Chapter 8. NEW TESTAMENT EXPLANATIONS: THE GOSPEL
This chapter discusses references primarily found in the Gospels that some have used to teach a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Although the next chapter will explore passages from Acts to Revelation, this chapter will explain some of them as they relate to questions raised in the Gospels. We must harmonize all these verses of Scripture with the rest of God's Word, which teaches one God. Interestingly enough, these verses support the oneness of God when they are understood correctly.
Four Important Aids To Understanding
From the outset of our discussion, let us emphasize four important points. If we understand these clearly, most seemingly difficult verses of Scripture become readily explainable.
(1) When we see a plural (especially a duality) used in reference to Jesus, we must think of the humanity and deity of Jesus Christ. There is a real duality, but it is a distinction between Spirit and flesh, not a distinction of persons in God.
(2) When we read a difficult passage relative to Jesus, we should ask if it describes Him in His role as God or in His role as man, or both. Does He speak as God or as man in this instance? Remember that Jesus has a dual nature like no one else ever has had.
(3) When we see a plural in relation to God, we must view it as a plurality of roles or relationships to mankind, not a plurality of persons.
(4) We should remember that the New Testament writers had no conception of the doctrine of the trinity, which was still far in the future at the time they wrote Scripture. They came from a strict monotheistic Jewish background; one God was not an issue with them at all. Some passages may seem "trinitarian" to us at first glance because trinitarians through the centuries have used them and interpreted them according to their doctrine. However, to the Early Church, who had no concept of the future doctrine of the trinity, these same passages were very normal, ordinary, and readily understandable in their perception of the mighty God in Christ. To them there was no thought of contradicting strict monotheism and the deity of Jesus.
With these four points in mind, let us turn to some specific passages of Scripture.
The Baptism Of Christ
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17).
According to this passage, the Son of God was baptized, the Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice spoke from heaven. Luke 3:22 adds the further information that "the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him."
To understand this scene correctly, we must remember that God is omnipresent. Jesus is God and was God manifested in flesh while on earth. He could not and did not sacrifice His omnipresence while on earth because that is one of God's basic attributes, and God does not change. Of course, the physical body of Jesus was not omnipresent, but His Spirit was. Furthermore, although the fulness of God's character was resident in the body of Jesus, the omnipresent Spirit of Jesus could not be so confined. Thus, Jesus could be on earth and in heaven at the same time (John 3:13) and with two or three of His disciples at any time (Matthew 18:20).
With the omnipresence of God in mind we can understand the baptism of Christ very easily. It was not at all difficult for the Spirit of Jesus to speak from heaven and to send a manifestation of His Spirit in the form of a dove even while His human body was in the Jordan River. The voice and the dove do not represent separate persons any more than the voice of God from Sinai indicates that the mountain was a separate intelligent person in the Godhead.
Since the voice and the dove were symbolic manifestations of the one omnipresent God, we may ask what they represented. What was their purpose? First, we must ask what was the purpose of Jesus' baptism. Certainly He was not baptized for remission of sin as we are, because He was sinless (I Peter 2:22). Instead, the Bible says He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). He is our example and He was baptized to leave us an example to follow (I Peter 2:21).
Moreover, Jesus was baptized as a means of manifesting Himself, or making Himself known, to Israel (John 1:26-27, 31). In other words, Jesus used the baptism as the starting point in His ministry. It was a public declaration of who He was and what He came to do. For example, at Christ's baptism, John the Baptist learned who Jesus was. He did not know that Jesus really was the Messiah until the baptism, and after the baptism he was able to declare to the people that Jesus was the Son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29-34).
Having established the purposes of Christ's baptism, let us see how the dove and voice furthered those purposes.
John 1:32-34 clearly states that the dove was a sign for the benefit of John the Baptist. Since John was the forerunner of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:3), he needed to know that Jesus was really Jehovah come in flesh. God had told John that the One who would baptize with the Holy Ghost would be identified by the Spirit descending upon Him. Of course, John was incapable of seeing the Spirit of God anointing Christ, so God chose a dove as the visible sign of His Spirit. So the dove was a special sign for John to let him know that Jesus was Jehovah and the Messiah.
