This article examines three statements Jesus made that are often cited to argue that the Father and the Son are one single Being:
“The Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (John 10:38; cf. 14:11);
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30); and
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
The Father is in Me, and I in the Father.
In the language of John’s Gospel, being “in” another person does not necessarily mean being the same being, for Jesus uses the same kind of language when speaking about His disciples. He is “in” His disciples, and His disciples are “in” Him (e.g., John 15:4–5; 14:20). This cannot mean that the disciples become one literal being with Jesus. Rather, it describes union with Him in faith, obedience, love, and dependence.
Jesus later explains this abiding in terms of His words remaining in them (John 15:7). In the same way, the Father being “in” Jesus, and Jesus being “in” the Father, may be understood as the Father’s words being expressed through Jesus:
“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16).
Even after His ascension, and after the Father had exalted Jesus Christ as Lord over all, Revelation opens by saying that God gave the revelation to Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1). This continues the same pattern: Jesus, whether in human or exalted form, receives from God and makes God known.
I and the Father are one.
This verse, John 10:30, is also frequently used to argue that the Father and Son literally are a single Being. Yet Jesus later uses the same language to describe His disciples as “one,” and says they are one, just like the Father and Son are one:
“Keep them in Your name … that they may be one even as We are” (John 17:11).
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22).
The disciples do not become one literal person or one being. In the same way, the Father and the Son being “one” does not by itself prove that they are one literal Person or Being. The oneness in John 17 is a unity of purpose, love, glory, and relationship.
He who has seen Me has seen the Father.
John 14:9 records Jesus saying, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” This statement is also sometimes used to argue that the Father and Son are a single Being. However, the next verse explains why seeing Jesus is seeing the Father:
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works” (John 14:10).
The point is that Jesus perfectly reveals the Father because He speaks the Father’s words and does the Father’s works. John 12:45 makes a similar point:
“He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.”
This verse preserves the distinction between the Sender and the One sent. Jesus reveals the Father because He has been sent by the Father and faithfully represents Him.
Conclusions
These three statements are related. All three point to the same truth: Jesus is perfectly united with the Father and perfectly reveals Him—“perfected in unity” (John 17:23)—rather than literal identity.
Therefore, these verses do not teach the traditional Trinitarian view that Jesus and the Father are one Being sharing a single divine mind. Instead, they express perfect harmony of will, purpose, and love between two distinct Beings — one who sends and one who is sent.
This is a summary. See here for the full article.
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