Monotheists to the Core

You already know this, but we need to reinforce it: The Apostles were believers in One God, the Father. They were monotheists before Christ came, and monotheists after Christ went. As Jewish men, they believed in their God, the God of the Jews, "Yahweh."

The Apostles had no greater statement of Faith than Deuteronomy 6:4 which says ‘Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is One.’ In fact, it was the very statement of faith of their Rabbi, Jesus. He reinforced the Jewish monotheism the Apostles held so dearly. One time Jesus addressed a Jewish scribe, stating in public:

The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God ...’ (Mark 12:29-30; NASB)

Reaffirm Faith in the One God

Most people know that Jesus commanded us to love to God, but they ignore two important aspects of his command: 1) the fact that he emphasized that there is One God, and 2) that he clearly wasn't talking about himself. Let's not fall into that same ignorance.

Let's not ignore how the conversation continued. The scribe responded to Jesus, saying:

Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is One God, and there is no other but he. And to love him... (Mark 12:32-33)

With that, you get a sense of how the Jews felt about Yahweh. They believed that loving him was the priority. And the most faithful Jew who ever lived, Jesus, commanded, encouraged, and fostered such a love--a love for the One God and Father.

You can perceive Jesus' efforts to foster this love for the One God, the Father, in the way he concluded the conversation with the scribe. The Scriptures tell us how the conversation ended. It says:

Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, 'You are not far from the Kingdom of God' (Mark 12:34).

Repetition: the Mother of Learning

We deduce that if you subscribe to Jesus' teaching that there is but One God, and you affirm that we must love him, you have "answered wisely." You're thinking rightly. You've got good theology. And therefore you are "not far" from the Kingdom. In other words, you're on the right track.

But it also means that you're not quite there yet. Being "not far" from the Kingdom is an incomplete journey. How do we get to the Kingdom?

If Jesus affirmed that Peter had 'the keys to the Kingdom' and he affirmed to the poor in spirit 'yours is the Kingdom,' and in Colossians 4:11, Paul refers to his companions as 'fellow workers for the Kingdom of God'--then to be 'not far from the Kingdom' is certainly not the highest accomplishment, right? It's not reaching the goal. It's short of the Kingdom.

Faith in Jesus

Here's how to be sure that the Kingdom is yours: You must tether your faith in Christ to your monotheism. You and I must couple our trust in Jesus to our faith in God. How do we do that, you ask?

Well, it's very easy if we have the faith of the Apostles.

Do you, like the Apostles, believe that Jesus was a man who ‘received everything from God’? They believed that about Jesus. In fact, the Lord Jesus himself, as their teacher evaluated them on what they had come to know. When he evaluated them, he told God that they had 'truly understood' that Jesus came forth from God.

Here are his words to the Father about the Apostles:

Now they have come to know that everything which you have given me is from you; for the words which you gave me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me (John 17:7-8; NASB).

We Too

Just like the Apostles, we too must trust in Jesus for this specific reason: He has a tight relationship with God. That doesn't impress most Christians, right? It might not impress you. You might rather have me say "Jesus is the One True God."

You probably would rather have me say "There's no one greater than Jesus," wouldn't you? Well, that's no surprise because it's the tendency in most all churches everywhere. And they think that we don't have high thoughts of Jesus.

But we do have the highest thoughts of Jesus, just like the Apostles. They admired him as a man sent by God—an emissary, a messenger—and that was the highest estimation anyone in history ever got, if the person estimating knows God.

Going Too Far

But modern Evangelicals don't know God, so they don't have a palate for calling Jesus a Messenger. They have done what the Apostle John warns us of. They have 'gone to far' or, as it says in the NIV, they have 'run ahead' (1 John 1:9), abandoning the truth about Jesus, the 'doctrine of Christ.' It's sad!

Calling Jesus a Messenger doesn't sound like what their pastors usually tell them. It doesn't sound like much to call someone a Messenger of God whose pastors consistently call the One God, or who is part of their so-called "Godhead."

Nonetheless, that's the Faith of the Apostles. Those Twelve men came to know, in time, that everything Jesus had—his teaching, doctrine, purpose, power, and plan—was from God. And, as Jesus said, they truly came to understand that Jesus came forth from God.

How Jesus Prayed for the Apostles

The Apostles, after three years of walking with him, came to believe that God sent Jesus. We see that in Jesus' own words as he prayed for them. Listen to what he said to God while contemplating the faith of the Apostles:

Now they have come to know that everything which you have given me is from you; for the words which you gave me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me (John 17:7-8; NASB).

Later in the same prayer, the Lord said:

Righteous Father, although the World has not known you, yet I have known you; and these have known that you sent me; and I have made your name known to them, and will make it known… (John 17:25-26)

Those two passages are from Jesus’ prayer at the Lord’s Supper.

Why God Loved the Apostles

And, just prior to the Supper, Jesus told the Apostles why the Father loved them. Can you guess why the Father loved the Apostles? Look at the precise reason why. Jesus said:

… the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the Father…(John 16:26)

So it's really important to believe that Jesus is sent by God. Well, it's really important if you want God to love you. Most people don't care much about what God thinks of them, but hopefully you do!

