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John 4:23 has Jesus saying

"But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him."

According to Chalcedonian Trinitarians, Jesus = God and is co-equal with the Father. Why did he leave himself out in this passage? It would be an obvious opportunity to teach the Samaritan woman that God is a Trinity and Jesus is God, yet instead Jesus identifies himself as the Messiah in the same section. How do Chalcedonic Trinitarians explain this passage?

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    This is hypothetical ('obvious opportunity' ? Obvious to whom ? ) and all hypothetical questions are, of necessity, matters of opinion. There is no real argument that suggests Chalcedonian Trinitarians need make any response.
    – Nigel J
    Apr 1 at 18:33
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    Any response from Chalcedonian Trinitarians will likely depend upon how they define ὁ πατὴρ/ho patēr/the father.
    – M. Wm. Ferguson
    Apr 5 at 18:17

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Well, this is the trouble with taking one isolated verse as if that would indicate "here is proof that the later Trinity doctrine must be false!"

Just read a few verses on, and Jesus identifies himself as the long-promised Messiah who will explain the Father. Up till then, this Samaritan woman had been labouring under misunderstandings about worship of God; Jesus began to deal with those errors, and by the time he has been crucified, resurrected, and ascended to heaven, those who believe him to be the Messiah are acclaiming him as their Lord and their God.

Chalcedonian trinitarian Christians can reel off a long list of scripture texts where Jesus mentions himself as key to gaining understanding of the Father; as key to offering acceptable worship; as key to having the Father and the Son love those with faith in them, so that they will indwell them. I have to close down now, but by the time I re-open next week, you may wish to request those myriad verses where Jesus shows himself to be God incarnate - or, maybe not. I shall check in later to see. Perhaps someone else will spare me hours of work providing such a list by giving their own answer.

EDIT as requested: Repetition For Emphasis: - "Just read a few verses on..." starting with the very next verse in the text asked about, i.e. verse 25 through to verse 42 (which ends with all the villagers saying they now believed in Jesus, "for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.")

In those verses, Jesus speaks about himself, though not in verse 23. But he clearly calls himself "the way [to the Father], the truth, and the life" in John 14:6.

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  • This is interesting context, but I don't think it answers the question, tbh.
    – Only True God
    Apr 2 at 5:14
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    TBH I don't think this question warants any further response given there are "myriad verses where Jesus shows himself to be God incarnate"- but not to Unitarians and others who deny that the Logos, who was born of a woman as Jesus, was God incarnate.
    – Lesley
    Apr 2 at 12:01

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