| Home > Salvation Scheme > John Biddle Faith |
John Biddle's
(1615-1662) Christian theory
by bro.Muhammad Ata ur-Rahim
Biddle published a pamphlet at this time entitled "Twelve Arguments Refuting the Deity of the Holy Spirit". It was addressed "To the Christian Reader". In 1645, the manuscript of the "Twelve Arguments" was seized and Biddle was imprisoned. He was called to appear before Parliament but still refused to accept the Deity of the Holy Spirit. He reprinted the pamphlet in 1647. On the 6th of September of the same year, Parliament ordered that the pamphlet be burnt by the hangman, and this was done. On the 2nd of May, 1648, a "Severe Ordinance" was passed. It stated that anyone who denied the Trinity , or the divinity of Jesus or the Holy Spirit, would suffer death without the benefit of clergy.
A summary of the "Twelve Arguments", the cause of such extreme measures, follows :
He that is distinguished from God is not God.
The Holy Spirit is distinguished form God .
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
Biddle further explained this syllogism with these words:
The major premise is quite clear inasmuch as if we say that the Holy Spirit
is God and yet distinguished from God then it implied a contradiction. The
minor premise that the Holy Spirit is distinguished from God is
confirmed by the whole current of scripture. The argument that the Holy
Spirit is distinguished from God if it is taken personally and not
essentially is against all reason:
First, it is impossible for any man to distinguish the Person from the
Essence of God, and not to frame two Beings of Things in his mind.
Consequently, he will be forced to the conclusion that there are two Gods.
Secondly, if the Person be distinguished from the Essence of God, the Person
would be some Independent Thing. Therefore it would be either finite
or infinite. If finite then God would be a finite thing since according to
the Church everything is God is God himself. So the conclusion is absurd. If
infinite then there will be two infinites in God, and consequently the two
Gods which is more absurd then the former argument.
Thirdly, to speak of God taken impersonally is ridiculous, as it is
admitted by everyone that God is the Name of a Person, who with absolute sovereignty
rules over all..... None but a person can rule over others therefore to take
otherwise than personally is to take him otherwise than He is.
He that gave the Holy Spirit to the Israelites is Jehovah
alone.
Then the Holy Spirit is not Jehovah or God.
He that speakest not for himself.
The Holy Spirit speaks not for himself.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
He that is taught is not God.
He that hears from another what he shall speak is taught.
Christ speaks what he is told.
Therefore Christ is not God.
Here Biddle quotes John 8 :26 where Jesus says
:"Whatsoever I have heard from Him these things I
speak"
In John 16:14 Jesus says: "God is He that giveth all
things to all"
He that receives from another is not God.
He that is sent by another is not God.
The Holy Spirit is sent by God.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God
He that is not the giver of all things is not God.
He that is the gift of God is not the giver of all things.
He that is the gift of God himself given.
The gift is in the power and at the disposal of the giver.
It is therefore absurd to imagine that God can be in the power or at the
disposal of another.
Here Biddle quotes Acts 17:25
:"God giveth to all ,life breath and all
things"
He that changes place is not God.
The Holy Spirit changes place.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
Biddle further explained this syllogism in these words.
"If God changes place then he would
cease to be where he was before and begin to be where he was not
before, which is against his omnipresence, and His Deity. Therefore it was
not God who came to Jesus but an Angel sustaining the Person in the Name of
God"
He that prays to Christ to come to judgement is not God.
The Holy Spirit does so.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
In Romans 10:14 it reads, "How shall they believe in
him to whom they have not heard. He in whom men have not believed, yet were
disciples".
He who is not believed in is not God.
Men have not believed in the Holy Spirit , yet were disciples.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
He that hears from God at the second hand, viz the Christ
Jesus, what he shall speak has an understanding distinct from God.
He that heareth from God what he shall speak is taught
of God.
The Holy Spirit does so.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
He that has a will distinct in number from that of God is
not God.
The Holy Spirit has a will distinct in number from
that of God.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is not God.
Here Biddle quotes Roman 8:26-27 which reads:
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth.....for we know
not how to pray as we ought but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with
groans unutterable ..... he maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God."
