Modern Trinitarians do not hold to the Nicene Creed

The video below is an attempt by Dr. William Lane Craig to explain and justify the modern Evangelical interpretation of the Trinity. My comments are below.

The problem with Dr. Craig’s argument is threefold:

1. Scripture calling Jesus “God” does not establish a divine nature or His being 1/3 of a tri-personal being. The same words (Elohim, Theos) are used of pagan gods, human rulers, antichrist, and Satan (the god of this age). The problem is the false presupposition that the noun “God” describes a particular nature or essence. It absolutely does not, otherwise it would mean that the pagan “gods” (who are demons) and even Satan himself share the divine nature. The term “God” (Elohim, Theos) points exclusively to SOVEREIGNTY, not divinity, just as the word “king.” Jesus can rightly be called “God” because His sovereignty was delegated to Him by the Father (Matt. 28:18). As the “Messenger of Yahweh,” God placed His name upon Him (Exod. 23:20-23). He was “God” to those whom He interacted with as Yahweh’s Agent, the “image of the invisible God.”

2. Dr. Craig’s explanation cannot account for Scriptures which apply the “one God” statement exclusively to the Father, such as 1 Cor. 8:6. Jesus referred to His Father as “the only true God” in John 17 which distinguished Himself from the “one God” statements. Therefore, the claim that “one God” refers to a tri-personal being is falsified by these statements.

3. The singular personal pronouns and singular verbs used in the many “one God” passages require a singular mind, not necessarily a singular “body” (being) as in the example of the 3-headed dog. One has to violate the grammar or invent new rules of grammar to make singular personal pronouns and verbs refer to a tri-personal being. Singular personal pronouns always require a singular PERSON/MIND thus cannot refer to a being with three distinct PERSONS/MINDS.

The earliest Christians such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Theophilus, etc. had it exactly right. There is one eternal, all powerful, PERSON, the Father. The preincarnate Son was “only-begotten” out of the Father’s Person as “the Beginning” (Prov. 8:22-31; Col. 1:15-18; Rev. 3:14). Since “kind” begets like “kind,” the procreation language (only-begotten of the Father) and familial language (Father – Son) show that the Son was not eternal. He was “begotten not made.” Jesus Himself said that He “issued forth out of God …” (Jn. 8:42 Gk.).

Dr. Craig, like most modern Trinitarians, is denying the sense of the Nicene Creed which was absolutely correct.
“We believe in ONE GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, Maker of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible.” (It is not One God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as Dr. Craig is interpreting the “one God” statements).
“And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made.”