When the Oneness teacher says, “God is one, so He must be one Person,” he is doing arithmetic where he ought to be doing language. Because “one” in Scripture is a language question, not a math problem, and the words themselves settle it. We saw it in the Hebrew: echad is a united one, not a solitary one. Now let me show you the Greek, because it is just as plain.
“I and my Father are one”
The Oneness folks love this verse, until you read the Greek behind it:
“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30, KJV)
Now watch three things in that little sentence. First, the subject is plural: “I and my Father”: two. Second, the verb is plural: “we are”, not “I am.” Third, and this is the key: the word “one” here is the Greek hen (which is neuter, “one thing,” one in essence), not the masculine heis, “one person.” If Jesus had meant “I am the same Person as the Father,” the grammar would look completely different. What He actually said is: two Persons, one in essence. Distinct, and yet one God. That is the Trinity in a single verse, and the Jews knew He was claiming deity, for they said He was making Himself God (John 10:33).
Let Jesus define His own “one”
And you do not have to guess, because Jesus used the very same “one” about believers: that they “may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22). We do not all melt into one Person: we are many persons in one fellowship. That is exactly the “one” of John 10:30. So “one God” never had to mean “one Person.” It means one God, and the same Bible that says “one” shows you the Father sending the Son (1 John 4:14), the Son praying to the Father (John 17:1), and all three at the Jordan (Matthew 3:16–17). Get the language right, and the whole Book opens up. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
- The Fatal Flaw of the Oneness Echad Argument
- The Trinity Is Not Three Gods
- Scripture Supports the Doctrine of the Trinity
The Gospel, Stated Plainly
Everything I teach on this site rests on one message from Scripture. Read it in God’s own words from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 1:16, and Ephesians 2:8-9.
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
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