John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – Episode 20, Jesus and the Father Are One Thing

If we would understand how John intended us to understand John 1:1c, “and the Word was God” (could he possibly, as Jehovah’s Witnesses assert, mean Jesus was “a god”?), we need to see John’s representation of Jesus in places outside of John 1:1, that is, in the remainder of his Gospel.

I and the Father Are One

As Jesus interacts with the Jewish leaders again and claims to be the good shepherd who brings life to the sheep and whose true sheep know him, the leaders enter into conflict with him, challenging his claim to be the Messiah. Jesus’ response is extraordinary:

The works I do in my Father’s name, these bear witness to me. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. 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 thing.”
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him. Jesus told them, “I’ve shown you many good works from my Father. For which of them do you want to stone me?” The Jews said, “We don’t want to stone you for good works but for blasphemy, since you, a man, make yourself out to be God.” Jesus answered, “Isn’t it written in your law, “I said, ‘You are gods’? If God called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the Scriptures cannot be broken, then the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, can you say he blasphemes, just because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe in me. But if I am doing them, even if you don’t believe in me, believe the works, so that you may really know that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:25-38)

Jesus’ comment about being “one” with the Father hinges on the fact that the word “one” in Greek has to take a gender: masculine, feminine or neuter. Now we know Jesus spoke in Aramaic, but John is representing his words in Greek, and the word “one” Jesus uses is in the neuter gender, which is why I translated it, “one thing.” Jesus is not one man with the Father (nor one woman) but one thing. Jesus is claiming to be the same stuff as the Father, the same DNA, the same essence or nature. The Jewish leaders again get his drift. They pick up stones to kill him for blasphemy.

Jesus then uses what to us seems an odd form of reasoning. He points out the one “positive” reference to gods in the Old Testament, and argues a typical Jewish argument from Scripture, the argument from the lesser to the greater. Jesus refers to Psalm 82:6 where Yahweh addresses the rulers, the gods, of Israel and chides them for ruling without knowledge and judging unjustly. The “gods” have been interpreted as either the human leaders of Israel or the angelic rulers like those mentioned in Daniel 10. In either case, Jesus is pointing out that created beings are viewed as “gods” by Yahweh because they rule under His direction and so have god-like characteristics. So if created beings can be considered “gods” how much more the one who is the Son of God, who is in the Father and the Father is in him. Jesus is not backing away from his claim to be deity, equal to the Father. He is doubling down on it.

We should not be surprised that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have a different slant on Jesus’ statement:

one: Or “at unity.” Jesus’ comment here shows that he and his Father are unified in protecting sheeplike ones and leading them to everlasting life. Such shepherding is a joint task of the Father and the Son. They are equally concerned about the sheep, not allowing anyone to snatch them out of their hand. (Joh 10:27-29; compare Eze 34:23, 24.) In John’s Gospel, the unity in fellowship, will, and purpose between the Father and the Son is often mentioned. The Greek word here rendered “one” is, not in the masculine gender (denoting “one person”), but in the neuter gender (denoting “one thing”), supporting the thought that Jesus and his Father are “one” in action and cooperation, not in person. (Joh 5:19; 14:9, 23) That Jesus referred, not to an equality of godship, but to a oneness of purpose and action is confirmed by comparing the words recorded here with his prayer recorded in John chapter 17. (Joh 10:25-29; 17:2, 9-11) This is especially evident when he prays that his followers “may be one just as we are one.” (Joh 17:11) So the kind of oneness referred to in chapter 10 as well as in chapter 17 would be the
same.

For Jesus to say, “I and the Father are one thing” does not indicate they are merely one in purpose, and again, those listening to Jesus understand what he is claiming. It is not
blasphemy to say my purpose is the same as the Father’s. That should be true of all of us. And it is not legitimate to say that the oneness Jesus prays we may have with the Father in John 17 is intended to convey the same thing he is saying here. The Jews clearly understand Jesus is making a bid to equality with the Father.