20 Why Jesus said “I and the Father are One” (John 10:22-42)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Thanks for making Wednesday in the Word a part of your day. Today is the 20th talk in our series on the Gospel of John. We will be studying John chapter 10, verses 22 through 42. In this season of the podcast, we've been focusing on the big picture of the Gospel of John. So we've been taking whole chapters and large sections. Instead of going through the details of each verse, we're looking at the overarching themes in the Gospel. As we've seen, John has been arguing that eternal life comes to those who believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's also been exploring the issues that surround belief, such as the importance of evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the importance of testimony, and the dynamics of belief and unbelief. Last week we looked at the first half of this chapter, which finished the discussion that started after Jesus healed a man who was born blind. Now we've come to a new section. John jumps ahead about two to three months in the timeline and picks up the story at the Feast of Dedication. That was a feast that lasted about eight days and took place in the middle of December. Let's start with chapter ten twenty two to twenty four. At that time the feast of dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. 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. Let's start with a little background. This feast arose after the close of the Old Testament and before the coming of John the Baptist. Let me just review a little bit of biblical history for you. The exile of the Jews ended when the Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon and then issued an edict that let the exiles return to Judah and begin rebuilding the temple. That's the state of affairs when the Old Testament closes. The Jews are back in the land, they've rebuilt the temple, they've rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but they are under Persian rule. Persian rule was ended by Alexander the Great, who basically conquered the world from England to India. When Alexander the Great died, he left no successor. His kingdom was plunged into a bloody civil war, which eventually ended when they divided it up into four separate kingdoms. Palestine became a battleground for Syria and Egypt, who both wanted to tax it and use it as a buffer zone between them. Eventually Palestine was annexed to Egypt, which brought some peace and security to Israel. But then in about 198 BC, the Seleucid dynasty, led by Antiochus III, defeated Egypt, and they took control of Palestine, annexing it to their territory, which was basically Syria. In 169 BC, Antiochus IV, or Antiochus Epiphanes, sacked and burned the city of Jerusalem, plundered the temple, and massacred many of the Jewish people. He made keeping the Sabbath, circumcision, and possessing the Torah punishable by death. Eventually the Jews revolted under a man named Judas Maccabees. Israel finally gained independence from the king of Syria, and Judas Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the temple. The feast of dedication commemorates that event and it's the source of the festival of Hanukkah. And this was a feast that could be celebrated at home. Jews didn't have to travel to Jerusalem to participate. So this event we're looking at now takes place during that feast. Jesus is walking along the temple grounds when he's surrounded by Jews, most likely the Jewish leaders. I suspect these are the Pharisees, and they demand that Jesus tell them plainly whether or not he is the Messiah. Jesus has been very careful about using the term Messiah to describe his role. We see him speak plainly to his disciples. We see him speak plainly to individuals like the woman at the well or the blind man, for example, but when he's out in public, he resists proclaiming himself as the Messiah. I think he's being prudent. Many people didn't understand what it meant for him to be the Messiah. The popular view was that the Messiah would come as a warrior king who would drive the hated Romans out of the land and reestablish the throne of David. Well that is not what Jesus came to do and he knows it. He avoids publicly calling himself the Messiah because he doesn't want to get a political revolution going. I suspect the Jews questioning him here are trying to lay some kind of trap for him. If he answers plainly, Yes, I am the Messiah, they can run to the Roman governor and accuse him of being a revolutionary, something Rome is not likely to tolerate. And if he says, No, I'm not the Messiah, then they can try to discredit him with the people. Well, this is how Jesus answers. This is chapter ten verses twenty five through thirty one. Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Now again we can see some familiar themes here. We see the theme of testimony and belief. Jesus claims he's already told them plainly he's the Messiah. How has he done that? He's called himself the Son of Man. He's claimed to have the authority to forgive sins, to grant eternal life, and to raise people from the dead. But most importantly, he has performed miracles. God has testified that Jesus is the Messiah by the miracles or the works that Jesus performs. As we saw in the last chapter, only God can heal a man who was born blind, and now Jesus has done that. But they don't believe he's the Messiah because they don't want to believe it. They're not part of his sheep. They refuse to believe the evidence right before their eyes. And as we've talked about, why did they reject Jesus? Because all of us start out rejecting God. All of us begin with a hard heart that refuses to believe him. But God in his grace shows mercy on some of us. He opens our eyes to the truth so that we see and believe. When Jesus, our good shepherd, speaks, we recognize he is speaking the truth and we run to him. Now here again, Jesus claims to have the ability to grant eternal life. His sheep will never perish because he has the ability to grant life. He