The dove also was a type of anointing to signify the beginning of Christ's ministry. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil to indicate that God had chosen them (Exodus 28:41; I Kings 19:16). Priests in particular were both washed in water and anointed with oil (Exodus 29:4, 7). The oil symbolized God's Spirit. The Old Testament foretold that Jesus would be similarly anointed (Psalm 2:2; 45:7; Isaiah 61:1). In fact, the Hebrew word Messiah (Christ in Greek) means "the Anointed One." Jesus came to fulfill the roles of prophet, priest, and king (Acts 3:20-23; Hebrews 3:1; Revelation 1:5). He also came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17-18), and to keep His own law He needed to be anointed as prophet, priest, and king.
Since Jesus was God Himself and a sinless man, an anointing by a sinful human and anointing with symbolic oil was not enough. Instead, Jesus was anointed directly by the Spirit of God. Thus, at His baptism in water, Jesus was officially anointed for the beginning of His earthly ministry, not by symbolic oil but by the Spirit of God in the form of a dove.
The voice came from heaven for the benefit of the people. John 12:28-30 records a similar incident in which a voice came from heaven and confirmed the deity of Jesus to the people. Jesus said it came not for His benefit but for the people's sake. The voice was God's way of formally introducing Jesus to Israel as the Son of God. Many people were present at the baptism of Jesus and many were being baptized (Luke 3:21), so the Spirit singled out the man Jesus and identified Him to all as the Son of God by a miraculous voice from heaven. This was much more effective and convincing than an announcement coming from Jesus as a man. In fact, it appears that this miraculous manifestation effectively accomplished Jesus' purpose at His baptism.
The baptism of Jesus does not teach us that God is three persons but only reveals the omnipresence of God and the humanity of the Son of God. When God speaks to four different people on four different continents at the same time, we do not think of four persons of God, but of God's omnipresence. God did not intend for the baptism to reveal to the monotheistic Jewish onlookers a radically new revelation of a plurality in the Godhead, and there is no indication that the Jews interpreted it as such. Even many modern scholars do not see the baptism of Christ as an indication of a trinity but as a reference to "the authoritative anointing of Jesus as the Messiah." [23]
The Voice From Heaven
Three times in the life of Jesus a voice came from heaven: at His baptism, at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9), and after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John 12:20-33). We have just explained that a voice does not indicate a separate person in the Godhead but only another manifestation of the omnipresent Spirit of God.
In each of the three cases, the voice was not for the benefit of Jesus but for the benefit of others, and it came for a specific purpose. As we have discussed, the voice at Christ's baptism was part of the inauguration of His earthly ministry. It was for the people's sake, just as the dove was for John's sake. The voice introduced Jesus as the Son of God: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). The voice at the transfiguration unquestionably was for the benefit of the onlooking disciples, for the message was, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him" (Matthew 17:5). The third manifestation of the voice occurred when a group of Greeks (apparently Gentile proselytes) came to see Jesus. Jesus explained that the voice was not for Him but for the people (John 12:30).
The Prayers Of Christ
Do the prayers of Christ indicate a distinction of persons between Jesus and the Father? No. On the contrary, His praying indicates a distinction between the Son of God and God. Jesus prayed in His humanity, not in His deity. If the prayers of Jesus demonstrate that the divine nature of Jesus is different than the Father, then Jesus is inferior to the Father in deity. In other words, if Jesus prayed as God then His position in the Godhead would be somehow inferior to the other "persons." This one example effectively destroys the concept of a trinity of co-equal persons.
How can God pray and still be God? By definition, God in His omnipotence has no need to pray, and in His oneness has no other to whom He can pray. If the prayers of Jesus prove there are two persons in the Godhead, then one of those persons is subordinate to the other and therefore not fully or truly God.
