The Oneness of the Two

Today I would like to make a particular point about the understanding of the Father and the Son. I believe that the Father and the Son is the most important doctrine of the Gospel, and therefore every point of the doctrine is very significant to our faith. The thing I want to point out today is that while the Father and the Son are two separate persons who are ‘one’ in Spirit, they both have their own distinctly individual personalities. They are 'one’ by means of being of the same Spirit, which is the holy Spirit (Jn. 10:30; Jn. 17:21). This means that they are “of one heart and of one soul,” even as the scripture says the saints were in the beginning of the Gospel (Acts 4:32). Jesus prayed that we as believers would be one in the same manner that he and the Father are one (Jn. 17:22). The apostle Paul explained the simplicity of this oneness, and what he had to say about it tells us how the Father and the Son are one as well: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (I Cor. 1:10). So how can I know that the Father and his Son Jesus Christ have different personalities, when Jesus said that they are one? The answer comes down to us being made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). As Jesus prayed for us, so we should be ‘one’ the same way that he and the Father are one; and we’ve already seen by the scriptures what that really means by how the scriptures define that we are one. If we follow hard after God’s Spirit then we will be “of one heart and of one soul,” and we will “speak the same thing,” and “be perfectly joined together in the same judgment."

These things can only be achieved by first receiving the Spirit that is of God, and then being led, taught and purified by that Spirit in all things (Jn. 7:38,39; Rom. 8:14; Jn. 14:26; Jn. 16:13; I Jn. 2:27; I Pet. 1:22). So it is the holy Ghost that makes us one, and it is the same holy Ghost that makes the Father and the Son one. Now let’s get back to us being made in the image of God. We are each a person because we are comprised of body, soul, and spirit (I Thess. 5:23). That means that God and his Son are each body, soul, and Spirit as well; because God told the Son to make man in their image (Gen. 1:26; Eph. 3:9). This obviously means that the holy Ghost is not a person, but rather it is one of three parts of each of the persons of the Father and the Son. The Spirit of God is actually the divine eternal life and nature that dwells in both the Father and the Son, and therefore they have the same mindset in all things, and they feel the same way about things (Jn. 5:26; Jn 10:10; Rom. 8:2). But even though we are instructed to be one in the same way that God and his Son are one, we all have distinctly different personalities. As the Son was begotten directly of the Father’s substance, so we were begotten directly of our father’s substance; because our spirit comes exclusively through our father. 1 Corinthians 15:22 tells us that we all died "in Adam.” This means that we were all literally IN Adam when he sinned. Jesus clarified that the condition of sin is something that is in the spirit of a man, which confirms that our spirits were in Adam when he sinned, and were thereby defiled (Mat. 15:18-20). The scripture also tells us that the patriarch Levi was IN his great grandfather Abraham’s loins when Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec; and that Levi was thereby counted as paying tithes to Melchisedec as well (Heb. 7:9,10).

So even though we were substantially in our father, and our spiritual substance thereby comes from our father; we still have our own individual personalities in our spirits. That is why we can have a different personality from our father, or from our sibling whose spirit also came out of our father; though our spiritual substance is all the same because it comes wholly from our father. This is how God and his Son Jesus Christ have two distinctly different personalities, though they possess the same exact spiritual substance and are of one nature and one mind in all things. It is the same holy Spirit that is the life substance and nature of them both, but they have their own individualism as well, if you will. We are made in their image and therefore it is certain that it is that way. If it were not that way, then they would not be two separate persons, but rather one person in two bodies somehow; which of course makes no sense and in fact is not possible. They do not have different kinds of Spirit because they both have the same holy Spirit, but within that holy Spirit they each have their own individual lives and distinctive manners. If it were not that way then we would have all been identical to Adam in our personalities, and identical to one another; because we all have the exact same 'kind’ of spirit, because all of our spirits come from Adam’s substance. I just feel that this understanding is a beautiful insight into the mind of God, and how God gives us all the liberty of being ourselves, rather than clones. It is also another defining aspect of what it means for us to made in the image of God. I hope it’s a blessing to you as well. Amen.