"God" and "Man" are Mutually Exclusive Categories
The above statement seems self-evident to me. However, in discussions with Trinitarians the issue has arisen. Apparently it's not so self evident, at least to them.
Another way to say it would be, "Creator" and "creation" are mutually exclusive categories. One being cannot be both the creator and the thing created. One way Trinitarians deal with this is - they punt; they say,
"We can't understand it, it's beyond our human experience. And just because it appears to us to be a contradiction doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be true, after all we are fallen and have limited understanding."
This, of course, is a cop-out because it effectively halts the discussion. If we are unable to understand it, why talk about it? And if we are unable to understand it, why would God inspire the biblical writers to write from the presupposition that it is true, and expect us to "get it" and hold us accountable when we do not?
The fact of the matter is, Jesus never appealed to the argument that something was not understandable. He always endeavored to explain himself, and what he was saying. The Pharisees were constantly trying to catch Jesus in a contradiction and when they thought they had him, he explained himself every time. He never said, "This is beyond human understanding." Many times in what appears to be exasperation he says, "Why do you not understand what I am saying?" Jesus' default was that everything he was saying was understandable.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
Notice that the "simplicity that is in Christ" is intellectual: "...so your MINDS should be corrupted..."
Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. (I Tim 6:20)
One of the hallmarks of false knowledge is that it contains "contradictions". AVOID contradictions - so says the apostle Paul.
With this respect for the law of contradiction in mind consider:
Another way that Trinitarians deal with this issue is the alleged dual nature of Christ. They would agree that God and man are mutually exclusive categories and that is why Jesus HAD to have had a God-nature, and separate from that, a man-nature, both coexisting in a single human body.
1) This idea is based on the belief that one's "essential nature" does not include the body and can exist apart from the body. It conceptualizes the body as merely the shell in which the person lives, to be discarded at death. This is Greek, not Hebrew and is a mistaken anthropology. The Church has retained the idea of a resurrection but has rendered it secondary and moot by teaching that the soul exists apart from the body in heaven. This teaching comes directly from Greek philosophy. To the Hebrews, the body was just as essential to the self conscious identity of the person as the soul, and for one to exist without the other was not possible. Body and soul together is what makes up the whole person. When the body dies the soul does not retain consciousness. The "nature" of a man does not exist in a body. The body is an essential part of that nature. And so the idea of two natures existing in or sharing a single body in a natural condition (as opposed to demonic possession) was inconceivable. For further information on this issue see: The Alleged Inherent Immortality of the Human Soul, and it's Ability to Exist in a Disembodied State After Death
2) This doctrine of the dual nature of Christ is a speculative solution based on inference that is nowhere explicitly taught anywhere in the Bible. It is deemed necessary to resolve the seeming problem of the "Jesus is God" -type statements and the "Jesus is a man" -type statements. As I have shown elsewhere, a much better solution is to show that the "Jesus is God" -type statements have been misunderstood, and how that has happened. (See also: Observations on the role of Greek Philosophical Thought in the History of Christian Theology...)
So on the one hand, from the Trinitarian point of view, we have one singular God who is also 3 persons. On the other hand we also have one singular person who is two natures, God and man. Both ideas are outside of our human experience and so are not humanly understandable - yet they are both true because the Bible teaches both things, therefore they are an antinomy.
I appreciate the dedication to the Bible. However, since man's understanding is limited, how can Trinitarians be sure they have the correct understanding of these alleged mutually exclusive categories of verses? MAYBE - some of those verses have simply been misunderstood. Simply misunderstood. So wouldn't it make more sense to attempt to come to a different understanding of the verses rather than come up with some kind of extra-biblical speculation that "resolves" the conflict? Coming up with an extra-biblical speculative solution actually reinforces the misunderstanding, and that is exactly what has happened in the history of the Church's doctrines concerning the Trinity and the dual nature of Christ. There has been at least 1600 years (Council of Chalcedon, 451 AD) reinforcement of the misunderstanding.
In support of my thesis - "God" and "Man" are mutually exclusive categories, consider the following:
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)
Jesus' most common appellation for himself was, "son of man". God is NOT a man, or a son of man. Surely Jesus was aware of the above verse? So wasn't he then saying that he was NOT God? In John 10:31ff, the Pharisees accused Jesus of, "...you, being a man, make yourself God." To which Jesus replied, "...I said, 'I am the son of God'" (John 10:36)
Jesus never claimed to be God - he actually denied making that claim. Jesus said that he was "...a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God..." (John 8:40)
God ALONE has immortality, and no man has EVER seen Him, or can see Him.
Consider the scriptures wherein it is explicitly stated that God ALONE is God, there is no other:
Consider the scriptures wherein Jesus is explicitly called a man.
Moses was a man, the messiah will be like Moses. Notice; the Messiah has a God - "his God". His God is the LORD, that is, YHWH, the creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them.
Conclusion:
1) God is not a man
2) Jesus is a man
3) Jesus is not God - and - God is not Jesus