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Sunday Sermon Outline
STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN—PART 95
Chapter
17, verses 18-21- after a request in vs.17, Jesus returns to
declaration or statement- “As you sent Me into the
world, I also have sent them into the world”- the word “sent” is in
the aorist tense in both cases, although the commissioning of the disciples has
not occurred yet (20:21)—it is derived from apostello. Thus, Jesus is both “One sent” and “One
sending” –Heb.3:1. His disciples
now have a purpose to fulfill in life. “and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be
sanctified by the truth”- here for Jesus, ‘sanctify’ would be less a
progression toward holiness as a dedication
to accomplishing the will of the Father (17:4) and the same may be true for the
believer. For Jesus, this
dedication would involve suffering on the cross. As Jesus dedicated Himself to the
Father’s service, so also the truth will be
the instrument, not only of producing holiness in the believer, but developing
dedication as well. Godliness of
character and determined dedication to God are effects of
sanctification. In vs.20, Jesus moves beyond His
immediate disciples to the multiple hundreds of millions of those who will
believe on Him. This anticipates
the fulfillment of His words in Matt.16:18- “I will build my church..” Also, note
what was “your word”
in vs.17 has become “their word”
in vs.20--- the disciples embrace the truth, personalizing it and then
share it. Vs.21 brings us to the discussion on
unity that was briefly referred to at the end of vs.11. There appear to be 4 components of this
request: 1) “that they may be one
..” 2) “as you, Father are in me and I in
you..” 3) “that they may be one in
Us” 4) “that the world may believe that you sent
Me” The question on this verse is what
is meant by “that they may be one”?
Is this referring to a formal relationship (like the unity of the Roman
Catholic church) or to a more “vital”
relationship? Earlier in lesson 92,
we noted such unity likely refers to the concept of the Body of Christ as
described by Paul in I Cor.12:13.
Merrill C. Tenney says the
following: “..foreseeing the addition of many more who would increase the
diversity of temperaments,
backgrounds and interests, he [Jesus] made a special plea
that all might be
one. The standard is not an
institutional but a personal unity… he was not calling
for uniformity,..nor…for agreement of external
opinion.” While the unity of I Cor.12 (Body
of Christ) remains true, these remarks of Jesus calling for unity should not be
limited only to the unity of Spirit-baptism. The unity of Father and Son is
relational and based on love (see vs.23-24) and therefore, there is some
expectation by Jesus of a parallel for believers. Thus, the “Vine-Branch” metaphor in ch.15
becomes more powerful. The
application portion of I Cor.12:25 is certainly
part of what Jesus has in mind in Page 2 Again, Tenney says –“The unity is another
aspect of eternal life because where there is
a common source of life there must be a common likeness of
expression.” In vs.22, Jesus returns to His previous
discussion of “glory which you gave
Me..”
The passage in Heb. 2:9-11 is helpful as we note the expressions
of “crowned
with glory and honor” –vs.9 and “both He who sanctifies and those who are being
sanctified are all of one”-vs.11.
This “glory” that was given to Christ was the triumphant task of
redeeming mankind from guilt & sin. Clearly, the unity referred to in vs.
21-23 makes the church unique and different from God’s relationship with
refers to a singularity and solidarity
between Christ and the church unheard of in the
OT. At the same time, the language in vs. 22
–“that they may be one
just as we are one” should not be construed to mean an
identical unity; the unity
of the Trinity (co-equal and co-eternal)
relates to the very essence of God and becomes the pattern for all other
unity. But the pattern is just
that—a pattern, not the very same
unity. For instance,
there is a unity of husband and wife = “one flesh”- Eph.5:30-32—but
such unity is not identical to that of the Trinity. The church (as disciples of Jesus) has a
permanent organic unity of shared baptism in the Spirit (I Cor. His command- ch. 13:34-35. |