Jesus And The Father

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (Jn. 17:21-23). The first thing of note in this passage is the ‘glory’ that Jesus mentions here in his prayer to the Father. That ‘glory’ is the holy Ghost, as the following scriptures show forth (Rom. 6:3,4; I Pet. 3:18). This is very important because this is actually what makes up the understanding of the Father and the Son, as well as the much needed unity of the body of Christ. It is overwhelmingly evident in the above passage from John 17 that the key to this oneness, or unity that is mentioned, is everyone being ‘in’ everyone else. And Jesus several times stated that he was "in the Father,” and that the Father was “in him.” So clearly from the first sentence we see that the oneness of Jesus and the Father is by them being ‘in’ one another. Notice also in the beginning sentence that he prays that those who believe on him would one “one in us.” Now ‘us’ refers to two individuals, not just one, and Jesus was clearly speaking of he and the Father here. Jesus and his Father each have their own separate physical bodies, but yet they are one by being ‘in’ one another as he said. Jesus clearly stated that his Father has a face and a bodily shape, and also that he had seen the Father, though no man has ever seen him (Mat. 18:10; Jn. 5:37; Jn. 6:46). In the two scriptural references where Jesus mentioned that he and the Father are one, there is no mention directly of the holy Ghost (Jn. 10:30; Jn. 17:22). The reason for that is because the holy Ghost is the oneness of the Father and the Son. In both of those passages he also said that the Father is in him, and that he is in the Father. The Spirit, being ‘the glory’ that he said he would give to his followers, is also the oneness of the body of Christ. This is because the Spirit is the very life substance of the Father, which he gave to be in his Son; and which Jesus came that we might have (Jn.5:26; Jn. 10:10; Rom. 8:2,10). The holy Ghost is in fact the divine nature and life of God, NOT a ‘third person.’

So if we are in Christ, and he is in us, then we are also in the Father, as Jesus stated above. And if these things are so, then we become one in the same manner that Jesus and the Father are one, as he also said. So it comes down to how we get into Christ and how he gets into us. I Cor. 12:13 clearly shows that it is the baptism of the Spirit that puts us into Christ, and it is evident that this is how Christ is in us as well, for II Cor. 3:17 says that “the Lord is that Spirit.” So as the scripture states, we are “by one Spirit” all baptized “into one body.” We are also likened to members of our own physical bodies being altogether part of one whole body of Christ (I Cor. 12:12). So we all have our own physical bodies, even as the Father and the Son do; but we are one by means of having the same divine life in us, giving us the capacity to “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment,” even as the Father and the Son are (I Cor. 1:10). The key to that oneness is us being continually led and taught by the Spirit after we’ve received it (Col. 2:6; Rom. 8:14; I Jn. 2:27). But the confusion of modern Christianity has successfully destroyed the unity that Jesus died for us to have, so we must forsake the modern traditions and doctrines of Christianity and follow hard after God’s Spirit and nothing else. That is the only way we can return to our spiritual homeland of unity, love, power, and truth. And that is the only way we will fulfill Jesus’ prayer, when he said, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (Jn. 17:21). This will ultimately happen my friend, but it will not include anyone who refuses to let go of the erroneous traditions and doctrines of Christianity, and that very much includes Pentecostalism. Neither will it include anyone who is not willing to suffer the reproach of being identified with Christ alone, by means of his Spirit, which is the only reality of Jesus and his Father that is in this world (Jn. 14:23,26). "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Heb. 13:13,14). Amen and amen.