And they all condemned him to be worthy of death.

Jesus did not enter into a palpably useless argument with judges whose
minds were so rooted in the idea of dualism as to be impervious to any
other conception; but with a mixed multitude, who were not officially
committed to a system, the case was different. Among them there might
be some still open to conviction, and the appeal was, therefore, made to
a passage in the Psalms with which they were all familiar, pointing out
that the very persons to whom the Divine word was addressed were styled
"gods" by the Divine Speaker Himself. The incontrovertibleness of the
fact was emphasised by the stress laid upon it as "Scripture which
cannot be broken;" and the meaning to be assigned to the statement was
rendered clear by the argument which Jesus deduced from it. He says in
effect, "You would stone me as a blasphemer for saying of myself what
your own Scriptures say concerning each of you." The claim of unity with
"the Father," he urges, was no unique one, but one which the Scripture,
rightly understood, entitled every one of his hearers to make for
himself.

And so we find throughout that Jesus nowhere makes any claim for himself
which he does not also make for those who accept his teaching. Does he
say to the Jews, "Ye are of this world; I am not of this world?" Equally
he says of his disciples, "They are not of the world, even as I am not
of the world." Does he say, "I am the light of the world?" Equally, he
says, "Ye are the light of the world." Does he say, "I and my Father are
one?" Equally he prays that they all might be one, even as we are one.
Is he styled "the Son of God?" Then St. John writes, "To them gave he
power to become sons of God, even to as many as believe on his name;"
and by belief on the name we may surely understand belief in the
principle of which the name is the verbal representation.

The essential unity of God and man is thus the one fact which permeates
the whole teaching of Jesus. He himself stood forth as its living
expression. He appealed to his miracles as the proofs of it: "it is the
Father that doeth the works." It formed the substance of his final
discourse with his disciples in the night that he was betrayed. It is
the Truth, to bear witness to which, he told Pilate, was the purpose of
his life. In support of this Truth he died, and by the living power of
this Truth he rose again. The whole object of his mission was to teach
men to reali