What did Jesus say about unity?

And for what did He pray? "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me" (21). Oneness in real fellowship of communion was His desire, and the burden of His petition. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father; hence full communion there must be between Them. The thoughts, the wishes, of the Father are the thoughts and wishes of the Son. No divergence of view, no conflict of opinion, can possibly exist between Them. A oneness, then, of communion between all believers, for that He prayed. And remembering that the company to be gathered out by apostolic ministry would embrace men of all ranks, and people of very varied nationalities, the need of the Saviour's prayer is at once made apparent. And the resulting consequence was one concerning the world: "That the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.'' Those formerly Jews, or Gentiles, or Barbarians, or Scythians, or bond or free, all united in one fellowship, owning and serving the same Lord — what short of Divine power could effect this? And if Divine power could accomplish it, what a testimony it would be to the Divine mission of the Son! That effect on the world He desired; and surely in early days, as long as all believers continued in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship (Acts 2:42), there was that testimony. But how soon was the beautiful picture blotted! How sadly has it become marred!

If this be so, it is clear that the present divided condition of the Church is not according to the mind of the Spirit. It may be well, however, to look at some other scriptures bearing on this subject. In John 17 we find that, whether our Lord was praying for the disciples then with Him, or whether He enlarges the sphere to the whole of those who should believe on Him through their word, in both cases the first petition that He presents concerning them is — for their oneness. In verse 21 He prays, "That they all," that is all believers, "may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Here, then, the special object for which the Lord desires this oneness is that it may be a testimony to the world. No invisible unity can be this. The world can receive no evidence but that presented to it, and unless the oneness of believers is a thing discernible by the world, the testimony here spoken of is not given. The Church indeed was not formed when these words were uttered, but they were uttered in full view of the fact that the Church was soon to be formed; and the formation of the Church could not dissolve, but rather cement and define the oneness here spoken of.

The oneness of which our blessed Lord spoke to the Father, recorded in John 17:21, is, that all His own might know in present communion oneness in the Father and the Son. In contrast to this, Scripture abundantly shows the utter failure of the efforts of religious-minded men for uniformity. So enamoured does the mind become by ideal uniformity, by some set of principles usually called divine, that it will pursue such in a spirit which is diametrically opposed both to the nature and character of the blessed God, harshness and cruelty often being used to enforce a particular form of uniformity, and faithfulness to God often pleaded to cover what is really a dishonour to His holy Name. Now the way of the Holy Spirit is to lead, to guide, to teach, and make known the positive truth of God, as it is revealed in His beloved Son, who has made the Father’s Name and the Father’s love known; and it is thus that exercised hearts are livingly led into the blessedness of present communion in oneness in the Father and the Son. It is the living communion of persons and not the harsh uniformity of mere religion.

Nor was this by any means all; but the power of the Spirit baptized all the believers into one body, the Church. The unity here, however, though produced of course by the same Spirit in those who compose that body, is not that which fell to the Apostle Paul to set out. Of a spiritual nature it nevertheless displays itself in that which the world can see and appreciate in measure. It is not precisely "one as we," that is, as the Father and the Son, which verse 11 had predicated of the disciples. As the Father and the Son had but one mind and affection, purpose and way, so was this oneness desired for the Apostles in their work and life; and wondrously was it realised in them, as we have already noticed. Here the saints at large, those who believe through their word, are in view; and the thing sought is that they should "all be one," "even as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us" — not "as we," but "in us," in the Father and the Son. It is communion in virtue of the Father made known in the Son, and of the Son the object of the Father's love and delight, into which we are brought by the Holy Ghost. With the Father we share the Son; with the Son we share the Father. Into this blessedness the saints were now for the first time to be introduced, and in such sort that they should all be one, even as the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, so they also one in the Father and the Son.

But the principle of the existence of this unity, added yet another character to that truth — that of manifestation, or at least of an inward source which realised its manifestation in them: "I in them," said Jesus, "and thou in me." This is not the simple, perfect oneness of verse 11, nor the mutuality and communion of verse 21. It is Christ in all believers, and the Father in Christ, a unity in manifestation in glory, not merely in communion — a oneness in which all is perfectly connected with its source. And Christ, whom alone they were to manifest, is in them; and the Father, whom Christ had perfectly manifested, is in Him. The world (for this will be in the millennial glory, and manifested to the world) will then know (He does not say, "that it may believe") that Jesus had been sent by the Father (how deny it, when He should be seen in glory?) and, moreover, that the disciples had been loved by the Father, even as Jesus Himself was loved. The fact of their possessing the same glory as Christ would be the proof.

