Oneness in Christ
'My prayer is not for them alone. 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.' (John 17:20–21 NIV)
Allow me one more point. I want to say something about the body of Christian believers and this universal unity that one day will be established in the person of Jesus Christ. If I could ask, "Do you believe in the communion of saints?" what would be your reply? Would the question make you uncomfortable?
I suspect many Protestants would chide me right here, feeling I was getting too close to doctrinal beliefs held by ecumenists or perhaps by Catholics. I am not referring to ecumenicity and dreams of organizational church union. I am gazing ahead in faith to God's great day of victory, harmony and unity, when sin is no longer present in the creation. In that great coming day of consummation, the children of God—the believing family of God—will experience a blessed harmony and communion of the Spirit. I surely agree with the foresight of the English poet, John Brighton, who caught a glimpse of a coming day of fellowship among the people of God. He wrote: In one eternal bond of love, One fellowship of mind, The saints below and saints above Their bliss and glory find.
I believe that is scriptural. I do not think anyone should throw out the great doctrine of the communion of saints just because the ecumenists embrace it.
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Prayer
Father, thank You for my brothers and sisters around the world. May we be one just as You are in Christ and Christ in You. In Jesus' name.
Thought
Jesus prayed for the unity of believers. Church labels may differ; faith expression vary; biblical interpretation be less than harmonious. But those born of God's Spirit are one in Christ and that oneness we are to recognize.
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