What, then, is the explanation of the prayers of Christ? It can only be that the human nature of Jesus prayed to the eternal Spirit of God. The divine nature did not need help; only the human nature did. As Jesus said at the Garden of Gethsemane, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). Hebrews 5:7 makes it clear that Jesus needed to pray only during "the days of his flesh." During the prayer at Gethsemane, the human will submitted itself to the divine will. Through prayer His human nature learned to submit and be obedient to the Spirit of God (Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 5:7-8). This was not a struggle between two divine wills, but a struggle between the human and divine wills in Jesus. As a man Jesus submitted Himself to and received strength from the Spirit of God.
Some may object to this explanation, contending that it means Jesus prayed to Himself. However, we must realize that, unlike any other human being, Jesus had two perfect and complete natures - humanity and divinity. What would be absurd or impossible for an ordinary man is not so strange with Jesus. We do not say Jesus prayed to Himself, for that incorrectly implies Jesus had only one nature like ordinary men. Rather, we say the human nature of Jesus prayed to the divine Spirit of Jesus that dwelt in the man.
The choice is simple. Either Jesus as God prayed to the Father or Jesus as man prayed to the Father. If the former were true, then we have a form of subordinationism or Arianism in which one person in the Godhead is inferior to, not co-equal with, another person in the Godhead. This contradicts the biblical concept of one God, the full deity of Jesus, and the omnipotence of God. If the second alternative is correct, and we believe that it is, then no distinction of persons in the Godhead exists. The only distinction is between humanity and divinity, not between God and God.
"My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?"
This verse (Matthew 27:46) cannot describe an actual separation between Father and Son because Jesus is the Father. Jesus said, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). The Bible states that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (II Corinthians 5:19). Jesus was God the Father made manifest in flesh to reconcile the world to Himself. The cry of Jesus on the cross does not mean that the Spirit of God had departed from the body, but that there was no help from the Spirit in His sacrificial death of substitution for sinful mankind. It was not one person of the Godhead being deserted by another, but the human nature feeling the wrath and judgment of God upon the sins of mankind.
There were not two sons - a divine son and a human son - but there were two natures - deity and humanity - fused in one person. The divine Spirit could not be separated from the human nature and life continue. But in His agonizing process of dying, Jesus suffered the pains of our sins. Dying became death when He yielded His Spirit.
In other words, what Jesus meant when He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" was that he had taken the place of sinful man on the cross and was suffering the full punishment for sin. There was no abatement of suffering because of His deity. Since all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), all mankind (except for the sinless Christ) deserved to die. Christ took our place and suffered the death that we deserved (Romans 5:6-9). Jesus was more than a courageous martyr like Stephen and more than an Old Testament sacrifice, because He died in our place and experienced for a time the death we deserved. On the cross, He tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9). This death was more than physical death; it also involved spiritual death, which is separation from God (II Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20:14).
No one alive on earth has felt this spiritual death in its fullest degree, because all of us live, move, and have our being in God (Acts 17:28). Even the atheist enjoys many good things such as joy, love, and life itself. Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17), and all life originates from Him and is upheld by Him. But, Jesus tasted ultimate death - the separation from God that a sinner will feel in the lake of fire. He felt the anguish, hopelessness, and despair as if he were a man eternally forsaken by God. So the human nature of Jesus cried out on the cross as Jesus took on the sin of the whole world and felt the eternal punishment of separation for that sin (I Peter 2:24).
We must not assume that the Spirit of God departed from the body of Jesus the moment He uttered the words, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The divine Spirit left the human body only at death. Hebrews 9:14 says that Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit. Moreover, Jesus told His disciples with respect to His death,
Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that he shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 16:32). Thus, the eternal Spirit of God, the Father, did not leave the human body of Christ until Christ's death
Communication Of Knowledge Between Persons In The Godhead?
Some believe the Bible describes transfers of knowledge between separate persons in the Godhead. This is a dangerous argument because it implies there could be one person in the Godhead that knows something another person does not know. This implies a doctrine of separate personalities and minds in God, which in turn leads to tritheism or polytheism.
