In Matthew 16:17, Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Previously, Peter had acknowledged that Jesus was “Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 16). He knew that only because the Father had revealed who Jesus was to him. Thus, no one can know nor come to Jesus without the Father’s involvement (John 6:44). In Matthew 11:27, Jesus also said, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Thus, only Jesus reveals the Father to men. When Philip asked Jesus to show him and the other disciples the Father, Jesus said, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). Then Jesus promised the Holy Spirit who will come and abide in us (only believers) forever (John 14:16-17), teach us (John 14:26), testify through us about Jesus (John 15.26), bring conviction on the unsaved (John 16:7-11), guide us “into all truth” (Scripture), reveal the future by Scripture (John 16:13), glorify Christ, and reveal to us truths about Christ (John 16:14), all exclusively from Scripture. Conclusion: God’s revelation to us is necessarily of the trinitarian source. That is, knowing God is only possible by the blended work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Blessings!
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