This same logic applies to what Jesus says in chapter 5 and verse 37, where He says that The Father sent Him. You don't "send" yourself to a place. . . you "go" to a place. Did Jesus tell us THE TRUTH?
Now look at chapter 5 and verse 43, where Jesus says that He came in "His Father's Name," NOT IN HIS OWN! The "Jesus-Only" doctrine teaches that the ONLY NAME IS JESUS. But that is the opposite of what He said! And what IS the name of The Father? Well, look at both John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14. God's name is "I AM." Back to chapter 5 and verse 43, Jesus said He came IN His Father's name. . . not WITH it. Jesus calls Himself "The Son of God" and "The Son of Man," but NEVER "The Father." And remember what the words "in the name of" means: by the authority of, or by the power of. We know what "stop in the name of the law" means, and it DOES NOT mean that the one we want to stop is named THE LAW. . . we are calling on the power and authority of the law to make the person stop. OUR authority won't stop them, but the authority of the law will. The same thing applies when you DO SOMETHING "in the name of" – in this case, Jesus is telling us He is doing and teaching BY THE AUTHORITY OF GOD! By someone else's authority and power! Again, if there is JESUS ONLY, then why didn't Jesus say IN MY NAME– BY MY AUTHORITY AND POWER?
Then, in John 6:31-35, Jesus says that "My Father" gave the manna-bread, not that "I [Jesus] GAVE IT." And Jesus tells us that He IS THE BREAD. Now, if I give you an item, I do not give you MYSELF but something I OWN. God is the giver, and Jesus is the item given – and they are separate! Now keep this idea of "bread" in your mind and we will come back to it later.
In John 8:16-19, Jesus quotes the Law of Moses (refer to Deuteronomy) that says TWO witnesses prove a testimony is true. Then He goes on to count HIMSELF AND THE FATHER as witnesses. . . Jesus is witness number one, and The Father is witness number two. Now remember, Jesus was a carpenter. He built furniture and other items out of wood. He SHOULD KNOW how to count. . . at least to "two." But if there is JESUS ONLY, then there is ONLY ONE. . . not two! DID JESUS MAKE A MISTAKE? Remember, Jesus said He would be in the ground three days and three nights. . . and He was! But if we can't believe He can count to "two," then what makes us think He can count to "three?" What do you think?
Backing up in chapter 8 at verse 26 to 29, Jesus tells us that He speaks what The Father spoke/taught to Him. Did Jesus TALK to Himself? Hang on to that thought.
In John 10:17-18, Jesus says that He "received this commandment from My Father." Did Jesus COMMAND Himself? Keep thinking about this.
In John 11:40-43, Jesus SPEAKS to Heaven before He raises Lazarus from the dead. Who is He SPEAKING to? His Father! If there is JESUS ONLY, then He is talking to the air! He must be INSANE! Now comes the best part.
In John 12:26-30, Jesus again speaks to Heaven in front of a crowd. . . AND SOMEONE ANSWERS HIM! Who? Well, Jesus called out to His Father! Notice that the crowd HEARD the sound, but didn't LISTEN to what the voice said! They claimed it was THUNDER, and it is plain to see that Jesus didn't make the sound. In Exodus 19:19 & 20:18, 1 Samuel 7:10 and Job 37:2-5, the voice of God is called THUNDEROUS! If there is JESUS ONLY. . . THEN WHAT HAPPENED HERE? Was it a big HOAX with an angel in the sky POSING as The Father that Jesus has called out to? DID JESUS LIE?
Now we will return to the idea of "bread" as it concerns Jesus.
Looking at John 1:18, we are told that Jesus (called THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, refer to John 3:16) is IN the bosom of The Father. I can hear it now. . . you are IN your bosom, and on the "Jesus-Only" argument would go. But this phrase SHOWS that The Son and The Father ARE SEPARATE! How, you ask? Well, look at Luke 16:22-23. In Jesus' instruction to us about what happens when people die (and it is STILL true to this day), we are told that Lazarus DIED and then WAS IN ABRAHAM'S BOSOM! The same phrase EXACTLY! Simply put, Lazarus was a different person from Abraham. . . they ARE NOT the same man! So, back to John 1:18, it is plain to see that Jesus IS NOT THE SAME AS The Father. Being IN THE BOSOM of someone, as God's Word teaches it, means to be IN THE SAME LOCATION as someone. This idea of Jesus, The Father, and BEING IN doesn't stop here!
In John 10:38, Jesus says He is IN The Father, and that The Father is IN Him. If there is JESUS ONLY, why didn't He say that HE IS The Father and that The Father IS Him?
In John 14:20, Jesus tells the Apostles that after He would rise from the dead, they would KNOW that Jesus is IN The Father. . . and THEY (The Apostles) would be IN JESUS! If there is JESUS ONLY, and this statement means that The Father is actually Jesus, then the Apostles WERE JESUS ALSO. . . ALL 12 OF THEM! This blows the "ONE, not three" argument completely away because it suddenly makes "THIRTEEN (13), not one OR three" if being IN means BEING THE SAME PERSON.
