In the past, I saw the Bible recorded, “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on Him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16–17). Additionally, the Lord Jesus usually said “God the Father” as He prayed. Therefore, I firmly believed that there was God the Father in heaven and that the Lord Jesus was only the Son of God. But later, I read the words of the Lord Jesus, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30), and what is written in the Scripture, “Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? he that has seen Me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (John 14:8–10). Then I felt very confused in my heart: The God in heaven said that the Lord Jesus was His beloved Son. Also, the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father in His prayers. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus said, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father; … I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:9–10). “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). So, is the Lord Jesus the Son or the Father? It stands to reason that the Son is the Son and the Father is the Father, so how could They be one? With this confusion, I asked many brothers and sisters in the Lord, including pastors, elders and preachers. They all said that it was a huge mystery so that we humans couldn’t explain it clearly. Consequently, this confusion remained in my mind for many years.

Until one day, I read such a passage of words in a book given by my friend, “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had put on an ordinary and normal flesh and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of a normal man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a created man. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all men to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God Father, is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He was the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it was simply that His perspective was different, not that He was a different person. The existence of distinct persons is a fallacy! Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was a Son of man bound by the limitations of the flesh, and He did not fully possess the authority of the Spirit. That is why He could only seek the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being. It is as He thrice prayed in Gethsemane: ‘Not as I will, but as You will.’ Before He was laid on the cross, He was but the King of the Jews; He was Christ, the Son of man, and not a body of glory. That is why, from the standpoint of a created being, He called God Father” (“Does the Trinity Exist?”).

These words enlightened me greatly and what had puzzled me for years was finally resolved. It turned out that the Lord Jesus was God’s Spirit putting on a flesh to become the Son of man. He had the exterior cover of a created being and lived a normal human life. When the Lord prayed to God the Father, He did so from the perspective of a created being. Just like when the Lord Jesus taught us to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father which are in heaven…,” He also asked us to call God in heaven by the name of Father. According to my imagination, I concluded that the Lord Jesus was not God Himself but the Son of God’s Spirit because He called God in heaven by the name of Father; since we also call God in heaven by the name of Father, then can I say that we are the sons of God’s Spirit? How absurd my thought was! The Lord Jesus is God Himself, yet He could call God in heaven by the name of Father from the perspective of a created being and seek the will of God the Father. It entirely reveals God’s humble and hidden essence. However, I not only had no knowledge of God’s humble essence, but also developed notions about the Lord’s calling “God the Father” as He prayed. How ignorant I was!

Then I read these words, “There are others who say, ‘Did not God expressly state that Jesus was His beloved Son?’ Jesus is the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased—this was certainly spoken by God Himself. That was God bearing witness to Himself, but merely from a different perspective, that of the Spirit in heaven bearing witness to His own incarnation. Jesus is His incarnation, not His Son in heaven. Do you understand? Do not the words of Jesus, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,’ indicate that They are one Spirit? And is it not because of the incarnation that They were separated between heaven and earth? In reality, They are still one; no matter what, it is simply God bearing witness to Himself. Owing to the change in ages, the requirements of the work, and the differing stages of His management plan, the name by which man calls Him also differs. When He came to carry out the first stage of work, He could only be called Jehovah, who is the shepherd of the Israelites. In the second stage, the incarnate God could only be called Lord, and Christ. But at that time, the Spirit in heaven stated only that He was the beloved Son of God and made no mention of His being the only Son of God. This simply did not happen. How could God have an only child? Then would God not have become man? Because He was the incarnation, He was called the beloved Son of God, and, from this, came the relationship between Father and Son. It was simply because of the separation between heaven and earth. Jesus prayed from the perspective of the flesh. Since He had put on a flesh of such normal humanity, it is from the perspective of the flesh that He said: ‘My outer shell is that of a created being. Since I put on a flesh to come to this earth, I am now a long, long way from heaven.’ For this reason, He could only pray to God the Father from the perspective of the flesh. This was His duty, and it was that which the incarnate Spirit of God should be furnished with. It cannot be said that He was not God simply because He prayed to the Father from the perspective of the flesh. Though He was called the beloved Son of God, He was still God Himself, for He was but the incarnation of the Spirit, and His essence was still the Spirit” (“Does the Trinity Exist?”).

After reading this, I was even more aware that when the Spirit in heaven called Jesus His beloved Son, God was witnessing His incarnated flesh from the perspective of the Spirit. That was God bearing witness to Himself. But it does not prove that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God’s Spirit in heaven. In the age of the New Testament, God incarnate came to do the work of crucifixion and redemption. He took on the sins of mankind as the sin offering. This was because God’s Spirit is not suited to be crucified directly, but only God’s Spirit coming to the earth and assuming the flesh is most suited to finishing this work. As the embodiment of the Spirit of God, the Lord Jesus did the work of God Himself. What the Lord Jesus expressed was the will of the Spirit. God’s flesh and Spirit are one and They have the same essence, disposition, wisdom and almightiness. There is only one true God in heaven and on earth. I couldn’t help thinking of what the Lord Jesus once said, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29). The Lord Jesus specifically emphasized this commandment to let us know that God is unique; that is to say, there is only one God and only one Spirit of God. Certainly, there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. Let’s think about it carefully: Why could we produce the idea of the Father and the Son? In the last analysis, it was because we don’t know the incarnate God. When studying the Bible, I found that there weren’t these statements about the Father and the Son in the Old Testament Age of Law. People at that time didn’t have the idea of the Father and the Son. In fact, people began to develop this notion after the Lord Jesus became flesh to do His work, even including Philip, who followed the Lord Jesus. So he said to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father.” However, the Lord Jesus corrected his mistaken knowledge. He said, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father; … I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:9–10). Besides, the Lord Jesus once said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). The Lord Jesus’ words made the relationship between Father and Son quite plain, yet it was just because we were numb and dull-witted that we only knew the letters of verses but didn’t know God’s will within them. According to my own imagination, I determined that in God there is a Father and a Son. Moreover, I regarded the Lord Jesus as the Son of God instead of God Himself. Wasn’t that denying or blaspheming against God? Could God be unique in my heart? What I did was something that severely offended God’s disposition! Thinking about that, I couldn’t help feeling regretful and self-condemned for my erroneous notion. At the same time, I also thanked God for leading me to understand this truth and mystery from these words and put aside my wrong notion.

Now I finally understand the meaning of the Lord Jesus’ words, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father; … I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:9–10). “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). In the meantime, I know that the Lord Jesus is not the Son of God in heaven but the incarnate God Himself in essence. Thank God for enlightening me to understand this huge mystery. Glory be to God!

Related video:

Read more on our Bible Study Topics page about Knowing Jesus, or in the recommended articles below.

• Christian Crosstalk “There Is Only One God”

• How to Understand God Incarnate?

• Exploration of the ‘Trinity’ – The Father and the Son Are One?