Title: “I and My Father Are One”: The Divine Confession of Jesus Christ
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute
Abstract
In John 10:30, Jesus declares, “I and My Father are one.” This statement, though brief, is theologically profound and theologically revolutionary. It was this claim that provoked the Jews to attempt to stone Him, perceiving it as blasphemy — a man making Himself God (John 10:33). This article examines the theological, linguistic, and historical context of Jesus’ declaration, establishing that His words were not metaphorical or symbolic of mere unity of purpose but were a direct confession of His divine nature and ontological oneness with God the Father.
1. Introduction
The divinity of Jesus Christ stands as the cornerstone of Christian theology. The identity of Jesus as Theos (God) has been debated since the early days of the Church, yet the Johannine narrative presents an unambiguous portrayal of Christ’s divine identity. In John 10:30, the Greek text reads: “ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν” (“Ego kai ho Patēr hen esmen”) — literally, “I and the Father are one.” This declaration was neither an expression of cooperation nor unity of mission alone; it was a profound assertion of homoousios — equality of essence with the Father.
2. The Immediate Context: Reaction of the Jews
The immediate reaction of Jesus’ audience confirms the divine implications of His statement. John 10:31–33 records:
“Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ They answered, ‘We are not stoning you for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’”
The Jewish leaders, steeped in monotheistic belief (Deuteronomy 6:4), recognized the gravity of Jesus’ claim. Their accusation of blasphemy reveals that they fully understood Jesus’ assertion as a claim to divine equality, not merely unity of purpose.
3. Linguistic and Theological Analysis
The key word in this verse is “hen” (ἕν), the neuter form of the Greek numeral “one.” The choice of the neuter form (not the masculine “heis”) indicates oneness in essence or nature rather than in person. Jesus was not saying, “I am the Father,” but rather, “The Father and I share the same divine substance.”
This aligns with the doctrine later articulated in the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), which declared the Son as “homoousios tō Patri” — “of one substance with the Father.” Hence, the early Church Fathers correctly interpreted John 10:30 as a foundational text affirming the consubstantial nature of the Son with the Father.
4. Old Testament Parallels and Theological Continuity
The Old Testament establishes God as the sole shepherd of Israel (Psalm 23:1; Ezekiel 34:11–16). Yet in John 10:11, Jesus claims, “I am the Good Shepherd.” This is a direct appropriation of Yahweh’s divine role, making Jesus’ identity as the divine Shepherd unmistakable.
Furthermore, Isaiah 43:11 declares, “I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.” Yet in John 4:42 and Luke 2:11, Jesus is called “the Savior of the world.” These texts, taken together, establish an unbroken theological continuity between the Yahweh of Israel and the Jesus of the Gospels.
5. Christological Implications
By declaring His oneness with the Father, Jesus revealed the mystery of the Trinity — one divine essence subsisting in three distinct Persons. This understanding was later crystallized in Trinitarian theology. The Apostle Paul echoes this divine equality in Philippians 2:6, where Christ, “being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped.”
Similarly, in John 14:9, Jesus tells Philip, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” Such statements transcend mere prophetic or moral identification with God — they reveal ontological unity.
The Nicene and Chalcedonian Fathers consistently cited John 10:30 as incontrovertible evidence of Christ’s deity. Athanasius, in his Orations Against the Arians (III.4), wrote:
“For the Son is not merely like the Father, but one with the Father, the same in essence, and the same God.”
6. The Witness of the Apostles
The apostolic testimony consistently affirms Jesus’ divine identity:
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John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
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Colossians 2:9: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
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Hebrews 1:3: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
Thus, the confession of Jesus in John 10:30 finds corroboration across the New Testament corpus, harmonizing with the apostolic understanding of His eternal and divine nature.
7. Conclusion
When Jesus said, “I and My Father are one,” He was not speaking as a prophet identifying with God’s mission but as God Himself declaring His ontological unity with the Father. His words caused outrage among the Jews precisely because they understood His divine claim. The statement stands as an explicit confession of divinity — a self-revelation of God incarnate.
In the person of Jesus Christ, the invisible God became visible, the eternal Word took on flesh, and the Shepherd of Israel walked among His sheep. The words of John 10:30 remain the cornerstone of Christian confession: that Jesus is not merely the Son of God but God the Son — coequal, coeternal, and consubstantial with the Father.
References
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The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.
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Athanasius of Alexandria. Orations Against the Arians. Translated by John Henry Newman. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. IV.
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Augustine of Hippo. Tractates on the Gospel of John. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. VII.
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Calvin, John. Commentary on the Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949.
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Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020.
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Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), in Creeds of Christendom, edited by Philip Schaff.
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Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.
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Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.
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