The secret of perfect unity is the double indwelling. Christ is in the believers and the Father is in Him. Lagrange thinks the significance of this is that “the Son is in the faithful, He is in the Father: it is thus by Him that the faithful are united with the Father: not that they pass the one to the other, but because they find the Father in the Son.”

The purpose of this indwelling is that the believers will be “perfected in unity”. “perfected” is the Greek word teleioo which means to be made perfect or complete; or to accomplish. The disciples already had some unity but it was not sufficient. They needed a more complete unity.

Their unity is to enable the world to know 2 things: the first is that God the Father sent Jesus and the second is that He loves believers as He loves His Son (Rev 3:9). Actually the two are inseperable. Why?

Revelation 3:9  I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

God’s will is that all come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and He will do all He can to make that happen (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). In His prayer Jesus is telling us that our unity with other believers is our greatest witnessing tool. The unity of believers will be so effective because it is an evidence of the truth of our message. Now if unity is such a great witnessing tool to the lost of this world, what does disunity do? It is perhaps the greatest tool Satan has to keep people from getting saved. No wonder he spends so much time and effort keeping us apart.

1 Timothy 2:4  who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

This section of Christ’s prayer is for those who will believe through the message of the disciples. This is the only recorded time Jesus prays for us and His entire prayer for us is for our unity. If our unity is such a big deal to Jesus then it should be just as big a deal to us!

We must guard against disunity, especially showing it in front of non-believers. Disunity may come in several different forms: arguing, dissentions, holding things against each other, treating some believers better than others, judging each other, etc. But these are forms of disunity which are mostly not seen by unbelievers and thus are not the most dangerous form which keeps the unsaved from believing Christ’s message. The worst form of disunity is speaking badly of our brothers and sisters to unbelievers or even in front of them.

Saying bad things about fellow followers of Christ can in itself take 2 forms. First, we must not speak badly of our individual brothers and sisters. Even if what we say is true, it should never be said to a non-Christian or it is sin. Second, we must not speak badly of the corporate body of Christ in any of its forms. This means we cannot downgrade other churchs or denominations or even speak badly of our own church in front of the unsaved. To do so is to act against what Jesus is here praying.

So what are you holding in your heart against your brother or sister? Have you said bad things about other denominations around non-Christians? Have you let the devil use you as an anti-witnessing tool? If you have, then please repent and determine with God’s help to never do so again. Our unity is vital to God because it is what He uses to convince the world of the truth of His message. Our goal should be to partner with Him in saving the world His way and not to help the devil send people to hell.