Let us look at some passages of Scripture that need explanation. Matthew 11:27 says, "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." This verse simply states that no one can understand who the Son (the manifestation of God in flesh) is, except by divine revelation (from the Father). Jesus undoubtedly had this in mind when He told Peter, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). We are told that no man can say Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:3). Also, the Father revealed His nature and character to man through the Incarnation - through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Romans 8:26-27 says, "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us," and "He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit." These statements indicate only a plurality of functions of the Spirit. On the one hand, God places His Spirit in our hearts to teach us to pray and to pray through us. On the other hand, God hears our prayers, searches and knows our hearts, and understands the prayers He prays through us by the intercession of His own Spirit. This verse of Scripture does not imply a separation of God and His Spirit, because God is a Spirit. Neither does it indicate a separation of Christ as the searcher of hearts from the Spirit as intercessor, because the Bible also says Christ makes intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34), and the Spirit searches all things, including our hearts. "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (I Corinthians 2:10-11). Although the Spirit searches the "deep things of God," we are not to think that there is a separation between God and His Spirit. What we are told is that God reveals things to us by His Spirit in our lives. His Spirit in us conveys truths from His mind to our minds: "But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." Then the passage compares man and his spirit to God and His Spirit. A man is not two persons, and neither is God.
Matthew 28:19
We discussed Matthew 28:19 in Chapter 6 - FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, showing that it describes one God with multiple offices but only one name. The focus is not on a plurality but upon oneness.
The Pre-existence Of Jesus
Many passages of Scripture refer to the existence of Jesus before His human life began. However, the Bible does not teach us that He existed separate and apart from the Father. On the contrary, in His deity He is the Father and Creator. The Spirit of Jesus existed from all eternity because He is God Himself. However, the humanity of Jesus did not exist before the Incarnation, except as a plan in the mind of God. Therefore, we can say the Spirit of Jesus pre-existed the Incarnation, but we cannot say the Son pre-existed the Incarnation in any substantial sense. John 1:1, 14 is a good summary of the teaching on the pre-existence of Jesus: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh…" In other words, Jesus existed from all eternity as God. The plan of the future Sonship existed with God from the beginning - as an idea in the mind of God. Ultimately, this Word became flesh - as the extension of God the Father in human form. (For a description of this concept and its expression in John 1, see Chapter 4 - JESUS IS GOD. For more on the Son and on the pre-existence of Christ, including a discussion of Hebrews 1, see Chapter 5 - THE SON OF GOD).
Let us apply these concepts to various verses of Scripture that speak of the pre-existence of Christ. We can understand John 8:58 ("Before Abraham was, I am") to be a reference to the pre-existence of Jesus as the God of the Old Testament. We can understand John 6:62 ("What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before") in the same way, with Jesus using the phrase "Son of man" as the equivalent of "I" or "me" rather than to emphasize His humanity. In John 16:28 Jesus said, "I came forth from the Father." This, too, refers to His pre-existence as God. The divine nature of Jesus was God the Father, so the dual-natured Christ could say, "I came forth from the Father." This statement may also describe the Word, the plan that existed in the mind of God, becoming flesh, and being sent into the world.
In John 17:5 Jesus prayed, "O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Again, Jesus spoke of the glory He had as God in the beginning and the glory the Son had in the plan and mind of God. It could not mean that Jesus pre-existed with glory as the Son. Jesus was praying, so He must have been speaking as a man and not as God. We know the humanity did not pre-exist the Incarnation, so Jesus was talking about the glory the Son had in the plan of God from the beginning.
Other verses of Scripture relating to the preexistence of Jesus as God are covered in Chapter 4 - JESUS IS GOD, Chapter 5 - THE SON OF GOD, and Chapter 9 - NEW TESTAMENT EXPLANATIONS: ACTS TO REVELATION.
