One God, the Father

The Good News · Article 2 of 10 · 2026-10-26 · Key passages: 1 Corinthians 8:6; Mark 12:29; John 17:3. Quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB); please check each one in your own Bible.

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What we confess.

To us there is “one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6). Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31), who “has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). He “died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3), was buried, and “was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:4). “God has made him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), and “This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back” (Acts 1:11).

One of the scribes heard Jesus answer his questioners well. So he asked a question of his own: “Which commandment is the greatest of all?” (Mark 12:28). Jesus answered from the words Moses gave Israel:

The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

— Mark 12:29–30

The scribe agreed: “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he” (Mark 12:32). Jesus told him, “You are not far from God’s Kingdom.” (Mark 12:34).

Who is this one God? Readers come to that question from different places. Some were taught that God is three Persons. Some were taught that Jesus is the Father himself. Some are leaving a group that taught them to read the Bible through its publications. We ask each reader to do what the scribe did: hear the words, and weigh them. Scripture answers the question plainly, often in Jesus’ own words. Where it leaves a question open, we will say so and leave it open.

Passages: Deuteronomy 6:4–5.

Read These First

  • Deuteronomy 6:4–9: the confession Moses gave Israel.
  • Mark 12:28–34: Jesus names the first commandment.
  • 1 Corinthians 8:4–6: one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
  • John 17:1–5: Jesus prays to the only true God.
  • John 20:11–18: the risen Jesus speaks of his Father and his God.
  • 1 Timothy 2:5–6: one God and one mediator.

There Is One God, and There Is No Other

What the text says. Moses told Israel, “Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). His next words call Israel to love Yahweh with all the heart (Deuteronomy 6:5). Through Isaiah God says, “I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God.” (Isaiah 45:5). Jesus called the words of Deuteronomy 6:4–5 the first commandment (Mark 12:29–30). The scribe repeated them, and Jesus saw “that he answered wisely” (Mark 12:34). Paul wrote to believers in Corinth, “there is no other God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4). Passages: Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; Isaiah 45:21–22.

What we conclude. In this answer Jesus quoted the confession Moses gave Israel, and he approved the scribe who repeated it (Mark 12:29–34). Our conclusion is that the one God whom Israel confessed is the one God whom Jesus confessed, and whom his followers confess (1 Corinthians 8:6). In Jesus’ answer, the confession leads straight into the command to love God with all the heart (Mark 12:30).

The strongest objection. Some readers ask how there can be only one God when Scripture itself speaks of many. Paul writes, “For though there are things that are called ‘gods’, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’—” (1 Corinthians 8:5). Moses calls Yahweh “God of gods and Lord of lords” (Deuteronomy 10:17). Jesus himself cited the psalm: “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (John 10:34). He added, “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),” (John 10:35). As some argue it, if Scripture uses the word god of many, its one God cannot be meant strictly.

Our answer. Read Paul’s next words: “yet to us there is one God, the Father” (1 Corinthians 8:6). Paul grants that many are called gods, and in the same sentence he confesses one God. Two verses earlier he had written that “no idol is anything in the world” (1 Corinthians 8:4). In the psalm Jesus cited, God “judges among the gods” (Psalm 82:1), and says to them, “Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.” (Psalm 82:7). Our conclusion is that the confession of one God stands even where Scripture uses the word god of others.

Scripture Names the One God: The Father

What the text says. Paul does not stop at a number. He names the one God:

yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

— 1 Corinthians 8:6

He writes the same to the Ephesians: “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in us all.” (Ephesians 4:6). In the same list he names “one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4) and “one Lord” (Ephesians 4:5). Jesus told the crowds and his disciples, “Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9).

Israel called God Father in the same way: “You, Yahweh, are our Father.” (Isaiah 63:16). Malachi asked, “Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10). A chapter earlier Yahweh says, “If I am a father, then where is my honor?” (Malachi 1:6). Passages: Isaiah 64:8; Matthew 23:1.

Jesus named this God as his own Father: “It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God.” (John 8:54). Peter preached, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus” (Acts 3:13). Jesus is the one “whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 3:15). The believers at Thessalonica turned “to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10). Passages: 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3.

