The fact that cults and apostate religious leaders misquote the Bible when attacking Christ’s divine nature is no excuse for Christians to do likewise in defending it. We do this when we quote Christ’s words, “I and the Father are one” to prove his divinity, when in fact our Lord is describing the unity of purpose he has with his Father.
Christ’s words followed those that expressed the Good Shepherd’s care for his sheep. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any man snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)
Misunderstanding Christ’s words, the Jews took up stones to stone him. So, Jesus said, “I have shown you many good deeds from my Father; for which of those deeds do you stone me?” The Jews answered, “Not for a good deed but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:31-33)
Jesus had done nothing of the sort. He had simply stated that his fellowship with his Father was such that the disciples were as safe and secure in his hand as they had been in his Father’s hand. “I and my Father are one” expressed the perfect unity that existed between the Son and the Father.
A similar unity can be seen in the care of Moses for the children of Israel. “Your right hand, O LORD, has become glorious in power! Your right hand, O LORD, has smashed the enemy into pieces!” And again, “You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.” (Exodus 15:6,12) In these two verses the emphasis is on the right hand of God
“Where is He…that led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name?” (Isaiah 63:12) Here the right hand of Moses is described as an extension of God’s right arm—emphasising the “oneness” Moses had with God in delivering His people from bondage.
Christ’s prayer for his followers was that they would have the same unity that he had with his Father. “Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given to me, so that they may be one, as we are.” (John 17:11) What kind of “oneness” did Jesus mean? “That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us…” (John 17:21)
Jesus was praying for our unity — not restating his divinity. If we could be one “as” or in the same way that he and his Father are one, believers would share God’s divinity — and that’s impossible! (although we do share the divine nature). From a relational point of view, that same ‘oneness’ is not just possible but normal.
We know that Jesus was “one” with His Father in all that he did. When his Father made him know that His will was to heal the man at the Pool of Siloam on the Sabbath day, Jesus said to the man, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” So, the Jews tried to kill him, because he had done this on the Sabbath day. But Jesus said to them, “My Father is still working, and so am I.” (John 5:17) The Son refused to break his working fellowship with his Father.
Then the Jews wanted all the more to kill him, because in their eyes not only had he broken the Sabbath in telling the man to carry his bed, but had also said that God was his Father — “making himself equal with God.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I say to you, The Son does nothing of himself but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise; for the Father loves the Son, and shows him everything he does.” (John 5:19,30)
This is a description of a close working relationship, one in which the Father discloses His plans to the Son, who then does what he sees his Father doing. This speaks more of fellowship than relationship, and more of unity of purpose than a claim to equality. So much was the Son like his Father that he could say to his disciples, “If you had known me you would have known my Father also; and from now on you know him, and have seen him.” (John 14:7)
Philip asked, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “After all the time I’ve been with you — you still don’t know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you ask, Show us the Father” Are you not believing that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words I speak to you do not come from me — the Father who lives in me does the deeds.” (John 14:8-10)
As a disciple Philip had known Jesus for years, but had not seen the Father in the Son; so Jesus could say, “After all this time—you still don’t know me?”
“(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God…” (Colossians 1:15) Or, as the Aramaic puts it: “The icon of his essence.” In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul again states that Christ is “the image of God…” “For in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily.” (Colossians 2:9) “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.” (John 1:18)
The writer of Hebrews describes Christ as “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…” (Hebrews 1:3) Spiros Zodhiates defines the Greek word for “brightness” as, “Shining light, or splendor emitted or issuing from a luminous body.”
In NT Greek the words “express image” come from the word “karakter”, which, according to Zodhiates means, “to carve”. He informs us that originally it referred to an engraver or an engraving tool. “Later it meant the impression itself, usually something engraved, cut in, or stamped, a character, letter, mark, sign. This impression with its particular features was considered as the exact representation of the object whose image it bore.” (Spiros Zodhiates: The Complete Word Study Dictionary: World)