Category: Trinitarian Commentary

Hello everyone. We’re back on discussing the Trinity again. It’s quite appropriate for now as I spent the early afternoon today with a wonderful pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses and got to speak to them about who Jesus is according to the Bible. Wonderful time. Speaking about the Trinity just fills me with the awe of worship and the wonder that Jesus came and did what he did. The Word became flesh. Those are truly words that should leave us in awe once we believe them

Today, as you can see from the blog title, we will be looking at John 5:24-30. Here is the text.

²⁴“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵I tell you the truth, 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. ²⁶For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

 ²⁸“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰By 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.

For some of you who might be thinking eschatology will be a big discussion on this one, no. I don’t do that here at Deeper Waters. I do have my own eschatological viewpoint, but this blog is about mere Christianity and about the viewpoints that we hold in common and not the ones we differ on.

To begin with, Jesus is basing your eternal destiny on his words. If you hear his words and believe in them, you will not be condemned. You will instead have eternal life. In fact, when the resurrection comes, it is his voice that will cause the dead to come out of their graves.

Some people see a problem with the Father granting the Son to have life in himself. Why? The Son is begotten of the Father so it fits in perfectly with a Trinitarian concept. The Son and the Father are that inter-connected and all that the Son has, he has because of the Father. Trinitarians agree with that.

The Father has also given authority to judge to the Son of Man. When the time of the last day comes, he will judge. This is quite stupendous that Christ is making such a claim. The Jews would have thought God would be the judge and here Jesus is saying that he is going to be the one who is to be the judge. You will be raised to eternal life or you will be condemned and which one it is depends on what the Son says.

Jesus also says “By myself, I can do nothing.” How is this going against the Trinity? Do Trinitarians believe that Jesus can be a rogue agent acting independently of the will of the Father? That he can go and do his own thing while the Father does something different? Not at all. This instead shows their intense unity.

When Jesus judges, it will be the will of the Father also for he will judge according to what he hears and his goal will not be to please himself but to please the Father. When we read these passages, we should see the deep relation that is shared between the Father and the Son. We might think it’s against Trinitarianism on face value, but I would suggest some who think that see what it would mean if Jesus said a point opposite to what he really said.

In truth, we have powerful evidence of the Trinity. The more one sees how Christ saw himself and his relationship to the Father, the more convinced one should be of the Trinity.

As I write this, I am pondering the great need for Christian thinking today. I’m in a debate with a friend right now who is trying to convince me that beauty is an example of relative truth. Frankly, this is the kind of thing that terrifies and saddens me both. It is a form of relativism that is poisoning our society and reminds me that we need to get back to good Christian thinking.

That’s one of the reasons for this long series I’ve been doing. One aspect of thinking Christian is the proper thinking about God and Christianity is unique among the religions of the world in the teaching of the doctrine of the Trinity. Right now, we’re studying it in the gospel of John. Follow along in your Bibles in chapter 5.

¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, 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. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. ²¹For 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.²²Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

A lot of people would look at the first verse and think that this is a verse that disproves the deity of Christ. It’s quite the opposite! It’s a very strong verse for who Jesus is. The Son does not do anything of himself, but rather he does what the Father does. The two are consistently acting in joint unison. Can we imagine how it would be also if Jesus were to say “The Son does what he does by himself and he doesn’t need the Father for anything!” If that were the case, we’d have a totally different system of thought going on. 

The Father also shows the Son all he does, which would point to a pre-existence of the Son and an eternal one at that. The Son has been there to see all that the Father is doing and the Father is in an intimate relationship with the Son in that he truly reveals himself to the Son, which is the kind of relationship hinted at in John 1:18.

Verse 21 gives the power to raise the dead to the Son and to give life to whoever he wants. The power of giving life which was seen to be in the hands of God in the OT is also seen to be in the hands of the Son in the NT.

The other action attributed to God in the OT that is given to the Son also is judging. Jesus claims though that the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son. Either Jesus is fully deity or else he is the hugest egomaniac ever usurping the rights of God and claiming them for himself.

