They are distinct now...
There was a time when the Person we identify as the Son was wholly the Father; completely non-distinct from Him in Person.
For He was the Father prior to the incarnation
On the contrary, passages such as John 1:1, Phil 2:5-8, and numerous other passages I have provided which clearly show the Son was never the Father, as the Son has always existed as distinct from the Father prior to creation, and that it was the Father who sent the Son. Logically, it is biblically impossible that the Son was the Father.
(Isaiah 9:6, John 14:7-11).
Taking the totality of evidence into account, the Son was never the Father. When Isa 9:6 uses the phrase "Everlasting Father," it simply cannot be referring to the Godhead, since there is only one Father and it isn't the Son, as the NT makes unequivocally clear. There are other legitimate uses of "Father" which I have covered more than once in this thread.
Joh 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Joh 14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Joh 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Joh 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (ESV)
Context is king. We already know from John 1:1 and other passages that Jesus isn't the Father, and cannot be unless we throw out all logic and grammar. Besides that, simply look at all that Jesus says here:
"Do you not believe that
I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you
I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works."
"Believe
me that
I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."
Everything about this passage speaks of the Father and Son being distinct. And why stop there, why not include verse 12:
Joh 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because
I am going to the Father. (ESV)
Clearly distinct persons. We can continue with verse 16 and see the distinctness of the Holy Spirit:
Joh 14:16 And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Helper, to be with you forever, (ESV)
"Another Helper." Logically that can only mean one who is neither the Father nor the Son.
Just to be sure about the Father and the Son, we can look at verse 20:
Joh 14:20 In that day you will know that
I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. (ESV)
Here is the same language used in verses 10 and 11, yet it speaks not only of the Father and the Son, but of believers. Are we then to believe that we will all become one person with the Father, and so affirm panentheism or nirvana? Of course not. We understand it to mean that there is some sort of mutual indwelling of Christ in believers and believers in Christ, just as there is of the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. We are not one and the same with Jesus and neither is, or was, he one and the same with the Father.
