Jesus Called Disciples, and He Still Does

What Did Jesus Do?

“Come and you will see.”
John 1.39

Jesus was not in business for himself, or by himself. Yet those he was seeking were not, for their part, all that sure of what they were looking for; but let us give them this much, they followed the Lamb (John 1.37). In the calling of the first disciples, as recorded in John 1.35-42, we see the first two to follow Jesus, and we have a “between the lines” illustration of the Trinity at work.

Two of John the Baptist's disciples are standing with him as he watches Jesus walk by. John declares, for a second time, “Behold the Lamb of God!” No one else had looked at Jesus and understood who he was and what he was doing. How was it that John did? Well, first of all, the Father had elected John, numbered the Baptist among those who would be saved; if you will, it was predestined that John would recognize the Christ, while at the same time there were many who where present who did not, would not, could not ever acknowledge the Messiah in the person of Jesus. Secondly, John knew exactly what the Son had come to do—to save God's elect through his atoning sacrifice, the Lamb of God taking away the sin of world by willingly shedding his innocent blood. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit not only gave John eyes to see what others did not and wisdom to understand what others would not, and a voice, actually “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness” announcing the coming of the Christ, but he (the Spirit) also powerfully drew the two disciples of John to go and follow Jesus. Again, though they were not exactly sure of why they went with the Lord (I think it was more than curiosity about where Jesus was lodging; v. 38), they went with him, and they stayed (v. 39). The one true God, in his three persons, was operating in the business of the calling of the first disciples. And this is still the way the Trinity operates. Jesus was not in business for himself, or by himself. Having now said this twice, I must also tell you that I also be believe that, as you might have heard elsewhere, it's all about Jesus, or, as I often sign my letters, Christ IS All!

In no way should that last sentence be misconstrued as any kind of denial of the Trinity. But, here's the thing, if we don't get Jesus, the Son, we cannot and will not know the Father, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is not in us. The Son calls those whom the Father has elected, and the Holy Spirit draws them, unfailingly, to Christ. Take the Son out of the equation and it doesn't work. No one comes to the Father except through the Son (John 14.6). And no one knows the Son, nor can they call him “Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12.3). The Father and the Holy Spirit as just as indispensable to our salvation as the Son, which is why we understand God to eternally be, and to work, as Three in One.

Getting back to John 1.35-42, see how it is one of the Father's elect (John the Baptist) who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, knows and points out the Son (Jesus, the Lamb of God), in the presence of two others of the elect who in turn are drawn to follow Christ by the power of the Spirit. The calling of disciples today is no different. Those who know, the ones elected by the Father, point out the One they know, Jesus the Son, to others who don't know, that the Holy Spirit may draw them to God, the Father-Son-Holy Spirit, in salvific, transformative, and eternal personal relationship. Jesus is not in business for himself, or by himself.

Now, Unitarians and jihadists both have a problem with the Trinity, though jihadists perhaps more militantly so. Many Unitarians like to think of themselves as Christians, and their theology as Christian, but Biblical Unitarianism is an oxymoron—the Bible does not teach the unitarianism of God (hence the impossibility of having a biblical Unitarian theology)–and Unitarianism does not accept the godhood of Jesus. Neither do the jihadists, who are militantly opposed to Trinitarianism because the god they believe in, Allah, is “one.” Jesus, while accepted as a prophet by Muslims, is not God, cannot be God to them, and they consider it absolute blasphemy for anyone to assert that Jesus is God the Son.

Jesus has forever been, is now, and will forever be “in business” with the Father and the Holy Spirit, they are One. The electing, calling, and making of disciples has always been accomplished by the Trinity. The faith into which Christians are baptized, and the only faith Christians confess, is faith in the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and none other. As Jesus called disciples, so too we, who are disciples, call others to discipleship.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4