The Gift of Oneness

“Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, that they may be one; even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.” John 17:20-23 (WEB)

If you will, for just a moment, allow this passage to be “seen” in your mind and Spirit. For years, I misunderstood what our Lord was saying and therefore, totally missed a very key understanding of this New Covenant that has been cut in Christ and given freely to all who will receive Him.

This passage is letting us know “separateness” has been eliminated in its fulfillment. By “separateness” I mean separateness from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The passage is not talking about something we do within the Body of Christ and is not talking about “unity” within the Body at all. The word “unity” does not appear in the Greek. Instead, He is praying about a reality that would be released within us when the Spirit was poured into us on that beautiful Pentecost Day!

This prayer in John 17 was completely fulfilled when the Spirit was poured out into His Body! There is nothing left for us to do about it, except receiving its truth. When He came inside, we became one Spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17) We have been embraced in the “gift of oneness” that is the nature of eternity in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was praying that we would be one in the fellowship of the Trinity! In other words, the gifting of the Body with the Holy Spirit has eliminated any distance from God. We have been made complete in Him – lacking nothing!

This is a change in our being that has massive repercussions in our life. Our thoughts now accessing His, our plans now being laid in His, our hopes realized in Him, and our prayers always effective in Him. What an outlandish gift!

How can this be with such sin in our lives? That is the topic for the next post. Much has been revealed inside me and I am struggling to be able to describe what I have “seen” in Him. Bear with me and pray for it all to become clearer and clearer as I work with it in Him.

(WEB is World English Bible a public domain Bible accessible to all on the web.)