SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ANTI-TRINITARIAN UNDERSTANDING OF JOHN 17:3

THOUGHT #1
IF—and of course, that’s a very big, and very important, if—but if the anti-trinitarians are correct in their understanding of John 17:3, and the Father is “the only true God,” then the Son, Jesus, isn’t a true God.
I imagine most anti-trinitarians won’t agree, but to me, if Jesus isn’t a true God, then He’s either no God at all, or He’s a false God. Personally, I can’t see how any true Bible believer can hold the first of those two options—Jesus is no God at all—because the Bible clearly tells us that Jesus is God.

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” {Matthew 1:23 KJV}

“But unto the Son he (the Father) saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” {Hebrew 1:8 KJV}

As for the second option—Jesus is a false God—I think that’s no less than blasphemy.
So, to me at least, the anti-trinitarian understanding of John 17:3 is a place I could never go.

THOUGHT #2
Using the same kind of interpreting the anti-trinitarians use for John 17:3, I want to take a quick look at two other statements Jesus made.

Statement #1 (Jesus made this statement in response to something someone said to Him)

“And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” {Matthew 19:17 KJV}

Using the same strict, literal method of interpreting that anti-trinitarians use for John 17:3, twice in that short statement—the word “none” and the word “one”—Jesus clearly and strongly informs us that only the Father is “good.” Which of course would mean that Jesus isn’t good.
No true Christian can believe that!!!

“I am the good shepherd.” {John 10:11 & 14 KJV}

Statement #2

“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” {Matthew 11:11 KJV}

Again, using the same strict, literal method of interpreting the anti-trinitarians do for John 17:3, since Jesus was in fact “born of a woman,” and not any “born of women” are greater than John the Baptist, then Jesus wasn’t greater than John the Baptist.
Another belief no true Christian could hold!!!

“John… preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” {Mark 1:6, 7 KJV}

To me, it’s clear, simple, and undeniable—neither of those two passages can be interpreted in a strict, literal way. Jesus simply wasn’t including Himself when He made those statements in Matthew 19:17 and 11:11. And the same is true for John 17:3.

“You should examine the truths you have been led to believe, until you know that they are without a flaw.” {Counsel to Sabbath School Work 33}

I don’t claim to perfectly understand this whole Godhead question. And I don’t even try to:

“The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them… Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden.” {Acts of the Apostles 52}

But I know enough to know that the anti-trinitarian belief has some very serious, very unbiblical, “flaws.”

THOUGHT #4 (and this one is extremely important to me)
For most anti-trinitarians this subject is the all-important subject; and that simply isn’t in harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy. When compared to the immense amount of material Ellen White wrote, she says almost nothing concerning this whole Godhead issue.
But she does make the following statement. And I believe it should be the all-important, all-consuming subject for every true believer in the writings of Ellen White:

“The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, “They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme,—man’s uplifting,—the power of God, “which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57.” {Education 125}