John stated his purpose for writing his Gospel, “But these are written, that ye might believe [trust] that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing [trusting] ye might have life through his name” (Jhn 20:31). To have eternal life we must trust in the name of Jesus—that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. A person’s name is their reputation, distinction, and honor—it’s who they are. All that Jesus lived and died for is invested in His name. Therefore, trusting in His name is agreeing with, submitting to, and standing for everything He claimed, commanded, taught, and testified. We can be ignorant about some things but we can’t be willfully against anything He said and still be trusting in His name for eternal life.
Invested in His name is that He is the only begotten Son of God because He claimed this of Himself, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth [trusts] in him should not perish, but have everlasting life … He that believeth [trusts] on him is not condemned: but he that believeth [trusts] not is condemned already, because he hath not believed [trusted] in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jhn 3:16,18). That He was begotten of God is that He was literally born of God by proceeding forth from Him, “I proceeded forth and came from God” (Jhn 8:42), “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world” (Jhn 16:28). His life began when He was begotten of God. That He is the “Son of God” speaks of God as His very cause, origin, and source.
At Christ’s baptism, God spoke from heaven attesting that He is His Son: “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat 3:17), “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mar 1:11), “and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luk 3:22).
Christ’s own testimony and His Father’s is what He meant by, “It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me” (Jhn 8:17-18). The law of Moses stipulated that the testimony of two or three men established a matter as true, “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established” (Deu 19:15). And John later wrote, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth [trusts] on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth [trusts] not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth [trusts] not the record that God gave of his Son” (1Jo 5:9-10). If the testimony of two men establishes a matter, then how much more the testimony of God Himself and His Son? Affirming anything different is tantamount to making God a liar. And Trinitarianism does just that. It calls Jesus the Son of God but defines Him as God Himself. It denies the Son’s beginning, therefore denies the Son’s begetting. It testifies against the Father and the Son!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jhn 1:1,14). The Son of God was “the Word” because everything He said is what His Father sent Him to say: “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (Jhn 7:16); “I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him” (Jhn 8:26); “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (Jhn 12:49); “the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself” (Jhn 14:10); “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (Jhn 14:24); “all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (Jhn 15:15); “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me” (Jhn 17:8). And John later wrote, “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God” (Rev 19:13). Invested in His name is everything His Father sent Him to say.
John’s concluding statement of his first letter, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1Jo 5:20), Trinitarianism claims he was identifying the Son as “the true God.” But John was simply restating what the Son Himself claimed, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son … And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (Jhn 17:1,3). The Son identified His Father as “the only true God” and Himself as His Son. Eternal life is by trusting on His name, “These things have I written unto you that believe [trust] on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe [trust] on the name of the Son of God” (1Jo 5:13). And His name is invested with everything He claimed, commanded, taught, and testified.
Understanding Scripture 