IS JESUS CHRIST GOD
IS JESUS CHRIST GOD: 1 John 5:20 is another bible verse used to teach that Jesus Christ is God. It’s pertinent to note that scriptures exist that can be used to back up any/every false teaching. Misinterpretation is all that is required.
1 John 5:20
And 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 talks about two people; Jesus and God. The verse then ends with a sentence in which no name is mentioned, “This is the true God, and eternal life.” Since no name is mentioned, it could refer to either Jesus or God. Trinitarians therefore draw the conclusion that since the last name mentioned before the last sentence is the name ‘Jesus Christ,’ he must be the one referred to as the true God.
However, we see that this isn’t true both in the study of language and its usage and also scripturally. When a concluding sentence refers to someone or something without mentioning the name, the last noun before the sentence being looked at doesn’t determine who/what is being referred to. Context does. A good example lies in Acts 7.
Acts 7:18-19
Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
The second (last) sentence starts with the unclear expression “the same…” Just like 1 John 5:20, this portion talks about two people (Joseph and a King) and the last sentence talks about one of them without mentioning a name. The last noun in the first sentence of 1 John 5:20 is the name ‘Jesus.’ The last noun in the first sentence of Acts 7:18-19 is the name ‘Joseph.’
However, following context, we know that the last sentence in Acts 7:18-19 refers to the king and not Joseph. Although the name ‘Joseph’ was the last noun before the last sentence which isn’t specific, we know that it refers to the King since Joseph wasn’t the one who exploited the Israelites and treated them cruelly. In the same way, context alone must be used to interpret 1 John 5:20. Acts 7:18-19 clearly proves that using the last noun before the last sentence to determine who a verse is referring to can’t be reliable.
Contextually, the one true God in 1 John 5:20 refers to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the same verse, Jesus is called God’s Son twice. In the same verse, John also makes it clear that Jesus, as the Son, gives us understanding to know the one true God. Therefore, its absolutely impossible that the same writer would be calling Jesus God in the same verse.
The verse itself is a proof that Jesus is God’s Son, not God himself. Thus, The expression, “This is the true God, and eternal life” refers to God, the father mentioned in the verse and not Jesus his Son.
Let’s use other writings of John to confirm what has been said about 1 John 5:20
John 17:3
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
This was Jesus speaking as recorded by John (notice the similarity between John 17:3 and 1 John 5:20). Here in John 17:3, Jesus makes it clear who the one true God is; the one who sent him (his father).
If Jesus himself said God sent him, why then do we say on the contrary that he is God?
1 John 4:9
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God SENT his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Scriptures explain scriptures. They always do, in unarguable clarity. It is readers who often get things mixed up.
Jesus Christ is God’s Son, sent by God to die for the sins of humanity, thus reconciling them back to himself.
Light shines.
© SonsHub Media | Written By Fredrick Agaga
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Agaga Fredrick Abangji is a writer, reporter, content writer, believer in Jesus Christ, and a creator of religious literature. A student of Bingham university – Nasarawa state, studying mass communication.