The last point is that the goal is that all will honor the Son as they honor the Father. I remember presenting this to a Jehovah’s Witness once in an online conversation who immediately realized that he had a problem. Lest you think I’m putting words in his mouth, he told me that he was having a problem. I don’t know anyone who denies the deity of Christ who can follow this verse.

It’s also again either a most egotistical statement or a great truth. Jesus is claiming to be honored as God is. It is statements like these that make me realize that we do not often realize what Jesus said. Ben Witherington once said that he’s not surprised that Jesus was crucified after three years of ministry. He’s surprised he wasn’t crucified earlier!

Surprising indeed.

Easter has come and gone, but I hope you all will remember throughout the year that Christ is risen. If we have new readers that are staying with us after this weekend through hearing about us at Slipstream, welcome aboard. Right now, we’ve been going through the Bible for clues to understanding the doctrine of the Trinity. Right now, we’re in the New Testament and in the gospel of John.

In John 5, a miracle takes place in that Christ heals a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years and was waiting by a pool for a healing. Jesus tells him to take up his mat and walk. This gets him into some trouble with the religious leaders of the day as the day the man was healed was a Sabbath. It was forbidden to carry a mat on the Sabbath as that would count as carrying a weight. Before too long, the authorities find out Jesus had told him to do such so now they come to challenge him. Let’s see the first part of what is said in John 5:16-18.

¹⁶So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” ¹⁸For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus did not deny that he was “working” on the Sabbath. However, in response to the Jews, he claimed that his Father was always working on the Sabbath and that he was working too. To the Jewish mind at the time, this was tantamount to claiming to be deity.

It’s important when we realize this to also realize that while in a modern American culture, the way to claim to be God would be to step out and say “I’m God.” That wasn’t the way that Jesus would say it in an honor-shame culture. We often have this mindest that if Jesus did not come out and explicitly claim deity by our understanding, then he never did. Jesus did explicitly claim deity, but it was most often done by Jewish understanding and not ours.

Where did they get this idea that he was claiming deity? Jesus said his Father was always working. Who would it be that was working on the Sabbath? It would be God, as he is at work in providence sustaining the creation. Just as God is at work, Jesus claims that he is also at work. In essence, Jesus is claiming to be a co-laborer right alongside God.

Note that it was in stating his relationship to God that he was making himself out to be God. He never corrects the Jews on this in this whole exchange either. He never states something along the lines of “You are misunderstanding me.” Instead, he keeps going.

This dialogue has a lot in it and so we will spend quite a bit of time on it. Tonight, we will leave it at the point that Jesus sees himself as working alongside God and is justified in working as God is always working. Also, Jesus sees himself in a unique relationship to the Father that points to his unique status.

We’re going through the gospel of John looking for a greater understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. We’re going to be in chapter 4 tonight looking at the second sign that Jesus performed. Note that he performed that in Galilee at Cana. He had been in Judea and was passing through Samaria on his way to Galilee. Let us go to the text at this point to see what happened. 

⁴³After the two days he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) ⁴⁵When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. ⁴⁶Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

 ⁴⁸“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

 ⁴⁹The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

 ⁵⁰Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” 
      The man took Jesus at his word and departed. ⁵¹While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.⁵²When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”

 ⁵³Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed.

 ⁵⁴This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

The case that we have here is of a boy who is sick. We do not know what with, but we know that he is near death. Jesus is at Cana and from Capernaum comes the official whose son the boy is. He begs Jesus to heal him. He begs Jesus to come to see the boy before he dies.

Jesus tells him to simply go. His son will live. The translation we have says “You may go.” Jesus speaks with authority. While one may think the official is the one who would give the orders, it is Jesus instead who is giving the orders.

The official obeys however and goes back and on the way is greeted by his servants who tell him that the boy is living and the official finds out that it was the time that Jesus said “Your son will live” that he was healed.

