I do want to say that re-reading it, I've noticed a few things.
3) As support for the above, when asked about how many transformations Goku has prior to the Tournament of Power,
Whis answers that Goku has five transformations available; Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3, Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue. No mention is made of him having a separate "Saiyan Beyond God" form so in order for this count to make sense, Goku's earlier usage of "God-like power" must be his Super Saiyan God form.
This point is weak, thinking on it. While Whis doesn't comment on Saiyan Beyond God, he also doesn't comment on SSJ Grade 2, SSJ Grade 3, or the different Super Saiyan Blue types Goku can use (2 of them, Imperfect and Perfected), or anything like that. He just comments on the main five that amplify his power and create visual alterations. Saiyan Beyond God isn't even an official form. It's simply Goku's Base Form heightened to SSG levels of power via the "Crimson Radiance" SSG leaves behind. It'd make no sense for Whis to comment on it.
4) Some things appear to make more sense if we accept that when Goku is using ordinary Super Saiyan froms that he isn't tapping into "god-like power". When Future Trunks returns to the past and spars with Goku,
his Super Saiyan 2 form is comparable to Goku's own Super Saiyan 2 form, with the only comment on his power level beind that he is "
much better than Gohan [when Gohan first unlocked SSJ2]".
Then when Goku shifts up a level into Super Saiyan 3,
Trunks also powers up with his Super Saiyan 2 Rage form which Vegeta confirms is comparable in power to Goku's Super Saiyan 3. However when Goku shifts into God form - implied to be Super Saiyan God -
he instantly and literally stomps Trunks.
If Trunks had somehow risen in power to level of a Super Saiyan God on his own,
that would be much more significant to comment on than him just being compared to SSJ2 and SSJ3. Why would Trunks' only be commented on as being way stronger than a SSJ2 Gohan if the actual level he was at was SSJ God?
By this logic, Goku should also have pretty much commented on how MUCH stronger Trunks was. Because Goku was above Cell as an ordinary SSJ in the first chapter or so, and Goku's trained for a few years by this point. Even without Saiyan Beyond God, or SSG, Goku should've used a much better statement to describe the level of power Trunks was at than "stronger than Gohan" as a SSJ2. Hell, Goku thought he could train fight against Buu as a SSJ (Though he gets interrupted), which would then imply Goku should say "You're stronger than Buu!" But he just says Gohan. This point really doesn't prove anything beyond "Goku needs to be more direct/descriptive." Because being stronger than Gohan could mean SSG level to just being barely above SSJ2 Teen Gohan. In short, Goku being vague means nothing.
Moreover, we see that just a few years before the events of the
Future Trunks Saga where Trunks travels back in time,
Trunks was comparable to Dabura who he defeated by unlocking Super Saiyan 2. With no strong enemies to fight against and no shortcut training, there is nothing implying Trunks could have elevated himself to the level of a Super Saiyan God by the time Goku Black begins his invasion of Earth. What we do see is that though Trunks has elevated his power by a somewhat more reasonable level in that time - up to the level of a Super Saiyan 3 as stated above - but that is all he has going for him.
Trunks was that strong when he came BACK from fighting Black for a decent amount of time in the Future. His strength against Goku and his strength against Black right after Dabura are two totally different beasts. Also, against Dabura he seems to just barely unlock SSJ2, whereas against Goku he had access to a Boosted Variant. Which does prove/show that Trunks power raised to a degree we can't quantify from either fighting Black or training. We also know that Black outright says he didn't have access to Goku's full power, yet, so you can't use Black's strength as a mark against Trunks. Especially when Trunks admits Black
has improved in power between his departure and return, and that Black hasn't used SSJ in QUITE some time. (Meaning Black has jumped enough in power through Conflicts with Trunks he's gotten a whole SSJ tier up/no longer needs it to outpower Trunks.) We also know that
Black commonly left Trunks alive to get more powerful. It's simply not really a viable anti-feat/point against the Narrative, since Trunks COULDN'T beat Black.
6) In Goku's battle with Toppo prior to the Tournament of Power, we get one of the clearest displays in my view that there is a huge difference in power between Goku as he is normally and Goku when he is tapping into "God-like power". He goes through his conventional forms of Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 - however when he announces that he is going to use Super Saiyan God,
he states that he'll be on at an "entirely different level". His power
catches the attention of several Gods of Destruction and it is only at this point that
it is commented on that the battle is "at the level of [the Gods of Destruction]". If base Goku was Low Multiverse level and capable of the same feats as the Gods of Destruction... this statement wouldn't make a lot of sense. It is only when he is explicitly using God power that he has reached the threshold of the Gods of Destruction. This should point to a clear division in power between Goku's earlier forms and his SSJ God and SSJ Blue forms.
I feel like this doesn't take into account that the battle level here at the Expo is exponentially higher than beforehand. Especially since the focus of the arc is fighting a mortal who "surpasses that of a GoD," and is thus really wholly unrelated to the conversation at hand. It's not using SSG as the benchmark, but SSG Goku at that specific moment. Otherwise there would have been no point in the power jumps between BoG and that fight, and the two levels of power would be identical. And that's clearly not the case. But that's just me.
7) This emphasis on the God forms being a substantial leap higher than the regular Super Saiyan forms is repeated in the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, where in Goku's sparring match with Merus,
Goku shifts up from Super Saiyan 3 to his Super Saiyan God form and the resulting energy is powerful enough to damage the sparring chamber.
[
SSG being above SSJ3 as an amp they can apply on themselves, which has existed since U6vU7, doesn't really mean anything/affect how Saiyan Beyond God works as a state of being on their powers.