The Son Sent From The Father
John 3:17 and 5:30, along with other verses of Scripture, state that the Father sent the Son. Does this mean that Jesus, the Son of God, is a separate person from the Father? We know this is not so because many verses of Scripture teach that God manifested Himself in flesh (II Corinthians 5:19, I Timothy 3:16). He gave of Himself; He did not send someone else (John 3:16). The Son was sent from God as a man, not as God: "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman" (Galatians 4:4). The word sent does not imply pre-existence of the Son or pre-existence of the man. John 1:6 states that John the Baptist was a man sent from God, and we know he did not pre-exist his conception. Instead, the word sent indicates that God appointed the Son for a special purpose. God formed a plan, put flesh on that plan, and then put that plan in operation. God gave the Son a special task. God manifested Himself in flesh in order to achieve a special goal. Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus the Apostle of our profession, apostle meaning "one sent" in Greek. Briefly stated, the sending of the Son emphasizes the humanity of the Son and the specific purpose for which the Son was born.
Love Between Persons In The Godhead?
A popular philosophical argument for the trinity is based on the fact that God is love. The basic argument is: How could God be love and show love before He created the world unless God was a plurality of persons that had love one for another? This line of reasoning is faulty for several reasons. First, even if correct it would not prove a trinity. In fact, it could lead to outright polytheism. Second, why does God need to prove to us the eternal nature of His love? Why cannot we simply accept the statement that God is love? Why do we limit God to our concept of love, contending that He could not have been love in eternity past unless He had a then-existing object of love? Third, how does the trinitarian solution avoid polytheism and at the same time avoid saying merely that God loved Himself? Fourth, we cannot limit God to time. He could and did love us from eternity past. Even though we were not then in existence, He foresaw our existence. To His mind we existed and He loved us.
John 3:35, 5:20, and 15:9 state that the Father loves the Son, and John 17:24 says the Father loved Jesus before the foundation of the world. In John 14:31 Jesus expressed love for the Father. All of these statements do not mean separate persons. (Is it not strange that these passages omit the Holy Ghost from the love relationship?) What these verses express is the relationship between the two natures of Christ. The Spirit of Jesus loved the humanity and vice versa. The Spirit loved the man Jesus as He loves all humanity and the man Jesus loved God as all men should love God. Remember, the Son came to the world to show us how much God loves us and also to be our example. For these two objectives to be achieved, the Father and the Son showed love for each other. God knew before the world began that He would manifest Himself as the Son. He loved that plan from the beginning. He loved that future Son just as He loved all of us from the beginning of time.
Other Distinctions Between Father And Son
Many verses of Scripture distinguish between the Father and Son in power, greatness, and knowledge. However, it is a great mistake to use them to show two persons in the Godhead. If a distinction exists between Father and Son as persons in the Godhead, then the Son is subordinate or inferior to the Father in deity. This would mean the Son is not fully God, because by definition God is subject to no one. By definition, God has all power (omnipotence) and all knowledge (omniscience). The way to understand these verses is to view them as distinguishing the divinity of Jesus (the Father) from the humanity of Jesus (the Son). The humanity or Sonship role of Christ is subordinate to His deity.
John 5:19 says, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (See also John 5:30; 8:28.) In Matthew 28:18 Jesus proclaimed, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," implying that the Father gave Him this power. In John 14:28 Jesus said, "My Father is greater than I." First Corinthians 11:3 states that the head of Christ is God. All these verses of Scripture indicate that the human nature of Jesus could do nothing of itself but His human nature received power from the Spirit. The flesh was subject to the Spirit.
In speaking of the Second Coming, Jesus said, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32). Again, the humanity of Jesus did not know all things, but the Spirit of Jesus did.
John 3:17 speaks of the Son as sent from God. In John 6:38 Jesus said, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Jesus did not come of Himself, that is of His humanity, but He proceeded from God (John 7:28; 8:42; 16:28). The Son did not teach His own doctrine, but that of the Father (John 7:16-17). He did not teach His own commandments, but taught and kept the Father's commandments (John 12:49-50; 15:10). He did not seek His own glory but He glorified the Father (John 8:50; 17:4). All of these passages describe the distinction between Jesus as a man (Son) and Jesus as God (Father). The man Jesus did not originate by the operation of the humanity, nor did the man Jesus come to display the humanity. The Spirit formulated the plan, conceived the babe in the womb, placed in that flesh all the character and quality of God, and then sent that flesh out into the world to manifest God to the world. In the end, that flesh will have completed its purpose. The Son will be submerged in God's plan so that God may be all in all (I Corinthians 15:28).
