AI-generated summary
Central Claim: Shawn McCraney argues against traditional Trinitarian language, asserting instead that Jesus was God the Father manifested in human flesh—"God with us"—rather than a separate "second person of the Trinity." Jesus is God's singular human son who possessed the fullness of the Father's divine nature while maintaining genuine human agency and will.
Biblical Basis: McCraney grounds this in Philippians 2:5-11, emphasizing that Jesus (not God in abstract) humbled himself, chose servanthood, and exercised free will—actions McCraney argues require genuine humanity. Paul's repeated designation of God as "the Father" supports his monotheistic framework.
Yeshuan Perspective: This reflects fulfilled eschatology's emphasis on subjective experience and personal understanding over institutional creeds. McCraney prioritizes direct biblical reading over "man-made, non-biblical, formulaic" doctrinal traditions, urging listeners to transcend inherited theological language. The focus shifts from abstract metaphysical categories to the concrete reality of God's relational presence through Christ's voluntary humiliation and exaltation.
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Jesus - God with the Man
I want to share something about Jesus with you tonight. You know, we call Him the Son of God, God with us, God in the flesh – and I think He was. GOD . . . with us. God . . . with us.
Now, what I am about to say can be easily misunderstood because I refuse to embrace the language many Christians use to talk about Jesus – as the second member of the Holy Trinity. None of that man-made, non-biblical, formulaic BS for me. I don’t like that word, I don’t like how it is defined, and I don’t see it represented nearly as much in the Bible as the way I understand Jesus.
Understanding the Nature of Jesus
Did God manifest Himself in Jesus of Nazareth? Yes. Does God speak to us by and through the Spirit – which is His Spirit? Certainly. Is there one God? There is. And Paul repeatedly calls him . . . ready? The Father. So when God the Father, by His divine Spirit was with us in flesh, who was He? Jesus of Nazareth, born of a woman, born under the Law. And when God (whom Paul calls the Father repeatedly) is with us in Spirit, how does this happen? Through His Holy Spirit.
I want to appeal to Paul’s words to the Philippians in 2:5-11 that are really beneficial IF . . . you are willing to hear. If not, that’s okay too. Paul says:
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
(So Jesus becomes the subject here and the mind that he had while here on earth)
6 Who, (speaking of Jesus) being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: He did not find it improper or a crime to seem like God or possess the same divine essence as God.
7 But (Jesus) made himself of no reputation, (as creator of all things Jesus made Himself of no reputation, and as a Man with free will, chose a path of no reputation) and took upon him the form of a servant, (Again, in and of the freewill He had in His flesh, HE took upon HIMSELF the role of a servant) and was made in the likeness of men:
(Who was made in the likeness of Man? God was. In the likeness of a human being named Jesus of Nazareth.)
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The human man Jesus humbled himself – God does not need to humble himself – but Jesus the man did. And He chose to – for us – as God’s only HUMAN SON.
The Exaltation of Jesus
Now, listen to the outcome of Jesus of Nazareth's choice to humble himself as a servant:
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Beat. Don’t let the traditions of Man confuse you. There is One God . . . and He had One Human Son, named Jesus of Nazareth. He had the fullness of the One God, His father in Him.