The Biblical Unitarian Podcast

What did Jews think of the phrase “I am he” and how was it used in normal, everyday life? This episode lays out the context for upcoming studies of the four NT Gospels by exploring how the phrase “I am he” was understood, both as a self-declaration of Yahweh to be the only true God and as an increasingly casual self-designation in dialogues between learned Jewish rabbis. Please consider supporting...

As we continue our study of Yahweh's famous self-declaration "I am He," we turn to examine the phrase in the Book of Isaiah. This episode will look closely at eight Isaiah passages to better understand what Yahweh means when he repeatedly claims to be "I am He." We also look at how the Jews rendered these Isaiah passages into the Greek of the LXX in order to learn from their translation choices an...

What does Yahweh mean when he claims the self-designation "I am he" within the Hebrew Bible? This episode begins a series that aims to explore what the phrase "I am he" means on the lips of Yahweh in order that we might better make sense of what Jesus means when he makes a similar declaration. We examine the first-person reference ("I am he") as well as evidence for the second-person designation (...

In Revelation 1:4-5, we encounter our last attempt at the supposedly-biblical Triune God being referenced in the Bible. However, there is a problem with the designation "seven spirits who are before his throne." While some interpreters desperately argue that this is actually a reference to the Holy Spirit, the evidence suggests that these are seven angels. We examine the Book of Revelation anyways...

Within the small Epistle of Jude, there exists another triadic passage (Jude 1:20-21). However, this passage actually speaks about God, Jesus, and the Spirit--not quite the definition of the triune God eager interpreters often seek. This episode explores what Jude had to say about God, Jesus, and the Spirit. We even briefly touch on the controversial verses like 1:4 and 1:5.   Please consider supp...

The opening sentence of 1 Peter mentions the Father, Son, and Spirit together. Is this an implicit declaration of the doctrine of the Trinity or is the Father the God of Jesus? This week's episode explores this triadic statement by placing it in its context to determine what 1 Peter has to say about God, Jesus, and the Spirit. We observe that the Father alone is God, Jesus is the highly exalted hu...

Hebrews 9:14 contains another triadic reference to God, Jesus, and the Spirit. Is this evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity? We examine this passage and observe that it actually speaks about Jesus offering himself to the one true God in sacrificial terms, mediated by God's Spirit. We also explore how this triadic passage fit within the theology of the Book of Hebrews as a whole.  Please conside...

In this week's episode, we explore the prayer language in Ephesians involving the Father, Son, and Spirit. Is this prayer a subtle reference to the triune God or is the God addressed here the Father alone--the God of Jesus? We explore Ephesians and discover that the latter option is true.  Please consider supporting this Podcast and future projects by donating at: https://www.paypal.me/10mintrutht...

In this week's episode, we explore what Paul means in the triadic mention of God, the Son, and the Spirit in Gal. 4:4-6. Is this a reference to the triune God or is Paul reaffirming his Jewish monotheistic stance? We strive to set Gal. 4:4-6 within the context of the Letter to the Galatians in order to responsibly and charitably interpret what Paul meant for his original readers to understand with...

This week's episode explores the triad present in the final verse of 2 Corinthians. Since the triad does not fit the Trinity's own definition of God and the three persons, we explore what Paul has to say about God, Jesus, and the Spirit throughout the epistle in order to set the final verse responsibly in its overall context.  Please consider supporting this Podcast and future projects by donating...

Our study of the triad passages within the New Testament leads us to 1 Cor. 12:4-6, where the Apostle Paul speaks of the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God. While some eager interpreters jump on this reference and claim that Paul was teaching the Trinity to the Corinthians, this episode argues that the meaning of the passage is far more nuanced. Paul instead clearly indicates that God is...

As we continue to explore the various "triads" in the New Testament, we come across Romans 15:30 in this week's episode. What does Paul mean with this call to prayer involving God, Jesus, and the Spirit? Is Paul teaching that the Romans should pray to the Triune God or is there something else going on here? This episode explores this triad and aims to set it in its context within the Book of Roman...

