Daily Devotional

Working in the Church office we will occasionally get people calling in with theological questions and as staff, we will do our best to help sort them out. One of these days a man called in asking for help understanding the idea of the Trinity, you know a light easy subject (sarcasm). I was one of the only people in the office available at the time so I did my best to explain how I understood the concept of the Trinity in scripture, the idea that God is one, but consists of three distinct roles or personalities if you will. Little did I know that this call was not someone wanting to understand, but a Jehovah’s Witness attempting to challenge my faith!

He was trying to claim that Jesus was clearly created by God since He was referred to as God’s Son, therefore created and lesser than God Himself. Well, John would disagree. The very opening of the Book of John dispels this idea in a few ways. First, he says that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” Who is the Word? Well, the Word is Jesus. How do we know this? A few verses later John says that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This is referring to the salvation that was offered by Jesus through His death on the cross. A few verses later in John 1:14 he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” So, the Word is Jesus.

He then goes on to say not only was He in the beginning with God, but he then states: “and the Word was God.” Notice he did not say that He was “a” God, but that He “was” God. And in case there was any confusion regarding what John previously said, he again repeats the idea that “He was in the beginning with God.” Now as this man’s argument was falling apart he attempted to shift by proving different definitions of words by using the dictionary, as if the dictionary had higher authority than the Bible, but we won’t get into that.

He continued to try and argue that Jesus was still created being, simply the first created being, therefore he claimed He was in the beginning. However, once again John takes care of this argument as well. John says in verse three, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” So either Jesus made Himself before He existed, (figure that one out), or Jesus existed eternally which is what the Gospel of John clearly states.

At the end of the day, it is important not to just have faith but to be able to back it up with the Word of God. Our witness to those around us depends on us knowing the scriptures enough to defend our faith and to know why we believe what we believe. 1 Peter 3:15 says to “...always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…”

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.