One true God AND Jesus Christ

"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." John 17:1-5

It has been alleged that Jesus Christ is promoting the theory of one God, while excluding himself from being divine. This theory is particularly used by Muslims who cite John 17:3 as their focal point for their arguments. This idea is propogated to try and prove to Christians that Jesus was no more than a prophet and therefore isn't divine as Christians believe. This paper will look in detail at these allegations and will show evidence from both the N.T. as well as the O.T. to see if this idea can be true along with looking at the Greek usage of this passage. As you will see, Muslims who promote this theory using John 17:3 leave themselves open for a big downfall, which isn't immediately seen by looking at the surface with the English translation of the Bible. John 17:1 says:

"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the time has come. GLORIFY your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

In this verse, Jesus specificly tells God the Father to glorify him. To the unsuspected reader, this verse means nothing, but careful study of the scripture helps to eliminate the idea of Jesus being a normal man before we even reach John 17:3. The fact that Jesus himself said that God would glorify him would immediately appear blasphemous to anyone knowledgable within the scriptures. The reason why can be seen from these following verses:

I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I WILL NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER, Nor My praise to carved images. Isaiah 42:8 LET THEM GIVE GLORY TO THE LORD, And declare His praise in the coastlands. Isaiah 42:12

God explictedly says that he will give his glory to no one, which is seen from these previous verses. The O.T. makes it impossible for anything and anyone to recieve God's glory except God himself. Apparently Jesus thinks he is God which explains why he tells God in heaven to glorify him. If the Muslim apologist tries to argue otherwise, then it is up to them to show another person in the Bible telling God to glorify them, even though God refuses to share his glory with anybody else. John 17:2 says:

For you granted him authority OVER ALL PEOPLE that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

Here in this verse we see that God has given authority to Jesus which equates him to the position of God. This view is supported from the Quran because only God has dominion and power and only God gives life and death.

"To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: It is He who gives life and death; and He has power over all things." S. 57:2

"And certainly We! We it is Who give life, and cause death, and We are THE HEIRS." S. 15:23

Only God gives life in both Quran & Bible, So why does Jesus claim to do what God only does?

When Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favour unto thee and unto thy mother; how I strengthened thee with the holy Spirit, so that thou spakest unto mankind in the cradle as in maturity; and how I taught thee the Scripture and Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and how thou didst shape of clay as it were the likeness of a bird by My permission, and didst blow upon it and it was a bird by My permission, and thou didst heal him who was born blind and the leper by My permission; and how thou didst raise the dead by My permission; and how I restrained the Children of Israel from (harming) thee when thou camest unto them with clear proofs, and those of them who disbelieved exclaimed: This is naught else than mere magic; S. 5:110

Here, in the Quran, we see that the only way Christ was able to give life was by Allah's permission. This verse also shows that Allah only gives life and resurrection (from the dead):

How disbelieve ye in Allah when ye were dead and He gave life to you! Then He will give you death, THEN LIFE AGAIN, and then unto Him ye will return. S. 2:28

However, Jesus in the Bible NEVER SAYS THAT GOD IS THE RESURRECTION, read:

Jesus said to her, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. He WHO BELIEVES IN ME, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and BELIEVES IN ME shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, [Kurios in Greek, Yahweh in Hebrew] I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." John 11:25-27

Jesus said to him, "I AM the way, the truth, and THE LIFE. NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and FROM NOW ON YOU KNOW HIM AND HAVE SEEN HIM." John 14:6-7

Jesus said that HE, NOT GOD, is the resurrection. Now if God is the resurection and life in both the Quran and the Bible, and Jesus says that he is the same thing, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that he is clearly claiming to due what only God does and therefore claiming to be God. This is verfied by what Jesus says in this verse:

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus SAID TO HIM, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? HE WHO HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER; so how can you say, "Show us the Father'? John 14:8-9

