In the Gospel of John, we read how Jesus stayed in Jerusalem during the winter. There, an interesting conversation took place between Jesus and the Jews about His identity. Was He the Christ? In this context, we also read about the well-known saying of Jesus: “I and the Father – We are one”. What does that mean?
Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s hall during the dedication ceremonies of the temple (see at the end of this post) when the Jews asked Him a question:
“At that time the dedication ceremonies were taking place in Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the consecration place in Solomon’s hall. Then the Jews surrounded Him and asked Him, “How long are You keeping our souls? If You are the Christ, then tell us frankly!”
John 10:22-24
The Jews wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah. It was not a question of whether he was “part of the Godhead” or “God himself,” whatever that meant. They merely wanted to know if he was the promised Messiah, as the prophets spoke of. Only in the course of the conversation does it become a matter of the definition of God and the accusation that Jesus makes himself “equal to God,” which for the Jews would be tantamount to blasphemy.
Are you the Christ?
How long are You stalling our soul? An understandable question. Jesus has let speak of Himself. When John the Baptist once sent his disciples to Jesus with the same question, however, Jesus only gave as an answer “Go and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead awake, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me”. (Mt 11:4-6). From these things John could see that Jesus was the Messiah. Do actions speak louder than words? In this case: Yes! It was the signs and wonders that testified to the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom (cf. Isa 29:18-19; Isa 35:5-6). From this it would be obvious to anyone who knew the scriptures that great things were happening here.
It is therefore astonishing that the Jews in Jerusalem knew about these things (John 10:21), but still wanted a clear confirmation. That speaks more of unbelief.
“Jesus answered them, “I told you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name bear witness to Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I told you.”
John 10:25-26
It is now in this context that Jesus says the famous words, “I and the Father – We are one.” Jesus says this in the context of His commission to Israel (Matt. 15:24; Rom. 15:8) and in relation to the relationship of Him and God, His Father.
“My sheep listen to My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eonian life, and they will by no means perish for the eon; nor will anyone snatch them from My hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all, and no one can rob them from My Father’s hand. I and the Father – We are one.”
John 10:27-30
Me and the Father – We are One
Now we come to this famous verse, which is often quoted to justify the Trinity. It should be clear to any unprejudiced reader that there is nothing here about a Trinity. “But wait!” someone will object, “surely it is said here that Jesus and the Father are “one,” that is, both are God, namely “Godhead,” as is the Father?” No, it does not say that here either.
God is One (Matt. 19:17; Matt. 23:9; Mark 2:7; Mark 12:32; Rom. 3:30; Gal. 3:20; Heb. 2:11; Jas. 2:19; Jas. 4:12; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6). He is not two and not three. That Jesus now says “the Father and I – We are one” is a very sober description of the common sense and action of Father and Son. This can be seen as a common thread throughout the Gospels. As an example, here are some references:
“My father is working until now, and I am working.”
John 5:17
“I can do nothingof myself; as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, for I seek not my will, but the will ofhim that sent me.”
John 5:30
“The works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the works themselves which I do, bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.”
John 5:36
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will not cast out.”
John 6:37
“For I am come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will ofhim that sent me.”
John 6:38
“I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
John 7:29
“But though I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me.”
John 8:16
“It is I who testify of myself, and the Father who sent me testifies of me.”
John 8:18
“As the Father knows me and I know the Father.”
John 10:15
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me – yet not my will, but yours be done!”
Lk 22:42
In all these examples, it is clear that Jesus and the Father are one. However, not a word is spoken about a God-likeness. Rather, it is always Jesus as distinct from God. They are one because they are not the same, but they have a common concern. Only then does the statement make sense.
To the church at Philippi, Paul also writes about a unity they should have among themselves:
“Only walk as citizens, worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that as far as you are concerned I may hear (whether I come and see you or am absent) that you are is fixed in one mind, fight together as of one soul in the faith of the gospel, not allowing yourselves to be hindered in anything by those who oppose you”.. A little further on the apostle writes: “… So make my joy complete by being like-minded, having one and the same love, united in soul to one thing . ..”. (Ph 2,2).
