Introduction

This paper consists of two parts, the shorter of which is Part One (the first three chapters). In Part One, I briefly explain the “theological metamor­pho­sis” of Christian Disciples Church (CDC), a church in which I have served in various capacities for a few decades. In speaking of this meta­morpho­sis, I am refer­ring to something that took place around 2005 or 2006 when we en masse, as a whole church spanning three contin­ents, abandoned our long­standing belief in trinitarian­ism. In so doing, we were moving towards true mono­theism or what we call “biblical mono­the­ism,” in which no one but the Father of Jesus Christ is true God. A Bible verse that impelled us in this direction was John 17:3 in which Jesus declares that his Father is “the only true God”.

So whereas for several decades we had been promoting a trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, we now pro­claim the one and only God — the Father — and the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Our shift away from trinitarianism is more thorough­going than, say, a switch from Cal­vinism to Armin­ian­ism, or from Protest­ant­ism to Cathol­icism, because the God of biblical mono­theism is incompati­ble with the God of trinitarianism. What changed for us was not just the content of our faith but its nature.

Hence even the word metamorphosis falls short as an ade­quate metaphor of our transition, for a butter­fly’s basic nature remains the same whether it is a caterpillar, a cocoon, or a full monarch.

Yet in a real way, metamorphosis accurately describes our jour­ney. We went through a win­ter of inner stirrings as we searched the Bible for the truth about God. Then came the warmth of spring as we stepped out into the world of biblical monothe­ism.

Our story is not just about the past but the present and the hopeful future. In recounting our past, we are moving towards a future strate­gy for the cause of bibli­cal monotheism, to proclaim the one and only God.

In Part Two (chapters 4 onwards), the longer of the two parts, we re-evaluate the deity of Jesus Christ in John’s Gospel. The sole authority for our study will be the Scriptures, the inspired Word of God. There will be no further mention of our church in Part Two.