Bible This Saturday John 10:30 I and my father are one. (KJV) Of all the verses in the Bible which Christians mostly used in trying to convince us that Jesus was God was I and my father are one this is according to them to imply that God and Jesus were one and the same person. That Jesus here claims to be God..... But does it really conveyed the message of what the Christians wanted us to believe? Lets look at it. 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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let us quote here the whole context in order to expound further what is said above. To begin with, we start reading John 10:23-36 ESV 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. {John, or whoever he was, who wrote this story, does not tell us the reason for Jesus tempting the Devil by walking alone in the lions den. For we do not expect the Jews to miss a golden opportunity to get even with Jesus. Perhaps,he was emboldened by the manner in which he had literally whipped the Jews single-handed in the Temple, and upset the tables of the money changers at the beginning of his ministry (John 2:15). } 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. { They surrounded him. Brandishing their fingers in his face, they began accusing him and provoking him; saying that he had not put forth his claim plainly enough,clearly enough. That he was talking ambiguously. They were trying to work themselves into a frenzy to assault him. In fact, their real complaint was that they did not like his method of preaching, his invectives, the manner in which he condemned them for their formalism, their ceremonialism, their going for the letter of the law and forgetting the spirit. But Jesus could not afford to provoke them any further there were too many and they were itching for a fight. Discretion is the better part of valor. In a conciliatory spirit, befitting the occasion: } 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Fathers name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. { Jesus rebuts the false charge of his enemies that he was ambiguous in his claims to being the Messiah that they were waiting for. He says that he did tell them clearly enough, yet they would not listen to him, but: } 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand. { How can anyone be so blind as not to see the exactness of the ending of the last two verses. But spiritual blinkers are more impervious than physical defects. He is telling the Jews and recording for posterity, the real unity or relationship between the Father and the son. The most crucial verse: } 30 I and the Father are one. { One in what? In their Omniscience? In their Nature? In their Omnipotence? No! One in purpose!That once a believer has accepted faith, the Messenger sees to it that here mains in faith, and God Almighty also sees to it that he remains in faith.This is the purpose of the Father and the son and theHoly Ghost and of every man and every woman of faith. Let the same John explain his Gnostic mystic verbiage. That they all may be one as thou. Father, art in me,and I in thee, that they also may be one in us... I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one...(John 17:20-22) If Jesus is one with God, and if thatoneness makes him God, then the traitor Judas, and the doubting Thomas, and the satanic Peter, plus the other nine who deserted him when he was most in need are God(s), because the same onenesswhich he claimed with God in John 10:30, now he claims for all who forsook him and fled (Mark14:50). All ye of little faith (Matthew 8:26). All O faithless and perverse generation (Luke 9:41). Where and when will the Christian blasphemy end? The expression I and my Father are one,was very innocent, meaning nothing more than a common purpose with God. But the Jews were looking for trouble and any excuse will not do, therefore, } 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. { In verse 24 above the Jews falsely alleged that Jesus was talking ambiguously. When that charge was ably refuted, they then accused him of blasphemy which is like treason in the spiritual realm. So they say that Jesus is claiming to be God I and the Father are one. The Christians agree with the Jews in this that Jesus did make such a claim; but differ in that it was not blasphemy because the Christians say that he was God and was entitled to own up to his Divinity. The Christians and the Jews are both agreed that the utterance is serious. To one as an excuse for good redemption, and to the other as an excuse for goodriddance. Between the two, let the poor Jesus die. But Jesus refuses to co-operate in this game, so: } 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, I said, you are gods? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God? { Why Your Law? He is a bit sarcastic in verse 34, but in any event, why does he say: Your Law?Is it not also his Law? Didnt he say: Think not that I am come to destroy the Law of the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill (the Law). For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one Jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled.(Matthew 5:1718). You are Gods You are gods: He is obviously quoting from the 82nd Psalm , verse 6, I have said, ye are gods: and all of you are the children of the most High. Jesus, continues:If he (i.e. God Almighty) called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (meaning that the prophets of God were called gods) and the scripture cannot be broken... (John 10:35), in other words he is saying: you cant contradict me! Jesus knows his Scripture; he speaks with authority;and he reasons with his enemies that: If good men, holy men, prophets of God are being addressed as gods in our Books of Authority, with which you find no fault, then why do you take exception to me? When the only claim I make for myself is far inferior in our language, viz. A son of God as against others being called gods by God Himself. Even if I (Jesus) described myself as god in our language, according to Hebrew usage, you could find no fault with me. This is the plain reading of Christian Scripture. I am giving no interpretations of my own or some esoteric meaning to words! }
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 05:03:32 +0000
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