The Gospel of John is extremely important for understanding where the doctrine of the Trinity came from.   I should stress: the Trinity does not appear in the Gospel – nowhere does the Gospel say that there are three persons, all distinct from one another, all of them equally God, and yet there is only one God.  That, in a nutshell is the doctrine of the Trinity.  But even though the Gospel does not express the doctrine (either does any other book of the NT), the book could later be mined by those who wanted to find support for it.  To that end, no passage could be more important than John 14.

In my previous post I explained a bit about the “Farewell Discourse,” the long five-chapter speech and then prayer of Jesus on his last evening, before his arrest.  In chapter 14 Jesus hits on many of the key themes of the entire address (chs. 13-17; the longest speech of Jesus in the Gospels).  He prepares his disciples by telling them that he will now be leaving them, but they should not despair; they should take heart, because he is going to “prepare a place for them” in his “Father’s house” where there are “many dwelling places/rooms” (14:2; in the KJV the word was translated “many mansions,” which warmed the cockles of many a Christian’s  heart).

In other words, in the context of John’s Gospel (and only there in the NT), Jesus is now to return to the place from which he originally came, to heaven above, with his Father, where he will now dwell forever more, having fulfilled his mission by bringing salvation to earth, and his followers will soon join him there for eternal bliss.  So they should not at all be upset that he is leaving them.

Throughout this passage Jesus speaks of his relationship to the Father, and to many readers it seems that he is delivering mixed messages.  The passage has long been used to argue

Here’s a key passage for understanding the doctrine of the Trinity, as it developed and, well, as it did not develop.  Join the blog and you can see for yourself.  It doesn’t cost much and your entire fee goes to help those in need. Click here for membership options