Before Jesus was betrayed and killed, He prayed for His disciples and for those who would believe in Him through His disciples (underlined text by the author):
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17:20 – 23, NKJV).
It is clear from verse 22 that it is the glory from the Father that will unite all the believers of Jesus Christ.
What is the glory that the Father gives the Son, who, in turn, gives to the believers to unite them?
Now, the Greek for “glory” used in verse 22 is δόξαν (doxan) , whose definition and usage, according to Strong’s Concordance 1391, follow those of δόξα (doxa):
- Definition: opinion (always good in NT), praise, honor, glory
- Usage: honor, renown; glory, an especially divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, splendor.
According to the HELPS Word Studies for Greek, δόξα (doxa) literally means “what evokes good opinion, i.e. that something has inherent, intrinsic worth“
Several commentators thus came up with the following answers to the question:
As Christ, according to his human nature, is termed the Son of God, he may be understood as saying: “I have communicated to all those who believe, or shall believe in me, the glorious privilege of becoming sons of God; that, being all adopted children of the same Father, they may abide in peace, love, and unity.” For this reason it is said, Hebrews 2:11, Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Clarke’s Commentary)
And the glory which thou gavest me— With respect to my human nature, namely, to be a habitation of thyself by the Spirit; I have given them — Have bestowed on them the honour and happiness of having a measure of the same Spirit dwelling in them, enriching them with various gifts and graces, stamping them with thine image, and communicating unto them thy divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4. (Benson Commentary)
And the glory ... – The honor which thou hast conferred on me by admitting me to union with thee, the same honor I have conferred on them by admitting them to like union with me. (Barnes’ Commentary)
What is a means by which we can be one in Jesus Christ and therefore in the Father?
In verse 22, the last two words are “We are one” (ημεις εν εσμεν). The total gematria of these three Greek words is 618.
But this numeral produces the set {6,1,8}, which is a permutation {1,6,8}; and the number 168 is the identifier of the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke (see Table 3.8 of the book, e-copy):
In the book, we showed that:
The Lord’s Prayer is the foremost proclamation of our faith in the fulfillment of the will of His Father in His Son, Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
- Since the Lord’s Prayer is our proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ, that is, our Creed, it is a means by which we are one in Jesus Christ and therefore in the Father;
- The Lord’s Prayer unites all Christians.
It is interesting to note the following:
- The gematria of δόξαν (doxan) in John 17:22 is 135, a numeral with the set {1, 3, 5}, a permutation of which is {1, 5, 3}, which produces the number 153.
- The gematria of Hebrew for (sons of Elohim) בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים (bni e-aleim), sourced from Genesis 6.4, is 153.
The Lord's Prayer: A Mathematician's Creed 