This is also very clear in the prayer of Jesus in John 17, where it is shown that believers should be as “one” as God and Jesus are.
“Holy Father, keep them in Your name, in which You have given them to Me, that they may be one, as We are.”
Jn 17:11 (cf. Jn 17:22)
Does this now mean that believers are, for some unknown reason (loosely based on Tertullian:) “one in substance, but with different persons” among themselves? Or would that be richly absurd? Is it not much more obvious that no such complex formula is meant here, but that the unity of Father and Son – namely in concern and direction of action – should be a model also for us?
Blasphemy
Back to our original story. The situation escalates.
“Again the Jews carried stones to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many noble works from My Father; for what work do you want to stone Me?” Then the Jews answered Him, “We do not want to stone You for a noble work, but for Your blasphemy, because You who are a man make Yourself God.”
John 10:31-33
Blasphemy? It is explained in the next verses when Jesus says, “You blaspheme – because I said, I am the Son of God -?” (John 10:36). Nowhere in the text do we read Jesus saying, “I am the Son of God,” except here. Jesus quotes himself looking back on the same conversation. Why was this an impetus? Well, the Jews understood it to mean that although He was obviously a man, He was making Himself equal to God. This would be an offense twice, because first of all Jesus disregards (in the eyes of the listeners) the difference between God and man, and secondly He equates Himself with God, with which God would no longer be “One”, namely also unique and alone. The Torah said, “And whosoever blasphemeth the name of the LORD must be put to death, the whole congregation must stone him: as the stranger, so the native: if he blaspheme the name, he shall be put to death” (Deut. 24:16). This is probably how the thinking went.
The audience wanted to stone Him on the basis of these statements. Fortunately, people did not know about a Trinity at that time – that would have complicated the situation immensely. Because also here applies: To want to make God out of Jesus, namely the Godhead, or part of the Godhead, would be a direct blasphemy. Because Christians constantly make Jesus God because of the doctrine of the Trinity, many God-fearing Jews probably understand it to this day that Christians blaspheme God. They deny the one true God, and make a man equal to God. Very problematic, this Christianity!
How does Jesus respond to the accusation? Is He saying: You have always misunderstood, for I am part of a divine trinity. Sorry this was a bit unclear in the Tenach. That’s why I came to clarify this now? Does Jesus now make himself God, namely the Godhead, or does he say something completely different? Let us hear His answer:
“Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law: I say, gods are ye? If He called those gods to whom the word of God came (and surely the Scriptures cannot be dissolved), why do you say to Him whom the Father sanctified and sent out into the world: You blaspheme – because I said, I am the Son of God -? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me. But if I do them, and yet you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”
John 10:34-38
Against the charge that He is making Himself equal to God, Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, where it says:
“I did say: You are gods, sons of the Most High are you all!”
Ps 82:6
The psalm writer says this to men, to judges who are called “gods” (Heb. Elohim. cf. Ex 22:8), the same word as “God.” They are people “to whom the word of God came” (John 10:35). The Jews wanted to stone Jesus because of a statement in the Bible, but Jesus quotes another verse, from which it appears that humans are also called Elohim. So not only did Jesus make himself equal to God, but people are also called God, “subordinates” in the biblical sense.
God
The word “God” in the Bible comes in different gradations. There is indeed only one God, Who is above all, the Almighty. Among them, however, there are “gods,” “judges,” and others who are given the same designation because their function is the same to a limited extent (so read in Ex 21:6; Ex 22:8-9). Moses also became an Elohim, namely for his brother Aaron(Ex 4:16) and for Pharaoh(Ex 7:1). In another Psalm, the Messiah is called Elohim, in distinction from the One God, who was also called Elohim:
“God, your throne abides forever and ever; the scepter of your kingdom is a righteous scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with oil of gladness, as none of thy fellows.”
Ps 45:6-7
3 times the word Elohim is used for God, and the Messiah is made Elohim by His Elohim Himself. However, this does not make Him God-like, any more than Moses became deity when he became Elohim for Aaron or Pharaoh.
