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Thursday, May 8, 2014

Isaiah 43:11 and 'Savior' - Refuting Trinitarians' Claims That Jesus and Jehovah Are the Same Person


It is logically fallacious to try to establish that two persons are one and the same just because they are referred to by the same title. Yet this is what a good percentage of Trinitarian arguments attempt to do.

For example, Trinitarians sometimes claim that because Jehovah states at Isaiah 43:11 that there is no savior besides Him then Jesus must be Jehovah because Jesus is our savior. However, this is a typical Trinitarian logical fallacy since it rips the scripture out of context and it causes a contradiction in God's Word.

The scriptures explicitly show that others can properly be called "saviors." Jehovah himself states that there were others who he personally sent as "saviors" to his people! (Jg 3:9,15; 2Kings 13:5; Neh. 9:27; Isa. 19:20). Were these false saviors? Of course not! Does it negate God's statement that he alone was the savior? No, God was simply speaking in an absolute sense. So others who act as savior are the agents "through" whom God brings salvation to his people. Likewise, God brings salvation through Jesus Christ.

The problem is that Trinitarians are ripping Isa.43:11 out of it's context. Isaiah was comparing God with false idols who cannot be true saviors. Once we see the context then we can easily reconcile it with the passages that show there were other "true" saviors. All these other saviors had been sent by God as his agents to bring about salvation for His people.

Jehovah used his representatives to save his people, but He "alone" was the Source and Originator of salvation! So others who act as savior are the agents "through" whom God brings salvation to his people. Likewise, God brings salvation "through" Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to save mankind as His greatest representative and final agent of our salvation.

Even the name "Jesus" points to God as the Source of salvation. It means "Jehovah Is Salvation" and thus honors the Father as the preeminent Savior. And Christ himself looked to Jehovah--his God and Father--as his own savior (Heb.5:7; Jn.12:27).

In fact, Jesus is always presented as Jehovah's SERVANT in Isaiah and Acts (Isa. 42:1; 52:13, cf. Ac. 3:13-26; 4:27). A servant cannot be the same as his master. Isaiah said the Messiah would be "anointed" by Jehovah and the writer of Acts recorded Jesus himself admitting that he was this "anointed one" (Isa.61.1; Lk 4:18; Ac 4:27; 10:38). You cannot be Jehovah's "anointed" and also be that same person. A person is "anointed" and "sent" by a superior (Jn. 13:16). Jehovah is the Sender; Jesus is the Sent One. Jehovah is the Anointer; Jesus is the Anointed One or Messiah (Lk. 4:16-21; Ps 2:2; Ac 4:27; 10:38). So, according to Isaiah Jesus was not Jehovah, he was "anointed" and "sent" by Jehovah.

Every title or position that Jesus has was given to him by a higher power, his father and God Jehovah (Mat.28:18; 11:27; Jn. 5:22; 3:35). Even the title "savior" was a position that Jesus had to be EXALTED to by God (Acts 5:31; Jn.17:2). If Jesus were the almighty why would he have to be "exalted" to the position of savior. Why would he have to have someone else save him?

Therefore, Jehovah God is the author of salvation, but others served as His representatives and instruments or means by which Jehovah caused his plan for salvation to be carried out. Similarly, Christ is God's foremost agent for salvation. Jude 25 makes this clear: "to [the] only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might and authority for all past eternity and now and into all eternity. Amen." NIV, NJB

Every explicit scripture shows that at every point of his existence Jesus has a God over him and he was less than Almighty God (Mic.5:2-4; Jn. 14:28; 20:17; Mk.13:32; Rom.15:6; Rev.3:2,12). At the highest position he will ever attain, Jesus is still "subject" to GOD the same way we are "subject" to him (1Cor.15:27,28).

The only way someone can believe that Jesus is Almighty God is to ignore the clear, explicit statements of God's Word and accept incorrect interpretations based on ignorance of the facts.

SOURCE: This is an answer provided by BAR_ANERGES to a question at Yahoo Answers.
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For more, see:

Savior - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)

Savior (Insight -2 p. 873; Watchtower Online Library)

Isa. 43:11 / 2 Pet. 3:18 Jehovah only Savior; Jesus Savior (Examining the Trinity)

Title Confusion Trick "Saviour" (Is. 43:11) (Examining the Trinity)

A short exchange on "savior" and Isaiah 43:11 (IN Defense of the NWT)

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(To those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs), please remember that if you are looking for the authoritative information about the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's (WTBTS) Bible-based beliefs and practices, you should look to our OFFICIAL WEBSITE at http://www.jw.org/en. Numerous publications as well as the New World Translation Bible (NWT) and the very useful Watchtower Online Library can be found there.)



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