Is John 10:30 Claiming Jesus and The Father Are Only One in Purpose?

There are a few issues with this claim. Now, no one will claim, at least no intellectual Christian, will claim Jesus and the Father are not one in purpose; the person is also correct in their note of Jesus speaking of believers, but this is not what Jesus is actually trying to say here. Jesus is speaking of his power, as he states in the prior verses, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand," (John 10:28-29 KJV). These verses are speaking of the power of the two. After John 10:30, we see that the Jews pick up stones against Jesus, "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him(Jesus)," (John 10:31 KJV). Why? Well, the Jews believed he committed blasphemy (as John 10:33-36 notes). Claiming the two were one, one in unity. As the German scholar Mr. Bengel writes in his book, "Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἓν ἐσμεν, I and the Father are one) One, not merely in agreement of will, but in unity of power, and so of nature: for omnipotence is an attribute of the nature [of God]; and His discourse is of the unity of the Father and the Son. In these words of Jesus, the Jews, blind as they were, saw more meaning than Antitrinitarians see in the present day. If the Jews had supposed that Jesus wishes merely to be accounted as a divine man, and not as the Son of God, who is as truly God as sons of men are men, they would not have said, "Whereas Thou art a man, thou makest Thyself God" (John 10:33); nor would they have arraigned Him for blasphemy," (Gnomon of the New Testament 385). Claiming to be one in purpose with God is no blasphemous, but claiming to be one in unity is.

Work Cited:

Bengel, E., Bengel, J. A., Fausset, A. R., Steudel, J. C. F. (1860). Volume 2: Gnomon of the New Testament. United Kingdom: Smith, English & Company (P.385).