These verses describe the relationship of Christ's human nature as man to His divine nature as God. If we interpret them as making a distinction between two persons called God the Father and God the Son, there would be a contradiction. We would have God the Son with the following characteristics that are not of God: He would not have any power of his own; He would not have full knowledge; He would not do His own will; He would have someone greater than Himself; He would have His origin in someone else; and He would eventually lose His own individuality. These scriptural facts contradict the concept of "God the Son."
The With Passages
How do we explain the use of the word with in John 1:1-2 and I John 1:2? John 1:1 says the Word was with God, but then goes on to say the Word was God. As explained in Chapter 4 - JESUS IS GOD, the Word is the thought, plan, or expression in the mind of God. That is how the Word could be with God and at the same time be God Himself. We should also note that the Greek word pros, translated here as "with, is translated as "pertaining to" in Hebrews 2:17 and 5:1. So the Word was with God in the sense of belonging to God and not in the sense of a separate person besides God. Furthermore, if God in John 1:1 means God the Father, then the Word is not a separate person for the verse would then read, "The Word was with the Father and the Word was the Father." To make this imply a plurality of persons in God would necessitate a change in the definition of God in the middle of the verse.
We should also note that I John 1:2 does not indicate that the Son was with God in eternity. Rather, it states that eternal life was with the Father. Of course, Jesus Christ manifested eternal life to us. He is the Word of life in verse one. However, this does not mean that eternal life existed as a separate person from the Father. It simply means the Father possessed eternal life in Himself - it was with Him - from the beginning. He showed that eternal life to us through His appearance in flesh, in Jesus Christ.
Two Witnesses
Jesus said, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me" (John 8:16-18). Just before these verses, Jesus had said, "I am the light of the world" (verse 12). This was an assertion of His Messianic role (Isaiah 9:2; 49:6). The Pharisees replied, "Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true" (John 8:13). In response to their accusation, Jesus explained that He was not the only witness, but that there were two witnesses to the fact that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. These two witnesses were the Father (the divine Spirit) and the man Jesus. In other words, both God the Father and the man Jesus could testify that the Father was manifested in flesh, in Jesus. Jesus was both God and man and both natures could testify to that fact. No separation of persons in the Godhead was necessary for this. Indeed, if a person holds that the two witnesses were separate persons in a trinity, he would need to explain why Jesus did not say there were three witnesses. After all, the law required two witnesses but asked for three if possible (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). When Jesus referred to His Father, the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the Father, no doubt wondering when the Father had witnessed to them. Instead of saying the Father was another person in the Godhead, Jesus proceeded to identify Himself with the Father - the "I am" of the Old Testament (John 8:19-27). The two witnesses were the Spirit of God and the man Christ, and both testified that Jesus was God in the flesh.
Plural Usage
A number of times Jesus referred to the Father and Himself in the plural. These passages are in the Book of John, the New Testament writer who more than any other identified Jesus as God and the Father It is wrong for anyone to suppose this plural usage to mean that Jesus is a separate person in the Godhead from the Father. However, it does indicate a distinction between the deity (Father) and humanity (Son) of Jesus Christ. The Son, who is visible, revealed the Father, who is invisible. Thus, Jesus said, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also" (John 8:19); "The Father hath not left me alone (John 8:29); "He that hateth me hateth my Father also" (John 15:23); "Now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father" (John 15:24); and "I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 16:32). These verses of Scripture use the plural to express a consistent theme: Jesus is not just a man, but He is God also. Jesus was not an ordinary man as He appeared to be outwardly. He was not alone, but He had the Spirit of the Father within Him. This explains the dual nature of Jesus and reveals the oneness of God.
