“I and the Father are one.”

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.–Deuteronomy

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”

The Jews again picked up stones to stone him.–John 10

Deuteronomy, Chapter Six (verses 4-9), presents the first section of the “Shema” which means simply, listen; take heed; hear and do.

Birgir Gerhardsson stated that we “can almost be sure that Jesus and his disciples started and ended the day with this” [The whole of the Shema].

This practice is “firmly rooted in his time.”

Jews of his day recited this twice a day.

The Shema was “always in Jesus’ mind throughout his whole life.”

F. F. Bruce: “The previous occasion of his enemies’ trying to stone him in the temple precincts was when he made the declaration, ‘Before Abraham was born, I am’ (John 8:58, 59). The claim implicit in that declaration was similar to that made more expressly in the words, ‘I and the Father are one.’”

ABBA (FATHER): Not ‘Daddy’

[Not by Michael Snow; this is a link for an article by Glenn T. Stanton]

From the Gospel Coalition

FactChecker: Does ‘Abba’ Mean ‘Daddy’?

In the Aramaic language of the time of Jesus, there was absolutely no other word [than Abba] available if Jesus wished to speak of or address God as father. … it [Abba] is… the only possible form!

See full article

Be sure to read the “Comments” there for a clearer understanding.

As the only term available, the key emphasis, a la NIDNTT, is that ‘abba was “the familiar word used in everyday family life.”