I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me. (v.23)

The Gospel of John has been loved by many Christians. But not many know that this book explains all the core Christian doctrines. In this book, the doctrine of the Trinity, TULIP, Christ’s two inseparable natures, God’s absolute grace, the meaning of the law, the covenants, the last judgement, etc. Without this book, Christians may struggle to fight against God’s enemies. By describing what Christ did and said, this book defines what Christianity is about.

The Gospel of John was my grandmother’s favorite. And it is also my mother’s. I tried to understand this Book for a long time. But only in 2017, I started to understand it. There are many Christian books to aid people’s understanding of the Bible. For example, the Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan and the Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis are loved by many Christians. But I do not praise them. In fact, those books have great potential to misguide people. You cannot understand Christ by reading Christian books. You cannot make someone a Christian by telling them a man-made fable. Similarly, you cannot understand Christ by studying the words of Plato or Aristotle. Therefore, it is abominable to mention their names when we talk about God. We must not become a disciple or follower of a person.

When the NT was written, I believe the Books were translated into Greek, which was a common language in the Eastern Mediterranean then. Jesus and His disciples spoke in Aramaic. Similarly, my first language is not English and yet, I write in English. Some people may say something very different from what I intended from what I wrote. We must remember that the one who interprets the texts determines the readers’ understanding. The only legitimate interpreter is the Holy Spirit, God Himself. The Bible texts did not remain unscathed. The Bible scholars studied different sources of the texts for us to have the Bible. That does not mean that the Bible is unreliable. Even if some evil people deliberately change a text or two, the truth is found in the Bible. It is God who interprets the Bible. The reason why I am saying this is that we do not use human philosophy or logic to interpret the Bible. We do not interpret each text literally. Our interpretation starts from the knowledge of God, which is given to each elect through the Holy Spirit. I do not doubt that evil people will misuse what I write and say that I support people to interpret the Bible as they like. I do not support people to make their own interpretations.

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation (2 Peter 1:20)

I wrote a few times that the Trinity doctrine is the foundation of Christianity. The Three Ecumenical Creeds help us to understand the doctrine. So do the Three Forms in Unity. Upon this core doctrine, we understand why God has made the world and will destroy it in the end. We must understand the differences between Adam and Christ and between Adam and the saints. This is where the reformers in the 16th and 17th century have failed. And it was God’s will because the knowledge of God and His will was gradually revealed over a long time. Therefore, I do not doubt that the last generation will have the most knowledge of God.

One of the errors of the reformers lies in their understanding of obedience. God could have forgiven Adam in the Garden of Eden. But He did not. The reason was not because justice and righteousness were His unchangeable attributes. Adam’s fall was necessary in God’s plan. The first human was a mere servant who could not share the inheritance with the only begotten Son of God. Adam and Eve rebelled because they wanted to become like God by their own will and effort. Their action was rebellion. They did not know God.

No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

Our first humans were not great as many theologians and ministers want to believe. They did not have the freedom that we have in Christ because they simply could not understand God as we do now in the Holy Spirit. Theologians and ministers insist that Adam and Eve were holy and righteous and had the Holy Spirit. But even children know that they speak lies. How can one without sin and with the Holy Spirit rebel against God? Does God oppose Himself? One must interpret Romans 5 with this in mind. Mere external obedience to God’s commands can never satisfy Him but only the begotten Son of God who is one with the Father. Adam and Christ were not given the same condition to fulfill as theologians and ministers insist. Adam’s fall was for us to know ourselves. For the same reason, the law was given to the Israelites.

However, the reformers chose external obedience over the truth. Churches are full of hypocrites who praise Adam (people) just as the Greek philosophers. Democracy works only in this world. God’s kingdom is a monarchy. Churches praise people who are loved by the world and earn much money. Theologians and ministers love Aquinas and Anselm who loved human philosophies and denied absolute grace. I once warned the minister of the reformed church I went. He said that I would find that what Aquinas had written was mostly true. I saw in my dream that this minister did not have legs and was on a wheelchair. He could move only when the elders wheeled him. I saw this even before I met any of them. I do hope that he receives legs from God.

Evil theologians are the most cunning. False theologians mix 90% of truth with 10% of lies. They all get a warning from God in their lifetime as we find in the Bible. But they do not repent. They will not have any excuse at the end. No one can escape God’s judgement. We also sometimes speak what we do not know. And all of the elect can be judged by what we said and wrote. But we believe in the mercy of God. By that faith, we are saved because we completely rely on God’s absolute grace. Salvation requires our adoption as the children of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Our adoption is not from our works. If so, no one can be saved. Adam and Eve could not earn adoption by their works because God had planned to give the church to His Son as His bride before the foundation of the world. Obedience does not change our status. Only through the Son, we are made the children of God.

How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is a person whose guilt the LORD does not take into account, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! (Psalm 32:1-2)

Jesus’ high priestly prayer shows us that His death led to our salvation/adoption and eternal life. No where in this prayer we find that Jesus kept the law perfectly to earn our eternal life. Being one with the Son and having the knowledge of God is our eternal life. Only through the Son’s death and resurrection, we stand before God. And we will see Him face to face.

… they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:4)

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)