The Strand Study Bible

JOHN JOHN 10:30 This word ( one ) is the Greek word ‘ HQ ( hen ) and is neutral in gender (meaning, “ oneness of being ”), not masculine in gender (meaning, “one person”). CHRIST asserted his equality with God by claiming “ oneness ” with the FATHER ( Jn 5:17,18 a ). Greg Boyd in Is God to Blame? notes: 1747

In essence Jesus was saying, “ I am your picture of God .” Many people construct their picture of God from various philosophical premises or their own life experience. But while philosophical thinking can be helpful and life experiences cannot be ignored, Jesus tells us that our understanding of God should be centered on him . This is why the Bible calls him the “Word,” the ‘image’ and the “exact imprint” of God (Jn 1:1, II Cor 3:17–4:6; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3). The foundation for this book–and I believe for Christianity as a whole–is the claim that God looks like Jesus . 1

Henrietta C. Mears in What the Bible Is All About agrees. She notes:

God Himself became a man so that we might know what to think of when we think of God (John 1:14; 14:9). 2 The conclusion is that no distinction can be made between the FATHER and the SON . They are more than collaborators; they are “ one ” in essence. If you want to define God, just look at the Son… for the Father was fully revealed in Christ. Charles Massegee in Sanity in a Satanic Society notes: If you want to know who God is and what God is like, read the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Study the life of Christ, for the Lord Jesus Christ is God in a body. 3 The foundation for Christianity is the sure claim that God looks like Jesus . Everything we think we know about God must begin and end with his revelation of Himself in the incarnate Son. Those who wish to see the very heart of God need to look no further than the life of Christ on earth (Jn 14:9 ). NOTE - Is it any wonder the Jews kept trying to kill Jesus? As far as they were concerned, Jesus was “blaspheming” (vs 30) because he claimed to be perfect (Jn 8:46); to be the Promised Messiah (Mt 26:64); to be the Master of mankind (Mt 23:8 and Jn 13:13); to be the Judge of the world (Jn 5:22); to be equal with God ( Rom 1:20a ). The truth about Jesus is that He was and is fully God and fully human ( Jn 20:17b , c and Phil 2:7a,b ). C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity notes:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg– or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. 4

All four gospel writers show Jesus saying what only God could say and doing what only God could do. And it was an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus who called him ‘my Lord and my God’ (John 20:28). If you don’t want to accept Jesus as God, you can always find a way out. You can reject the New Testament, and you can focus on counterfeit gospels and teachings written long afterward by people who abandoned the true faith. You can even dream up things on your own and write a novel like The Da Vinci Code . You can say whatever you want to say about Jesus–but that doesn’t change the truth. 5 Rabbi Duncan said it best when he said: Christ either deceived mankind of conscious fraud; or was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. 6 10:34 a Normally the term “ law ” applied to Genesis-Deuteronomy, but here it applied to the entire OT Scriptures. 10:34 b Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6 here in order to stress a point. The point being: If the law uses the term Elohim (the Hebrew word for “ gods ” in Psalm 82:1,6) to describe mere men who happen to “represent” God ( Exo 7:1 ), why should they oppose Jesus’ claim to deity, when in fact He is God? NOTE – Although no man can become a god, God did become a man (Jn 1:1,14 and I Tim 3:16).

1 Boyd, Gregory A. Is God to Blame ?, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. Print. 2 Mears, Henrietta C. What the Bible Is All About , Glendale, CA, Regal Books, 1953. Print. 3 Massegee, Charles. Sanity in a Satanic Society , Ranger, TX, Life Line, 1978. Print. 4 Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity , NY, NY, Touchstone, 1943. Print. 5 The Radio Pulpit. The Supernatural Touch, Palos Heights, ILL, The Back to God Hour, 2004. Print. 6 Thomas, W.H. Griffith. How We Got Our Bible, Dallas, TX, Dallas Seminary Press, 1984. Print.