The very fact that Christ was conceived and born shows that before His
conception and birth, He did not exist. The whole Bible does not speak of
Christ’s alleged pre-existence nor existence from eternity. Not even a
single verse from the Bible can be found to support the so-called “eternal
generation” (the theologian doctrine that the Son was begotten of the Father
from all eternity and is therefore coeternal with the Father) of the Son.

Dr. James D.G. Dunn of the University of Nottingham wrote on Christ’s
alleged pre-existence, thus:

“The fact that Paul can speak of ‘one Lord’ in such close association with
the ‘one God’ as he does in I Cor. 8:6 (just as elsewhere he speaks of God
as ‘God of our Lord Jesus Christ’) can only mean that he sees Jesus not as a
pre-existent divine being, but as a man, a Jew, whose God is the one God,…”
(Christology In The Making, p. 211)

Every bit of presentation unfolds the real identity of Christ the Son that
He is not coeternal with His Father who is the only true God. At the same
time, it nullifies the belief that Christ coexists with His Father from
eternity.