John 10:29

My Father who hath given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.

Here is the reasoning that underlies the promise of John 10:28 that the sheep of Christ shall have eternal life. There is no way to understand Jesus' words here except as an affirmation of his supernatural nature, claiming equality with God himself, or, as the Pharisees expressed it in John 10:33, making himself God! As Robertson said:

This crisp statement, "I and the Father are one," is the climax of Christ's claims concerning the relationship between the Father and himself (the Son). This stirred the Pharisees to uncontrollable anger.[24]

Augustine saw in this single text the complete refutation of two major heresies, saying:

It silences the Sabellians, 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 the Father and the Son are one.[25]

Ryle paraphrased the thought thus:

I and my eternal Father, though two distinct Persons, are yet one in essence, nature, dignity, power, will, and operation. Hence, in the matter of securing the safety of my sheep, what I do, my Father does likewise. I do not act independently of him.[26]

There is no pretense here of any truly adequate explanation of such things as these, for the truth of this verse lies wholly beyond the perimeter of man's finite understanding.

[24] A. T. Robertson, op. cit., p. 187.

[25] J. C. Ryle, op. cit., II, p. 30.

[26] Ibid.