Being One In Christ

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make OUR abode with him” (Jn. 14:23). This is a vastly overlooked scripture in the Bible, but when understood is greatly integral to understanding the truth about the Father and the Son, and how the holy Ghost figures into that equation as well. Let’s look at part of Jesus’ prayer to the Father the night before he was crucified: “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; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (Jn. 17:21-23). Friend, there is just a world of understanding in these words, and I want to declare the beauty of it in short order, because the thing that Jesus was praying for here is the same way that he and the Father “make [their] abode with [someone].” This is a very, very simplistic understanding, but it probably is the most important understanding in the Bible. Let’s just let the scriptures call it exactly like Jesus said it. His prayer was for believers to be ‘one’ with he and the Father, and with one another in the same exact manner that he and the Father were already 'one.’ That is what we have read. The way that would be accomplished was, as he said, by giving believers the 'glory’ that the Father had given him. So then, the question is, what IS that glory? “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the GLORY of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

Okay, so we see that it was that 'glory’ that raised Christ from the dead, but the question is still, what IS that glory? “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,… being put to death in the flesh, but quickened [brought to life] by the Spirit” (I Pet. 3:18). So there it is; the Spirit of God is what raised Jesus from the dead, and the Spirit is the 'glory’ that he spoke of in John 17:22. It is in fact that same 'Spirit of life’ that God had given to the Son, and the Son came to make a way for us to have as well (Rom. 8:2; Mk. 1:7,8; Jn. 7:38,39; Jn. 16:7; Acts 1:4,5). Jesus plainly said in John 5:26, “For as the Father hath LIFE in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have LIFE in himself.” Then later in John 10:10, he said again; “I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly." It is actually very simple: The holy Ghost is the divine, eternal life and nature of God, which he gave to be in the Son in the day that he begat him, before all things existed (Col. 1:15-18). That divine life and nature is what joins the Father and the Son together in one mind, one heart, and one soul; which is what we are implored by the scriptures to be as true believers and followers of Christ (Acts 4:32; I Cor. 6:16; I Cor. 1:10; Rom. 15:6; II Cor. 12:18; Philip. 2:2; Philip. 4:2). The Spirit of God is NOT a third person, but rather it is the divine nature and LIFE of the TWO PERSONS, which divine life gives the Father and the Son perfect oneness of heart, soul, and mind. Neither is there only one person, for in that case Jesus could not have ASKED HIS FATHER to make us one in the same way that the TWO of them are one. Neither could he have said, "WE will come unto him, and make OUR abode with him.”

We as believers are individuals, each having our own body; but we can be made 'one’ by receiving the same holy Spirit from God, and abiding therein. That is exactly how it is with the Father and the Son. They are two persons, each having their own body, sharing the same divine life substance. Being baptized with the Spirit is the only way for us to be 'in Christ,’ and for him to be 'in’ us; because that is how they are 'in’ one another, meaning by the same Spirit (I Cor. 12:13; Jn. 10:38; Jn. 14:10). The Spirit simply is the only way for anyone to be made a partaker of the Father and the Son, because it is the same life that indwells them both. It is no wonder that we are told in Romans 8:9, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The scripture plainly states, “Now the Lord IS that Spirit” (II Cor. 3:17). Jesus is not here in person, but the Spirit was sent back here in his name, or his stead, after he went away (Jn. 14:26). So whoever does NOT receive the Spirit “denies the Son,” and therefore does not have the Father either; because the Spirit is the only place on earth where both of them are found (I Jn. 2:23). I hope this truth is a blessing to you my friend, because in reality it is what God’s people need to understand today more than ever. “The mind of the Spirit” is indeed ONE mind, and that is where we are commanded to be. If we allow ourselves to be “led by the Spirit,” and “taught by the Spirit,” that is where we WILL be (Jn. 14:26; Rom: 8:14). When that day comes, we will see the most glorious and powerful of all closing acts. Amen.