No other prophet ever claimed that when a person looked upon them, that they were seeing God himself. This would be utter blasphemy, which Jesus clearly knew and said anyway which is in clear contradiction to Muslims trying to use John 17:3 as a defense against Jesus deity. So far the idea of Jesus not being God as well as telling God to do what he says, i.e. glorify him when God gives his glory to no one, is non-existent. This fact is clearly shown before we even reach verse 3. John 17:3 says:

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, AND Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

I don't know why Muslims try to use this verse to promote the theory of ONE God excluding Jesus. This can only be done by twisting the verse based on Islamic presuppositions or ignoring part of the verse, not to mention the rest of the immediate content. Muslim apologist set themselves up for a great fall by using this verse, which we will begin to see right now. The word for "and" in John 17:3 is the Greek word Kai. Here is it's meaning.--1.and, also, even, indeed, but. Look at the word origin explanation:

Word Origin

kai

apparently, a primary particle, having a COPULATIVE and sometimes also a CUMULATIVE force

Cumulative is defined as increasing or enlarging by successive addition. Acquired by or resulting from accumulation. Linguistically it's impossible to exclude Jesus Christ from God as Muslims would want us to do. This is noted by Greek expert Henry Alford

"The very juxtaposition here of JESUS CHRIST with THE FATHER is a proof, by implication, of our Lord's Godhead. The knowledge of GOD AND A CREATURE could not be eternal life, and such an association of the one with the other would be inconceivable" (Henry Alford, quoted in Jamieson, p.1064; emphases in original; see Job 22:21; Isa 45:22; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21, cp. Acts 4:12).

If Jesus wanted to exclude hmself, he clearly would've never mentioned this verse this way. Further proof of "KAI" being cumulative can be seen from this example dealing with Matthew 28:19, ironically another scripture that is controversial to Muslims due to its trinitarian nature:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." (Matt. 28:19). In the Greek, tou ("the") is used for each title, and each is seperated by kai ("and"). This helps support the view that in this text three distinct individual persons are being spoken of:

... in the name of *the* (tou) Father *and the* (kai tou) Son, *and the* (kai tou) Holy Spirit.

If the Greek text had been referring to ONLY ONE PERSON, it would have most likely read:

... in the name of *the* Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

or,

... in the name of *the* Father, *the* Son, and *the* Holy Spirit.

I don't want to make to much of grammatical constructions, but it seems that because of the use of both the article and its own conjuction, it is highly unlikely that the author was talking about ONLY ONE person (on this, see Bruce Tucker, TWISTING THE TRUTH: RECOGNIZING HOW CULT GROUPS SUBTLY DISTORT BASIC CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES (Bethany House, 1987).

If TWO THINGS HAVE EVERY PROPERTY IN COMMON, THEN THEY ARE ONE THING (e.g. Norma Jean Baker AND Marilyn Monroe, Casius Clay AND Muhammad Ali). But if there is *only one property that is not the same*, then they are seperate persons. This is called the indiscernibility of identicals (II), or in symbolic form:

(x) (y) [(y=x)--> (P) (Px<-->Py)]

That is, FOR ANY ENTITIES x and y, if x and y are the same thing, then any property P, P is true of x if and only if P is true of y ONENESS PENTECOSTALISM AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY (Baker Books, 1992) and E. Calvin Beisner's forthcoming book JESUS ONLY AND ONENESS PENTECOSTALISM (Zondervan, 1995)---Quoted from Francis J. Beckwith, Ph. D., Associated Professor of Philosophy, Culture and Law, W. Howard Hoffman Scholar, Trinity Graduate School and Trinity Law School, Trinity International University California Campus

You clearly see how "kai" is used to link seperate individuals as ONE together. In fact using the above reference, quoted from these Greek speakers, we see that the Greek text would refer to one person by using kai without the use of Tou for each differentiated person. This is exactly what we find with John 17:3 when it says:

the only true God, AND Jesus Christ

Based on the proper way to say it in English, it could refer to ONE person, in this case Jesus Christ. The word Kai (and) is a conjucntion:

Conjunctions are linking words (such as 'and', 'but', 'their', etc) and in Greek work pretty much the same way as in English (Greek Phrasebook 1st ed. Hellender, Paul, pg. 35, 1995)

This comes as no surprise due to the simple fact that both Greek and English are Indo-European languages. "And", or kai in Greek, is a coordinating conjunction:

Coordinating and correlative conjunctions connect words or word groups OF THE SAME KIND, such as nouns, adjectives, or sentences. (Compact Handbook 3rd ed., Aaron, Jane E., pg. 95, 1998 Addison-Wesley Ed. Pub. Inc.)

