Who sits at God’s right hand?
The Objection Lab · Objection VII of X
Who sits at God’s right hand?
Stated first the way its strongest advocate states it. Then your turn.
“Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and no one can sit at his own right hand.”8 verses answer it
I · The steelman
Their case, at full strength
“Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and no one can sit at his own right hand.”
The New Testament’s most repeated picture of the risen Christ is that He is seated “on the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19; Rom 8:34; 1 Pet 3:22). It fulfils Psalm 110:1, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,” one of the Old Testament verses the New Testament quotes most often. Stephen, “full of the Holy Ghost,” “saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). In Revelation the Lamb comes and takes the book “out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne” (Rev 5:7).
Trinitarians don’t need the imagery to be literal. Their point is that whatever “right hand” means, it relates two: one who seats and one who is seated, one who holds the book and one who takes it. No one sits at his own right hand.
II · Drill it
Answer it. Ninety seconds.
Write what you would say if you heard this tonight. The clock starts with your first word; the ring is only a guide.
0 words
Read further
- Ten Objections to Oneness, Answered · this objection in the essay
- Oneness Theology: A Working Compendium
A short but complete map of Oneness theology: the one God of Israel, manifested in flesh as Jesus Christ. It works through the Hebrew and Greek of the key Old and New Testament texts, the typology of the angel, the tabernacle and the priesthood, and the apostolic practice of baptism in Jesus’ name. Each contested text is set beside the strongest Trinitarian reading before it is answered.
- YHWH in the Flesh: An Old Testament Map
The Old Testament says again and again that Yahweh himself will come, save, shepherd and shine, and that he gives his name and glory to no other. The New Testament applies those same texts to Jesus. This map sets out five groups of passages side by side and draws the conclusion they point to: Jesus is YHWH manifested in flesh.