Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 17:21
That they all 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.
21. That they all may be one ] This is the purpose rather than the purport of the prayer: Christ prays for blessings for His Church with this end in view, that all may be one.
as ] Or, even as. The unity of believers is like the unity of the Father with the Son (Joh 10:30), not a merely moral unity of disposition and purpose, but a vital unity, in which the members share the life of one and the same organism (see on Rom 12:4-5). A mere agreement in opinion and aim would not convince the world. See on Joh 17:11. Omit ‘art,’ which is an insertion of our translators.
may be one in us ] The balance of authority is against ‘one,’ which may be an explanatory gloss. In Joh 6:56 and Joh 15:4-5 Christ’s followers are said to abide in Him: this is to abide in His Father also.
hast sent ] Better, didst send (comp. Joh 17:18). The eternal unity of believers with one another will produce such external results (‘see how these Christians love one another’), that the world will be induced to believe. Christian unity and love (Mat 7:12; Luk 6:31; 1 Corinthians 13) is a moral miracle, a conquest of the resisting will of man, and therefore more convincing than a physical miracle, which is a conquest of unresisting nature. Hence the divisions and animosities of Christians are a perpetual stumbling-block to the world.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 21. That they all may be one] This prayer was literally answered to the first believers, who were all of one heart and of one soul: Ac 4:32. And why is it that believers are not in the same spirit now? Because they neither attend to the example nor to the truth of Christ.
That the world may believe] are have already seen that the word, , world, is used in several parts of this last discourse of our Lord to signify the Jewish people only.
Christ will have all his members to be one in spirit-one in rights and privileges, and one in the blessedness of the future world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our Saviour here prays on the behalf of such as should believe on him, that they might be one in faith, and one in brotherly love. Whoso considereth this as a piece of Christs prayer for believers, and that St. Paul hardly wrote one epistle to the primitive apostolical churches in which he did not press this by most potent argument, cannot but nourish some hopes, (how improbable soever it appears at present), that all the sincere disciples of Christ shall one day arrive at the keeping of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and likewise look upon themselves in point of duty obliged to endeavour it. To which pitch of perfection possibly Christians might soon arrive, if superiors would, after the example of the apostle, Act 15:28, lay upon their inferiors no more than necessary things; and equals would learn to contend for truth in love, and to walk with their brethren so far as they have attained; and as to other things, to forbear one another in love; and wherein any of their brethren are otherwise minded, then they are to wait till God shall reveal it to them, Phi 3:15. But this is not all the union which Christ prays for; he also prays that they might be one in the Father and the Son; that is, that they might believe; for faith is that grace by which we are united to, and made one with, God and Christ; though others interpret it of obedience, or such things wherein God the Father and Christ are one, &c. For although so many as are ordained to life shall believe, yet that they might believe is matter of prayer: this our Saviour prays for, for the further glory of God, which is that which he meaneth by the worlds believing that God had sent him; there being no greater evidence that Christ is the true Messiah, than the general acceptance of the doctrine of the gospel, which he brought throughout the world; for who can imagine, that a new doctrine brought into the world by one of no greater reputation than Christ had in the world, and propagated by persons of no greater quality than the apostles were, should obtain in the greatest part of the world, if he that first introduced it had not been first sent by God into the world, and the apostles had not been extraordinarily influenced and assisted by God as to the propagation of it, after Christ was ascended into heaven?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. that they all may be one, asthou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one inusThe indwelling Spirit of the Father and the Son isthe one perfect bond of union, knitting up into a living unity, firstall believers amongst themselves; next, this unity into one stillhigher, with the Father and the Son. (Observe, that Christ nevermixes Himself up with His disciples as He associates Himself with theFather, but says I in THEMand THEY in US).