Living is mentioned three times then. John wants us to know that. Could there be something also to the mention of it taking place on the 7th hour? Numbers mean something in John, such as Jesus coming to Cana for the first time on the third day. That doesn’t count against true chronology taking place, but it is a point worth pondering. 

What is the purpose of this sign? For one thing, Jesus’s divine authority as he is at a distance and healing. Let us remember the lesson we got from the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8 and Luke 7. Secondly, that he is life. John emphasizes this by mentioning it three times.

Tomorrow, we will be skipping for the Easter weekend and begin blogging on the resurrection. Hope you’ll be there for it.

We’re going through the Bible looking for clues to understanding the doctrine of the Trinity. We’re in the gospel of John and last time, we looked at how we are called to lower ourselves for the cause of Christ. He must increase and we must decrease. Tonight, we’re going to be in John 4. The passage is the woman at the well. It’s quite lengthy, so I’m going to recommend you either open up a window so you can read the text or get out your own Bibles and consider what is being stated tonight.

In this story, Jesus is passing through Samaria. That’s the first unusual event. If you were an orthodox Jew at the time, you avoided Samaria. Even if it meant extra traveling time, Samaria was just not the place that good Jews went through. In fact, you were to spit on the ground if you heard the word “Samaritan.” I suspect that in the story of the good Samaritan, when Jesus asked the question at the end, this is why the answer was “The one who showed mercy.” The Lawyer did not even want to say “Samaritan.”

Second strike this woman has is, well, she’s a woman. In those days, men did not associate with women in public and men did not teach women. Christ was quite revolutionary in the way that he treated women.

Third strike we see against her is she’s an outcast. How do we know? She comes to draw water at the well at high noon, which is when the heat would have been the worst. No one else was there at the time, which meant this lady wanted to avoid people. She was the town pariah.

She met Jesus at a well. That’s interesting. Why? Let’s go back to our old testament and look at some of the patriarchs. When Abraham sends his servant to fetch a wife for Isaac, the servant finds the wife at the well. When Jacob is on the run, he stops at Laban’s place and helps Rachel get water from a well. In Exodus 2, Moses is at a well and drives off a gang of shepherds who are keeping some women from the well. Moses gets his wife there. It seems wells are pretty romantic places. (Excuse me while I do a websearch to find our nearest well.)

And since this lady converts, it would seem that Christ is meeting his bride at a well. How is she his bride? The same way you and I are. If she becomes a believer, then she is a part of the church. Christ came to meet this one at the well. It was a divine appointment. 

This is a very unusual dialogue. It starts out innocent enough, but even that stuns the woman. How does a Jewish man talk to a Samaritan woman. Christ then tells her about the living water. The lady wants to know if Christ is greater than the Jewish patriarchs, including Jacob, whose name if you recall, was changed to Israel. How does Christ stand in relation to Israel?

The lady is interested in this water, but she is thinking of it as physical water. Double-entendres are quite common in John. He frequently uses a term that can mean two different things. Most often, people get the wrong idea. Just as Nicodemus misunderstood being born again, this lady misunderstands water.

Christ tells her to go get her husband. She tells him she has no husband. Christ then reveals more of his nature saying that she is quite correct. She has had five husbands and the man that she is living with now is not her husband.

Again, this lady is an outcast. Divorce was a shameful procedure and was public. This lady has been publicly shamed by five men. At the time, she is living with someone else probably just to have support and to avoid some of the shame, though we can be sure it is with her always. 

But since she’s got a prophet here, this lady is again a pragmatist and asks where the right place is to worship. The Samaritans had their own penteteuch and their own temple where they worshipped. Now that there is someone here who has divine authority, why not ask him and see what he says?

Jesus’s answer is that God cannot be confined to anyone place, but that the Jews were the ones to whom the original message came. Nevertheless, there will be a time when the revelation that came to the Jews will be open to all and all will be able to worship God wherever they are, Jew or Samaritan, or Gentile for that matter.

The lady says that she knows the Christ is coming and when he comes, he will explain everything. One wishes they could see the look on her face when Christ said “I am he.”

