Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Handsome]

Why Do You Not Claim To Be The Father?

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. NO ONE knows the Son EXCEPT THE FATHER*, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

- Matthew 11:27

Christians claim to know Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Judging by the verse above, this means they are the Father.

You can know the Father through the Son because the Son can reveal to you the Father, but you cannot know the Son, unless you yourself are the Father.

Why do you not claim to be the Father, if you claim to know the Son?

[jimwalton]

The term Jesus uses is ἐπιγινώσκει, meaning "to know fully." In this case, knowledge is not used in the sense of intellect or even so much of relationship, but of truth. Real knowledge—true wisdom—is a declaration of the truth. Jesus is affirming His identity by the testimony of the Father and in return acknowledging the Father’s identity and glory by his own affirmation. Mt. 3.17 and par.; John 14.11; 17.1, 3, 10 et al. This phrase and the next constitute Jesus's way of saying that He and the Father know each other like no one else can know them. They have a unique relationship to each other, and so also Jesus claims a unique personal knowledge of God. So really what He's saying is, "If you want to see what God is like, look at me."

Yes, we know Jesus. And yes, we know the Father. But not like they know each other. Since they are of one essence (Jn. 1.1; 10.30), no one can know them as they know each other. That's the point of the verse. Jesus is claiming deity. It has nothing to do with our relationship with Jesus as requiring that we are the Father. That's an utter misreading of the text, its context, and its meaning.