John 17:23

John 17:23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one. That is: not only that this oneness may be readied, but that, in its being so, the last step to be taken with believers may be accomplished, the final issue and perfect of all that Jesus has to do for them. Whereupon follows again the effect to be produced upon he world, stated, however, in a fuller form than in John 17:21.

That the world may learn to know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them even as thou lovedst me. The substitution of ‘learn to know ' here for ‘believe ' in John 17:21 is remarkable. The two words cannot be understood to signify the same thing, nor can the latter, in conformity with the style of this Gospel, express less than the former. In one way or another there must be an advance of thought. We see this in the addition of the clause, ‘lovedst them even as Thou lovedst Me. ' A similar advance must be traced on the point immediately before us. Chap. John 14:31 appears to solve the difficulty. There the same word is used as in the present verse, and we are thus invited to extend our thoughts beyond the number of those who shall be led to faith. The whole world shall recognise what Jesus speaks of: even they who do not confess in faith shall confess in shame, that He whom they rejected was the loved of the Father, and that He has gathered His people into the same blessed unity of love.

It is in this verse that the unity of the followers of Jesus is peculiarly dwelt upon. Their spirituality is accompanied by its highest result when it is perfected into unity; and with this result is connected the most powerful impression which they make upon the world. It is therefore a visible unity for which Jesus prays. His Church is visible; and that idea of an invisible Church, in which Christians seek an escape from the sentence of condemnation which their divisions compel them to pronounce upon themselves, finds as little countenance in these verses as in any other part of Scripture.