Christian Credibility
“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” John 17:22,23
In Jesus’ John 17 prayer, He has prayed for Himself (17:1-5), for His disciples (17:6-19) and is now praying for all who will believe in Him (17:20-24). He has just prayed that all believers will know their unity in the Father and in Him, so their corporate lives model their mission and so make Jesus’ claims more credible to an otherwise unbelieving world.
“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.” In this context the glory the Father gave Jesus is the revelation of Himself that Jesus was to communicate to His disciples. By receiving that revelation they came to share in the glory of oneness paralleling the oneness existing between the Father and the Son. The disciples share this oneness because the Father is in Jesus and Jesus will be in His disciples through His Spirit.
The glory the Father gave the Son was expressed in the love between them (15:10; 17:23,26), the signs Jesus performed (2:11; 11:4), in the honour the Father gave Jesus (8:50,54) and in the exaltation of Jesus after He laid down His life (17:5,24). The glory Jesus would give His disciples is similar. It is the glory of oneness with the Father and the Son mediated by the Spirit. It likewise finds expression through the love between them (the disciples) and the Father (14:21,23; 17:23,26), in the signs they are to perform (14:12), in the honour the Father shows them (12:26) and in their share in future glory (17:24).
If Jesus’ explanation about why He gave the disciples this glory was to be expressed structurally, and following Jesus’ words literally, it would look like this:
“I have given them the glory that you gave me
(so) that they may be one as we are one
I in them and you in me
(so that) they be brought to complete unity
(so that) the world (may) know
that you have sent me
and
have loved them even as you have loved me”
Each clause is dependent on the clause before. Receiving the glory that the Father gave to Jesus and He now gives to His disciples brings us into the oneness between the Father and the Son. This unity testifies to the world the truth that Jesus truly was sent by the Father and that the Father loves us just as He loves His Son, Jesus. So the unity of the disciples with each other, based on their common oneness with the Father and the Son, functions as a powerful witness to the world. It unfortunately follows that disunity between disciples diminishes the power of the disciples’ witness.
This all begins with the privilege we have of being drawn into the circle of love that exists between the Father and the Son. We don’t have to pray for this; it’s already ours. What we do have to do is understand it and walk in it. Go back over these verses following Jesus’ words, asking the Holy Spirit to help you grasp your inclusion in the life between the Father and the Son.
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