The lady is changed. She had been ashamed of what she had done, but now she wanted everyone to come out and meet someone who told her all she had done. This was the first witness to the Samaritans. Christ again uses the most unlikely candidates to do great things and what is the conclusion? Christ is the savior of the world.

Is he yours?

We’re going through the New Testament now and trying to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of God. I am referring to the Trinity as there are other doctrines of God as well, but this is one that is truly unique to Christianity. I have this idea that if the church could grasp the concept of the Trinity, it would turn us around. Perhaps the American church would finally have the revolution that it needs. We’re in the gospel of John and tonight, we’re going to be concluding the third chapter.

 ²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. ²⁴(This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” ²⁷To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.

 ³¹“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

When I started writing this blog, I was writing the first part in the title and thought “I cannot put that title without putting in the second part.” It would be awfully easy to have simply stated the truth that Christ must increase. What is hard to put in is that we must decrease.

The ancient worldview was that there was limited good. If one person had goodness, it was because it was taken from another. This was especially the case with honor. It wasn’t given out freely. Honor had to be earned. If someone attacked your honor, you had better defend it.

John the Baptist was told that his following was decreasing. John the Baptist, however, saw that this was to a greater good. (Thus further indication that part of John is written to stop an idea that John the Baptist was not the end-all.) The Baptist knew the truth. He must decrease. Christ must increase.

Why? Christ came from Heaven. (Contrary to those who think our souls might drop down from heaven like gumballs when we are conceived.) He is the one who is above all. I believe this is John the writer’s testimony again as he speaks in the same style that he did in the dialogue with Nicodemus. We have a response to Christ and then we have commentary. The Baptist publicly certified who Christ is. Nicodemus came by cover of night.

Let us make further comparisons. John the Baptist was a figure willing to lose what he had. Nicodemus was ashamed. John the Baptist understood what was going on at the time. Nicodemus, who was a teacher of Israel, did not. Nicodemus spoke to Jesus as just a teacher. John the Baptist saw him as the Christ, the bridegroom, and the lamb of God.

In this passage, we see the contrast and the only reason I can think of for the different responses these men had to Christ is the different way they saw him. John was willing to lose all. Nicodemus was afraid of losing what he had. 

Which side are you on today? Are you on the side of John the Baptist who saw Christ as the bridegroom and was willing to lose everything and did not seek his own honor at the expense of Christ, or are you coming by cover of night like Nicodemus because who knows what those around you could think if they knew that you were a follower of Christ?

You know the answer to that.

We’ve been going through the New Testament and trying to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the blessed Trinity. We’ve mainly been looking for clues that Jesus had to the understanding of his own person as well as clues to what those closest to him had to say about who he was. We’ve been going through the gospel of John lately and right now, we’re in John 3 and we’re going to start tonight’s reading looking at what was once the most quoted verse of Scripture.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Yes. There was a day and age when John 3:16 was the most quoted verse of Scripture. Today, it has been overtaken by Matthew 7:1 and only part of it with the “judge not” idea. It is my judgment that those who quote “Judge not” in such a way do not properly judge to have a clue about what Jesus is really saying here. Now some of you might be angry that I’ve said that. Please do complain. I want to hear your judgment that I am wrong in my judgment while all the while you don’t believe we should judge. The message is about hypocritical judging. Not all judging. 

Martin Luther called this verse “The gospel in minitaure”, and while it has the great message of the love of God in it, let’s be sure we don’t miss the other side. The message came so that people might not perish. Perishing is a real possibility. In fact, as we look at this passage, we see shades pointing back to the prologue with the message of light coming into the world and people not accepting the light.

Also, some Bibles might have this included in the text of what Jesus said. I think that’s in error. I don’t believe Jesus said these words, but this is John’s inspired commentary in response to the conversation Christ had with Nicodemus. 

