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John 10,11-15

 

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11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

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The term shepherd (Heb.: râ‛âh / Old Greek: poimēn) is used both for GOD (Psalm 23,1-3 / Psalm 79,13 / Psalm 80,2 / Psalm 95,7 / Psalm 100,3 / Isaiah 40,11 / Ezekiel 34,31) and for people (Isaiah 44,28 / Isaiah 56,11 / Isaiah 63,11 / Jeremiah 2,8 / Jeremiah 3,15 / Jeremiah 10,21 / Jeremiah 23,1-6 / Jeremiah 23,2 / Ezekiel 34,1-10 + 23 f. / Zechariah 11,16 / John 21,15-17 / Acts 20,28 / 1st Corinthians 12,28 / Ephesians 4,11 / 1st Peter 5,1-5). GOD is the supreme Shepherd of all. At the same time, GOD appoints people (priests, judges, kings, teachers, and elders) as shepherds to give them responsibility and to share in His rule. The task of a shepherd is to guide the people, to obey GOD's will, and to protect them from evil influences. In Jesus' time, this task fell to the scribes and Pharisees. But instead of caring for the sheep, they always sought only their own advantage. It was similar with the shepherds who came before them. For this reason, GOD promised to give His people a single faithful Shepherd: the Messiah. The fact that Jesus is  the good Shepherd  has nothing to do with his supposed deity. It expresses that Jesus cares about the welfare of the sheep his Father had entrusted to him; just as it was the case with King David (Psalm 78,69-71). Furthermore, Jesus was willing to lay down his life for the sheep. This shows that his sheep can trust him completely. Jesus is the supreme human Shepherd, whom all people should follow. The fact that both GOD and Jesus are called Shepherd is therefore not proof that Jesus is GOD.

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John 10,17 f.

 

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17 "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down and power to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

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The Bible teaches that Jesus rose from the dead. More specifically, it was GOD who raised Jesus from the dead. The power to rise from the death did not come from Jesus himself. In other words, because GOD the Father raised Jesus, Jesus was able to rise. In this verse Jesus declares that he would receive his life back from GOD. The Greek word lambanō means to take or to receive. In verse 18, Jesus says that he received (lambanō) the commandment from the Father. The Greek word exousia can mean power/force as well as right/authority. GOD gave Jesus the right or authority to rise from the dead. Jesus was willing to voluntarily lay down (Old Greek: tithēmi) his life because he knew that GOD had assured him that He would free him from death. Because Jesus obeyed his Father's will, the Father loved him. Because through his own death, Jesus was able to make atonement for people's sins. Furthermore, the New Testament attests that Jesus was dead. A dead person cannot raise himself. Between his death and his resurrection, Jesus did not live on as GOD or as a disembodied soul. The apostles testify that GOD raised Jesus as a whole person and not just his dead body. It was GOD the Father who brought the human son back to life (Ephesians 1,18-21). The correct translation is therefore:

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17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to receive it again. 18  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the right to lay it down and the right to receive it again. This command I received from my Father.”

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see:

Acts 2,24 + 32 / Acts 3,15 / Acts 4,10 / Acts 5,30 / Acts 10,40 / Acts 13.30 / Rom 10,9 / 1st Cor 6,14 / Gal 1,1 / Eph 1,19 f. / Col 2,12

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John 10,29 f.

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29 "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one."

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This quote is about spiritual unity. In 1st Corinthians 3,8, Paul uses the same word for one (Old Greek: heis), writing that he and Apollos are one. This is not about the same entity, but about both working for the same goal. In the same way, Jesus and GOD the Father always had the same intentions. Jesus was one (heis) with the will of GOD. This means that Jesus obeyed the Father in everything and did what the Father asked of him (John 5,30 / John 8,29). Just as Jesus and the Father are one (heis), so believers should also be one (heis) (John 11,52 / John 17,11 + 21 f.). Jesus prayed that all of his disciples would be of one mind and pursue the same goal, like him and GOD. The common goal that unites GOD and Jesus in verse 30 is to protect the sheep so that no one will cause them to fall. In John 14,28 Jesus explains that the Father is greater (Old Greek: meizon) than he. He remains that way even after Jesus' resurrection (1st Corinthians 3,11 / 1st Corinthians 15,27 f. / Revelation 3,12). This shows that the Father has greater power than Jesus and is above him. The meaning of oneness in this verse is the same as in modern usage when two or more people are one. It's about unity of intention. A reasonable translation of verse 30 reads:

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30 I and the Father are of one mind / act as one.

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30 Me and the father work together (for the same goal).

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John 11,4

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4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for GOD’s glory so that GOD’s Son may be glorified through it.”

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This verse, too, is not proof that Jesus is GOD. It is about GOD and His anointed one glorifying each other. The Messiah glorifies GOD by demonstrating the Father's immense omnipotence through the raising of the deceased Lazarus. GOD's glory clearly refers to the Father, who performs this miracle through Jesus (verses 39-42). At the same time, Jesus is also glorified, as GOD authenticates him as Messiah through this sign. Similarly, John 17,1 illustrates this: The Messiah glorifies GOD by willingly accepting the impending path of suffering, while GOD glorifies Jesus by raising His anointed one from the dead on the third day. By glorifying the Messiah through miracles, GOD simultaneously glorifies Himself. GOD similarly glorified Himself through Moses, David, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, and others.