Another good piece of evidence against Islamic assertions about John 17:3 being a unitarian passage lies in the meaning of the word coordinating. As state before, "and" (Kai) is a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating is the verbial form of coordinate. This word is defined as "of EQUAL IMPORTANCE, RANK OR DEGREE NOT SUBORDINATE"

the only true God, AND Jesus Christ

Since Kai is a coordinating conjunction which links to EQUAL things together this clearly shows us that Jesus, based on the Greek text as well as the English usage, was equal to God. Did Jesus consider himself this way? Yes which we will see below:

For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, WHO HAS ESTABLISHED IT, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18

"Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? WHO HAS ESTABLISHED ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH? What is his name, AND THE NAME OF HIS SON? Tell me if you know!" Proverbs 30:4

From Isaiah we see that God established the earth and from Proverbs we see that God has a son. Notice he didn't say SONS which can't be used as a defense by Muslims to claim that Jesus was one of the many sons. Jesus himself further authenticates this:

For God so loved the world that He gave HIS ONLY begotten Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send HIS SON into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17

The O.T. not only verfies that God has A SON but Jesus claims that HE is God's ONLY BEGOTTEN (MONOGENES) Son. The Greek word Monogenes means the only thing ever of it's kind that has ever existed. More proof about Jesus claiming to be equal to God in support of the equality passage of John 17:3 can be seen here:

I AND THE FATHER are ONE." John 10:30

Lets look at the Greek text:

Ego; kai, ho pater heis ESEMEN

The word esemen is defined as:

Definition

1.FIRST PERSON plural of "to be"

First Person is defined as:

1 a : a set of linguistic forms (as verb forms, pronouns, and inflectional affixes) referring to the speaker or writer of the utterance in which they occur b : a linguistic form belonging to such a set c : reference of a linguistic form to the speaker or writer of the utterance in which it occurs. Merrian Webster Online Dictionary

From reading the Above definitions and the usage of the Greek text, Jesus was not only equating himself to God but also using the first person usage letting the Jews know that God was there in their presence. Did the Jews recoginze this? Yes they did. Read:

I and the Father are one." Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "WE ARE NOT STONING YOU FOR ANY OF THESE," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy,because you, a mere man, CLAIM TO BE GOD." John 10:31-33

The Jews clearly understood that Jesus was identifying himself with God, Muslims of today want us to deny this fact when the people who lived with Jesus at that time, knew exactly what he was saying. Basically their best defense is if he doesn't say in MODERN terms "I AM GOD WORSHIP ME" he didn't claim to be God at all. However the Bible wasn't written in MODERN times but in ANCIENT first century Palestine, therefore we must look at Jesus claims in the context of that time. Based on the clear Greek meaning of Esmen as well as the definition of first person, we see that Jesus clearly claimed to be God, something the 1st century Jews understood and stoned him for saying.

“But Jesus answered them, My father has been working until now, and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was HIS FATHER, making himself EQUAL WITH GOD.” John 5:17-18

Literally, “His own Father”-Greek- patera idion. It is clear that the Jews understood that Jesus was claiming to be God.’” (NKJV, footnote, pg 843, Scoffield, 1989).

Since Jesus by his own admission, is claming that God is his OWN (note: not metaphorically, the words pateria idion differentiates from metaphorically) Father then based on Judaism at this time, he is claiming to be equal with God.

"Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, AND THE NAME OF HIS SON? Tell me if you know!" Proverbs 30:4

We see that Jesus claimed to be THE SON OF GOD which does away with Islamic out of context quote of John 5:30. Jesus explains this in greater detail:

"Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, THE SON DOES LIKEWISE. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, SO ALSO THE SON GIVES LIFE TO WHOMEVER HE WISHES. The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, SO THAT ALL MAY HONOR THE SON JUST AS THEY HONOR THE FATHER. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.’" John 5:19-23

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak ON HIS OWN; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." John 16:13

"I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative; just as I hear, I judge; and the judgment that I render is righteous, BECAUSE I SEEK, NOT MY OWN WILL, but the will of him that sent me." John 5:30

These scriptures are used by Muslims to show that Jesus isn't God but however they affirm the postion about the Trinity working together. In Islam, Muslims believe that the Trinity is 3 seperate gods, but that is false error based on the definition of Trinity and the Bible. Trinity comes from the word TRI-UNITY. The root word for this word comes from the Latin word UNIS, UNIS is the same word used to describe ONE! Therefore if we take the Islamic assertion on the Trinity then we would have to ignore the original defintion from history and this would constitute as Tritheism. The Trinity isn't 3 people working independtly but together. Muslims say that how can 3 be as ONE, in this scriptures we see that Jesus is working alone in UNITY with God to accomplish his divine will, this is the basic idea of trinity. The Quran is in gross error because it seems that Allah of the Quran didn't even know that the word trinity comes from same word as the word ONE. Therefore any statement showing Christ doing only what is commanded of him proves this point since Trinity is 3 in 1 which means 3 working as ONE and not 3 working seperately from each other which would be tritheism.

Neither Christ nor the Holy Spirit do anything on their own initiative. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise, with the Holy Spirit being in perfect harmony and agreement. Much like the Father, Jesus is able to give eternal life, raise the dead and judge all men. In order for Jesus to be able to do all the works that his Father can do, he must be God since the Father does things that only God can do. This is precisely what Trinitarians believe, that Jesus works in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit since all three are equally God in nature, having the same infinite power to accomplish all that they desire. Which again refutes Islam and the idea about God not taking partners. Jesus himself said this above therefore we shouldn't hear anymore excuses about him not claiming to be equal with God or promoting the Trinitarian doctrine.

Lets look at the meaning of Kai again which is used in John 17:3

the only true God, AND (KAI) Jesus Christ

Word Origin

kai

apparently, a primary particle, having a COPULATIVE and sometimes also a CUMULATIVE force

If you look up the definition of copulative and cumulative, they mean a group of something taken TOGETHER, in the same context and not seperately. This clearly means that if it says ONLY ONE GOD AND JESUS CHRIST, this is clearly saying that you must equate both together since this is a copulative and cumulative word. The Reason why Jesus differentiated himself is because he needed to make his name known to them who have seen him at that time. God was already known. The next greek word is "oJ;n" or in English "Hos" notice that this word follows Kai and it's definition is 1.who, which, what, that. After this word is Apostello or "ajpevsteilaß" And it means basically to send forth. As discussed above as well as earlier, the word Kai links 2 EQUAL THINGS TOGETHER as ONE subject. Based on the use and meaning of the word Kai and the Greek usage it shows that Jesus was claiming to be EQUAL with God and therefore God.

Further evidence from the Bible without the lingustics, also equate Jesus to Yahweh God:

"Then John's disciples came and asked him, 'How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?' Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn WHILE HE IS WITH THEM? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.'" Matthew 9:14-15 Yet, according to the OT the Bridegroom is Yahweh Elohim: "As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, SO WILL YOUR GOD rejoice over you." Isaiah 62:5

In keeping with the tradition of John 17:3, we see that Jesus purposedly equates himself to being Yahweh which explains why he said in John 17:3

the only true God, AND (KAI) Jesus Christ

Jesus claims that the world, the angels, the elect and the kingdom belong to him.

