Who was Jesus praying to in the garden of Gethsemane?

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TheLearner

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TheLearner

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TheLearner

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TheLearner

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  • Jesus is the Son of God
    1. "Son" in Scripture can mean simply one possessing the nature of something, whether literal or figurative (e.g. "son of man," "sons of thunder," "sons of disobedience," cf. Mark 3:7; Eph. 2:1).
    2. Usually when "son of" is used in relation to a person (son of Abraham, son of David, etc.) the son possesses the nature of his father.
    3. Jesus is clearly not the literal Son of God, i.e., he was not physically procreated by God.
    4. On the other hand, Jesus is clearly the Son of God in a unique sense (cf. "only-begotten son," John 1:14; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9) and in a preeminent sense (i.e. the term is more fitting for him than for anyone else, e.g., Heb. 1:4-5).
    5. Scripture is explicit that the Son possesses God's essence or nature (cf. F. above).
    6. Jesus' repeated claim to be the Son of God was consistently understood by the Jewish leaders as a blasphemous claim to equality with God, an understanding Jesus never denied: John 5:17-23; 8:58-59; 10:30-39; 19:7; Matt. 26:63-65.
    7. Jesus is therefore by nature God's Son, not God's creation or God's servant; Jesus is God's Son who became a servant for our sake and for the Father's glory (John 13:13-15; 17:4; Phil. 2:6-11; Heb. 1:4-13; 3:1-6; 5:8; etc.).
 

TheLearner

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      1. Objections
        1. Prov. 8:22: This text is not a literal description of Christ, but a poetic personification of wisdom (cf. all of Prov. 1-9, esp. 8:12-21; 9:1-6), poetically saying that God "got" his wisdom before he did anything—i.e., that God has always had wisdom.
        2. Col. 1:15: Does not mean that Christ is the first creature, since he is here presented as the Son and principal heir of the Father (cf. vv. 12-14); thus "firstborn" here means "heir" (cf. esp. Ps. 89:27; see also Gen. 43:33; 48:14-20; Ex. 4:22; 1 Chron. 5:1-3; Jer. 31:9); note that v. 16 speaks of the Son as the Creator, not as a creature (cf. E.1. above).
        3. Rev. 3:14: "Beginning" (archê) in Rev. as a title means source or one who begins, i.e. Creator (cf. Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13); elsewhere Christ is called the archê in the sense of "ruler," Col. 1:18, cf. plural archai, "rulers," in Col. 1:16; 2:10, 15, also Luke 12:11; Rom. 8:38; Eph. 3:10; 6:12; Tit. 3:1; cf. Luke 20:20; Jude 6; 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21. An alternative view is that archê in Rev. 3:14 refers to Christ's position as head of the new creation.
        4. 1 Cor. 11:3; 15:28: Christ is still subordinate to God, but as the incarnate Son to the Father; i.e., they are equal in nature, but the Son is subordinate relationally to God, especially due to the fact that he has permanently assumed human nature. (It may also be that the Son is in some sense eternally "subordinate" to the Father, though if so only in a functional sense; Christians who affirm the Trinity hold different views on this question.)
        5. John 20:17; Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 15:24; 2 Cor. 1:3; Rev. 1:6; 3:12: Jesus calls the Father "my God" because he is still man as well as God; note the distinction between "my God" and "your God" in John 20:17 (i.e., Jesus never speaks of "our God" including himself with the disciples).
        6. Mark 13:32: Jesus' statement that he did not know the time of his return is to be explained by his voluntary acceptance of the humble form and likeness of a man (Phil. 2:7); in fact Jesus, as God, did know all things (John 16:30), and after his resurrection he does not including himself as not knowing (Acts 1:6-7).
 