that the world may believethat thou hast sent mesentest me. So the grand impression uponthe world at large, that the mission of Christ is divine, is to bemade by the unity of His disciples. Of course, then, it mustbe something that shall be visible or perceptible to theworld. What is it, then? Not certainly a merely formal, mechanicalunity of ecclesiastical machinery. For as that may, and to a largeextent does, exist in both the Western and Eastern churches, withlittle of the Spirit of Christ, yea much, much with which the Spiritof Christ cannot dwell so instead of convincing the world beyondits own pale of the divinity of the Gospel, it generatesinfidelity to a large extent within its own bosom. But the Spirit ofChrist, illuminating, transforming, and reigning in the hearts of thegenuine disciples of Christ, drawing them to each other as members ofone family, and prompting them to loving co-operation for the good ofthe worldthis is what, when sufficiently glowing and extended,shall force conviction upon the world that Christianity is divine.Doubtless, the more that differences among Christians disappearthemore they can agree even in minor mattersthe impression upon theworld may be expected to be greater. But it is not dependentupon this; for living and loving oneness in Christ is sometimes moretouchingly seen even amidst and in spite of minor differences, thanwhere no such differences exist to try the strength of their deeperunity. Yet till this living brotherhood in Christ shall show itselfstrong enough to destroy the sectarianism, selfishness, carnality,and apathy that eat out the heart of Christianity in all the visiblesections of it, in vain shall we expect the world to be overawed byit. It is when “the Spirit shall be poured upon us from onhigh,” as a Spirit of truth and love, and upon all parts of theChristian territory alike, melting down differences and heartburnings, kindling astonishment and shame at past unfruitfulness,drawing forth longings of catholic affection, and yearnings over aworld lying in wickedness, embodying themselves in palpable forms andactive measuresit is then that we may expect the effect hereannounced to be produced, and then it will be irresistible. Shouldnot Christians ponder these things? Should not the same mind be inthem which was also in Christ Jesus about this matter? Should not Hisprayer be theirs?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That they all may be one,…. Among themselves. This may regard their unity in faith, and in the knowledge of Christ; for there is but one faith which all truly experienced souls agree in: they are converted by the same Spirit, and have the same work of grace wrought in them; and though they have not the same degree of light, and measure of spiritual knowledge, yet they agree in the main point of the Gospel, salvation alone by the Lord Jesus Christ; and such an agreement in the doctrine of faith, and the grand articles of it, respecting the person and offices of Christ, is absolutely necessary to their comfortably walking together in church fellowship, and the more honourable carrying on the worship of God together; and which will be more manifest in the latter day, when saints shall see eye to eye: likewise an unity in affection may be here designed, a being knit together in love to each other; which is the bond of perfectness, the evidence of regeneration, the badge of the Christian profession, the beauty of church communion, and the barrier and security from the common enemy; and without which, social worship and mutual service will be either neglected or coldly performed. Moreover, this petition may have respect to the gathering together all the saints at the last day, as one body united together in faith and love; as one general assembly and church of the firstborn; as one fold of which Christ is the head, Saviour, and shepherd:
as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee. There is a mutual in being of the Father and the Son, who are one in nature and essence, in power and will, and in understanding and affection; which union, though it infinitely transcends any kind of union among men, or that can be conceived of by men, yet is the exemplar of the saints’ union one with another, and to the divine persons; and which must be understood not of an equality, but a likeness:
that they also may be one in us: there is an union of all the elect to God and Christ, which is already complete, and not to be prayed for; they are all loved by God with an everlasting love, by which they are inseparably one with him; they are all chosen in Christ, as members in their head, and are federally united to him, as their Mediator, surety, and representative; in consequence of which he has assumed their nature, stood in their place and stead, and brought them nigh to God. There is a manifestation of union in conversion, when persons openly appear to be in Christ; and as a fruit and effect of everlasting love, are with loving kindness drawn unto him; and which will be more gloriously seen, when all the elect shall be brought in, and God shall be all in all, and is what Christ here prays for:
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me; either the rest of God’s chosen people in the world, not yet called; or rather the wicked and reprobate part of the world, particularly Jews and Deists: they shall see the concord and agreement of the saints in doctrine, worship, and affection in the latter day; and when all the elect shall be gathered together, and not only their union to each other, but to the divine persons, shall clearly appear; they will then believe, ant be obliged to own, that Jesus is the true Messiah, was sent of God, and is no imposter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That they also may be in us ( ). Another purpose clause with and the present active subjunctive of . The only possible way to have unity among believers is for all of them to find unity first with God in Christ.
That the world may believe ( ). Another purpose clause with and the present active subjunctive of , “may keep on believing.” Beyond a doubt, strife, wrangling, division are a stumblingblock to the outside world.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
One. Omit.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “That they all may be one;” (hina pantes hen osin) “in order that all may be (exist as) one,” in unity, harmony, as one flock, united with one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, Eph 4:1-5; one in spirit, faith, doctrine, and practice.
2) “As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,” (kathos su pater en emoi kago en soi) “And just as you, Father, exist in me and I exist in you,” to give eternal life to those who believe, Joh 10:27-29; Joh 14:9. Truth, the word of truth, is the unifying element that affords cohesion, through the spirit, in building the house or church of Jesus Christ on earth, 1Ti 3:15; Eph 2:19-22.
3) “That they also may be one in us:” (hina kai autoi en hemin osin) “In order that they may also exist in us,” Joh 10:30, continually in our will and work, as I have in yours, Joh 6:38; Joh 4:34; Joh 17:4-5.
4) “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (hina ho kosmos pisteue hoti su me apesteilas) “In order that the world may believe that you did send me,” by the life they live, in following me, and the way they let their light shine, Luk 9:23; Mat 5:15-16; Joh 13:34-35.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. That all may be one. He again lays down the end of our happiness as consisting in unity, and justly; for the ruin of the human race is, that, having been alienated from God, it is also broken and scattered in itself. The restoration of it, therefore, on the contrary, consists in its being properly united in one body, as Paul declares the perfection of the Church to consist in
believers being joined together in one spirit and says that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors, were given, that they might edify and restore the body of Christ, till it came to the unity of faith; and therefore he exhorts believers to grow into Christ, who is the Head, from whom the whole body joined together, and connected by every bond of supply, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of it to edifcation, (Eph 4:3.)
Wherefore, whenever Christ speaks about unity, let us remember how basely and shockingly, when separated from him, the world is scattered; and, next, let us learn that the commencement of a blessed life is, that we be all governed, and that we all live, by the Spirit of Christ alone.
