I and My Father are One

John 10:29-30.

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.

When I did a lot of work with children in my younger years, when I still had the energy, I would often illustrate this passage very simply. I would put a small object in my hand, like a coin or a piece of candy. I would tell the children, “I’m holding up my hand, and let’s pretend it is God’s hand. See this coin? I’m going to put it in my hand, and let’s pretend that coin is each of you. Now I’m closing my fingers around the coin. I want someone to come up here and try to take it out of my hand.”

It wouldn’t be too long before some little six-or-seven-year-old would confidently come forward to open my fist and retrieve the coin, which he could then keep.

I was young and strong back then. No child could force my fingers open. (I would usually give the coin to the child anyway 🙂 )

Then I would tell them, “This is what Jesus meant when He said no one could take His sheep out of the hand of the Father. The Father is stronger than sin, death, and Satan. Once you believe in Him and become one of His sheep, you are safe forever, closed securely in His hand.”

And then I would explain Jesus’ next sentence: “I and the Father are One.”

Jesus was God in the flesh. He was the Son of God. They were the same. That which was held by Jesus was held by God. There was no difference, no separation, between Jesus and the Father.

This truth is taught in the very first verse of Genesis, and all throughout scripture.

“In the beginning, God (Elohim, plural, not singular) created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). The singular form is Eloah, or El. It refers to a monotheistic Being, but is plural in grammatical terms, indicating a plural Being. Later, God says “Let US create man in OUR own image,” again indicating a plurality within one Being (Gen. 1:26).

In today’s passage, we hear Jesus clearly stating that He and the Father are One, again teaching the plurality of the Godhead.

Do I understand it? No. Do I believe it? Yes, absolutely. God said it, and that settles it. Hebrews 11:1. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” The study of this one major point of the Christian faith could last a lifetime, so deep is His Word; and yet, so simple that even a child can believe it.