How do Trinitarians respond to syllogistic arguments against the divinity of Jesus?

See also the Athanasian Creed (consider consulting one or more denominations' resources for better translations), which addresses some of these, and attempts, generally, to address the Trinity. I say "attempts" because at least some denominations believe it is impossible to perfectly understand the Trinity.

1. The Trinity is weird. Jesus is God (John 1:1, John 20:28). Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is the Father (John 10:30). (Confused? Don't worry, you're in good company.)
2. Duplicate of #1.
3. Jesus is man assumed into God. See the aforementioned Creed. Also, the argument is a faulty generalization; it does not follow from Ezekiel 28:2 that all men are not gods. (To be fair, that is the Trinitarian belief also; the point is simply that that passage is not saying that Jesus is not God.)
4. Near-duplicate of #3. Again, see TAC.
5. While partaking of human flesh, Christ experienced its weaknesses. This was deliberate, so as to experience our human state.
6. Duplicate of #5.
7. First off, I Timothy 1:17 doesn't actually say that God can't die, it says God is eternal. But anyway, the person of the Father didn't die. Christ also didn't stay dead. God (in the person of Jesus) allowed Himself to experience death for our sake.
8. While in the flesh, some things were hidden from Jesus.
9. The argument (at least as you present it) is a non sequitur. The (perceived) problem with John 20:17 is, rather, that Christ subordinates himself to the Father. Yet this is part of Trinitarian teaching; see again TAC.
10. See #9 (not strictly a duplicate, but nevertheless has the same answer).
11. See again #9. Nota bene the Trinitarian concept of "begotten".
12. Duplicate of #11.
13. Duplicate of #11.
14. Duplicate of #11.
15. Duplicate of #11.
16. See again #9. See also the paradoxical manner in which the Father and the Son are the same, yet different.

So, now that we've dismantled the case against the trinity, what evidence do we have that Christ is God? Well, some of it has already been mentioned, but possibly the most explicit can be found in John 8:58:

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Aᴍ."

At minimum, this is Christ clearly telling us, directly and from His own mouth, that He existed before His incarnation (particularly when one considers the larger context, i.e. that He knows Abraham in a "met him, talked to him, shared tea and biscuits" sense). He tells us again in John 3:13. Moreover, I find it difficult to credit claims that Christ is not explicitly identifying Himself as God in this verse. Frankly, I don't buy the argument that this is not a parallel to Exodus 3:14, as nearly every translation renders this verse in language that clearly parallels God's intent in Exodus (essentially calling out His existence since before time). At the very least, I see no acceptable way of reading this verse that reduces Christ to a mere man, as seems to be the intent and desire of Unitarians.

To turn the original format on its head:

Counterargument 1

• Jesus is Good (Mark 10:17-18)
• Only God is Good (Mark 10:18)
• Therefore, Jesus is God

Counterargument 2

• Christ is Eternal (John 1, John 8:58, Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 1:20, Revelation 1:17-18... and this list is not exhaustive)
• Only God is Eternal (Isaiah 43:10, 1 Timothy 6:16)
• Therefore, Christ is God

Counterargument 3

• God created all things (Genesis 1 and many others)
• Christ created all things (John 1:3, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Colossians 1:16, possibly others)
• Therefore, Christ is God

Counterargument 4

• The Word is God (John 1:1)
• The Word is Christ (John 1:13)
• Therefore, Christ is God

...and let's not forget Isaiah 9:6; "For to us a child is born [...] and his name shall be called [...] Mighty God, Everlasting Father". The Messiah, born as a human (incarnate, i.e. definitely Christ), shall be called God and Father.

Psalm 82

⁶ I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High. ⁷ But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. ⁸ Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

This is the Lord of Hosts referring to man as "gods", just "gods" that will die like men, just as Jesus did.

Jesus Christ Himself even argues this point of Psalm 82:

John 10

³⁴ Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (Psalm 82) ³⁵ If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; ³⁶ Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

The Lord of Hosts saying: "Arise, O God" = Jesus Christ... as it is Jesus that will arise and judge the earth and inherit all nations.

