How Do Oneness Pentecostals Explain John 17:5?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: John 17:5, John 17:3, John 17:1, John 17:4, John 12, Luke 1:35, Galatians 4:4, 1 Peter 1, Revelation 13, Romans 4, Isaiah 43, John 17:22

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--how-do-oneness-pentecostals-explain-john-175
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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sure and for those that want an in-depth answer I actually have a chapter in my book The Oneness view of Jesus Christ which goes in a great depth here so let's take a look at it it's very insightful very valuable and a very strong Oneness passage so let's look at it from a trinitarian point of view so the common trinitarian statement would be there are three persons in the Trinity and you see two of them here the father and the son they're co-equal they're co-eternal and the son is praying to the father on the surface that sounds like a good explanation but when you look at it carefully it falls apart first of all and you mentioned we already have an episode why did Jesus pray so I'm not going to go into that in great detail except just to say he prayed as a genuine human uh just as we need to pray so Jesus as a human needed to submit himself to God and also he was giving an example for us to follow so it should not Shock us that Jesus prayed actually it should shock us if Jesus didn't pray because if he's an authentic human being and he's a righteous human being then of course he needed to pray but now let's look at who he's praying to if you go back to verse three and this is eternal life that they and I'm reading from the new King James this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent so he's praying to the only true God I I should probably go back to verse one because he started the prayer saying father the hour is come so you if you say father and son are two different persons or father Son and Holy Spirit are three different persons then according to the express statement of Jesus only one of them is the true God because he's addressed the father let me go back to verse one father the hour has come glorify your son and then verse three that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ so seemingly putting Jesus outside that so what I like to say if this is a trinitarian argument it proves too much because it proves only one of the three persons is God the other two aren't really God uh but what is it really saying it's not mentioning the holy spirit because that is not what's in in it's not talking about three persons but it mentions you have if you want to be saved and again from a trinitarian perspective you mean you have to know two of the three Eternal persons to be saved but you don't need to know the third one you can just ignore him you know it's not what's going on but what he's saying if you want to be saved all salvation comes from the one true God our creator our heavenly father Jews believe that but many of the Jews rejected Christ so he goes on to say salvation is not only based on knowing the one true God but you have to know God's Plan of Salvation ation which is in Jesus Christ and here he's speaking of himself but as a human being so you have to know there's one God but you have to know that God came in flesh as a true human and that true human would be the sacrifice for sin that's your salvation so The Duality here not a trinity but a duality is not two persons of God if so only one of them is God The Duality is you have to know the one true God but you have to know the Plan of Salvation through the man Christ Jesus so that kind of sets the tone now he says I've glorified you on Earth verse four I've finished the work um and so he's he's looking at his upcoming death and which will be the culmination in fact when he died he said it is finished and of course he had he had to rise from the dead as well but he says now at this particular time glorify me so what is he talking about his death burial and Resurrection if you go back to John 12 he talks about if I be lifted up I'll draw all men to me and and and John explains he's talking about the death that he would die so his whole life was lived for this culminating moment where he would die for the sins of the world he would be buried he would be resurrected with a glorified body he would Ascend to heaven and reign in glory so that's what he's talking about so basically he's saying the time has come I as a man have done the job and I'm getting ready to finish it by laying down my life I'm asking you God to vindicate me raise me from the dead glorify me fulfill your plan now it might sound like well the glory I had with you before the word was oh so there was a second person no he's talking about himself as the son and if you look at Luke 1:35 the son was born of the Virgin Mary um the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and therefore that child would be called The Son of God Galatians 4:4 when the fullness of time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law so the Bible never uses the term Eternal son but begotten son only begotten son uh and so the Bible never says God the son as if it was a term of deity but the Son of God so in the Bible the son is God as he has manifested the flesh so since the flesh had a beginning we can say God is eternal uh the spirit of God is eternal the spirit that was in Jesus is eternal so Jesus is eternal in that sense but his flesh is not Eternal he was born as a son in time of a woman during the time of the law and so what are we saying excuse me the glory that I had with you before the world was well what glory is he talking about as I've already explained his upcoming death but if you compare it in 1 Peter 1 it says that he would the lamb was for ordained before the foundation of the world and then in uh Revelation 13 the lamb was slain from the foundation of the world what does that mean historically was Jesus crucified before creation was he a crucified in eternity no in time but in the plan and purpose of God it was for ordained so when God created Adam and Eve he cated them to have fellowship with him well didn't he realize that they would sin that would break the fellowship so why did he proceed with the creation because he also had from the very beginning A Plan of Salvation so even though Jesus did not die until the fullness of time in the plan of God the crucifixion was predestined it was for ordained so much so Romans 4 says God can call those things which are not as though they are so God can say the lamb was slain from the foundation of the world so we're not talking about an eternal Cross or an eternal human we're talking about in God's Eternal plan and so really what you can see is Jesus is now praying at this climactic moment where he knows he's going to have to surrender his life and he's going to have to say not my will but your will be done the spirit is willing the flesh is weak I'm going to have to go through this ordeal of the Cross and not only the physical punishment but taking on the sins of the world that spiritual desolation where where I feel my God my God why have you forsaken me Jesus sees all that and he says God as the Messiah as a human I've been faithful now is the time to fulfill it so the glory that you planned from the beginning now fulfill it it's not talking about eternal glory of the second person of godhead if that's what it's talking about you got mult multiple problems number one if Jesus is the second Eternal person could he lose Glory can God lose his glory can God did the second person of Trinity get rid of his glory how could how could God not have glory and still be God so if it's talking about well first person give me my glory back well did he lose it uh the second problem is Isaiah 43 says I will not give my glory to another so if Jesus is another person if the father is the only true God God says I will not give my glory to anyone else and then the clencher if you keep reading this prayer Jesus proceeds to pray for his disciples who were there and then if you keep on reading down um he says the glory that you've given me verse 22 I have given them so the same Glory he's now giving to his disciples or if it's glory of God as the second person of the trinity does that mean now the disciples are also members of the godhead but I thought God doesn't give his Divine glory to other people but here Jesus is saying well the glory you gave me the glory of the second person of the Trinity now I'm going to give to Peter James and John they're going to have the same Glory they're going to be three four five 12 more members of the Trinity no he but if you understand as the cross then he's saying give me that Glory which you plan that when I'm crucified on the cross when I'm buried when I'm resurrected I will be revealed as fulfilling God's plan with Glory That Glory of the crucifixion and the resurrection will be shared with the apostles because then they will proceed to preach that glory and so obviously the glory cannot be divine Glory of a person of the godhead it has to be the glory of the Incarnation and the atonement and the resurrection which Glory can be and was and is shared with the followers of Jesus Christ so although it may seem to be a little metaphorical when you think it through Jesus as a true human is surrendering himself to God's plan and saying the plan for my life that you had from the beginning now fulfill it and once you do that I will share the victory with everybody who believes in me and that's why it's an important Oneness passage because it's all focused on what Jesus has done for us and we're sharing in his glory today thank God