In a post entitled, "Trinitarian Christology vs. Jesus’ Faith," I wrote the following:
That this is accepted by most defenders of the Trinity can be seen in how they try to argue that Jesus did not have faith in God during the incarnation; for example, Aquinas (1225-1274), in his Summa Theologica, wrote the following:
To admit that Jesus had faith in God during mortality causes all sorts of problems for Trinitarian Christology. Notice the following argument:
God doesn't have faith
Jesus had faith
Therefore, Jesus and God are not numerically identical.
I answer that, As was said above (II-II, 1, 4), the object of faith is a Divine thing not seen. Now the habit of virtue, as every other habit, takes its species from the object. Hence, if we deny that the Divine thing was not seen, we exclude the very essence of faith. Now from the first moment of His conception Christ saw God's Essence fully, as will be made clear (34, 1). Hence there could be no faith in Him.
There are many problems with this, not the least is that it goes against the clear teachings of Hebrews that (1) Christ was human in all things except being sinful and (2) that Christ is our forerunner:
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Heb 2:16-18)
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Heb 6:19-20)
Again, Trinitarians are in the unenviable position of having to defend a dogma against both logic and scripture.
Recently, Dale Tuggy has uploaded a lecture he gave at a philosophical symposium, "Jesus as an Exemplar of Faith in the New Testament" that delves into this issue and its implication for various Trinitarian formulations of Christology, including the utter nonsense that is the Hypostatic Union:
Recently, Dale Tuggy has uploaded a lecture he gave at a philosophical symposium, "Jesus as an Exemplar of Faith in the New Testament" that delves into this issue and its implication for various Trinitarian formulations of Christology, including the utter nonsense that is the Hypostatic Union:
