Quick Facts Bible research image examining Matthew 7:21–23, where Jesus warns that not everyone who calls him “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom, but those who do the will of his Father.

QUICK FACTS: MATTHEW 7:21–23 — “THEN I WILL TELL THEM, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU’”

Who Was Jesus Warning When He Said, “Depart From Me, You Who Work Lawlessness”?

Does Calling Jesus “Lord” Save Us — Or Must We Do the Will of His Father?

Research by Simon Brown

Few warnings spoken by Jesus are more serious than the words recorded in Matthew 7:21–23:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
— Matthew 7:21

Jesus continues:

“Many will tell Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works?’ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work iniquity.’”
— Matthew 7:22–23

Look carefully at the people Jesus describes.

They are not atheists.

They are not openly rejecting Jesus.

They call him:

“LORD, LORD.”

They claim to prophesy:

IN JESUS' NAME.

They claim to cast out demons:

IN JESUS' NAME.

They even claim to perform mighty works:

IN JESUS' NAME.

Yet Jesus gives them the terrifying answer:

“I NEVER KNEW YOU.”

How can people who openly confess Jesus as Lord and claim to perform extraordinary works in his name nevertheless hear:

“DEPART FROM ME”?

Jesus himself tells us why.

---

JESUS TELLS US WHY

Jesus says:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN.”
— Matthew 7:21

This is the key to understanding the entire warning.

Jesus does not say that merely calling him “Lord” guarantees entrance into God's Kingdom.

Instead, he points us directly to:

THE WILL OF HIS FATHER.

So we need to ask a very important question:

WHAT IS THE WILL OF JESUS' FATHER?

We do not have to guess.

Jesus himself tells us.

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JESUS TELLS US THE WILL OF HIS FATHER

In John 6:40 Jesus says:

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone beholding the Son and believing in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day.”
— John 6:40, Berean Literal Bible

Notice carefully what Jesus says:

“THIS IS THE WILL OF MY FATHER.”

Jesus then explains what that will involves:

BELIEVING IN THE SON.

This is extremely important when compared with Matthew 7:21.

The people in Matthew 7 call Jesus:

“LORD, LORD.”

Yet Jesus rejects them.

Therefore, merely calling Jesus Lord is not necessarily the same thing as genuinely believing in him.

True biblical belief is not merely saying the correct religious words.

It means accepting the Son whom God sent, trusting him, listening to him and receiving his teaching.

Jesus repeatedly explained where his teaching came from:

“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
— John 7:16

And again:

“The word that you hear is not Mine, but that of the Father having sent Me.”
— John 14:24

Jesus also says:

“For I spoke not from Myself, but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”
— John 12:49

The pattern is clear:

THE FATHER SENDS THE SON.

THE SON SPEAKS THE FATHER'S WORDS.

WE ARE CALLED TO BELIEVE IN THE SON.

AND THROUGH THE SON WE RECEIVE THE MESSAGE OF THE FATHER WHO SENT HIM.

Therefore, genuine belief in Jesus cannot be separated from receiving and following the teaching God gave through him.

---

MATTHEW 7 ITSELF EXPLAINS WHAT JESUS MEANS

There is another extremely important piece of evidence.

We do not even have to leave Matthew 7.

Only three verses after saying:

“He who does the will of My Father…”

Jesus says:

“Everyone therefore who hears these words of Mine and DOES THEM, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.”
— Matthew 7:24

Notice the connection.

Matthew 7:21:

DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER

Matthew 7:24:

HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE AND DOES THEM

This is extremely significant.

Jesus is contrasting religious profession with genuine faith and obedience.

Someone may say:

“LORD, LORD.”

But the real question is:

ARE WE LISTENING TO JESUS AND DOING WHAT HE TAUGHT?

Calling Jesus Lord while refusing to follow his teaching is precisely the kind of contradiction this warning should make every Christian examine.

---

JESUS DID NOT SEEK HIS OWN WILL

Jesus makes an extraordinary statement in John 5:30:

“I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I don't seek My own will, but the will of My Father who sent Me.”

Notice Jesus' own words:

“MY OWN WILL”

and:

“THE WILL OF MY FATHER.”

The distinction becomes even clearer in Gethsemane.

Jesus prayed:

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”
— Luke 22:42

Again:

“MY WILL”

and:

“YOURS.”

Jesus is not rebelling against God.

Quite the opposite.

Jesus willingly submits himself to his Father.

But the distinction remains.

Jesus has a will which he submits to:

THE WILL OF HIS FATHER.

And that makes Matthew 7:21 even more significant:

“He who does THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven.”

---

HOW DOES TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY EXPLAIN “NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS”?

Later orthodox Christology explains passages such as Luke 22:42 by teaching that Jesus possesses:

A DIVINE NATURE

and:

A HUMAN NATURE.

Within later Christological formulation, Christ is also understood as possessing:

A DIVINE WILL

and:

A HUMAN WILL.

According to this explanation, when Jesus says:

“Not My will, but Yours”

his human will is submitting perfectly to the divine will.

Trinitarians appeal to various Scriptures from which they believe these conclusions follow.

Therefore, it would be unfair to claim that they have no biblical arguments for their position.

But there is still an important difference between:

A THEOLOGICAL INFERENCE

and:

AN EXPLICIT BIBLICAL STATEMENT.

Where does Jesus himself say:

“I HAVE TWO NATURES”?

Where does Jesus say:

“I HAVE TWO WILLS”?

Where does Scripture explicitly explain Luke 22:42 by saying:

“My human will is submitting to My divine will”?

Scripture never states that formula.

Jesus' actual words are much simpler:

“NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS.”

Therefore, the later theological explanation must itself be tested against Scripture rather than simply assumed.

---

JESUS REPEATEDLY SUBMITTED TO HIS FATHER

This is not based upon one isolated verse.

Jesus says:

“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
— John 7:16

He says:

“The word which you hear isn't Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.”
— John 14:24

He says:

“For I spoke not from Myself, but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”
— John 12:49

Jesus also says:

“The Father is greater than I.”
— John 14:28

The repeated biblical picture is clear:

THE FATHER SENDS.

JESUS IS SENT.

THE FATHER COMMANDS.

JESUS OBEYS.

THE FATHER'S WILL IS GIVEN.

JESUS SUBMITS TO HIS FATHER'S WILL.

So if Jesus tells us that we must do the will of his Father, what did Jesus teach concerning the God whom we are to love and obey?

---

WHAT DID JESUS SAY WAS THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT?

Jesus was asked:

“Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered:

“The first is, ‘Hear, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.’”
— Mark 12:29

Jesus was quoting directly from Deuteronomy 6:4:

“Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.”

The Hebrew word translated one is:

אֶחָד — ECHAD

Its ordinary numerical meaning is:

ONE.

But something very important happens next.

The scribe responds:

“Teacher, You have said well that He is one, and there is none other but He.”
— Mark 12:32

Notice how the scribe understood Jesus:

“HE IS ONE.”

“THERE IS NONE OTHER BUT HE.”

Does Jesus correct him?

No.

Instead Jesus tells him:

“You are not far from God's Kingdom.”
— Mark 12:34

That is remarkable.

The confession that God is one and that there is none other but He receives Jesus' approval.

---

“THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM”

This was not a new teaching.

Moses says:

“It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides Him.”
— Deuteronomy 4:35

Again:

“See now that I, even I, am He. There is no god with Me.”
— Deuteronomy 32:39

Hezekiah prayed:

“Yahweh, the God of Israel… You are the God, even You alone.”
— 2 Kings 19:15

Yahweh himself declares:

“I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides Me, there is no God.”
— Isaiah 45:5

Notice the language Scripture repeatedly uses concerning God:

I

ME

HE

HIM

ALONE

NO ONE ELSE

NO GOD WITH ME

Scripture doesn't merely tell us that there is one God.

It repeatedly describes this one God using singular personal language.

So we must now ask:

WHO DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT IDENTIFY AS THIS ONE GOD?

---

“ONE GOD, THE FATHER”

Paul gives an extraordinarily direct answer:

“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

Paul identifies:

ONE GOD — THE FATHER

and:

ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST.

Jesus himself prayed to his Father:

“This is eternal life, that they should know You, the only true God, and Him whom You sent, Jesus Christ.”
— John 17:3

Notice the distinction:

YOU — THE ONLY TRUE GOD

and:

JESUS CHRIST — WHOM YOU SENT.

Paul again writes:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5

Again we have:

ONE GOD

and:

ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANITY — JESUS CHRIST.

This is why I believe the biblical identification of the one God is clear:

THE ONE GOD IS THE FATHER.

Jesus is:

HIS SON.

HIS CHRIST.

THE ONE WHOM GOD SENT.

THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANITY.

This does not diminish Jesus.

It honours Jesus according to the identity Scripture gives him.

---

BUT DOESN'T THE TRINITY ALSO TEACH THAT THERE IS ONE GOD?

YES.

This needs to be stated accurately.

Classical Trinitarian Christianity does not teach that there are three Gods.

Trinitarians sincerely confess one God.

Classical Trinitarian doctrine teaches that:

THE FATHER IS GOD.

THE SON IS GOD.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD.

It also teaches that:

THE FATHER IS NOT THE SON.

THE SON IS NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT THE FATHER.

These are understood as:

THREE DISTINCT PERSONS

sharing:

ONE DIVINE BEING OR ESSENCE.

Therefore, it would be inaccurate simply to say:

“Trinitarians believe in three Gods.”

They explicitly reject that conclusion.

But acknowledging what Trinitarians actually believe does not settle the biblical question.

The question remains:

WHERE DOES SCRIPTURE DEFINE THE ONE GOD AS THREE DISTINCT COEQUAL AND COETERNAL PERSONS SHARING ONE DIVINE ESSENCE?

That exact formula is never stated in Scripture.

Instead Scripture says:

“There is no god with Me.”

“There is no one else besides Him.”

“You are the God, even You alone.”

And Paul says:

“There is ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”

So the issue is not whether Trinitarians sincerely believe themselves to be monotheists.

They do.

The issue is:

DOES THEIR DEFINITION OF THE ONE GOD COME FROM SCRIPTURE ITSELF?

That is what must be tested.

---

“FABRICATED WORDS” — DID PETER WARN CHRISTIANS ABOUT FALSE TEACHING?

Peter gave Christians a serious warning:

“There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies…”
— 2 Peter 2:1

He then says:

“In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words…”
— 2 Peter 2:3

Some translations render the expression:

“FABRICATED WORDS.”

The Greek expression is:

πλαστοῖς λόγοις — PLASTOIS LOGOIS

The adjective plastos carries the idea of something formed, fashioned, fabricated or invented.

But we need to be careful here.

Peter does not explicitly say:

“I am speaking about the Trinity.”

Therefore, I cannot honestly claim:

“2 PETER 2 PROVES THAT PETER WAS PROPHESYING SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE TRINITY.”

The passage does not say that.

But Peter's warning establishes an important principle.

Christians must test what they are taught.

No doctrine — Trinitarian, Unitarian or otherwise — should be exempt from that examination.

TEST THE TEACHING AGAINST SCRIPTURE.

---

ARE WE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE — OR LATER THEOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS?

Later Christian theology uses expressions such as:

THREE PERSONS

ONE DIVINE ESSENCE

COEQUAL

COETERNAL

ONE BEING IN THREE PERSONS

And when Jesus says:

“Not My will, but Yours”

later Christology explains Jesus through:

ONE PERSON

TWO NATURES

TWO WILLS

But Scripture never gives us those complete formulas in those words.

Now, the mere fact that a theological term is not found word-for-word in Scripture does not automatically make it false.

For example, the English word monotheism is not found in the Bible either, yet the Bible plainly teaches that there is one God.

Therefore the proper test is not merely:

“IS THE WORD IN THE BIBLE?”

The real test is:

“IS THE TEACHING IN THE BIBLE?”

And this is precisely where I believe the Trinity fails the test.

The Bible explicitly identifies:

ONE GOD — THE FATHER.

It identifies Jesus as:

THE SON OF GOD.

Jesus has:

A GOD AND FATHER.

Jesus is:

SENT BY GOD.

Jesus:

OBEYS GOD.

Jesus:

PRAYS TO GOD.

Jesus:

RECEIVES AUTHORITY FROM GOD.

Jesus:

SUBMITS HIS WILL TO GOD.

And Jesus calls his Father:

“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”

---

DOES BEING CALLED “GOD” AUTOMATICALLY MAKE JESUS THE ONE TRUE GOD ALMIGHTY?

NO.

This is another important distinction.

There are passages in which theos — “God” — is applied, or according to many translations may be applied, to Jesus.

These passages deserve serious examination.

We should not hide them.

We should not pretend the Trinitarian argument does not exist.

But neither should we simply see the word “God” and immediately conclude:

THEREFORE JESUS IS THE ONE TRUE GOD ALMIGHTY.

Each passage must be examined in its own context.

---

HEBREWS 1:8

Hebrews 1:8 can legitimately be translated:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”

This traditional translation is grammatically legitimate and widely accepted.

But we must not stop reading at verse 8.

Immediately afterwards we read:

“Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You…”
— Hebrews 1:9

So even where the Son is addressed:

“O GOD”

the Son still has:

“GOD, YOUR GOD.”

That distinction is extremely important.

The question therefore is not simply:

DOES HEBREWS 1:8 CALL JESUS “GOD”?

The deeper question is:

IF JESUS IS CALLED “GOD” HERE, DOES THAT MAKE HIM THE ONE TRUE GOD ALMIGHTY?

Because the very next verse says that the Son has:

“GOD, YOUR GOD.”

This agrees with Jesus' own words after his resurrection:

“I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
— John 20:17

Our detailed Hebrews 1:8 research examines the Greek, Psalm 45, the different translations, and the important distinction between being called “God” and being the One True God:

READ THE FULL HEBREWS 1:8 RESEARCH

---

TITUS 2:13

Titus 2:13 is frequently presented as proof that Jesus is being identified as God.

Many modern translations understand both “God” and “Savior” as referring to Jesus Christ.

Many Greek scholars support that interpretation, and this should be acknowledged fairly.

However, our detailed investigation examines whether the grammar and wider context can instead be understood as referring distinctly to:

GOD — THE FATHER

and:

JESUS CHRIST — OUR SAVIOR.

This question becomes particularly important when compared with Paul's other statements.

Paul writes:

“Yet to us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord, Jesus Christ…”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6

And:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus himself prayed:

“That they should know You, the only true God, and Him whom You sent, Jesus Christ.”
— John 17:3

Therefore Titus 2:13 should not simply be announced as proof of the Trinity without examining the grammar, context and Paul's wider distinction between God the Father and Jesus Christ.

There is genuine scholarly disagreement over the interpretation.

That disagreement is exactly why Titus 2:13 should be studied carefully.

Our detailed investigation examines these arguments separately:

TITUS 2:13 — DOES THIS VERSE PROVE JESUS IS GOD?

---

2 PETER 1:1

Likewise, 2 Peter 1:1 is often translated so that:

“GOD AND SAVIOR”

both refer to Jesus Christ.

Many Greek scholars favour this reading, and again that grammatical argument should be acknowledged rather than ignored.

However, our detailed study examines whether Peter may instead be distinguishing:

GOD — THE FATHER

from:

JESUS CHRIST — OUR SAVIOR.

Only one verse later Peter writes:

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
— 2 Peter 1:2

Notice the distinction:

GOD

and:

JESUS OUR LORD.

This is why 2 Peter 1:1 deserves careful examination rather than simply being treated as a settled proof-text.

And even if someone concludes that theos is applied directly to Jesus in 2 Peter 1:1, another question still remains:

DOES THAT MAKE JESUS “THE ONLY TRUE GOD” WHOM JESUS HIMSELF IDENTIFIED AS HIS FATHER?

That conclusion does not automatically follow.

Our full investigation examines Peter's language, the Greek construction and the wider biblical context:

2 PETER 1:1 — WHO IS PETER REFERRING TO? A STUDY OF THE GREEK TEXT

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THE IMPORTANT DISTINCTION

These passages should not be ignored.

But neither should an entire doctrine be established by isolating a few disputed or grammatically debated verses from the rest of Scripture.

The proper approach is:

READ THE CONTEXT.

EXAMINE THE GREEK.

COMPARE TRANSLATIONS.

COMPARE SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE.

AND ALLOW THE CLEARER PASSAGES TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE MORE DISPUTED ONES.

Jesus said to his Father:

“You, the only true God.”
— John 17:3

Paul said:

“To us there is one God, the Father.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6

And Paul said:

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5

Therefore, even where Jesus may legitimately be called “God,” we must still ask:

IS JESUS BEING IDENTIFIED AS THE ONE TRUE GOD HIMSELF?

Or is Scripture using an exalted title for the Messiah while continuing to distinguish him from:

THE GOD AND FATHER OF JESUS CHRIST?

---

WHAT DID JESUS ACTUALLY SAY ABOUT HIMSELF?

Jesus says:

“Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”
— John 10:36

Peter confessed:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— Matthew 16:16

John tells us why he wrote his Gospel:

“These are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
— John 20:31

And John writes:

“Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
— 1 John 5:5

The repeated apostolic confession is:

JESUS IS THE CHRIST.

JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.

And remember John 6:40:

“This is the will of My Father, that everyone beholding the Son and believing in Him may have eternal life.”

Therefore, recognising Jesus as the Son of God is not diminishing him.

IT IS BELIEVING WHAT GOD REVEALED ABOUT HIS SON.

---

DOES THE TRINITY “DENY THE FATHER AND THE SON”?

Here we must be particularly careful.

John writes:

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”
— 1 John 2:22

I do not believe we should simply declare:

“Every Trinitarian is the antichrist.”

The verse itself does not say that.

Trinitarians explicitly profess belief in both the Father and the Son.

However, as a Biblical Unitarian, my objection concerns how those identities are subsequently defined.

Scripture presents:

GOD

and:

THE SON OF GOD.

God sends His Son.

God gives His Son.

Jesus prays to God.

Jesus obeys God.

God raises Jesus.

God exalts Jesus.

God gives Jesus authority.

Jesus calls the Father:

“MY GOD.”

And Jesus calls his Father:

“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”

Therefore, I believe identifying both the Father and His Son as distinct Persons who are nevertheless each the same one God changes the straightforward biblical relationship between:

THE ONE GOD

and:

HIS SON.

That claim must be tested against Scripture.

---

NOW RETURN TO MATTHEW 7

After examining all of this, return to Jesus' original warning:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven.”
— Matthew 7:21

These people:

CALL JESUS LORD.

USE JESUS' NAME.

CLAIM TO PROPHESY.

CLAIM TO CAST OUT DEMONS.

CLAIM TO PERFORM MIGHTY WORKS.

Yet Jesus says:

“I NEVER KNEW YOU.”

Why?

Because religious profession by itself is not enough.

Calling Jesus Lord is not a substitute for genuinely believing him.

Miraculous claims are not a substitute for obedience.

Religious tradition is not a substitute for truth.

And Jesus has already told us:

“This is the will of My Father, that everyone beholding the Son and believing in Him may have eternal life.”
— John 6:40

Then, only three verses after Matthew 7:21, Jesus says:

“Everyone therefore who hears these words of Mine and DOES THEM, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.”
— Matthew 7:24

This gives us an extraordinarily clear picture:

BELIEVE IN THE SON.

LISTEN TO THE SON.

DO WHAT JESUS TAUGHT.

DO THE WILL OF HIS FATHER.

---

AND WHAT DID JESUS TEACH ABOUT GOD?

