The Trinitarian and Unitarian View of Jesus
Thomas Allen
Omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence are attributes of God. Did Jesus possess these attributes? While Trinitarians answer “yes,” Unitarians answer “no.”
According to Trinitarians, Jesus was God, but to Unitarians, God was in Jesus. While Trinitarians maintain that Jesus was divine, infinite, and absolute, Unitarians maintain that he was human, finite, and dependent.
Although both believe that Jesus had two natures, human and divine, they perceive the union of the two natures differently. However, both hold that Jesus was one person.
Since the consciousness of one person is a single consciousness, Jesus could not simultaneously be all-knowing and not all-knowing, all-powerful and not all-powerful, and everywhere and not everywhere. Moreover, he could not be dependent on God for all things and not dependent on Him for anything. Consequently, either Jesus was God united to a human soul as Trinitarians claim, or he was a human soul united with God as Unitarians claim.
If Jesus were God, when he spoke, he spoke as God. Thus, when he used the personal pronoun “I,” he spoke as God. The Council of Chalcedon, which proclaimed that Jesus had two independent natures and wills, declared that whenever Jesus spoke, he always spoke as God the Son and never as a mere human.
However, Unitarians claim that when Jesus spoke, he spoke as a finite man. Therefore, when he used the personal pronoun “I,” he spoke as a finite being and not as the infinite Being.
Unitarians view Jesus as a human who was intimately united with God and was in perfect union with the indwelling God. Jesus was a man like all other humans, yet he was at one with God and was filled with God. He was the image of the invisible God and the firstborn from the dead and, thus, the firstborn of the new creation.
To support their claim that Jesus is omnipresent, Trinitarians cite Matthew 18:20 (“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”) and Matthew 28:20 (“teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”). An omnipresent being is everywhere simultaneously and eternally. He fills every atom, particle, void, wave, graviton, photon, etc. — even in hell. No place, thing, entity, etc. exists where he is not. Thus, being everywhere and in everything all the time, an omnipresent being cannot move. To where can he move? He is already there. Moreover, if he moves, a place or whatever exists without his presence, and he ceases to be omnipresent. Jesus moved; therefore, he was not omnipresent. (According to Revaluation, even Jesus’s spiritual body moved.) If he were omnipresent, he would be with one who has gathered in his name and where no one gathered in his name. Just as a radio wave can be in many places simultaneously, so may Jesus be in many places at the same time, but such presence is not omnipresent. What Matthew 28:20 shows is that God gave Jesus the ability and power to be with his followers, his church. To be with them does not require him to be omnipresent.
To support their claim that Jesus is omniscient, Trinitarians cite Matthew 16:21 (“From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”) Knowing his destiny and purpose does not make Jesus omniscient. Jesus acknowledged that he was not omniscient when he said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36) According to Revelation, Jesus in his heavenly body did not know the timing of the events of the end time; God gave it to him (Rev. 1:1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;”). Thus, Jesus was not “God in the flesh” as the Trinitarians assert, but he was a man approved of God or pointed out to us as Peter so stated in Acts 2:22 (“Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know;”).
(The Biblical quotations are from the American Standard Bible. The King James Version and some other translations omit the phrase “neither the Son” in Matthew 24:36. However, this phrase appears in the best manuscripts. Anyway, the parallel verse, Mark 13:32 [“But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”] contains this phrase. Moreover, all the translations listed at Bible Gateway, including the King James Version, contain this phrase. For some reason, Trinitarians do not cite Mark 13:32 as proof of Jesus’ omniscience.)
To support their claim that Jesus is omnipotent, Trinitarians cite John 11:38-44, which describes Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. If raising a person from the dead is proof of omnipotence, then Peter and Paul are omnipotent. Peter raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-42), and Paul raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:7–12).
As shown above, Trinitarians and Unitarians have significantly different views of Jesus. While Trinitarians see him as omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God, Unitarians see him as the perfect, sinless man fully approved by God, his Father.
Copyright © 2026 by Thomas Allen.
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