The Apostles understood Jesus' perspective. They themselves recognized how important it was to have the right perspective about Jesus. They responded to Jesus by saying:

… we believe that you came forth from God (John 16:30).

The Revelation of God’s Name

What are we going to do with these verses? The Apostles believed that Jesus was sent by God. In other words, they understood who the Father was through Jesus. Precisely, of that kind of faith Jesus spoke when he said to the Father in prayer:

I have revealed your name to the men whom you gave me (John 17:6; NASB).

They knew God’s "name"? Yes, they knew the Father's fame, his reputation, and all that he stood for—that's what someone's "name" is.

And the Apostles got to know God’s “name” through the one who best represented him, Jesus. In other words, the Apostles knew about God that he was the Source, Fountain, and Origin of all Jesus’ wisdom. And God was the Source of Jesus' doctrine, power, and authority.

That was enough for the Apostles to know!

Philip's Failure

Well, it was enough for most of them. But it wasn't enough for Philip.

It should have been enough. Jesus thought that it should have been enough. Jesus rebuked the Apostle Philip when Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' To that statement, Jesus responded:

Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:8-9)

So, you see, Jesus was upset with Philip for treating Jesus' ministry as anything less than a revelation of God's fame, reputation, and goodness. Jesus expected the Apostles and all other people to see the grace of the Father in his ministry. In other words, Jesus was focused on revealing the Father to others.

I in Him and Him in Me

But Jesus wasn't done yet. His rebuke to Philip continued like this:

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:10).

Notice how much this rebuke matches the rebuke Jesus had for the Pharisees, the one we studied in lesson #43 (Part XIII) which was:

… even though you do not believe me… know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father (John 10:37–38; NASB).

The Irony, the Irony!

So, we’re doing "a retake" of that saying. Ironically, it's a saying Trinitarians love to use as proof that their theology is Biblical, when it's no proof at all. In fact, it says the opposite. It says there is One God, the Father. How ironic.

Our simple "cross check" debunks the Trinitarian theory.

When an expression is used in the Bible in different place, that's called "cross referencing." Those are the small-print Bible references you see in the margins of your Bible, or perhaps in the row down the middle of each page. Using those, we discover that this expression was a rebuke. With it, Jesus corrected the Apostle Philip.

In similar fashion, we're using it to correct Evangelicals today.

Let's be absolutely clear: Jesus said to Philip ‘Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?’ to correct a misunderstanding. He said it to realign Philip's wrong thinking. In fact, both times Jesus used this expression 'I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me,' it was to correct bad theology. Once he corrected the unbelieving Pharisees. A second time he corrected the an unbelieving Apostle.

A Real Accomplishment

Now, let's look at the contrast. The Bible is filled with contrasts and comparisons. These are the basis for clarity of thought. The entire Book of Proverbs is built upon contrasts and comparisons. The technical term for these is "parallelism." They reflect the pattern of thought of a person with a clear conscience, and they also make for the best Hebrew poetry.

If Jesus rebuked Philip for unbelief, for what did he praise the other Apostles? We see the negative, now what’s the positive? It's bad to ignore that "Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him," so what's good?

The big accomplishment for which Jesus praised the Apostles was nothing less than that they had come to understand Jesus came from God. Jesus highlighted coming to understand Jesus came from God as the crowning achievement of his Twelve Apostles.

Jesus' Prayer

Jesus highlighted the Apostles' accomplishment when he said this to God in prayer:

Now they have come to know that everything which you have given me is from you; for the words which you gave me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me (John 17:7-8; NASB).

In other words, the Apostles struggled in their hearts, but concluded, after three years of observing Jesus, that God sent him. Jesus saw this as the culmination of their three years of discipleship. He saw it as their crowning achievement, their capstone!

After spending three years with them, the knowledge that God stood behind Jesus, having sent Jesus, and that God backed Jesus up with supernatural power was the highest level of understanding Jesus’ disciples ever attained.

The Foundation of Jesus' Church

Now, how about the modern Christian Church? Have we reached this level? Do we see Jesus as the One whom God Anointed? In other words, do we believe that he truly is the Messiah of God?

Do we profess that Jesus belongs to God? Well, it’s something we shouldn't simply admit begrudgingly. It's something we should proclaim enthusiastically. But, it's hard because the topic has a stigma attached to it. With Trinitarianism as the dominant theology, proclaiming that Jesus belongs to God actually sounds heretical!

What a shame. It's simply not heretical. It's the opposite. To recognize Jesus as being sent, supported, and strengthened by God is the foundation upon which the Church is built. So, let's say it with the same confidence as Peter.

Precisely, due to the fact that Peter made that very declaration, that Jesus is of God, Peter received great honor from Jesus. What honor? The honor of being the man upon which Jesus would build his Church. He's still building it today. In fact, he's building us up right now, with understanding.