■words of the Athanasian Creed should be often remembered : "Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance. — There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal."
Augustine remarks that this text alone overthrows both the doctrine of the Sabellians and the Arians. It silences the Sabelliaus, who say there is only one Person in the Godhead, by speaking of two distinct Persons. It silences the Arians, who say the Son is inferior to the Father, by saying that Father and Son are " one."
Let it be noted that the doctrine of this verse is precisely the same that our Lord had maintained on a former occasion (in the fifth chapter) before the Sanhedrim. There it was ex- pounded fully : here it is briefly asserted. And the interpreta- tion put on His meaning, in both cases, by the Jews, was ex- actly the same. They regarded it as a claim to be regarded as " God."
The practical use of the text to a believer in Christ is far too much overlooked. It shows the entire childlike confidence with which such an one may look at the Father. "He who hath the Son hath the Father." The remark is only too true that while some ignorantly talk of the Father, as if there was no Christ crucified, others, with no less ignorance, talk of Christ crucified as if there was no God and Father of Christ, who loved the world !
Chrysostom observes : " That thou may est not suppose that Christ is weak, and the sheep are in safety through the Father's power, He adcleth, ' I and the Father are one.' As though He had said, I did not assert that on account of the Father no man plucketh them away, as though I were too weak to keep the sheep. For I and the Father are one. He speaks here with reference to power, for concerning this was all His discourse; and if the power be the same, it is clear that the essence is also."
Ecolampadius remarks: "He does not say we are one in the masculine gender, — that is, one person ; but one in the neuter gender, — that is, one in nature, power, and majesty. If you were to say one Person, you would take away both, and leave neither Father nor Son."
Maldonatus quotes a saying of Augustine's, — " that it is inva- riably found in Scripture that things called ■ one ' are things of the same nature."
It is fair to admit that Erasmus, Calvin, and a few others think the "oneness" here only means unity of consent and will. But the vast majority of commentators think otherwise, and the Jews evidently thought so also.