by Leonard V Johnson
Greetings, dearest Brethren, Friends, and Co-Workers in Christ Jesus. Welcome our friends across the way in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Brisbane, Australia; Lahore, Pakistan; and Hamburg, Germany. Also, our friends here in the States: The Dalles, Oregon; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Owensboro, Kentucky.
God’s Spirit continues to move me, and I've again come across another blasphemous article from a splinter-group church headquartered in Grover Beach, California, continuing to lead his ‘little flock’ so far off the narrow road that leads to life──I believe they’re in the jungle now.
I came across this statement from him: “Jesus pointed out that He and the Father have different wills.” And he used Luke 22:42 as his proof text. When I read this, I paused for a moment.
“saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.’” – Luke 22:42.
This directly shows our Lord Jesus’ human will submitting to the Father’s divine will. Now, I thought at first that was how he was teaching it──but when I read the article a little further, that was not so. He gave another statement: “The Father and Son are clearly … NOT … CO-EQUAL.” And he used 1 Corinthians 15:28 as his proof text, as well as completely discounting the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ was both human and divine. Something I discuss in the article, “What Was Christ Jesus!?”
“Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” – 1 Corinthians 15:28.
Our beloved Apostle Paul──under divine inspiration──indeed shows us that even after our Lord Jesus returns, He will still be ‘subject to Him who put all things under Him.’ And the reason for this? ‘that the Elohim may be all in all.’
Certainly, one way to look at this is: It’s not much different than the way the LORD God created the human family unit, where they created the husband as the ‘head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church.’ And how wives are to be subject to their own husbands, as to the Lord.
Of course, when I mentioned this to AI, it went ballistic: “That's a traditional biblical view of family structure!”
Our Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane reflects His human will yielding to the Father──there is no evidence within God’s living word of a divided or UNEQUAL divine nature between God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The very idea that our Lord Jesus has a separate divine will, or a separate divine nature, from Father God in His divine state is nowhere found within His living word! They both share one divine will as co-equal beings of the Elohim──Father and Son. A unity of Spirit, mind, and will between the Father and Son. It’s a true unity of will, not just agreement between two separate wills. If the Father and Son had fundamentally different wills, they couldn’t be truly one in purpose and in action. This oneness goes deeper than just cooperation──it’s a complete alignment of will, mind, and Spirit that makes their unity possible.
Now, this false and misguided minister also used as his proof text for this separation of wills: John 5:30 ── “’ I can of Myself do nothing. … I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.’”
Our Lord Jesus Christ here is acting only in the Father’s will, which actually points to a shared divine will and purpose, not separate wills. This false minister’s claim is leaving a huge gap without actually explaining how those wills might differ──which, of course, they do not.
Here again our Lord Jesus is talking about His human desire, saying He won’t follow any personal agenda but only the Father’s Plan. It is a clear human-to-divine submission, not a claim that the divine will is different.
It appears that this false minister is leaning Catholic and Orthodox, and this might explain his misguided and misunderstood idea of the two wills, since many Catholics emphasize the distinction between the human and divine natures in ways that often get twisted into separate wills. Yet, God’s living word is clear: Unity is solid with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
A rhetorical question is asked in the Book of Amos── “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” – Amos 3:3.
Again, the very idea of separate divine wills fundamentally contradicts the Unity that God’s living word teaches──and the teaching that they do, well… that’s not just wrong, but it’s borderline blasphemous! Because, without a UNIFIED WILL, you’d eventually get anarchy and grave contradictions. If the foundation isn’t perfectly aligned, everything built on top of it becomes unstable. And it’s this consistency of divine purpose and will that makes the divine Father-Son relationship work. And that UNITY IS ROCK SOLID!
When we look at the Scriptures, the oneness of the Father and Son in Spirit, mind, and purpose is clearly established. Luke 22:42 ── is addressing His human perspective and earthly ambitions, not divine will. Now, they are UNITY IN ESSENCE, yet DISTINCT IN PERSON. Indeed, our Holy Father and our Holy Elder Brother share the same divine nature; their will is identical in essence. Be sure to read our article, “What Was Christ Jesus!?”
Why does this matter?
It’s important to properly understand that our Father’s and our Elder Brother’s will are the same because it prevents two egregious errors ──
- Modalism/Oneness ── a doctrine that wrongly teaches that the Father and Son are the same being.
- The separation of wills ── a doctrine that wrongly implies conflict or inequality between Father and Son.
Let’s go over some key Scriptures that show us the Son is co-equal with the Father ──
“In THE BEGINNING was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2) HE WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD.” – John 1:1-2.
