Page 66 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

other words, Jesus delayed His departure. He sent His brothers on ahead but did not accompany them as was
the common practice for such a journey. Therefore, according to the earliest manuscripts, Jesus informed His
brothers that He was not leaving for the Feast at the time they were leaving, and that they should go without
Him. This was not a lie, as that is exactly what He did.

The deciding moment for Jesus to announce Himself has not yet come, but the present is always the right time
for you to do so. He then stated the reason His brothers’ testimony would be welcomed by a world dedicated to
evil: they were part of it!

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The world cannot hate you, but it does hate Me because I testify about it—that its deeds are evil. Go up to
the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to the festival yet, because My time has not yet fully come.” After
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He had said these things, He stayed in Galilee. After His brothers had gone up to the festival, then He also
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went up, not openly but secretly. The Jews were looking for Him at the festival and saying, “Where is He?”
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12 And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.”
Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving the people.” Still, nobody was talking publicly
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about Him because they feared the Jews. When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into
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the temple complex and began to teach. Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How does He know the
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Scriptures, since He hasn’t been trained?” Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t Mine but is from the
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One who sent Me.

By way of review I want to repeat what I have already said. Jesus Is Equal to God in His Honor. John 5:23 so that
all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not
honor the Father who sent Him.

I asked the question do you know the meaning of the word Trinity? Then I explained the difference between the
“oncological Trinity” and the “economic Trinity.” The oncological Trinity, we are referring to the fact that God is
three in one. There are three persons in the Godhead – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – who together
are one being. The ontological structure of the Trinity is a unity. When we speak of the economic Trinity, we are
dealing with roles. We distinguish among the three persons of the Godhead in terms of what we call the
economy of God. It is the Father who sends the Son into the world for our redemption. It is the Son who
acquires our redemption for us. It is the Spirit who applies that redemption to us we do not have three gods. We
have one God in three persons, and the three persons are distinguished in terms of what They do.

“Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

In this passage we learn more about the economic Trinity. If I were to ask a group of Christians today, “Where
did Jesus get the knowledge He displayed when he taught in the temple?” I suspect many would give the answer
that is prevalent among evangelicals today: “Well, He’s God!” The logic is that, since Jesus is God, He has all
knowledge, so He never had a need to go to school or study under anyone else. He is the source and fountain of
all truth. Yet, in Luke 2:52 the Scriptures teaches us that, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor
with God and man.” It is obvious from this passage of Scripture that the human Jesus had to grow in His
knowledge and understanding of the things of God. The human nature of Jesus did not come equipped with the
divine attribute of omniscience, and when we let ourselves think that the human nature of Christ possessed
these divine characteristics, we slip into a very serious and ancient heresy by which the divine nature swallows
up the human nature. We must remember to recognize the limits of Jesus’ knowledge. Another example of
those limits is found in Mark 13:32. When the disciples asked Jesus about the day and the power of His return,
He said, “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
In response to His disciples, Jesus Himself clearly put a limit on His knowledge about the future.

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