“That They May All Be One” – Emily Woodard

If you were asked to name a human relationship that is a picture of the gospel, what would you say? Most of us would probably answer with “marriage” and we would not be incorrect, a la Ephesians 5 (and Hosea 1-3; Ezekiel 16; Jeremiah 31:32...). But the bond between a husband and wife is not the only human illustration of gospel truth to which Scripture points. Certainly the parent-child relationship can be highlighted as a reflection of God’s love for his people. Earthly fathers who give good gifts to their children are used as an a fortiori argument for the truth of God’s provision of the Holy Spirit to his children (Matthew 7:11). A mother’s attachment to and compassion for her nursing child mirrors God’s loving remembrance of his people (Isaiah 49:15, 66:13). Even outside familial connections, Jesus speaks of a different relationship still when he highlights its ability to show the world the truth of the gospel. In fact, Jesus desires that when people observe this human relationship, they might believe the divine truth that he was sent by his Father. In his High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays for those who will come to faith through the ministry of the apostles (us!) and asks his Father “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).

I remember being quite impressed with this verse as a seminary professor discussed John’s gospel and I later used it as a type of proof text to support Paul’s emphasis on unity in the letter to the Philippians as I taught through the book in Bible study. “This is why unity really matters, because the message of the gospel is at stake!” I said, or something like that. But even as I appreciated and used this verse, I hadn’t really wrestled with what makes it so remarkable. And I hadn’t stopped to consider the significance of Jesus’ words for the times when pursuing unity is harder than one might hope.

Paul speaks of a similar concept in Ephesians 3. As he explains the mystery of the Gentiles’ inclusion in God’s promises to the Jews, Paul says that he was called to preach Christ to the Gentiles “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known…” (v. 10). The unity and singularity of the church body in the context of the diversity of its members becomes a picture for the world of the multifaceted wisdom of God. But the wisdom of God isn’t displayed only in the bringing together of different and previously separated people, similar to how we might mix various flowers together in one arrangement; the wisdom of God is displayed in how he reforms his children, giving them new spiritual identities, the result being that what makes his children alike is greater than what makes them different. Paul explains the new identity in 2 Corinthians 5, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (v.17). It would be easy to focus on the end result, the ‘new creation,’ but it is union with Christ, or being ‘in Christ,’ where the believer’s new identity is found. And interestingly, the spiritual union this phrase represents not only refers to the uniting of the Christian to Christ, it is also what unites individual Christians to all others who are also ‘in Christ.’ “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:5). 

Our unity with other believers (through the Spirit, in Christ), like sanctification, has both a legal, declarative aspect, and a progressive one. The shared identity of being ‘in Christ’ necessarily provides the bond between Christians, but the practical working out of that union is something we must constantly pursue. And we cannot live in loving and peaceful unity with one another without both the motivation and strength that comes from our unifying identity, our ‘in Christ.’ It is here that we see the connection between two New Testament phrases often noted for their frequency in Scripture, ’in Christ’ and ‘one another.’ It is only because we are in Christ that we can attempt to love, serve, pray for, and show honor to one another.

This is the delightful truth that I missed as I jumped to focus on the mention of human unity in Jesus’ prayer without noticing its source; I skipped straight from “that they may all be one” to “so that the world will believe.” That was a mistake though, because Jesus isn’t assuming in his prayer that if believers will all just get along well enough, they will be able to display to the world the message that the Father sent the Son. (And he certainly isn’t pretending that they (we!) have power on their own to accomplish that.) As evidenced above, there is value to the ability of human relationship to communicate divine truth, but here it is vital to recognize that the connection Scripture makes goes in two directions. In other words, it’s not just that human relationships provide illustrations for truths about God, truths about God can provide templates for human relationships. We can apply this bi-directional concept to marriage as an example, the sacrificial love of a husband for his wife can reflect and illustrate the love of Christ for his church, and Christ’s love for his church is what provides a model for a husband as to how he is to love his wife. In John 17, we must not miss, as I did for so long, that Christians’ love for one another is not just mentioned as an illustration or display of the gospel, but also that the interpersonal love between the members of the Godhead is pointed to as a model for the church. This doesn’t necessarily make our duty towards ‘one another’ any easier, but it does perhaps serve to remind us that it is only as we abide ‘in Christ’ that we can fulfill the church’s call to unity and the display of the gospel. The wonderful truth embedded in Jesus’ words is that the Trinity provides both a model for our unity and the source for it as well. And when the duty seems especially hard, we can remember that Jesus once prayed for us, and indeed, he ever lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25). What a tremendous comfort!