"And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." Matthew 24:30-31

In light of Psalm 24 this makes Jesus Yahweh:

"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." Psalm 24:1-2

Need we say more? John 17:3 actually destroys Muslim claims of Jesus being less than the Father as well as the idea of God being ONE person excluding Jesus. Muslims who attempt to use this scripture in their defense have absolutely no knowledge as to what the words in this verse means, as we seen from this paper. The linguistic structure doesn't allow for this type of Islamic interpretation. This leaves the Muslim with nothing but sheer interpolation along with their preconcieved suppositions which they try and use in misrepresenting this verse. ONE TRUE GOD AND JESUS CHRIST are to be taken to gather as ONE, which the Greek language shows, not ONE being subordinate to the other or eliminating the other. If this was the case then Kai wouldn't be a coordinating, copulative as well as a cumulative conjunction. Why does Jesus use the sentence structure in this way? Especially after telling God to give him God's glory! The answer can be seen from the O.T. in Isaiah:

So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. He saw that there was NO MAN, And wondered that there was NO INTERCESSOR; Therefore HIS OWN ARM brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. Isaiah 59:15-16

The first thing we see from the LORD himself was the clear fact that the was looking for AN INTECESSOR WHO WAS A MAN to redeem Israel from their sins. [Note: Remember the phrase "ONLY TRUE GOD AND JESUS CHRIST"]. Next Yahweh Almighty is shown to bring salvation BY HIS OWN ARM. Yahweh is mentioned as being the redeemer of Israel which is verfied by Psalms:

"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases," Psalm 103:2-3

"O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins." Psalm 130:7-8.

The fact that in the NT it is Jesus that both redeems men from their sins and heals people of their infirmities shows that Jesus is none other than Yahweh God!

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

"... And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men... And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, `My son, your sins are forgiven.' But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, `Why does this man speak that way? HE IS BLASPHEMING; WHO CAN FORGIVE SINS BUT GOD ALONE?' And immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, `Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven"; or to say, "Arise take up your pallet and walk"? But in order that you may know that THE SON OF MAN HAS AUTHORITY ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS'- He said to the paralytic- `I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.' And he rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, `We have never seen anything like this.'" Mark 2:3, 5-12

The scribes correctly understood that for Jesus to claim that he could forgive sins meant that he was identifying himself as God. Instead of correcting their understanding, Jesus reinforces it by affirming his authority to both heal and forgive the paralytic. This is astonishingly reminiscent of what the OT attributes only to Yahweh, as shown above. Yahweh says that the Redemeer he was looking for was a man (as a intecessor). Seeing that this is the case, this man for all practical purposes was Yahweh in human form. More proof about Yahweh God being Israel's redeemer is seen from these verses:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. Psalms 19:14

Then they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. Psalms 78:35

For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Isaiah 43:4

Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. Isaiah 63:16

However, Yahweh the redeemer is different from Yahweh:

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, AND HIS REDEEMER, the LORD of hosts: "I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. Isaiah 44:6

Notice here in this verse we see that their is NONE besides God but yet Yahweh says that the LORD OF HOSTS. in the third person, is HIS REEDEMER. Jesus used a similar phrase like this in the N.T.:

Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. John 16:32

Here in this verse Jesus first says that he is alone (monos, meaning by himself) but yet he says that he is not alone. This shows us that that for those who claim that God is alone without any partners are basing their claims on mere conjecture because here Alone meant alone but yet Jesus had the father here with him. We see that Jesus claimed to be God and that John 17:3 is a bogus defense used by Muslims which explains why Jesus said this in John 17:5:

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." John 17:5

We already saw that John 17:3 doesn't promote a single only God theory as Muslims claim which leaves us to wonder why they don't touch on John 17:5 which says that Jesus had glory with God before the World began? How can somebody created have God's glory before he was created? We see that Islamic assertions are fallable at best and that Yahweh's reedemer was a man who was also Yahweh. That is why Jesus said ONLY TRUE GOD AND JESUS CHRIST. He was referring to his father as well as himself, which explains why he tells God to give him the glory he had as God with his father before the world began.

E-mail me Quennel Gale at queball20@yahoo.com

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