Part XIV: Frequently Asked Questions

The mystery of who Jesus Christ is—truly God and truly man—naturally raises hard and honest questions. Below are seven of the most common, followed by an attempt to answer them together, drawing on what has already been unfolded throughout this book. A word at the outset: these are deep waters, and the greatest minds in the history of the church have labored over them. Hold them with humility, and with prayer.

The Questions

• The Bible calls Jesus the Son of God; how then can He be God, if He is the Son? (Matthew 3:17)

• Jesus called God His Father many times, and said He does only what He sees the Father doing. Doesn’t that show they are two different persons?

• At His baptism, the Father’s voice spoke from heaven and the Spirit descended like a dove upon Jesus. Aren’t those three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? (Matthew 3:16–17)

• On the cross Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Doesn’t that show God left Him—that Jesus is separate from God? (Matthew 27:46; Luke 23:46)

• Is it correct to say “one God with three souls”?

• In the Great Commission, Jesus said to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Doesn’t that show three, not one? (Matthew 28:19)

• If Jesus is God, then to whom do we pray—to the Father, or to Jesus?

A Word on These Answers

The answers that follow are the author’s attempt to make this great mystery understandable, emphasizing above all the oneness of God—that we do not worship three Gods, but one. That emphasis is thoroughly biblical: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4). At the same time, the historic Christian church has confessed this oneness in a particular way—the doctrine of the Trinity—and since these questions touch that doctrine directly, a brief word of orientation will help the reader.³⁹²

Foundational Truths

Let us lay down some foundational truths, drawn from throughout this book, which will guide us. We need to agree on these before responding to the questions.

First, God is Spirit—and these are His characteristics. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). He is omnipresent—everywhere at once: “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:24; cf. Psalm 139:7–10; Proverbs 15:3; Colossians 1:17). He is omnipotent—all-powerful; omniscient—all-knowing (Psalm 147:5; 1 John 3:20; Hebrews 4:13). In short, Yahweh, the self-existing One, is eternal (no beginning or end), omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign, and infinite.

Second, if we agree on that, then while God is in heaven He is also on earth—present everywhere, all-powerful, all-knowing. While He is in Africa He is also in Europe, Asia, the Americas—at the very same moment. While people pray in a remote African village, He is there answering them, and at the exact same instant answering others across the world, while still upholding heaven itself. A God who can be everywhere, doing many things, communicating with countless creatures, all at once—that is a very great God indeed.

Third, there is only one Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, God Himself. Millions of believers around the world are filled with the Holy Spirit, yet we do not say there are millions of Holy Spirits—only one and the same Spirit, everywhere present, able to manifest Himself to each person individually. The same Spirit may lead one believer to pray on a mountain and another, at the same moment, in the city; may guide the worship leader, the preacher, and the prayer team all at once. It is the same one Spirit, showing the very characteristics of God—evidence that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; yet there are not two Gods, but one.

Fourth—and this may be harder to grasp—Scripture shows that a believer can be filled with the Holy Spirit again and again (compare Acts 2:4 with Acts 4:31). Did the Spirit leave and return each time? No. Here we reach the limits of our finite minds trying to comprehend the infinite God. The Spirit never left; yet He fills us afresh, and with each filling we receive more power for His work. The Spirit is everywhere present, yet His manifestation and fullness can vary from place to place and person to person—and He is always the same one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Fifth, consider praying in the Spirit. “We know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:26–27). Since the Spirit who helps us is the Spirit of God Himself, who better to carry our prayers to God than the One who knows all things and is everywhere present? This is hard for our limited minds to hold—but it is the plain testimony of Scripture.

Responding to the Questions

With that foundation, here is a response to the questions, in summary form:

• God is Spirit—eternal, everywhere present, all-powerful, all-knowing, self-sufficient, infinite, and sovereign.

• In the fullness of time, God formed His own human body in the womb of a virgin, for Mary “was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:18).

• When the child was born, He was God in the flesh—for He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He had a real human body like ours, and, as the result of the union of spirit and body, a living soul like ours. So He is truly man, with flesh and a soul like you and me.

• Because He now had a human body and soul, He was called the Son of God—for God is Spirit, and this was God revealed in true humanity.