What we conclude. Scripture does not leave the one God unnamed: he is the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6). Our conclusion is that the one father of Malachi 2:10 is the one God of the same verse. He calls himself a father in Malachi 1:6. Our conclusion is that the God whom Israel confessed as one and called Father is the God whom Jesus called “my Father” (John 8:54). Our conclusion is that the Father is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who raised Jesus and sent him (Acts 3:13–15, 26).

The strongest objection. Some readers answer that naming the Father as the one God leaves out the Son. They point to the second half of Paul’s sentence: “and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6). As they argue it, Paul has divided the words of the first commandment, “the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mark 12:29). He set one God beside the Father and one Lord beside Jesus Christ, so that both stand within the one God. They add that the words through whom are all things give the Son a part in creation.

Our answer. We agree on what the verse plainly says. In one sentence Paul confesses one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 8:6). The words one God in this verse name the Father. Our conclusion is that Paul’s one Lord does not place Jesus within the one God, who is the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6). Our conclusion is also that God created all things alone, by his word. Our conclusion is that through whom are all things calls that word by the name of the Son it became. Both are answered under Questions Answered (The Trinity’s texts, and what the Word of John 1 is and The Son’s part in creation).

Pause. Whom does Paul name as the one God in 1 Corinthians 8:6, and whom as the one Lord? (See Scripture Names the One God.)

Jesus Prays to the Father, the Only True God

What the text says. Shortly before his arrest, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and prayed:

Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

— John 17:1–3

In the same prayer he says, “Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:5). Our conclusion is that Jesus came into existence when the Holy Spirit came on Mary (Luke 1:35). Article 3 weighs this prayer against that verse. Those who hold the Trinity read John’s words “This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20) of Jesus. The verse is listed with their texts below. Passages: John 18:1–3.

In Gethsemane he prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.” (Matthew 26:39). After God raised him, he sent word to his disciples: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17). Passages: Ephesians 1:17; Revelation 3:12.

Eight days later Thomas said to the risen Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). How his words are to be read is answered in the Statement of Faith, section 15 (God said of Jesus). Passages: John 20:26–27.

What we conclude. Jesus calls the one he prays to “the only true God” (John 17:3) and “my God” (John 20:17). The one he prays to is the Father, whose will Jesus put before his own (Matthew 26:39). Knowing this God, and the one he sent, is eternal life (John 17:3).

The strongest objection. Some hold that Jesus is the Father himself, come in the flesh. As some argue it, the Son is the man Jesus and the Father is the God who dwelt in him, so when Jesus prayed, the man prayed to the God within him, and the prayers do not show two. They cite Jesus’ words: “the Father who lives in me does his works.” (John 14:10). They also cite Paul: “For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,” (Colossians 2:9), and “God was revealed in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16).

Our answer. In the same verse Jesus says it both ways: “I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John 14:10). He prays that all who believe in him may share it: “even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21). In the WEB Paul says that the one God and Father is “in us all” (Ephesians 4:6; see Notes on the Text). Our conclusion is that the Father living in Jesus does not make Jesus the Father, any more than it makes believers the Father. Jesus also counts the Father as a second witness: “It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid. I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.” (John 8:17–18). Our conclusion is that Scripture shows two who testify, not one who testifies in two ways.

How Colossians 2:9 is to be read is answered under Questions Answered, in The Trinity’s texts, and what the Word of John 1 is. For this question, the same letter is plain: Paul gives thanks “to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 1:3). In the WEB, 1 Timothy 3:16 says that God was revealed in the flesh; it does not say that the Father was. Greek editions differ here between God and who (see Notes on the Text). In the same letter Paul writes, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). And Jesus names the Father as the one to whom he goes (John 20:17).

Jesus Is Not the Father

What the text says. At Jesus’ baptism the Spirit of God came on him. Then “a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus told those who opposed him, “The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.” (John 5:37). John writes, “If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.” (1 John 2:1). He writes that grace will be with us “from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father” (2 John 3). Passages: Matthew 3:16; John 5:18–19.