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John 12,37-41

Isaiah 6,9 f. / Isaiah 53,1

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37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message
   and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

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Two different prophecies from the Old Testament are quoted here. On the one hand Isaiah 53,1 and on the other hand Isaiah 6,9 f.. In Isaiah 6 the prophet Isaiah sees GOD in physical appearance sitting on His throne in a vision. Isaiah 53 is about the Messiah as the Servant of GOD who suffers for the sins of men. Overall, the book of Isaiah contains numerous prophecies about the Messiah (Isaiah 9,6 f. / Isaiah 11,1 / Isaiah 16,5 / Isaiah 32,1 / Isaiah 42,1-7 / Isaiah 49,1-7 / Isaiah 50,4-9 / Isaiah 52,12-15 / Isaiah 53,1-12 / Isaiah 55,4 f. / Isaiah 61,1 f. etc.). In all of these prophecies Isaiah explicitly distinguishes between GOD and the Messiah.

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In all places in the New Testament where reference is made to Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, the relevant section is quoted in full every time (Matthew 2,6 / Matthew 2,17 f. / Matthew 2,13-15 / Matthew 2,23 / Matthew 4,12-16 / John 2,15-17 etc.). However, the author of the Gospel of John only quotes verses 9 + 10 from chapter 6 and verse 1 from chapter 53. It is therefore obvious that only these verses are relevant to John's statements. The statement these things (John 12,41) refers to both quotations; not just the second quote from Isaiah 6. For John writes that he (Isaiah) said these things. In Isaiah 6,9 f., however, it is GOD who speaks and not Isaiah.

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The saying from Isaiah 6,9 f. comes from GOD, but it is about Israel's unbelief and the rejection of the message sent by GOD in connection with the Messiah. As it was in Isaiah's time, so it would be in Jesus' time. Despite miraculous signs that Jesus performed among the Jews, they did not believe in him. John quotes a portion of Isaiah 6 and applies it to the Jews' unbelief toward Jesus; similar to Paul in Romans 10,16. This is not about the vision itself. The statement that Isaiah saw his glory (Old Greek: doxa) can refer to both the glory of GOD in Isaiah 6 and the glory of the Messiah, which GOD allowed His servant Isaiah to see in various revelations. The first variant is supported by the fact that both quotes are about GOD. Consequently, the two words he (verse 40) and Lord (verse 38) must also be referred to GOD instead of to Jesus. Glory (verse 41) can therefore also be linked to GOD. In this case, verses 38-41 would be an insertion, even though the context is about Jesus.

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The second variant is supported by the fact that a similar statement can be found in John 8,56, where it says that Abraham saw the day of the Messiah. John does not write that Abraham saw the Messiah in the flesh, but only his day, i.e. the coming of the Messiah. That Isaiah saw the glory of the Messiah must also not be understood literally, but in the sense of a foreshadowing of future events as described in Isaiah's prophecies. The word glory can refer to the many signs and wonders by which GOD glorified the Messiah as well as to his martyrdom and resurrection from the dead (John 7,39 / John 12,23 / John 17,5 / Acts 3,13 / 1st Peter 1,11). Therefore, the expression arm of the LORD (Isaiah 6,9) can be linked to Jesus, since Jesus is the messenger through whom GOD puts His plan of salvation into action. Furthermore, in all visions in which GOD appears visibly, one only sees the throne with GOD or with another person to the right of Him (Matthew 22,41-44 / Acts 7,56 / Revelation 7 + 8). Nowhere, however, is there any mention of three thrones upon which three divine persons sit. In Isaiah 6, the prophet sees Yahweh as a single person; he does not see the second person of a triune Godhead. If Jesus, however, is the one Yahweh of the Old Testament, then the question arises: where are GOD the Father and the Holy Spirit?

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Isaiah 6 is the only place where Isaiah sees GOD visually. The word used there in Hebrew for seeing is râ'âh. In all other places where seeing is to be understood in a figurative sense, the Hebrew word châzâh is used. Because John writes in verse 41 that Isaiah saw his glory, it is concluded that Jesus is the GOD spoken of by Isaiah in chapter 6. The objection to this is that John is most likely quoting from the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament - the Septuagint - and not from the Masoretic Text, which is written in Hebrew. In ancient Greek there are also two different words for see; namely eidō and horaō. Both words can mean literally seeing with the eyes or understanding/recognizing seeing. In Isaiah 6, where Isaiah sees GOD's appearance with his eyes, the word eidō is used. We also find the same word in other places (Ezekiel 1,1 / Amos 1,1 / Micah 1,1 / Habakkuk 1,1) although there seeing is meant in the figurative and not the physical sense. In John 8,56, both Greek words even appear in the same sentence. This verse thus shows that eidō and horaō can be used interchangeably.

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John 14,1

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1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in GOD; believe also in me!"

