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Theophilus Lindsey (1663-1741)
Christian theory
by bro.Muhammad Ata ur-Rahim
The formation of the Essex Street congregation soon inspired other Unitarian "chapels" to be built in Birmingham, Manchester, and other English cities. Ecclesiastical independence fostered doctrinal freedom, so that in 1790, in an address to the students of Oxford and Cambridge, Lindsey asserted the following "facts, clear and plain to every understanding ......which all men, who believe the scriptures, sooner or later must bow down to and acknowledge:
The three is One God, one single person, who is God, the sole creator and sovereign Lord of all things;
That the holy Jesus was a man of the Jewish nation, the servant of this God, highly honoured and distinguished by Him;
That the Spirit, or Holy Spirit, was not a person, or intelligent being; but only the extraordinary power or gift of God, imparted to Jesus Christ himself, in his life-time, and afterwards, to the apostles and many of the first Christians, to empower them to preach and propogate the gospel with success (Acts 1:2); and
That this was the doctrine concerning God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, which was taught by the apostles, and preached to Jews and heathens1.
With these almost modern convictions, English Unitarianism entered its greatest age.
In his writings, Lindsey made the following points to establish the fact that Jesus Christ is not God:
Jesus never styles as God; nor does he drop the least intimation that he was the person by whom all things were made.
The Scriptures of the Old Testament throughout speak of but one person, one Jehova, as God by Himself, Alone and creator of all things. With reference to John 5:7, it is therefore not credible that John , a pious Hebrew, should all at once introduce another creator, a new God, without any notice. It is not known whence he drew this strange doctrine, or by what authority he delivered it; especially when we consider that by the law of Moses, whose divine authority he acknowledged, it was the crime of idolatry and blasphemy to have, or to worship , any other God but Jehova. his lord and master, Jesus, made mention of no other God but Jehova, and never took upon himself to speak anything of himself; but as the father, whose messenger he was, gave him commandment what he should say and what he should speak (John 12:49)The writers of the gospel history speak of one divine person, the Father, as the only true God. (John 17:3).
Mark, Mathew and Luke wrote without consulting each other. They have never thrown any hint of Jesus being God. It cannot be believed or imagined that these men, if they had known him to be God and Creator of the World, would have kept silent on this important subject.
John, who begins his gospel by saying that the Word was God and that Jesus was the Word made flesh, does not ascribe this name to him once in the rest of the gospel
An examination of Luke's gospel shows that he believed that Jesus had no existence before he was born of his mother, Mary, since,
In 2,23,38, a lineal descent of Jesus given.
In 4:24 and 8:33 Jesus is acknowledged to be a prophet of God
In 7:16 and 24:19, Jesus is called a prophet.
In 2:13 and 4:27 , 30, Peter and some of the other apostles call Jesus the servant of God.
In 17:24, 30, Luke describes him as the "son of man", appointed to an important office under God that made the world.
Lindsey asked those who worshipped Jesus what their reaction would be if Jesus appeared to them and asked the following questions:
Why did you address you devotions to me? Did I ever direct you to do it, or propose myself as an object of religious worship?
Did I not uniformly and to the last set you an example myself of praying to the Father, to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God ?(John 20:17)
When my disciples requested me to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-2), did I teach them to pray myself or to any other person but the Father?
Did I ever call myself God, or tell you that I was the maker of the world and to be worshipped?
Solomon, after building the temple said, "Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heaven cannot contain thee: how much less this house which I have built. (I Kings 8:27)2
Reference
The Epic of Unitarianism, D.B Parke, p.47
A List of False Reading of the Scripture, T. Lindsey
Read Theophilus Lindsey History
from the Book : Jesus - A prophet of Islam
Author : Muhammad Ata ur-Rahim
(ICRA)