What did Jesus mean when He said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30)?

And in John 10, the One whom the Jews were about to stone claims equality with God—equality in purpose, equality in power, and equality in love.

Let us weigh well the 30th verse. "I and the Father are one." It is "I" and the (not my) Father, not the Eternal Son and the Father, not the Word and the Father, but "I"—the One who stood before them—and the Father are one; not one in Person, but, as the neuter is used, one in essence, and primarily here, from the context, one in power and care of the sheep.

Who could separate here His divine and His human natures? How could He use the word "I" if there was not absolutely in Him an indivisible and abiding union of both natures in one Person—" God and man, one Christ?"

Could love assure its objects of more? His love would impart to them the certainty of His own deepest joy, His Father's love as sure as His own; and so He closes His communication with it. "My Father Who hath given to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to seize out of the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one." Here we rise into that height of holy love and infinite power of which none could speak but the Son; and He speaks of the secrets of Godhead with the intimate familiarity proper to the Only-begotten Who is in the Father's bosom. He needed none to testify of man, for He knew what was in man, being Himself God; and He knew what was in God for the self-same reason. Heaven or earth made no difference, time or eternity. Not a creature is unapparent before Him, but all things are naked and laid bare in His eyes with Whom we have to do. And He declares that the Father Who had made the gift resists all that can threaten harm, and as He has given to Christ, so He is greater than all, and none can seize out of His hand. Indeed, the Son and the Father are one, not one Person (which ἐσμεν with every other Scripture bearing on it, refutes), but one thing, ἓν, one Divine nature or essence (as other Scriptures equally prove). The lowliest of men, the Shepherd of the sheep, He is the Son of the Father, true God and eternal life. And He and the Father are not more truly one in Divine essence than in the fellowship of Divine love for the sheep.

But further, He said: "My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." This is the hand of everlasting love. Then He added, "I and My Father are one." Almighty power and everlasting love are one, and they must be divorced before a sheep of Christ's can perish. The Father and the Son are one, and that eternal unity must be dissolved before the feeblest lamb of Christ's flock can be lost. How secure in this double grip are all those who can say, "The Lord is my Shepherd!" They may add with glad certainty, as David did, the assured result of this blessed fact: "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

"Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." How safe the sheep are! No enemy can reach them there in His hand. Nor is it the good sheep alone which are grasped by and held in the secure hand of their omnipotent Saviour — all the sheep are equally maintained by divine power; all are equally safe. He will hold me fast. "My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all." v. 29. Believers are the Father's gift to the Son, and this very fact in itself ensures the resurrection of every one given to the Son (John 6:37-40; John 17:24).

"No man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." We are in the hand of the Son (v. 28), and in the hand of the Father (v. 29). "Kept by the power of God." 1 Peter 1:5. Our eternal security is in other and more powerful hands than our own. Then comes the climax to this marvelous statement about our present and eternal safety: "I and My Father are one" (v. 30): one in divine nature and one in purpose to keep the blood-bought sheep (Acts 20:28; Matt. 16:18).

Having put a sentence of condemnation upon them, He added words of the greatest comfort and assurance for the benefit of His own sheep. On their side they hear His voice and follow Him. On His side He knows them and gives them eternal life. This ensures that they shall never perish as under God's judgment, nor can any created power seize them out of the Shepherd's hand. This assurance is reinforced by the perfect oneness subsisting between the Son and the Father. The Son had taken the subject place on earth and the Father remained "greater than all" in heaven, but this did not militate against Their oneness. Being in the hand of the Son involved being in the hand of the Father, and the purpose of the Godhead in securing the sheep is guaranteed by both the Son and the Father. The same glorious fact confronts us in that great passage, Romans 8:29-39.

These words moved the Jews to murderous intentions. They did not understand their drift, but they did see that in saying, "I and the Father are one," He was claiming equality with God. It might have been slightly less offensive had He put the Father first by saying, "The Father and I;" but no, it was "I and the Father." This was intolerable to them, for there was no mistaking the drift of such words as these. To them it was atrocious blasphemy — a man making himself God. We accept His words in the spirit of worship, for we know He was truly God, yet had made Himself Man. We reverse the terms of their accusation and find in it soul-saving truth.

In a further discourse of the same chapter our Lord explains to the Jews why they refused all evidence and witness. "But ye believe not, because ye are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give to them life eternal; and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand. My Father who hath given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to seize out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one" (vers. 26-30). Here indefeasible security is assured: neither inner failure nor outer force could jeopardise their life; it is maintained by the Father and the Son, who were not more truly one in divine nature than in loving care for the sheep.

Finally, we learn that the sheep are the objects of the common care of the Father and the Son. They are held by the Son from Whose hand none can seize them; held, too, by the Father Who has given the sheep to Christ, and is manifestly greater than all others. If the Father and the Son are one in their love for the sheep, so too they are one in divine nature or essence. Thus the Lord can say, "I and the Father are one". Here the glory of His Person again shines forth, and we learn that the lowly Shepherd of the sheep, Who came to serve the sheep and carry out the will of the Father, is none other than the Eternal Son, a divine Person Who is One with the Father.

John 10:31. The Jews rightly interpret the Lord's words as the assertion of His Deity; but being infuriated that One Who was truly and manifestly a Man should claim to be God, they "took up stones again to stone Him".

John 10:32. In perfect calmness the Lord appeals to the many good works that He had shewed them from the Father. He thus connects His works with the Father as a proof that He had come from the Father. Had they then any fault to find with those works that manifest the goodness of the Father and the glory of Christ as the Son?

The claim to be one with the Father involves His Deity. The Lord can say "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). At once His enemies reply, "Thou being a Man makest Thyself God." The truth indeed is, that He being God became Man, but at least they rightly recognise that One using such words is laying claim to Deity.

"We are One," ἕν, neuter. It is not one in will or purpose only, for this in the case of Jesus might still be frustrated, but that will and power coalesce in the person of the Speaker. In these verses the distinction of Persons and unity of Nature alike come out. See, further, John 12:45, John 14:9 f., John 17:21, and cf. Heb. 1:3. The Sabellian and Patripassian (Swedenborgian) theory breaks down when faced with the words: the Father and JESUS are not one "Person", whilst the one nature contradicts Arians (Socinians). The contemporary Jews understood the Lord's statement, whilst their descendants and "Unitarians" miss its meaning.

Then He speaks further, about no one plucking them out of His hand, nor out of His Father’s hand. “Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Their united interest and purpose is to care for and keep the sheep.