That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Read Chapter 17
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
When the Saviour says about us, ‘As you Father are in me and I in you, that they too may be one in us,’ He does not mean that we will be the same as He. But it is an appeal to the Father, as John has written, that the Spirit be given through Him to those who believe. Through the Spirit, we find that we have come to be in God and in this way we are joined together in Him. For since the Word is in the Father and the Spirit is given from the Word, He wants us to receive the Spirit, so that when we receive Him and thus have the Spirit of The Word who is in the Father, we may find ourselves also to have become one through The Spirit, in The Word, and through The Word, in The Father. - "Against the Arians 2"
1. After the Lord Jesus had prayed for His disciples whom He had with Him at the time, and had conjoined with them others who were also His own, by saying, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe in me through their word, as if we were inquiring what or wherefore He prayed for them, He straightway subjoined, That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us. And a little above, while still praying for the disciples alone who were then with Him, He said, Holy Father, keep in Your own name those whom You have given me, that they may be one, as we are John 17:11. It is the same thing, therefore, that He now also prayed for in our behalf, as He did at that time in theirs, namely, that all— to wit, both we and they— may be one. And here we must take particular notice that the Lord did not say that we all may be one, but, that they all may be one; as Thou Father, in me, and I in You (where is to be understood are...
And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them; that they may be one, as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one."
That they may be all one. By one faith, hope, charity, and concord. Learn hence how united Christians should be amongst themselves, and how far removed are they who disseminate discord and strife, from the mind of Christ.
As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. For God is love, and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16. By faith then and love we are united to God and Christ, and afterwards mutually to each other as to members of Christ"s Mystical Body, the Church. The word "as" does not mean identity, as the Arians held, but merely resemblance. For the Father and the Son are one by the same numerical Essence and Godhead, we are one by having the same quality; namely, love and concord. But by this we are so united to God as to possess Him, and be in turn possessed by Him. Hear the author "De Salutaribus documentis," assigned to S. Augustine [probably Paulinus of Aquileia]: "If we are pleased at possessing anything in th...
But such shall undergo the judgment of God according to their desert, as depart from His words who prays to the Father for unity, and says, "Father, grant that, as Thou and I are one, so they also may be one in us."
Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, prays not for the twelve Apostles alone, but rather for all who were destined in every age to yield to and obey the words that exhort those who hear to receive that sanctification that is through faith, and to that purification which is accomplished in them through partaking of the Spirit. And He thought it not right to leave us in doubt about the objects of His prayer, that we might learn hereby what manner of men we ought to show ourselves, and what path of righteousness we ought to tread, to accomplish those things which are well-pleasing to Him. What, then, is the manner of His prayer? That, He says, they may be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. He asks, then, for a bond of love, and concord, and peace, to bring into spiritual unity those who believe; so that their unitedness, through perfect sympathy and inseparable harmony of soul, might resemble the features of the natural and essential unity that e...
Christ does pray that his disciples may be one, as he and his heavenly Father are one; not that the unity may resemble the unity of persons in the divinity, by a perfect and exact likeness; but only as far as it is possible for men to imitate the perfections of God, as when he says, "Be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. "(St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxxi. in Joan.)
Here again the as does not denote exact similarity in their case, (for it was not possible for them in so great a degree,) but only as far as was possible for men. Just as when He says Be merciful, as your Father. Luke 6:36
But what is, In Us? In the faith which is on Us. Because nothing so offends all men as divisions, He provides that they should be one. What then, says some one, did He effect this? Certainly He effected it. For all who believe through the Apostles are one, though some from among them were torn away. Nor did this escape His knowledge, He even foretold it, and showed that it proceeded from men's slack-mindedness.
That the world may believe that You have sent Me.
As He said in the beginning, By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another. And how should they hence believe? Because, He says, You are a God of peace. If therefore they observe the same as those of whom they have learned, their hearers shall know the teacher by the discipl...
