The Only True God
Christian and Yusuf meet at the book table. Yusuf opens with a classic dawah argument from John 17:3. Christian stays robust and respectful — and keeps Yusuf on the one verse he raised, rather than chasing every change of subject.
Yusuf: Salaam! You’re handing out info about Jesus, yeah? Can I ask you one thing - straight from your own Bible. Jesus is praying in John, and he says to the Father, ‘this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God.’ The ONLY true God. So Jesus himself says the Father is the only true God - and he’s talking to him. How can Jesus be God if he calls someone else the only true God? That's John 17:3, right?
John 17:3
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
Christian: Wa alaikum salaam - great question, and I’m glad you went to the text. Let’s actually stay in that verse, because I think it says more than you’re letting it. Read me the whole thing - it doesn’t stop at ‘the only true God,’ does it? “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Yusuf: So, what is the point you are making?
Christian: Well, that eternal life is knowing the only true God - and knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus puts knowing himself right alongside knowing the Father as the very thing eternal life consists of. Now think about that, Yusuf. If Jesus were just a prophet - a creature - would knowing a creature be eternal life? That would be putting a man next to God in the one place only God belongs.
Yusuf: Nah, but that’s the thing - your gospels were written decades later, and the Trinity wasn’t even invented until the Council of Nicaea in 325. So you can’t -
Christian: Hold on - I’ll happily talk Nicaea with you, genuinely. But that’s a different conversation, and I don’t want to leave this one half-finished. You brought me John 17:3 to prove Jesus isn’t God. Let’s settle that first. Does the verse actually deny that Jesus is God - yes or no? Then I promise we’ll get to Nicaea.
John 17:3
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
Yusuf: ...It says the Father is the only true God. That excludes Jesus.
Christian: Does it? ‘Only true God’ is set against false gods - the idols people actually worshipped - not against the Son. Jesus isn’t saying ‘the Father is God and I’m not.’ He’s saying ‘the Father is the true God, as opposed to the idols.’ And here’s the proof it doesn’t exclude him - keep reading two verses on, the same prayer: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” John 17:5. Do you see what it's saying? Jesus was there before the world existed, Yusuf. A prophet doesn’t pre-exist creation. And he asks to share the Father’s own glory - but listen to what God says about his glory, in Isaiah: “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other.” Isaiah 42:8
John 17:5
Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
Isaiah 42:8
“I am the LORD. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.
Yusuf: So you think that shows that Jesus is God then?
Christian: Well, God shares his glory with no other - yet Jesus, in the same breath as ‘the only true God,’ asks for exactly that glory back. So the verse you brought to lower Jesus actually has him claiming what belongs to God alone.
Yusuf: Okay but where does Jesus ever just say it plainly - ‘I am God, worship me’? Show me those words. He never says it!
Christian: Fair question - but notice you’ve jumped off the verse again. Stay with me, because the answer is still right here in John. First, be honest: no first-century Jew claiming to be God would ever phrase it ‘I am God, worship me’ - that’s a debating slogan from our century, not his. Watch what Jesus actually says, and watch how his hearers react: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” John 8:58 ‘I am’ - is the name God gives himself to Moses at the burning bush: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14
John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
Exodus 3:14
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Yusuf: Maybe he's just claiming to be the Messiah?
Christian: maybe, but look how his hearers understood him - read the very next verse and they pick up stones to kill him. You don’t stone a man for being a good prophet, Yusuf. They stoned him for blasphemy: a man taking the divine name for himself. He said it about as plainly as a Jew ever could.
Yusuf: ...The stoning part is harder to wave away, I’ll give you that.
Christian: And it isn’t only his own claim - others saw who he was and he received it. Three chapters on, after the resurrection, Thomas in front of the risen Jesus: “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:28–29 Thomas calls him ‘my God,’ and Jesus doesn’t correct him for shirk - he blesses the faith that confesses it. A faithful prophet would have torn his clothes and said ‘don’t call me that.’ Jesus receives it.
John 20:28
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Yusuf: ...I’ve honestly never had someone keep me this honest with one book. Most people let me jump around.
Christian: I’m not trying to corner you, brother - I respect that you know your stuff, and that you came to talk about the biggest question there is. But here’s what I’d love you to sit with. John tells you who Jesus is from his very first sentence: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3.
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
Yusuf: That's in John's Gospel too, is it?
Christian: Yes, The book opens with ‘the Word was God’ and ‘all things were made through him,’ and it closes with Thomas on his knees: ‘My Lord and my God.’ Your verse - 17:3 - sits right between those two bookends. So whatever ‘the only true God’ means, it cannot mean John thinks Jesus isn’t God, because the same author tops and tails his whole Gospel saying he is. Christians have never said the Father and the Son are the same person - we say they’re distinct, and they share the one divine being. ‘Only true God’ doesn’t divide them; it sets them together against the idols.
Yusuf: I’ve got answers for some of that... but I want to actually go and read John's Gospel properly now, all of it, not just the clip. Maybe start with chapter 17, or even read the whole Gospel.
Christian: That’s the best thing you could do - read the whole chapter, in context, for yourself. And then come back and let’s do Nicaea, and Paul, and the manuscripts, one at a time - I mean it. Want to take a Gospel of John with you? Same place next week?
Yusuf: Yeah... alright. Go on then. Same time next week - and I’ll bring my own arguments.
Christian: I’d expect nothing less. Bring them one at a time and we’ll look at every one. Salaam, Yusuf.