Jesus said:

“Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, THE LORD IS ONE.”
— Mark 12:29

The scribe replied:

“Teacher, You have said well that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NONE OTHER BUT HE.”
— Mark 12:32

And Jesus told him:

“You are not far from God's Kingdom.”
— Mark 12:34

Paul later wrote:

“To us there is ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6

And Jesus prayed to his Father:

“That they should know YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, and Him whom You sent, Jesus Christ.”
— John 17:3

For me, the biblical distinction is clear:

ONE GOD — THE FATHER.

ONE MESSIAH AND LORD — JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON.

---

THIS WARNING IS FOR ALL OF US

Matthew 7:21–23 should never become merely a weapon for attacking another denomination.

Jesus' warning should first cause every one of us to examine ourselves.

A person may be:

Trinitarian.

Unitarian.

Catholic.

Protestant.

Jehovah's Witness.

A pastor.

A teacher.

A Bible researcher.

And still need to ask:

AM I REALLY DOING THE WILL OF GOD?

Do I genuinely believe in the Son whom God sent?

Do I listen to Jesus?

Do I obey his teaching?

Do I love God?

Do I love my neighbour?

Do I forgive?

Do I practise mercy?

Do I seek righteousness?

Am I willing to change my beliefs when Scripture shows me that something I have been taught is wrong?

Or am I simply repeating religious traditions because they are what I have always believed?

And perhaps the most important question of all:

DO I KNOW THE ONE TRUE GOD AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST?

---

FINAL CONCLUSION

Matthew 7:21–23 contains one of the most frightening warnings Jesus ever gave:

“THEN I WILL TELL THEM, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU.’”

The people Jesus describes call him:

“LORD, LORD.”

They claim extraordinary religious works in his name.

Yet Jesus says that the one who enters the Kingdom is:

“He who does the WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven.”

Jesus then tells us:

“This is the will of My Father, that everyone beholding the Son and believing in Him may have eternal life.”
— John 6:40

And within the very same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says:

“Everyone therefore who hears these words of Mine and DOES THEM… will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock.”
— Matthew 7:24

Jesus himself lived in complete submission to his Father:

“I don't seek My own will, but the will of My Father who sent Me.”
— John 5:30

And:

“Not My will, but Yours, be done.”
— Luke 22:42

Jesus identified the greatest commandment by saying:

“The Lord our God, THE LORD IS ONE.”
— Mark 12:29

The scribe understood him to mean:

“HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NONE OTHER BUT HE.”
— Mark 12:32

Paul identifies:

“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”

And Jesus calls his Father:

“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”

Therefore, after examining the biblical evidence, my conclusion remains:

ONE GOD — THE FATHER.

ONE MESSIAH AND LORD — JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON.

I do not believe Scripture teaches that the one God consists of three distinct coequal and coeternal Persons sharing one divine essence.

Nor do I believe Scripture explicitly teaches the later formula that Jesus is one Person possessing two natures and two wills.

Those theological claims must be tested against what Scripture actually says.

But neither should a Biblical Unitarian imagine that simply rejecting the Trinity guarantees that Jesus knows him.

MATTHEW 7 IS A WARNING TO ALL OF US.

Correct doctrine without obedience is not enough.

Religious claims are not enough.

Miraculous works are not enough.

Calling Jesus:

“LORD, LORD”

is not enough.

Jesus calls us to believe in him as the Son whom God sent, receive his words, follow his teaching and do the will of his Father.

So the final question is not merely:

“WHAT DENOMINATION DO I BELONG TO?”

Nor is it merely:

“DO I CALL JESUS LORD?”

The far more serious question is:

“AM I REALLY BELIEVING THE SON, LISTENING TO HIS WORDS, AND DOING THE WILL OF HIS FATHER?”

Because Jesus' warning could hardly be more serious:

“THEN I WILL TELL THEM, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU. DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO WORK LAWLESSNESS.’”

— Matthew 7:23

Research by Simon Brown

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Bible research image examining the testimony of Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the demons concerning the identity of Jesus Christ and the repeated biblical title Son of God.

QUICK FACTS: WHO DID THEY SAY JESUS REALLY WAS?

Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the Demons — Did They Call Jesus God, or the Son of God?

Five Remarkable Biblical Witnesses to the Identity of Jesus Christ

Research by Simon Brown

There may be few questions more important in Christianity than:

WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

Millions of Christians today confess that Jesus is God.

Classical Trinitarian Christianity teaches that Jesus is God the Son, the second divine Person of the one God, eternally distinct from the Father while sharing the same divine being.

But when we turn directly to the New Testament, we repeatedly encounter another expression:

THE SON OF GOD.

This raises an important question.

When people in the New Testament were confronted directly with Jesus, how did they identify him?

What did Peter say?

What did Martha say?

What did John the Baptist say?

Even more remarkably, what did Satan and the demons call Jesus?

Did they say:

“You are God”?

Did they say:

“You are God the Son”?

Or do the Gospel writers repeatedly record another confession?

Let's examine five extraordinary biblical witnesses.

---

Detailed Bible research poster examining five remarkable biblical witnesses—Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Satan and the demons—and what they actually said about the identity of Jesus Christ.

WITNESS 1 — WHAT DID PETER SAY JESUS WAS?

Perhaps nowhere is the question more direct than in Matthew 16.

Jesus asked his disciples:

“But who do you say that I am?”
— Matthew 16:15

This is remarkable.

Jesus himself asks for his identity.

Simon Peter answers:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— Matthew 16:16

Peter's confession contains two enormously important titles:

THE CHRIST

and:

THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

But what happens next is even more important.

Jesus does not correct Peter.

Instead, he tells him:

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
— Matthew 16:17

According to Jesus, Peter's understanding came from:

THE FATHER.

Therefore we have:

THE FATHER

revealing the identity of:

JESUS

to:

PETER.

And Peter's confession is:

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

---

BUT DOES “SON OF GOD” MEAN JESUS CANNOT ALSO BE DIVINE?

We need to be careful here.

A Trinitarian would immediately respond:

“Peter calling Jesus the Son of God does not mean Peter denied Christ's deity.”

That is a fair objection.

Matthew 16:16 does not explicitly say:

“Jesus is not God.”

Therefore, we should not make Peter say something he did not say.

But neither should we make Peter say something else he did not say.

Peter's actual confession is:

“THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

And Jesus accepts and blesses that confession.

That is the biblical evidence before us.

---

WITNESS 2 — WHAT DID MARTHA BELIEVE?

Now something remarkable happens in John 11.

Lazarus has died.

Martha meets Jesus and says:

“Lord, if You would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
— John 11:21–22

Notice the relationship Martha describes.

Jesus:

ASKS GOD

and:

GOD GIVES TO JESUS.

Jesus then tells Martha:

“I am the resurrection and the life.”
— John 11:25

And asks her directly:

“Do you believe this?”
— John 11:26

This gives Martha a remarkable opportunity to state exactly what she believes about Jesus.

Her answer?

“Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that You are the Christ, God's Son, He who comes into the world.”
— John 11:27

Again, we encounter the same two identities:

THE CHRIST

THE SON OF GOD.

Martha's confession closely parallels Peter's.

Peter:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Martha:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

That is an extraordinary consistency.

---

MARTHA'S STATEMENT IS EVEN MORE INTERESTING IN CONTEXT

Earlier in John 11, Jesus says concerning Lazarus:

“It is for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it.”
— John 11:4

Again, the passage distinguishes:

GOD

and:

GOD'S SON.

Then Martha says:

“Whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

And finally:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

The entire chapter therefore contains a consistent relational pattern.

---

WHAT MAKES MARTHA'S CONFESSION ESPECIALLY INTERESTING?

Only shortly before this, in John 10, some of Jesus' opponents accused him:

“Because You, being a man, make Yourself God.”
— John 10:33

Jesus responds by asking:

“Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”
— John 10:36

Then, in the very next chapter, Martha confesses:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

We should be cautious about claiming Martha was deliberately answering the controversy of John 10—the Gospel does not tell us that.

But John's literary sequence is nevertheless striking:

JOHN 10:36

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

Then:

JOHN 11:27

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”

Jesus' self-description and Martha's confession correspond remarkably closely.

---

WITNESS 3 — WHAT DID JOHN THE BAPTIST SAY?

John the Baptist provides another exceptionally important witness.

John was not an insignificant character.

Jesus himself said:

“Among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”
— Matthew 11:11

John witnessed something extraordinary at Jesus' baptism.

He says:

“I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on Him.”
— John 1:32

John explains that God had told him:

“He on whom you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”
— John 1:33

Then John gives his testimony:

“I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
— John 1:34

Once again:

THE SON OF GOD.

John also famously calls Jesus:

“The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
— John 1:29

Notice the relationship expressed by that title:

THE LAMB OF GOD.

John's testimony therefore identifies Jesus as:

THE LAMB OF GOD

and:

THE SON OF GOD.

---

NOW THE EVIDENCE TAKES A SURPRISING TURN

Peter was Jesus' apostle.

Martha was Jesus' friend and follower.

John was God's prophet who prepared the way for the Messiah.

All three identify Jesus as:

THE SON OF GOD.

But what about Jesus' enemies?

This is where the evidence becomes fascinating.

---

WITNESS 4 — WHAT DID SATAN CALL JESUS?

During Jesus' temptation, Satan says:

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
— Matthew 4:3

Then again:

“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down…”
— Matthew 4:6

Twice Satan addresses Jesus as:

THE SON OF GOD.

Why doesn't Satan say:

“If You are God…”?

That is an interesting question.

However, we should not turn an argument from silence into absolute proof.

What we can say with certainty is what the biblical text actually records.

And what Satan says is:

“IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD…”

---

BUT NOTICE SOMETHING ELSE IN THE TEMPTATION

Jesus responds to Satan:

“You shall not test the Lord your God.”
— Matthew 4:7

And later:

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”
— Matthew 4:10

Jesus is quoting Scripture.