What we conclude. Scripture plainly rules out the teaching that Jesus is the Father. Jesus prays to the Father. A voice from heaven calls Jesus “my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17). The risen Jesus goes “to my Father and your Father” (John 20:17). Those who hold this teaching confess one God, as we do. Scripture says, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19), and we gladly say it with them. A verse that rules out a teaching does not say that those who hold it are lost, and we do not say it either.

The strongest objection. Those who hold that Jesus is the Father cite his words in John 10:

I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

— John 10:28–30

As they argue it, one means one and the same: Jesus is the Father.

Our answer. The verse names two: “I and the Father” (John 10:30). The crowd took up stones and charged him, “because you, being a man, make yourself God” (John 10:33). Jesus answered from the psalm (John 10:34–35). Then he named himself as the one “whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world” (John 10:36). His claim, in his own words, was “I said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (John 10:36). Later he prays for his disciples “that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22). His many disciples are to be one in the same way. Our conclusion is that John 10:30 does not make Jesus the Father. Passages: John 10:31.

A second objection. They also cite what Jesus said to Philip:

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

— John 14:7–9

As they argue it, to see Jesus is to see the Father because Jesus is the Father.

Our answer. Jesus goes straight on to say how the Father is seen in him: “The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.” (John 14:10). He had said it before in other words: “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me.” (John 12:44–45). Later in the same chapter he says, “I will pray to the Father” (John 14:16), and “the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28). Our conclusion is that Jesus shows the Father as the one the Father sent, in whom the Father speaks and works. The verse does not say that he is the Father.

A third objection. They also cite a prophecy of the coming king:

For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.

— Isaiah 9:6–7

As they argue it, the child is called Everlasting Father, so Jesus is the Father.

Our answer. Our conclusion: they are throne names given to the son of David. See What Isaiah 9:6’s titles mean under Questions Answered. The same verse calls the one who bears the names a son: “A son is given to us” (Isaiah 9:6). The next verse says who will bring his reign about: “The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:7). Jesus himself says, “I am ascending to my Father” (John 20:17). Our conclusion is that the title Everlasting Father, a throne name, does not make Jesus the Father.

A fourth objection. Some also cite Jesus’ command to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Peter told his hearers to “be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38). As some argue it, the one name of Matthew 28:19 is Jesus, so Jesus is the Father.

Our answer. Matthew 28:19 names the Father and the Son side by side. It does not say that the one name is Jesus, and it does not say that Jesus is the Father. Acts 2:38 names Jesus Christ; it does not say that his is the name of the Father. How the verse is to be read with the Trinity’s texts is answered in the Statement of Faith, section 15.

Pause. In John 8:17–18, whom does Jesus name as the two witnesses? (See the objection under Jesus Prays to the Father.)

No Verse Says That God Is Three Persons

No verse says that God is three Persons, and no verse calls the Holy Spirit a third Person. The word Trinity is not in the WEB, and Person in the creeds’ sense is a later term. Scripture names the one God as the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6; John 17:3). Our conclusion, stated plainly: the Bible does not teach the Trinity.

The Nicene Creed opens with words close to Paul’s: “I believe in one God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” (Nicene Creed 1). It goes on to confess Jesus Christ as “very God of very God, begotten, not made” (Nicene Creed 2). The Westminster Confession adds, “In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.” (Westminster Confession of Faith 2.3).

We share much with them. We confess with them one God the Father, and Jesus Christ as Lord. They too hold that the Son is not the Father: “The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father” (Westminster Confession of Faith 2.3). Many who hold the Trinity love the Lord Jesus and read their Bibles with care. This article does not say that they are lost.

Its holders answer that a teaching need not be stated in a single verse. The Westminster Confession says that what is needed for faith and life “is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” (Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6). As they argue it, the doctrine gathers what many verses say.

Its holders cite texts that read naturally their way. They are quoted here so that readers can see them, not argued:

  • “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1).
  • Thomas’s words to the risen Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
  • Of the Son, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” (Hebrews 1:8).
  • Baptism “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
  • Christ, “who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:5), and “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). The WEB itself reads these two verses as calling Jesus God.
  • “we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20).