TheLearner

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        1. Mark 10:17-18: Jesus does not deny being God, but simply tells the man that he has no business calling anyone "good" in an unqualified sense except God. Those who acknowledge that Christ is perfectly good but deny that he is God have a problem at this point.
        2. Heb. 4:15: Jesus was tempted, cf. James 1:13; but note that Jesus could not sin, John 5:19. God, in his divine nature, cannot be tempted, but if he incarnated himself (John 1:1, 14), then in his human nature he could genuinely experience temptation.
        3. John 1:18: No one has seen God, but people have seen Jesus, e.g. 1 John 1:1-2; but note that no man can see the glorified Jesus either, 1 Tim. 6:16, and to see Jesus is to see the Father, John 14:9.
        4. 1 Tim. 1:17: God cannot die, but Jesus did, e.g. Phil. 2:8; but of course the point of 1 Tim. 1:17 is that God's divine nature is immortal, not that God could not assume mortal human nature. Note that no one could take Jesus' life from him, he could not remain dead, and he raised himself: John 10:18; Acts 2:24; John 2:19-22.
        5. 1 Cor. 8:6: Father called God, Jesus called Lord: but here "God" and "Lord" are synonymous (cf. v. 5; cf. also Rom. 14:3-12 for a good example of "God" and "Lord" as interchangeable); moreover, this text no more denies that Jesus is God than it does that the Father is Lord (Matt. 11:25); cf. Jude 4, where Jesus is the only Lord.
        6. 1 Tim. 2:5: Jesus here supposedly distinct from God; but Jesus is also distinct from (fallen) men, yet is himself a man; likewise Jesus is distinct from God (the Father), but is also God.
        7. Deut. 4:12, 15-25; God not appear in a human form to Israel, lest they fall into idolatry; but this does not rule out his appearing in human form later after they had learned to abhor idolatry.
        8. In many texts Jesus is distinguished from God: He is the Son of God, was sent by God, etc.; in all these texts "God" is used as a name for the person most commonly called God, i.e., the Father.
 

TheLearner

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TheLearner

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    1. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Are Each Someone Distinct from the Other Two (i.e., they are three "persons")
      1. Matt. 28:19
        1. "the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit": use of definite article before each personal noun indicates distinct persons unless explicitly stated otherwise; compare Rev. 1:17; 2:8, 26
        2. The views that "Father" and "Son" are distinct persons but not the Holy Spirit, or that the Holy Spirit is not a person at all, or that all three are different offices or roles of one person, are impossible in view of the grammar (together with the fact that in Scripture a "spirit" is a person unless context shows otherwise).
        3. Does singular "name" prove that the three are one person? No; cf. Gen. 5:2; 11:14; 48:6; and esp. 48:16. Thus, the word "name" can apply distinctly to each of the three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and does not imply that they have only one name.
        4. "Name" need not be personal name, may be title: Is. 9:6; Matt. 1:23.
 

TheLearner

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      1. Acts 2:38 and Matt. 28:19
        1. Neither passage specifies that certain words are to be spoken during baptism; nor does the Bible ever record someone saying, "I baptize you in the name of...."
        2. Those said to be baptized in the name of Jesus (whether or not the formula "in the name of Jesus" was used) were people already familiar with the God of the OT:
          1. Jews: Acts 2:5, 38; 22:16
          2. Samaritans: Acts 8:5, 12, 16
          3. God-fearing Gentiles: Acts 10:1-2, 22, 48
          4. Disciples of John the Baptist: Acts 19:1-5
          5. The first Christians in Corinth were Jews and God-fearing Gentiles: Acts 18:1-8; 1 Cor. 1:13
        3. Trinitarian formula for baptism (if that is what Matt. 28:19 is) was given in context of commissioning apostles to take the gospel to "all the nations," including people who did not know of the biblical God
        4. Cross-referencing Acts 2:38 and other Acts references to baptism "in Jesus' name" with Matthew 28:19 to prove that Jesus is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is hermeneutically flawed, since none of these passages is seeking to make such a point and none of them is claiming that baptism must be performed using a particular formula.
 

