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The Incarnation of God and the Distinction between the Father and Son

by Caleb Purtcher (or via YouTube) and Robert P. Terry
Updated January 27, 2025

Many Trinitarians throughout history have misapplied the word 'Son' with the assumption that it's referring to a person (or hypostasis) who is distinct from God the Father. However, none of the early church believers (Modalistic Monarchians) believed that Jehovah God existed as multiple persons. Instead, because of the incarnation, the early church believers believed that God existed as one person with two distinct natures. To be more specific, God ontologically existed in eternity as a single person with a divine nature, but through the incarnation, He added a human nature to His existence. These two natures enabled God to exist simultaneously in heaven as the eternal divine Spirit (God as God) and on earth as a true human son (God as man).

The appellation 'Father' is always referring to His divine nature who gives life and creates, but the appellation 'Son' always refers to His 'begotten' human nature as a human being, with both natures belonging to the same person. The incarnation of God refers to God adding a human nature to His person, enabling Him to exist as a human. This condescension of God as a human being allowed Him to manifest an unprecedented glory and accomplish a divine righteousness that will be marveled at throughout all eternity by both man, angel, and every creature. This condescension of Jehovah God as a human being has been misunderstood by many people. The reason is described in 1 John 3:1 where it says, "the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." Similarly, John 1:10 says, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." In like manner, Isaiah 45:15 prophesied, "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." We can understand these verses through the use of the appellations of God in the prophesy of Isaiah 9:6 where it says, "unto us a son is given...And his name shall be called...The mighty God, The everlasting Father," signifying to us that when the Father became the Son of God, he was hiding Himself in the incarnation. In other words, Jehovah God, who is most often referred to with the appellation of Father in the New Testament, became able to be also called the Son of God because of the incarnation. Therefore, in the New Testament, the person of Jehovah God corresponds to both the Father and the Son, and His divine nature is called Father, while His incarnated human nature came to be called Son.

It is a major mistake to believe that God exists as three distinct persons. The Trinity doctrine violates Deuteronomy 6:4-5 where it teaches that Jehovah God is one person who demands to be loved absolutely. If God exists as three persons, our heart would become divided between the three persons, and because of this, we would not be able to give God the absolute love that He demands. However, because God is only one person, God is able to demand to be loved absolutely. In order to obey His command, we have to give our love "with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might" to a God who exists as a single person. If we were to give our love to God as if the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three distinct persons, we would be violating the greatest commandment of Deuteronomy 6:4-5.