John 10:30, "I and the Father are one"

The meaning of John 10:30, “I and the Father are one”

Not only did Jesus say, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), he prayed to the Father for those that are his disciples, “that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11) and for those who will believe through their word, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:21) and, “that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” (John 17:22-23)

Saying “I and the Father are one” is equivalent to saying “the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:30 + John 10:37) While Jesus prayed for us to all be one he also prayed for us to be in the Father saying, “just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.” (John 17:21) And, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” (John 17:22-23) Earlier in John, when Jesus speaks of the day when the Holy Spirit will given, he alludes to the same sense of oneness when he said, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. (John 14:20) The concept of the Father being in us and us being in the Father is also a major theme of the first epistle of John. The following verses in 1 John shed further light on how the author wants us to understand this concept of being one:

• Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (1John 2:24)
• And now, little children, abide in him… everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1John 2:28-29)
• And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (1John 3:23-24)
• No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1John 4:12)
• By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1John 4:13)
• So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1John 4:16)

It is in this context that we should understand what Jesus meant in John 14:9-11 when he said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father. 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.” So we see that Jesus was not claiming to be God but was claiming to be “one with the Father” as a servant and representative of God. In the same sense that Jesus was “one with the Father,” we are to be “one with the Father”. The Father is to be in us in the same sense that the Father was in Christ. We are to be in the Father in the same sense that Jesus was in the Father. God our Father, Jesus and us – we are all to be in each other. (John 17:21) We are all to be perfectly one. (John 17:23)

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