The next group of Scriptures we’ll review are those that show the Father and Jesus are clearly two separate persons.  These Scriptures stand in direct contradiction to a belief in modalism, the idea that God is one person who has simply expressed Himself to us in three different ways.

Modalists will often point to John 10:30 where Jesus says that “I and the Father are one” to support their belief.  Or to John 14:9 where Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father, and he replies “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip?  He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”   From the Catholic perspective these verses point to the belief there is one God, and the truth that the three persons are one being or essence.  “Consubstantial” as the Creed says.

Scripture has dozens of verses that clearly show that Jesus and the Father are two separate persons.  Here is a sampling from the Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 10:32-33 “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” 

Matthew 11:25-27 “At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.  All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’”

Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” 

Matthew 26:42“Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done.’”

Matthew 26:53 “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” 

Together, these verses point to the dogma of the Trinity.  We clearly see that Jesus and the Father are two distinct persons in relationship to one another.  Yet, as Jesus tells us, they are one.  If we’ve seen him, we have seen the One God.