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Although this verse is often cited as evidence of the deity of Jesus, in reality it expresses the exact opposite. The unbiased reader will recognize that Jesus clearly differentiates himself from GOD. The ancient Greek word pisteuō, which is usually translated as believe, means to trust. Before Jesus made this statement, he indicated to the disciples that he would soon be leaving. In this context, he reminds his disciples of the need to continue to trust both GOD and His Messiah in light of the events to come. The disciples were initially confused by the betrayal, arrest and crucifixion of their Lord and Master, whom they had accompanied continuously for three years. At first they fled the garden, then they scattered, but regrouped and hid behind locked doors. Jesus knew that the disciples' faith was still weak at that time and that they still lacked insight into much of what he was teaching them. With his words, Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for what was about to happen and at the same time encourage them not to lose faith. The ongoing distinction between GOD and Jesus in the New Testament is also unmistakable in this verse. Similar wording can also be found in 2nd Chronicles 20,20. Another possible translation is:

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1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in GOD; and also trust in me!"​

 

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John 14,6-10

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6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “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’? 10 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."

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The fact that Jesus calls himself the truth (ancient Greek: alētheia) does not make him GOD. In the biblical context, the term truth stands for the divine standard of good and evil. Since we are created in the image of GOD, every person was originally meant to conform to GOD's holy standard. But sin corrupted man and robbed him of his glory as GOD's image. Jesus, on the other hand, was without sin because his behavior conformed 100% to GOD's standard. Therefore, Jesus embodies the truth, i.e., GOD's standard in person. He is the perfect human being and thus also the role model for every person. In this respect, Jesus is the way (ancient Greek: hodos) to GOD the Father. By knowing Jesus, i.e., by behaving like Jesus, we know GOD the Father and have fellowship with Him (1 John 1,5-7). Knowing GOD is the basis for eternal life (John 17,3). In this sense, Jesus is the life (ancient Greek: zōē). In short: By following Jesus' example, we fulfill GOD's will and have eternal life.

 

In several places in the New Testament we read that no one has ever seen GOD. In many languages, seeing is a common expression for knowing. In the Hebrew language, one of the definitions of seeing (Hebrew: châzâh) is: see in order to learn/know. In Greek, too, the word see (Old Greek: eidō) can mean both to see with the eyes and to see / perceive / know with the mind. In English you can say “I see what you mean” to express your understanding of a statement. Seeing or recognizing GOD means understanding His will and acting accordingly (1st John 2,5). It was Jesus who revealed the truth about GOD in its fullness (John 1,18), thereby making Him truly known to people for the first time in history; namely as a heavenly father who loves us humans. This allows us to be much closer to GOD today than people were during the time of the old covenant. That is why Jesus said that no one but Him has seen or known the Father (John 6,46). People already knew about GOD in the Old Testament. However, their knowledge of GOD was limited. The Mosaic Law was but a shadow. In the person of Jesus, however, GOD's perfect will becomes visible. No one knew the Father as well as Jesus.

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In Exodus 33,18-20, Moses asks to see GOD's face. The context shows that the face of GOD is His glory. Since Moses was not sinless, he could not see GOD's face like Jesus did, because GOD is absolutely holy. Therefore, a direct encounter could be fatal for sinful people. When GOD reveals Himself to a person in physical form, it is by no means in all His fullness. Only on the new earth will we be able to be closer to GOD like never before. Because Jesus was the only person who was sinless and had a pure heart, he could say that he saw GOD. The fact that the Father was in Jesus does not make Jesus GOD. Likewise, a Christian does not become GOD because Jesus lives in him (2nd Corinthians 13,5 / Galatians 2,20). It's about Jesus' personality being reflected in us. A analogous translation is:

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6 Jesus answered, “I am the example and the standard for how to find GOD and eternal life, and no one else. 7 If you imitate me, you will fulfill GOD's will. And now you know it and have understood GOD's will." 8 Philip said, "Lord, help us to understand GOD, and we will be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Even though I have been with you for so long, Philip, have you not yet understood my way of life? Anyone who imitates me has understood GOD's will. How can you say, 'Help us understand GOD's will?' 10 Don't you think that GOD and I have the same mind? The words I am telling you are not my own. GOD, who is with me, is acting through me."

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John 14,23

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23  Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."

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Those who seek GOD and diligently strive to obey His commandments will enter into an intimate relationship with GOD and Jesus, as if they were living together in the same house and living a common life (John 14,23). GOD dwelt and worked in Christ through His Spirit. Since Jesus and the Father are of one mind, Christ also figuratively dwells and works in believers through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the role model to whom all Christians should become like. But it is the Father's Holy Spirit, whom Jesus poured out on his disciples at Pentecost, who brings about this inner transformation; not Jesus. Unlike Jesus, the Holy Spirit can dwell in any number of people (Numbers 11,17 / 1st Corinthians 6,19). Furthermore, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are never equated, but clearly distinguished from one another. The Holy Spirit embodies the personal presence of Christ in the life of every believer (John 14,18-21 / Galatians 2,20 / Colossians 1,27). He takes on the role that Jesus previously had while he was with his disciples. This consists of teaching, guiding, reminding, and glorifying Jesus (John 14,26 / John 15,26 / John 16,13).

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