With God, Was God, the God

From: Questions and Answers on Scripture: From the Bible Treasury

Narrator: Chris Genthree

John 17:3 • 1 min. read • grade level: 10

Question: John 17:3³And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3) refers to the “Father” as “the only true God.” A man belonging to the “Faith” sect points out that John 1³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3) makes a distinction between “the word was with God” (should be “the God”), whereas “the word was God” (is not “the God”); and that this prevents him from accepting the statement that Jesus is God in the full sense that the Father is the true God as in John 17³And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)

Answer: As the Father is the true God, so is the Son (1 John 5:20²⁰And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)); and we might add the Holy Spirit also. This is proved of the three Persons, if we compare Isa. 6⁷Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. (Isaiah 7:7) with John 12:41⁴¹These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41), and Acts 28:25-27²⁵And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, ²⁶Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: ²⁷For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Acts 28:25‑27): all the truth, and grace, and glory pertain to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, alike God and Jehovah.

The “faith sect” must be a burlesque of faith, a school of nothing but unbelief. The man referred to understands Greek no better than Querist who owns his ignorance honestly. For the distinction in John 1:1¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) has nothing to do with the alleged difference, but only with the predicative usage, which in Greek requires the absence of the article, as every scholar knows.

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