As We are One

“And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one, I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:22-23)

Jesus prayed to the Father for His disciples, those who believed on Him and those who would believe in Him. “And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,” (John 17:20). He prayed that we would be one. But the concept of oneness as Jesus talked about is unknown on this earth. It’s Jesus in us and this is through the Holy Spirit and the Father in Jesus. This is other worldly as the world in which our God lives is nothing like earth. But isn’t it evident that when we meet a fellow Christian, even from some remote country, immediately we have kinship. We recognize each other as family and feel that connection because we know them. We know that they think, act, speak and believe as we do. We feel as close to them as our natural earthly nucleus family. We love each other. “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.” (1John 4:12) This is the oneness Jesus was speaking about. It’s because we have the same Holy Spirit living in us. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16)

The Holy Spirit unites us. It’s the same Holy Spirit in me that’s in every believer in Jesus. This makes us one and this is the love that we feel for our fellow believers. “Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1John 4:15-16) Jesus told His disciples that He would never leave them and that He would always be with them. This is through the Holy Spirit. God the Father, Jesus, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are One. If we are believers and followers of Christ, we have the Holy Spirit Who is One with the Father and Jesus. We are never alone. We always have God with us, the Godhead, Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit. There are no words to express this oneness because it’s unknown in this world, even though believers experience it.

There is perfection in this oneness. The Lord specifically gave us gifts. These gifts cannot operate alone. They work in conjunction with the gifts of other believers. Together we make up the perfection of Jesus Who had the fulness of God. “For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell.” (Colossians 1:19) This is why the church is so important. When we belong to a congregation, we supply the gift needed to operate as God wants. Jointly we are perfected. As we work together to carry out God’s will, we work as God would, not alone, but as a whole.

This oneness is unknown in the world. In the world, each one exalts himself over the others, vying for attention and credit. This is not to occur in the church. We are all working for God’s will and purposes. This is obvious to the world. It marks us as different. They see the love between the brethren and sense it as something supernatural, which it is. They sense it as a “God Thing.” They see the evidence of God’s love working together, preferring each other, placing others above themselves. This is unknown in the dog-eat-dog world of today.

In summary, Jesus prayed that we would be one even as the Godhead is One. This is only possible through the Holy Spirit in us. This is the church, the body of believers each exercising their gift together working in perfection, the will of God.