Note the goal is not condemnation but salvation. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. We can be reminded of the message in Ezekiel that God does not delight in the death of the wicked. It is my contention that God is doing all he can without being overwhelming ot people and restricting their freedom further to bring about salvation to them. God is looking for people who really seek the truth for the sake of the truth. I will also contend that if anyone is following that path, they will eventually find Christ.

Part of the hesitancy though is that mens’ deeds are evil. C.S. Lewis once compared the idea of man searching for God to the idea of a mouse searching for a cat. We might find him, but we didn’t mean to find him as he is! Surely it didn’t come to that! If any other concept of god can be found, let us go with it! Let us go with all the popular ideas of a god who is a force or one who needs us or one who is simply love and makes sure everyone is happy in the end. We can chase those gods all we want, but we will not find them, simply because they do not exist.

This is also one reason I try to not be hard on the sins of my fellow man. It’s really easy to do of course. Don’t get me wrong on this. We should call sin sin and we should not tolerate it. However, we must remember that we are fallen as well and we don’t desire to come to the light in our sins either. How many of us have been quite good at justifying things that we know are wrong?

The message of Christianity reminds me that God did not come to save pretty good people who just needed an extra boost. He came to save sinners. He came to save people who could not save themselves. He came to save the worst of the worst.

Note though again that Jesus is the focal point. All of eternity hinges on what someone does with the Son of God. He is the light and if people come to him, then they are saved. If they do not, then they are not. Of course, I am speaking of those who know the message. My answer of those who have never heard is quite different, though readers of my blog will probably know my answer by now.

The light isn’t always pleasant at first and in many cases, none of us like it. We think it would be easier to stay in sin rather than come to Christ, even though it is far better for us to come to him. Whatever it is you are dealing with, it is easier often to stay in it than to come to him. Of course, I’m not saying Christ cures you instantly. I believe this is a huge misnomer we’ve given to people who suffer from a variety of temptations that we give the impression of disappearing immediately if they will just repent. Can that happen? Yes. Is it the norm? No. Often times, it could take good counseling and the presence of the Christian church being a body of fellow believers in love.

Yes. Christ is the ultimate light that saves, but let us remember that he said we are to be the light of the world. Let us not live in darkness either but let us be tiny beacons pointing to the true light. If we act as darkness, it will make it all the harder for those in darkness to find the true light.

We’re going through the New Testament seeking a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity, an essential doctrine of Christianity. Right now, we’re in the gospel of John. Last time, we looked at the first sign that Jesus did at the wedding of Cana. Tonight, we’re going to look at his talk with Nicodemus and address an idea that seems obscure to some. Why would Jesus compare himself to a snake that was lifted up in teaching that we must be born again?

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

There are several stories of salvation in the Old Testament through miracles, yet of all the stories in the Old Testament that Jesus could have used, he decided to point to this one. What is going on in this story that points to the work of Christ?

Let’s look at the whole story in Numbers 21:

⁴ They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,  to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” ⁶ Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

 ⁸ The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

What was going on was that the people were rebelling again. They wanted to go to Egypt where they thought they had it better. In response, God sends snakes? Why snakes? Snakes were a symbol of Egypt. In essence, instead of bringing Israel to Egypt, he brought Egypt to Israel.

When the people repent, God tells Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up for all to see. The snake was a symbol of death, but the Israelites had to look to that which they considered a shameful curse in order to find life. When they looked to the snake, they were healed. So what’s the connection?

Christ is speaking of his own death by crucifixion here. This was the most shameful death you could have, yet that which Israel saw as shameful was to be their source of life. Once again, they would have to look upon a source of shame and in that shame, they would see life.

Christ is the fulfillment of what Moses did in that passage. He is the source of life that brings true healing, not from the poison of the snake, but from the poison of sin. In speaking such, Christ saw himself as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the source of life for Israel. We are reminded of what John said earlier. “In him was life.”

How are we to respond? Do we look to the Son and live or not look and die?

We’re going through the New Testament and trying to come to a deeper understanding of the knowledge of the Trinity. We just recently finished the prologue of John so now we’re going to go through the book and hit some highlights and there are definitely a lot more of them. John has been referred to as a gospel of signs so we’re going to be looking at the first of those signs in John 2 tonight.