uses a strong double negative here. It's translated literally something like, They shall not never be destroyed. The idea is no one can snatch them out of Jesus' hands. Then to make the promise even stronger, he says the Father has given his sheep to Jesus, the Father's even greater, and no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand. Well, why add that? I think Jesus may be hinting that even if you wolves here killed me, the shepherd, my sheep will not be lost. Even if you end up destroying me, nothing will keep me from giving eternal life to my children because the Father is still holding on to them. When Jesus decides to lay down his life for the sheep, his father is still protecting them. And notice we don't hold on to Jesus or the Father. The Father and Jesus are the ones doing the holding. We are being held by them and they will never let us go. Nothing and no one can ever make them let go. Our Savior not only saves us, he keeps us safe. If it were left to us, we would fall away from the faith and perish. But Jesus promises that he will keep all of his sheep secure, no one can rip them away from him. In talking about this concept, R. C. Sproul used this analogy. Imagine a child walking along a dangerous path holding on to his father's hand. It's appropriate for us to encourage the child to hang on tight. But ultimately, we know the child won't fall because the father is holding on to the child's hand and the father won't let go. We are secure not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because Jesus and the Father hold tightly to us. Still, we may appropriately encourage each other to hang on. Now in 1030, Jesus makes the famous claim I and the Father are one. Many, many pages have been written about whether this is a claim to deity or not. As a question of Bible study, I would argue that we are imposing that question on the text. We come looking to the text to the answer to the question is Jesus God? Is Jesus the second person of the Trinity? But that's a question in our minds. That is not a question on author John's mind. Based on what we know of his themes and given this context, it doesn't seem to be a question on Jesus' mind either. I would argue that Jesus is not trying to answer that question, and that we have to twist and torture the context to make that idea fit. If we had no concept of the Trinity, or if we had no interest in proving it true or false one way or the other, would we look at this conversation and say, oh, you know, the most straightforward way of understanding this verse is Jesus is saying he's God. I don't think we would. Now just to be clear, I have no hidden agenda. I am not interested in undermining the divinity of Jesus. I have no desire whatsoever to refute the Orthodox view of the Trinity. That is not my goal. My goal is always to understand this verse in context. Having done that, having understood the verse in context, then I think we can ask the next question: what does that teach us about whether or not Jesus is divine or the second person of the Trinity? And I would argue that question is secondary to understanding the context. That's a question of deriving doctrine. I bring all this up because part of my goal is not only to tell you what I think the passage means, but to explain how we figure it out. So as an exercise in learning how to figure it out, let's put the question of the Trinity and is Jesus God on hold. And instead, let's look at the context and try to answer the question, what has Jesus said about his oneness with God up to this point? Well, in the immediate context, he has been talking about their oneness with respect to the sheep. Look at the flow of thought. The Jews ask, tell us plainly, are you the Messiah or not? And Jesus answers, I've told you plainly by the miracles that I do, but you refuse to believe me because you don't want to believe. You are not part of my people, you're not part of my sheep. My sheep, my people, hear my voice. I know who they are, they follow me. When I speak, they recognize the truth. They recognize me because they have been born again by the Spirit of God. I have the authority to grant them eternal life so that they never perish, and no one can change that. No one can get in my way. My Father gave these people to me. He sent his spirit to open their eyes and ears so that they recognize my voice as the voice of truth. No one can undo that. Once God gives his spirit, no one else can take it away. Once God reveals the truth to someone, no one can snatch it away from them. Neither one of us will let go of any of the sheep. We both agree on who's part of the sheep and who isn't. We both know our sheep. No one can snatch the sheep away from either of us. Now, he didn't say it exactly like that. I'm paraphrasing and filling in my theological understanding of what he means when he said all this. Having said that, why does he then add, I and the Father are one? Well, Jesus could be saying, This is all true because I am God. The Father and I are one in the sense that we have the same divine being and I am the second person of the Trinity. That's possible. Or Jesus could be saying, This is all true because the Father and I are in complete agreement. I am the Messiah. Like the eldest son speaks for his father, I represent God to you. When I speak, it's as if you are hearing God the Father speak because I am his Messiah, his authoritative spokesman. I speak for God, and you know this is true because God has testified it is true by my works. Well, it seems to me that the latter, that Jesus is saying he's the Messiah, makes more sense in the immediate context. But now let's look at the farther context. What has Jesus said about oneness up to this point in John's Gospel? Well, if you go back and review, you'll see Jesus has had quite a lot to say about it. Let's go back to chapter five. Remember when Jesus healed the lame man on the Sabbath, Jesus claims this. This is 519. 