Thursday, February 20, 2020
Is Jesus the true God in 1 John 5:20?
R. Schnackenburg,82 who has given us the best commentary on 1 John, argues strongly from the logic of the context and the flow of the argument that "This is the true God" refers to Jesus Christ. The first sentence in 5:20 ends on the note that we Christians dwell in God the Father ("Him who is true") inasmuch as we dwell in His Son Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus is the true God and eternal life. Schnackenburg argues that the second sentence of 5:20 has meaning only if it refers to Jesus; it would be tautological if it referred to God the Father. His reasoning is persuasive, and thus there is a certain probability that 1 Jn 5:20 calls Jesus God—a usage not unusual in Johannine literature. Raymond E. Brown, 'Does the New Testament call Jesus God?', Theological Studies 26 (1965), 558.
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It also would follow what John writes earlier in the chapter: "Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. THIS IS THE ONE WHO CAME THROUGH THE WATER AND THE BLOOD." Jesus is mentioned and then identified, once as "This is the one who came through the water and the blood" and then as "This is the true God and eternal life." (The life that appeared, in 1 John 1.)
ReplyDeleteIn my blogpost HERE, I've collected multiple quotes from multiple commentaries on 1 John 5:20 which argue that the most likely interpretation is that "true God" is referring to Christ.
ReplyDeleteWhen I studied the trinity in school, I liked Bickersteths book.
ReplyDeleteThese days is there a book better than that?
Michael Reeves' Delighting in the Trinity is a lovely little book on the Trinity. Definitely aimed at a more popular level though.
DeleteFor more meat, I've never read it, but I often hear Robert Letham's book on the Trinity is quite good.
Otherwise Nick Norelli has some recommendations:
https://rdtwot.wordpress.com/the-defense-of-an-essential/recommended-reading
https://rdtwot.wordpress.com/about/favorite-books