How was the Father with Jesus? The logical explanation is that He was in Jesus. Therefore, if you know Jesus, you know the Father; if you see Jesus, you see the Father; and if you hate Jesus, you hate the Father. II John 9 states, "He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." What is the doctrine of Christ? It is the doctrine that Jesus is the Messiah; He is the God of the Old Testament manifested in flesh. In other words, the apostle wrote that if we understand the doctrine of Christ we will realize that Jesus is both the Father and the Son. We therefore deny neither the Father nor the Son. When we accept the doctrine of Christ, we accept the doctrine of both the Father and the Son. It is also true that if we deny the Son we are denying the Father, but if we acknowledge the Son we have acknowledged the Father also (I John 2:23).
One other passage with a plural, John 14:23, deserves special attention: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." The key to understanding this verse is to realize that the Lord was not speaking of His bodily entrance into us. Moreover, if there are two Spirits of God, one of the Son and another of the Father, then there would be at least two Spirits in our hearts. However, Ephesians 4:4 declares there is one Spirit. We know John 14:23 does not mean bodily entrance because Jesus had said, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). Certainly we are not in Jesus in the sense of the physical. So, what does this passage mean? It means a union - one in mind, purpose, plan, and life - with Christ. This is the same idea expressed in John 17:21-22 when Jesus prayed, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.
Even so, why did Jesus use the plural in speaking of the believer's union with God? Of course, God has designed salvation in order to reconcile the believer with Himself. However, sinful man cannot approach a holy God, and finite man cannot comprehend an infinite God. The only way we can be reconciled to God and understand Him is through His manifestation in flesh, through the sinless man Jesus Christ. When we are one with Jesus, then we automatically are one with God, since Jesus is not just a man but God also. Jesus used the plural to emphasize that in order to be united with God we must first receive the atonement through the blood of Jesus. There is one mediator between man and God, the man Jesus (I Timothy 2:5). No one comes to God except through Jesus (John 14:6). To be doctrinally correct, we must acknowledge that Jesus is come in the flesh (I John 4:2-3). When we receive Christ, we have received both the Father and the Son (II John 9). Our union with Father and Son is not a union with two persons in the Godhead, but simply a union with God through the man Jesus: "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (II Corinthians 5:19).
Another way to think of our union with God is to remember the two different offices or relationships represented by Father and Son. The believer has available to him the qualities of both roles, such as the omnipotence of the Father and the priesthood and submission of the Son. He has both the Father and Son. However, he receives all these qualities of God when he receives the one Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost. He does not receive two or three Spirits. The bodily indwelling of the believer by God is called the gift (or baptism) of the Holy Spirit, and this gift makes all the attributes and roles of God available to us: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" (I Corinthians 12:13).
If, on the other hand, a person were to interpret John 14:23 and 17:21-22 to describe the union of two separate persons in the Godhead, then to be consistent he would have to interpret the Scriptures to mean that believers become members of the Godhead just as Jesus is. Clearly, then, these passages allude to the union with God that the Son of God had and that we can enjoy by believing and obeying the gospel. (Of course, Jesus is also one with the Father in the sense that He is the Father, but this is not what these particular verses of Scripture describe.)
Conversations Between Persons In The Godhead?
There is no biblical record of a conversation between two persons of God, but there are many representations of communion between the two natures of Christ. For example, the prayers of Christ portray His human nature seeking help from the eternal Spirit of God.
John 12:28 records a request on the part of Jesus that the Father would glorify His own name. A voice from heaven spoke, answering this request. This demonstrates that Jesus was a man on earth but His Spirit was the omnipresent God of the universe. The voice did not come for the benefit of Jesus, but for the people's benefit (John 12:30). The prayer and voice did not constitute a conversation between two persons in the Godhead; it may be said that it was communication between Jesus' humanity and His deity. The voice was a witness to the people from the Spirit of God, revealing God's approval of the Son.
Hebrews 10:5-9 quotes a prophetic passage from Psalm 40:6-8. In this prophetic depiction of the coming of the Messiah, Christ as a man speaks to the eternal God, expressing His obedience and submission to the will of God. Essentially this scene is similar to that of Christ's prayer in Gethsemane. It is obvious that Christ is speaking as a man because He says, "A body hast thou prepared me" and "I come to do thy will, O God."