Again, it ought to be understood, that, in every instance in which Christ declares, in this chapter, that he is one with the Father, he does not speak simply of his Divine essence, but that he is called one as regards his mediatorial office, and in so far as he is our Head. Many of the fathers, no doubt, interpreted these words as meaning, absolutely, that Christ is one with the Father, because he is the eternal God. But their dispute with the Arians led them to seize on detached passages, and to torture them out of their natural meaning, in order to employ them against their antagonists. (124) Now, Christ’s design was widely different from that of raising our minds to a mere speculation about his hidden Divinity; for he reasons from the end, by showing that we ought to be one, otherwise the unity which he has with the Father would be fruitless and unavailing. To comprehend aright what was intended by saying, that Christ and the Father are one, we must take care not to deprive Christ of his office as Mediator, but must rather view him as he is the Head of the Church, and unite him with his members. Thus will the chain of thought be preserved, that, in order to prevent the unity of the Son with the Father from being fruitless and unavailing, the power of that unity must be diffused through the whole body of believers. Hence, too, we infer that we are one with the Son of God; (125) not because he conveys his substance to us, but because, by the power of his Spirit, he imparts to us his life and all the blessings which he has received from the Father.
That the world may believe. Some explain the word world to mean the elect, who, at that time, were still dispersed; but since the word world, throughout the whole of this chapter, denotes the reprobate, I am more inclined to adopt a different opinion. It happens that, immediately afterwards, he draws a distinction between all his people and the same world which he now mentions.
The verb, to believe, has been inaccurately used by the Evangelist for the verb, to know; that is, when unbelievers, convinced by their own experienc, perceive the heavenly and Divine glory of Christ. The consequence is, that, believing, they do not believe, because this conviction does not penetrate into the inward feeling of the heart. And it is a just vengeance of God, that the splendor of Divine glory dazzles the eyes of the reprobate because they do not deserve to have a clear and pure view of it. He afterwards uses the verb, to know in the same sense.
(124) “ Et les ont tirees hors dc leur simple sens pour s’en servir contre les adversaires.”
(125) “ Avec le Fils de Dieu.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) That they all may be onei.e., both these (the Apostles) and them also which shall believe on Me through their word (the whole body of believers in all times and places). He expresses in this grand thought of the unity of the whole Church the fulness of the purpose of His prayer.
As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.The insertion of art, which, as the italics show, is not in the original text, weakens the sense. It is better, therefore, to omit it. The word one, in the second clause, is of doubtful authority, and has the appearance of a gloss. The probable reading, therefore, is, That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; and the meaning is that the union of the Church may be of the same essential nature as that between the Father and the Son; yea, that the union of the Church may result from the union of individual members with the Father through the Son. (Comp. Joh. 14:23; Joh. 15:4-10, et al.) The Father in the Son and the Son in the Father; both Father and Son taking up their abode in the believer, and the believer, therefore, in the Father and the Son. This is the ideal of the unity of the Church of Christ; and if this union with God is realised by each individual, it necessarily follows that all the individuals will be one with each other. (Comp. Notes on Eph. 4:4 et seq.)
That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.The result of the union of believers with God, and therefore with each other, will be that the world will see in it a proof of the divine origin of Christianity, and will believe that the Father sent the Son into the world. As this will be the result, it is thought of as the purpose of the prayer for the whole body of believers. Instances of this result crowd involuntarily upon the mind. The brotherhood of Christians has ever been the witness to their common Fatherhood in God. The divisions of Christendom have ever been the weakness of the Church and the proof to the world that, in that they are divided, they cannot be of God. (Comp. Note on Joh. 13:35.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. May be one Amid every diversity there is among true Christians a true unity. So amid many varieties, external and striking, the human race has a unity internal and absolute. One touch of feeling makes the whole world akin. Universal man, and man alone, has the moral emotion, the religious susceptibility, the power to possess an idea of the infinite God.
The European, the Chinaman, the Hottentot, can be brought to worship the Omnipotent; but not the dog, the elephant, or the gorilla. So, amid every outward diversity, there is in the Christian body the true unity of the Spirit. The attempt has been made to bring that body under one human head, the Pope, and what has been the result? The head became ambitious, corrupt, despotic, infidel, and bloody. This was substituting for God’s unity of the Spirit man’s unity of temporal power.
As thou and I The opposer of the doctrine of the Trinity very vainly attempts to prove that the Logos, or Word, can be no more one with God, than one Christian man can be one with another. But the as here indicates not equality in degree, but similarity in nature according to the human likeness and proportion to the Divine. As of Christian perfection the ideal is God, so of Christian unity the model is the ever-blessed Trinity. (See note on Mat 5:48. Also, Joh 14:9-10.) For man was made in the image of God. Of the Church, as of the Trinity, the unity is spiritual.
That that that There are three thats in this verse. The first two are parallel to each other, the latter enlarging the other, and both depend on pray in the previous verse. Christ directly prays that his followers may be one; and that they may be one in us. The third that depends upon these two. May they be one in us, that the world may be inspired, by that unity, with faith.