The temptation narrative therefore contains both expressions:

JESUS — THE SON OF GOD

and:

THE LORD YOUR GOD.

A Trinitarian will understand Jesus' quotations consistently with Christ's deity.

A Biblical Unitarian will understand Jesus as quoting commands concerning the God whom Israel worships.

The passage itself does not stop to formulate either later theological system.

But it unquestionably records Satan addressing Jesus as:

“THE SON OF GOD.”

---

WITNESS 5 — WHAT DID THE DEMONS CALL JESUS?

Now we reach perhaps the strangest witnesses of all.

When Jesus encountered two demon-possessed men in Matthew 8, the demons cried:

“What do we have to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
— Matthew 8:29

Again:

SON OF GOD.

They clearly recognise Jesus' extraordinary authority.

They know judgment awaits them.

They know Jesus possesses authority over them.

Yet the title recorded in the account is:

“JESUS, SON OF GOD.”

And this is not unique to Matthew.

Mark records the unclean spirits crying:

“You are the Son of God!”
— Mark 3:11

Luke records demons crying:

“You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
— Luke 4:41

Now the pattern becomes difficult to miss.

---

FIVE WITNESSES — ONE REPEATED IDENTIFICATION

Place the evidence together.

PETER:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

MARTHA:

“You are the Christ, God's Son.”

JOHN THE BAPTIST:

“This is the Son of God.”

SATAN:

“If You are the Son of God…”

THE DEMONS:

“Jesus, Son of God…”

These witnesses could hardly be more different.

An apostle.

A faithful woman who loved Jesus.

A prophet.

Satan.

Demons.

Yet the Gospel accounts repeatedly place the same title upon their lips:

THE SON OF GOD.

---

AND JESUS HIMSELF USES THE SAME IDENTIFICATION

This makes the pattern even more significant.

Jesus says:

“I said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
— John 10:36

So now we can add Jesus himself.

PETER — SON OF GOD

MARTHA — SON OF GOD

JOHN THE BAPTIST — SON OF GOD

SATAN — SON OF GOD

THE DEMONS — SON OF GOD

JESUS — “I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

But there is still another witness we should consider.

---

WHAT DID GOD HIMSELF SAY?

At Jesus' baptism, the voice from heaven declares:

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
— Matthew 3:17

At the Transfiguration:

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
— Matthew 17:5

Therefore, we can add:

GOD — “MY SON.”

This is precisely the question examined in my newer investigation:

QUICK FACTS: DID GOD EVER SAY JESUS WAS GOD?

READ THE FULL COMPANION ARTICLE:

https://wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-god-ever-say-jesus-was-god.html

That investigation examines God's declarations concerning Jesus, Jesus' statements concerning his Father, Hebrews 1:8–9, John 17:3, John 20:17, Revelation 3:12, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Timothy 2:5 and other important passages.

---

BUT DOES THIS PROVE JESUS CANNOT BE CALLED “GOD” ANYWHERE?

NO.

This is an important correction to the argument in some of my older articles.

There are New Testament passages in which the Greek word theos — God is applied, or arguably applied, to Jesus.

Important examples in the debate include:

JOHN 20:28

HEBREWS 1:8

TITUS 2:13

2 PETER 1:1

and other passages.

Some involve grammatical, contextual or textual questions, while others present stronger arguments for applying the title directly to Jesus.

Therefore, the argument should not be:

“Nobody ever uses the word God concerning Jesus.”

That would be too broad.

Nor should we argue:

“Because somebody called Jesus the Son of God, that automatically proves Jesus cannot possess any divine status.”

A Trinitarian could rightly challenge that reasoning.

Instead, the stronger question is:

WHAT IDENTITY DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT PRESENT AS THE CENTRAL CONFESSION OF FAITH IN JESUS?

And here the evidence becomes much stronger.

---

JOHN TELLS US WHY HE WROTE HIS GOSPEL

After everything John records about Jesus—including the signs, the “I am” sayings, the controversies, Thomas' confession and the resurrection—John explains his purpose:

“But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
— John 20:31

This is extraordinarily important.

John does not merely tell us what Peter believed.

Or what Martha believed.

Or what John the Baptist believed.

He tells his readers what they themselves are intended to believe:

JESUS IS THE CHRIST

THE SON OF GOD.

And:

“That believing you may have life in His name.”

---

JOHN SAYS IT AGAIN IN HIS FIRST LETTER

John writes:

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.”
— 1 John 4:15

And:

“Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
— 1 John 5:5

Again, the confession is:

JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.

That is not an insignificant title.

It stands at the heart of John's presentation of Christian faith.

---

WHAT DID THE APOSTLES PREACH?

The same pattern appears in Acts.

Immediately after Saul's conversion:

“Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that He is the Son of God.”
— Acts 9:20

Peter preached:

“God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
— Acts 2:36

And Peter says:

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus…”
— Acts 5:30

The apostolic proclamation repeatedly distinguishes:

GOD

from:

JESUS, HIS CHRIST AND SON.

That distinction does not by itself answer every later question about Christology.

But it must be taken seriously.

---

WHAT ABOUT PETER'S OTHER WRITINGS?

This is particularly important because 2 Peter 1:1 is frequently used in the debate.

Some translations render it:

“Our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Grammatically, this is a strong and legitimate reading of the Greek, and many scholars understand the phrase as applying both titles—God and Savior—to Jesus.

Therefore, we should not simply claim that Peter could never have used theos of Jesus because Matthew 16:16 calls him the Son of God.

Those are separate questions.

The stronger argument is that Peter's confession in Matthew 16 explicitly identifies Jesus as:

“THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

Any interpretation of 2 Peter 1:1 must therefore be considered alongside the wider biblical evidence rather than dismissed because of Matthew 16.

That keeps our investigation accurate and allows us to examine all the evidence.

---

WHAT ABOUT JOHN THE BAPTIST PREPARING “THE WAY OF YAHWEH”?

There is another important objection that deserves consideration.

Isaiah prophesied:

“Prepare the way of YHWH…”
— Isaiah 40:3

The Gospels apply this prophecy to John preparing the way for Jesus.

Trinitarians therefore argue that this identifies Jesus with YHWH.

That is a serious argument and should not simply be ignored.

However, prophetic agency must also be considered: God's coming, rule and salvation can be manifested through the Messiah whom He sends.

And John's own explicit testimony concerning Jesus remains:

“I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
— John 1:34

Therefore, Isaiah 40:3 deserves careful investigation rather than being allowed to override John's explicit confession without examination.

---

SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS ACTUALLY PROVE?

Not that the title:

“SON OF GOD”

is a magic phrase that automatically disproves every possible understanding of Jesus' deity.

That would be too simplistic.

What this evidence establishes is something more precise:

THE NEW TESTAMENT REPEATEDLY PRESENTS “THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD” AS A CENTRAL IDENTITY AND CONFESSION OF JESUS.

And it does so through an extraordinary range of witnesses.

Peter says it.

Martha says it.

John the Baptist says it.

Satan uses the title.

Demons use the title.

Jesus uses it concerning himself.

God calls Jesus His Son.

John tells his readers to believe it.

And John says that believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, leads to life in his name.

---

THEN WHO IS THE GOD OF JESUS?

This is where the wider biblical evidence becomes especially important.

After his resurrection, Jesus says:

“I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.”
— John 20:17

The glorified Jesus later says repeatedly:

“My God.”
— Revelation 3:12

Paul writes:

“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

And:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus himself prayed to his Father:

“This is eternal life, that they should know You, the only true God, and Him whom You sent, Jesus Christ.”
— John 17:3

This is why the repeated title Son of God matters so much within the larger biblical picture.

---

GOD AND HIS SON

The Bible does not present Jesus as insignificant.

Far from it.

Jesus is:

THE CHRIST.

THE SON OF GOD.

THE LORD.

THE SAVIOR.

THE LAMB OF GOD.

THE MEDIATOR.

THE ONE THROUGH WHOM GOD GIVES ETERNAL LIFE.

THE ONE GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD.

THE ONE EXALTED TO GOD'S RIGHT HAND.

THE ONE TO WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN AUTHORITY.

THE ONE THROUGH WHOM WE COME TO THE FATHER.

The question is not whether Jesus is glorious.

He unquestionably is.

The question is:

WHO DOES SCRIPTURE SAY HE IS?

---

FIVE OLD QUESTIONS — ONE MUCH BIGGER ANSWER

These five investigations were originally written separately.

One asked:

Did Peter believe Jesus was God?

Another:

Did the Devil believe Jesus was God?

Another:

What did the demons call Jesus?

Another:

What did Martha believe?

And another:

What did John the Baptist believe?

But when we place them together, they become much more powerful.

The question is no longer merely:

“What did this individual call Jesus?”

Instead, we discover a repeated New Testament pattern.

PETER:

THE CHRIST — THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

MARTHA:

THE CHRIST — THE SON OF GOD.

JOHN THE BAPTIST:

THE SON OF GOD.

SATAN:

THE SON OF GOD.

THE DEMONS:

THE SON OF GOD.

JESUS:

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

GOD:

“MY BELOVED SON.”

JOHN'S PURPOSE FOR HIS GOSPEL:

“THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”

That cumulative pattern deserves far more attention than any one of these passages considered in isolation.

---

FINAL CONCLUSION

After returning to these five studies many years later and examining them together, I believe their strongest argument is not that the words “Son of God” automatically mean “not divine.”

Nor is it that no New Testament passage can ever apply the word God to Jesus.

The biblical evidence is more complicated than that, and a serious investigation should acknowledge the difficult passages rather than hide them.

The stronger conclusion is this:

When the New Testament repeatedly asks, reveals or confesses who Jesus is, the answer given again and again is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This confession comes from Peter, Martha, John the Baptist, Jesus himself and even supernatural opponents who recognise him. God calls Jesus His beloved Son, and John explicitly says his Gospel was written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through believing have life in his name.

