Using and Interpreting John 10:30 Properly

John 10:30 and the Levels of Biblical Interpretation

Let's talk about John chapter 10 verse 30. Now this is a text that is frequently cited by Christians as demonstrating the deity of Christ, the quality of Jesus with the Father, their ontological unity, all these things.

Now let me make sure you understand right from the beginning, I do believe that John chapter 10 verse 30 is relevant to the deity of Christ. In fact, I think it teaches the deity of Christ. And I do think it is relevant to the relationship of the Father and the Son.

But what we really don't understand is that there are different levels in our interpretation of Scripture. There is, first and foremost, the understanding of what the Scripture is saying in a particular text, in a particular passage.

And that requires looking at the language, the meanings of words, the grammar, the syntax, the close context, the larger context, the context within a discourse, within a book, within an author. There's all these different levels of context that we have to look at.

Then once we have honestly dealt with that, then we can ask, well, believing Christians can ask a next level of question. And this is where a lot of modern day Christians are a little confused because there are many scholars today, teaching in seminaries, who don't believe that even within one book or one author you can assume consistency.

There are many, many scholars today who would be very happy to talk about Paul contradicting Paul and John contradicting John, let alone Paul contradicting James or things like that. And so, as far as they can go, is saying, well, in this particular context it would seem that most likely John was saying this.

And that's about as far as they can go. They can't say, and therefore the teaching of John is this, because they might not actually think that John is consistent with himself. And they certainly can't go beyond that to say the teaching of the Bible is this, because from their perspective there is no teaching of the Bible, there just isn't.

The Supernatural Consistency of Scripture

And this is when you get to the supernatural level. And that is, if we believe about the Bible the way Jesus did, if we take his view of Scripture, then we are going to have a very high view of Scripture.

And that means that we can, and it is perfectly legitimate, in fact, it is demanded of us to do the hard work of exegesis of those individual texts and understand what John meant when he said, when he quotes Jesus saying, I and the Father, we are one.

But then we have to fit that in with what Isaiah said and what Moses said and then with what Matthew says and what Paul says and what Luke says. And it's when we fit that together, when we put that together on this higher level, this level of the analogy of Scripture, the consistency, the supernatural consistency of Scripture itself, well that's when we discover that the Bible is a multifaceted revelation from God that I don't care how brilliant a person is, can never be fathomed in this life.

I know there are many people who wish the Bible was a little bit more like a printer's manual or like, well, Wikipedia. You just go in and you look up what you want to look up and you can't necessarily trust what you find with Wikipedia, but an encyclopedia where you just turn to the topic and Godhead, there's Godhead.

Salvation, there's salvation. Well, that would be cut and dried, but it could never be deep enough to actually communicate to men across the centuries, across language barriers, and of course, across cultural barriers as well.

Reading John 10:30 in Its Immediate Context

And so, it is on that higher level when we look at what Jesus taught in John 10, 30, that we can see the text relevance to his relationship to the Father, to his deity and things like that. But one of the problems is that people want to jump immediately to that, and those who, well, deny the faith or deny at least elements of the faith, it's pretty easy for them to trip us up because they can say, well, that's not what it's talking about.

Let's take a look at it and let's see what actually is going on here. John chapter 10, I'm going to go ahead and go back to verse 22. At that time, the Feast of Dedication took place at 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, well, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, the Christ, tell us plainly, tell us openly. 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 part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me, and 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. And then, of course, the Jews pick up stones again to stone him, and this then prompts the discussion on Jesus' part after that.

Now, what we have then is we have this encounter, and Jesus, interestingly enough, in identifying the Jews as not being a part of his flock, they're not some of his sheep, I say that's interesting because I think of John chapter 6 and some of the most important revelation about the relationship of the Father and the Son there, the Father's will for the Son is revealed there in John chapter 6 verses 38 and 39, comes right after Jesus says, you've seen me and yet you don't believe.

And so it's in the context of contrasting unbelievers with believers that so much of this divine revelation takes place. But in this context, Jesus talks about his sheep and he says he gives them life.

Now, it's easy for us to hear that today and just go, okay, Jesus gives life, but that's because we're accustomed to hearing exalted things about Jesus. When you think about it, what mere prophet, what mere human being could say, I give them life?

I mean, God is the source of life, is he not? And so Jesus makes these amazing statements and he says he knows them and they follow after him and he gives them life and then there is this perfect unity between the Father and the Son.

The Son gives them life, they're in his hand, no one can snatch them out of his hand. The Father, they're in his hand, no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand. And that's the context then of Jesus' words, I and the Father, we are one.

The Oneness Pentecostal Misreading of John 10:30

Now why do I emphasize we are one? Not many translations render it that way, but I don't think there's anyone who actually reads the language that would in any way, shape, or form ever argue against what I'm saying here because the Greek word esmen, the verb is a plural verb.

