“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
Think about the problem facing John as he writes these words. He is telling us about a man he knows personally, whom he came to believe is much more than a man. He knows what he believes is true, because he saw the man brutally crucified and then run through with a spear. Later, he saw the same man alive again.
Q: If you were in John’s place how would you describe the relationship between Jesus and God?
Wow, that’s a tough one.
Unity, Trinity, Holy.
That is a great question. One possible answer is something Jesus Himself said as recorded in the book of John. John 14: 6 – 9: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
I thank God I am not in John’s place,..people back then didn’t want to accept the truth,..and still today there are those that won’t accept the truth even after they have been told time and time again,..as for describing the relationship,..the work of the Father is that we all may believe in Jesus Christ,..so if we believe in Christ we would believe that He is in the Father and the Father is in He,..the two are One,…why is this so hard to believe?
Great comments and thoughts! It is a very tough challenge to do what John does in his gospel. The “oneness” of God is hard to wrap our heads around. To know Jesus is to know God. Amazing!!
John 1:1, 1:14, explains it to me, however faith from the Holy Spirit is required for us to believe these words from God.
Even men of faith like ourselves are required to except this unexplainable truth as truth. Guess that’s why we are called men of faith.
Interesting question; it raised more questions in my mind, particularly more than just if I were John trying to describe the relationship. I had to ask myself what their relationship was and is. In my research I discovered an interesting point that I kind of knew but hadn’t cemented in my mind: That God is Jesus’s God and Father. That although they are one, they are also not. The relationship between God and Christ is similar to a husband and wife (taking gender out of it).
1 Cor. 11:3 The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
Christ prayed to God; submitted himself to God. Christ came as an agent of God; given authority by God.
John 5:19-30 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Up until this question I think I thought of the Trinity almost like a budget. It was the same bank account just different lines on a ledger. But really thinking about it and reading in the Scripture I think it is more that God has truly separated His being into three parts. Jesus isn’t an extension of God, He is separate from God, and submits to God. God is the Trinity, but God is the Head of the Trinity. It is hard to understand simply because we do not have the power to do it ourselves.
So I think if I were John I would describe the relationship between God and Christ as this; that God identified that portion of Himself that is righteous and true (The Truth, The Word) and gave it sentience, and that is Christ. Christ is not separated (as in the sense that we are separated) from God because Christ is sinless.
Chris,
I love how you have wrestled with this question. Bravo!
When you write, “It is hard to understand simply because we do not have the power to do it ourselves,” you hit on what I think is the key point: This is beyond our ability to know. Yet, in one sense, we do know. We have experience with God’s Holy Spirit being in us.
The difference between us and Jesus, as you correctly point out, is that Christ is sinless. The Father and Son can be one because there is no sin to separate them. In our case as humans, we are sinful, and are only able to be united in God because of his Grace made possible through Jesus. The more we surrender to God’s will, the more at one we can be with the Father. But that is a lifetime’s journey. (Romans 7:21-25)