Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Jesus is Not the Father!
John 10:30 (NASB)
I and the Father are one.”
This verse has caused many to believe that Jesus and the Father are the same person, or deity. After all, it clearly says it doesn't it?
This is why I often push upon people that you cannot just read one verse and think it is the full truth and there is no sense in reading further. This is also why people shouldn't just read the Bible and believe that counts as studying it. Because when they do these two things, it causes far more confusion than it clears up.
If you wish to know the full truth to God's Word, you need to find the truth that allows all of the verses to align. The entire word of God needs to be studied and not just the verses that fit what you believe.
The problem with believing that Jesus is God the Father, is that there are many more verses that directly contradict that belief than there are verses that back it up. For instance, look at the verses that clearly show that Jesus and the Father are not the same.
John 4:34 (NASB)
34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
John 5:30-32 (NASB)
30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 31 “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.
And who was it that sent Jesus to us?
John 5:37 (NASB)
37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
Still, there are more.....
John 10:36 (NASB)
36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
He said He is the Son of God. If He and the Father were the same deity, how could he then be the Son of God?
John 12:49 (NASB)
49 For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
If those verses do not show two distinct deities in the Father and Jesus, then please explain just who it is that Jesus is praying to?
John 17:22-24 (NASB)
22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
And still there is one of my very favorite verses....
John 14-6 (NASB)
6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
If Jesus and the Father are the same being, then basically Jesus is saying, "Nobody comes to me but through me." And that simply does not make sense.
When Jesus said "I and the Father are one", or that "the Father is in me and I in the Father", He was not saying they were the same being. He was saying that everything He says is what the Father wants Him to Say. Everything He does is what the Father wants Him to do. He and the Father have the same will. They have the same desires. In every aspect of what they do, say, want or feel, they are the same.
To take one or two verses and claim Jesus is the Father and is not the Son of God, is to believe that your interpretation of a couple verses is correct even though they clearly contradict a bunch of other verses. And that is wrong!
One of the reasons why some people want to believe that Jesus is the Father, is because they cannot make sense out of the idea that the Bible says there is one true God, and Jesus is God, but Jesus is not the Father. So they find a way to make sense of it, even if what they then believe is in direct contradiction to the Word of God.
The truth is, there is one true God who reveals Himself in three persons. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.
If you have a hard time understanding how that can work, you can read my explanation in my article, "Understanding the Holy Trinity".
I and the Father are one.”
This verse has caused many to believe that Jesus and the Father are the same person, or deity. After all, it clearly says it doesn't it?
This is why I often push upon people that you cannot just read one verse and think it is the full truth and there is no sense in reading further. This is also why people shouldn't just read the Bible and believe that counts as studying it. Because when they do these two things, it causes far more confusion than it clears up.
If you wish to know the full truth to God's Word, you need to find the truth that allows all of the verses to align. The entire word of God needs to be studied and not just the verses that fit what you believe.
The problem with believing that Jesus is God the Father, is that there are many more verses that directly contradict that belief than there are verses that back it up. For instance, look at the verses that clearly show that Jesus and the Father are not the same.
John 4:34 (NASB)
34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
John 5:30-32 (NASB)
30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 31 “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.
And who was it that sent Jesus to us?
John 5:37 (NASB)
37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
Still, there are more.....
John 10:36 (NASB)
36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
He said He is the Son of God. If He and the Father were the same deity, how could he then be the Son of God?
John 12:49 (NASB)
49 For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
If those verses do not show two distinct deities in the Father and Jesus, then please explain just who it is that Jesus is praying to?
John 17:22-24 (NASB)
22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
And still there is one of my very favorite verses....
John 14-6 (NASB)
6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
If Jesus and the Father are the same being, then basically Jesus is saying, "Nobody comes to me but through me." And that simply does not make sense.
When Jesus said "I and the Father are one", or that "the Father is in me and I in the Father", He was not saying they were the same being. He was saying that everything He says is what the Father wants Him to Say. Everything He does is what the Father wants Him to do. He and the Father have the same will. They have the same desires. In every aspect of what they do, say, want or feel, they are the same.
To take one or two verses and claim Jesus is the Father and is not the Son of God, is to believe that your interpretation of a couple verses is correct even though they clearly contradict a bunch of other verses. And that is wrong!
One of the reasons why some people want to believe that Jesus is the Father, is because they cannot make sense out of the idea that the Bible says there is one true God, and Jesus is God, but Jesus is not the Father. So they find a way to make sense of it, even if what they then believe is in direct contradiction to the Word of God.
The truth is, there is one true God who reveals Himself in three persons. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.
If you have a hard time understanding how that can work, you can read my explanation in my article, "Understanding the Holy Trinity".
