A detailed Bible-study image examining Archbishop Justin Welby's statement at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral that Christ is “God himself.” The image compares his words with Mark 10:45, John 3:16, 1 John 4:14, 1 Timothy 2:5–6 and Acts 5:30, asking whether Scripture teaches that God Himself died or that God sent His Son Jesus Christ, who gave his life as a ransom for many. Research by Simon Brown.
QUICK FACTS: ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY PREACHES A FALSE CHRIST!
Did God Himself Come to Serve and Give His Life as a Ransom — or Did God Send His Son?
Research by Simon Brown
A SHOCKING STATEMENT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD
During the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, preached before a worldwide audience.
Speaking about Jesus Christ, Welby said:
“Christ – God himself – who said that he ‘came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”
These words are not hearsay.
They appear in the official Westminster Abbey transcript of the funeral sermon, and I also preserved the statement in my own video recording.
Official Westminster Abbey sermon transcript
Watch my recording: Archbishop of Canterbury Preaches A FALSE Christ!
So there can be no misunderstanding about what was said.
Welby explicitly identified Christ as:
“GOD HIMSELF”
and then applied to “God himself” the words of Jesus in Mark 10:45.
But is that actually what Jesus said?
LET'S GET THE BIBLICAL FACTS CORRECT.
WHAT DID JESUS ACTUALLY SAY?
Jesus said:
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45 — BLB
Notice the words carefully.
Jesus did not say:
“GOD HIMSELF CAME NOT TO BE SERVED.”
Jesus said:
“THE SON OF MAN CAME NOT TO BE SERVED.”
Neither did Jesus say:
“GOD HIMSELF GAVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM.”
He said that:
THE SON OF MAN GAVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM.
That distinction is extremely important.
The Archbishop inserted the theological identification “God himself” into his description of Christ.
But those words are not in Mark 10:45.
They come from Trinitarian theology.
WHO ACTUALLY GAVE JESUS TO THE WORLD?
Perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible answers this question:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone believing in Him should not perish, but should have eternal life.”
John 3:16 — BLB
Read those words again carefully.
GOD LOVED THE WORLD.
GOD GAVE.
What did God give?
HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
John does not say:
GOD GAVE HIMSELF.
He says:
GOD GAVE HIS SON.
There is a giver and there is the Son who was given.
GOD SENT HIS SON
John repeats this distinction:
“In this the love of God has been revealed among us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.”
1 John 4:9 — BLB
Again:
GOD SENT.
HIS SON WAS SENT.
And John makes the distinction even clearer:
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”
1 John 4:14 — BLB
Who sent the Savior?
THE FATHER.
Who was sent?
THE SON.
This is the language of Scripture.
WHO GAVE HIS LIFE AS THE RANSOM?
Paul gives us another remarkable passage:
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the One having given Himself as a ransom for all…”
1 Timothy 2:5–6 — BLB
Look carefully at Paul's distinction:
ONE GOD.
Then:
ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN.
Who is that mediator?
“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”
And who gave himself as the ransom?
JESUS CHRIST.
This perfectly agrees with Mark 10:45.
The Son of Man gave his life as a ransom.
GOD CANNOT DIE
Scripture describes God as immortal.
Paul writes of God:
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.”
1 Timothy 1:17 — BLB
And again:
“the only One having immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no one of men has seen nor is able to see…”
1 Timothy 6:16 — BLB
Yet Jesus truly died.
Paul writes:
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
1 Corinthians 15:3 — BLB
And who raised Jesus?
GOD DID.
Peter preached:
“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus…”
Acts 5:30 — BLB
Therefore the biblical account repeatedly distinguishes:
GOD WHO RAISED
from:
JESUS WHO DIED AND WAS RAISED.
THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT ONE ARCHBISHOP
There is another important point.
Justin Welby's statement did not arise in a theological vacuum.
The Church of England officially confesses the Nicene Creed, including the teaching that Jesus Christ is:
“true God from true God”
and:
“of one Being with the Father.”
Church of England — The Nicene Creed
Therefore, the identification of Jesus as “God himself” reflects the Church of England's official Trinitarian Christology.
I believe this teaching must be tested against Scripture.
That does not mean every individual attending a Church of England congregation has carefully examined or even understands all the theological implications of the Trinity.
But the official doctrine itself is public, and public Christian teaching should be tested publicly against God's Word.
SCRIPTURE TELLS US TO EXPOSE FALSE TEACHING
Paul writes:
“And do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them.”
Ephesians 5:11 — BLB
Therefore, when religious leaders publicly preach doctrines concerning the identity of God and His Christ, Christians should not simply accept them because they come from an Archbishop, priest, pastor, denomination, council or creed.
They must be tested against Scripture.
As John tells us:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
1 John 4:1 — BLB
Our authority must ultimately be God's Word.
WHO DID JESUS SAY HE WAS?
Jesus did not identify himself as God the Son.
Instead he said:
“I said, ‘I am Son of God’?”
John 10:36 — BLB
Peter likewise confessed:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:16 — BLB
Jesus responded:
“Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father in the heavens.”
Matthew 16:17 — BLB
Peter's confession was:
JESUS IS THE CHRIST.
JESUS IS THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
And Jesus pronounced him blessed for making it.