TheLearner

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TheLearner

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      1. Jesus is not God the Father
        1. Is. 9:6: "Father of eternity" means eternal; compare other names formed with word "father": Abialbon, "father of strength" = strong (2 Sam. 23:31); Abiasaph, "father of gathering" = gatherer (Ex. 6:24); Abigail, a woman's name (!), "father of exultation" = exulting (1 Chron. 2:16).
        2. John 10:30
          1. Jesus did not say, "I am the Father," nor did he say, "the Son and the Father are one person."
          2. The first person plural esmen ("we are") implies two persons.
          3. The neuter word for "one" (hen) is used, implying essential unity but not personal unity.
          4. John 10:30 in context is a strong affirmation of Christ's deity, but does not mean that he is the Father.
        3. John 5:43: Jesus' coming in his Father's name means not that he was the Father because he had the Father's name, but that, while others come in their own name (or their own authority), Jesus does not; he comes in his Father's name (on his Father's authority).
        4. John 8:19; 16:3: Ignorance of Jesus is indeed ignorance of the Father, but that does not prove that Jesus is the one he calls "My Father."
        5. John 14:6-11
          1. Jesus and the Father are one being, not one person.
          2. Jesus said, "I am in the Father," not "I am the Father."
          3. The statement, "the Father is in me," does not mean Jesus is the Father; compare John 14:20; 17:21-23.
 

TheLearner

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        1. John 14:18: An older adult brother can care for his younger siblings, thus preventing them from being "orphans," without being their father.
        2. Colossians 2:9: Does not mean that Jesus is the Father, or that Jesus is an incarnation of the Father; rather, since "Godhead" (theotês) means Deity, the state of being God, the nature of God, Jesus is fully God, but not the only person who is God. "The Godhead" here does not = the Father (note that Jesus is in the Father, John 10:38; 14:10, 11; 17:21), but the nature of the Father. See II.B.3.
        3. The Father and the Son are both involved in various activities: raising Jesus (Gal. 1:1; John 2:19-22), raising the dead (John 5:21; 6:39-40, 44, 54, 1 Cor. 6:14), answering prayer (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23), sending the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7), drawing people to Jesus (John 6:44; 12:32), etc. These common works do prove that the two persons are both God, but not that Jesus is the Father.
 

TheLearner

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      1. The Son existed before his Incarnation, even before creation
        1. Prov. 30:4: This is not predictive prophecy; "prophecy" in 30:1 translates massa, which is rendered elsewhere as "burden."
        2. The Son created all things, requiring of course that he existed when he did so: See above, IV.E.1.
        3. Jesus was "with" (pros or para) God the Father before creation: John 1:1; 17:5; pros in John 1:1 does not mean "pertaining to," although it does in Hebrews 2:17; 5:1 (which use pros with ta).
        4. Jesus, the Son of God, existed before John the Baptist (who was born before Jesus): John 1:15, cf. 1:14-18, 29-34.
        5. Jesus, the Son, came down from heaven, sent from the Father, and went back to heaven, back to the Father: John 3:13, 31; 6:33, 38, 41, 46, 51, 56-58, 62; 8:23, 42; 13:3; 16:27-28; cf. Acts 1:10-11; cf. the sending of the Holy Spirit, John 16:5-7; 1 Pet. 1:12
        6. Jesus, speaking as the Son (John 8:54-56), asserts His eternal preexistence before Abraham: John 8:58
        7. The Son explicitly said to exist "before all things": Col. 1:17, cf. 1:12-20
        8. These statements cannot be dismissed as true only in God's foreknowledge
          1. We are all "in God's mind" before creation; yet such passages as John 1:1 and John 17:5 clearly mean to say something unusual about Christ.
          2. To say that all things were created through Christ means that He must have existed at creation.
          3. No one else in Scripture is ever said to have been with God before creation.
        9. Texts which speak of the Son being begotten "today" do not mean he became the Son on a certain day, since they refer to his exaltation at his resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:3-5; 5:5; cf. Ps. 2:7; cf. also Rom. 1:4).
 

