It always boils down to this.
I believe what the Word declares. Nothing more; nothing less.
The Trinity doctrine states -
'The Trinity: our one God is eternally existent in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are co-equal, co-existent and co-eternal.'
When taking in the whole of Scripture we find that such a doctrine will not stand. Indeed we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but they are not 'co-equal, co-existent and co-eternal.
Jesus made this irrefutable when He declared -
"My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28)
The Father/Son relationship is clearly defined in 1Cor 15:27-28 which states -
"For “He (God) has put all things under His (Jesus) feet.” But when He (God) says “all things are put under Him (Jesus),” it is evident that He (God) who put all things under Him (Jesus) is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him (Jesus the Son), then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him (God the Father) who put all things under Him (Jesus), that God (the Father) may be all in all."
And may we not forget the words of our Lord and Savior to Mary the day that the Father raised Him from the dead -
"Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” - John 20:17
The Father, Yahweh, is the God of Jesus. Jesus is our Lord and Messiah because He obeyed God fully -
"For it was fitting for Him (God), for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain (Jesus) of their salvation perfect through sufferings." - Heb 2:10
and...
"though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." - Heb 5:8-9
therefore because of the Sons perfect obedience to the Father, even to death -
“ let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” - Acts 2:36
Because Jesus set aside His own will in the garden (which was different from the Fathers), and obeyed God perfectly, He received from Almighty God all authority in the heavens and on earth and the right to sit down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (see Heb 1:3, 8:1)
He was given authority from the Ancient of Days - Dan 7:14
"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." - Matt 28:18
If Jesus is God, or equal to God, then why would He need someone to GIVE Him authority?
Friends, there is much taught today which cannot stand the test of Scripture. May we not taken as truth all we hear preached for the pulpits, but let us be as the Bereans who -
"received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." - Acts 17:11
79 times in the Gospels Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man
5 times He refers to Himself as the Son of God
47 times He is called by others the "Son of God", or "God's Son"
5 times He is referred to as the Son begotten of God, or begotten of the Father
4 times God, Himself, speaks from heaven and declares Jesus to be His Son
0 times does Jesus refer to Himself as God
Dear saints we are called to be one with Jesus as He is with the Father. When we take Jesus' statement in John 10:30 along with His discourse in John 17, then for us to say the Jesus is equal to the Father we would also have to say the we are equal to Jesus. Which we are not. We are His body, be He will always be greater than we, just as God will always be greater than Jesus.
We can see that clearly as Jesus prayed to His Father -
"that they (His disciples) all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." - John 17:21-23
Amen.
God's wisdom and understanding to all,
Michael