For me, this must be the starting point for understanding Jesus.

Not a later creed.

Not a theological label imposed upon the text.

But the confession preserved in Scripture:

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

— Matthew 16:16

And:

“THESE ARE WRITTEN, THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, AND THAT BELIEVING YOU MAY HAVE LIFE IN HIS NAME.”

— John 20:31

Research by Simon Brown

---

RELATED RESEARCH

QUICK FACTS: DID GOD EVER SAY JESUS WAS GOD?

This companion investigation examines what God Himself says about Jesus, together with Jesus' own statements concerning his Father and some of the most important passages used in the Trinity debate.

READ ARTICLE:

https://wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-god-ever-say-jesus-was-god.html

Bible research image for John 14:26 examining Jesus' promise that the Father would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in his name, and investigating the biblical identity and role of the Holy Spirit.

QUICK FACTS: WHO IS THE ADVOCATE, THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN JOHN 14:26?

Who Did Jesus Mean When He Said the Father Would Send the Advocate in His Name?

Is the Holy Spirit a Third Coequal Person of God—or God's Own Holy Spirit Through Whom the Father and Risen Christ Are Present and Active?

Research by Simon Brown

---

INTRODUCTION

Few subjects in Christianity have produced more disagreement than the identity of the Holy Spirit.

Most Christians who believe in the Trinity have been taught that God is one Being existing eternally as three distinct Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. According to this understanding, the Holy Spirit is not the Father and is not the Son, but is a third divine Person who is fully and eternally God.

But is that actually how the Bible itself defines the Holy Spirit?

That is the question I want to investigate.

My purpose is not to begin with the assumption that the Holy Spirit cannot be a distinct divine Person. Nor should we begin by assuming that later Trinitarian definitions must be what Jesus and the biblical writers intended.

Instead, we need to ask a much simpler question:

What does Scripture itself tell us about the Holy Spirit?

Throughout the Bible we repeatedly encounter expressions such as:

“My Spirit”

“His Spirit”

“Your Spirit”

“Your Holy Spirit”

“His Holy Spirit”

“the Spirit of God”

“the Spirit of your Father”

“the Spirit of Christ”

and:

“the Spirit of His Son.”

This raises an important question.

Could the Holy Spirit fundamentally be God's own Holy Spirit—His divine presence and activity through which He speaks, teaches, reveals, empowers and dwells among His people?

And following the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus, could that same Spirit be given through God's Son so that the Father and the risen Christ are present and active within believers?

Or does Scripture reveal the Holy Spirit as a third coequal and coeternal Person within one triune God?

We must allow the biblical evidence to answer.

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THE ADVOCATE — WHERE SHOULD WE BEGIN?

One of the strongest passages used to establish the personal identity of the Holy Spirit is found in Jesus' final teaching to his disciples in John chapters 14–16.

Jesus knew that he was about to leave them.

Yet he made an extraordinary promise:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever.”
— John 14:16

The Greek expression translated “another Advocate” is:

ἄλλον παράκλητον — allon paraklēton

The word paraklētos can carry the meaning of an advocate, helper, intercessor or someone called alongside to assist. Significantly, the same Greek word is later applied directly to Jesus Christ in 1 John 2:1. (Bible Hub)

Therefore, when Jesus promises “another Advocate,” we should not simply dismiss the wording.

There is genuine distinction in the passage.

Jesus is speaking.

Jesus asks the Father.

The Father gives another Advocate.

And a few verses later Jesus tells us exactly who this Advocate is.

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JESUS IDENTIFIES THE ADVOCATE

Jesus says:

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and will remind you of all the things that I said to you.”
— John 14:26

This verse is extremely important.

The Advocate is explicitly identified as:

THE HOLY SPIRIT

And the verse contains three identifiable participants:

THE FATHER — sends the Holy Spirit.

JESUS — the Spirit is sent in his name and reminds the disciples of his teaching.

THE HOLY SPIRIT — is the Advocate who is sent and teaches the disciples. (BibleGateway)

Therefore, I do not believe we should simply say:

“The Advocate is Jesus.”

John's wording is more complicated than that.

Jesus has just promised “another Advocate.”

Nor, however, does Jesus say:

“The Father will send God the Holy Spirit, the third coequal and coeternal Person of the Trinity.”

Those words are not present either.

We therefore need to investigate what Jesus actually meant.

---

A VERY IMPORTANT CLUE: “I WILL COME TO YOU”

Only two verses after promising the Advocate, Jesus says something remarkable:

“I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.”
— John 14:18

Notice what Jesus does not say.

He doesn't simply say:

“I am leaving, and another divine Person will replace Me.”

Instead:

“I WILL COME TO YOU.”

Then Jesus continues:

“In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
— John 14:20

So somehow the coming of the promised Spirit is intimately connected with Jesus himself being present within his disciples.

But it becomes even more remarkable a few verses later.

Jesus says:

“If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and WE will come to him, and make OUR home with him.”
— John 14:23

Who are the “WE”?

The immediate grammatical subjects are:

the Father

and

Jesus Christ.

Jesus therefore promises:

“WE will come.”

And:

“OUR home.”

Yet immediately afterwards he speaks about the Holy Spirit being sent by the Father.

That raises a question which deserves far more attention than it usually receives:

If the Holy Spirit dwelling within believers is simply a third divine Person arriving independently of the Father and Son, why does Jesus describe the resulting indwelling as the Father and Son coming and making THEIR home with the believer?

This does not by itself prove that the Holy Spirit is not a distinct Person.

But it certainly gives us a reason to investigate whether the Holy Spirit could instead be the means through which the Father and Son are present with believers.

---

WHY MUST JESUS GO AWAY?

This brings us to perhaps the most revealing statement in the entire Advocate discourse.

Jesus says:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don't go away, the Advocate won't come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
— John 16:7

This immediately raises the question:

WHY?

Why could the Advocate not come in this promised way until Jesus had gone away?

Jesus doesn't merely say:

“After I leave, the Advocate will come.”

He establishes a relationship between the two events:

IF I DO NOT GO → THE ADVOCATE WILL NOT COME

but:

IF I GO → I WILL SEND THE ADVOCATE. (BibleGateway)

Fortunately, we don't have to invent an explanation.

John himself gives us an earlier clue.

---

THE SPIRIT COULD NOT YET BE GIVEN IN THIS PROMISED WAY

John 7:39 explains:

“But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified.”

We must be careful with this verse.

It obviously cannot mean that God's Spirit did not exist before Jesus was glorified.

The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with God's Spirit.

Rather, John is describing the promised giving of the Spirit associated with Jesus' glorification.

And notice the sequence:

Jesus not yet glorified

↓

Spirit not yet given in this promised way

Therefore something about Jesus' death, resurrection, glorification and exaltation had to happen first. John 7:39 explicitly connects the promised reception of the Spirit with Jesus' glorification. (BibleGateway)

But then Acts tells us what happened.

---

ACTS 2:33 MAY GIVE US THE ANSWER

After Jesus has been raised from the dead and exalted to God's right hand, Peter declares:

“Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you now see and hear.”
— Acts 2:33

This verse deserves enormous attention.

Look carefully at the sequence:

THE FATHER

gives the promised Holy Spirit

↓

JESUS

receives the promised Spirit from the Father

↓

THE EXALTED JESUS

pours out the Spirit

↓

THE DISCIPLES

receive the Spirit.

Acts explicitly says that the exalted Jesus “received from the Father” the promised Holy Spirit and “poured out” what the people were witnessing at Pentecost. (BibleGateway)

Now return to Jesus' words:

John 7:39

Jesus must first be glorified.

John 16:7

Jesus must first go away.

Acts 2:33

Jesus is exalted, receives the promised Holy Spirit from the Father, and pours it out.

Suddenly John 16:7 makes considerably more sense.

Jesus' departure was not an irrelevant event occurring immediately before somebody else arrived.

Jesus had to go to the Father and be glorified and exalted before the promised Spirit would be poured out through him upon his disciples.

That appears to provide a biblical explanation for Jesus' remarkable statement:

“Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you.”

---

THE FATHER SENDS THE SPIRIT — AND JESUS SENDS THE SPIRIT

Now another apparent puzzle begins to make sense.

Jesus says in John 14:26:

“the Holy Spirit, whom THE FATHER will send in My name.”

But in John 15:26 Jesus says:

“the Advocate…whom I will send to you from the Father.”

And in John 16:7:

“I will send Him to you.” (BibleGateway)

So which is it?

Does the Father send the Spirit?

Or does Jesus send the Spirit?

Acts 2:33 gives us a remarkably straightforward answer:

THE FATHER → gives the promised Spirit to the exalted Son → THE SON pours it out.

Therefore both statements can be true without contradiction.

The Spirit originates from the Father, while the exalted Messiah participates in its sending/pouring out.

And that takes us directly to the much larger question we now need to investigate:

WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS HOLY SPIRIT THAT COMES FROM GOD?

Because long before Jesus promised the Advocate, the God of Israel had repeatedly spoken about:

“MY Spirit.”

The prophets spoke about:

“HIS Holy Spirit.”

David prayed:

“Do not take YOUR Holy Spirit from me.”

Jesus himself would speak about:

“the Spirit of YOUR FATHER.”

And Paul would later make the extraordinary comparison between the spirit within a man and the Spirit of God.

That is where I think Part Two of the article should begin: with the Old Testament, because before deciding whether John's Advocate is a third Person of the Trinity, we need to establish what “the Spirit of God” meant throughout Scripture before John 14 was ever spoken.

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WHAT DID “THE SPIRIT OF GOD” MEAN BEFORE JOHN 14?

Before deciding what Jesus meant by “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit” in John 14:26, we should ask a question that is surprisingly easy to overlook:

How had God already spoken about His Spirit throughout the Scriptures?