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 does, that the Son does likewise. So he's just healed a man on the Sabbath, and he says he's only doing the will of the Father. He's doing the will of the one who sent him. If his father heals on the Sabbath, then Jesus heals on the Sabbath. The Son only does what he sees his father doing. He isn't some cowboy out to make a name for himself. He's the eldest son of his father, he represents his father, he carries out his father's wishes, and the activity he does is what God would want him to do. So they are one in that sense, that the Son does nothing on his own initiative, he does only what the Father asks him to do. Jesus also said this in chapter five, this is twenty one and twenty two. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. Now you notice he speaks of the authority to give eternal life both here in chapter ten and also back in chapter five. He said, The Father has authority over life and death, and he has given that authority to Jesus. In his mercy, God the Father decided to create a way to forgive his fallen sinful people and reconcile them to himself. That plan is the Messiah. He planned that he would save his people through the work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. God decided that the Messiah would come and bring both judgment and salvation, and how we respond to Jesus determines whether we receive the gift of eternal life or not. We will be judged by whether we accept or reject Jesus. Therefore, Jesus has the authority to grant us eternal life based on whether we accept or reject him, and that's what's behind all this talk about no one is able to snatch his sheep out of his hand. Here we see another kind of oneness. Both the Father and the Son judge, both the Father and the Son grant eternal life. The Father has given that authority to his son. And one more thing we saw in John 5. Remember why the Father gave judgment to his son? This is going on in the next couple verses 522 and 23. For the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Well that's a pretty amazing statement for the God of Israel, who put in the Ten Commandments, You shall have no other gods before me. We are to worship God and God alone. And you'll also remember he told Isaiah in chapter 42 that he won't share his glory with anyone, any false gods or idols. And then here in John 523, we hear, The Father judges no one, he's given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. So here we're told God shares his honor. He shares his glory with the Son, the Messiah. And once again, this is testimony that Jesus is not a false prophet. So we see this kind of oneness of glory and honor. You'll remember back in the prologue to the gospel, John said, No one has seen the Father, only the Son has seen the Father, and the Son came into the world to make the Father known. If you want to know and understand the God of Israel, you have to know and understand Jesus. You can no longer know and understand the God of Israel without also knowing and understanding the Messiah. God has chosen to reveal Himself through the Messiah. God has chosen to grant his authority and honor to the Messiah. God has chosen to save his people and grant them eternal life through the Messiah and the work he will do on the cross. As Paul says, Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God. He is the way that we come to know and understand God. If you want to know God, you have to get to know Jesus. Well, that's another kind of unity and oneness. In chapter 8, we saw Jesus liken himself to the Son in a household. He told the Jews, If you abide by my word, the truth will set you free. And the Jews complained, wait a minute, we're already free. And Jesus says, No, you're slaves to sin. And because you're slaves to sin, you are more like slaves in the household of God, and you need the Son to set you free. The Father was the master of the household. His eldest son came next in priority. He had the authority to speak for his father, to do business in his father's name, and when the eldest son spoke, it was as if the father speak. And in that context, Jesus says, When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. The Son can break your chains of slavery and raise you to the status of brother or sister. So we have seen Jesus speak a lot about a unity and a oneness with the Father throughout this gospel. And I would argue it is all because he's the Messiah. On a purely contextual level, we see this oneness to the honor, the authority, and the plans of God and Jesus because Jesus is the Messiah. So I would say from a Bible study perspective, we ought to say at least Jesus is saying something as simple and as profound as I am the Messiah. The way to know God is to know Jesus because Jesus is the Messiah. Could Jesus be saying more than that? Is he also claiming to be the second person of the Trinity? Well, I would say it's possible that he's making a claim to divinity. So he could be saying, I've told you I'm the Messiah by the works I've been doing, but you refuse to believe because you're not among my sheep, my sheep will receive eternal life, and no one can rip them out of my Father's hands, because I and the Father are one. In fact, I am God. That is a possible interpretation, but it seems more likely to me, given all that we've seen, that he's saying, I've told you I'm the Messiah by the works I've been doing. You refuse to believe because you're not among my sheep. My sheep will receive eternal life, and no one can take them away from me because I and the Father are one, because I am the Messiah. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. To me, given all that we've seen, that makes way more sense in the Context. Now, could we logically deduce from that statement that the reason Jesus and the Father have this oneness of power, authority, plans, and purposes is because Jesus is the second person of the Trinity? Yes, we could. We could argue he's not claiming to be divine here because the people he's talking to would not understand what he was saying. They had no concept of the Trinity. They wouldn't understand he's saying he's God. And so he's not making that claim here. But we know from our vantage point of history, we can see behind this claim to oneness as the Messiah, there is also the Trinity. And that would be deriving doctrine from the text rather than making the claim that this is what Jesus meant to say at that moment. It seems to me, looking at both the near and the far context, we have to say Jesus is making a claim to be the Messiah. The question on the table is tell us plainly, are you the Messiah or not? He answers, God testified to that fact by my works. The Father and I are one because I am his Messiah. He is at least saying that in the context. I don't think context requires him to be making a claim to divinity, but neither does the context rule out the fact that Jesus is divine or that he could be making a claim to divinity. We could argue that theologically the only reason this oneness is possible is because of the Trinity as we now understand it. Now, either way you take it, whether you think this is a direct claim to being the second person of the Trinity or just a claim to Messiahship, either way Jesus is making himself equal with God. As the Messiah, he is either the visible representation of the invisible God, and or he is the second person of the Trinity. Both claims make him equal with God in some sense, and the Jews understand that he is making himself equal with God, and of course they don't like it. Let's go on to verses thirty one through thirty eight. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you going to stone me? 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. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said you are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blasphemy because I said I am the Son of God? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me, but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. Okay, they pick up rocks to stone him, and he asks, Why are you stoning me? For which of my works are you stoning me? Is it because I healed the blind man on the Sabbath, or because I healed the lame man on the Sabbath, for example? They say it's not your works, it's because you make yourself equal with God. Now many people suggest that Jesus is toying with them here with this question of which of my works are you stoning me for? But the works of Jesus is the main issue in this passage. Jesus has claimed we know he's the true shepherd by his works. When the wolves threaten the sheep, the true shepherd doesn't flee. The true shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus has claimed we know he's the Christ by the miracles he performs. God has testified that he is the Christ by these signs and miracles. Jesus has claimed the authority to grant eternal life, and we're about to see him raise Lazarus from the dead. So when they say, Tell us plainly, are you the Christ? And he says, Look at my works, and then they pick up rocks to stone him, and he says, Which of my works are you stoning me for? Well, that's the issue of the passage. If I'm doing the works of my Father, then you should believe me. This is part of John's theme of the importance of testimony. We believe because God has testified that Jesus is the Messiah through the miracles Jesus has performed in his name. Now let's look at the argument Jesus makes. Jesus says, Aren't you familiar with Scripture where human beings are called gods? He's referring to Psalm eighty two. This Psalm is directed at the unjust kings of Israel. It's a short psalm, let me read you all eight verses. God has taken his place in the divine counsel. In the midst of the gods he holds judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding. They walk about in darkness, all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, You are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like men you shall die and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations. Alright, so the Psalmist is calling the kings of Israel gods in the sense that God has given them the authority to rule and judge his nation in his place. They are to hand out justice, judgment, and punishment. They were supposed to rule as God would rule. They rule with authority that is granted from God. But for the most part, the kings of Israel were corrupt, and God is warning them that he is going to judge them for their evil. Jesus argues, if the kings of Israel could be called gods, because they were mere servants of God, and you didn't consider that blasphemy, why would you consider the one true servant of God, the Messiah, the King of Kings, why would you consider it blasphemy for him to be called God? Historical precedent is on his side. He's saying you're not upset by the fact that human kings in the Old Testament who were corrupt and abandoned Yahweh were called the sons of God. They didn't even do their job well. They were corrupt, and it doesn't bother you that the psalmist called them gods. Here I am, faithfully doing the works of my father. I am the one true embodiment of his word. I am the one God sent into the world to represent him. I am the Messiah, the king who will rule from David's throne forever in righteousness and justice, and I am not corrupt. If you weren't upset that the corrupt kings in Israel were called sons of God, why are you upset that the true king of Israel is called the Son of God? How do you know I'm the Messiah, the true King of Israel? By my works. I'm doing the works of my Father. If I'm not doing the works of my Father, then don't believe me. But if I am doing the works, and I am, then you need to deal with the evidence that's staring you in the face. Well, this is one of John's favorite themes. We believe on the basis of the testimony that we receive. A major part of the testimony are the miracles Jesus performed. And Jesus challenged them, consider my words in light of my works. Like the blind man, look at my works and then reason backwards. God testified that Jesus is the Messiah through the miracles Jesus performed. He is doing the works his Father sent him to do. He's saying, Look at the works I do and recognize the significance of them. But of course they don't, they seek to arrest him instead. This is John thirty nine through forty two. Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him, and they said John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true, and many believed him there. Now notice the contrast here. John the Baptist did no miracles. John the Baptist did no signs, but everything John the Baptist said about this man Jesus was true. Jesus did signs, everything Jesus said and did were true. Many believe John the Baptist was a great prophet from God, even though he did no miracles. How much more should they believe that Jesus is the Messiah given the miracles that he performed? So the conflict escalates to the point where Jesus thinks it's best to leave Jerusalem. He goes to the region across the Jordan, which would be Perea. And again, John returns to one of his favorite themes. Many believed because of the signs. The miracles are not just magic tricks and fantastical evidence. They have a significance. They are evidence that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. We also again see the importance of the testimony of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a big deal and was widely recognized as a prophet of God. After 400 years of prophetic silence, God spoke again through John the Baptist. Prophet John had a large following, and they wouldn't listen to any criticism of him. The Gospels tell us John the Baptist was so popular the Pharisees were afraid to say anything bad about him for fear the crowds would turn against them. Jesus himself puts John the Baptist at the pinnacle of all the prophets. Of all the prophets, John the Baptist was given the privilege of announcing the Messiah was coming and seeing the Messiah face to face. Other prophets made an announcement or got a glimpse of the fact that the Messiah would come. Maybe they knew one or two things about him, but only John was allowed the privilege of serving alongside him. In Acts 19, we see that decades after John the Baptist's death, there are still disciples of John the Baptist who had not heard of Jesus. They knew more about John the Baptist than they knew about Jesus. These historical details we have suggests that John the Baptist was a hugely important figure in history. The secular historians of the first century recorded more information about John the Baptist than they recorded about Jesus. Now, from our point in history, it's easy for us to overlook John the Baptist and think, oh, you know, he's just that guy that comes at the beginning of the Gospels and then we can forget about him. But the historical evidence suggests that Prophet John had a very large following and was seen as a very significant person. Given that historical context, author John wants to make sure we know: look, Prophet John is not the main event. Prophet John's testimony was that Jesus is the Messiah. He didn't do any signs, and people still thought he was a big deal. And what he said was, Jesus, that man over there, is the Messiah. Everyone believes John the Baptist, even though he did no signs. John's testimony is true, and his testimony is that Jesus is the Christ. Everything John said about Jesus is true. Now, if you've noticed, we have seen all of John's main themes in this one little passage. Theme one, the only way to receive eternal life is to believe in Jesus. So testimony is important. What's the point of all this testimony? The point is that we come to believe in Jesus. And why is believing in Jesus so important? Because he's the only one who can grant us eternal life. Theme two, the importance of testimony. Why should we believe what we haven't seen for ourselves? Well, we believe because of the testimony of those who did see it. Jesus testifies about himself and his testimony is true. God testifies that Jesus is the Messiah through his works. John the Baptist, the last great prophet of God before the Messiah, testifies that Jesus is the Messiah, and the apostles testify to what they saw and heard. And Jesus highlights the importance of his works here. He says, At least believe my signs. You can reject my words, okay, but look at my works, look at the signs you've seen, the healings, the miracles. No one can do these things unless God is behind them. His works speak loud and clearly, but they refuse to believe. And that brings us to our third theme. Those who believe do so because of the activity of the Spirit of God. We have to be born again. We don't manufacture belief, the Spirit gives it to us. The Pharisees see the works of Jesus and refuse to believe because they don't want to believe. Belief is not a simple matter of hear the truth and accept it because by nature we are people who reject God. We don't believe because we're not part of the sheep. But God has given to some to be his children, to them he opens their eyes and ears, and when they see the truth, they embrace it. We also see the growing conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus. They want to arrest him and kill him, they pick up stones to stone him, but Jesus escapes because it is not his time to be arrested yet. But all of that is about to change. In the next chapter, we'll see Jesus raise Lazarus, and that event is the beginning of the end. It is the event that will finally propel the Pharisees into serious action and lead to Jesus' death on the cross. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. The blog version of this podcast is on wednesdayintheword.com slash John 20. You can hear all previous episodes in this series on my website, wednesdayintheword.com, along with all the other series I've done. There is no charge, no spam, and no ads. It's all free to help you improve your study skills and understanding of scripture. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please follow it wherever you listen. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and favorite musician Reggie Coates. You can find Reggie's music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday.