Did the Trinity "so love the world"? In the Gospel of John, God is never the Trinity.
To hear this message on a podcast, click here.
In the Gospel of John, “God”
is never the Trinity. For instance, in one of the most well known verses of the Bible,
whose reference is written out on posters at football games:
John 3:16 “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his unique son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.”
Try substituting “God” in
this verse with “the Trinity”.
“For the Trinity so loved
the world, that he gave his unique son…”
It doesn’t make sense.
It seems to me that at
least subconsciously every Christian that holds John 3:16 dear realizes that “God”
in John 3:16 is not the Trinity, but God, who is also known as the Father. John
3:16 is telling us that God, the Father, loved the world, not that the Trinity loved
the world.
My Bible search program says
that the word or title “God” occurs 83 times in the Gospel of John. In not one
of those occurrences, that is, 0 out of 83 occurrences, does the word “God”
refer to the Trinity.
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was the Trinity” (1:1). That doesn’t make sense.
“There was a man sent from
the Trinity, his name was John” (1:6).
“Behold, the Lamb of the
Trinity!” (1:29).
“This is the Son of the
Trinity” (1:34).
“I am the Son of the Trinity” (10:36).
“I am the Son of the Trinity” (10:36).
The title Son of God refers
to Jesus nine times in the Gospel of John. It makes no sense to call Jesus the “Son
of the Trinity”.
Come back for a minute to the
verses that follow right after John 3:16:
John 3:17 “For the Trinity
did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him.”
John 3:18 “…whoever does
not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only Son of the Trinity”
The absurdity of thinking the
Gospel of John proclaims God is a Trinity goes on and on. Check it out for
yourself. Search “God” in the Gospel of John and see if any of the occurrences
refer to the Trinity. Here are a few more…
John 3:34 “For he whom the
Trinity has sent utters the words of the Trinity…” Compare with John 14:24 “Whoever
does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine
but the Father's who sent me.”
John 5:18 “This was why
the Judeans were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he
breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling the Trinity his own Father,
making himself equal with the Trinity” (5:18).
John 8:40 “…but now you
seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from the Trinity.
This is not what Abraham did.”
John 9:16 “Some of the
Pharisees said, "This man is not from the Trinity, for he does not keep
the Sabbath.”
In John’s Gospel, God is
the Father and the Father is God. That is, God = the Father.
In many of the verses where
God is mentioned in the Gospel of John, God is specifically equated with
the Father. That is, the Father is not just one member of
a multi-person “godhead”. Rather, “the Father” is simply another way of referring
to God, to all of God. God = the Father. There is no other God besides the
Father. The Father is God and God is the Father. To claim that God is more persons
than the Father contradicts the Gospel of John. A more-than-one-person-god is not
the God of the Gospel of John.
John 4:23-24 “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the
Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 6:27 “For on him God
the Father has set his seal."
John 8:41-42 “They said to
him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God." Jesus said to them, "If God
were your Father, you would love me…”
John 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.'”
John 17:1, 3 “Father…this
is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus the
Messiah whom you have sent.”
John 20:17 “…I have not
yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am
ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.'"
Many Christians seem to think
that the Gospel of John is the main place where evidence can be found that
Jesus is God, and therefore that God is a Trinity. On the contrary, in no place
in the Gospel of John is God ever described as a Trinity. It is absurd to put “the
Trinity” in any place in the Gospel of John that refers to God. Further, in the
Gospel of John, Jesus is not described as God. God is only one person, the
Father. In the Gospel of John, God is the Father, and the Father is God. He is
the God and Father of Jesus the Messiah. As Jesus said after his resurrection, “I
am ascending to my Father…my God” (John 20:17).
It is God, the Father, not
the Trinity, who loved the world and gave his unique son, Jesus the Messiah.
If the Gospel of John claims
that God is the Father only, and does not claim that Jesus is
God, then who does the Gospel of John say that Jesus is? See here.
Comments