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Yahshua & the Father's Oneness

Phil Maxwell  12/22/02

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are one. (Jn 10:29-30)

In the absence of any direct claims of being God Himself, some argue that Yahshua’s claim to being one with His Father amounts to the same thing.  In other words, this argument interprets the words of Jn.10:30 as ‘I and the Father are one and the same.’ 

However, such an interpretation grossly misrepresents Yahshua’s words.  Both the context and the construction of the sentence itself make it clear that the subject is plural, not singular; it is both He and His Father that are one.  The obvious point is to illuminate the union or relationship between the two, not eliminate the distinction between them.  

The absurdity of the claims that Yahshua meant this as ‘one and the same’ rather than two or more united as one is evident in further comments He made on the subject as He prayed for His followers: 

Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.  …I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity [one], that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. (Jn 17:11, 20-23)

Clearly, any argument to the effect that Yahshua’s claim to be one with the Father equals a claim to deity must also conclude that all those who believe in Him are God as well.  Of course, that is unacceptable, just as the argument itself is.

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