LOVED LIKE JESUS

Our unity as Christians demonstrates love, not our love but God's love! Jesus prays in John 17:23 that we might become perfected or completed (ωσιν τετελειωμενοι) into one (εις εν). The passive voice tells us the perfecting of our unity is done by God not us. The preposition "into" (εις) as opposed to the more common "in" indicates the purpose or result of a process (BDF, Grammar, p. 111). God's work of uniting believers as one is in a process of completion throughout life.

The purpose of our unity is that (ινα) the world might know (γινωσκη) true love. The content of the knowledge is introduced by a second "that" (οτι). Our unity shows that (οτι) God, the Father, sent Jesus (απεστειλας) and loved (ηγαπησας) the disciples of Jesus. A single "that" (οτι) governs both verbs, "sent" and "loved." (Morris, John, p. 736, fn 69). God's love for us and God's sending of His Son are a unit of thought. The sending of His Son proves the depth of His love for us.

The measure of the Father's love for us is the amount of His love for His Son. The adverb "just as" (καθως) compares His love for us to His love for His Son. Jesus says, "you loved them, just as you loved me." Both verbs are in the Aorist tense indicating an action that is undefined with respect to any process. The love simply is! The Aorist tense most commonly expresses His love as a simple fact without reference to any process (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.19). We have been loved just as Jesus has been loved. His love is a fact! Count on it!

God, the Father, loves me like He loves Jesus. Mind boggling! How can we explain a truth like this?! We are so identified with Jesus that we are loved infinitely in Jesus. "I in them and you (the Father) in me," Jesus prayed. The depth of our union with Jesus expresses the depth of the Father's love for His Son.

Our unity shows God's love to this world.