Another Unitarian Dilemma: How Many Saviors?

In a book discussing the various views on the Trinity, one of the contributors Dr. Beau Branson, an Eastern Orthodox philosopher, leveled the following challenge to Unitarians in general, and to Unitarian philosopher Dale Tuggy in particular:

“Our second desideratum deals with the most common objection to Trinitarianism (in our day): the allegation that it amounts to tritheism. Call this the “Three Gods Problem” (3G). Our second desideratum is simple: a model of the Trinity should not be tritheistic. Less commonly discussed is how 3G generalizes. “God” is not the only word that can be predicated of more than one Trinitarian hypostasis, despite there being only one such thing. For example, Trinitarians say the Father is the Creator (e.g., Gen 1:1), but so is the Son (John 1:3; Col 1:16) and the Holy Spirit (Ps 33:6; 104:30; Job 33:4). Yet, there are not three creators, but one creator. Call this more general problem the “Three F’s Problem” (3F).¹⁰ 3F even affects Unitarianism. For the term “God,” Unitarians deny the divinity of the Son and Spirit, and for “creator,” their role in creation, but without a general solution to 3F, Unitarianism still faces objections involving other predicates. For example, Isaiah 43:11 and 45:21 say there is “no other savior,”¹¹ but the New Testament (NT) calls both the Father (Luke 1:47; Titus 1:3) and the Son (Luke 2:11; Titus 1:4) “savior.” While we’ll focus on the more common objection (3G), we’ll also keep an eye on the more general problem (3F). (Beau Branson, “God and His Word and His Spirit Are One God,” One God, Three Persons, Four Views [Cascade Books, 2024], p. 59)

In this post I will flesh out Branson’s argument to show it is biblically consistent, which in turn will confirm the logical conundrum which Unitarians face in their rejection of the Trinity and Christ’s eternal, essential Deity.

To begin with, the Holy Bible teaches that YHWH alone forgives sins and saves for his own name’s sake:

“Lamedh For Your name’s sake, O Yahweh, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.” Psalm 25:11

“Is My Helper For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, ‘Is not David hiding himself among us?’ O God, save me by Your name, And render justice to me by Your might.” Psalm 54:1

“‘You are My witnesses,’ declares Yahweh, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no god formed, And there will be none after Me. I, even I, am Yahweh, And there is no savior besides Me… I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.’” Isaiah 43:10-11, 25

This is why God commands all the nations to turn to him for salvation since there is no other deity that can do so:

“Declare and draw near with your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has made this heard from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, Yahweh? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.” Isaiah 45:21-23

However, the New Testament proclaims that salvation and forgiveness of sins come from turning to and believing in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Apostles even taught that there is no one else and no other name that can save mankind besides that of Jesus’:

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:44-47

“Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men, brothers, what should we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.’” Acts 2:37-39  

“Now it happened that on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. And when they had placed them in their midst, they began to inquire, ‘By what power, or in what name, have you done this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved from his sickness, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.’

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and comprehended that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.” Acts 4:5-14

“As for the word which He sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—… And He commanded us to preach to the people, and solemnly to bear witness that this is the One who has been designated by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” Acts 10:36, 42-43

The Old Testament also proclaims that YHWH is the One who makes atonement for sins:

“But He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; And He abounded in turning back His anger And did not arouse all His wrath.” Psalm 78:38

“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And deliver us and atone for our sins for Your name’s sake.” Psalm 79:9

“‘so that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your dishonor, when I have atoned for you for all that you have done,’ declares Lord Yahweh.” Ezekiel 16:63  

The NT Scriptures, however, teach that Jesus made and continues to make atonement for the sins committed by the whole world:

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—” Romans 3:25 New International Version (NIV)

“For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17 NIV

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2 NIV

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins… And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” 1 John 4: 9-10, 14 NIV

The Hebrew Bible further attests that YHWH is the only God who came down to save the Israelites from their Egyptian slavery:  

