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NASB | John 3:13 "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:13 "No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself--whose home is in heaven]. |
Bible Question: If God and Jesus are one, then how can Jesus sit at the right hand of God? |
Bible Answer: Short answer: Jesus is God. His Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. But they are three separate beings. In nature and in purpose, they are one; they are united. Just as a husband and wife are one, and the members of the church are one, and yet they can sit next to each other, there is no problem with God the Son sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Long answer: Jesus is a person, an individual. His Father is a person. You know that they are two different persons because Jesus says that he is not as great as his Father (John 14:28). They speak to each other (John 12:28, etc.). Scripture says he had left the Father, and was going back to the Father (John 13:3). While he was on earth, his father was in heaven. Jesus has a Father who is also our Father. Jesus is called the Son of God (John 20:31, etc). The two are separate, individual persons. They were together in the beginning (John 17:5). Then Jesus came to earth. Then he went back to be with his Father. Stephen saw him standing at the right hand of the Father (Acts 7:55) and the writer to the Hebrews says he sat down at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 10:12). There is no problem with the Son sitting next to the Father, any more than a wife can sit next to her husband. When Jesus says that he and the Father are one, he does not mean that they are the same person. They are two persons united in nature, in mind, in purpose, etc. They are so similar that you can say when you have seen one you have seen the other (John 14:7-11) or that you had seen the entire godhead (Colossians 2:9). In the same way Jesus prayed that we Christians would be one, and the writers of the New Testament say we are one (Ephesians 2). The Bible says that they are one The Bible says that the husband and wife are one (Genesis 2:24; Mathew 19:5; 1 Corinthians 6:16;Ephesians 5:31). “For this cause shall a man leave his Father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh”. Also, with their children, they are one family even though they are separate persons. It is a little bit confusing because Jesus is called God, and the Son of God. The Father is called God, or God the Father. The Holy Spirit is called God, the Spirit of God, and even the Spirit of Christ. In Revelation 19 Jesus is called the Word of God. In John 1, it says that Jesus was with God and he was God. Most often the term God is used in reference to the Father, and that may give the impression that it is his personal name. But you will see that in Hebrews 1:8, the Father refers to the Son as God. The fact that all three are called God shows that “God” is not a personal name. It is a title. All three of them are known by that title. Jesus and the Father are one, and likewise, we should be one. Read John 17:21, 23. They stand together and work together, and that is what they want us to do. Indeed, they are an example to us. |