Part of a series
The Eternal Son: John’s Gospel Answers the Oneness Claim
Studies from the Gospel of John showing that Jesus Christ is fully God and is the eternal Son, not God the Father in a body. Read them in any order.
- Did God the Father Send His Son, or Did the Father Become His Own Son? A Study of John 3:16
- Seeing the Son Reveals the Father
- Jesus Christ Is Not God the Father Incarnate (Study Outline)
- I Am in the Father: Why John 14:10 Does Not Make Jesus the Father
- Jesus Is Not God the Father Incarnate
- “I Am in the Father” (John 14:10)
- Does John 10:30 Prove Oneness? Let Us Think Biblically and Logically
- The Elephant in the Room: What Jesus Actually Said in John 10:30
- One God Does Not Mean One Person: A Bible Outline From John’s Gospel (you are here)
Bible Outline • John 10:30; 17:21-22 (KJV)
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God, and they are not the same person.
This teaching comes from the King James Bible, and every verse I quote is from the KJV.
These are my own convictions from the Word of God, shared through The Prevailing Word of God ministry, and they do not speak for any local church.
Primary Text
John 1:1-2, 14; 8:17-18; 10:30; 14:16-17; 17:5, 21-24; Romans 8:29; Matthew 3:16-17 (KJV)
Main Idea
The Bible teaches that there is only one God. It also shows the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three who are not the same person. When Jesus Christ said He and the Father are one, He did not mean that He is the Father.
Download the printable outline (Word)
I. There Is Only One God
A. The LORD Our God Is One LORD
Prescriptive
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”
Deuteronomy 6:4, KJV
Prescriptive
“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:”
Isaiah 45:5, KJV
Everyone in this discussion agrees on this point. There is one God, and there are not three gods.
B. The Real Question
Oneness teaching says Jesus is the one person who shows Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Both sides agree that God is one. What divides us is whether one God must mean one person.
The rest of this outline lets John’s Gospel answer that question.
II. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at the Jordan
A. All Three Are Present at Once
Descriptive
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16-17, KJV
Jesus Christ stands in the water. The Spirit of God comes down like a dove. The Father speaks from heaven about His beloved Son.
This is one God at work, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each present in the same moment.
III. “I and My Father Are One”
A. What Jesus Christ Said
Descriptive
“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”
John 10:29-30, KJV
Jesus Christ had just said that no man can take His sheep out of His hand (John 10:28). Then He said the same of His Father’s hand. The Son and the Father hold the sheep with one power and one purpose.
B. Jesus Christ Said “We Are”
In the Greek, Jesus Christ said “we are” one, just as our English Bible reads “are.” Jesus Christ spoke of Himself and the Father as two who are one.
Jesus Christ did not say, “I am the Father.” Jesus Christ said that He and the Father are one.
IV. “Even As We Are One”
A. Jesus Christ Prayed for His People to Be One
Descriptive
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
John 17:21, KJV
Descriptive
“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:”
John 17:22, KJV
The word for “one” in John 17 is the same word Jesus Christ used in John 10:30. In verse 22 Jesus Christ puts both side by side: “that they may be one, even as we are one.”
The believers are many different people. When they become one, they do not turn into one person. So the word “one” does not have to mean one person.
B. Believers Do Not Become God
The oneness of believers is not the same in every way as the oneness of the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son are both God, and believers are not. The point here is simple: being one and being two persons can go together.
V. Believers Are Made Like the Son
A. Conformed to the Image of His Son
Descriptive
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Romans 8:29, KJV
God is making believers like His Son. Every believer still stays his own person, and Jesus Christ is still the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:29 is not a proof of the Trinity by itself. It shows a simple truth: being like someone is not the same as being that person.
VI. The Word Was With God, and the Word Was God
A. With God and Was God
Descriptive
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”
John 1:1-2, KJV
John says three things about the Word. The Word was already there in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God.
You cannot be “with” someone who is the very same person as you. Yet the Word is fully God.
B. The Word Became Flesh
Descriptive
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14, KJV
The Word who was with God in the beginning is Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father.
VII. Glory and Love Before the World Began
A. Glory Shared Before the World Was
Descriptive
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
John 17:5, KJV
Jesus Christ prayed about glory He had with the Father before the world was made.
B. Love Before the Foundation of the World
Descriptive
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17:24, KJV
The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world. This relationship did not begin in Bethlehem. The Father and the Son shared glory and love before anything was created.
VIII. Another Comforter
A. Jesus Christ Prays, the Father Gives, the Spirit Comes
Descriptive
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
John 14:16-17, KJV
Descriptive
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
John 14:26, KJV
In one sentence, Jesus Christ prays, the Father gives, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell with believers. Jesus Christ calls the Holy Spirit “another Comforter.”
These are not three gods. They are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each doing His own part in one work of God.
IX. Two Witnesses
A. Jesus Christ and the Father Who Sent Him
Descriptive
“It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.”
John 8:17-18, KJV
The law required two witnesses. Jesus Christ named Himself as one witness and the Father as the second. His argument only works if there really are two who give testimony.
B. Not Two Sides of One Man
Descriptive
“And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.”
John 8:16, KJV
Oneness teachers often say the two witnesses are the divine side and the human side of Jesus. But Jesus Christ did not name His two natures. Jesus Christ named “the Father that sent me.” One man speaking from two sides of himself is still one witness under the law.
X. The God Who Saves
A. The Father Sent the Son
Descriptive
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16, KJV
This truth matters because it concerns the God who saves. The Father sent the Son, the Son died for our sins and rose again, and the Holy Spirit gives new life to those who believe.
B. Saved by Grace Through Faith in Jesus Christ
Descriptive
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Romans 5:1, KJV
Descriptive
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV
No one has to understand everything about God before he can be saved. A sinner is saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
XI. My Closing Thoughts
I want every reader to hold on to every truth the Bible gives, and not let one truth cancel another.
God is one. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The Son is not the Father, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son.
John’s Gospel shows Jesus Christ praying to the Father, sent by the Father, and loved by the Father before the world began. Those are real relationships, not one person changing titles.
One God does not mean one person.
The word Trinity is not in the Bible, but neither are many words we use to sum up Bible truth. The question is whether the teaching matches what Scripture says. John’s Gospel was written long before any church council, and its words still settle the matter.
Go Deeper
Does John 10:30 Prove Oneness? Let Us Think Biblically and Logically
The Elephant in the Room: What Jesus Actually Said in John 10:30
“One” Is a Language Question, Not Math
Jesus Christ Is Not God the Father Incarnate (Study Outline)
Key Bible Passages
Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5; Matthew 3:16-17; John 1:1-2, 14; 3:16; 8:16-18; 10:28-30; 14:16-17, 26; 17:5, 21-24; Romans 5:1; 8:29; Ephesians 2:8-9.
Salvation is only through a personal relationship with God the Father by grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. At the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, the believer is instantly and permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit regenerates, seals, leads, guides, empowers, and sanctifies the believer in their walk with God.
Prescriptive
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21, KJV
Watch the teachingNew verse by verse studies go out every week on YouTube, King James Version, with the passage on the screen. Subscribe to The Prevailing Word of God, taught by John Kempf of Melbourne, Florida.