Greetings,
Expand your thinking of what this verse means, when you have time, if you don't mind.
have you ever put something somewhere and when you went back to get it, it is not there?
That is what has happened to my draft reply that i began shortly after you posted this
@Samson2020
Perhaps it was too much waffle and too long. It was long and only half done, that is why i didn't post it. Because it was only half done, that is.
What i found was that, in order to 'expand my thinking', i was trying to 'paint the picture' so you could see more precisely where my thinking is.
Looks like you will have to either wait .... or...
I can try to give a quick reply??
let us look at the verse you are requesting expanded bear thinking on....
Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 14:8-9
In a nutshell, one only has to read the Gospel of John, up to that verse and then continue, to get an idea about what this verse is talking about.
Our Lord 'repeats' much the same thing over and over again.
Some were able to follow Him, some turned back and others wanted to exterminate Him because of His claims.
Please, do pick up your Bible and turn to the Gospel according to John and read.
It doesn't take all that long. One can also use an audio Bible and listen to the Gospel of John [request a link if you would like one] which is a way to hear it, believe it or not.
Who followed? Who turned away? Who wanted Jesus dead? And why? As in, what does the Gospel of John tell us?
I think if we can answer those questions as we go along [reading/listening] then the above verse will make enough sense on it's own, without my input. That's not a cop out.
When Moses was talking to the LORD [also referred to the Angel of the LORD] 'in' the 'burning bush', and asked who shall i say sent me? [or similar], what did the LORD say?
I think if you keep that in mind while reading/listening to the Gospel of John, you will also notice the reference, both directly and also as a 'theme' in what Jesus was talking about. You asked me to expand my thinking. If you do as i have said, you will perhaps get a look at the thinking?
One of the things i had been writing about was the answers that Jesus gave to some people, like the woman at Jacob's Well. And then the words He spoke about living waters which the text goes on to explain that He was speaking about the Spirit but it had not yet been given. There is when He was speaking about eating His flesh and Drinking His Blood. Some of these things and others, were so 'out there' and sometimes not the answer you would expect a conversation to deliver. That gives us a little 'insight' into how we also need to read/listen.
Let's have a quick look:
John chapter 4. Jesus asks the woman for a drink. OK She replies, [paraphrased by me] ummm.. I'm a woman... and you're Jew.... and, ummm. I am also a Samaritan... and so, how can you be asking me? What did Jesus say in reply?
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
OK, she says... ummm
“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”
so far, not you're usual conversation.
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet.
Makes you wonder how she perceived stuff and we miss it?
and then she continues...
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”
and because we have come this far reading this, can we continue and see it through?
Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?” [His disciples had gone to town to get some food]
Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.
Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
{
fair enough}
But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?”
{
fair question} {
now the next bit.... notice how different it is... do you think we would understand what He was saying/meaning? }
Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.
Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days.
And many more believed because of His message. They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”
{two things to note here; or three... a woman go tells the message of Christ, a woman who would have been considered 'bad'; she tells it to folk who were not part of the Jewish 'connection' ; Jesus spends two days with them, hearing Him and believe ; then they claim He is the Savior of the world. Those who know a bit of Scripture might recall in the Old Testament it is said more than once that only the LORD is the Savior}
That is a bit of my thoughts expanded. There is plenty more but i do ask again that you take a little time and get into the Gospel of John. Notice that most folk didn't understand and see the questions asked as well as the responses. See what Jesus says to His Disciples after supper. And His prayer for them. There is a lot there which might help to understand the verse in question [or being asked about].
Don't miss the early parts of the Gospel of John, either.
Now, i will try to go back to what this thread is about.
Are we having trouble accepting three in One?
Nuff's a fairy: fair enough
As Butch5
@Butch5 raised, do we also add the Seven Spirits?
Somewhere it pays to stop and ask a deeper question, Who is God? [seriously] Can we get God out of our boxes and let Him reveal Who He is and a bit more?
Why do we have any trouble with the verse:
Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 14:8-9
Perhaps we can understand that God is One and when we go about telling other about Him, we can say with assurance that He is Who you will see He is. Whether they believe or not, history, from Old Testament until now, shows that some do, some don't. [ or is that, most don't? ]
Another thought came a short while ago, if i can capture it back...
A lot of folk get into Jesus and declare Him Lord and even get rejoicing that they are saved [either fully or potentially - let us not argue about that here ] and consider themselves Christians [or whatever turns them on, if Christian seems like a dirty word to them , followers, believers, sons and daughters of God, etc]
OK , but as we do read the Bible with a little allowing the conviction that it can bring, or the encouragement that it gives about actually being one of those people the Bible refers to as Believers/Christians/Servants/Remnant/etc, are we convinced of either a) that we are one of them, and b) that we are doing what 'one of them' did, when it comes to getting out there and doing the believing to the point where it is the LORD Who reveals Himself to be Who He is?
I can tell you that there is no way that you can do it on your own. You have to actually become One with Him. Will people like you more for it? No. Will it be easy, by your present standards? No. Will you suffer? >Yes. But, will God's glory be revealed? Yes. Will His promise, His Word, be true and in you, as you go and carry that cross? Sowing, watering, reaping.
Imagine Jesus coming today and saying all the things that He is recorded as saying in the Gospel of John. Any guess where you'd end up if you tried it?
Is God One?
Butch5 'asked' about the Seven Spirits but i ask, what about the countless multitude from all the world over... . what number would we get to?
Remember Jesus spoke about us that we would [actually, i think you'll find, He prayed that we would... ] be One with Him and the Father.
So is the {idea of the} Trinity which was put together quite some time back in another world from today.. sorry Butch5, another era or time, is it so far fetched that we can not grasp it? I have hardly touched on the Spirit or Holy Ghost but i also know that if we listened to Him, He reveals Himself in ways we could not cook up for ourselves.... and always, i repeat ALWAYS, He is in unity, agreeing as One. Never two or three different messages that contradict, from two or three different people, but somehow, God doing His business His Way via His Son and the Holy Ghost and it is this 'somehow' that people forget and get all in a tangle about.. because it is an argument that a certain enemy can use to cause both division and deception.
Read 2Timothy chapter 2. Take note of one word, diamarturomai
diamarturomenos enōpion tou Theou
διαμαρτυρόμενος ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ in verse 14 which is rendered:
- command them in God’s presence
- Warn them before God
- charge them before God
- solemnly exhort them in the presence of God
- charging them before the Lord
- give them a solemn warning in God's presence
- testifying fully before the LORD
- testifying fully before the Lord
- etc
and what it is saying:
- Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
- Remind the believers of these things, charging them before God to avoid quarreling over words, which succeeds only in leading the listeners to ruin.
Let us be mindful of this. It was no mere bit of advice.
[perhaps have a slow look at 1Timothy Chapter 2 and see more in context. - in fact all of 2Timothy touches on some quite pertinent things for us all to remember, more often.
Now...
@Samson2020 , are you happy with the short version of my reply? I am running out of time at present but i can try again. What you ask is something that i take seriously. that is, to 'expand my thoughts/thinking' , so thank you for reading this and i do apologize if it has made little or no sense and hasn't gone where you might have wanted it to.
Bless you ....><>
That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Romans 15:16