Jesus Christ foresaw denominationalism. The Center of the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theology Seminary estimates that there are about 45,000 denominations in the world today. This is a staggering figure!
In John 17:20-26, we read about the heartfelt prayer by Jesus Christ for future believers to be united. It is Jesus’ Prayer for Unity.
Jesus Prays for All Believers (NIV)
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
The identifier of John 17:20-26 is 581.
| Book# | Chapter# | Verse# | Sum | |
| John 17:20 | 43 | 17 | 20 | 80 |
| John 17:21 | 43 | 17 | 21 | 81 |
| John 17:22 | 43 | 17 | 22 | 82 |
| John 17:23 | 43 | 17 | 23 | 83 |
| John 17:24 | 43 | 17 | 24 | 84 |
| John 17:25 | 43 | 17 | 25 | 85 |
| John 17:26 | 43 | 17 | 26 | 86 |
| 581 |
The number 581 has 4 divisors, namely, {1, 7, 83, 581}. The sum of the divisors is 672, so that the arithmetic mean is 672/4=168, the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke. The Arithmetic Mean is telling us that the central message of unity in John 17:20-26 is pointing to the Lord’s Prayer as the vehicle of unity.
CONCLUSION: The Prayer of Unity in Christianity is the Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer: A Mathematician's Creed 