WHAT DID JESUS CALL HIS FATHER?
Listen carefully to Jesus' own prayer:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
John 17:3 — BLB
Jesus identifies his Father as:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
and distinguishes himself as:
“JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.”
This distinction should not be ignored.
The Father is the One who sent.
Jesus is His Christ whom He sent.
EVEN THE RISEN JESUS HAS A GOD
After his resurrection, Jesus told Mary:
“I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
John 20:17 — BLB
Notice that Jesus did not merely say:
“YOUR GOD.”
He said:
“MY GOD AND YOUR GOD.”
And years later, the glorified Jesus still speaks repeatedly of:
“MY GOD”
in Revelation 3:12.
How can we faithfully understand Jesus while ignoring Jesus' own identification of another as “My God”?
WHAT DID THE APOSTLES PREACH?
Peter preached:
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Acts 2:36 — BLB
Notice again:
GOD
made:
JESUS
both:
LORD AND CHRIST.
Likewise:
“Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all those being oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.”
Acts 10:38 — BLB
Peter does not say:
“JESUS WAS GOD ANOINTING HIMSELF.”
He says:
GOD ANOINTED JESUS.
And:
GOD WAS WITH HIM.
BUT WHAT DO TRINITARIANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE?
We should be accurate when examining another doctrine.
Trinitarians do not normally teach that Jesus is God the Father.
Classical Trinitarian doctrine teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons who are nevertheless the one God.
Therefore, when a Trinitarian says:
“GOD DIED FOR US,”
they do not normally mean that the Father died.
They mean that the person of the Son, whom they believe possesses a divine nature and a human nature, truly experienced death in his humanity.
That is their theological explanation.
But acknowledging what Trinitarians actually believe does not mean we must accept it.
The question remains:
DOES SCRIPTURE ITSELF TEACH IT?
Does Jesus ever call himself:
“GOD THE SON”?
Does Jesus ever say:
“I AM THE SECOND PERSON OF THE ONE TRIUNE GOD”?
Or does Scripture repeatedly call him:
THE SON OF GOD?
THE CHRIST OF GOD?
THE MAN CHRIST JESUS?
THE ONE WHOM GOD SENT?
Those are the questions Christians should examine.
WHAT ABOUT 1 JOHN 2:22?
This passage is extremely important, but it must be quoted accurately:
“Who is the liar, except the one denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son.”
1 John 2:22 — BLB
John emphasizes two things:
JESUS IS THE CHRIST.
And there is a distinction between:
THE FATHER
and:
THE SON.
We should therefore be careful not to rewrite John's statement into something he did not explicitly say.
The verse does not literally say:
“Anyone who believes Jesus is God is the antichrist.”
Our argument does not need to add those words.
Instead, we can ask the much stronger textual question:
HAVE LATER CREEDS PRESERVED OR OBSCURED THE BIBLICAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FATHER AND HIS CHRIST?
That question can then be tested from Scripture.
GOD DID NOT GIVE HIMSELF — GOD GAVE HIS SON
This is the central point.
The Bible says:
GOD LOVED.
GOD SENT.
GOD GAVE.
And whom did He give?
HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
Jesus then willingly:
SERVED.
OBEYED.
SUFFERED.
GAVE HIS LIFE.
DIED.
And:
GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.
Paul beautifully summarizes God's involvement:
“But God demonstrates His love to us, that of us being still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 — BLB
Notice again:
GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS LOVE.
And:
CHRIST DIED FOR US.
The distinction does not diminish either one.
It magnifies the love of God who gave His Son and the obedience and sacrifice of Jesus Christ who gave his life for us.
QUICK FACTS
Justin Welby really did publicly identify Christ as “God himself.”
Mark 10:45 actually says “the Son of Man” came to serve and give his life as a ransom.
John 3:16 says God gave His only begotten Son—not that God gave Himself.
1 John 4:14 says the Father sent the Son.
1 Timothy 2:5 distinguishes the “one God” from “the man Christ Jesus,” the mediator between God and humanity.
Jesus died; God raised Jesus from the dead.
Peter confessed Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus called his Father “the only true God.”
The risen Jesus calls the Father “My God.”
The Church of England officially teaches Trinitarian Christology.
And Scripture commands believers to:
TEST WHAT THEY ARE TAUGHT.
and:
EXPOSE WHAT THEY BELIEVE TO BE FALSE.
FINAL QUESTION: WHICH CHRIST ARE WE PREACHING?
Justin Welby publicly declared:
“CHRIST — GOD HIMSELF”
But Scripture declares:
JESUS IS “THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”
— Matthew 16:16.
Jesus himself said:
“I AM SON OF GOD.”
— John 10:36.
Paul said:
“THERE IS ONE GOD”
and:
“ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5.
And Jesus prayed to his Father:
“YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
and then distinguished himself as:
“JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.”
— John 17:3.
Therefore, I believe Christians have every right—and indeed a biblical responsibility—to test the Archbishop's statement and the wider Trinitarian doctrine behind it against the words of Scripture.
Paul's instruction remains:
“And do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them.”
Ephesians 5:11 — BLB
My conclusion is therefore straightforward:
GOD DID NOT GIVE HIMSELF.
GOD GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
And:
JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, GAVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY.
That is the Christ I find proclaimed throughout Scripture.
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com
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