The world Stands in a double aspect: as the embodied enemy of Christ, and, as such, no object of prayer; and as the raw material from which the future Church must be won and shaped, and, as such, the object of this extension of prayer. And in the following verses Christ prays that the Church may be perfect in one, both for its own blessed sake and for the winning the world to faith. No limits are assigned to the diffusion of faith through the world; but the Saviour, justifying a holy ambition in his Church to win the whole, prays that the world may believe, and nothing less.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“That they may all be one, even as you Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”
His prayer is that the unity which He has requested for the Apostles may also be experienced by His people as a whole. That unity He likens to the unity between Himself and His Father, a unity of purpose and action, of love and truth, which will be theirs as they abide in Him and the Father. This portrayal of unity and love will then make its impression on the world so that the world will believe that Jesus Christ came from the Father. Here of course He means by ‘the world’ that part of ‘the world’ (that is, of the non-believing world) that sees Christians active in a unity of love.
For some considerable time that unity did impress the world. They said, ‘see how these Christians love one another’. And this was enhanced by the persecution that drove Christians together. Even today whenever the hearts of Christians are firmly set on Christ rather than on the church there is a unity and love which is remarkable to behold. The more we ‘abide in Christ’, the more that oneness is seen. But let us get on to cold doctrine alone and that unity becomes conflict. There is no greater divider than enthusiasm for some secondary interpretation or doctrine, or our own individual interpretation of Scripture.
It is clear that Jesus was as much concerned for the open revealing of this spiritual oneness as for anything else, for He continually underlines it. Christians will inevitably disagree on doctrine, on views of the scriptures, on church government and on many daily practises, but when they have allowed this to destroy essential oneness with all Christians who truly believe in the LORD Jesus Christ, they have committed a great sin. They have denied their birthright and brought shame on Christ. If men are one with the Father and the Son, then they are one with each other, and must love one another, and must show it, for how else is the world to believe?. This is the ‘unity of the Spirit’ (Eph 4:3). It is the result of the Father’s love in them (v. 26) It does not mean compromising what they see as the truth, it means that they love one another while disagreeing, because they are one in Him. That is what matters above all.
The basis of this unity is that they have heard and received the word of the Apostles. It is a unity based on apostolic teaching, an assumption illustrated in 1Jn 2:19 where it results in their “abiding in the Father and the Son” (abiding in the truth of the Triune God), as long as what they have “heard from the beginning” (the truth presented by Apostolic men) abides in them (1Jn 2:24). There are a few essential truths which determine a man’s position before God. If a man believes in Jesus as uniquely God’s Son, and in the fact that His work on the cross, and that alone, somehow brings him an undeserved forgiveness, and responds to God on the basis of this, is he not made one with the Father? Then he must be embraced in the circle of Christian love however differently he may view more detailed interpretations.
God’s final purpose is to reconcile all things to Himself (Col 1:20) and to bring all things into harmony in and through Christ (Eph 1:10), removing the rebellion and disharmony that man has introduced into creation (Rom 8:1-23). The church was intended to be the firstfruits, the outward sign that God’s purposes were on the way to fulfilment. We shame Him when we fight with each other.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
21 That they all 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.
Ver. 21. That they all may be one ] Though not by the same kind of union whereby the Father and the Son are one, yet by a union every way as real and indissoluble; such as whereby the world may be convinced that Christ is the very Messiah, and the faithful the true Church. So it was acknowledged in the primitive times, Act 4:32 . But what a sad thing was it, that a heathen should soon after have cause to say, Nullae infestae hominibus bestiae, ut sunt sibi ferales plerique Christiani; No beasts are so mischievous to men, as Christians are one to another. (Am. Marcellinus, ii. 2.) Tristissima illa persecutio sub Diocletiano, potissime orta est a petulantia, superbia et rixis sacerdotum. (Euseb.) They had not so learned Christ. Love and humility are his cognizances. Why then should the Turk have occasion to say, that he should sooner see his fingers all of a length, than Christian princes all of a mind? Why should the Jew stumble at our dissensions, which is one of the main scandals they take from Protestants?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21. ] The here hardly can regard the subject-matter of the , Joh 17:20 , but rather we should supply after that word , and understand this as expressing the object of the prayer respecting both. The subject-matter of the prayer is, that they may be kept in God’s name and sanctified in God’s truth; and if this be so, their unity with the Son and the Father follows, 1Jn 1:3 . But here it is not merely ‘with,’ but in, the Son and the Father; because the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son , and ‘He that is joined to the Lord, is one Spirit:’ see Joh 17:11 . This unity has its true and only ground in faith in Christ through the Word of God as delivered by the Apostles; and is therefore not mere outward uniformity, nor can such uniformity produce it. At the same time its effects are to be real and visible, such that the world may see them.
. ] Not parallel with the former , as if . meant the same as , that all may be brought to believe. Nor again can the words mean that the unbelieving and condemned world, at the end , may be persuaded ‘that Thou hast sent Me.’ Such a rendering would surely be repugnant to the spirit of the prayer, and the use of the word in our Gospel. Rather is it, ‘that this their testimony, being borne by them all, and in all ages, may continue to convince the world, so that many in the world may believe,’ &c.
The implies belief in the whole Work and Office of Christ. Here our Lord certainly prays for the world , see above on Joh 17:9 .
