Some Scriptures from the gospel of John are often used in support of the Trinity doctrine. However, there are some important questions about scriptures in the gospel of John regarding the Trinity doctrine that need answers.

Since things are not always what they seem to be at first glance, let’s ask some questions.

John 1:1 – Who is God here? The Father? Who is “the Word?” How is the first one called “God” different from the second one? Why is the first “God” qualified by the definite article “ho” in Greek, and the second God is not? Why does the REB say, “What God was, the Word was”? Why does AAT render it, “And the Word was divine”? Why is the verse rendered, “In the origin there was the Logos, and the Logos was present to God, and the Logos was god” (Hart)?

John 1:2 – “He was in the beginning with God.” Who was the Word with?

John 8:28 –“I do nothing my own authority, but speak just the Father taught me” (ESV). Who was Jesus’ teacher? Who was the pupil? According to Luke 6:40, who is greater, the teacher or the student? What does this tell us about the relationship of God and Jesus?

John 5:18 – Jesus is accused of making himself equal to God. What does Jesus’ response in 5:19 indicate? Jesus is also accused of “breaking the Sabbath.” Did Jesus break the Sabbath by healing a man? How could that be true when “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22 NIV)?

John 5:36-37 – Who sent Jesus?

John 13:16 – Who is greater, the sender or the one being sent?

John 17:3 – Who did Jesus say is “the only true God?”

John 14:28 – Who did Jesus say was greater than him?

John 17:22 – If John 10:30 means that Jesus is equal to God, then what does this verse make the disciples?

John 1:1 — How could Jesus be with God, and be God, at the same time?–The fact is that Jesus never claimed to be God.

John 2:19,21 –Did Jesus actually say that he would resurrect himself?

John 5:18 –Doesn’t he refute this false allegation in the very next verse, John 5:19?—Yes, he does, by saying “he can only do what he sees his Father doing” (NIV). Jesus never claimed to be equal with God.

John 8:58 — Is the real issue discussed in this context whether Jesus is Almighty God? Or, is the real issue being discussed here about how old Jesus is? “‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ they said to him, ‘and you have seen Abraham?'” (John 8:57 NIV).

John 10:30 – Are the Father and Jesus “one” within a Trinity? Or, are they “one” in unity, the same as the disciples are in John 17:11,20-23?  Since the disciples are not “God”, yet are to be “one” with God and Jesus and with one another, obviously they are “one” in unity. The Greek word “hen” is in the neuter gender, and is translated as “one”, but this is not the numeral “one”. To be the numeral “one” it would have to be in the masculine gender. Anyway, at John 8:17,18, Jesus said that he and his Father are “two”, numerically speaking. Is Jesus saying that he is “God Almighty”, or “God’s Son” in 10:36? Jesus, in response to the false charge by his opposers that he was claiming “to be God” (John 10:33 NIV), boldly stated  they “I said, ‘I am God’s Son'” (John 10:36 NIV). Jesus clearly disavowed the false claim that he was claiming “to be God”.

John 10:37,38—“The Father is in me and I am in the Father”. Sometimes Trinitarians try to construe this to mean that Jesus is God. However, that is not what the Greek phrase means. A more precise translation is: “The Father is in union with me and I am in union with the Father” (AAT), which means that they are in unity with each other.

John 14:9 –- “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (NIV). Is this the same as saying that he is God Almighty?.

John 20:28—“Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God'” (NIV). Did Jesus claim to be Almighty God? Was Thomas calling Jesus Almighty God, or was he making reference to both Jesus (“my Lord”) and his Father (“my God”) in this exclamation?

The answers to these Trinity questions in John will expose the truth about the scriptures, and the “false doctrine” of the Trinity (1 Timothy 1:3 NIV).

For more information about this subject, please see the following articles on this website:

“Important Trinity Questions” – https://bibleauthenticity.com/important-trinity-questions/

Trinity Questions in Hebrews