Foundations 4: the Trinity John 14

1. Background

Our chapter records Jesus’ and the disciple’s last night before the cross. The conversation is straightforward and honest, as you would expect the last conversation with a loved one would be. Jesus is preparing them for His crucifixion and subsequent absence from them. He wants to prepare them for the rough days ahead. They will be persecuted and hunted by religious leaders after Jesus is crucified, so Jesus is telling them what they will need to remember in the coming days. He tells them that God has a plan that will prepare them and comfort them.

2. What Can We Observe About God?

Jesus is our only access to the wonders of the Trinity.

When Jesus speaks of the “Father,” sometimes He speaks of them being distinct. 

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Verse 6

However, in other places, Jesus sometimes speaks of the Father and Son as one Being. View the following examples:

“Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

Verse 11

 “I and my Father are one.” 

John 10:30

The Bible has never taught polytheism. Many religions of the world have a system of belief surrounding many gods they worship for various reasons. But the Bible has always been clear that there is only ONE God, and we should only worship Him.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

However, the Bible has also given clues that this ONE God is complex in ways other beings cannot be. 

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”

Genesis 1:26

In time, God would reveal more about His character, including three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All three persons of the Trinity can be seen in this chapter and elsewhere. 

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

Verse 16-17

In verse six, Jesus explains that He Himself is the only means to know God the Father. Philips then asks a preceding question, “Show us the Father, and we’ll be satisfied!” Jesus’ response to Philip’s question explains the difference and connection between Father and Son. 

Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 

Verse 8-9

Even though the Son and Father are distinct, still knowing the Son means knowing the Father because they are of the same Being. 

As for the Holy Spirit, “He” is mentioned in verse as “another Comforter” that they haven’t yet known. Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit with pronouns that suggest He too is a person with His own will that others can “know.” According to Scripture, it wouldn’t be proper to refer to the Holy Spirit as a mere force of power but rather a living person.

So why does Jesus want us to know about the Trinity? How does it affect how we live and think? To whom should we pray?

It matters because without knowing the Trinity, one does not know God. God is the Trinity. HE is a fellowship of three persons from all eternity. In this eternal fellowship, there was love and perfect harmony.

Jesus said He wants to give those who believe in Him life abundant. 

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

John 10:10

What did Jesus mean by abundant life? Many people ignore what Jesus might have meant and substitute their thoughts of what abundance means. We might think owning a house, car, nice things is the abundant life, but is that what Jesus meant?

The abundant life Jesus knows is the eternal life He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In this abundant life is the love that exists between them. We experience love in human relationships, but none of us have experienced it in perfection and abundance.

This abundant life in the Trinity is the life that Jesus is leading His followers to, an invitation to an abundant life with God. The implication of this relationship with God transforms everything in a believer’s life. The love one experiences from God carries over into the marriages, family ties, friendship. We change according to the abundant life Jesus Christ gives believers.

Unbelievers or those who don’t take advantage of the Holy Spirit, try to obtain this abundance from money, success, other relationships. But created things cannot provide what only God can provide. When we attempt to get abundance life from things other than God, then we have committed the sin of idolatry.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Matthew 6:24

On whom should our faith focus? When we pray, to whom should we pray?

Jesus has already said He is the way to the Father. 

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Verse 6

The road God gave us to walk along is Jesus Christ and His direction. We focus on the road! As Jesus explained to the disciples, the road in which they walk will lead them to the Father, namely, knowing Him. Philip then asked an obvious question, “Then show us the Father!” Jesus answered Philip, saying that knowing Jesus meant knowing the Father; again, the focus is on knowing Jesus to accomplish the purpose of knowing God and having a relationship with Him.

“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

Verse 9

Other Scriptures reveal the Father’s plan was for believers to know Him through the Son. We look to Jesus to understand who God is. 

“All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” 

Luke 10:22

Jesus reveals to us the Father. That is the purpose the Father sent Him to do. 

Everything the Son does is what the Father would do.   

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…”

Hebrews 1:3a

3. How does this passage point to the Gospel?

The entire human race was separated from God when Adam and Eve sinned against God. We lost our life in Him, and death came upon all people.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

Romans 5:12

But rather than allowing death to claim us, God sent His Son to fulfill a mission on the cross. His death would be a substitution for our death.

“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”

Romans 5:18

One may not understand the ways of God in the beginning. Hearing about sin, substitute, and atonement may sound strange or even confusing. But there is simplicity in just following and obeying Christ. He died and rose again to save you from sin and give you life. He is Lord. He is the “road” to life that reveals what we have been missing in God.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” 

Verse 6

There is no other road for the Christian, no other god, no other life than what is to be found in Christ. He invites us into fellowship with the Trinity. Anyone who believes and repents towards God is welcomed into the abundant life with the Father.

4. Application:

When we understand the love within the Trinity, we change our definitions of love according to that standard. Also, because we have the revelation of the Trinity, we understand more of what eternal life means. The abundant eternal life is not whatever we call it or imagine it to be. We are being invited to have a life with the Trinity that has already existed since eternity. We’re not bringing anything into this relationship, but we are receiving everything God wants to give us. If someone doesn’t want the life God gives, then they are not believers. Believers repent in order to make way for God.