Why did Jesus say he and his Father are one?

6:54 a.m.


Why did Jesus say he and his Father are one?

Why did Jesus say He and his Father are one?
"I think Jesus, who is the Son of God, and God the Father are in a business together," says Miquel, 11.

Yes, they're in business together, but it's much deeper than a business partnership.

"Jesus and God are mighty," says Kathy, 11. "They are one together. God and Jesus are patient, passionate and perfect. God and Jesus are the exact same person."

In AD 325, the Roman emperor Constantine called Christian leaders to meet at Nicaea in Turkey to craft a statement that would clarify the relationship between Jesus and his Father. The council concluded that they are not the same person, but distinct persons with the same "substance."

The idea that Jesus and his Father are the same person is called modalism, which asserts that Jesus is a way or mode in which God the Father makes himself known. So Kathy's statement that they are exactly the same person is mistaken. They are distinct persons.

The AD 325 council stated that Jesus is fully God. He was begotten, not created. The council rejected the teaching of Arius, who said Jesus was God's first creation. He was not fully God nor fully human.

Because Arius was influenced by Greek philosophers, he believed all matter and material things were evil. He taught that Jesus only appeared human. His body wasn't real flesh and blood.

The Nicaean Council stated that Jesus is the only member of the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) who became incarnate. He came forth from the Father but always co-existed with him as God.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that was the first and only time humanity and divinity came together in one person. But divinity and humanity were never comingled. The two natures remained distinct.

This is how Jesus could say that he existed before Jewish patriarch Abraham, yet he could tell a Samaritan woman he was thirsty. As deity, Jesus pre-existed Abraham and all creation. As humanity, Jesus got thirsty.

This is heady stuff of which volumes have been written over many centuries. No doubt we'll be contemplating the uniqueness of Jesus Christ for all eternity. How infinite God could take on finite flesh and veil his divine glory for 33 years is the kind of mystery that will always perplex our little pea-picking brains. As Clint Eastwood once said, "A man has to know his limitations."

This brings us to the trinity. Almost all attempts to explain the trinity by analogy create problems. Nevertheless, the one I like best comes from scholar Neal Plantiga, who writes, "The whole trinity is more like a three-member society than a single personality with several self-relations."

"Jesus and God are both perfect, and no one else is," says Gabriel, 11. "God and Jesus both glow in all their glory."

When Jesus returns to establish his kingdom, his glory or glow won't be veiled as it was when he lay in a Bethlehem manger on the first Christmas.

Think about this: By taking on human flesh at birth in Bethlehem, Jesus humbled himself in ways we can never imagine. The Creator took on a form of his creation. Jesus further humbled himself by submitting to a cruel crucifixion to pay for our sins.

Memorize this truth: "I and my Father are one," (John 10:30).

Ask this question: Because Jesus humbled himself in his birth and sacrificial death on a cross for you, will you humble yourself and accept his free offer of eternal life by believing in him as your savior?

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