Jesus argued that He is God.

Let's take these one by one.

Argument #1

This is indeed a tricky scripture for Trinitarians (the only one of the 16 that is), but scripture is not absolutely clear that it means the Father is the only true God. Among other interpretations are that 3 things are listed - the Father, the one true God (the Trinity), and Jesus.

Argument #2

Scriptures referring to God may well be addressed to the Trinity. The two quotes are far enough apart that the reference to Father is not a problem. Note that the Jews referred to multiple Fathers, including not just God but Abraham and others.

Argument #3

It is part of Trinitarian doctrine that Jesus is both fully God and fully Man. There is no contradiction here.

Argument #4

God is spirit, but in the incarnation Jesus deliberately and temporarily took on bodily form, while still being in nature God.

Argument #5

Jesus when he took on human form in the incarnation also subjected himself to human weaknesses, including hunger, fatigue, and thirst.

Argument #6

See argument #5

Argument #7

See argument #6

Argument #8

Jesus also gave up his godly powers in the incarnation, becoming limited as we are.

Argument #9

The contexts of these are entirely different. God (the Trinity) does not acknowledge anyone outside himself to be God. But the different persons acknowledge each other as God, for that is what they are.

Argument #10

Jesus gave up his own natural authority, holiness etc. at the incarnation. However God the Father has also given him authority, holiness etc.

Arguments #11 through #15

See argument 10

Argument 16

In the incarnation Jesus humbled himself, making himself subservient to God the Father.

In the above I have replied using the form in which the questions were asked - very brief statements in response to equally brief questions. The nature of God is however a matter is centuries of study by wise and learned people, who admit they cannot ever fully understand the nature of God. Indeed any fully understandable explanation of God would be limited, and would thus be inherently inaccurate.

It is also a mistake to attempt to understand God purely by means of logical propositions. As he cannot be fully described that way, you must know him in a different way.

I will give my own "syllogistic" argument that proves the divinity of Jesus Christ and the divinity of the Person of the Holy Spirit. Obviously we already know the Person of God the Father is God. First I would like to define a "syllogism."

A syllogism in logic is a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two given premises, one major premise and one minor premise.

So, IF the Bible teaches that there is one God

and

IF in the Bible The Father is identified as God

and

IF in the Bible His Son is identified as God

and

IF in the Bible their Spirit is identified as God

THEN the doctrine of the Trinity is valid

OR

The Bible is wrong.

Now, the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be understood, argued or refuted by appealing to any single passage in the Bible. That is because it is a systematic theology in the proper sense of the term, "theology"--the "study" or "knowledge of God, and is drawn from the WHOLE Bible, as any valid systematic theology should be.

In short, it is a doctrine that explains the nature OF THE ONE TRUE GOD described in the Bible, and is necessarily drawn from a HARMONIZTION of ALL the Bible.

If one examines the Bible thoroughly you should be able to quickly discover that there are three and ONLY three "persons" who are identified as God. How?

The Bible identifies God by:

1. His names
2. His titles
3. His unique attributes
4. His unique actions
5. His worship

I am personally not aware of any other literary, contextual means by which the Bible clearly identifies God. I could be wrong, but I think this list is comprehensive.

To show what I mean I will go over a couple of these means. His titles! Who's identified as (Lord, king, savior, redeemer etc.)

His unique actions. (Who's CREDITED with (creation, origin of God's word, salvation of men etc.) His worship! We know we are to worship and serve God alone. Yet Jesus Christ received the highest form of worship when Thomas declared to Him/Jesus Himself, not God the Father his "Lord and God."

To be clear I am saying that each person of the Trinity receives some COMBINATION of the 5 means of identifying and distinguishing God as listed above.

Finally, I want to say regarding the doctrine of the Trinity that I do not believe Trinitarianism is a "REQUIREMENT" for salvation. It is the "RESULT" of salvation, for you cannot know Jesus Christ and somehow miss the FACT that He is God. You cannot have experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit of God and somehow miss that He is God.

Romans 8:9-11, "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Vs10, And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Vs11, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."