John 10:30

 

 

I and my father are one. (KJV)

 

By

 

Biblical Unitarian

 

1. There is no reason to take this verse to mean that Christ was saying that he and the Father make up "one God." The phrase was a common one, and even today if someone used it, people would know exactly what he meant - he and his father are very much alike. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about his ministry there, he said that he had planted the seed and Apollos had watered it. Then he said, "he who plants and he who waters are one" (1 Cor. 3:8 - KJV). In the Greek texts, the wording of Paul is the same as that in John 10:30, yet no one claims that Paul and Apollos make up "one being." Furthermore, the NIV translates 1 Corinthians 3:8 as "he who plants and he who waters have one purpose." Why translate the phrase as "are one" in one place, but as "have one purpose" in another place? In this case, translating the same phrase in two different ways obscures the clear meaning of Christ's statement in John 10:30: Christ always did the Father's will; he and God have "one purpose."

2. Christ uses the concept of "being one" in other places, and from them one can see that "one purpose" is what is meant. John 11:52 says Jesus was to die to make all God's children "one." In John 17:11, 21 and 22, Jesus prayed to God that his followers would be "one" as he and God were "one." We think it is obvious that Jesus was not praying that all his followers would become one being or "substance" just as he and his Father were one being or "substance." We believe the meaning is clear: Jesus was praying that all his followers be one in purpose just as he and God were one in purpose, a prayer that has not yet been answered.

3. The context of John 10:30 shows conclusively that Jesus was referring to the fact that he had the same purpose as God did. Jesus was speaking about his ability to keep the "sheep," the believers, who came to him. He said that no one could take them out of his hand and that no one could take them out of his Father's hand. Then he said that he and the Father were "one," i.e., had one purpose, which was to keep and protect the sheep.

Buzzard, pp. 135 and 136

Farley, pp. 60 and 61

Morgridge, pp. 39-42

 

Source: http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=102

 

 

John 10:30

 

By

 

Wrested Scriptures

 

 

John 10:30

"I and my Father are one."

Problem:

This passage is understood by trinitarians to be a clear assertion that Christ claimed to be a person within the Godhead.

Solution:

1. Jesus said, "I and my Father are one' but the Jews misunderstood him, thinking he was claiming to be equal with God. (vs. 33). Trinitarians make the same mistake. The oneness referred to, is not a declaration by Christ that he is "Very God", but rather unity of purpose. Consider the evidence:
   1. Jesus subsequently prayed for his disciples, "that they may be one, as we are." (John 17:11, 21). These words require that the unity referred to, be also extended to the disciples. Obviously the unity is not that of the powers of the Godhead but unity resulting from sanctification through the word of God. (John 17:14, 17, 18).
   2. See also John 17:22, 23: ". . . that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one . . ." Likewise, these words require a relationship between the disciples and Christ which exists between the Son and his Father - a unity, or perfection with the divine purpose.
2. Elsewhere in John's gospel, Jesus clearly affirms that he is not co-equal with the Father: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do." (John 5:19); "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30); "My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28).
3. John Calvin, the Swiss Protestant reformer, made the following observation regarding John 10:30: "The ancients greatly perverted this passage, when they would prove from it, that Christ is of identically the same nature (or consubstantial) with the Father.  For Christ speaks not concerning an unity of substance; but of the mutual agreement between the Father and himself; to wit, affirming, that, whatsoever he does, would be sanctioned by the power of the Father."

 

Source: http://www.wrestedscriptures.com/b08trinity/john10v30.html

 

 

 

 

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