God and Jesus Are Eternally One

John 17:1-26

The Apostle’s Creed is divided into 3 parts as question 24 says. The first part relates to the work of God the Father - how he’s the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. The second part relates to God the only begotten Son of the Father, how he was conceived, born, suffered and executed by crucifixion, but was later resurrected, ascended, and will one day return to judge the earth. The third part relates to God the Holy Spirit, how he brings us into the church, applies the forgiveness of Christ to us when we believe, and how he’ll resurrect us one day as he did Christ.

But the question before us today is question 25 - how can there be one God, but three persons at one time? This does not compute mathematically - it’s illogical to the human mind. Could it be that maybe he’s one God, but manifests himself as different persons at different times? Or maybe he’s one God that’s made up of 3 different parts. These aren’t God by themselves, but when they come together, they make one God - like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers making up the Megazord. Or perhaps he’s only one God - God the Father - but when he came to earth, he called himself Jesus - so when he died on the cross, it was God the Father dying. These are interesting theories - and they all show how man tries to harmonize and make sense of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being one God. But all these theories fall short. Why? Because the Bible shows how there is only one God - not three Gods. Each is fully God at the same time. We don’t try to rationalize or harmonize the Bible - we simply teach what it reveals. This idea of the Trinity - one God in three persons - each of them God, each is not the other, but there aren’t 3 Gods, but 1 - is clearly taught in Scripture. And we see elements of this in John 17 where Jesus prayed his high priestly prayer for his disciples. We see concepts of this “one God, but different persons” idea very clearly. There are 3 theological truths we can examine from this passage - Firstly, their essential unity; secondly, their loving unity; thirdly, their functional unity. And while this passage is about God the Father and God the Son, we can draw the same conclusions with the other person of the Trinity.

Firstly, their essential unity - their unity is key, it’s vital, it’s necessary - it’s who they are. God the Father and Jesus are one - it’s who they are. Verse 11 - “that they may be one, as we are.” Verse 21 - “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” Verse 22 - “that they may be one, even as we are one.” Elsewhere in the Bible in John 10:30, Jesus says - “I and my Father are one.” But what does this mean? Oneness speaks of unity. What kind of unity does he and the Father have. When we speak of their unity, we speak about their oneness - how they’re one God and not separate. They have the same attributes. While distinct as two persons, Father and Son, they’re one God - completely equal in their attributes. God is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good. Therefore, both Father and Son have the same immutable, infinite, almighty, and perfect wisdom, justice, goodness, and are both the overflowing fountain of all good. They’re equal in every way.

How do we know that from John 17? Verse 5 - “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” We see clearly that Jesus was with God before the world was created. This shows his eternality and his divinity. Before the world and time existed, Jesus was there. Not just that - the glory which Jesus spoke of was the glory that only God possesses. He had it when he was with God the Father - the Shekinah glory of God. When Isaiah had the vision of heaven, he saw God in the heavenly temple, and his glory filled it. John 12:41 makes it clear that the God Isaiah saw was Jesus Christ. When Moses asked to see God’s glory on Mount Sinai, God said no man may look upon that glory and live. And told Moses instead to hide in the cleft of the rock, so that when God passed by, Moses could see the after glow of God’s glory. And when he beheld and came down from the mountain, his whole face and clothes shone with that bright after glow of God’s glory. Jesus laid aside that glory when he was on earth - lest everyone perish at the sight of him.

But very briefly on another mountain, when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah, there, his face and clothes shone with the after glow of God. Not that he was exposed to it - but because he was the source of it. And a voice boomed from heaven, witnessed by Peter, James, and John - this is my beloved Son - listen to him. So while Moses and Elijah were there - the 2 greatest prophets of the Old Testament, God told the disciples to listen to Jesus. Why? While these two were prophets and servants - Jesus was the Son of God. Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Jesus had the same attributes of God - and especially seen here, eternality and glory.

One of the great dilemmas for humankind since the beginning was the understanding of unity in diversity - balance. You even have this concept in Chinese philosophy and medicine. Something is too heaty or too cooling - you must have balance. The ancients acknowledged 4 elements - fire, water, earth, and air. But what was the 5th element - the quintessence - the one that binds them all together? And that’s why universities were formed - they tried to determine what was that unity in diversity. But we have in the Trinity an eternal explanation for unity in diversity and balance. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - three distinct persons but eternally existing as one God.

But secondly, we see that their unity is loving. It’s not just essential unity and identity that describes them, their relationship is loving. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, and both love and are loved by the Holy Spirit. Verse 24 has this to say - “for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” Their unity and relationship are eternally loving. So God did not need to create mankind. There are well-meaning people who say that God was lonely and he had to create mankind. Wrong. He was perfectly happy - because he had unity in diversity, in the community of the Trinity from eternity. It’s something that we can’t completely understand. If you can think of a love that is the purest, holiest, strongest, most selfless, and multiply that by infinity, that’s the love that God has for the other persons. If love could be illustrated by an infinitely long chain of the purest 24 k gold and you wrap it around the earth until every square inch were covered, it would still have enough gold chain to wrap around the other planets, and then after wrapping them, and each asteroid in the asteroid belt, and planet in the Kuyper belt, you wrap the sun - its entire surface - and it can still keep going. This shows the purity, quantity, and eternality of the Father’s love for Christ and Christ’s love for the Father.

We read of God’s love for the Son in many places. John 3:35 - “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.” John 5:20 - “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.” At his baptism he said - this is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased - even before Jesus did anything related to his commission. It was the eternal love that God had that made him express his love for Christ. We on the other hand are often mercantile - if a person does this for me and is like this, then we have more love. But even before Christ carried out the works of the Father, the Father already loved him. But we also read of Christ’s love for the Father. John 14:31 - “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.” Christ did not love the Father because he was rewarded; but he simply he showed his love by his obedience.

And we see this love expressed in verse 1 - “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” The act of love is not to rob glory from another. The act of love shows itself in wanting to bring glory to another person. But there are many earthly examples showing that man doesn’t have this kind of love - Haman thought it was he who would be glorified, and was angry when it was Mordecai. Peter was upset that he was made to sit at the last place at the table; and Judas and John sat next to Jesus - he threw a hissy fit and asked Christ to wash all his body. The disciples all wanted to be first. Joseph and his brothers (they were not pleased when they thought he wanted to glorify himself; but he was like Christ - he honored them and gave them gold when he saw them - these brothers who sought to kill him). But the loving unity in the Godhead was not Christ trying to glorify himself or God glorifying himself - but it was mutual. John 8:54 says, “Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God.” The Father acts to bring glory to the Son as an expression of his love for the Son.

One theologian puts it this way - “God is never alone. He never experiences, whether with or without the world He has made, a sense of individual isolation or loneliness. He never has been lonely or alone, in this sense, nor could He ever be, even in principle. The one God is three! He is by nature both a unity of being while also existing eternally as a society of Persons. God’s tri-Personal reality is as intrinsic to His existence as is the reality that He is one God who alone is God. He is a socially-related being within Himself. In this tri-Personal relationship the three persons love one another, support one another, assist one another, team with one another, honor one another, communicate with one another, and in everything respect and enjoy one another. They are in need of nothing but each other through all eternity. Such is the richness and fullness and the completion of the social relationship that exists in the Trinity.” That’s the essential and loving unity in the Godhead - the Father and Son are one in their relationship, attributes, and agreement. The attribute that stands out is their love - how deeply, purely, eternally, and unquantifiably they love one another. And this is seen in how they glorify one another.

