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Amy Af rmationist: Maybe we can all learn something. I admit

that this passage does not exactly t my expectations either. I am
beginning to realize that the eternal Word is the ultimate
measuring rod or standard for ourwords. And, looking ahead, I can
see that pretty soon the Gospel of John is going to point out that
there is darkness in human understanding. Maybe I have been a
little too optimistic in thinking that everyone’s ideas are Spiritual.

Oliver Objectivist: We can all gain insight as we approach more

and more to the one meaning of the human author.

Herman Hermeneut: Doesn’t this passage locate ultimate meaning

in the Word? Doesn’t John point beyond himself to the Word? So
how could we stop with John’s comprehension? Don’t we have to
reckon with God’s comprehension?

Objectivist: God knows perfectly what John the human author

means.

Hermeneut: Undoubtedly. My point is that both God and the

human author seem to push us beyond the niteness of the human
author, to re ect on the in nitude of the Word. The language
“Word” identi es the Second Person of the Trinity as in some way
the transcendent Source of meaning that is embodied in the text.

Objectivist: But we must stick with what the text says.

Hermeneut: Would you be willing to add, “And with what God the
Author means by it?”
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From this conversation we may a simple but basic lesson: knowing

God can shake up what we think we know about the Bible. Let us
then consider the implications of knowing God.

Knowing the Father and knowing Jesus Christ is at the heart of

salvation: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
As a summary of his work, Jesus declares, “I have made you [God
the Father] known to them, and will continue to make you known”
(John 17:26). The Bible gives us not merely information, but a
knowledge of God. This knowledge in turn in uences how we read
and understand the Bible. How can we expect to understand the
Bible without understanding its Author?

If we reckon with who God is, we can immediately exclude certain

kinds of interpretation. Natalie Naturalist is wrong in her
naturalistic worldview. Carol Critical-Method is wrong to exclude
the possibility of miracles. Roland Relativist also comes to grief. He
wants everyone’s opinion to be equally right. But in doing so he
does not reckon with the fact that God too might have an
“opinion.” God’s “opinion,” that is, what he knows, is the standard
that measures all human opinions. Moreover, salvation comes not
in whatever way we invent in our minds, but by the one way that
God endorses: salvation comes only through Jesus the Son of God.

We can head off other misunderstandings on the basis of what the

Bible says about God.

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God is able to speak to human beings. Hence, the Bible can indeed
be God’s word Libbie Liberal’s friends are mistaken in thinking that
they are dealing merely with human words that they may accept
or reject as they please..

God the Creator is distinct from human beings, the creatures of

God. Thus, unlike the New Age religion of Newton New Ager, we
do not simply look deep within ourselves to hear our own inmost
being, and treat it as if it were divine.

God is the ultimate authority, not human beings. Hence, proper

interpretation does not merely involve imposing our own ideas on
a text, as Danny Demythologizer and Theo Therapist might. We
are listening to God. We ought to be willing to be surprised or have
our minds changed.

Human beings are made in the image of God, with the capacity to
have fellowship with God. Hence, it is possible for us, with God’s
help, to understand. We do not give way to skepticism or despair,
as Dick Deconstructionist might.

God demands our worship. Hence, our goal is not merely to ll our
minds with correct information from the Bible, but to worship and
obey God.

Such implications as these are elementary. But in our day they are
worth saying. They exclude the approaches to interpretation in
Libbie Liberal’s Bible discussion. Further re ection on the
character of God would suggest ways in which each of the people
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in Chris Christian’s group has limitations. Sometimes, because of

limited vision, they make claims that are false or only partially
true. Even when they are at their best, they represent a one-sided,
partial approach.

The Trinity and the word of God

To move beyond the limited vision in Chris’s group, let us consider
another passage, John 17. John 17 is an important passage for us
to reckon with, because it includes several key topics together:
God, the word of God, and the accomplishment of salvation. It
includes explicitly two Persons of the Trinity conversing with one
another, and so is important for our understanding of language
and communication.

In John 17 Jesus presents himself in both his human and his divine
nature. The opening verse presupposes the human nature of
Jesus: “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed.”
The expression “He looked toward heaven” describes Jesus as he
was physically present before his disciples. Jesus the man, Jesus
whom his disciples could see and handle, speaks the entirety of
John 17. John 17 is frequently called Jesus’ “high-priestly prayer,”
and rightly so. Just before sacri cing himself on the cross, Jesus
prays for his disciples (verse 11) and for all believers (verse 20). He
is our human representative and intercessor before God, just as
the high priest of Israel was to intercede for the Israelites whom
he represented (Heb. 7:23-28; Num. 17:1-18:7; Ex. 28:29-30).

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But Jesus’ speech proceeds from his divine nature as well. In John
17:5 he speaks of “the glory I had with you before the world
began.” Who is the “I” who speaks here? The Son of God became
man at the moment of his incarnation. But, as this verse insists,
this “I” had glory before the world began. The verse speaks of an
eternal existence in the past. Such existence applies only to Jesus’
divine nature. We must conclude that Jesus is here speaking not
merely from his human nature alone, but from his divine nature
also. Such speaking continues throughout the chapter. The chapter
contains repeated references to “glory,” alluding back to verse 5.
And near the conclusion it contains another reference to eternal
existence: “to see my glory, the glory you have given me because
you loved me before the creation of the world” (verse 24). It says,
“You loved me.” Here again “me” refers to one who existed “before
the foundation of the world.” It thus af rms Christ’s divine nature.

Verse 5 and verse 24 stand like two bookends, enclosing almost

the entire passage. Together they indicate that the whole passage
is a conversation between the Word (the Second Person of the
Trinity) and the Father (the First Person).1

How shall we understand Jesus’ relation to the Father in this

passage? Clearly, we are confronted with the mystery of the
Trinity. God is Three in One. The Father and the Son are eternal
Persons, distinct from one another, who converse meaningfully
with one another. They also indwell one another, so that they are
in unity (17:20). The Father is God, and the Son also is God (John
1:1; 20:28). Yet there is only one God (Deut. 6:4). The Holy Spirit is
“another Counselor,” distinct from the Father and the Son (John

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14:16). Yet in the Spirit’s action of indwelling, the Father and the
Son also are present (John 14:23).

John 17 does not explicitly mention the Holy Spirit. But elsewhere
the Bible shows a close correlation between the Spirit and the
glory of God.2 1 Peter 4:14 says that “the Spirit of glory and of God
rests on you,” by analogy with the cloud of glory that rested on the
OT tabernacle.3 Romans 6:4 and 8:11 assign parallel functions to
“glory” and “Spirit.” “Glory” is closely related to the Spirit.
Apparently, it is a manifestation of the Spirit or an effect of the
Spirit. Hence, we may infer that the Spirit is still indirectly
represented in John 17 through the mention of “glory.”

The word of God

What is the word of God?

John 17 ties the knowledge of God to the word of God. Words

pass between the Father and the Son. John 17 exhibits the Son
speaking to the Father. But in this speech he also refers to the
“word” or “words” that the Father has given him (17:8, 14, 17).
Jesus in turn has “words” that he has given to the disciples (verse
8), “these things” that he is speaking (verse 13). His words to the
disciples are the very “words you gave me” (verse 8; cf. 14).

We can distinguish several levels of speech in John 17. First, the

Father speaks to the Son. He gives him his “word” or “words.”
Second, the Son speaks to the Father, in the whole of John 17. In
particular, he acknowledges having received the Father’s words.

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