Jesus cares about church unity as a result of it’s an affidavit to the world.
That’s the straightforward manner of explaining what Jesus prayed the evening earlier than he was crucified. However studying by John 17 once more not too long ago, I used to be struck by the deeper logic of the passage and the will that his followers be one. There’s one thing extra highly effective at work right here than “church unity is a witness to the world.”
Getting Alongside in God
Jesus needs us to get alongside, sure, however the deeper reality is that we get alongside in God. Everlasting life is realizing the one true God and the Son he despatched to avoid wasting us (John 17:3). The interaction between the Father and the Son (all the things Christ has is the Father’s, and all the things the Father has is the Son’s) supplies the context for Jesus’s prayer that his followers “be one as [they] are one” (vv. 10–11). The unity of the church is to be tightly linked to the unity of the individuals of the Trinity.
This implies, in all our distinctiveness as members of Christ’s physique, we mirror one thing of the character of God after we’re one and after we show this oneness to the world. The divine unity of Father, Son, and Spirit, loved from earlier than the inspiration of the world—the enjoyment and happiness that overflows that union of everlasting love—is what Jesus needs for his followers. He needs our pleasure to be accomplished (v. 13) and for us to be one simply as he and the Father are one. We’ve been adopted into the household, united to Christ, and subsequently united to God.
It’s extra than simply “getting alongside.” It’s getting alongside in God and as a mirror of his glory.
Taking part in God’s Oneness
However there’s extra. Jesus needs his followers to be one as a manner of taking part within the oneness of the triune God.
Hearken to how he later prays: “Might all of them be one, as you, Father, are in me and I’m in you” (v. 21). The unity of the church is certain up within the divine lifetime of God. We’re invited into the triune life of affection. “Might additionally they be in us” could also be some of the profound and stunning issues Jesus ever prays. His need is that, collectively, we be in God.
Participation within the divine love of the Father and Son is the prerequisite for the world believing that Jesus has been despatched by the Father (v. 21). In case it’s unclear, Jesus will get extra specific: “I’ve given them the glory you’ve gotten given me, in order that they might be one as we’re one” (v. 22). And if the participation factor isn’t clear sufficient: “I’m in them and also you and you might be in me, in order that they might be made utterly one” (v. 23). Lesslie Newbigin feedback,
It’s a unity which not merely displays however truly participates within the unity of God—the unity of affection and obedience which binds the Son to the Father.
So, sure, Christian unity issues so the world will know we’re Christ’s followers, however there’s a deeper sense through which Christian unity exhibits the world what God is like. And a good deeper sense follows: Christian unity participates within the divine lifetime of God as Three-in-One. Right here’s how Cyril of Alexandria summed up the prayer:
He needs them to be certain collectively tightly with an unbreakable bond of affection, that they might advance to such a level of unity that their freely chosen affiliation would possibly even turn into a picture of the pure unity that’s conceived to exist between the Father and the Son. That’s to say, he needs them to get pleasure from a unity that’s inseparable and indestructible, which is probably not enticed away right into a dissimilarity of wills by something in any respect that exists on the planet or any pursuit of delight, however relatively reserves the facility of affection within the unity of devotion and holiness.
In our totally different ministries, in our number of items, in our works of service and love, we’re manifesting the identical Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4–11). United to Christ, we’re crammed by the Spirit as we serve each other. Our unity is certainly one of divine love.
Enduring the World’s Hostility
Why does all this matter? As a result of the world goes to hate us: “The world hated them as a result of they aren’t of the world, simply as I’m not of the world. I’m not praying that you simply take them out of the world however that you simply defend them from the evil one. They don’t seem to be of the world, simply as I’m not of the world” (John 17:14–16).
Jesus prays for his followers to face agency, to be sanctified by the reality as a result of God’s Phrase is reality (vv. 17–19). He prays for the unity of the church not merely so our “getting alongside” might be an affidavit of God’s energy however as a result of our participation within the lifetime of God himself might be essential if we’re to endure the hatred and hostility of the world. Except we take part within the divine love, until we maintain collectively in love, until we’re overcome by the love of God for us expressed in our love for each other, we’ll fail the take a look at after we expertise the world’s hatred. Aside from the love of God, we’ll fall prey to the worry of man.
In the long run, the aim isn’t papering over variations and discovering surface-level settlement. Church unity issues as a result of (1) our unity is linked to the unity of God himself (and thus our disunity is a scandalous affront to the gospel), (2) the world sees a mirrored image of God’s inside life in our fellowship after we take part in his divine love, and (3) it’s the means by which we stand up to the pressures of the world that rage in opposition to God’s reality.
And so, with among the earliest Christians, we pray,
On your holy identify which you
have brought about to dwell in our hearts,
And for the information and religion and immortality
Which you’ve gotten made recognized to us
Via Jesus your servant;
To you be the glory eternally. . . .
Bear in mind your church, Lord,
To ship it from all evil
And to make it excellent in your love;
And collect it, the one which has been sanctified,
From the 4 winds into your kingdom,
Which you’ve gotten ready for it;
For yours is the facility and the glory eternally.
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