Taken from: www.JOHN17-3.ORG - Some editing has been done
Jesus in the
Gospels
When Jesus is allowed to speak for himself, there is no confusion on the question of whether he is God or not. Jesus not only never said he was God, but he also made claims plainly distinguishing himself from God. Jesus' testimony needs to be heavily qualified and distorted beyond it’s plain and obvious reading in order to get it in line with a Trinitarian interpretation. Jesus never gave the slightest indication that God was multiple persons, but rather Jesus identified the Father as the only one who is God.
Jesus plainly identified himself as the Messiah and Son of God
- Joh 4:25 The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming (he who is
called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.
- Joh 4:26 Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.
- Luk 4:17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He
unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
- Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the
captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are
oppressed,
- Luk 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
- Luk 4:20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and
sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
- Luk 4:21 And he began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.
- Mark 14:61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high
priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
- Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.
Jesus also plainly distinguished himself from God
- Joh 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to
heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may
glorify you,
- Joh 17:2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give
eternal life to all whom you have given him.
- Joh 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Jesus explicitly stated that his Father
alone is “the only true God” and that he is the Messiah/Christ whom the “only
true God” has sent. This verse alone forever refutes the idea
that God is three persons and also the idea that Jesus himself is “the only true
God”.
Jesus not only shows that he is not the only true God here,
but also excludes any supposed holy spirit person by saying that his Father
alone is the only true God. Jesus affirmed the Jewish Unitarian monotheism of
his day and taught there is only one God, the Father.
Joh 5:44 How can you believe, when you
receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the
only God?
Jesus noted that the Jews correctly believed in Unitarian monotheism, that the Father alone was God.
Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, If I glorify myself,
my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is
our God.'
Jesus recognized their Unitarian monotheism. The God they worshiped was a single personal being who Jesus described as my Father. They were saying that Jesus' Father was their God, this is Monotheism which is also Unitarianism. Jesus made no changes in the Jewish understanding of God, the idea of a three person God was utterly alien to them. They knew of no such thing and Jesus certainly didn't attempt to change their understanding of this, rather Jesus claimed he has the same God everyone else does! Jesus after his resurrection told Mary this…
Joh 20:17 Jesus said to her, Do not cling to
me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to
them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.'
And again decades after his resurrection saying to John…
Rev 3:12 The one who conquers, I will make
him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of
it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of
the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from
my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
So Jesus after his resurrection continued to affirm that he has the same God that his “brothers” do! Yet many just ignore Jesus words in order to preserve their cherished traditions of men.
Difficult sayings for Trinitarians
Joh 7:16 So Jesus answered them, My teaching
is not mine, but his who sent me.
If Jesus was God how could his teachings not be his?
Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, If I glorify myself,
my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is
our God.'
If Jesus was God why would his glory be nothing if he glorified himself?
Joh 5:26 For as the Father has life in
himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
If Jesus was eternal how could he be “granted” life in himself?
Joh 6:57 As the living Father sent me, and I
live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of
me.
If Jesus is eternal how exactly can he say that he lives because of the Father?
Joh 5:30 I can do nothing on my own. As I
hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the
will of him who sent me.
Jesus is said to have been fully God, yet claims he can do nothing on his own? How is that an honest statement if he in fact CAN do anything on his own but CHOOSES NOT TO and instead relies on his co-equal partners help instead?
- Joh 14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to
you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the
Father, for the Father is greater than I.
- Joh 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
Jesus says his Father is greater than he
is unequivocally, and that his Father is greater than ALL.
Statements like these need heavy qualifications by
Trinitarians in order to get around a plain and obvious reading of the text. The
trinity is pure eisegesis and requires reading all Jesus’ statements through a
tainted Trinitarian false premise because if they don't, and simply read these
verses as they are, then clearly there is no trinity and Jesus is not God. Jesus
doesn’t qualify any of these statements the way Trinitarians want them to be by
saying “I say these things in my human nature but they are untrue for my divine
nature.”
