He prays in this chapter for the following things.ġ.
John 17 occurs at the end of Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of John before he’s arrested, crucified, and resurrects. Unity, then, as Jesus prays for it, pertains to the patient pursuit of harmony among his disciples for the good of the church, for the glory of the Father and the Son, and for the salvation of sinners, even as the church might disagree over certain important matters.
Yet, I would argue it is possible to disagree on these matters, and still work together in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in pursuit of Christian unity. I am not a dispensationalist, but some Christians are. That is, Jesus does not mean his disciples will always agree on everything. One feature of his prayer was unity amongst his disciples (John 17:11, 21-23-read 17:11, 20- 21).īefore we dissect Jesus’ prayer for unity in this text, let me define unity. In John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples in the first century, and for future disciples after his death and resurrection. Jesus prayed the world would know that we know him by our love for each other, and by our unity with one another in the Gospel. Some churches have split over race, the style of music, minor disagreements with the pastor, or because of cliques within the church.Ĭhristians must remember, however, whenever there is ungodly disunity in the church, it is difficult for the world to see that we love Jesus and that God loves us.
Unfortunately, this disunity continues today in many churches over serious, silly, and even unbiblical things. suggest the Church of Jesus Christ has been disunited for too long. The controversy of Gentile inclusion in the first century, heresy in the early centuries after the days of the apostles, the holocaust in Nazi Germany, slavery and Jim Crow in the U.S. In fact, in many ways, the Christian church has been marked by disunity since its very inception. Unity in the church is not easy to achieve.
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