See a remarkable parallel, Rev 3:9 , where, as Stier truly remarks, the persons spoken of are penitents .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 17:21 . For those who through their preaching believe on Him He prays that they may be one. Naturally the extension of the Church imperils its unity, the , Eph 4:3 . “This unity is infinitely more than mere unanimity, since it rests upon unity of spirit and life.” Tholuck. This unity of all believers finds its ideal in the unity of the Father and the Son: , . . ., and not only its ideal but its unifying principle and element, . This unity of all believers is to result in the universal belief in Christ’s mission, .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
hast sent = didst send (Aor.)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21.] The here hardly can regard the subject-matter of the , Joh 17:20, but rather we should supply after that word , and understand this as expressing the object of the prayer respecting both. The subject-matter of the prayer is, that they may be kept in Gods name and sanctified in Gods truth; and if this be so, their unity with the Son and the Father follows, 1Jn 1:3. But here it is not merely with, but in, the Son and the Father;-because the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and He that is joined to the Lord, is one Spirit: see Joh 17:11. This unity has its true and only ground in faith in Christ through the Word of God as delivered by the Apostles; and is therefore not mere outward uniformity, nor can such uniformity produce it. At the same time its effects are to be real and visible, such that the world may see them.
.] Not parallel with the former , as if . meant the same as , that all may be brought to believe. Nor again can the words mean that the unbelieving and condemned world, at the end, may be persuaded that Thou hast sent Me. Such a rendering would surely be repugnant to the spirit of the prayer, and the use of the word in our Gospel. Rather is it,-that this their testimony, being borne by them all, and in all ages, may continue to convince the world, so that many in the world may believe, &c.
The implies belief in the whole Work and Office of Christ. Here our Lord certainly prays for the world,-see above on Joh 17:9.
See a remarkable parallel, Rev 3:9, where, as Stier truly remarks, the persons spoken of are penitents.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 17:21. , that they all) So, , that they may be, in Joh 17:22-23.-, all) who believe through the word of the apostles. [Those being included in the meaning, who were led to the faith not by the ministry of those Twelve; for instance, Paul, and the multitude won over by him.-V. g.] The same blessedness is obtained for all believers as was for the apostles.- , that also) , that, is here repeated, as if after a parenthesis, from the beginning of the verse.- , one in us) The words , in us, add emphasis to that , one, repeated: and those words, , in us, are deduced from , even as, etc.- ) the whole world at last.-, may believe) when it shall see believers full of us [filled with the abiding Spirit of the Father and the Son]. There follows by gradation, may know, in Joh 17:23. Comp. Joh 17:8, They have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed. With the world, the first stamina (groundwork) of faith precede the further and fuller knowledge, which follow. With actual believers, full faith follows close upon solid knowledge.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 17:21
Joh 17:21
that they may all be one;-The oneness of the children of God as God and Jesus are one was a question near the heart of the Son of God.
even 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.-One reason of this earnest desire for this oneness was that through this oneness the world might be brought to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and be saved. The belief and salvation of the world depends upon the children of God being one. They can be one only by adhering faithfully to the word of God. Through all the ages to come man can believe in God through Christ in the words of the apostles. [The Father and Son have no separate will, kingdom or interest. Such a union is here demanded of the disciples of Christ. It is impossible to convert and save the world to Christ as long as they who claim to be his followers are divided into various denominations, each having a different doctrine, property and interest, separate churches, colleges, papers, and missions. Denominationalism is utterly opposed to this prayer, and every apologist for it is disloyal to the spirit of the prayer and working against the salvation of the world. Nor is it fulfilled in any church where there are factions, where all are not perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. If Christ abides in the heart, the one life will draw all who have Christ formed within them into one family. This union is needful and the world will never believe in the Christ until it is accomplished. Sectarian divisions is the most fruitful source of skepticism that can be found. The union of Christendom would soon convert the world; but this union must be on the word of God.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
they all: Joh 17:11, Joh 17:22, Joh 17:23, Joh 10:16, Jer 32:39, Eze 37:16-19, Eze 37:22-25, Zep 3:9, Zec 14:9, Act 2:46, Act 4:32, Rom 12:5, 1Co 1:10, 1Co 12:12, 1Co 12:25-27, Gal 3:28, Eph 4:3-6, Phi 1:27, Phi 2:1-5, Col 3:11-14, 1Pe 3:8, 1Pe 3:9
as: Joh 5:23, Joh 10:30, Joh 10:38, Joh 14:9-11, Phi 2:6, 1Jo 5:7
that the: Joh 13:35
Reciprocal: Exo 26:3 – coupled together 1Sa 25:29 – with the Lord Psa 86:11 – unite Psa 122:6 – Pray Psa 133:1 – how good Eze 11:19 – I will give Zec 2:11 – thou Zec 4:9 – and Zec 6:15 – and ye Zec 11:7 – one Zec 12:8 – the house Zec 13:7 – the man Mar 3:24 – General Joh 6:56 – dwelleth Joh 6:57 – I live Joh 10:36 – sent Joh 11:42 – that thou Joh 12:19 – the world Joh 13:32 – shall Joh 13:34 – That ye love Joh 14:7 – ye Joh 14:10 – Believest Joh 14:20 – ye shall Joh 19:35 – that ye Rom 12:10 – kindly 1Co 1:9 – the fellowship 1Co 1:30 – in 1Co 3:23 – and Christ 1Co 6:17 – General 1Co 8:6 – and we 2Co 12:2 – in Christ Gal 2:20 – but Eph 1:3 – in Christ Eph 2:6 – sit Eph 2:22 – an Eph 4:13 – we all Col 2:2 – being Col 2:9 – in Col 2:19 – knit 2Th 1:12 – and ye Heb 2:11 – all 2Pe 1:17 – God 1Jo 1:3 – our fellowship 1Jo 2:13 – ye have known 1Jo 2:24 – ye also 1Jo 3:24 – dwelleth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
OUR UNHAPPY DIVISIONS
That they all 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.