Mark 13:32 But concerning that day or that
hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only
the Father
Now here is another of the most problematic verses for Trinitarians. Jesus says explicitly that he has no knowledge of the day or hour of the event in question. Now Jesus also excludes the supposed third person of the trinity in this statement by saying “but only the Father”. One wonders how God can be three persons, two of which are ignorant of when an event is going to occur! Can God know something and not know something at the same time? If Jesus actually did have knowledge of this event then he would have been lying to say “nor the Son, but only the Father” does. Do Trinitarians really believe Jesus actually knew the time in question as God but as a man he didn’t?
Imagine if a homeless person asked you if you have any change and you say no, but then he watches you walk over to a vending machine put in quarters and buy a soda. You then walk past him and he challenges you on the honesty of your claim that you had no change, to which you respond, well as an American I had no change but as a Christian I did! Now either you had the change or you didn't, Jesus either had the knowledge or didn't have the knowledge. If Jesus is supposed to have had knowledge of this event in his divine nature but didn't in his human nature then he would be lying and telling the truth simultaneously. If it was true Jesus did not have knowledge of this event in his human nature, it would also simultaneously be false that he did not have knowledge of this in his divine nature. Since Jesus made no qualification for his statement the Trinitarians are forced to make Jesus a liar. However Jesus statement can be left as is without qualification for Unitarians because Jesus wasn't God and never claimed to be.
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Mark 10:17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
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Mark 10:18 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Now what an odd thing to say if Jesus was in fact God. But if Jesus wasn't God then how appropriate for him to make sure God was given all the credit.
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Matt 26:39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
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Joh 8:42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
Jesus here and elsewhere taught that he and the Father have distinct wills from one another. Are we to believe God is multiple persons with multiple wills? The Trinitarians assert that the three person Trinitarian god came up with a plan before creation and distributed amongst themselves the proper roles, functions, and hierarchy in perfect unison and agreement. Yet Jesus says he did not come of his own accord, but rather was sent by someone else. Once again we find the Trinitarian dogma to be inconsistent with what the bible actually says.
After showing Jesus was capable of making explicit claims of being Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, I have also shown how Jesus made explicit claims to be subject to and inferior to his God and Father whom he said was the only true God. Odd that if Jesus was capable of making such explicit claims as these, that he never once made a similarly explicit claim to actually be God anywhere, maybe because he didn't believe that he was! So if we actually let Jesus speak for himself on this important issue there really is no controversy here, he is the Christ and Son of the living God and has the same God everyone else does.
Jesus said that God is a spirit.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
Jesus also made clear that even after his resurrection, he was not a spirit!
Luk 24:39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.
So let’s try and do the math here, if God is a Spirit and Jesus wasn't a spirit, then Jesus wasn't God. Here is another brain bender, the bible says no one has ever seen God.
1 Jo 4:12 No one has ever seen God;
but Jesus was seen…
Joh 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
So if no one has ever seen God, and Jesus
was seen, then guess what... Jesus isn't God!
Also Jesus here is
plainly called the Lamb of God, amazing how it needs to be stated to
Trinitarians that the Lamb of God is not God.
Now lost in this discussion is the other “orthodox” doctrines of God being both transcendent and immutable. Both of which contradict the idea that an eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and untemptable spirit being, can become a fleshly infant that grows in wisdom and knowledge (Luk 2:52, Heb 5:9), that becomes tempted (Heb 2:18, 4:15), was physically in one location and dies, among other things (like God needing to be potty trained!). Now that is quite a bit of a change and introduces quite the limitations for a supposedly immutable and transcendent being!
Jesus never corrected the Jewish
Unitarian Monotheism,
but rather he agreed with it and supported
it!
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Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all?
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Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, The most important is,
'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.' -
Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
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Mark 12:31 The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.
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Mark 12:32 And the scribe said to him, You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
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Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
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Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
This is a critical passage, Jesus affirms the Unitarian monotheism of the Jews by declaring the Shema, that their God is One, but then look at what happens. This Jewish scribe says “you are right you have truly said THAT HE IS ONE, and there is NO OTHER BESIDES HIM.” Here Jesus has the perfect opportunity to say, “well son you just used singular pronouns, you misunderstand the compound unity of God, God is actually 3 co-equal co-eternal persons sharing one divine substance/essence.” Instead Jesus saw that he answered wisely and says “You are not far from the kingdom of God”! Jesus never disagreed with the Jews about their understanding of God, he disagreed with their manmade traditions that they used in place of God’s commandments, and their lack of love, mercy and forgiveness.