Thirdly, "the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them even as thou lovedst me." Here, though the Lord gave the title then, He looks on to the glory and the glory displayed to the world. It is oneness in that day, and is a character without alloy, quite answering to that of the new Jerusalem in Rev. 21, where the world beholds the glory of the heavenly city, the Bride or Lamb's wife; not the mutuality of grace as now, but the order of glory, Christ in the glorified saints, and the Father in Christ. Hence then only will they be "perfected into one;" and then only will the world "know" that the Father sent the Son. For how else could those who were once sinners be in heavenly glory but by His Son sent for their salvation? How else, that the Father loved them even as He loved the Son, but by their manifestation with Him in glory? It is now a question of the world's "believing;" in that day the world will "know," because it will see the glory in which Christ and the church will shine together.

(V. 22). With this great end in view the Lord can say, "The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them." The glory that is given to Christ as Man, He secures for, and shares with, His own. This glory He has given to His own that they may be one. So perfect is this unity that nothing less than the unity between the Father and the Son can serve for its pattern, as the Lord can say, "That they may be one, even as We are one."

(V. 23). The words that follow tell us how the saints will be "perfected into one" (N. Tr.), as well as the great end for which they are made one. The Lord indicates how the unity is brought about when He says, "I in them, and Thou in Me." This takes us on to the glory when Christ will be perfectly set forth in the saints, even as the Father is perfectly set forth in the Son. What is it that has marred the unity, and scattered and divided the saints of God on earth? Is it not the allowance in our lives of so much that is not of Christ? Yet, even so, if all the saints on earth, at any given moment, had expressed only Christ, it would hardly have displayed the unity of which the Lord speaks in these closing verses. It will require nothing less than the whole company of the saints in glory to adequately set forth the fulness of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). Then indeed Christ — and nothing but Christ — will be seen in His people. We shall "all come in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect Man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). The saints so long scattered and divided on earth will be "perfected into one" in glory. "With the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye" (Isa. 52:8).

The great end of this perfect unity is the manifestation before the world of the glory of Christ as the sent One of the Father, and the love of the Father for the disciples. When the world sees Christ displayed in glory, in His people, they will know that the One they despised and hated, was indeed the sent One of the Father, and they will realise that the saints of Christ, that they cast out and persecuted, are loved by the Father with the same love that the Father has to Christ.

When we come to John 17:20 we find this blessed Person praying specially for us. Verses 6-19 were spoken of those who were with Him at that time; now He adds, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." The testimony rendered by the Apostles has come down to us in the written word, and in accepting it, we have believed through their word in the Son of God. Resulting from this testimony, the Lord desires that there should be a divine unity, "As Thou Father, art in Me and I in Thee." Herein is the secret and blessedness of the eternal life that is ours through the testimony that has come to us. We are here to express the life given to us by the Son, in all our ways, that the Father and the Son might find joy in us. We are not to have our interests in this world, but to manifest that we belong to heaven; having our part in the circle of divine affection, and taking our place in testimony for the glory of the Father.

We shall be associated, in a coming day, with a Christ Who will take up all the rights and counsels of God as the Son of His love; therefore does He say, "And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One" (John 17:22). There will be a divine unity in glory in that wonderful day of display. When the Son was down here, the Father was in the Son, and all that the Father said and did was through the Son; but the world refused this testimony. It is not therefore surprising that the world refuses our testimony today. In the display of the coming day, the Father will be set forth in the Son, and the Son will be set forth in the saints. The purpose of this is, "That the world may know that thou hast sent Me." What the world refused in testimony, it will have to accept in the display of that day.

"And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." If Satan seemed to have succeeded in thwarting the desire of Christ for me, it was only for a little while. All will be made good by Him when He brings us out from heaven, perfectly one in glory. But the solemn thought is, that it will be too late for the world to believe then that the Father sent Christ. (This might have been if we had walked in manifested oneness now. Ver. 21) Then it will "know that thou hast sent me;" for none can dispute it. "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it;" but not to participate in it, as those who believe in Him do now. And yet, beloved brethren, in spite of all, the world shall also know in that blessed day of manifested glory "that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." Yes, the Lord Jesus will have the world know our wondrous association with Him, that enters even into that which is deepest — His place in the Father's love. We do not wait till then to know it. We know it now, "to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Eph. 1:6)

In verse 20, He declares that He prays also for those who should believe on Him through their means. Here the character of the unity differs a little from that in verse 11. There, in speaking of the disciples, He says, "as we are"; for the oneness of the Father and the Son showed itself in fixed purpose, object, love, work, everything. Therefore the disciples were to have that kind of unity. Here those who believed, inasmuch as receiving and taking part in that which was communicated, had their oneness in the power of the blessing into which they were brought. By one Spirit, in which they were necessarily united, they had a place in communion with the Father and the Son. It was the communion of the Father and of the Son (compare 1 John 1:3; and how similar the language of the apostle is to that of Christ!). Thus, the Lord asks that they may be one in them — the Father and the Son. This was the means to make the world believe that the Father had sent the Son; for here were those that had believed it, who, however opposed their interests and habits might be, however strong their prejudices, yet were one (by this powerful revelation and by this work) in the Father and the Son.