John 17:3 is often used as an argument against the trinity doctrine by Arians like Jehovah’s Witnesses. The argument goes that since it mentions the one true God, as well as Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ can not be the one true God.

Also the way the scripture is translated particularly in the New World Translation makes it sound like eternal life is a result of learning about God.

This article will deal with both issues.

Knowing God, a cause or result?

So first of all I want to adress the idea that everlasting life is a result of knowing God. Jehovah’s Witnesses who hold this view notoriously read things out of context. So let’s look at the previous verse:

John 17:2,3 just as you have given him authority over all flesh, so that he may give everlasting life to all those whom you have given to him. 3 This means everlasting life, their coming to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

According to this, how do we get everlasting life?

A Jehovah’s Witness reading the NWT will only look at verse 3 and say “we get eternal life by coming to know God and Jesus.”

But if we look at verse 2, we see that “[Jesus Christ] give eternal life to all those whom [the Father] has given him.” Yes, the source of eternal life is to belong to Jesus, not the act of coming to know God and Jesus.

The mistake is made because the NWT says “this means everlasting life”, as if knowing God and Jesus means or results in everlasting life.

But the Greek doesn’t have the word “means” here. It use the word “is”, and even says “in order that”, showing that the knowing is the desired outcome of having everlasting life.

The accurate translation is “this is eternal life, in order that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

It describes what having eternal life results in knowing God and Jesus. Knowing God and Jesus is something we can only do if we already have eternal life. It is the blessing of eternal life.

So verses 2 and 3 together says:

• We get eternal life if we belong to Jesus
• When we have eternal life we can enjoy getting to know God and Jesus forever.

Works righteousness

Thinking we could get eternal life by learning about God is a form of works righteousness, where a human thinks that they could somehow earn their way into God’s favor. Like they could bribe God, or put God in their debt by their righteous deeds. Works righteousness is the common denominator in all false religions, from Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, to Islam, all false religions teach that you can somehow earn your way by doing good deeds. The Bible is the only one who teaches differently, that we can’t do it on our own but need Jesus Christ.

So no matter how much we study, we can never reach a point in our knowledge about God where it would somehow make us worthy to gain eternal life.

The Bible condemns this idea. In John 5:39 Jesus says “You are searching the Scriptures because you think that you will have everlasting life by means of them; and these are the very ones that bear witness about me.”

So everlasting life is not found in studying about God, but is only found in Jesus.

See also John 3:15, 16, 36; 6:40, 47; 10:28;Ephesians 2:8-10

God AND Jesus?

Now to the main argument: “John 17:3 talks about “the One True God and Jesus”, therefore Jesus can not be the One True God.”

On the surface when read out of context it sounds plausible. However the very book of John starts with the statement that “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It goes on and affirms Jesus divine status in basically every chapter of the book. So when John suddenly says something that seems to contradict his opening statement, you should ask yourself whether John went crazy for a moment and denied his own theology, or if maybe you misunderstood it?

“A god”

The NWT disagrees with all other translations and says in John 1:1 that Jesus is “a god”, rather than “God”. Let’s go with this for the argument’s sake. If Jesus is “a god” then it would mean that in John 17:3 you have two gods: One is the “only true God”, which means the other is a false god.

That would mean that you are a polytheist, believing in one true and one false god, and your eternal life is dependent upon learning about both a true god and a false god.

In fact according to verse 2, eternal life is given to you by a false god, Jesus. And a false god can not give eternal life. (Ps 115:4-8; Isa 46:5-7; Jer 10:3-5; Hab 2:18-20)

Eternality

If eternal life is somehow connected to knowing God and Jesus, it would mean that both God and Jesus are eternal. So your false god is eternal, just like the only true God.

Equality

If eternal life is somehow connected to knowing God and Jesus, it would mean that both God and Jesus are equal in this aspect. So your false god is not only eternal, but also equal to the only true God.

Not the “Only True God”?

So since we know from John 17:2,3 that Jesus is the source of everlasting life, co-equal with God, and co-eternal with God, and a false god can not give eternal life our eternity can have nothing to do with any false gods, the only way to understand this verse that does not end up in crazy contradictions is the trinitarian way:

Jesus is the person of the only true God that was sent into the world.

What John 17:3 says is that God the Father is partaking of the essence of the only true God. And by virtue of being sent forth from inside the bosom of the Father, Jesus Christ is also partaking of the essence of the only true God. This is the only way it can make sense that eternal life is associated with knowing God and Jesus.

The rest of the chapter

Taking things out of context is the worst sin when it comes to reading the Bible. Saying that John 17:3 disproves the trinity doctrine is ridiculous when considering the other verses in the chapter that confirms it.

John 17:5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus has the glory of God, something God said that he would give to no one else. Hence Jesus must be God to have the glory of God.

John 17:8 “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received [them,] and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me

Jesus came forth from God, meaning he is an extension of God’s very substance. One with God in substance.

John 17:10 “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.

Jesus owns everything that God owns.

John 17:11 “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are.]

Jesus asks that Christians should be one just as he and the father are one: One unity of a plurality of persons.

John 17:21 “that they all may be one, as You, Father, [are] in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

The ultimate fate of Christians is the perfect Union with God, like Jesus is. This is the doctrine of theosis.

John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

The Father and Son loved one another before the foundation of the world, that is before spacetime, in eternity. Jesus is eternal and has always existed. That means he is God.

Summary

1) John 17:3 taken out of context leads to a false works righteousness view of salvation. The correct interpretation is that everlasting life is given by Jesus, and knowing God and Jesus is just a result of having eternal life.

2) Thinking John 17:3 goes against the trinity doctrine means thinking John suddenly contradicts himself in the middle of his gospel.

It would also mean that you are a polytheist who believe there are two separate eternal, coequal gods, but one is true and the other is false, and it’s the false god who gives you eternal life so that you can get to know the true AND the false god forever. Or (if you have the wrong understanding of point 1) that you can somehow gain everlasting life by learning about a false god.

That, of course, is pure nonsense.

3) The rest of the chapter, and the book, and the Bible, supports the trinity doctrine. Thinking one verse undoes that is ridiculous.