Yohanan 17:3
Does this text say that only the Father is Elohim as many, who wrest the scriptures out of context do? No. It should be plain from the translation given here that the Son is included in the "only true Almighty."
To make the grammar clear I will make plain what is implied: "that they may come to acknowledge you to be the only true Almighty and also he whom you have sent." Consider the sentence, "They should acknowledge you the heir, and your son." Observe that the son is also to be acknowledged as the heir.
The text means the same thing with or without the word "as" or the words "to be" and "also" to explain it. Note that if you drop the word "as" from the text above that the sense will be the same. The key to this translation is in fact the word "acknowledge." The same word is used in Mat. 7:23, "I never acknowledged you" and John 1:10, "And the world did not acknowledge him." The definition is given in BDAG's Lexicon, the third edition, "7. to indicate that one does know, acknowledge, recognize" (page 200). This is the standard Greek dictionary.
Acknowledging the Father and Son to be the true Almighty is just the beginning of knowing Elohim. The text does also mean "know" in the other senses, but it is simply impossible to include all the senses under one English word. This is probably why translators have usually opted for "know" in the text. Even if they realized they were leaving out an element essential to the complete understanding of this text, they probably felt that the senses implied by the word "know" were more important.
However, I believe the situation has changed. Arianism, which denies that the Son is Yahweh Elohim is more increasingly fulfilling the prophecy that many will fall away from Messiah in the End Time. Therefore, I believe the English sense must include the original sense "acknowledge" and that it be explained now that Yeshua also means "know" in the other senses. In other words, translate with "acknowledge" and explain with "know." The fault is in English which does not readily convey all the senses necesary to prevent a misunderstanding or worse Scripture twisting.
Now I will remind you about some texts which prove that the Son is indeed Yahweh Elohim. Firstly we have 1John 5:20, "And we know that the Almĭghty Sŏn is come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know the true one, and we are in the true one, in his Sŏn Yēshŭ`a the Mĕssiah. This one is the true Almĭghty and Everlasting Life." The "true one" here is the Almighty, who is the same as "Everlasting Life," and in 1John 1:2 the Son is identified as "Everlasting Life."
The word's "this one" refer back to to Messiah. So Messiah is "Everlasting Life" (cf. 1John 1:2). So the same person is "true Almighty" and "Everlasting Life." There are many texts which teach that the Son is Yahweh Elohim. John 1:1-3, Zech. 12:10, and texts which show that Yahweh includes more than one person. Gen. 1:26, 3:22. Even so He may speak with a singular pronoun, "There is no Elohim besides Me." As Hebrew may do, one person may speak for all persons with a singular pronoun. This is proved in Exodus 17:3. You will have to read the Hebrew to see this. I have translated it in our Statement of beliefs.
Now that it is clear that Yeshua is united with and an everlasting person of the One and only true Almighty (Elohim). Yeshua is he who is, who was, and who will be, from everlasting to everlasting with the Father. There was no Almighty before Him and there shall be none after him. I would like to point out the beginning of John 17:3, "And this is everlasting life...." What is "everlasting life"? Everlasting life is our salvation! This is everlasting life, that you may ackowledge him and his Father as the only true Almighty. Now when He says "there is no Elohim besides Me" he includes as many persons as He is speaking for, and that includes the Holy Spirit. No one but the everlasting Elohim creates life and is worthy of our worship and faithful commitment. To acknowledge this is to know who is the true Elohim. To acknowledge this is everlasting life, the beginning of salvation. The one who denies this does not know who Messiah is, and the one who does not know who Messiah is, the same does not know who his Father is.
Messiah says "this is everlasting life" because he is saying that acknowledgment of who He is is necessary for Salvation. Avraham was trustingly faithful in Yahweh (Gen. 15:6), who appeared to him as a man (Gen. 18:1-2). This person was he who was born of a virgin and became Messiah, and everywhere Messiah tells us that we are to be trustingly faithful to Him. Yet there are those who profess belief that Messiah is the everlasting Almighty, yet they claim they can walk in fellowship with those who do not, who believe he had a beginning, and that he is not the only true Almighty. This is an extremely grave and serious compromise. The Devil knows those who are his, and he will allow them to believe and say everything necessary to blend in and look like a real sheep without actually putting their ultimate trusting faithfulness in Messiah Yeshua. If they diminish Messiah then they are only left with a claim to have trusting faithfulness in the Father, and something far short of true faith in the Son, even though Yeshua urged us to put our complete trusting faithfulness in Him, as only he can demand, because He is the Almighty One. In this sense, then, He said that whosoever does not have their ultimate loyalty to the Son, the same does not have loyalty to the Father.
My point is not to exposit all these other texts which prove the matter adequately. The opposition simply ignores what they say, or worse refuses to apply obvious logic to their meanings. This is because the opposition is of the world and under the power of Satan, having their eyes blinded, so that they do not understand the truth. We do not always know why this curse has come upon them. But I know that many have been deceived and have turned back from faithfulness to Messiah. Only the Spirit can open their eyes if we pray, and probably if the person has been innocently deceived and is not deceived because they once knew the truth and turned from it. There are always some who can be saved who only appear to be among the rebels.
The point of this text is to explain what it does mean, so that none may be innocently deceived by the Deceiver. I am confident that if your mind is nimble enought you can read "acknowledge" above and then also put the word "know" into the text and realize that it is still teaching that Messiah is included the "only true Almighty." For he is the one who is worthy of our ultimate trusting faithfulness. He who does not put his highest trusting faithfulness in the Son does not know the Father, and he who does not acknowledge that the Son is One Elohim with the Father does not acknowledge the Father either, nor is any pretension of faith in a son who they believe is not Elohim really proper faithfulness at all. They are still in unbelief because proper trusting faithfulness can only be applied to the One worthy of it, who is Yahweh Elohim.