TheLearner

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      1. Jesus is not the Holy Spirit
        1. The Holy Spirit is "another Comforter": John 14:16; compare 1 John 2:1.
        2. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit: John 15:26; 16:7.
        3. The Holy Spirit exhibits humility in relation to, and seeks to glorify, Jesus (John 16:13-14).
        4. The Son and the Holy Spirit are distinguished as two persons in Matt. 28:19.
        5. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus: Luke 3:22.
        6. Is Jesus the Holy Spirit?
          1. 2 Cor. 3:17: the Spirit is here called "Lord" in the sense of being Yahweh or God, not Jesus (cf. v. 16, citing Ex. 34:34; cf. v. 17 in the Revised English Bible); note Acts 28:25-27, cf. Is. 6:8-10.
          2. 1 Cor. 15:45: Jesus is "a life-giving Spirit," not in the sense that he is the Holy Spirit whom he sent at Pentecost, but in the sense that he is the glorified God-man; and as God he is Spirit by nature. All three persons of the Trinity are Spirit, though there are not three divine Spirits; and only one person is designated "the Holy Spirit."
          3. Rom. 8:27, 34: the fact that two persons intercede for us is consistent with the fact that we have two Advocates (John 14:16; Rom. 8:26; 1 John 2:1).
          4. John 14:18: Jesus here refers to his appearances to the disciples after the resurrection (compare 14:19), not to the coming of the Spirit.
          5. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both involved in various activities: raising Jesus (John 2:19-22; Rom. 8:9-11), raising the dead (John 5:21; 6:39-40, 44, 54, Rom. 8:9-11), dwelling in the believer (John 14:16; 2 Cor. 13:5; Col. 1:27), interceding for the believer (Rom. 8:26; Heb. 7:25), sanctifying believers (Eph. 5:26; 1 Pet. 1:2), etc. These works prove that the two persons are both God, but not that Jesus is the Holy Spirit.
 

TheLearner

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      1. The Father is not the Holy Spirit
        1. The Father sent the Holy Spirit: John 14:15; 15:26.
        2. The Holy Spirit intercedes with the Father for us: Rom. 8:26-27.
        3. The Father and the Holy Spirit are distinguished as two persons in Matt. 28:19.
        4. Is the Father the Holy Spirit?
          1. Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35: It is argued that the Holy Spirit is the Father of the incarnate Son of God; this argument ignores the fact that the "conception" is not a product of physical union between a man and a woman!
          2. The Father and the Holy Spirit are both said to be active in various activities; the resurrection of Jesus (Gal. 1:1; Rom. 8:11), comforting Christians (2 Cor. 1:3-4; John 14:26), sanctifying Christians (Jude 1; 1 Pet. 1:2), etc. The most these facts prove is that the two work together; they do not prove the two are one person.
 

TheLearner

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TheLearner

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    1. What Difference Does the Doctrine of the Trinity Make?
      1. Sovereignty: Because the three persons have each other, we can be assured that God created us only to share the love they have and not as a means to his own end: Acts 17:25; John 17:21-26.
      2. Mystery: The triune God is totally unlike anything in our world, and therefore greater than anything we can comprehend: Rom. 11:33-36; Isa. 40:18.
      3. Salvation: God alone planned our salvation, came to save us, and dwells in us to complete our salvation: 1 Pet. 1:2; Eph. 1:3-18; etc.
      4. Prayer: We pray to the Father through the Son, and also pray to the Son directly, in the Spirit: John 14:13-14; Eph. 2:18; etc.
      5. Worship: We worship Father and Son in the Spirit: John 4:23-24; Phil. 3:3; Heb. 1:8; etc.
      6. Love: The love among the three persons is the basis and model for our love for one another: John 17:26.
      7. Unity: The unity of the three persons is the basis and model for the unity of the church: John 17:21-23.
      8. Humility: As the persons of the Trinity seek the glory of each other, so we should seek the interests of others above our own: Phil. 2:5-11; John 16:13-14.
      9. Sonship: We are "sons of God" as we are united with the Son of God by the work of the Holy Spirit and the adoption of the Father: John 1:12-23; Rom. 8:14-17.
      10. Truth: All those who wish to worship and love God must seek to know Him as He is in truth, for God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is truth: John 4:24; 14:6, 17; 15:26; 16:13.
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