One

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:11).

Do we understand the meaning of "one" in this passage? There are some who teach God and Jesus are not separate beings, but are the same being. They teach there is but one in the Godhead. If that were the case, then, in the above passage, "they" would be only one, since "they" are to be the same as "we" are. The same would be true in John 17:21: "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."

From Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." What does the apostle Paul mean here? Does he mean there is only one person in Christ? We know there were Jews and Greeks then, as there are today. There were those who were servants of the world and those who were free, as there are today. I cannot enter you, nor you me, but we can be one, as we obey God and Christ. To be any other way - to be divided into several - is to deny and accuse the Lord Jesus of not knowing about what He spoke.

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Corinthians 1:10).

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