Jesus and his disciples did not hear the words “Holy Spirit” in a theological vacuum.

For centuries, Israel's Scriptures had spoken about:

“My Spirit”

“Your Spirit”

“His Spirit”

“Your Holy Spirit”

“His Holy Spirit”

and:

“the Spirit of YHWH.”

So before concluding that the Holy Spirit must mean a separate third coequal Person within God, we should first examine how the Bible itself describes the relationship between God and His Spirit.

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“WHERE CAN I GO FROM YOUR SPIRIT?”

Psalm 139 contains an especially revealing statement:

“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?”
— Psalm 139:7

Notice the Hebrew poetic parallel:

YOUR SPIRIT

is placed alongside:

YOUR PRESENCE

David is speaking directly to God.

He does not ask where he can flee from another divine individual. He asks where he could escape God's Spirit or God's presence.

This doesn't by itself prove everything about the identity of the Holy Spirit. But the parallel is important: God's Spirit is intimately associated with God's own presence. (Bible Hub)

That immediately gives us something to remember when Jesus later promises that God's Spirit will dwell within believers.

---

GOD SAYS: “MY SPIRIT”

Consider what YHWH says through the prophet Haggai:

“My Spirit remains among you; do not be afraid.”
— Haggai 2:5

The context is particularly interesting because immediately beforehand God assures His people:

“I am with you.”
— Haggai 2:4

So again we encounter the connection:

GOD: “I AM WITH YOU”

↓

GOD: “MY SPIRIT REMAINS AMONG YOU.”

God's presence among His people and the presence of His Spirit are closely connected. (Bible Hub)

This begins to sound remarkably similar to what Jesus later says in John 14:

“I will come to you.”

and:

“We will come to him and make our home with him.”

followed immediately by his teaching about the Father sending the Holy Spirit.

Could the Spirit be the means through which God's presence remains with His people?

We need more evidence.

---

“YOUR SPIRIT” SPOKE THROUGH THE PROPHETS

Nehemiah gives us another extremely important passage:

“Yet for many years You had patience with them,
and testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.”
— Nehemiah 9:30

Look at the sequence:

GOD

↓

YOUR SPIRIT

↓

THE PROPHETS

↓

GOD'S MESSAGE

The prophets spoke, but God was communicating by His Spirit through them. (Bible Hub)

Zechariah describes essentially the same process:

“the words which YHWH of Armies had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.”
— Zechariah 7:12

Again:

YHWH → HIS SPIRIT → HIS PROPHETS → HIS WORDS

This becomes extremely important when we reach New Testament passages saying:

“The Holy Spirit said…”

Does such language necessarily mean that a separate third divine Person is speaking independently?

Not necessarily.

The Old Testament had already established a pattern in which God speaks by His Spirit through human messengers.

That doesn't prove that God's Spirit cannot possess personal distinction. But it does mean that “the Spirit spoke” cannot automatically settle the entire question by itself.

---

“I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU”

Now consider one of the great new-covenant promises.

God says through Ezekiel:

“I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.”
— Ezekiel 36:27

Notice again whose Spirit it is:

“MY SPIRIT.”

God does not say here:

“I will send another divine Person to live inside you.”

He says:

“I will put MY Spirit within you.”

And in Ezekiel 37:14:

“I will put My Spirit in you, and you will live.”

This is highly significant background for Jesus' promise:

“He remains with you and will be in you.”
— John 14:17

The language of God's Spirit being within His people did not begin in John 14.

It had already been promised by God through the prophets.

---

DAVID CALLED HIM “YOUR HOLY SPIRIT”

Psalm 51 gives us another important expression.

David prays to God:

“Don't throw me from your presence,
and don't take your Holy Spirit from me.”
— Psalm 51:11

Once again notice the parallel:

YOUR PRESENCE

and:

YOUR HOLY SPIRIT

And most importantly, David calls the Spirit:

“YOUR Holy Spirit.”

Similarly, Isaiah speaks of Israel rebelling and grieving:

“His Holy Spirit.”
— Isaiah 63:10

and shortly afterwards asks about the God who:

“put His Holy Spirit among them.”
— Isaiah 63:11

The repeated possessive language matters.

It is consistently:

His Spirit.

My Spirit.

Your Spirit.

His Holy Spirit.

Your Holy Spirit.

That at least raises a legitimate question:

Is “Holy Spirit” fundamentally describing God's own Spirit rather than introducing another divine individual alongside God?

We cannot answer that from these expressions alone.

But the evidence is accumulating.

---

JESUS SAID: “THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER”

Now we come to something particularly important because these are Jesus' own words.

Jesus told his disciples:

“For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
— Matthew 10:20

This verse deserves careful attention.

Jesus doesn't merely say “the Spirit.”

He identifies it as:

“THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER.”

And notice something even more remarkable when we compare the parallel Gospel accounts.

Matthew records:

“the Spirit of your Father” — Matthew 10:20

Mark records:

“the Holy Spirit” — Mark 13:11

Luke records:

“the Holy Spirit will teach you” — Luke 12:12. (Bible Hub)

That comparison is extremely important.

In corresponding teachings about disciples being given what to say, Matthew calls the speaker:

THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER

while Mark calls the speaker:

THE HOLY SPIRIT

This does not mathematically prove that “Holy Spirit” is simply another name for the Father.

But it provides substantial biblical evidence that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit belonging to and coming from the Father.

Indeed, even mainstream commentary recognizes Matthew's “Spirit of your Father” as the parallel expression to Mark's “Holy Spirit.” (Bible Hub)

And this brings us straight back to John 14:26:

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom THE FATHER will send in My name…”

Perhaps Jesus' terminology there is not as mysterious as it first appears.

The same Jesus who says:

“the Spirit of YOUR FATHER”

later says:

“the Holy Spirit, whom THE FATHER will send.”

---

GOD IS SPIRIT — AND GOD IS HOLY

We should now consider the observation that first led us deeper into this investigation.

Jesus said:

“God is Spirit.”
— John 4:24

And immediately beforehand Jesus had identified the Father as the One whom true worshippers worship:

“the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
— John 4:23

God is unquestionably holy.

And Jesus explicitly says:

“God is Spirit.”

So could “Holy Spirit” sometimes function as a way of referring to God Himself in His spiritual presence and activity?

It is certainly a question worth asking.

However, we must be careful.

John 4:24 does not literally say:

“God is THE Holy Spirit.”

Nor does the Greek text use the complete expression found in John 14:26 for “the Holy Spirit.”

Therefore, it would be going too far to argue:

God is holy + God is spirit = therefore every occurrence of “Holy Spirit” simply means “God the Father.”

The biblical case must be cumulative.

And that cumulative evidence is much stronger:

God is Spirit.

God says “MY Spirit.”

Scripture says “HIS Spirit.”

David says “YOUR Holy Spirit.”

Isaiah says “HIS Holy Spirit.”

Jesus says “the Spirit of YOUR FATHER.”

God's Spirit is paralleled with God's presence.

God speaks by His Spirit through His prophets.

And God promises:

“I will put MY Spirit within you.”

Taken together, these passages give us substantial reason to investigate whether the Holy Spirit is fundamentally God's own holy Spirit—His presence and activity among and within His people.

But there is an even more remarkable passage still to examine.

Paul actually compares the Spirit of God with the spirit belonging to a human being.

And 1 Corinthians 2:10–13 may therefore become one of the most important passages in our entire investigation.

Quick Facts Bible research image examining whether God ever declared Jesus to be God or instead repeatedly identified Him as His beloved Son. The study examines Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, John 10:36, John 17:3, John 20:17, Hebrews 1:8–9 and other key passages concerning the identity of God and Jesus Christ. 

QUICK FACTS: DID GOD EVER SAY JESUS WAS GOD?

Or Did God Repeatedly Declare Jesus to Be His Son?

What Did God Say About Jesus — And What Did Jesus Say About Himself?

Research by Simon Brown

There may be no more important question for a Christian than this:

WHO IS GOD — AND WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

Detailed Bible research infographic examining whether God ever declared Jesus to be God or instead repeatedly identified Jesus as His Son. It explores Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, John 10:36, John 17:3, John 20:17, Hebrews 1:8–9, Acts 2:32–33 and 1 Timothy 2:5, encouraging readers to examine what God and Jesus actually said. 

Millions of Christians have been taught that Jesus is God.

Orthodox Trinitarian Christianity teaches that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, while maintaining that these are not three Gods but three distinct persons sharing the one divine being.

Oneness or Modalist Christians approach the question differently, identifying Jesus with the one God in a way that does not maintain the same eternal distinction of three divine persons.

But rather than beginning with a creed, denomination, church council or theological system, I want to begin somewhere much simpler:

WHAT DID GOD HIMSELF SAY ABOUT JESUS?

Did God announce:

“This is God the Son”?

Did He say:

“This is another person within the one God”?

Did He say:

“This is Me”?

Or did God identify Jesus in another way?

Let's examine what Scripture actually records.

---

QUICK FACT 1 — GOD SAID: “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON”

Detailed Bible research infographic covering Quick Facts 1–10 from “Did God Ever Say Jesus Was God?” It examines Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, Matthew 12:18, John 10:36, John 17:3, Hebrews 1:8–9, John 20:17, Revelation 3:12, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Timothy 2:5. The study compares what God explicitly says about Jesus with what Jesus says about Himself and His Father. Research by Simon Brown.

At Jesus' baptism, a voice came from heaven:

MATTHEW 3:17

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Notice the relationship expressed in this statement.

The voice from heaven speaks about Jesus and calls Him:

“MY SON.”

There is the One speaking, and there is the Son about whom He speaks.

At the very least, this establishes a genuine distinction between the One speaking from heaven and Jesus.

And the title God gives Jesus is enormously important:

SON.

God does not say:

“This is Me.”

He says:

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON.”

---

QUICK FACT 2 — GOD SAID IT AGAIN AT THE TRANSFIGURATION

This was not an isolated statement.