Christ, Son of God
The original question of the Jews informed whether Jesus was the expected Messiah. Afterwards, the statement that Jesus was the Son of God was stumbled over. This was not a contrast for all Jews. So Jesus once asked his disciple: “But you, who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ [Messias], the Son of the living God!” (Mt 16:15-16). So Peter, as a Jew, had no problem with that. Did he see Jesus as the expected Messiah? Yes. Did he recognize in Jesus the Son of the living God? Sure! But this does not mean that Jesus is equal to God, the Father. Jesus is not the Godhead. This is only the Father (1Cor 8,6).
Jesus says that His authority was given to Him by the Father (John 17:2). He had gone out from God and was sent out by God – and not by himself (John 17:8). The Father is greater than He (John 14:28). He, as the Son of His love, is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:13-15), but not God Himself. He was in the form of God, Paul writes, but therefore Jesus was not God-like, but “similar to” God, namely similar in some respects, without rivaling God Himself (Phil 2:6). He “emptied Himself” of His glory and was made up in the likeness of a man (Phil 2:7). John describes it this way, “The Word became flesh and camped among us, and we beheld His glory – like the glory of the Only Begotten from the Father – full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). A few verses further on it says: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God, who is now in the bosom of the Father, the same one has portrayed Him” (John 1:18). The One God, God Himself or the Father or Godhead in the absolute sense, He cannot be begotten. But Jesus is the only begotten God who is now in the bosom of the Father (John writes after Jesus’ ascension). This is the description of the Messiah, who is presented here as the incarnate image of God. Not only human, but incarnate. Not God Himself, but the only begotten God. He is God’s Son, through Whom the Father builds His house.
“Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
John 1:49 (Nathanael to Jesus)
References
John 10:22 refers after dedication ceremonies in winter. The reference is to dedication ceremony for the temple after it was desecrated during three years. Flavius Joseph describes how the temple was rededicated. John 10 is about a memorial service because of this dedication. Unfortunately, I only had the text in English.
Flavius Josephus
“When, therefore, the generals of Antiochus’s armies had been beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that after these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem, and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifices. But as soon as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found the temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple. of their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple; so he choose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the temple.
When, therefore, he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread,] and the altar [of incense,] which were made of gold, he hung up the veils a the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the altar [of burnt offering,] andbuilt a new one of stones that he gathered together, and not of such as were hewn with iron tools.
So on the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar [of incense,] and laid the loaves upon the table [of shewbread,] and offered burnt offerings upon the new altar. [of burnt-offering.]
Now it so fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which their divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common use, after three years’ time; for so it was, that the temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and so continued for three years. This desolation happened to the temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Appelleus, and on the hundred and fifty-third olympiad; but it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month Appelleus, in the hundred and forty-eight year, and on the hundred and fifty-fourth olympiad.
And this desolation came to pass according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before; for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for some] time.”
Source: Josephus Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, Chapter 7.6.
Bible texts critically examined in favor of a trinity
In Christianity, it is predominantly assumed that God is One, but still Three in an unknown way. No one knows exactly, but many are sure that there is a so-called “Trinity”, even if one does not find any information about it in the Bible. Neither the prophets, nor Jesus, nor the apostles, nor anyone else from biblical times speaks about it.
Various biblical passages are cited to support the teaching. Therefore, you can check this information. This post is about one of those scriptures. The only consideration here is whether this one biblical passage can be interpreted in favor of a Trinity. Maybe she can, maybe she can’t. Maybe at the end you have one argument more, maybe one argument less. That is all that is done here. I share here what I have found to be the best, clearest interpretation. Maybe you have a better interpretation?
The arguments pro-Trinity doctrine divide into two groups:
- Arguments around the number “3
- Arguments around the “deity of all participants
What I have gathered and found in this regard is not a default, but only the result of my personal examination. This article can therefore be seen as only a small part of a much larger argument towards a positive discussion that weighs how we can see and know God. This post, like this website in general, is all about fostering a “learning culture.” It is about topics and questions that have been mentioned as such in countless conversations. That wants to be heard, discussed. Of course, this is demanding, especially when it comes to controversial topics. See also the introductory text on the topic “Who is God?” and on the differences in discussions the contribution “Living with contradiction“.