Joh 17:21
Some things are good, but not pleasant; others are pleasant, but not good; it is not easy to combine the two qualities; but in unity both converge; pleasantness and the highest good. This our Lord intended for his Church; this He prayed for (beautifully illustrated in Psalms 133).
Christ did not come down from Heaven simply to unfold a revelation of Gods love by His atoning death, and then return, leaving the Gospel leaven to work its own way in the world. He founded a visible kingdom, and called men out of the world to be its subjects. (Hence, Ecclesia, called out, everywhere translated Church.) He instituted two sacred rites: one the means of admission and union with Him, the other the means of sustaining that union and spiritual life. Further, He provided for the continuity and propagation of this throughout the world; He appointed and consecrated officers by a solemn rite to preach and minister the Sacraments; and as the Creator breathed into the first mans nostrils, so our Lord, in commissioning the representatives of the new creation, breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Now it was for this Ecclesia, this universal body of His baptised people, that He thus prayed. Therefore it behoves all Christians seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions.
I. First, we must deplore the uncharitable spirit amongst ourselves.United to our Lord, and through union with Him to one another, by baptism, confessing the Faith once delivered to the saints, and handed down in the creeds; ministered to by the same priesthood; worshipping in the common language of the Liturgy, kneeling side by side at the same altars, and receiving, verily and indeed, the same Blessed Sacrament; we ought to be more lovingly united. We be brethren, and the points of divergence are infinitesimal with the great body of truth which we hold in common.
II. Secondly, as we look round we are startled and ashamed at the number of sects into which our common Christianity is subdivided. The most glaring fault of the nations religious life is the easy indifference with which men break away from unity and create new communitiesbetween two and three hundred different religious sectsand the number grows! Do Christians attach no meaning to our Lords Prayer? or do the indurating effects of habit deaden our sensibilities, and make us impervious to the taunt that England has one dish and a hundred sauces?
III. Thirdly, taking a wider survey of Christendom, we find the churches of the East and West have mutually excommunicated each other, and the Anglican Church stands apart from both. History of rupture of some ten centuries since cannot now be discussed, but the Reformation made no break in the historical continuity of the Anglican Church. There was no destruction of an old and setting up of a new Church. Unable to obtain redress of doctrinal abuses, the English Church reformed herself. The appeal, made by her bishops and clergy in convocation, was the same as made by all the great councils of the Church; it was to antiquity, Holy Writ, the Fathers, and the general councils of the undivided Church. Before the Reformation the Church was soiled by many impurities and abuses, and now it teaches only the Faith which was once delivered to the saints. The Church in this land was never the Roman Church, though, prior to the Reformation, at times subject more or less to the Roman Pontiff, but always the Church of England, Ecclesia Anglicana, as termed in Magna Charta and other documents. Our Church, when she recovered her independence, did not sever herself from Western Christendom; Rome caused the schism. The real obstacle still to reunion is the prevailing ambitious claim to lordship over Gods heritage by the Bishop of Rome.
There can be no more God-like aim than to seek to restore the Churchs broken unity. Disunion is weakness. We can individually do little beyond praying that it may please God to give to His Church, Unity, Peace, and Concord. But we may minimise our differences, magnify our points of agreement, eschew elements of bitterness; the obstacles seem insurmountable; but the things which are impossible with men are possible with God, and we may be sure our Lords Prayer cannot ultimately fall to the ground. The day will come when the reunion of divided Christendom will impart new life to missionary enterprise, and will be the signal for completing the conversion of the world.
Canon M. Woodward.
Illustration
We may rejoice in that real but unseen spiritual bond which undoubtedly exists among all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity; nevertheless, this cannot be accepted as an answer to his prayer, That they all may be one; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. The unbelieving world is to be impressed and converted by the spectacle of a united Church. See how these Christians love one another, and are of one heart and one mind; see how they continue steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the Prayers, cannot, alas! yet be said. It is an awe-inspiring thought that the divisions of Christendom are delaying the return of the Churchs Head, and the fulfilment of the prediction: The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
VISIBLE UNITY
I. It is perfectly clear and distinct that our Blessed Lord means to ensure, in this supreme prayer of His, a visible unity, a unity that the world can take cognisance of, a unity which is tangible, and which has a definite and specific object, that in and through it the world may be led to believe that the Father sent the Son to redeem mankind. It is of the very first importance that we should lay stress upon the fact that a visible unity was required by our Blessed Lord, because, however true, and however valuable it may be in its preparation for an external unity, the Unity of the Spirit, as it is called, cannot exhaust the meaning of our Lords words. It is perfectly clear, then that our Lord had the visible unity of his followers in mind, as a means whereby the world might be converted. And it is also important to dwell upon the fact, because men will continually try to escape from the full force of our Lords words. In hopeless despair of ever being able to achieve an external unity, they throw themselves back upon the idea that our Blessed Lord never meant anything of the kind.