They also read 1 Corinthians 8:6 their way (see the objection under Scripture Names the One God). How these verses are to be read, and who the Word of John 1 is before he “became flesh” (John 1:14), is answered under Questions Answered.

The same holds for the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.” (John 14:26). He also says, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). What the Holy Spirit is, is answered under Questions Answered.

Questions Answered

These questions touch this article. Each is answered from Scripture and labeled. The Statement of Faith, section 15, gives the same answers.

The Trinity’s texts, and what the Word of John 1 is. Our conclusion: there is one God, the Father. The Word of John 1 is God’s own word, which became flesh in the man Jesus; it was not a second Person.

Paul wrote: “yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

Read the other way: John 1:1; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26. Confidence: Solid. One God, the Father, is stated outright; the reading of John 1:1 is our step.

God said of Jesus. Our conclusion: where Scripture calls Jesus God, it gives him a title as God’s appointed king, as it called Israel’s judges gods. It never makes him the one God, who is his God.

The risen Jesus said: “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17).

Read the other way: John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13; Romans 9:5; John 1:18; Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:16. Confidence: Solid. John 20:17 and Hebrews 1:9 are plain; Titus 2:13 and Romans 9:5 allow the other reading, and we say so.

What Isaiah 9:6’s titles mean. Our conclusion: they are throne names given to the son of David. Like “Yahweh our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16), they tell what God does through the one who bears them.

Isaiah wrote: “For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6).

Read the other way: Isaiah 10:21. Confidence: Narrow. Verse 7 and Jeremiah 33:16 support us, but Isaiah 10:21 uses the same words of God.

The Son’s part in creation. Our conclusion: God created all things alone, by his word. The through him texts call that word by the name of the Son it became.

God said: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;” (Isaiah 44:24).

Read the other way: Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10; John 1:3. Confidence: Narrow. Isaiah 44:24 is plain, but Colossians 1:16–17 and Hebrews 1:10 press hard against us.

What the Holy Spirit is. Our conclusion: the Holy Spirit is God’s own power and presence, God at work. It is not a third Person.

The angel Gabriel said: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35). Holy Spirit is paired with the power of the Most High.

Read the other way: John 16:13; Acts 5:3–4; Ephesians 4:30; Acts 13:2. Confidence: Solid. The parallels are plain; the personal language of John 14–16 is the remainder.

Whether salvation depends on these questions. Our conclusion: salvation depends on believing the good news about Jesus and remaining in his teaching. It does not depend on settling every question in this document.

Jesus said: “I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24).

Read the other way: John 8:24; 1 John 2:23; Galatians 1:9. Confidence: Solid. John 8:24 and 2 John 9 name what is required; Romans 14:1 shows that not every question divides.

“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Where We Stand

Scripture says

  • There is one God, and there is no other (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5; Mark 12:29–32; 1 Corinthians 8:4).
  • To us there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6).
  • Jesus calls the Father “the only true God” (John 17:3) and “my God” (John 20:17).
  • The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob glorified his Servant Jesus and raised him from the dead (Acts 3:13–15).
  • There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
  • Jesus counts his own testimony and the Father’s as the testimony of two (John 8:17–18).
  • Scripture plainly rules out the teaching that Jesus is the Father (John 20:17; 17:3).
  • No verse says that God is three Persons, and no verse calls the Holy Spirit a third Person.

We conclude

  • Our conclusion: the one God whom Israel confessed and called Father is the God whom Jesus called his Father (Isaiah 63:16; John 8:54).
  • Our conclusion: the Father living in Jesus does not make Jesus the Father (John 14:10; 17:21; Ephesians 4:6).
  • Our conclusion: John 10:30, John 14:9 and Isaiah 9:6 do not teach that Jesus is the Father (John 17:22; 14:10; 12:45; Isaiah 9:6–7).
  • Our conclusion, stated plainly: the Bible does not teach the Trinity. No verse says that God is three Persons, and Scripture names the one God as the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6; John 17:3).

