Hear me carefully tonight, because the issue is not what people think it is. The question is not whether Jesus is God: He is. The real question the Oneness folks have to answer is this: is Jesus the Father? And the Lord Jesus settles it in His own words.
“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” (John 5:23, KJV)
Now catch what He said. Honor the Son even as you honor the Father: equal honor, so the Son is fully God. But look at the end of the verse: “the Father which hath sent him.” The Father sent the Son! A person does not send himself. There are two here: equal in honor, distinct in Person. Glory to God.
Distinct, yet one God
This is the pattern all through the Book. John says the Word “was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), distinction and deity in one breath, and it was the Word who was made flesh (John 1:14), not the Father. David heard it: “The LORD said unto my Lord” (Psalm 110:1): God speaking to God. When Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), He was claiming to be God, but notice, He said “I and my Father,” two Persons, one in nature.
And when Jesus prayed, “O Father, glorify thou me… with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5), that is not the Father praying to Himself. When He asked that believers “may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22), He was not asking us to all become one Person: He was speaking of unity, not identity. So honor the Son with everything in you, as you honor the Father, but never confuse the Son with the Father. One true God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Related Teaching
- “My Father Is Greater Than I”
- Seeing the Son Reveals the Father
- Scripture Supports the Doctrine of the Trinity
The Gospel, Stated Plainly
Everything I teach on this site rests on one message from Scripture. Read it in God’s own words from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 1:16, and Ephesians 2:8-9.
“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)
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