John 10:30
If you are given the option to master one doctrine of Christianity, what will it be or what should it be? I believe the subject of the divinity of Jesus Christ should be that one doctrine every Christian should master. Because as a believer, one of the constant arguments against your faith you are going to encounter in your lifetime is about the divinity of Jesus that he is God. Jehovah Witnesses reject that claims. Mormons reject it. And Islam reject it. And others also reject this very idea of the divinity of Jesus Christ. So you will have to master it, understand it, internalise it and be able to give a defense of it when required. The apostle Peter admonishes believers to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in them if anyone asks (1 Peter 3:15).
Now the verse we read is a verse that speaks to the divinity of Jesus. It is a statement of Jesus’ Claim To Divinity (You can write that as our title for today). In this verse, Jesus declares he is God: “I and the Father are one” And the Jews clearly understood what Jesus was saying. They were going to stone him for blasphemy (vv. 31-33). Look at the words of the verse 31: “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.” That word again tells us this is a repeat action. They have attempted to do it before when Jesus had made similar statement about who he is. You can flip back to John 8 where Jesus told them before Abraham was I am.
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (John 8:56-59).
Constantly, Jesus in his ministry has been facing opposition about his claim to be God. They wanted to stone him but he hid himself. That is the same reaction to his statement “I and the Father are One”
Now in what ways does Jesus’ statement prove he is God?
Equality In Person
Jesus is Equal With The Father: Observe that the Jews who were the direct audience of Jesus clearly understood him when he spoke. Jesus asked them, why do you want to stone me (v.32). They clearly understood he was saying he is God (vv. 33). If Jesus didn’t mean what they understood him to be saying, you will have expected that Jesus will tell them, guys, look you totally misunderstood what I said, I am not saying I am God. That is not what Jesus did right? He pressed on to reinforce their understanding. He said yes, that’s what I really am. And went on further to answer them (vv. 34-38).
Note some markers in Jesus’ response. In verse 36, he describes himself as the Son of God. That phrase points as to his divine persons as the second person of the Trinity who was sent into the world by the Father. You will notice how he speaks of the Father sending him: “do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming” Jesus was sent into the world by the Father. It is in that sense he is The Son of God. He proceedeth from the Father. He was begotten by the Father, that is to say, he shares the sa from the Father. A line from the Nicene creed says: “begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father” This statement means that Jesus is of the same substance as the Father. That is, they possess the same essence. That fact is very clear in the last phrase of verse 38: “the Father is in me and I am in the Father”
There is a shared nature between the Father and Son. Yet distinct persons. That’s primarily the doctrine of the Trinity
Now this is the catholic faith: that we worship One God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding their persons nor dividing the essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another. and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immeasurable. the Son is immeasurable, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal beings; there is but one eternal being )Athanasian Creed, Paragraph 3-11)
Talking about equality with the Father, you may have read a Scripture where Jesus said the Father is Greater than him
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I (John 14:28).
What do we make of statements like this where Jesus seem to be saying the Father is greater than him? Is there authority within the Godhead? No, there is no authority in the divine person. The Father is not more God than the Son and The Holy Spirit. They are all One in being. So anytime you meet a text that seem to appear Jesus is submitting to the Father, it is to be seen as his human nature.
If the son is said in any passage to be inferior to the Father, and to work by the power of the Father, such passage only shows that there is something in Christ besides the divine nature, that is, the human nature, according to which he is inferior to the Father and also that there is a certain order of operation between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and a kind of economy; but it is by no means proves that Christ, as God, is inferior to the Father (Benedict Pictet)
Equality In Purpose
In the Trinity or in the Godhead, there are not separate wills or purpose. The Father is not working towards his purpose and the Son working towards his. And the Holy Spirit working towards His. There is unity of purpose. There is one will. Father and Son work together in unison. They don’t work independently (vv.32;37).
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[e] does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will (John 5:19-21)
Every work of God in the salvation of sinners is a Trinitarian work. The Father purposed to save sinners. The Son carried out that plan by dying to save sinners. The Holy Spirit regenerates sinners to believe in the Son work. Salvation is Trinitarian.
Equality in Power
I want to bring something to your attention. Look at the verse 28 & 29. You will notice that what the son does is what the Father does. The son is holding you. Nobody can snatch you from his hands. The Father is also holding you. This points to a shared power in keeping you secure. You will notice also that in verse 29 Jesus addresses the Father as greater than all. Then immediately after v.30 follows: “I an the Father are One”. This tells us that greatness just spoken of is a shared greatness.
Conclusion/Application
Dear friends if Jesus is God and he is, he must be worshipped. He must be obeyed. He must be adored. And he must be believed in. God himself has saved us.
See the Holiness of God demands a perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of humanity. And only God is perfect. Therefore he took upon himself the form of a human being to save us from our sins. That’s what Philippians teaches
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8)
Our salvation is secured by God himself in Jesus. And all blessings are made available to you through Christ. He provides for you (v.10); He is your Shepherd and died to save you (vv.11;14;17); you are secured in his hands (vv.28-29). You and I are children of God because of Christ who is God
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