Hope

Jesus did not only name the one God. He said, “No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6). And he said what knowing God brings: “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3). Paul names the one mediator: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5–6).

Jesus told his disciples, “the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.” (John 16:27). John wrote, “See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). Paul wrote to believers, “For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15). And on the morning he rose, Jesus sent word to his brothers: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17).

Living It Out

These are applications, offered as invitations.

  • Try reading Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and Mark 12:28–34 side by side, and notice what Jesus called the first commandment.
  • When you pray, you might address the Father, as Jesus taught his disciples (Matthew 6:9) and as he himself prayed (John 17:1).
  • If you were taught to read John 10:30 or John 14:9 a certain way, consider reading John 10:22–39 and John 14:1–31 through in one sitting.
  • With friends who hold the Trinity, you might begin where the Nicene Creed begins, with one God the Father, and open the text together.
  • Where a question stays open, it may help to rest in what is revealed (Deuteronomy 29:29), and to keep loving God with all your heart (Mark 12:30).

Questions for Reflection

  1. When the scribe asked which commandment is the greatest, what did Jesus answer? (See the opening.)
  2. In 1 Corinthians 8:6, whom does Paul name as the one God, and whom as the one Lord? (See Scripture Names the One God.)
  3. Whom does Jesus call “the only true God” (John 17:3), and what does he say knowing him is? (See Jesus Prays to the Father.)
  4. Why does Jesus count his own testimony and the Father’s as two? (See the objection under Jesus Prays to the Father.)
  5. How does John 17:22 help in reading John 10:30? (See the objection under Jesus Is Not the Father.)
  6. What does it mean for you that the risen Jesus called his Father “your Father” (John 20:17)? (See Hope.)

Check It Yourself

  • Opening: Mark 12:28–34; Deuteronomy 6:4–5.
  • One God: Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; 6:4–5; 10:17; Isaiah 45:5, 21–22; Mark 12:29–34; 1 Corinthians 8:4–6; John 10:34–35; Psalm 82:1, 6–7.
  • The Father: 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:4–6; Matthew 23:1, 9; Isaiah 63:16; 64:8; Malachi 1:6; 2:10; John 8:54; Acts 3:13–15, 26; Ephesians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10; Mark 12:29.
  • Jesus Prays: John 17:1–5, 21; 18:1–3; Luke 1:35; Matthew 26:39; John 20:17, 26–28; Revelation 3:12; Ephesians 1:17; 1 John 5:20; John 14:10; Ephesians 4:6; John 8:17–18; Colossians 1:3; 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16.
  • Not the Father: Matthew 3:16–17; John 5:18–19, 37; 1 John 2:1; 2 John 3; 2 Corinthians 5:19; John 10:28–36; 17:22; 14:7–10, 16, 28; 12:44–45; Isaiah 9:6–7; Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38.
  • Three Persons: Nicene Creed 1–2; Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6; 2.3; John 1:1, 14; 20:28; Hebrews 1:8; Matthew 28:19; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20; John 14:26; Acts 1:8.
  • Answered: Statement of Faith, section 15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 20:17; Isaiah 9:6; 44:24; Luke 1:35; John 8:24; Deuteronomy 29:29.
  • Hope: John 14:6; 17:3; 1 Timothy 2:5–6; John 16:27; 1 John 3:1; Romans 8:15; John 20:17.

Notes on the Text

At 1 Timothy 3:16 the WEB reads God, as do Robinson-Pierpont, Scrivener and Stephanus; the SBLGNT, with Westcott-Hort, Tregelles and NA28, reads who was revealed in the flesh (SBLGNT apparatus; BibleHub parallel texts).

At Ephesians 4:6 the WEB reads in us all, with Robinson-Pierpont; Scrivener and Stephanus read in you all; the SBLGNT, with Westcott-Hort, Tregelles and NA28, reads in all (SBLGNT apparatus; BibleHub parallel texts).

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Next in The Good News: Jesus Is the Christ, the Son of God, Come in the Flesh. Who does Scripture say Jesus is?

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© 2026 Elvis Lucas, Open the Text. Original: https://openthetext.com/series/the-good-news/02-one-god-the-father/
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