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From An Examination of the Principal Arguments Claimed in Support of the Trinity By James M. Holland 1852
John tells us the Word was God. It will be remembered that Christ is called God several times in the Scriptures, and for proper reasons. The name God is an ambiguous title given to different characters in Scripture, and is a name given to Christ by his Father. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”—Phil. ii: 9. Now, we discover the name of God is a name above every other, and this is the name the Father gave him. “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Heb. i: 8, 9. Here God, speaking of his Son, calls him God- not that we are to understand that there are two Gods; for there is but one God and one Son, who has the name of God given him by his Father. Hence, we see in Scripture the name God is a title given to Christ. Whoever considers the different applications of the name of God in the Scriptures, must be convinced that this title is no proof of Christ's self-existence. I now shall notice some of them. David said, "Worship him all ye gods." What David calls gods Paul calls angels, and says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”—Heb. i: 6. From this it is evident that the name of God is given to angels. The same title is given to men. "He judgeth among the gods. I have said ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.”—Ps. Ixxxii: 1,5. To these passages Christ alluded when the Jews called him a blasphemer. He answered them, “Is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scriptures cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God.”—John x: 34, 35, 36. Here prophets and men to whom the word of God came, are called gods. And again: “The Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god unto Pharaoh; and Aaron, thy brother shall be thy prophet.”—Exod. vii: 1. Here the name of God was given to Moses, yet Moses was not the self-existent God. And Peter, in speaking of Christ, says, "God made him both Lord and Christ."-Acts ii: 36. Hence, he has given him a name above every other. God is not a name given to the self-existent Jehovah, yet it is truly that which implies his true character. “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God."-Ps. xc: 2. It does not say he was called God, but thou art God. As God is that which expresses his true character. Hence, he says, “I am God, and there is none else.”—Isaiah xlv: 22. Now, it is clear that there are many different characters in the Scriptures that bear the title or name of God. If Christ being called God proves him to be God in the highest sense—that is, to be the self-existent God-by the same rule we prove that the Judges, Rulers, Prophets, and Moses were self-existent gods—nay, even Satan is called the god of this world. The glutton's belly is called his God. And consequently to say that all these are eternal and self-existent gods, would multiply their numbers greatly. Paul, however, explains the whole matter in 1 Cor. viii: 5, 6. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there be gods many and lords many. But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” Although the name of God is given to several different characters in the Scriptures, and even to the Son of God, yet we are to understand there is, strictly speaking, but one God, and one Lord Jesus Christ. It is said in Jeremiah xxiii: 6, “This is the name whereby he, [Christ], shall be called The Lord our righteousness." It is contended that this is a title given to the Lord Jehovah. Let it be so. It is equally certain that it is a title given to Jerusalem. “In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.” Jer. xxxiii: 16. Would any person suppose, from this expression, that Jerusalem is the self-existent Jehovah? All that we can, in any way, possibly infer from this is, that a divine title is given to Jerusalem.
The names given to different persons in the Old Testament, with their significations, are of equal signification with this, and also of that of Emanuel, or God with us; Eliashib, the God of conversion; Elijah, God the Lord, the strong; Elisha, the salvation of God; Lemuel, God with them or him. Names or derived titles cannot be evidence of either place or person, being the eternal or self-existent God.
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