What is the context?
Jesus’ prayer reaches beyond the disciples present with Him to those who will believe through their message. He asks that they may be one, grounding their unity in the shared life of the Father and Son and in His presence with them.
He connects this unity with witness: the world is to recognize that the Father sent Him and loves His people. The prayer does not treat their life together as an unimportant detail alongside the message. Their unity is part of how that message is made visible.
He also asks that those given to Him may be with Him and see His glory. He speaks of the Father’s love for Him before the foundation of the world and of making the Father’s name known so that this love may be in His followers. The prayer joins their present shared life with the hope of being in His presence.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly understand this as a prayer for the unity and future life of Jesus’ people. They differ over how the one church and its visible unity should be understood.
The Catholic Church’s Catechism, paragraphs 813–819, grounds unity in the Trinity and also identifies shared faith, sacraments and ministry handed down from the apostles as visible bonds. It locates the fullness of that communion in the Catholic Church under the pope and bishops united with him, while recognizing other baptized Christians as brothers and acknowledging gifts of truth and grace outside its visible boundaries.
The Orthodox Church in America’s account of the Church likewise understands unity as a gift from God and affirms the fullness of church life in the historic Orthodox Church, with its teaching received from the apostles, ministry and sacraments. It does not accept papal authority as the bond that establishes this unity.
The Reformed Westminster Confession, chapter 25, distinguishes the whole company of God’s people united under Christ from the visible church professing the faith throughout the world. It recognizes particular churches with differing degrees of purity and identifies Christ alone as the church’s head. This does not make visible teaching, worship or fellowship unimportant; the confession names them as part of the church’s life.
These differences concern real beliefs about the church. They should not be reduced to the claim that one group values unity and the others do not, or that every disagreement is only a matter of style.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Ephesians 4:1–6 describes one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith and one God and Father. It calls believers to preserve that unity through humility, patience and love. This gives practical shape to the shared life for which Jesus prays.
The hope of seeing Him also has a clear place in the larger promise. 1 John 3:1–3 joins being God’s children with seeing Christ as He is. Philippians 3:20–21 describes His transforming His people’s bodies to be like His glorious body. The prayer reaches toward the completion of life with Him.
What is our position?
Our study What Does Prayer Look Like? treats Jesus’ request that His followers be brought to see His glory as a model for praying for others. Together with His requests that they be kept and made holy, it directs prayer toward their life with God and its completion in His presence. This gives a priority for intercession here; it does not settle the disputed church structures described above.