II. Notice, secondly, the deep significance of the fact that there never has been, and there is not now, a complete expression of that unity.Sometimes we are tempted to think that either in the Middle Ages, or in the early days of the Church, things were very different from what they are now; and we are sometimes apt to draw conclusions concerning the quiet and devoted and united life of the Church in other days which have little basis in reality. Turn to the Holy Scriptureslook at the state of the Church of Corinth: I am of Paul, I am of Cephas, I am of Apollos, were the party watchwords of the day, while a third section, out-Heroding Herod in its ideas of schism, dared to erect our Lord Himself into a party leader. I am of Christ. Then, later on, you have the spectacle of a divided Christendom, such as shocked Constantine the Great, almost at the moment of his so-called conversion. Hardly had he become the patron of Christianity than he was called to deal with the schisms of the Church, first, with the Donatist schism in Northern Africa, and then with wider and more serious divisions incidental to the Arian heresy. As you carry your investigations into later history, you come across the spectacle of the great division between East and West; and then, later on still, the division in Western Christendom, until, as you look at the Body of Christ at the present time, it is seen to be split up into hopeless disunion, and the spread of the one truth hindered by contending factions amongst Christian men.
III. What, then, are we to say?
(a) First of all, this undoubtedly: we can refer the matter back directly to our Blessed Lord, and for this reason, that it was perfectly within the power of our Blessed Lord so to communicate His truth to the world in such a way that men could never have questioned either as to the subject-matter of the Faith, or the mode and manner in which it was to be propagated. But, apparently, for good and wise reasons, our Blessed Lord communicated His truth in such a way that there was always a possibility of divergence of opinion on both points. Of course, it goes without saying, that this was accentuated by the frailty of mankind, but still there was always in the nature of the case the possibility of difference of view on such points. We may always, therefore, carry the difficulty back to Him, and realise that in His inscrutable wisdom He knew that the truth had better so be communicated.
(b) Secondly, we must realise that all the marks of the Church are of vital importance to the spread of the Gospel. We have no right to single out any one mark of the Church like Unity in any exclusive sense, and press it, to the neglect of the other marks. In order that the world may be converted, the presentation of the Apostolic side of the Church, of the Catholic side, and of the side of Righteousness, are quite as necessary as the presentation of Unity. It is at least thinkable that these different marks of the Church may conflict with such other as the history of the Church progresses, and then I am quite certain that our Lord Jesus Christ would rather delay the rapid spread of His Truth, than that there should be loss from a neglect of the presentation of these other necessary marks of the Church. We must always set side by side with the mark of Unity which is expressed by our text, the mark of Holiness which is expressed by By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one towards another. Moreover, and this always seems to me a most important consideration, it is probable, after all said and done, that there is a great deal more Unity amongst us than we imagine. The difficulty largely depends as to whether we conceive of unity as uniformity. Observe the basis on which our Lord prays for unity, That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee. That does not seem to express a unity of uniformity. Rather it suggests something of a unity in plurality, the Holy Trinity in Unity. And is it not true that we are learning more and more in our day and generation the full conception of unity?
IV. There are many things we can do.
(a) First and foremost, every Christian man may make up his mind definitely and distinctly, that he will not acquiesce in the idea of disunion as a permanent factor in the life of the Christian Church. However far off may be the possibility of reunion, and however apparently difficult may be the conditions of reunion now, every Christian will make up his mind to have before him that hope clearly for the future; and never to acquiesce in the idea that it is all an impossible dream. Therefore he will never sit in the seat of the scornful when efforts are made for reunion.
(b) Secondly, we can at least try to get rid, in our own case, of those things which make for disunion. All pride, all self-will, all jealousy, all unkindness, must go, and the spirit of love and of a sound mind take their place.
(c) Above all things, we shall try to remember as members of the Church of England that we are also part of a much wider whole, that we owe a duty to that wider whole, that we should show interest in the other portions of Catholic Christendom, that it has a claim upon us, and that we should look forward to the time when, in the Providence of God, we may be brought into more direct relationship with it.
(d) Lastly, me can all of us pray that God the Holy Ghost will stir up into flame one great gift within us, which more than all else will bring forth the fruit of reunion both in our homes and in the Church of England, and in the wider range of Catholic Christianity. The Spirit of Wisdom is within us, and the wisdom which is from above, is first of all pure, then peaceable.