At the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw Jesus with Moses and Elijah.

Then a voice came from the cloud:

MATTHEW 17:5

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”

Again:

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON.”

The One speaking is distinguished from the Son about whom He speaks.

Whatever theological conclusions Christians subsequently draw about Christ's nature, surely we should begin by allowing God's own recorded words to speak for themselves.

God identifies Jesus as:

HIS SON.

---

QUICK FACT 3 — GOD ALSO CALLS JESUS HIS SERVANT

Matthew applies Isaiah's prophecy to Jesus:

MATTHEW 12:18

“Behold, My servant whom I have chosen, My beloved with whom My soul is well pleased. I will put My Spirit upon Him…”

Look carefully at the language:

“MY SERVANT”

“WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN”

“I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM”

The passage distinguishes the One who chooses from the servant who is chosen.

For me, this contributes to a consistent biblical picture:

GOD WORKING THROUGH HIS CHOSEN MESSIAH.

---

QUICK FACT 4 — JESUS CALLED HIMSELF “THE SON OF GOD”

John 10 is frequently used in arguments that Jesus claimed to be God.

But we need to read Jesus' own response carefully.

Jesus said:

JOHN 10:36

“Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

Look at the identities Jesus gives us.

There is:

THE FATHER

who sanctified and sent Jesus,

and there is:

JESUS

who says:

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

Notice something else.

Jesus does not say here:

“I AM GOD THE SON.”

The expression recorded in the passage is:

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

Those are not identical statements.

That distinction deserves serious examination.

---

QUICK FACT 5 — JESUS SAID THE FATHER SENT HIM

John 10:36 contains another important statement:

“…Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world…”

Jesus is:

THE ONE SENT.

The Father is:

THE ONE WHO SENT HIM.

This distinction occurs repeatedly throughout John's Gospel.

Jesus says in His prayer:

JOHN 17:3

“…Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

So we should ask:

WHO IS THE SENDER — AND WHO IS THE ONE SENT?

Jesus consistently identifies the Father as the One who sent Him.

---

QUICK FACT 6 — JESUS CALLED THE FATHER “THE ONLY TRUE GOD”

Now we come to one of the most important passages in my research.

Jesus lifted His eyes toward heaven and prayed to His Father.

He said:

JOHN 17:1–3

“Father… this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Look carefully at the identities in Jesus' prayer.

He addresses:

THE FATHER

and calls Him:

“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”

Jesus then identifies Himself as:

“JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.”

For me, John 17:3 is foundational.

The Father is identified as “the only true God,” while Jesus is identified as the Christ whom that God sent.

A Trinitarian will answer that John 17:3 can be reconciled with the Trinity because the Son shares the Father's divine nature and is included in the divine identity elsewhere in Scripture.

That interpretation deserves to be represented fairly.

But it does not remove the actual wording of Jesus' prayer.

Jesus addresses His Father as:

“YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”

So if another passage appears to call Jesus “God,” we must ask an important question:

IN WHAT SENSE IS THE WORD “GOD” BEING USED?

And that brings us directly to Hebrews 1:8.

---

QUICK FACT 7 — BUT DOESN'T GOD CALL JESUS “GOD” IN HEBREWS 1:8?

This is one of the most important Trinitarian objections to the argument presented in this study.

Hebrews 1:8 is commonly translated:

HEBREWS 1:8

“But of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…’”

At first sight, this certainly appears to have God addressing the Son as:

“O GOD.”

We should not hide this verse.

We should not pretend the Trinitarian argument does not exist.

And we should not simply declare the common translation false.

The Greek expression ὁ θεός — ho theos can function as a nominative used for direct address, and the traditional rendering “Your throne, O God” is grammatically legitimate and widely accepted. An alternative rendering along the lines of “God is your throne” has also been defended, though many interpreters consider the vocative reading more natural in context. (BibliaPlus)

But whichever translation we consider, we must not stop at verse 8.

READ THE VERY NEXT VERSE.

HEBREWS 1:9

“…therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness beyond Your companions.”

Hebrews therefore presents us with something extremely important.

The Son who may be addressed as “O God” in verse 8 is immediately said to have:

“GOD, YOUR GOD.”

And this God:

ANOINTS HIM.

Hebrews 1:8–9 is quoting Psalm 45:6–7, where the same sequence appears: the royal figure is addressed with exalted language and then is said to have “God, your God” who anoints him. (Bible Gateway)

So the question is not merely:

DOES HEBREWS 1:8 CALL JESUS “GOD”?

The deeper question is:

IF JESUS IS CALLED “GOD” HERE, IN WHAT SENSE IS THAT TITLE BEING USED?

Because the very next verse says:

JESUS HAS A GOD.

This agrees with Jesus' own words:

JOHN 20:17

“…My God and your God.”

And the risen Jesus repeatedly says in Revelation 3:12:

“MY GOD.”

Therefore, even if we accept the traditional translation:

“YOUR THRONE, O GOD…”

that alone does not settle the larger question of whether Jesus is the same One whom Jesus Himself calls “the only true God” in John 17:3.

Hebrews 1:8 must be interpreted together with Hebrews 1:9.

I have examined the Greek, Psalm 45, the different translations and the Trinitarian argument much more fully in my separate investigation:

QUICK FACTS: DOES HEBREWS 1:8 REALLY CALL JESUS THE ONE TRUE GOD?

---

QUICK FACT 8 — JESUS SAID THE FATHER WAS HIS GOD

This is particularly significant after considering Hebrews 1:8–9.

After His resurrection, Jesus told Mary Magdalene:

JOHN 20:17

“I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”

Jesus has:

A FATHER

and Jesus says:

“MY GOD.”

This statement comes after His resurrection.

And similar language continues in Revelation.

REVELATION 3:12

The risen Jesus repeatedly refers to:

“MY GOD.”

So Christians should ask:

IF JESUS HAS A GOD, WHO IS THE GOD OF JESUS?

The biblical answer is:

THE FATHER.

---

QUICK FACT 9 — PAUL SAID: “ONE GOD, THE FATHER”

Paul writes:

1 CORINTHIANS 8:6

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord, Jesus Christ…”

Again we find two descriptions:

ONE GOD — THE FATHER

and:

ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST

Trinitarian scholars commonly argue that Paul is reformulating the Jewish Shema in a way that includes Jesus within the divine identity.

That argument should not simply be ignored.

But neither should we ignore what Paul explicitly writes:

“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”

and:

“ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST.”

For me, this fits naturally with Jesus' own statement in John 17:3.

---

QUICK FACT 10 — PAUL DISTINGUISHES GOD FROM JESUS THE MEDIATOR

Paul writes:

1 TIMOTHY 2:5

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Again:

ONE GOD

and:

ONE MEDIATOR — CHRIST JESUS.

The sentence grammatically distinguishes God from the mediator whom Paul identifies as:

“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”

A Trinitarian can answer that Jesus mediates according to His humanity and that His role as mediator does not exclude His possessing a divine nature.

That is the theological response.

But the verse itself still distinguishes:

the one God

from:

the mediator, Christ Jesus.

How that distinction relates to Christ's nature is then the theological question that must be demonstrated from Scripture.

---

QUICK FACT 11 — GOD RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD

Detailed Bible research infographic covering Quick Facts 11–21 from “Did God Ever Say Jesus Was God?” It examines Acts 2:32, Philippians 2:9, Matthew 28:18, John 5:30, Matthew 26:39, Matthew 6:9, John 16:23, John 4:23 and John 5:23, before examining the Trinity, Oneness or Modalism, and whether God ever said “Jesus is Me.” 

Peter preached:

ACTS 2:32

“This Jesus God raised up…”

Notice the two identities:

GOD

raised:

JESUS.

The New Testament repeatedly says that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Jesus did not cease to be God's Son at the resurrection.

Instead, God vindicated and raised His Son.

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QUICK FACT 12 — GOD EXALTED JESUS

Peter continues:

ACTS 2:33

“Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God…”

And later:

ACTS 5:31

“God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior…”

Paul likewise writes:

PHILIPPIANS 2:9

“Therefore God also highly exalted Him…”

Look at the repeated pattern:

GOD RAISED JESUS.

GOD EXALTED JESUS.

JESUS IS AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND.

The God who exalts is distinguished from the Christ whom He exalts.

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QUICK FACT 13 — JESUS SAID HIS AUTHORITY WAS GIVEN TO HIM

After His resurrection Jesus declared:

MATTHEW 28:18

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

Jesus possesses extraordinary authority.

But notice the wording:

IT WAS GIVEN TO HIM.

That naturally raises the question:

WHO GAVE JESUS THIS AUTHORITY?

The New Testament consistently presents the Father as the source of Christ's authority.

This does not diminish Jesus.

It magnifies what God has accomplished through His Son.

---

QUICK FACT 14 — JESUS SAID HE COULD DO NOTHING “FROM HIMSELF”

Jesus said:

JOHN 5:19

“The Son can do nothing from Himself, unless He sees the Father doing something…”

And:

JOHN 5:30

“I can do nothing from Myself… I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

Again Jesus distinguishes:

HIS WILL

from:

THE WILL OF THE ONE WHO SENT HIM.

Whatever position we ultimately reach concerning Christ's nature, these statements must be included in the evidence.

---

QUICK FACT 15 — JESUS PRAYED TO HIS FATHER

Jesus did not merely talk about the Father.

He prayed to Him.

MATTHEW 26:39

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

And:

JOHN 17:1

“Father, the hour has come…”

Jesus' prayer reveals a relationship between:

THE SON WHO PRAYS

and:

THE FATHER TO WHOM HE PRAYS.

This is particularly important because Jesus also taught His disciples to pray to the Father.

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QUICK FACT 16 — JESUS TAUGHT US TO PRAY TO THE FATHER

Jesus said:

MATTHEW 6:6

“Pray to your Father…”

Then He gave His model prayer:

MATTHEW 6:9

“Therefore pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven…’”

Jesus later said:

JOHN 16:23

“Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.”

