Johnchapter 17
26 verses · John, by tradition · AD 85 to 95 · The Gospels
When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
Introduction
John, by tradition, The Gospels, John Overview.
Most of this chapter is spoken to the Father, and the disciples are the ones overhearing it. The disciple whom Jesus loved was among them, and he wrote the prayer down years later for readers who had never seen Jesus. It was prayed aloud on the night of the betrayal, before the walk to the garden. Listen for whom Jesus is praying for, and notice how the circle widens as the prayer goes on. Listen also for two words that carry the whole prayer, glory and world. Read it as the Son speaking to His Father about His people on the eve of the cross.
Context
- Who
- Readers who wanted to know what Jesus asked for them
- What
- The prayer Jesus prayed to the Father at the close of the farewell, for Himself, for His disciples and for all who would believe.
- Where
- Jerusalem on the night of the betrayal, before Jesus went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley to a garden.
- When
- The night before the crucifixion, about AD 30 to 33, written down about AD 85 to 95 on the traditional dating.
- Why
- To commit Himself, His disciples and the church to the Father before the cross, and to let the disciples hear Him do it.
Historical context
The posture is given: he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Jewish prayer was normally offered standing with the eyes and hands raised, not with the head bowed and eyes closed. This is a man praying the way anyone in his world prayed, out loud, in front of his friends.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The role he is filling is a priestly one. On the Day of Atonement the high priest prayed for himself, then for his household, then for the whole assembly of Israel, and this prayer moves in exactly that order, for himself, for the eleven, and then for all who will believe through their word.
Glory is the word the prayer turns on, and in the Hebrew Scriptures it carries the sense of weight and substance, the visible mass of God's presence that filled the tabernacle and the temple. Asking to be glorified with the glory he had before the world existed is a claim about where he was before Bethlehem.
Sanctify means to set apart for a purpose, the way a vessel was set apart for temple use. Praying that they be sanctified in the truth, and sent into the world as he was sent, defines the church's job before the church existed.
Significance
The request that would have meant the most is the one that names them directly: I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Readers in the second and third generation are being prayed for by name in the room.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And what he asks for them is unity, that they may all be one, as the Father and the Son are one, so that the world may believe. Division in a congregation was not a private failure; it was being told here that it obscures the evidence.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Father, the Hour Is Come: Glorify Thy Son
the hour has come: is the hour held back at 2:4, 7:30 and 8:20. Jesus prays it aloud with His eyes lifted to heaven. The request turns back on itself, the Son glorified so that the Father is glorified in Him.
John 17:1
“So it best befits us, when occasion calls us to prayer, to pray for what redounds to God's glory before what concerns ourselves, as indeed Christ also Himself enjoins us when He says: After this manner pray ye: Our Father Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John - Book 11patristic
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
John 17:1
“What his Father had promised him, and he was assured of, yet he must pray for; promises are not designed to supersede prayers, but to be the guide of our desires and the ground of our hopes. Christ's being glorified includes all the honours, powers, and joys, of his exalted state. It is a glory with God; not only, Glorify my name on earth, but, Glorify me with thine own self.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 17:1
“These words - The words addressed to them in the preceding chapters. They were proceeding to the garden of Gethsemane. It adds much to the interest of this prayer that it was offered in the stillness of the night, in the open air, and in the especially tender circumstances in which Jesus and his apostles were. It is the longest prayer recorded in the New Testament. It was offered on the most tender and solemn occasion that has ever occurred in our world, and it is perhaps the most sublime composition to be found anywhere. Jesus was about to die.”
John 17:2-3
authority over all people: You granted Him authority over all people, and He gives eternal life to those the Father has given Him. Verse 3 defines eternal life as personal knowledge of the Father, the only true God, and of Jesus Christ. Life eternal is a Person known.
John 17:2
“Note, Christ's dominion over the children of men is in order to the salvation of the children of God. All things are for their sakes, 2 Cor. iv. All Christ's laws, ordinances, and promises, which are given to all, are designed effectually to convey spiritual life, and secure eternal life, to all that were given to Christ; he is head over all things to the church.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:2
“As thou hast given him power - As the Messiah, Jesus Christ received from the Father universal dominion. All flesh, i.e. all the human race, was given unto him, that by one sacrifice of himself, he might reconcile them all to God; having by his grace tasted death for every man, Heb 2:9. And this was according to the promise of the universal inheritance made to Christ, Psa 2:8, which was to be made up of the heathen, and the uttermost parts of the land, all the Jewish people.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John 17:2
“THIS was used by our Savior as an argument why the Father should glorify Him in His dread hour of conflict. Our Lord did as much as say, "You have already given Me what I now ask. Therefore, since You have virtually bestowed it upon me in the Covenant, give it Me now in very deed." So the Believer, when he prays, asks for what is already his own.”
Now this is eternal life: Does the only true God shut the Son out? Cyril and John Chrysostom hold the Son included, reading only as a word that sets the Father apart from others, as at 1 Corinthians 9:6. The names carry their full sense, Jesus the Saviour and Christ the Anointed.
