Verses used by the Arians – You alone are the true God

The lecture meditates on Christ’s saying “This is eternal life: that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” and clarifies that the understanding of the phrase must protect Christ’s divinity and not separate the Father and the Son.
The speaker points out that the phrase “you the only true God” distinguishes the true God from pagan gods and idols or honorary titles that do not express true deity, and does not exclude the Son from deity.
He mentions Psalm 82 as an example because some pretenders were called gods yet are mortal humans, so the emphasis here is on the unity of God in true deity.
He warns of the necessity to weigh this verse with other verses (such as “I and the Father are one,” “He who has seen me has seen the Father”) so it is not understood in isolation and interpreted as denying Christ’s divinity.
He explains that Christ is the image of the invisible God and the Logos — the mind and utterance of the Father — and that he revealed the Father to people, so the knowledge that leads to eternal life is through the person and teaching of Christ.
He explains that “eternal life is that they may know you” means knowing God in the way Christ revealed: knowing the Father as loving and saving, knowing Christ as the sent Son, and thereby participating in love and union with Christ.
He discusses the Bible’s expressive language (for example the word “body” meaning the whole person) and urges understanding terms according to the biblical theological usage not only by lexical dictionary.
He treats the Fathers’ statements, especially Saint Ambrose, in interpreting the term “alone,” affirming that when “alone” is ascribed to God it intends the whole deity (the three Persons) and does not mean separation of the Father from the Son, and that the worship addressed to Christ does not negate his deity but confirms his theandric and creative work.
In other narrative contexts (such as the Samaritan woman) he explains that Christ sometimes speaks from his humanity for missionary and instructional purposes, and this should not be taken as an indication of lack in his deity.
The conclusion is a call to contemplate the texts together, and to realize that true knowledge of God is given to people through Christ the sent One, while distinguishing levels of speech (human nature and divine nature) and not isolating them.

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