The pattern is striking:

PRAY TO THE FATHER

THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

IN JESUS' NAME

Jesus is absolutely central.

But the Father is the One Jesus explicitly teaches His followers to address.

---

QUICK FACT 17 — TRUE WORSHIPPERS WORSHIP THE FATHER

Jesus told the Samaritan woman:

JOHN 4:23

“The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…”

Notice again:

THE FATHER.

This verse does not by itself answer every New Testament passage in which Jesus receives honour, homage or proskyneō.

But when Jesus explicitly discusses true worship, He identifies:

THE FATHER

as the One whom true worshippers worship.

That statement deserves to be taken seriously.

---

QUICK FACT 18 — DOES THIS MEAN JESUS SHOULD NOT BE HONOURED?

Absolutely not.

Jesus said:

JOHN 5:23

“…that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.”

Jesus is God's Messiah, His beloved Son, our Lord, Savior and appointed King.

God has highly exalted Him.

Paul writes:

PHILIPPIANS 2:9–11

that God highly exalted Jesus, bestowed upon Him the name above every name, and that every knee will bow and every tongue confess:

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

But notice how the passage concludes:

“TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.”

Honouring Jesus does not require us to erase the distinction between Jesus and His God.

I believe we honour Jesus by believing what God says about His Son and what Jesus says about His Father.

---

QUICK FACT 19 — WHAT ABOUT THE TRINITY?

Here we must be accurate.

Orthodox Trinitarian Christianity does not teach that Jesus is the Father.

It teaches:

The Father is God.

The Son is God.

The Holy Spirit is God.

Yet:

The Father is not the Son.

The Son is not the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not the Father.

Trinitarians maintain that these are not three Gods but three distinct persons sharing the one undivided divine essence or being.

Therefore, simply proving that Jesus and the Father are distinct does not, by itself, disprove the Trinity.

Trinitarians already believe they are distinct persons.

The deeper question is:

DOES SCRIPTURE ACTUALLY IDENTIFY THE ONE GOD AS THREE COEQUAL, COETERNAL PERSONS?

Or does Scripture consistently present:

THE FATHER AS THE ONE GOD

and:

JESUS AS GOD'S SON, CHRIST, LORD AND MEDIATOR?

That is the question I believe Christians must test against the whole of Scripture.

---

QUICK FACT 20 — WHAT ABOUT ONENESS OR MODALISM?

This is a different question.

Oneness theology is not the same as orthodox Trinitarianism.

Some Oneness Christians identify Jesus with the Father in ways that Trinitarians themselves reject.

But the distinctions we have examined create serious difficulties for simply identifying Jesus as the same person as the Father.

Jesus says:

“My Father.”

Jesus prays to the Father.

The Father sends Jesus.

Jesus does the Father's will.

The Father raises Jesus.

The Father exalts Jesus.

Jesus calls the Father:

“MY GOD.”

And God calls Jesus:

“MY SON.”

Whatever else we conclude, the biblical Father and Son should not simply be collapsed into the same person.

---

QUICK FACT 21 — DID GOD EVER SAY: “JESUS IS ME”?

This brings us directly back to the question I first raised in my original research.

God repeatedly identifies Jesus as His Son, while the old article asked whether God ever actually said that He Himself was Jesus.

So let's ask the question carefully.

Where does God say:

“JESUS IS ME”?

Where does the Father say:

“I AM MY SON”?

Where does God say:

“MY SON AND I ARE THE SAME PERSON”?

Those statements are not what we find.

Instead, we repeatedly encounter:

MATTHEW 3:17

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON.”

And:

MATTHEW 17:5

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON… LISTEN TO HIM.”

Therefore I believe our understanding of Jesus should begin with the identity that Scripture explicitly gives Him:

THE SON OF GOD.

---

QUICK FACT 22 — WHAT DID GOD SAY ABOUT HIMSELF?

Detailed Quick Facts Bible research image examining Isaiah 46:9 and John 17:3. God declares that He is God and there is no other, while Jesus prays to His Father and calls Him “the only true God,” distinguishing the Father from Jesus Christ whom He sent. 

Through Isaiah, God declares:

ISAIAH 46:9

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.”

And Jesus, praying to His Father, says:

JOHN 17:3

“…that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

For me, these statements fit together naturally.

There is:

THE ONE TRUE GOD — THE FATHER

and there is:

JESUS CHRIST — HIS SON WHOM HE SENT.

---

BUT WHAT ABOUT VERSES THAT APPEAR TO CALL JESUS “GOD”?

Hebrews 1:8 is not the only passage Christians debate.

There are other verses—such as John 20:28, Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1—that Trinitarians understand as identifying Jesus as God.

Those passages deserve careful examination individually.

We should not build our faith by ignoring difficult verses from either side.

Neither should we take one disputed translation or grammatical construction and allow it to erase dozens of explicit statements identifying:

the Father as Jesus' God,

and:

Jesus as God's Son.

The correct method is to examine all the evidence.

That is what I have tried to do throughout my research.

---

THE QUESTION EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD ASK

I do not want anyone to accept this conclusion merely because:

SIMON BROWN SAYS IT.

Nor should somebody believe the Trinity merely because their church says it.

Nor should somebody reject the Trinity merely because another teacher tells them to.

OPEN YOUR BIBLE.

Read God's words.

Read Jesus' words.

And ask:

WHO DID GOD SAY JESUS WAS?

WHO DID JESUS SAY HIS FATHER WAS?

WHO DID JESUS CALL “THE ONLY TRUE GOD”?

WHO DID JESUS CALL “MY GOD”?

WHO SENT JESUS?

WHO RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD?

WHO EXALTED JESUS?

WHO GAVE JESUS HIS AUTHORITY?

WHO DID JESUS PRAY TO?

AND WHO DID GOD CALL “MY BELOVED SON”?

For me, the cumulative biblical picture is clear:

THE FATHER IS THE ONE TRUE GOD.

JESUS IS HIS SON, HIS CHRIST, HIS CHOSEN AND EXALTED LORD AND MESSIAH.

And this brings us to something particularly beautiful.

We don't have to invent a confession concerning Jesus.

Scripture already gives us one.

---

WHO DID JESUS SAY HE WAS?

Jesus said:

JOHN 10:36

“I AM THE SON OF GOD.”

And when Peter confessed Jesus' identity, he said:

MATTHEW 16:16

“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

And John's Gospel tells us why it was written:

JOHN 20:31

“…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

That is an extraordinary statement.

John tells us what he wants his readers to believe about Jesus:

JESUS IS THE CHRIST.

JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.

For me, that confession is enough.

It does not diminish Jesus.

It does not dishonour Him.

It does not make Him insignificant.

God has made Him Lord and Christ.

God raised Him from the dead.

God exalted Him.

God placed Him at His right hand.

God gave Him authority.

And God commanded us:

“LISTEN TO HIM.”

So I believe the safest place for every Christian to stand is exactly where Scripture stands.

Not beyond Jesus' words.

Not beyond God's declaration.

But upon the confession Scripture itself gives us:

JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

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Research by Simon Brown

wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com

John 1:1

• John 1:1 — Does "The Word Was God" Mean Jesus Is Almighty God?
• IS THE WORD JESUS IN JOHN 1:1? 
• What Is the Truth About John 1:1 to 5?
• WHY John 1:1 is not about Jesus!

Hebrews 1:10 – Did God Really Say to the Son, “You Laid the Foundation of the Earth”?

• WHO IS THE ONE TRUE GOD? New video!
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• The Greatest Commandment Ever Given — Who Is the One True God?
• Mark 12:29 — Why Did Jesus Quote the Shema?
• Deuteronomy 6:4 — The Shema: "Hear, O Israel, Yahweh Our God Is One"
• John 10:30 — What Did Jesus Mean by "I and the Father Are One"?
• John 8:58 — What Did Jesus Mean by "Before Abraham Was, I Am"?
• John 20:28 — Did Thomas Really Call Jesus Almighty God?
• John 14:9 — "He Who Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father" Explained
• John 17:3 — Jesus Confirmed That the Father Alone Is the Only True God
• John 17:5 — Did Jesus Exist with the Father Before the World Began?
• 2 Peter 1:1 — Another Trinitarian Misunderstanding?
• Colossians 1:15–17 — Does "Firstborn of All Creation" Mean Jesus Was Created?
• Hebrews 1:2 — Did God Create the Universe or the Ages Through His Son?
• Who Is the Alpha and the Omega?
• Did the Doctrine of the Trinity Originate with Jesus Christ and His Apostles?
• Is Jesus God, or the Son of God? What Does the Whole Bible Teach?
•  Scriptures Proving Yahweh: The One True God of Israel Is the Creator Alone.
• John 6:38 — How Did Jesus Come Down From Heaven?

1 Corinthians 8:6 – One God the Father and One Lord Jesus Christ

Quick Facts: Does Romans 9:5 Really Call Jesus “God Over All”? What Did Paul Actually Mean?

Quick Facts: Does Matthew 28:19 Prove the Trinity?

Quick Facts: Does Hebrews 1:8 Really Call Jesus the One True God?

TITUS 2:13 — DOES THIS VERSE PROVE JESUS IS GOD?

What Did Isaiah See? A Bible Study of Isaiah 6:1 and John 12:41

Quick Facts: Who Is on the Throne of God — One God or Three?

Quick Facts: Does John 10:30–36 Really Prove Jesus Said He Is God?

John 8:24 Quick Facts — Unless You Believe That I Am He?

Did the Catholic Church Create the Doctrine of the Trinity? And Did Later Church Fathers Reject the Earlier Jewish Understanding of the One God?

The Shocking Trinitarian Claim – Unless Jesus Is God, He Cannot Be the Savior!

Why I Believe the Teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses Are Mistaken.