John 14:8-10

Hello everyone. I’d like to start off tonight’s blog by thinking Kelp for his compliment. There are many things it’s easy to overlook because we don’t really think about what the Scripture is saying and I know I am missing things as I do these blogs. Don’t take any to be the final word but take them to be something to start you looking in the right direction.

Also, until Sunday night, this is it. I’m going to be out of town so there won’t be any new blogs. I invite you to check the old blogs I have and also go to the websites of friends and others in service on the side. There is always much to learn.

Now to get back to our study. For those who are just joining us, we’re in the gospel of John as we go through the New Testament and we’re trying to come to a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Tonight we’ll be looking at John 14:8-10.

⁸Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

 ⁹Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

There is someone who has said that John 14:9 should be enough for us to convince us of the deity of Christ. We have to handle this one carefully however, as it’s a favorite of the modalists as well.  What exactly is going on in this passage?

Philip has asked Jesus to show him the Father. That’s all they want. After all, Jesus can get them to him so why not just show them the Father now?

But no one can see the Father. It can be known what he is like however. How does one know what the Father is like? They know by looking at the Son. The Son is the one who reveals the Father according to passages like John 1:18, as John repeatedly builds on themes that he’s established at the beginning. 

The main reason we know this isn’t a modalistic verse is through other verses. Jesus has repeatedly made distinctions between himself and the Father. If there is any way that the two are different, then they are not one and the same. The Trinitarian idea is that the Son is the one who is begotten and the Father is not begotten. The persons differ by relationship.

Jesus’s you is quite strong here for saying that what he has just stated should have been known. He tells them that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. The words he speaks are not his own. While some might think Jesus would say “They are from the Father”, Jesus instead points to the works that are being done. The gospel sees a strong connections between the words of God and the works of God. This fits with Jesus being the greatest work of God and the Word of God.

We will discuss more Sunday night. Pray for my safe travels while I’m away.