Biddle also discussed the one verse in the New Testament which the established church quoted to support their view of Trinity. It is John 5:7 which reads :"For there are three that bear record in heaven-The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are One". Biddle said the verse was contrary to common sense. It contradict other verses in the scriptures, and it only signified union of consent and agreement but never of essence. Furthermore, the verse did not appear in the ancient Greek copies of the gospel, nor in the Syriac translations, nor in the very old Latin editions. It seemed therefore that the verse had been interpolated, and was rejected as such by interpreters both ancient and modern1.
Despite the Act of 1648, Biddle published two other tracts, and would probably have been hanged for doing so had he not been helped by a number of independent members of the Parliament. One of the works was called "A Confession of Faith Touching the Holy Trinity According to the Scripture". It was composed of six articles, each illustrated with passages from the Bible and supported with his arguments. In the preface, he boldly talked of the evils resulting from the belief in the doctrine of Trinity. He said that arguments used to by the trinitarians were "fitter for conjurers than Christians"2.Here is an excerpts from Biddle's "Confession of faith"
I believe that there is one most High God, Creator of Heaven, and Earth and the first Cause of all things and consequently the ultimate object of our Faith, and Worship. I believe in Jesus, to the extent that he might be our brother. and have a fellow feeling of our infirmities and so become more ready to help us. He has only human nature.
He is subordinate to God. And he is not another God. There are not two Gods.
The Holy Spirit is an Angel who due to his eminence and intimacy with God is singled out to carry His message.3
The other work Biddle published at this time was called "The Testimonies of Iraneus, Justin Martyr, Etc. Concerning One God and the Persons of the Holy Trinity"
After a long wait in prison, a magistrate stood bail for Biddle, and he was released. The name of the magistrate was kept secret since he feared for his safety, Biddle had not enjoyed his liberty for very long before he was again thrown into prison. The magistrate died soon after, and left a small legacy to Biddle. It was soon eaten up by the high cost of the prison, and for a while Biddle's food was reduced to a small quantity of milk taken in the morning and in the evening. His situation was eased when a London publisher employed him while still in prison as a proof reader for a new edition of the Septuagent, a Greek translation of the Bible. On the16th of February 1652, the Act of Oblivion was passed and Biddle was set free. An English version of the Racovian Cathechism was printed in Amsterdam during the same year, and immediately became popular in England. Biddle printed a book on Unitarianism in 1654, again in Amsterdam, and it was widely read in England. During this period of freedom, Biddle began to meet with other unitarians every Sunday to worship God in their own way. Those who attended did not believe in the concept of Original Sin and the doctrine of atonement. On the 13th of December 1654, Biddle ,who had recently published two Cathechisms, was again arrested and sent to prison. He was forbidden the use of pen, ink and paper and was not allowed to have any visitors. All copies of his books were ordered to be burnt, He appealed, and was released on the28th of May, 1655.
It was not long before Biddle again clashed with the authorities: A public debate was taking place. The speaker commenced the dispute by asking if there was anyone present who denied that Christ was God most High. Biddle promptly and firmly declared, "I deny it" . When he supported this statement with arguments which he adversaries could not refute, it was decided to halt the proceedings and to continue on another day. Biddle was then reported to the authorities, and before the day fixed for the debate was again arrested and put in the prison. To begin with, Biddle, was denied the services of a lawyer, perhaps because it was doubtful whether there was a law in force at that time under which he could be convinced. His friends who were well aware of this decided to approach Cromwell directly. They drew up a petition and sent it to him. Before it could reach him the petition was so altered and disfigured that its authors had to openly disown it as a forgery.
Cromwell, who was at his wits end, found a way out of this difficult situation by banishing Biddle to the Scilly Islands on the 5th of October 1655. He was to remain in custody in the Castle of St. Mary's for the rest of his life and would be paid an allowance of one hundred crowns per annum. During his captivity there, Biddle wrote a poem a few lines of which follows:
The conclave met, the judge was set,
Man mounted on God's throne;
And they did judge a matter there,
That rests with Him alone;
A brother's faith they made a crime,
And crushed thought's native sublime.4
Please read the Biddle History
Reference
True Opinion Concerning the Holy Trinity, J. Biddle
Anti-Trinitarian Biographies . III , A. Wallace
The Epic of Unitarianism , D.B. Parke, pp 31-32
Anti-Trinitarian Biographies . III , A. Wallace
from the Book : Jesus - A prophet of Islam
Author : Muhammad Ata ur-Rahim
(ICRA)