John 17:1-11 – Easter 7 (A)

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss church unity. In John 17, Jesus prays to the Father that his saints would be one. Normally, this text is used as evidence for the ecumenical idea that church unity is something we must achieve through mutual reconciliation between divided churches. But as we learn today, this prayer of Christ to the Father pledges that the church will be one according to the promise and work of Christ who gathers his church through the word of forgiveness. The unity of the church isn't a fact of the visible church, but a promise held in faith.

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