In conclusion the Bible does not record conversations between persons of the Godhead, but between the human and divine natures. To interpret these two natures as "persons" creates the belief in at least two "Gods." (It is very strange that the Holy Ghost is never part of the conversations!) Moreover, "persons" would imply separate intelligences in the one deity, a concept that cannot be distinguished from polytheism.
Another Comforter
In John 14:16, Jesus promised to send another Comforter. In verse 26 He identified the Comforter as the Holy Ghost. Does this imply the Holy Ghost is another person in the Godhead? No. It is clear from the context that the Holy Ghost is simply Jesus in another form or manifestation. In other words, "another Comforter" means Jesus in the Spirit as opposed to Jesus in the flesh. In verse 16 Jesus told the disciples about the other Comforter. Then in verse 17 Jesus told them they knew the Comforter already, because He dwelt with them and would be in them. Who dwelt with the disciples at that time? Jesus, of course. The Spirit of Jesus dwelt with the disciples since the Spirit was robed in the flesh, but soon the Spirit would be in the disciples through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus made this even clearer when He said in verse 18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."
Jesus went to heaven in His glorified body so He could form a new relationship with His disciples, by sending back His own Spirit as the Comforter. He said to them, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; II Corinthians 3:17-18). When we have the Spirit in us, we have Christ in us (Ephesians 3:16-17).
In short, Jesus had dwelt with the disciples physically for about three years, but the time had come for Him to depart. However, He promised He would not leave them alone, comfortless, or as orphans. Instead, He promised to come back in a new way. He would not come in a visible body to dwell with them and be limited by that body, but He would return in Spirit so that He could dwell in them. So the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Jesus. This is Jesus manifested in a new way; Jesus can be with us and in us. He can be in all of His disciples all over the world at the same time and He can fulfill His promise to be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
Are Jesus And The Father One In Purpose Only?
According to John 17:21-22, Christians should be one with each other just as Jesus was one with the Father. Does this destroy our belief that Jesus is the Father? No. In this passage Jesus spoke as a man - as the Son. This is evident because He was praying to the Father, and God does not need to pray. In His humanity, Jesus was one with the Father in the sense of unity of purpose, mind, and will. In this sense, Christians can also be one with God and one with each other (Acts 4:32; I Corinthians 3:8; Ephesians 2:14).
We must remember that the Son is not the same as the Father. The title Father never alludes to humanity, while Son does. Although Jesus is both Father and Son, we cannot say the Father is the Son.
In John 17:21-22, Jesus, speaking as a man, did not state that He is the Father. However, other passages describe the oneness of Jesus with the Father in a way that transcends mere unity of purpose, and in a way that indicates Jesus is the Father. This is an additional level of oneness that is beyond our attainment because it speaks of His absolute deity. When Jesus said, "I and my Father are one," the Jews correctly understood Him to mean He was God, and they sought to kill Him (John 10:30-33). On that occasion, He did not merely claim unity with God but identify with God. Jesus also said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). No matter how united a Christian is with God, he could not make that statement. No matter how united two Christians are, one could not say, "If you have seen me, you have seen my friend." The same is true of a husband and wife, even though they are one flesh (Genesis 2:24). So, the oneness of Jesus and the Father means more than the oneness that human relationships can attain. As a man Jesus was one with the Father in the sense of unity of purpose, mind, and will (John 17:22). As God, Jesus is one with the Father in the sense of identity with the Father - in the sense that He is the Father (John 10:30; 14:9).
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is no presentation of persons in the Godhead in the Gospels. The Gospels do not teach the doctrine of the trinity, but simply teach that Jesus has two natures - human and divine, flesh and Spirit, Son and Father. There are plural references to Father and Son in the Book of John, but this very book teaches the deity of Jesus Christ and the oneness of God more than any other. When we investigate these plural references we find that, far from contradicting monotheism, they actually reaffirm that Jesus is the one God and that the Father is manifest in the Son.
In the next chapter, we turn to the other New Testament books, the Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation, to complete our study. As with the Gospels, these books teach the oneness of God with no separation of persons.