We are not done with this idea, because we have to tie it into "bread."
In John 6:48-57, Jesus teaches about the upcoming practice of The Lord's Supper and The Loaf and The Cup. He shows us the benefit of observing His Death and Sacrifice in this memorial: we receive LIFE. But notice His words in verse 56, where He says that in eating His flesh (THE BREAD, here is the connection as promised) and drinking His blood (THE FRESH JUICE OF GRAPES, WITH NO FERMENTATION) a believer will BE IN Jesus and Jesus will BE IN this eater and drinker! According to the "Jesus- Only" doctrine where BEING IN means BEING THE SAME PERSON, in partaking of communion you BECOME JESUS! Now, instead of "ONE, not three" we have "MILLIONS!"
Now we know that Jesus has ONE BODY, and that body is THE CHURCH, and the church is THE CHRISTIANS (and not a building). . . but we have only ONE LORD! There is ONLY ONE JESUS, not millions of Him! We are to be "like" Him, but we can NEVER BE HIM. We CLOTHE ourselves with Jesus when we are baptized into Him (Galatians 3:27), but we don't BECOME HIM.
And besides all this LOGICAL proof that Jesus and The Father are separate and different persons, Jesus plainly SAYS SO.
In John chapter 15 and verse 1, Jesus says that He is "The Vine" and that The Father is "The Vine Dresser" (or husbandman/gardener). If you have a grape vine in your garden, you should be able to tell that it IS NOT YOU and that YOU ARE NOT that vine. You and the vine are separate and different. And Jesus also plainly tells us that He and The Father are separate when He tells us that "My Father is your Father, and My God is your God" (John 8:54 and John 20:17). If there is JESUS ONLY, then He LIED about who "our" Father and God is! Unless you are my brother, then my father IS NOT your father. But if I am your father, then my father is your grandfather, and not your father!
The above verses COMPLETELY PROVE that Jesus, The SON, is a different and separate person from God, The FATHER. Two down, and ONE to go!
Well, what about The Holy Spirit? Is He the same as Jesus, as the "Jesus-Only" doctrine teaches? Of course not, because Jesus tells us that He is separate from The Holy Spirit! In John 14:16, Jesus tells the Apostles that Jesus will ask The Father (you don't ask yourself to do something) to give them ANOTHER Comforter. First, notice that the word ANOTHER is AN OTHER, ONE OTHER than the one speaking! Someone separate and different! And who IS this OTHER? The Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth! He is sent, according to verse 26, BY The Father IN THE NAME OF (by the authority/power of) The Son to remind the Apostles of ALL that Jesus had told them.
And before the "Jesus-Only" doctrine can try an end-sweep to twist these verses in chapter 14, notice that in verse 18 (compared with John 14:21 and 16:16) Jesus is talking about His Resurrection. . . NOT the coming of The Holy Spirit! Besides, if there is JESUS ONLY, and He is saying that after He ascends into Heaven He would come back and call Himself The Comforter, THEN JESUS HAS ALREADY RETURNED... THE SECOND COMING HAS ALREADY PAST!
Remember what Paul had to say to the Thessalonians about people who claimed that the Day of The Lord (The Second Coming) had already come (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)! If Paul knew that The Lord HADN'T RETURNED when he was writing this letter, some 30 years after the events in the book of John, then Jesus wasn't talking about His coming, but the coming of The Holy Spirit... JUST LIKE HE SAID IN CHAPTER 14 & 18!
In looking at the above verses, it is plain that Jesus taught of The Godhead. He clearly shows that the THREE people mentioned in Matthew 28:19 are separate, different, and distinct from one another. But before I am accused of "polytheism" (that is, teaching that there are MULTIPLE gods), let me remind you of the first verse of the book of John. . . "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God." Somehow, spiritually, the three of them are joined. They are ONE, as John 1:1 and John 10:30 states. But this "joining" is not what the "Jesus- Only" teachers would have us believe, that they are ONE PERSON. God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit are ONE just as a man and a woman are ONE in marriage (Matthew 19:4-6 & Mark 10:6-8)! A husband and a wife are still TWO separate bodies, but they are considered by God to be ONE FLESH. That is, they are "joined" somehow, spiritually, and they should now and hereafter act with one goal and one mind. The bond of marriage is a PICTURE of the "joining" of the Godhead: of how God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit work together for one goal. They EACH have a part in the redemption of mankind: God set the plan, Jesus paid the price, and The Holy Spirit works through The Word of God to show people that they are sinners, that they need to obey Christ, and He comes to live in us once we are baptized and gives us the power to defeat Satan and live for Christ. Jesus is the only NAME by which we are saved (Acts 4:12), but He is not the ONLY ONE involved in the process. To say otherwise is to deny both what Jesus TAUGHT and what we have just read!
I can now answer my grandfather's question, and I will show him that The Holy Spirit, working through The Word of God, HAS GUIDED ME TO THE TRUTH (John 16:13)!
To read Part 1 of this article see: Jesus Only - Fact of Faith or Fatal Falsehood - Part 1
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