But practically, what does this look like? How do they glorify one another? How do they function? Thirdly, their functional unity. To express their love to one another - to glorify each other - they entered into an agreement - a covenant. We see this in John 17. We see that God the Father - creator of all things, has given to Christ power over all flesh. Verse 2 - “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” This power is the power to save. And why does God give him power to save? It’s because God has given to Jesus a people to save. Verse 6 - “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” Verse 9 - “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Not only has God the Father given Christ power but also a people to save and rule over as his kingdom. Why? Because God loves Christ and wants to glorify him.

But not just that. As we’ve seen, Christ glorified God. How? By obeying God’s commandments. Verse 4 - “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” He did the work of being a prophet - to speak the Word of God. Verse 8 - “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.” He also did the work of a priest. He would do the work of atonement. Verse 1 - “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” The time would come when Christ would glorify God by dying. At this time, Christ had not yet died, but in verse 4 he speaks of it as a finished work - I have finished the work. Why? Christ spoke of it as an accomplished work because as God, he could not fail. He would obey God. He would die on the cross. This was the power God had given him - to die and to extend salvation to everyone who would believe. And as a priest, he would do the work of prayer. Verse 9 - “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” He prays for those that God has given to him. So even his prayers are done in submission to God. And God would reward him by giving him a people. In verses 5-6, Jesus prayed - “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” Jesus asked God to glorify him. God had given him a people. This was Christ’s reward for obedience - he would be a king over a people. Psalm 2:7-8 - “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

When we think of their loving function - their agreement, obedience, and reward; we must consider this shocking reality. Their love extended to death. God loved Christ that’s why he sent him to die. Christ loved God, that’s why he gladly died. God loves us who are given to Christ - that’s why he sent Christ to die for us. Christ loved us - that’s why he willingly died. Their love did not stay static - but extended to us. If they loved themselves this way, and they love us - what is the obligation we have to love one another?

And it’s not just obligation - it’s what we are. So this is why if we do not love one another, the love of the Father is not in us. Here we consider the application of this passage and also the doctrine of the Trinity. Christ and God are one - and while we will never be one the way they are - as in being equal or eternal - we can emulate their function. Jesus prayed this High Priestly prayer on the road between the Upper Room where they just finished the last supper, and Gethesame, where Jesus would suffer his greatest trial. And he was concerned for their lack of unity, their lack of love and agreement. That’s why he prayed. And as we consider Jesus’ greatest prayer as the Great High Priest before God - just before he was to make a sin offering for the people of God - we should consider how we love one another as God’s people.

In the world, there’s competition - Esau and Jacob competed for their father’s attention. There’s jealousy - Haman and Mordecai worked together but warred with one another. In religious circles there’s spiritual superiority - self-righteousness among the Pharisees caused them to hate Jesus. Peter was racially uncomfortable with Cornelius - but Cornelius received him into the house. Among the disciples, they asked who would be first. Euodias and Syntyche were at odds. The Greek widows complained the Hebrews were getting more. The Corinthian church members wanted to gain more influence over one another. Paul and Barnabas broke up.

When we consider the Trinity, how God the Father and God the Son are different persons but one God - we can look at it theologically. That wouldn’t be wrong. But we want to see the outflow of their oneness and community - how they loved one another. This is what Jesus prayed for - that his people would be united and loving. While we know that we can’t be perfectly one - because no one is perfect except God - we as his people, who are sanctified, have hope of being more perfectly one. We have a unity that has been purchased and established by God. Ephesians 4:1-3 - “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We are to keep what is already given.

And it is not only given; Jesus prays for us. This prayer was Jesus’ High Priestly prayer. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would pray for the people once a year and offer sacrifice for the errors of the people. He would also confess the sins of the nation upon the scape goat and banish it outside the city. And when Jesus prayed for his disciples, it wasn’t only for them - but for all who would hear the gospel through them. And so unity - the unity he had with the Father - is something he values highly among his people. Because in the prayer, he references his own unity with God.

Therefore dearly beloved, consider the deep unity we must have - our oneness and agreement. Consider the love. Its depth, quantity, and eternality. Consider how we love one another - how we can submit to one another and esteem one another more than ourselves.