Is Jesus Really God?
The issue of the deity of Jesus Christ has been hotly debated for centuries. It was an Alexandrian theologian named Arius who popularized the view that the preincarnate Christ was a created-being who was, both in Essence and in Person, distinct from God. His view came to be called “Arianism,” and was condemned by early church councils. It is one of the Christological positions that fall under the label of “unitarianism.” The orthodox position regarding the deity of Christ has prevailed through the history of Christendom, but unitarianism has never gone away. Today, the most successful unitarian (Arian) group in the world of professing Christianity is the Watch Tower Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses). Several smaller groups, such as the Assemblies of Yahweh and the Concordant Publishing Concern, also hold this form of unitarianism.