“For Yahweh’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him; He cared for him; He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them; He carried them on His pinions. Yahweh alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.” Deuteronomy 32:9-12

“Yet I have been Yahweh your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, And there is no savior besides Me.” Hosea 13:4

And yet the NT teaches that the God who did so was the Lord Jesus Christ in his prehuman existence:

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

“For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe.” Jude 1:4-5

Jude 1:4 tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1

Jude 1:5 tc The reading ᾿Ιησοῦς (Iēsous, “Jesus”) is deemed too hard by several scholars, since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel (the NA²⁷ has “the Lord” instead of “Jesus”). However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from a variety of early witnesses (e.g., A B 33 81 88 322 424^c 665 915 1241 (1735: “the Lord Jesus”) 1739 1881 2298 2344 vg co eth Or^1739mg Cyr Hier Bede), but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) or θεός (theos, “God”) for ᾿Ιησοῦς (though P⁷² has the intriguing reading θεὸς Χριστός [theos Christos, “God Christ”] for ᾿Ιησοῦς). As difficult as the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is, in light of v. 4 and in light of the progress of revelation (Jude being one of the last books in the NT to be composed), it is wholly appropriate. The NA²⁸ text now also reads Ιησοῦς. For defense of this reading, see Philipp Bartholomä, “Did Jesus Save the People out of Egypt: A Re-examination of a Textual Problem in Jude 5,” NovT 50 (2008): 143-58.

sn The construction our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ in v. 4 follows Granville Sharp’s rule (see note on Lord). The construction strongly implies the deity of Christ. This is followed by a statement that Jesus was involved in the salvation (and later judgment) of the Hebrews. He is thus to be identified with the Lord God, Yahweh. Verse 5, then, simply fleshes out what is implicit in v. 4. New English Translation (NET)

Moreover, the OT is clear that there is no creature who is sinless, which is why they are all in need of YHWH’s forgiveness in order to be redeemed from their sins:

“If You should keep iniquities, O Yah, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, That You may be feared…  O Israel, wait for Yahweh; For with Yahweh there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption. And it is He who will redeem Israel From all his iniquities.” Psalm 130:3-4, 7-8

The NT again scandalizes Unitarians by identifying Jesus as that YHWH God who became Man from the holy and blessed Virgin for the express purpose of saving his people from their sins!

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the One who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus (Heb. Yeshua – “YHWH saves”), for He will save His people from their sins.’” Matthew 1:18-21

This in itself refutes the Unitarian assumption that Jesus is a mere human creature, since there is no human being who is capable of saving himself, let alone someone else:

“And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’” Mark 10:26-27 English Standard Version (ESV)

At the same time, the inspired NT writers also identify God the Father as the Savior, along with Jesus Christ his Son:

“but at the proper time manifested His word in preaching, with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, To Titus, my genuine child according to our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.” Titus 1:3-4

“not pilfering, but showing all good faith, in order to bring credit to the teaching of God our Savior in everything… as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.” Titus 2:10, 13-14

Titus 2:13 tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, theos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, sōtēr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4. NET

“For we ourselves also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, AND to the Lamb.’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, the blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These, clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?’ And I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary; and He who sits on the throne will dwell over them.  They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will shepherd them and will guide them to springs of the water of life. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.’” Revelation 7:9-17

What this proves is that the one true God who alone forgives and saves from sins is not a singular Person, but a singular Being. And this infinite, uncreated Deity is identified in the inspired writings as the Father and the Son (along with their Holy Spirit).

Therefore, Branson’s point stands since it is confirmed by the unambiguous teaching of the God-breathed Scriptures.

Unless indicated otherwise, scriptural references taken from the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB).

Further Reading

UNITARIAN QUOTE-MINING EXPOSED

Unitarian Logic Gone Wild!

Refuting Another Unitarian Canard

Is the Savior necessarily God?

Jesus Christ and JWs: Who is the Jehovah That Saves?

Jesus Christ: The God Who Saved & Punished During the Exodus