John 17:21

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 (John 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 Romans 12:4-5). A mere agreement in opinion and aim would not convince the world. See on John 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 John 6:56 and John 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. John 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 (Matthew 7:12; Luke 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.