Two co-equal God beings. Thus, the Word was God and was with God. And the Word – Jesus Christ – is a lot like the Father. Notice that Jesus became flesh ──
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt [or rather, tabernacled] among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” – John 1:14.
Our Lord Jesus’ own words ──
“’ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30) I and My Father are one.’” – John 10:29-30.
Two co-equal beings: UNITY IN ESSENCE, yet DISTINCT IN PERSON. He repeats this glorious unity in John 14:9 and 14:10.
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and NOT ACCORDING TO CHRIST. 9) For in Him [our Lord Jesus Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10) and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” – Colossians 2:8-10.
The Apostle Paul clearly states that, after Jesus’ resurrection, He knew that He was equal with God the Father ──
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6) who, being in the form of God [God the Father], did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” – Philippians 2:5-6.
Let us also notice Hebrews chapter 1, where the Father calls the Son “God” ──
“But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 9) You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’” – Hebrews 1:8-9.
Again, and yes ── I am repeating this once again ── our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, does not have a separate, conflicting will; rather, His will is perfectly aligned with the Father’s.
At our Lord Jesus’ baptism, the Father spoke, showing the DISTINCT YET UNITED BEINGS ──
“ … ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” – Matthew 3:16-17.
Now, regarding the full divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Statement of Beliefs reads as follows ──
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, prior to His human birth, eternally existed with God the Father. All things were created by God the Father through God the Son. The Son is revealed in the Old Testament as the LORD God and Lawgiver, and in the New Testament as the Word of God. To become the Savior of all mankind, He willingly divested Himself of His position in the God family, giving up His majesty, glory, and power, to become a fleshly human being, born of the virgin Mary and begotten of God the Father, who directed that He be named Jesus. His full New Covenant name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.As a human being having sinful human flesh, He was subject to the same temptations as every human being – yet He never sinned. As the perfect Lamb of God, He gave Himself to be God the Father’s special, unique sacrifice through the crucifixion as an atonement for the sins of all mankind.After being dead in the tomb for three days and three nights, He was resurrected unto eternal life through the power of God the Father, becoming the Firstborn from among the dead. He was again invested with the full divine nature and power of the God family. He ascended into the upper heavenly realms (called in Scripture the “third heaven”) to sit at the right hand of God the Father as mankind’s High Priest, Advocate, and Intercessor and Head of His Church. Jesus Christ will return to the earth in the power and glory of His Father to establish the kingdom – the government – of God on the earth. As King of kings and Lord of lords, He will rule the earth forever with His brethren – the children of God the Father.
So, having read that false minister’s article a little further down, what I discovered was that he really didn’t get anywhere close to explaining his misinterpretation of Luke 22:42: “Jesus pointed out that He and the Father have different wills.” Instead ── in between a handful of Catholic and Orthodox arguments and ideas ── he switched subjects to the binary aspects of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ ── hence, Binitarian theology. Which is correct: there are, at this moment in time, two Gods, God the Father and God the Son.
Here are a few more Scriptures showing us that God the Father and His glorious Son share the same divine will, mind, and Spirit ──
“’ I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe [on] Me through their word; 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 17:20-21.
“’ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that It will take of Mine and declare it to you.’” – John 16:15.
Romans 8:9 calls the Spirit of God both “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ,” underscoring the same divine will.
Again: It is possible, and very probable, that this false minister is pulling his vain ‘philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world’ in pointing to passages such as Luke 22:42, where our Lord Jesus cries out, ‘Not My will, but Yours be done!’ in which he is leaning on the early Roman Catholic Church debates about whether Christ possessed one or two wills, a “controversy” settled at the Sixth Ecumenical Council in 681 AD. This false minister appears to have taken the “two-will” ideology and is applying it to the divine nature alone, leaving out the human-will understanding.
So indeed, the proper context of what our Eternal, ‘Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning’ is saying in Luke 22:42 is: the human will that our Lord Jesus had was certainly not the will that His divine will has ── because no one wants to be spit upon, called atrocious names, flogged, and eventually crucified. No one wants to die a most horrible death, of what He knew was going to happen to Him. So, yes ── His human will was going, ‘Father, I don’t want this to happen. If it is Your will, please take this from Me.’
And that’s the heart of it! No one, no human being, wants to face that kind of agony, so His human will recoiling in Gethsemane is a real, honest human experience. And it makes His ultimate submission even more powerful because He, also being divine, felt the full weight of it and still chose to say, “’ not My will, But Yours, be done.’” □