Some Adventist’s, particularly the anti-Heavenly Trio and anti-Trinitarian types, are particularly fond of using John 17:3 to claim Jesus isn’t Almighty God because He says the Father is the “only True God.”
This is quite easily refuted by simply reading Jesus’s High Priestly Prayer more closely. After verse 3, Jesus continues to say that He glorified the Father on earth, having accomplished the work that He gave Jesus to do and then speaks of the glory that He had with the Father before the world existed (John 17:4-5)—which harkens back to the opening of John’s gospel (John 1:1). God shares this glory with no one (Isaiah 42:8) which means Jesus isn’t saying what they think.
Some have tried to argue this by claiming that Jesus gives the disciples this glory later in the prayer. But the glory that Jesus gave to his disciples in John 17:22—contextually—was that of going around doing ministry confirming that they are one with him and the Father who had sent them to lead people to faith in Christ. This is different than the eternal glory Jesus has always possessed and shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
While it is true that Jesus’s words are predicative of the Father, it doesn’t say “only the Father is the True God” which is what they are assuming is said. They assume that the word “alone” is a modifier of the word “Father,” but it isn’t. Alone is the modifier of the word “True” which further modifies the word “God.”
A fundamental premise of biblical Trinitarianism is that the Father is the True God. The same John tells us in the same gospel that the Son is also the Only True God (John 1:1, 18; 2:18-22 compared with Acts 2:24-5; John 20:28). It is erroneous to interpret John 17 in such a way that creates contradictions regarding statements already made by the writer.
The greek grammar of John 17:3 does not say the Father is the only person who is the True God. The Father is the only True God, who sent His Son that is One with Him (John 10:30), is also God (John 1:1), and the Son has shared in that with the Father forever. Jesus Christ is God Almighty.