¹On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” ⁴“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”

 ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

 ⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

 ⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

 ⁸Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

   They did so, ⁹and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

 ¹¹This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

What was this miracle saying about Jesus?

The wedding in Jewish culture was a very festive event even celebrating the consumation of the new marriage. They would often last for a week and it was the time to show off. The honor of the host was at stake and if he failed to deliver, it would be a huge embarrassment to him and the community. In fact, if it wasn’t done appropriately, a family could face legal repercussions. 

Thus, what was at stake for the Master of Ceremonies was the way he would be seen in the community from then on. If he failed, he would be liable to legal action and he could be sure he would not get such a position again. Any number of things could lead to a crisis.

Such as running out of wine.

Which is exactly what happened.

Now Jesus’s mother asks him to help out. What is used? Stone jars. Not just any stone jars. These jars would have contained water that would have been used for ritual purification purposes. Most houses would only be able to hold one. This place has six. Most of them were borrowed probably, but this indicates that there was an incredibly large crowd there so the threat of shame is even greater.

In doing this miracle, it is more than just providing a drink. Jesus is taking the water used for the old system of purification and turning it to wine, a drink symbolizing joy. He is saying that the kingdom of God is coming and is replacing the old with the new. There is no longer need for purification water. Let’s enjoy the fruit of the kingdom!

And who is bringing the kingdom? Jesus is announcing by this it is arriving in his person.

The kingdom of God is centered on God’s rule over his people taking place through the actions of Christ.

We shall continue tomorrow going to the next portion in John to touch.

Happy April Fool’s Day! One of my favorite days of the year! For those who are interested, I am entirely evil on this day. I did happen to prank my own mother, again. I love her dearly, but her picture should be next to the word “gullible” in the dictionary. It’s practically become a tradition. As of this point, no one has April Fooled me yet, although my roommate did have a nice try in trying to tell me that my check for the rent bounced.

Now let’s get to the text. We’re going through the New Testament looking for clues to understanding the doctrine of the Trinity. We’ve been going through the prologue of John and tonight, we shall end it by looking at John 1:18. Let’s look at this in a number of different versions. First, the NIV:

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

The NKJV:

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

The ESV:

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side,  he has made him known.

And lastly, the NASB:

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

This is one of the debated passages about what the text says, but with any translation, we can still find the full deity of the Son. I recommend reading works on textual criticism for those who want some more information on that. I would not consider it my area of expertise. A number of good commentaries on the passage can help as well as works on textual criticism such as those by Dan Wallace or Bruce Metzger.

Let us consider some aspects though. John has brought us full circle starting with the Word and the God he is with and ending the passage with both of them. It begins by saying no one has seen God. Some might think this rules out the deity of Christ at the start, but that is not what John is saying. He is saying that no one has seen God in his essence with comprehension. God has always been at a distance. The text would indicate not even the angels have truly seen God. It would also mean that when we look at a theophany in the OT, it is most likely a Christophany, as all those times people said they saw God, they were seeing the Son. That’s how this passage can harmonize with the others that have people seeing God.

However, the one who knows God is the one who is in his bosom. He shares the most intimate relationship possible with the Father. He is the Son who bears the nature of God although he does not have paternity as the Father has. He is of the same substance as the Father. 

The last clause is particular interesting when it talks of how the Son has revealed the Father. The word there is the word that we get “exegete” from. Exegesis is the process whereby one reads a text and reveals the substance of what is therein. 

This is what the Son does of the Father. How do we know what he is like? We know by looking at the Son. Unless someone knows the Son, it is impossible for them to know the Father. We might have some ideas of him that are correct, but in order to really know the Father, one must know the Son.

And so, John has brought us full circle. The Word was in the beginning with God and was God and the Word has come forth from the Father. That Word reveals the Father through his Son. To know the Son is to know the Father for the Son is the revelation of who the Father is.

We shall continue going through John tomorrow.