Trinity Series - Sermon #9

If you have not been following this series, please go to the post for January 22 where an explanation of the format is given. Happy studying!

All of God: Exploring the Mystery of the Trinity
Jesus IS God
John 1:1-18

You are home on a Saturday morning and you hear the doorbell – the dreaded doorbell. When you open the door, you see two people dressed nicely with literature in their hands. You know that they are either Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons. OK, every once in a blue moon a Baptist will show up on your doorstep, but usually it is a JW or a Mormon and they want to talk with you. Problem is, you don’t want to talk with them for one of two reasons – 1) you feel it is a waste of time b/c they are not going to convince you and you are not going to convince them, or 2) you are afraid you will lose the theological debate that is almost certain to ensue.

Now, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons have significantly different doctrines, but they find common ground in their denial of the deity of Jesus Christ. This is true, of course, of all cults and other religions. In fact, we talked about the marks of a cult in the first message of this series. All cults deny the deity of Jesus – they all claim that Jesus was and is lower than God the Father. It automatically follows, then, that they also deny that salvation comes by grace alone. There is always a system of works that seeks to impress and obligate God for their salvation. Jehovah’s Witnesses say that we are saved by grace – but, some are not worthy of grace. I think that would be all of us! Another major mark of a cult is that there is always a source of revelation outside of the Bible; thus, the book of Mormon and Watchtower Society publications. Usually an authoritarian figure oversees the writing and dissemination of current revelation being given by God to the faithful.

Why are we afraid of JW’s and Mormons? Because they are so well trained to debate when they come to your door. Indeed, they are! When Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door, they will use their translation of the Bible that sounds a whole lot like your translation with subtle differences. They will also tell you why these verses should be translated the way they are, even though none of the “scholars” who translated the New World Translation knew much, if anything, about Greek and Hebrew.

When Mormons approach you, they will tell you that Jesus Christ is very important to them. The official name of their church, in fact, is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They speak of salvation through obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It all sounds good, but as we have learned over and over in this study, we can say the same things about God but mean different things. Mormons contend that Jesus was pre-existent in spirit form, but all humans, according to Mormon belief, existed in spirit form before coming to earth. Mormons believe that Jesus was conceived in a literal physical union between God the Father and Mary.

One of the primary differences between Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons is that a lot of the false doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses comes from faulty interpretation of Scriptures, though they certainly believe that their leaders are given special revelation from God to this day. Mormons derive much of their faulty doctrine from the book of Mormon. There are excellent books and websites designed to help you witness to people in these cults. I will mention a couple of these resources later. For us to deal with the primary heresies point by point would require a series of studies lasting many weeks. What I want to do today is to reaffirm our belief and understanding that Jesus is God and has always existed as God – He was not created. After we look at our text, John 1:1-18, I will mention specific errors taught by these two churches and how we might deal with the false teaching, but the primary goal is to encourage you to know truth well enough that you can articulate and defend the doctrine of Jesus’ deity. John 1:1-18 is our text – would you please stand for the reading of God’s Word?

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through Him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.
12 But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John bore witness about Him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.’”)
16 And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Is that verse clear to you? Well, if you know what “Word” stands for it may seem quite clear to you. The English word “Word” comes from the Greek word logos. In Greek philosophy, logos stood for the principle of reason that governs the universe. There was no god beyond logos for many intelligent Greeks, even though many in the first century worshiped multiple gods.

For Hebrews, logos represented something much more sacred. It was the ultimate expression of God. The Hebrew word for “word” is dabar. D.A. Carson says that “God’s ‘Word’ in the Old Testament is His powerful self-expression in creation, revelation, and salvation.” Thus, the Jewish mind would understand God’s Word to be, in essence, inseparable from God Himself.

When John begins his gospel by saying “In the beginning,” he was recalling Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In other words, God existed before the world was ever created. Now John is telling us that the Word also existed before creation. If the Word is simply God’s verbal expression, then this is no big deal. But, verse 3 tells us that the Word was responsible for creating everything that exists.

Does that mean God spoke His word and the earth came into existence? That’s what Genesis 1 and 2 tells us. But, in John 1:3, the Word takes on personal qualities – “All things were made through Him – and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John was building a case. From this point he went on to talk about the life that is in the Word and how the Word was a light in the darkness. But, the light was rejected – and, it is clear that it was a Person who was rejected. For those who received Him, we are told in verse 12, He saved and gave the right to be called the children of God. Finally, in verse 14, we are told that the Word became flesh – or, He was born as a human – and, He lived among us.

The person is immediately identified as the Son of the Father, a claim Jesus makes for Himself repeatedly in this gospel. To further confirm that he was speaking of Jesus, the Apostle John went on to explain how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, and that it is this very Jesus who came from God, who was with God, and who was God. It is very important that you understand the claims that are being made in this prologue to John’s gospel found in the first 18 verses of chapter 1. And, if you understand this very clear and profound statement about Jesus’ deity, then you will be ready for those who claim that Jesus is not God, right? Well, you have to understand that those who would deny Jesus’ deity, or divinity, are prepared to argue about this passage. They “see it another way,” as it were.

Perhaps you are familiar with the way that those who ostensibly derive their doctrine from Scripture and yet deny the deity of Christ interpret John 1:1. Let’s look again at the way we read this verse in English: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” But, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons like to point out that this is an improper translation from the Greek. They point out that there is not a definite article before the last word in the sentence.

