“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 20:20-23).

One of the first rules of parenting is that the mom and the dad must back each other up. Otherwise, there is chaos because the children learn quickly how to pit one parent against the other (if that is not an example of our innate sinful hearts, I do not know what is). Do not get me wrong, as a child I sometimes wanted my mom to say “yes” to counter my dad’s “no,” or to just let something slide that he never would have allowed. However, although difficult to realize at the time, it was ultimately a comfort to know that they were on the same page because that gave my life a certainty and security I would not have had otherwise.

The attributes of God are demonstrated in His promises. One such attribute, his trinitarian nature, is demonstrated in God’s promise of unity, The word Trinity cannot be found in the Bible, but the truth of it can. While there is only one God, the Godhead consists of three distinct persons – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All are equally omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, and unchanging, but each has unique functions.

Throughout the Bible, we see the Trinity operating in unity, each performing their specific functions, all to achieve the same objectives, kind of like the ideal parenting model. You never see an example of conflict within the Trinity. The Trinity was present at Creation. As far back as Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:27). Note the use of the plural. And the Hebrew name for God, Elohim, itself is plural.

Jesus often referenced the authority of God the Father and aligned himself with his Sovereign God.

• “I must be about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49).
• “Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him’” (John 8:28-29).
• As we see in the opening passage, Jesus prayed to his Father “that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

In this passage, we see that we have the promise of unity that Jesus has with his Father. What a beautiful and comforting promise.

Sinclair Ferguson distinguishes six categories of union with Christ.

• Union with Christ is covenantal in that Christ’s obedience is accounted, or imputed, to believers. When we trust in Christ, God does not see our sin; he sees Christ’s obedience.
• It is carnal or fleshly in the sense that Christ became incarnate and thus became one with humanity.
• Union with Christ is also a faith union in which by faith Christians depend on Christ for nourishment.
• It is a spiritual union because Christians are united to Christ by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
• It is an extensive union in that Christians are united with Christ in everything he has done, including his life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and being seated at the right hand of God.
• It is finally a union of life because Christ lives in Christians, and he is visible in their lives.

What a beautiful and incredibly awesome thing it is that when we accept Christ as savior, then we are united with Christ through faith. We become one with Christ. That is why I close my messages with “In Christ.” This signifies our union with Christ.

This does not mean that we are never unhappy; it means that we are unhappy about the same things. It does not mean there is never conflict, but it means that we are committed to the same outcome. If we can be unified with the Godhead and each other on the things of eternal significance, then we are achieving the inherent promise of unity found only in God.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

In Christ,

Judy