The Bible is full of scriptures that, when quoted without any consideration
of the immediate or remote context, a person can misuse in all sorts of ways.
As proof that we do not have to work to provide for our families' material needs,
some may quote Jesus' statement,
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for that which endures to everlasting life..."
When the Bible reader is rightly dividing--handling accurately--
the word of truth, he will remember that, "The sum of Thy word"--of God's word--"is truth..."
Since the Bible teaches, "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat,"
Jesus never implied that working to help feed one's family is wrong.
He was simply saying that spiritual food is more important than physical food,
and thus, should be given a higher priority.
Consider another proof text from the gospel of John,
this time, regarding the nature of Christ.
Some contend that Jesus was not Deity since, on one occasion,
He prayed to the Father saying,
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
Allegedly, by calling the Father, "the only true God,"
Jesus excluded Himself from being Deity.
Such an interpretation of John 17:3, however, contradicts numerous other passages within
John's gospel account.
From beginning to end, John bore witness to the Godhood of Christ.
In the very first verse of John, the apostle testified,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Two verses later, the reader learns that,
"All things came into being by Him," --the Word--"and apart from Him
nothing came into being that has come into being."
Still in the first chapter of John, the apostle testified that John the Baptizer
was the one whom Isaiah foretold would, "Prepare the way of Jehovah."
For whom did John the Baptizer come to prepare the way?
Isaiah called Him, "Jehovah."
The apostle John, as well as John the Baptizer, referred to Jehovah as,
"Jesus," "the Christ," "the Word," "the Light," "the Lamb," and "the Truth."
When the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, in John 4, told Jesus,
"I know that Messiah is coming,"
Jesus responded, "I who speak to you am He."
Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be called, "Mighty God" and "Jehovah."
Thus, by claiming to be the Messiah, Jesus was claiming to be God.
In John chapter nine, Jesus miraculously healed a man with congenital blindness.
When this man appeared before various Jews in the synagogue and called Jesus a prophet,
he was instructed to give God the glory, not Jesus, because allegedly, Jesus was a sinner.
Later, after the man born blind was cast out of the synagogue,
he confessed faith in Jesus and worshipped Him.
In the gospel of John, this Greek word for "worship,"
"proskuneo," is found 11 times; nine times in reference to worshipping the Father,
once in reference to Greeks who came to worship in Jerusalem during Passover,
and once in reference to the worship Jesus received from a man whom
He had miraculously healed of blindness and who had just confessed faith in Jesus.
Indeed, by accepting worship, Jesus acknowledged His Deity.
While at the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, in John 10, Jesus claimed,
"'I and My Father are One.' Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him."
Why did Jesus' enemies want to stone Him? The Jews said to Christ,
"For a good work we do not stone You,
but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."
After Jesus rose from the dead, the apostle Thomas called Him,
"My Lord and my God!" Jesus responded,
"Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Notice that Jesus did not deny His Deity, rather,
He acknowledged Thomas' faith and commended future believers.
Believers in what?
In that which Thomas had just confessed; that Jesus is Lord and God.
It was in this overall context of John's gospel account,
which is filled with statements testifying of Jesus' Deity,
that the apostle recorded Jesus' prayer to His Father the night of His betrayal.
But how can Jesus' statement about His Father being the "only true God"
be harmonized with statements by Jesus, the apostle John, John the Baptizer, Thomas,
and others, affirming the Godhood of Jesus?
We believe that when a person understands that Jesus' statement
was made in opposition to the world's false gods and not Himself,
the reference to the Father being the only true God harmonizes perfectly with the many scriptures
that attest to the Deity of Christ, both within and without the gospel of John.
On the eve of Jesus' crucifixion, it was completely natural for Him
to pray that "all flesh,"--all people--John 17:2, many of whom were and still are pagan idolaters,
would come to know the only true God and receive eternal life.
Thus, Jesus contrasted Himself not with the Father,
but as Jameson, Fawcett, Brown Bible Commentary remarked,
"With all forms of pagan polytheism, mystic pantheism, and philosophic naturalism."
Rather than quickly dismiss the Deity of Christ based upon John 17:3,
a much better explanation exists.
Expressions such as, "no one," "only," "except," and "all," are oftentimes used in a limited sense.
Consider what Paul revealed in Romans 3,
"...Jews and Greeks, are all under sin. As it is written: 'There is none righteous,
no, not one... They have all turned aside... There is none who does good, no, not one.'"
In this passage, Paul was stressing the fact that,
"...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
but he was using these inclusive and exclusive terms,
"all" and "none," in a slightly limited sense.
Paul was obviously not including Jesus in this passage,
as elsewhere he wrote that Jesus knew no sin.
Neither was he including infants, the mentally challenged, or angels.
Who, then, has sinned?
All humans of an accountable mind and age,
with the obvious exception being the sinless Son of God.
Consider also Matthew 11:27 where Jesus stated,
"All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.
Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will to reveal Him."
Are we to believe that the Spirit of God does not fully comprehend the Son of God or God the Father?
After all, Jesus said,
"No one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son..."
Once again, the terms, "no one," "anyone," and "except,"
must be understood in a slightly limited sense.
Jesus was in no way suggesting that the Spirit of God, Who,
"...searches all things, yes, the deep things of God,"
does not fully understand the Father as Jesus does.
The Son of God was revealing, as Albert Barnes noted,
that aside from the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him,
"No man or angel clearly and fully comprehends the character of the infinite God...
None but God fully knows Him."
Once again, Jesus was alluding to His deity.
Mere humans cannot truthfully speak in this manner, as Adam Clarke remarked,
"The full comprehension and acknowledgement of the Godhead,
and the mystery of the Trinity, belong to God alone."
Jesus was, and is, God, and we should no more
exclude the Holy Spirit from Jesus' statement about Himself and God the Father in Matthew 11:27,
than we should exclude the Father or the Son from Paul's statement
about the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.
Likewise, neither Jesus nor the Spirit should be excluded from Jesus' statement
about the Father in John 17:3.
Furthermore, if Jesus' reference to the Father being the only true God in John 17:3,
somehow excludes Jesus from being Deity, then to be consistent,
Jesus also must be disqualified from being man's Savior.
Jehovah said in Isaiah 43, "...besides Me there is no Savior."
Yet, Paul and Peter referred to Jesus as, "our Savior" several times in their writings.
Also, if Jesus is excluded from the Godhood based upon a misunderstanding of John 17:3,
then must God the Father be excluded from being man's Lord?
To the church at Ephesus, Paul wrote that there is,
"one Lord," and according to Jude 4, our only Owner and Lord is Jesus Christ.
Yet in addition to Jesus being called "Lord" throughout the New Testament,
so is God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Friends, when the Bible reveals that there is only one God, one Savior, one Lord, and one Creator,
reason and revelation demand that we understand the inspired writers to be excluding
every one and every thing other than the Members of the Godhead.
As David Reed well summarized, "Jesus being called our 'only' Lord does not
rule out the Lordship of the Father and the Holy Spirit,
and the Father's being called the 'only' true God does not exclude
the Son and the Holy Spirit from Deity."
If you would like to study more about the Deity of Christ,
visit us at apologeticspress.org, and consider obtaining a copy of
the Apologetics Press, Defending the Faith Study Bible.