Jesus never taught contrary to the unitarian
monotheism of the bible. He affirmed and strengthened it.
Jesus referred to God as a single person other than himself and said
that his God and Father is the only true God. The qualifications
trinitarians try to place on Jesus teachings are based solely on there
presupposed trinitarian bias and are totally unnecessary.
.
Next, what did Jesus
contemporaries say about him in the gospels?
Nathanael -
Joh 1:49 Nathanael answered him,
Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!
Matthew -
Matt 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew was one of the twelve apostles yet he didn’t say anything
about Jesus being God.
Martha -
Joh 11:27 She said to him, Yes,
Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming
into the world.
Mark -
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Many scholars believe Mark’s gospel account was written by
Peter’s instructions/recollection. So when Mark fails to include any
evidence of Jesus being God it is due to Peter not giving him any!
Disciples -
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Luk 24:19 And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
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Matt 14:33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.
Jesus' disciples had no problem plainly identifying him as the Messiah and Son of God, odd how they nowhere similarly plainly proclaimed he was a member of a three person God. They understood that Jesus has the same God they do.
The People -
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Matt 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?
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Matt 16:14 And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
Notice the people weren't saying he was God, or claimed to be God. These were Jews that knew that God is a Spirit and he is One, and of course unlike the pagan gods, their God is not a man.
Peter -
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Matt 16:15 He said to them, But who do you say that I am?
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Matt 16:16 Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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Matt 16:17 And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
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Matt 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is the foundation of Christianity. Peter declares Jesus is the Messiah and Son of the Living God. Jesus responds to this claim by calling Peter blessed and saying this pure declaration of faith is God-given revelation. Jesus does not in any way indicate this is an inadequate proclamation of faith.
Yet according to Trinitarians the belief
that Jesus is Messiah and Son of God isn’t good enough.
They
force church members to adhere to a trinity of persons within God, they force
members to profess something altogether different than what Peter did.
This Trinitarian denial of the sufficiency of scripture in favor of creeds of
men established centuries later makes them no different than the Pharisees that
opposed Jesus. In fact the gold standard of orthodoxy today is the
adherence to a Trinitarian statement of faith that is not in the bible and in
direct contrast to what the bible teaches.
This arrogance and pride of establishing
their own traditions as conditions of fellowship, membership and salvation makes
the orthodox establishment of Trinitarians today as deceived as those that cried
out “crucify him” and “we have no king but Caesar.”
If a
Trinitarian wants to be honest with the scriptures they should acknowledge the
simple fact that their belief in the trinity is their private interpretation and
is nowhere mandated as a condition of salvation in the bible.
Nicodemus -
Joh 3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and
said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can
do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Does it sound like Nicodemus thought he was God? The people
of Jesus day understood something that Trinitarians today do not. That
Jesus doing miracles and having authoritative preaching meant God was with him
not that he is God!
Crowds of People -
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Matt 21:11 And the crowds said, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.
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Matt 21:46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Jesus was a prophet, a prophet like Moses from among the people as prophesied in Deu 18 mentioned earlier. A prophet obviously is not God because a prophet simply relays a message from God to his people.
Luke -
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Luk 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
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Luk 5:17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal
Do these sound like the statements of a person that believed Jesus is God? Or a member of a 3 person God? Jesus increased mentally and physically and in favor with God and men? Luke says simply that the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
Scholars believe Luke wrote his gospel account based on Paul’s revelations from Jesus, among other things. So when Luke fails to record anything about Jesus being God in his gospel, it is due to Paul not telling him that!
The idea of the trinity is so foreign to 99.99% of the bible that it needs to be read into the texts and then specially qualified at the expense of the normal, plain and simple reading of the texts.
Roman Centurion -
Matt 27:54 When the centurion and those who
were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place,
they were filled with awe and said, Truly this was the Son of God!
The Angel
Gabriel-
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Luk 1:30 And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
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Luk 1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
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Luk 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
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Luk 1:33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
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Luk 1:34 And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin?
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Luk 1:35 And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--
the Son of God.
