The Anti-Trinitarianism Of John 10

The book of John is in no way affirmative of the Trinitarianism one might hear ascribed to it.  By Trinitarianism, I mean the notion that Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are different "persons" but are all equally God.  It is the logically impossible (contradictory) doctrine of "three in one" without multiple personality disorder that many who identify as Christians adhere to.  If Jesus is literally the same as Yahweh, any differences in presentation are mere illusions, yet this is neither what classical Trinitarians posit nor is taught in John or other books of the Bible.  John 10 is among the chapters of the former which some assert teaches that Jesus is equal to or synonymous with Yahweh, but there is not just one verse that refutes this.

In John 10:25-30, Jesus distinguishes between himself and the Father by saying things such as that he does miracles in his Father's name (10:25) and that his Father has given his sheep to him (10:29).  By saying that he and the Father are one (10:30), Jesus would not have to be saying they are the same metaphysical being, as some assume, but only that he is in alignment with his Father.  Indeed, the very verses right before this clearly do not equate Jesus with Yahweh.  Later Jesus says that the Father is greater than him and makes obvious statements that exclude claiming he is the same being (14:28), and this is what John 10 really teaches.

Some of the listening Jews grab rocks to stone Jesus at this point (10:31).  They insist that they are stoning Jesus for claiming to be God (10:33), but he said no such thing here!  These Jewish opponents of Christ misinterpret his statements, likely "I and the Father are one" in particular, the same way irrationalistic Christians like modern evangelicals have.  The difference is that these specific Jews are against Jesus on the basis of this error and many Christians think favorably of Jesus based on the very same error.  How ironic it is that the same false and easily avoidable misunderstanding of John 10 is treated so differently by these two groups that are both heretical by Biblical standards.

Jesus responds by pointing out that Psalm 82:6 refers to mere mortals as "gods" (John 10:34-35).  Actually, he says here that if true, Scripture cannot be broken, taking Psalm 82:6 much more seriously than even many people today might.  Adding that if ordinary humans are "divine," the Son of God would be all the more so (10:35-36), Christ quickly distinguishes yet again between himself and the Father.  He tells his audience to not listen to him unless he does what his Father does (10:37) and that his miracles are evidence that he is in the Father and the Father is in him (10:38).  John 10 is absolutely anti-Trinitarian in the sense of conventional Trinitarianism, like the rest of the book, presenting Jesus as lesser than and blatantly distinct from Yahweh.

Elsewhere in the book of John, Jesus is differentiated from the Father (such as John 5:19-30), is called God's begotten Son, a phrase that would even suggest Jesus is created by the Father (3:16), and is never claimed to have been past-eternal along with Yahweh in spite of existing before Abraham (8:58) and the cosmos itself (1:1-3).  Over and over Jesus says he is not the one who sent him (as in 12:44-45, 49).  For instance, in John 14:21, Jesus states that whoever obeys his commands is loved by the Father and also by Christ, and in John 14:24, he says that whoever does not love him (Jesus) will not obey his teachings, and that these words come not from him, but from the Father.  Trinitarianism in any sense other than one entailing multiple metaphysically separate entities is contrary to the Bible's plain doctrines and thus heretical.