Jesus does not say I and the Father is one, he uses a plural. Now why do I emphasize this? Well, because there are those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, such as Oneness Pentecostals, Modalists, of all the different stripes, that will frequently make reference to John 10, 30, and I and the Father are one, and they will make this a statement in essence of Jesus saying I am the Father.

Jesus never says I am the Father. There is a close relationship, there is a perfect unity, but the distinction between the two is maintained even in these statements, even here in John chapter 10, verse 30.

He does not say I am the Father, he says I and the Father, we are one. Now the Oneness person has to argue that that in essence is Jesus saying, well, over here I'm the human side, and I and my divine side are one.

The problem is, in the immediate context, the one who is giving life, the one who is one with the Father, how could his human nature be the source of life for his people? Source of life has to be deity, it's God.

And so it just makes no sense in the Oneness perspective, even though it's cited over and over and over again. I and the Father, we are one, in what way? In what way? Well, in the context, the immediate application is we are one in the purpose of giving life to God's people.

We are one in bringing about salvation. There is perfect harmony and unity. Remember, he's talking to the Jews who don't believe, they're going to pick up stones to stone him. And they thought they were the recipients of eternal life.

They thought they were the ones who were already in with God. And here Jesus is saying, you reject me, you're rejecting the Father. That's going to be a theme that's found in John and in John's epistles as well.

You can't say, oh, I have the Father, but I reject the Son. They come as a package deal, shall we say. And so, the immediate initial meaning in the text, I and the Father, we are one in the salvation of God's people.

John 10:30, the Deity of Christ, and the Jews’ Charge of Blasphemy

Now, lots of, again, people who oppose the doctrine of the Trinity go, well, there it is. This has no relevance to the doctrine of the Trinity at all. But that's not the case. Yeah, it is about the salvation of God's people.

But the problem is, no mere creature could say the things that Jesus said. It would be blasphemy for someone to say, I give life to God's people. I am the source of the, I give them eternal life. They will never perish.

I do this. I and the Father, we are one in bringing about the salvation of God's people. That cannot be said by angels. That cannot be said by prophets in any way, shape, or form. And so, the Jews recognize this.

The Jews pick up stones to stone him. You're making yourself equal with God. They did not think he was making himself the Father, but they did think that he was making himself something that he could not possibly be.

And so, they pick up immediately on the assertion of blasphemy. And Jesus' response, quoting from Psalm 82, is to identify them as, well, as false judges. Just as those in Psalm 82 had been unrighteous judges, he was pointing out that they were unrighteous judges because they had no answer for his testimony, the Father's testimony to him as well, especially in the works that he had done.

And so, yes, it is relevant to the deity of Christ. And therefore, it has relevance to the relationship of the Father and the Son. But that's going to come from looking at what John 10 .30 says, what Philippians 2 says, and Colossians 1 says, and Hebrews 1 says, and we're putting all this together against the backdrop of the prophetic message, the proclamation of absolute monotheism, there's only one true God, the creator of all things.

It's putting all this together. It's real easy for people to go, well, I reject this, or I reject that, or I don't think you can put all that together, and come up with some other viewpoint. But you see, the hard work of Christian orthodoxy and of true biblical exegesis and systematic theology is putting all of this together.

And there are a lot of people today who say, well, that's an artificial task, it can't be done, people gave up on that a long time ago. I've said many times, and in most seminaries today, sadly, what you have is systematic theology has been moved to the church history section because only people back in the olden days believed that the Bible was sufficient to actually be used in this way and to present a coherent theology.

And I confess, I am out of step with many today. I still confess the Bible is the word of God, without error, it is inspired, and because of that, well, you've got to do the hard work of allowing it to speak for itself.

The I Am Sayings and the Need for Careful Exegesis

And so when we look at John chapter 10, what we see is a tremendous text, what we see is a tremendous assertion, but we need to be accurate in how we present this, because if we jump too quickly, it's a little bit like the I Am sayings, if you jump too quickly from John 8, 24, 8, 58, 13, 19, 18, 5, 6, if you jump too quickly from them straight back to Exodus 3, you haven't built the proper foundation.

Those I Am sayings definitely teach the deity of Christ, but they do so as long as we allow the author to define his intention and his use, and then trace that back first to Isaiah and the Minor Prophets, and then beyond that.

The same way here, John chapter 10, we have to look at the context, we have to start with, yes, Jesus is saying he is one with the Father in the giving of eternal life to his sheep, and then lay the foundation based upon that of what it has to mean for a man living on earth to make those statements in light of the fact that he knew the Old Testament, knew what the Jewish law was, knew what the Old Testament's teachings were, and therefore he was making claims that the Jews themselves, immediately recognized, were in fact blasphemous if he was not who he claimed to be.

So some thoughts on using John chapter 10, verse 30 accurately. If we present it accurately initially, we don't have to go back and try to fix things. If we present it accurately initially, we in essence cut off objections, and so we can continue toward the goal of what we're trying to communicate to the person to whom we are trying to present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hope these thoughts have been helpful to you.