John 17:23

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, [ eis (G1519) hen (G1520)] - 'into one [thing];'

And that the world may know that thou hast sent ('didst send') me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, [ apesteilas (G649) - eegapeesas (G25)] - 'and lovedst them even as Thou lovedst Me.' Everything in this verse, except the last clause, had been substantially said before. But while the reiteration adds weight to the wonderful sentiment, the variation in the way of putting it throws additional light on a subject on which all the light afforded us is unspeakably precious. Before, the oneness of believers was said to be simply 'in the Father and the Son.' Here, a certain arrangement of the steps, if we may so speak, is indicated. First in order is the Father's indwelling in the Son, by His Spirit - "Thou in Me;" next, the Son's indwelling in believers by the same Spirit - "I in them:" only "God giveth not His Spirit by measure unto the Son" (John 3:34), but "anointeth Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows" (Psalms 45:7), because it is His of right, as the Son and the Righteous One in our nature.

Thus is provision made for "their being made perfect into one," or worked into a glorious Unity, only reflecting the Higher Divine Unity. We have said that the last clause of this verse is the only part of it which had not been expressed before; nor had such an astonishing word been ever uttered before by the Lord Jesus: "that the world may know that thou ... LOVEDST THEM EVEN AS THOU LOVEDST ME." In much that He had before said this was implied; but never until now was it actually expressed. Here, again, it is not the essential love of the Son by the Father, in their eternal Divine Personality, that Jesus here speaks of; for with that no creature may intermeddle. It is the Father's love of His Incarnate Son, as Head of His redeemed, that is meant-ravishing the Father's eye with the beauty of a divine character, a perfect righteousness, a glorious satisfaction for sin in our nature. This complacency of the Father in the Son passes over to and rests upon all that believe in the Son; or rather it descends from and penetrates through the Head to all the members of that living Unity which is made up of Him and them - "like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore" (Psalms 133:2). But though we should suppose that of all things this was the most invisible to the world, yet it seems that even the conviction of this was in some sense to be impressed upon the world: "that the world may know that Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." Of course this could only be by its effects: nor can even these be expected to convince the world that the Father's love to believers is the same as His love to His own Son, in any but a very general sense, so long as it remains "the world." But it would have a double effect: it would inspire the world, even as such, with a conviction, which they would be unable to resist and could ill conceal, that Christ and Christians are alike of God and owned of God; and that conviction, going deeper down into the hearts of some, would ripen into a surrender of themselves, as willing captives, to that love divine which sent through the Son salvation to a lost world.