Now, since I do not want to put the actual Greek up on the screen, I will do the next best thing and show you in English how some think this verse should look in the Greek since it is translated the way it is. At the end of the sentence, they say, if we are going to use the English translation, “the Word was with God and the Word was God” then it should say in the Greek “the Word was with God and the Word was the God.” It should have the definite article “the” in front of the word “God.” Since there is no definite article in the Greek text, some say that it should be translated this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.”

I can imagine that what we have been covering for the last few minutes is quite confusing for some, if not many, of you. So, I understand why you are unwilling to engage someone on your doorstep who is telling you all about the Greek structure of this sentence. The fact is, though, that they do not know what they are talking about.

Do you know what a predicate noun is? A predicate noun is a noun that follows a “to be” verb, like “is” or “was.” A predicate noun renames the subject of the sentence. An example of a predicate noun would be to say that Barak Obama is the US President, or, for those of you with different political inclinations, John Roberts is Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. The predicate noun, “President” is renaming the subject of the sentence, “Barak Obama.”

That is what is happening in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In fact, in the Greek the absence of a definite article in this structure can actually add emphasis to what is being stated, so that we could say “the Word was with God and the Word was absolutely God.”

So, now that we have cleared up the grammar of John 1:1, you are ready to debate anyone who denies the deity of Jesus Christ based on the structure in the Greek text. Right? Well, I wanted to let you know that not only is there an answer to the technical objection that are made by deniers of Jesus’ divinity, but that, in fact, the argument is problematic, at best, if not entirely bogus. Besides the illegitimate use of the Greek grammar, there is a significant problem saying, from John 1:1, that Jesus is a god, but not the God.

During this series on the Trinity, we have discussed, at length, the non-negotiable belief of both Jews and Christians that we serve one God. It would be unthinkable for the Apostle John, a leader in the 1st century church, to imply that Jesus was a lesser god than the Father. There is only one God, and to say that Jesus is a god rather than God Himself, as John actually says in John 1:18, would be antithetical to all Jewish/Christian thought. In context, the idea that Jesus is “a god” is impossible. Either He was God, or he was an imposter, a false prophet and blasphemer, as the Jews said He was. It was Jesus’ claim to deity that the Jewish religious leaders used to justify having Jesus crucified, though they had to go through Roman authorities in order to have Him executed.

So, how would you deal with a Jehovah’s Witness who denied the deity of Christ and pointed to the grammar of John 1:1 as evidence for his or her belief? First, you must deal in love, not defensively or angrily. There is a difference in the way we deal with false prophets in the church and with those who are mislead in their beliefs – you will discuss that this week at Home Fellowship. Second, please know that if you are willing to engage a Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon about doctrine, it will most likely require several sessions together, so you would have to be patient, realizing that they are trying to convert you, also.

In dealing with someone who has been misled on this doctrine, you wouldn’t even have to talk about the grammar. One would have to reject or reinterpret a whole lot of Scripture in order to deny the doctrine of the Trinity. Not that one argument is going to make the difference, but just one example of how you can engage others about their beliefs is to go to John 17:3 and have them read this verse that is a part of Jesus’ prayer in the garden on the night He was arrested: “And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” Ask your friend if he or she agrees with this statement that there is only one true God. Of course your friend will agree with you and in fact tell you that this is what he has been trying to show you, that there is only one God. Then, ask how it is possible for John 1:1 to be saying that Jesus is “a god” if there is only one God and Jesus is not that God?

We do believe that Jesus is God. We worship Him as God, just as the disciples that we read about last week in Matthew 28 did. The goal today was not to teach you how to witness to a Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness in three easy steps. That is impossible to do. My goal was to show you how the debate goes regarding this most important truth and to help you see why you need to be able to articulate what you believe. If you have a strong belief system, you will be in much better position to help someone who is in darkness.

I would like to share a couple of resources with you. In preparation for this message, I went to Lifeway a few weeks ago and picked up a copy of Ron Rhodes’ book, Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Though the copyright on this book is 1993, I would heartily recommend it as a resource to help you find biblical ways to interact with those who do not believe that Jesus is God.

Another resource is Watchman Fellowship. You may recall that the president of this apologetics ministry, James Walker, spoke here about three years ago. The web address is www.watchman.org. You will find a number of helpful resources at this site to help you interact with people in all kinds of cults and other religions.

This morning, as we prepare for communion, I want us to reaffirm our belief in the deity of Jesus as we quote, together, the Nicene Creed, which is really an updated version of the Nicene Creed, but we don’t have time to discuss that. In quoting this Creed, we affirm our connection in belief and spirit to our brothers and sisters who have gone before us and who did a great deal of work on the doctrine of the Trinity. Would you stand as we affirm our faith?

I believe in one God,the Father Almighty,maker of heaven and earth,and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,the only begotten Son of God,begotten of his Father before all worlds,God of God, Light of Light,very God of very God,begotten, not made,being of one substance with the Father;by whom all things were made;who for us men and for our salvationcame down from heaven,and was incarnate by the Holy Ghostof the Virgin Mary,and was made man;and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;he suffered and was buried;and the third day he rose againaccording to the Scriptures,and ascended into heaven,and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;and he shall come again, with glory,to judge both the quick and the dead;whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life,who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son];who with the Father and the Son togetheris worshipped and glorified;who spake by the Prophets.And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church;I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;and I look for the resurrection of the dead,and the life of the world to come. AMEN.