By Rony Kozman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
The Nature of God
John 14:8–11, 15–26
When we ask about the nature of God, we are asking “what is God?” Scripture reveals many things about God’s nature. He is eternal and has life in Himself. He is the Creator, and all creation depends on Him for its existence. God is all-knowing, almighty and good. But who is this God who is the fullness of life, truth, love and power?
Scripture tells us that this God is the God of Israel who revealed Himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This God is one and three.
There is one God, one divine essence, who eternally exists in three persons — the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. This is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity which Christians throughout the ages confess as the faithful expression of Scripture. The Son and Spirit have the same divine essence as the Father.
As the Father is eternal and uncreated, so also is the Son who is eternally generated from the Father, and so also is the Spirit who eternally proceeds from the Father. The Nicene Creed — the most widely affirmed statement of faith from the fourth century — describes Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as “God of God,” “true God of true God,” “begotten not made, of one essence with the Father.” And the Holy Spirit is no less divine: He is “the Lord, the giver of life,” and the one whose voice has spoken to us in Scripture.
To know Jesus, the Son of God, is to know the Father. (8–11)
The Gospel of John takes us into the inner life of God. Earlier in John 14, Jesus tells His disciples that He will soon depart (i.e., He will die and rise again) and go to the Father. Jesus reassures them that they know where He is going (v. 4). But Thomas is puzzled (v. 5): he does not know where Jesus is going, so how can he know the way there? Jesus responds, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (14:6–7).
Jesus tells us that we know both His destination and the way there. God the Father is His destination, and the Son of God is the way there. We already know the Father (i.e., the destination), since we know the Son.
The Son reveals the truth and the life of the Father (14:6) because the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. But if the Son who reveals the Father to us has departed from earth, then how can we know the God of life and truth?
The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to continue the work of the Son. (15-26)
Jesus says that when He goes to the Father, He and the Father will send the “Spirit of Truth” who proceeds from the Father (vv. 15–16; John 15:26–27). The Spirit teaches us about the Son (vv. 25–26) including His commands (vv. 15–16). The Spirit of Truth reveals the Son who is the Truth (v. 6) who reveals the Father. Although the Son ascended to the Father, the Son is in us (v. 20) through the Spirit who is in us (v. 17).
Who is the God who has eternal life in Himself? He is the Father who revealed His life and love to us in the life, death and resurrection of His Son; He has sent the Spirit to reveal the Son to us. And what must we do to share in the love of the Father, Son and Spirit?
Jesus wants us to share in God’s life and love. We who love, believe and obey the Son (vv. 15, 21, 23) are loved by the Father and by the Son (v. 21).
The Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus and His commands and helps us love the Son and keep His commands (vv. 16, 25); and then we enter into the love of the Trinity (v. 21). And Jesus commands us: “Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12, 17).
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