A clear understanding of the Bible is only possible through Holy Spirit, and reading it in context
By Greg Holt
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3
(NWC) This verse is misinterpreted and used by some as a proof text that Jesus is not God, is not divine, rather He is Jesus the Son of God – but not God Himself.
I myself often wonder at the wording of some verses in the Bible, and this is one of them. The wording here practically begs one to think Jesus is not God. “thee the ONLY true God,” (Capitalization mine) would strongly suggest that the Father only is God. “whom thou hast sent,” this sounds like Jesus was sent to do a job for God, period.
The problem with all of this despite the sentence structure is that if one determines that Jesus is not God from this verse and maybe a few others – then one is taking these verses out of context. I have always stated that context is king when it comes to the Bible.
I wonder at the sentence structure at times, but that has nothing to with whether or not I believe what the Bible says. In the words of pastor Greg Laurie, if you don’t agree with what the Bible says, “change your opinion!”
In the article referenced above, the author says that the Greek word for thee means “you,” the meaning in Strong’s Concordance is: “alone,” solitary – obviously meaning one, so therefore Jesus cannot be God right? Wrong.
In Mathew Poole’s commentary, he states that the meaning of thee (alone, solitary) is to be understood as applying to God, not the word thee itself, thee is descriptive of another word (God). To sum it up, “thee the only true God,” does not single out the Father as the only God, nor does it invalidate the trinity. Rather the meaning is that God (Father, Son, Spirit) is the only true God, this rules out all other supposed gods and idols as being of any worth whatsoever.
I stated how important context is, if one is in doubt of the meaning of a particular verse, there are other verses akin to it that one can look at. If one verse seems to say something other than similar verses, that should be a clue that it’s meaning may not be what you think it is.
A good example of this is when Jesus answered the high priest stating that He was God. The Jewish people of Jesus time knew exactly what Jesus was claiming, just as the Jewish people wanted to stone Jesus to death for claiming that He was God in John 8:52-59, and John 10:3-33.
“61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61-62
The above verse alludes to Daniel 7:13-14:
“13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
There are many passages in the Bible that might elude the understanding of some people, simply because many people are not familiar with the Jewish culture of Jesus time.
We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is God for many reasons. If Jesus was not God, then Satan (the ruler of this world) would not have tempted Him with the offer of all the world’s kingdoms if Jesus would worship him (Matthew 4:1-11).
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3
The Word (Logos) is understood to be Jesus, therefore Jesus is God. Jesus is here also credited with the creation of all things, not possible if He wasn’t God.
“5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” Philippians 2:5-6
“9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” Colossians 2:9-10
“4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:4-5
In these verses Jesus makes three very important claims certifying His deity:
- Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him, God shares His glory with no mere man or anyone else – period. “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Isaiah 42:8
- Jesus claims to have been previously at the Father’s side. John 1:1-3, John 8:58.
- Jesus claims to have existed before the world was even created.
In John 14:9 Jesus tells Philip that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. That is a crystal clear declaration of Jesus deity.
Jesus forgave sins, Matthew 9:1-8 – only God can forgive sins.
“3 who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” Hebrews 1:3 (See also, Colossians 1:17 and 1 Corinthians 8:6).
It is the power of Christ that upholds and supports all of Creation, which is only possible if He is God.
“18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John 1:18
“37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.” John 5:37
The above verses declare that no one has seen or heard God speak. I am of the view that this means that Jesus was the voice of God heard by some, such as Moses, not the Father. Some commenters have said that this means that the Jewish people (Israel) did not “hear” the word of God, be it via the Old Testament prophets, or the words of Jesus Himself. The people did not hear, and had no understanding of what God was trying to communicate to them. Either way, this clearly defines Jesus as God.
Jesus promised to be with us, “even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20).
Reading the Scriptures, it should not be possible to come to the conclusion that Jesus is not God. Setting aside the fact that those who do are taking verses out of context, and/or cherry picking them to prove their point – the ruler of this world darkens these people’s understanding, Satan.
Image courtesy of Noel Cruz
Article sources:
Christian Disciples Church (Unbiblical)
Bible Hub
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