Rev. G. F. Holden.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
See the comments at verse 11 on the meaning of “one.” The believers were to be one as God and Christ were, which would rule out the idea of their being only one person. It has to mean oneness of purpose and work. Not only must the believers be united in their work, but Christ prayed that they should be one in us. If the whole religious world should become a perfect unit in its practices, it would not avail anything unless its people were in Christ and God. The great object of that unity for which Christ prayed was that the world may believe that thou has sent me. No doubt many thousands of infidels are made by the divided condition of those who profess to be followers of Christ. It is not enough for the professed disciples of the Lord to insist that “at heart we are united and believe the same things.” The world cannot see that, but the outward or bodily activities of the religious groups can be seen, and that is what Jesus was counting on as evidence of the truthfulness of the claims of the Gospel.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 17:21. That they all may be one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they themselves also may be in us. The petition on behalf of all believers follows in these words, and their last clause expresses it in its highest form. The second that is neither parallel to the first, nor is the sentence to be inverted, as if it ran, that they themselves also may be in us as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee. It is dependent on the words coming immediately before, and thus brings forward the final purpose of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son, and of that whole work of His by which our human nature was perfected into union with the Divine nature,that believing men may be taken into the same glorious unity. The unity spoken of, then, is not merely that of Christians among themselves, whether outward or inward. It is unity in the Father and the Son, effected by that word regarding the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son which has been appropriated in faith, and which produces a result corresponding to itself. It is what is known by divines as the mystical union; yet in it believers maintain their own personality and freedom, for such is the force of they themselves.
That the world may believe that thou didst send me. The first that here is not to be connected with a verb so far removed as I ask of Joh 17:20. It is a word of purpose, marking the ultimate result of the fulfilment of the prayer. And this result is that the world now the enemy of the truth, may be brought to faith. Although (Joh 17:9) Jesus had not prayed for the world, because He was praying for those who were to act upon it, He was not forgetful of its need. It was the world that He had come to save; and, although it rejected and crucified Him, He looked onward to a time when, as greater works were done by His disciples than He Himself had done (chap. Joh 14:12), the world would own the Divine power appearing in them, and the Divine origin of His mission. It is the spiritual life of the Church, however, that (so far as has yet been spoken of) is to effect this end. Her unity is included, but it does not receive its special emphasis till we come to Joh 17:23. Her spirituality is mainly before us here, that life which her members live, not conformed to the world,not coming down to the level of the world, with the vain idea that thus they shall bring the world nearer them, but ever rising as far as possible above the world, dwelling in the Father and in the Son, a city of God, from which even now there streams light that shall kindle light in hearts that have been formed for light and life like its own.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The special mercy, and particular blessing which Christ prays for on behalf of believers, is a close and intimate union betwixt the Father, himself, and them, and also betwixt one another; such an union as doth in some sort resemble that union which is betwixt God and Christ; not an unity of essence and nature, but of wills and affections.
Hence note, 1. That the mystical union betwixt Christ and his members carrieth some resemblance with that union which is betwixt the Father and the Son.
2. That the union amongst the ministers and members of Jesus Christ, is of so great importance, necessity, and consequence, that he did in their behalf principally and chiefly pray for it. An unity of love and affection, of faith and profession, an unity of practice and conversation, are mercies which Christ earnestly prayed for, and has dearly paid for; and nothing is more desired by him now in heaven than that his disciples should be one among themselves here on earth: Father, may they be one, as we are one: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Here Christ intimates one special advantage that would redound to the world by this desirable union betwixt the ministers and members of Christ; it will, if not convert, yet at least convince the world, that I and my doctrine came from God.
Thence note, that union amongst Christ’s disciples is one special mean to enlarge the kingdom of Christ, and to cause the world to have better thoughts of him and his doctrine: By their being one, as we are one, the world will believe that thou hast sent me.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 21
That they may be one in us. We observe that Jesus, in all the conversations which he held with his disciples, on the night before he was betrayed, separates himself from men, and joins his name always with that of the father–My Father will love him, and we will come unto him. (John 14:23;) The Comforter–whom the Father will send in my name, (John 17:26.) When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father. (John 15:26.) Thus the antithesis is between all men, good and bad, on the one hand, and himself in conjunction with the Father on the other. When we consider the unassuming meekness and modesty which marked the Savior’s character, this seems wholly inconsistent with the idea that he regarded himself as a mere human messenger from heaven.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Jesus prayed for the unity of all believers as well as for the unity of the Eleven (Joh 17:11). This unity rests on adherence to God’s truth, and it reflects the unity that exists between the Father and the Son. Furthermore it is union with the Father and the Son (cf. ch. 15). God answered this prayer initially on the day of Pentecost when He united believers with Himself in the body of Christ, the church (cf. 1Co 12:13).
The purpose of this unity is that the world might believe that the Father sent the Son, namely, that Jesus was God’s Son. The display of mutual love among Jesus’ disciples shows that they are His disciples. Their love for one another shows that they really do follow His teachings and possess His life. This gives evidence that Jesus really was who He claimed to be. It vindicates His teaching and so glorifies Him.
"From the beginning of the believer’s spiritual life to his final glorification the fatherhood of God is the basis for the believer’s experience. . . . This relationship of God to men, perfectly exemplified in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, is both the highest expression of His consciousness of His relation to God and the fullest attainment that man can reach through union with Him." [Note: Tenney, "Topics from . . .," p. 46.]
This verse is a favorite of promoters of the ecumenical movement. However as the content and context of this verse clarify, Jesus was not speaking about institutional unity but personal unity among genuine believers. He was praying that all true believers would be one in their love for one another, their submission to the authority of Scripture, and their commitment to their mission. Disunity among professing Christians has frustrated Jesus’ purpose that the world might believe on Him. Nevertheless the solution to this problem is not to impose an artificial institutional unity that ignores the bases of true unity and presents a hypocritical facade of oneness. It is to promote love for one another among genuine believers.