"All that belongs to the Father is mine." (John 16:15)

"All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what He will make known to you." (John 16:15)

Does this mean that Jesus is God?

Many have interpreted this statement to mean that Jesus is God.

Such a thesis makes no sense. Let's first examine the logic of such a thesis before we look more deeply at the translation and its real meaning:

Why does he speak of God in the third person here and throughout his teachings if he were God? Why doesn't Jesus just come out and say he is God if he is? 

If Jesus were God then why are there three separate persons referred to in this sentence: "The Father," Jesus ("Mine"), and Jesus' disciples ("you")?

If Jesus were God, who was he praying to when he said:
"Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14:36)
And if Jesus were God, why would he ask to do God's will rather than his own will?
"I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me." (John 8:18)
"I have not come on my own; God sent me." (John 8:42)
These and many other statements, indicating over and over, that Jesus is not God - but rather, that he was sent by God. He is God's messenger: God's representative.

Yet the confusion among ecclesiastical church teachings continues. Why is this? It is because they do not know who God is. They do not know the Person who sent Jesus.

This is a common mistake when people hear from any messenger. Ever heard the expression: "Don't shoot the messenger"? This expression is derived from the notion that people often confuse the messenger with the sender of a message that may upset them. 


And this - "shooting the messenger" - takes place typically when the receiver of the message does not know the sender very well if at all - which is precisely what happened in the case

Why does 'all that belongs to the Father' belong to Jesus?

πᾶς (pas) is being translated to "all things" - but can also mean "each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything;" and "collectively, some of all types" according to the lexicon.

πατήρ (patēr) is being appropriately translated to the Father.

ἔχω (echō) is being translated to "has," but means to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have (hold) possession of the mind (refers to alarm, agitating emotions, etc.), to hold fast keep, to have or comprise or involve, to regard or consider or hold as," and to hold one's self or find one's self so and so, to be in such or such a condition;" or "to hold one's self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to" according to the lexicon.

ἐμός (emos) is being translated to "mine." It can also mean "from me," "by me" or "to me."

Therefore, Jesus is not saying that he exclusively has everything that belongs to God. Jesus is saying that God shares everything with him.

This is the central theme of any loving relationship. There is a sharing of resources. In most societies, for example, a married couple will share everything. This includes assets as well as secrets. The two work as a team.

But this doesn't mean that the man becomes the woman or vice versa. They still remain separate people. It is their loving relationship that they have in common and this produces a common interest.

This common interest results in an open sharing of resources. This is what Jesus is speaking of, because he enjoys a loving relationship with the Supreme Being:
"I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me." (John 14:31)

What does Jesus mean by, 'the Spirit will receive from me'?

διά (dia) together with οὗτος (houtos) is being translated to "that is why" in this verse. The assumption is the two combined means "therefore" but διά (dia) can also mean "through - of place, of time, or of means" or "through - by reason of, or account of" according to the lexicon.

And οὗτος (houtos) can mean "this" or "these."

This means that Jesus is referencing his first statement about he and God's sharing due to their loving relationship.

λέγω (legō) is being translated to "I said" but the word also means "to teach" "affirm over" "to exhort, advise, to command, direct" and "to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say" according to the lexicon.

λαμβάνω (lambanō) is being translated to "receive" but can also mean "to take what is one's own, to take to one's self, to make one's own - to claim, procure, for one's self" according to the lexicon. This is a key element of Jesus' statement because Jesus is referring to the fact that God "takes" what is already His.

ἐμός (emos) is being appropriately translated to "from me"

ἀναγγέλλω (anaggellō) is being translated to "make known to you" but means "to announce, make known" and "to report, bring back tidings, rehearse" according to the lexicon.

The translators have also inserted "the Spirit" here without any indication that Jesus said it. Rather, Jesus simply said "He."

They are claiming that God must rely upon Jesus to get his information? That he has no access to such information other than from Jesus?

Such an interpretation is short-sighted. The Supreme Being does not have to rely on anyone. He is self-sufficient. He is independent and needs no one. He also knows everything. He does not need to get information from anyone because He knows all things. This is the very meaning of God.

Rather, what Jesus is discussing is a relationship that exists between him and the Supreme Being, and the fact that Jesus is introducing his students to God and into this relationship. This has been confirmed elsewhere:
"I will show you what He is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice." (Luke 6:47) 

Is Jesus introducing his followers to God?

Us coming to know and love this Beautiful Person was Jesus' mission in life. This was why he walked for miles from town to town to preach to people. He was trying to introduce people to the Supreme Being. 

Such an introduction to God creates a three-way relationship. Consider, for example, if a friend introduces us to their friend. We will now know their friend, but should we make friends with our friend's friend, the friendship will also include our friend who introduced us. It is not as if we would bypass our friend and remain friends with our friend's friend and disregard the friend who introduced us.

This also takes place with the Supreme Being, but under His conditions. God knows everything. It isn't that God is relying on Jesus for anything. He knows the heart of each person. But because He enjoys loving relationships, He enjoys being introduced and partakes in three-way relationships.

So what is being given to Jesus' disciples is being derived from Jesus - Jesus' loving relationship with God.

Now God could very easily appear to each of us personally and demand we renew our relationship directly with Him. But He does not work this way. Why not?

Because God is a beautiful and gracious person who wants to honor our current status - that of wanting to escape from Him. Those of us wearing physical bodies within the physical world are here because we wanted to be independent of God. We didn't want to love Him. We didn't want to be with Him. We chose - as love requires choice and God gives us all choice - to not love Him and not serve Him in the spiritual realm.

Because He honors our choice, He gave us this freedom to be away from Him. He set up the physical world so we could ignore Him. Here we can pretend to be these temporary (false) identities for a while, and pretend He doesn't exist. And we can continue to ignore Him, and we can even pretend to be religious while we are ignoring Him. (This is what those who pretend that Jesus is God are doing - they treat this "God" as their servant as they ask Jesus to help their football team win or help them get rich or whatever.)

Pretending that God is our servant is the same as ignoring Him. This is not seeing God. If we imagine that God is up in the clouds sitting on a big chair with a big white beard just waiting to deliver whatever we want... this is not God. This is like a genie in a bottle we are imagining. It is not God.

Others imagine that God became a man and died on the cross to cleanse our sins. This is not God. This is our imagination, imagining that we are saved.

God is a person, but not an ordinary person. He is loving, kind, beautiful and smart. He is perfect, and He is everything we are looking for in a person we refer to as our "soul mate."

Jesus was trying to get people to love God. And this is why his most important teaching was related to loving this Beautiful Person, God:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

*Here is the translation of Jesus' statement from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:
"All these things belonging to the Creator are also mine, therefore I said He shall take from me and reveal it to you.” (John 16:2-3)