23. The basis of the unity of believers is their union with Christ and through Him with the Father: in this way they are perfected into one, completed and made one. It is in the unity that the completeness consists. For τελειοῦσθαι comp. 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 4:17-18; for εἰς ἕν comp. John 11:52 (1 John 5:8).

γινώσκῃ. Come to know, recognise (John 17:3) gradually and in time. This is the second effect of the unity of Christians, more perfect than the first. The first (John 17:21) was that the world is induced to believe that God sent Christ; the second is that the world comes to know that God sent Christ, and moreover that He loved the world even as He loved Christ. The σύ and ἐμέ in what follows are emphatic.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising

Old Testament