• Here is the great difference between Jesus and us: our spirits are created by God, but Jesus’ Spirit was not created—His is the very Spirit of God. So He has a human body and soul like ours, yet His Spirit is the uncreated Spirit of God. That makes Him truly man and, at the same time, truly God. This is the great mystery—God in the flesh.

• While He walked the earth in that body, He was limited to one place at a time—until His death and resurrection, when His body was raised incorruptible and glorified, no longer bound by time and space, while His Spirit remained the same Spirit of God.

Now, to the specific questions.³⁹⁵

• We do not worship three Gods, but one God—one in being. Jesus Himself said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30)—not merely agreed in purpose, but one.

• When Scripture calls Him the Son of God, that is fitting and true language for God revealed in the flesh: the Spirit within that body is the Spirit of God Himself, so “Son” expresses the relationship of the eternal Spirit to the body He took. It would have sounded like blasphemy to say plainly, “God is attending a wedding at Cana” or “God is weary and resting by a well”—and indeed the Jews took up stones when Jesus spoke of His deity. This is also why Jesus often preferred the title “Son of Man,” which was equally true, for He was truly man.

• When Jesus said, “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28), that too is fitting language: His Father—His own divine Spirit—is everywhere present and unlimited, while He, in the body, was limited. Our bodies limit us.

• At His baptism, the voice from heaven and the Spirit descending as a dove are understood in the light of the truths above: God is everywhere present—in heaven and in the body of Jesus at once—and He came upon Jesus visibly to open the people’s eyes to the Spirit’s anointing. (The historic church sees here the three persons of the Godhead revealed together; the reader should weigh both explanations.)

• On the cross He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and then, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” In that moment He bore the sins of the whole world; and it was His soul that cried out in the anguish of bearing sin and judgment in our place, while His body died. (The historic church would say the eternal Son, in His human nature, truly bore our God-forsakenness for us—see the note above.)

• When He said to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” note that He said “name” (singular), not “names.” “Father” and “Son” are not names but titles; and when the apostles obeyed the Commission and preached, they baptized “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5). This book understands the one name that carries the Father, Son, and Spirit to be Jesus.

• Can He manifest Himself in more than one place at once? Yes—for He is all-powerful. In Revelation, John saw God on the throne, and then “in the midst of the throne” the Lamb, who came and took the scroll (Revelation 5:6–7)—a scene hard to picture, yet real. And notably, no prophet who was granted a vision of heaven ever saw two or three thrones—only one throne.

Note on Matthew 28:19 and the apostolic practice: it is true that the book of Acts records believers being baptized “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5). Faithful interpreters understand this in more than one way—some, with this book, taking “the name” to be Jesus; others understanding the Acts phrase to mean baptism into the reality and authority of Jesus (identifying the baptized with Christ), while Matthew 28:19 gives the fuller liturgical formula naming the three persons together. The reader is again encouraged to study both.³⁹⁶

Then How Do We Pray?

A good question. We pray to the Father, through Jesus Christ. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Jesus Himself taught us to ask the Father in His name: “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” (John 16:23). We pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, because that name is above every name (Philippians 2:9), the only name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12), and the name in which we are to do all things (Colossians 3:17).

And because we do not know how to pray as we ought, God has given us His Spirit to help us: “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:26). This is why it matters to be filled with the Holy Spirit—He helps us pray to the Father through Jesus Christ.³⁹⁸

A Closing Word of Humility

Sometimes our difficulty is that we try to put God in a box—but He is Spirit, and everything in heaven and in the whole known and unknown universe is in Him, and in Him all things hold together. With our finite minds we cannot fully comprehend this. We come to Him by faith, trusting Him and obeying His Word. Many things we do not yet understand; but when we see Him, we shall understand—and some things, perhaps, we will spend eternity joyfully learning, for even the angels are still discovering the ever-new dimensions of God’s glory.

So hold this great mystery humbly. Where this book and the historic church have used different language to guard the same precious truths—that God is one, and that Jesus Christ is truly and fully God, worthy of all our worship—let us extend one another grace, and keep searching the Scriptures together. Read this book again, and as you read, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this mystery to you personally. You will see things beyond what any author can write—for we all know only in part; no one comprehends the whole except the Spirit of God, who searches the deep things of God, and who dwells in all who belong to Jesus Christ.⁴⁰⁰