The Text:
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
The Challenge:
A lot of people say asking for Jesus to say verbatim “I am God worship me” is a con and a fallacy. It doesn’t matter.
If you believe Jesus is God, it’s because you ignore/reframed John 17:3, John 20:17, 1 Cor 8:6, Rev 3:12, 1 Cor 15:28, and so many other scriptures to not mean what they obviously say.
Jesus doesn’t call himself God. It doesn’t matter if he says it verbatim, there’s no concept of Jesus being God. Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is God’s Christ; and the head of Jesus is God. The Father is greater than Jesus.
It’s a kind of condemnation that a false religion like Islam has a better understanding of Jesus than we believers.
My Reply:
Johnny Mack: As I have thoroughly explained to you and others before, your understanding of John 17:3 is totally mistaken.
You are misreading the text of John 17:3 and failing to take into account the immediate as well as more remote contexts of John 17:3.
It is you who have “reframed” John 17:3.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (KJV)
Joh 17:3 Now eternal life means knowing you as the only true God and knowing Jesus your messenger as Christ. (Williams New Testament)
God the Father has given exclusive authority to His Son, Jesus Christ, to give eternal life to all the Father has given to Jesus:
Joh 17:2 just as you have given Him authority over all mankind to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him.
In the beginning of this prayer, Jesus requests:
Joh 17:1 When Jesus had said all these things, He lifted His eyes to heaven and said: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that He may glorify you,
Later in the prayer Jesus requests:
Joh 17:5 So now, Father, glorify me up there in your presence just as you did before the world existed.
Jesus, therefore, both claims and reveals that He has had an eternal existence as the Son of God before the world existed. Thus, Jesus possesses two natures: an eternal divine nature, and an assumed human nature which He took upon Himself when He was born to the virgin Mary, when He was called “Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
In John 17:3, when Jesus speaks of His Father “as the only true God,” He does not deny His own Deity.
Links to my prior thorough discussions of John 17:3
https://www.realbiblestudy.com/?p=3788
https://www.realbiblestudy.com/?p=3674
https://www.realbiblestudy.com/?p=2541
Hello Jerry i have found that Matthew 28;19 strongest verses on the trinity
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptism them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Jesus is God
These are the biblical
explanatory verses_:
1) ( Matthew 1 : 23 )
‘Behold, a virgin shall be
with child & shall bring
forth a son & they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,’ God with us.’
2)( Hebrews 1 : 8 )
‘But unto the Son God, The Father saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.’
3) ( Matthew 28 : 19 )
‘Jesus said to the desciples, “Go ye therefore & teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son & of the Holy Ghost,”
4) (Philippians 2:5-6)
“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.”
5) (John 1:18)
“No one has ever seen God, but the one & only Son, who is himself God & is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.“
6) ( John 1:1, 14)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God & the Word was God“And the Word became flesh & dwelt among us,
we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of
grace and truth.“
7) ( 1 John 5:20 )
‘We know that the Son of God has come & has given us understanding, so that
we may know him who is true; & we are in him who
is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.“
8) ( Isaiah 44:6 )
“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel & his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no God.”
9) ( 2 Peter 1:1 )
“Simeon Peter, a servant & apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness
of our God & Savior Jesus Christ.“
======
Thank you for sharing such good verses that affirm Jesus is God, Usha Borde.
The individual I was answering, Johnny Mack, says he once believed in the doctrine of the Trinity, but no longer does.
One of the chief verses he uses to deny that Jesus is God the Son is John 17:3, which he brings up frequently.
The verses you shared are good ones, but Johnny Mack dismisses each of them with his various arguments which I think he has learned from Unitarian sources or Arian sources (like modern day Jehovah Witnesses).
I, of course, agree with you, not him!