The meaning behind “I and the Father are one”

Have you ever wondered why Yeshua uttered the words, “I and the Father are one”? (John 10:30)  Here is a great explanation from an Appendix in the Aramaic English New Testament:

The intimate relationship between Father and Son unfolds in Matthew 6:9-13 with the Slotha d'Maran, or Prayer of our Master, and progressive revelation continuing in Matthew 26:39, 42 and so on.  Put simply, if Y'shua is YHWH, then is he talking to himself?  The answer, of course, is NO! But, in order to understand we must go deep into the Tanakh to the following milestone passages: 

(1) In Exodus 23:20-22 we find mention of the only Messenger that YHWH sent to Israel who “has My Name in him.” This is key because every other messenger has YHWH's title – EL (MichaEL, RaphaEL, GavriEL, etc.) in their names.  But Y'shua's name means, “YHWH is salvation” which is tied to prophecy about him in places like Jeremiah 23:5-6, and fulfilled in John 17:11.

Mashiyach has a superior name to the other messengers (Hebrews 1:1-5) and a Name in him that is above all other names (Colossians 1:16-19, Philippians 2:9-10). This means that Y'shua and this Messenger, who are one and the same, have the Name Yah rather than El/Eloah/Elohim.

(2) The other aspect of Exodus 23:20-22 is that YHWH warns that this Messenger will not forgive Israel if they sin; implying that he had the independent power to do so, but would not on this occasion.  Such ability was not ever afforded any other heavenly messenger. To see how this might manifest with Mashiyach’s power and office, please see Matthew 9:5-8.

(3) Isaiah 9:6 tells us that one of the names of Mashiyach is “the Everlasting Father,” who is obviously YHWH Himself.  Then Isaiah 11:1-2 tells us that Mashiyach as the Root of Jesse will have the Spirit of YHWH rest inside him! Incidentally, the Spirit of YHWH and the Ruach haKodesh/Holy Spirit are also one and the same, as evidenced by Psalm 51:1-11 and Isaiah 63:1-11.

(4) Perhaps the most essential passage is in Zechariah 12:10, where the only begotten Son is killed but YHWH is “pierced.”  The Hebrew here, in spite of rabbinic argumentation to the contrary, could not be clearer.  The phrase in question is et asher dakaru. The et serves as a direct object pointer; it shows what part of a Hebrew sentence is receiving the action. 

So in Genesis 1:1 we are told et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz, with the et meaning that the heavens and the Earth are receiving the action of being created.  On this everyone agrees, but the same rabbis who agree with this usage everywhere else in Tanakh turn a blind eye here.  In this passage, it can only read as “to whom pierced they,” and since YHWH is speaking, He is being pierced! 

And yet the rest of the passage talks of people mourning for the man as “an only begotten son”! How can this be?  The Son whose flesh is pierced contains an occurrence (qnoma in Aramaic) of YHWH's Spirit, so while it is the flesh that is literally pierced and dies, the Spirit of YHWH is pierced too, but of course, cannot die.

(5) Finally Isaiah 53:1: “to whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed?”  This is the only acceptable form of “Godhead” in Scripture.  Clearly not a Trinity of three separate beings (or persons), because the arm is not a separate entity from the rest of the body and has no independent will.  The “arm” moves only with the power and control from the mind. 

In the same way YHWH’s nature is manifest as an occurrence within the Son that is separate but side-by-side with his human nature.  These two natures then communicate with one another; thus explaining why Y'shua is not talking to himself when he prays to his Father. 

This fact is also why sometimes Y'shua says things like, “My teaching is not my own” and “I can do nothing without my Father” on the one hand but on the other he says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” and “I and my Father are one of the same.” 

This indicates a 100 percent divine nature that exists in a 100 percent human soul and flesh, where one or the other talks through Y'shua.  But the human is subject to the divine (again, “Not my will...”) which is the only way the Scripture cannot be broken.  It is not Trinity but neither does this deny the divine aspects in Y'shua himself.  It is also the real meaning behind, “No one comes to the Father but by me.”  See also John 5:26.