Now, I and the Father are one (thing, one being) v. 30. (_Therefore, no one can snatch the sheep or aught else from my hand_.) To perceive the full meaning and strength of Jesus' argument, one must read and understand the original text of St. John's Gospel, that is, the Greek; or the _Latin_ translation: _Ego et Pater unum sumus_. If Christ had meant _one_ in mind or _one morally_ and not _substantially_, he would have used the masculine gender, Greek _eis_, (_unus_)--and not the neuter _en_, (_unum_)--as he did. No better interpreters of our Lord's meaning can be found than his own hearers. Had he simply declared his moral union with the Father, the Jews would not have taken up stones in protest against his making himself God, and asserting his identity with the Father. Far from retracting his statement or correcting the Jews' impression, Jesus insists that as he is the Son of God, he has far more right to declare himself God than the Scripture had to call mere human judges gods, and he corroborates his affirmation of his _physical_ unity with his Father by saying: "The Father is in me, and I am in the Father," which evidently signifies the same as verse 30: I and the Father are one and the same individual being, the One God. The preceding argument is reinforced by John 14, 8-11: "Philip saith to him: Lord, show us the Father, * * * Jesus saith: So long a time have I been with you and thou hast not known me. Philip, _he that seeth me seeth the Father also_. How sayest thou: Show us the Father. Do you not believe that _I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works._ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. What things soever the Father doth, these the Son also doth likewise" (John 5:19). These words are a clear assertion of the _physical_ unity of the Son and the Father. It is plain from the context that Christ means more than a physical _resemblance_, no matter how complete, between him and his Father. Of mere resemblance and moral union could never be said that one is the other, and that the words uttered by one are actually spoken by the other. To see the Son and the Father at the same time in the Son, the Son and the Father must be numerically one Being. Now Christ says: "He that seeth me seeth the Father." Therefore, he and the Father are numerically one Being.