Jesus and the Father Are One

Of all the things Jesus said to get himself in trouble with the religious leaders of his day (“Your sins are forgiven”, “Before Moses was, I am”, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”, etc.) what he said in John 10:30 might have been the topper.

ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν.
I and the Father, we are one.

It’s a ridiculous thing to say… unless it’s true.

It was blasphemy for anyone to say that they were equal with the Father. The Father is God for goodness sake. How could Jesus possibly think that he ought to be thought of, seen, talked to, and experienced on the same level as the Father?

Did Jesus really expect those of his day to see him as the embodiment of the One they worshipped—the incarnation of Yahweh?

“You believe in God; believe also in me” (Jn 14:1, NIV)

It seems so.

A Moment on the Scriptures: Jesus's Baptism and the Trinity

What should we do with a doctrine like the Trinity?

Confessionally, the doctrine of the Trinity is widely held by a number of different Christian traditions—Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican—who would be happy to disagree on any number of other points of doctrine.

One of the interesting things that happens to us with this doctrine is that we often ignore it because we find it so difficult to explain. We’ve tried using the analogy of H2O as a liquid, solid, and gas. We’ve tried using the three parts to an egg (the white, the yolk, and the shell). We’ve even tried talking about one person existing as a father, a son, and a grandson. But, in the end, all these analogies fail. This, however, is how it ought to be, because the one we’re trying to explain is God, after all.

How can we possibly talk about the one being of God existing as three persons when there’s nothing else in the world, we can point to like that?

What might help is to look at a story.

At the end of Matthew 3, we see a curious thing happening with Jesus’s baptism. In this brief story, we see (1) Jesus coming up out of the water, (2) the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and (3) the Father speaking about the Son.

The story is trinitarian.

There is no theological formulation by Matthew (not that those are unhelpful); the story is just told as it happened.

Often the language used to describe the baptism is more difficult than it needs to be. And, so, sometimes—not always—but sometimes, a story about a baptism is easier.

The Trinitarian Shape of the Resurrection

Since God is triune, there is a trinitarian shape to everything he does. It doesn’t matter if it’s creation, his revelation to the world, the cross, or Scripture; it has the fingerprints of the Trinity all over it. The same can be said for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If we look at the resurrection as if it exists apart from the Trinity, we’ll inevitably misunderstand something at the core of the event.

Who raised Jesus from the dead?

It’s one of the more common questions about the resurrection. Jesus died, he was buried, and he rose from the dead. Someone has to be responsible for his resurrection, but who? Let’s take a look at three sections of Scripture to see if we can formulate a good picture of who raised him from the dead.

“Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” (Galatians 1:1, NIV)

As Paul wrote his short and punchy letter to the church in Galatia he decided to begin with the resurrection of Jesus. The interesting thing about the way in which he begins is that he tells the church that the Father raised Jesus from the dead, which (although it’s interesting) makes sense. Jesus died; therefore, he needs someone to raise him from the dead. The Son died and so his Father brought him back to life.

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” (Romans 8:11, NIV)

Paul, again, writing to a church—although, this time it’s the church in Rome—mentions the resurrection of Jesus. In this letter, however, Paul seems to be giving credit to another person of the Trinity. Paul writes that “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.” It’s an interesting phrase and maybe a bit confusing without a couple other verses to give some context. Just prior to this statement Paul had written a couple other things about this “Spirit of him”. Paul wrote, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:9-10, NIV). What do we make of this, then? I think we come to see that this “Spirit of him” is the Holy Spirit of God. And, because of Romans 8:11, we can say that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:18, NIV)

This last statement is from Jesus himself before his death and resurrection. In John 10 Jesus has called himself “the good shepherd” and this “shepherd” will lay down his life for his sheep. In other words, Jesus is saying he will die for his sheep—the ones who belong to him. Not only will he die for his sheep, but he will not remain dead for his sheep. To quote Jesus directly, he says, “I have authority to lay it (my life) down and authority to take it up again.” Jesus has the authority to lay down his life, which is what he tells Pilate. And he has authority to take up his life. So, according to the testimony of John, we can say that Jesus raised himself from the dead.

Can we put all this together?

Here, we’re helped by remembering that God is the Trinity. Since God is the Trinity, the earlier three statements on who raised Jesus from the dead fit together perfectly. God is not some impersonal being that exists from time to time as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And, just as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit worked together in creation and the cross, they worked together in raising Jesus from the dead.

The Trinity was united in the effort to raise Jesus from the dead. The Father raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus raised Jesus from the dead.

In other words, God raised God from the dead.