Notice Gabriel forgets to mention to Mary that one of the three persons of God is about to add a human nature to himself in her womb! Instead he says the child will be the Son of the Most High, he then says the Lord God will give to him (Jesus) the throne of his (Jesus’) father David. Gabriel plainly distinguishes this Son of God from the Lord God who is creating him in Mary’s womb.
Gabriel then explains why Jesus is the Son of God in verse 35.
The power of the Most High will overshadow her THEREFORE the child will be called holy, the Son of God.
While Trinitarians try to maintain their ridiculous “eternally begotten son” tradition, Gabriel plainly says Jesus is the Son of God precisely because of God supernaturally causing Mary to conceive him. Gabriel wasn’t the only Angel that knew Jesus wasn’t God, Satan and the demons said the same thing!
Satan -
Matt 4:3 And the tempter came and said to
him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
Satan said “if you are the Son of God”, he knew
Jesus wasn’t God. God cannot be tempted with evil in the first place
(James 1:13).
Demons -
Luk 4:41 And demons also came out of many,
crying, You are the Son of God! But he rebuked them and would
not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
Luke comments how they knew he was the Messiah and records the
demons calling him the Son of God. Demons know more about Jesus than
Trinitarians do!
The Chief Priests, Scribes, Elders -
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Joh 19:4 Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.
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Joh 19:5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man!
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Joh 19:6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.
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Joh 19:7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.
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Matt 27:41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
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Matt 27:42 He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
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Matt 27:43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said,
'I am the Son of God.'
Notice the Chief Priests, Scribes and Elders all were saying that he claimed to be the Son of God. This is the reason they told Pilate that he should die. If Jesus was claiming to be God, why wouldn’t they have said that? When he was on the cross, they mocked him as the King of Israel that trusts in God. Why didn’t they just mock him for actually claiming to be God himself?
ANSWER: BECAUSE HE DIDN’T CLAIM TO BE GOD!
The Trinitarian house of cards crumbles to the ground on a basic examination of the texts themselves. The disciples of Jesus give absolutely no evidence that they believed he was a preexistent member of a three person God than came to earth and added a human nature to himself. In fact they gave evidence to the contrary, that they did not believe such nonsense.
The Exceptions
Joh 10:33 The Jews answered him, It is not
for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you,
being a man, make yourself God.
Here Jesus
enemies accuse him of making himself God (or a god). What
is important here is not the accusation (since they also accused him of
blasphemy, being a drunkard and glutton, and doing witchcraft), but rather what
is Jesus response to this?
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Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?
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Joh 10:35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came--and Scripture cannot be broken--
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Joh 10:36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
Jesus points to a passage in Psalm 82 where the judges of Israel are called gods and sons of the Most High. He then says essentially - if it was ok for them to be called gods then why do you say I am blaspheming for claiming to be the Son of God, when the Father consecrated me and sent me into the world? If those judges were called gods, why can’t the Messiah who was given judgment over the world also be called a god? The word god here does not mean “eternal, omniscient, omnipotent” but rather mighty ruler, one with power and authority over others. Notice Jesus does not say “Yes I am God, card carrying member of the trinity” rather he defends himself by pointing to other men being called that in the scriptures! When Jesus said “I and the Father are one” he was talking about their ability to protect those who were given to him from falling away.
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Joh 10:24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. -
Joh 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
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Joh 10:26 but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.
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Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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Joh 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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Joh 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
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Joh 10:30 I and the Father are one.
They said if your are the Messiah (anointed one) tell us plainly. Jesus says look at my works do I not have anointed power? He then says his sheep that he gives life to will not perish because they are in his hands. Then he says that the Father has put them there and his Father is greater than ALL which includes Jesus. They are in Jesus' hand and then the Father’s hand is wrapped over Jesus' hand securing the sheep. Thus they are one, in agreement in purpose to protect the sheep. This is not a claim of being co-equal and co-eternal members of a 3 person god! Jesus said his disciples were ONE with him and his Father!
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Joh 17:20 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
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Joh 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
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Joh 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
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Joh 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Jesus said his disciples may be one and in the Father and Son. That they may be one even as Jesus and the Father are. This oneness is one of unity not attributes and essence.