Instead of explaining away or casting doubt on the reference to the Father, Son, and Spirit in Matt. 28:19, why not strive to understand what it does mean? This week's episode begins a new series that aims to explore the triadic formulas in the New Testament, beginning with the Great Commission. We consider that the Gospel of Matthew teaches about God, the Son, and the Spirit before drawing conclu...

This week's episode surveys six NT authors in order to see what sort of preexistence they attribute to Jesus. Do these authors (the four Evangelists, Paul, 1 Peter) regard Jesus as having existed in the plans and purposes of God? What about preexisting as personified wisdom/word? Can a NT author believe both of these things without contradiction? Is there any evidence that these authors regarded J...

This week's episode explores how Jews described the concept of preexistence. We note that "preexistence" is not a single concept, but rather we observe from several Jewish texts that preexistence can mean three different ideas: preexisting in God's plans, preexisting as a personified attribute (e.g., word and wisdom), and literally preexisting. This study aims to encourage interpreters to think mo...

Did Jesus Christ preexist as a rock? In this week's episode, we explain what Paul means in 1 Cor. 10:4 by first identifying the wisdom Christology in his letter. We then turn to place his discussion of the nourishment-giving rock in its Hellenistic Jewish context. Lastly,  we charitably interpret the way in which Paul describes Jesus before he was born (i.e., typology). As we come to better unders...

This week's episode gives another listen to our recent debate's closing statements. If you do not have time to listen to the debate in its entirety, my closing statement summarizes what took place, the strengths of our position, the inadequate attempts by our dialogue partners to address our key points, the weaknesses of their position, and a call to the audience to seek the more logical of the tw...

In this week's episode, we listen to the second round of cross-examination from our recent debate on whether Jesus is Yahweh (to which we argued the negative position). My debate partner Will Barlow asked the questions and I took the role of answering the questions offered by the affirmative side. Please consider supporting this Podcast and future projects by donating at: https://www.paypal.me/10m...

This week's episode explores the first round of cross-examination questions from our recent debate on whether Jesus is Yahweh. My partner Will took the lead in asking the questions to our two dialogue partners while I took the lead in answering their questions. This is the first of two rounds of cross-examination (round two will be in next week's episode).  Please consider supporting this Podcast...

In this episode, we will listen to the rebuttal round of our recent debate on whether the Bible teaches that Jesus is Yahweh. We argued against the proposition. In addition to hearing both rebuttals (one from each team), I discuss our strategy in organizing our refutation of their opening points. If you listen carefully to their rebuttal, they fail to respond to many of the seven initial points th...

Pastor Will Barlow and I recently participated in a live debate on whether the Bible teaches that Jesus is Yahweh. Will and I argued for the negative, while our dialogue partners--Kyle and Samuel--graciously argued for the affirmative. This episode of the Biblical Unitarian Podcast recalls the two opening statements from the debate. Check out the notes of this episode for the transcript of our ope...

In our final episode exploring the messianic expectations set forth in the Hebrew Bible, we dive deep into Micah chapter 5. This passage talks about a coming ruler to be born in Bethlehem in order to shepherd the children of Israel. We explore the origins of this messianic ruler, the ways in which Yahweh empowers this coming king, and the influence of Micah 5 upon the NT authors as they illustrate...

As we continue to explore the passages in the Old Testament that shaped the expectation of the Jewish messiah, we come to the Book of Daniel. In this work, the prophet interprets a dream by Nebuchadnezzar regarding a rock that crushes a large statue of kingdoms. This episode will look into how this image of a rock came to be understood by interpreters as the messianic son of God, after which we wi...

As we continue to look into the Hebrew Bible for clues about the promised Messiah's description, role, and relationship with the God of Israel, we come across Ezekiel 34 and its prophecy about the Davidic shepherd-king. We explore how Yahweh is the true shepherd and how he empowers his servant David--the Davidic messiah--with the divine prerogatives of the shepherd. Then we turn to the New Testame...

This week we examine the fourth of Isaiah's servant songs, often deemed the Suffering Servant Song (Isaiah 52-53). We look closely at how this figure interacts with kings and his sinful countrymen, as well as his relationship with Yahweh. We then turn to explore at how the authors of the New Testament depict Jesus Christ as the Suffering Servant in his ministry, death, and resurrection. Lastly, we...