John 17:3
“We are therefore concerned to know Christ as our Redeemer, by whom alone we can now have access to God; it is life eternal to believe in Christ; and this he has undertaken to give to as many as were given him. Those that are acquainted with God and Christ are already in the suburbs of life eternal.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:3
“Now to whom is it not clear, that if the Lord had known many fathers and gods, He would not have taught His disciples to know [only] one God, and to call Him alone Father? But He did the rather distinguish those who by word merely (verbo tenus) are termed gods, from Him who is truly God, that they should not err as to His doctrine, nor understand one [in mistake] for another.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies 4.1.2patristic
John 17:3
“OUR subject this morning [Sermon #1946, Volume 33—Eternal Life within Present Grasp] was concerning laying hold on eternal life, and I thought that I would say a little more, tonight, about eternal life. Many people, when they hear or read that expression, suppose that it means Heaven. It does mean that, but it means much more. Eternal life commences here—it begins in the Believer as soon as he is born again. Then he receives into him that same life which he will have throughout eternity! Eternal life is not a thing of changes.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2396: “Eternal Life!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
John 17:4-5
I have glorified You on earth: is spoken hours before the cross, in the perfect tense, of a work already finished. Then He asks for the glory He had with the Father before the world existed, a claim to have existed before creation.
John 17:4
“I have glorified thee - Our Lord, considering himself as already sacrificed for the sin of the world, speaks of having completed the work which God had given him to do: and he looks forward to that time when, through the preaching of his Gospel, his sacrifice should be acknowledged, and the true God should be known and worshipped by the whole world.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:4
“The word signifies his performing every part of his undertaking in the most complete and perfect manner. Herein he glorified his Father; he pleased him, he praised him. It is the glory of God that his work is perfect, and the same is the glory of the Redeemer; what he is the author of he will be the finisher of.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 17:4
“That he may give eternal life, &c.-This answers to that thy Son may glorify thee. To all whom thou hast given him - To all believers. This is a clear proof that Christ designed his sacrifice should avail for all: yea, that all flesh, every man, should partake of everlasting life.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
glorify Me in Your presence with: The Son asks to take up again the glory He veiled on earth, now in the nature He took. Theophylact of Ohrid applies it to that human nature, which had yet to share the throne. Before the world existed means from eternity, as at verse 24.
John 17:5
“In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not as if He stood in need of man, but that He might have [some one] upon whom to confer His benefits. For not alone antecedently to Adam, but also before all creation, the Word glorified His Father, remaining in Him; and was Himself glorified by the Father, as He did Himself declare, "Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Nor did He stand in need of our service when He ordered us to follow Him; but He thus bestowed salvation upon ourselves.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies 4.14.1patristic
3 more voices on this verse
John 17:5
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,.... Not with his perfections, these he had, they dwelt bodily in him; or with his nature, in which he was one with him; but as Mediator, with his glorious presence in heaven, by setting him at his right hand, and crowning him with glory and honour.”
John 17:5
“With thine own self - In heaven, granting me a participation of the same honor which the Father has. He had just said that he had glorified God on the earth, he now prays that God would glorify him in heaven. With the glory - With the honor. This word also includes the notion of happiness, or everything which could render the condition blessed. Before the world was - There could not be a more distinct and clear declaration of the pre-existence of Christ than this. It means before the creation of the world; before there was any world.”
John 17:5
“With this pre-existent glory, which He veiled on earth, He asks to be reinvested, the design of the veiling being accomplished--not, however, simply as before, but now in our nature.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
He Prays for His Own: Keep Them, Sanctify Them
I have revealed Your name: covers the whole ministry, the Father's character made plain in the Son's words and works. The men were Yours, and You gave them to Me, so the disciples are the Father's gift to the Son. They have kept Your word is the evidence offered.
John 17:7-8
everything You have given Me: comes from the Father, and the words came down the same line, Father to Son to disciples. They have received them, knew with certainty that Jesus came from the Father, and believed that the Father sent Him. Two verbs stand together here, knew and believed.
John 17:7
“And therefore He saith: All things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee. For in a special and peculiar sense all things are God's, and are given to us His creatures. Universal possession and power are most appropriate to God, but to us it is most fitting to receive. He bore witness, however, before His devout believers, to what was fitting to the servant, and prompted to obedience.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 11patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:7
“They have known - They have been taught that and have believed it. Hast given me - This refers, doubtless, to the doctrine of Christ, Joh 17:8. They are assured that all my instructions are of God.”
John 17:7
"They are of thee, their being is of thee as the God of nature, their well-being is of thee as the God of grace; they are all of thee, and therefore, Father, I bring them all to thee, that they may be all for thee." [2.] That he did accordingly give them to the Son.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I have given them the words: The words are the doctrines He was sent to teach. The teaching came to them pure, with no fables or fictions of men mixed in. Ministers speak God's words to hearers, and Christ puts His words within them as food and treasure.
John 17:8
“I have given - them the words - I have delivered thy doctrine to them, so that they have had a pure teaching immediately from heaven: neither Jewish fables nor fictions of men have been mingled with it. And have known surely - Are fully convinced and acknowledge that I am the promised Messiah, and that they are to look for none other; and that my mission and doctrine are all Divine, Joh 17:7, Joh 17:8.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
John 17:8
“The word was to them an ingrafted word. [2.] " They have kept thy word, have continued in it; they have conformed to it." Christ's commandment is then only kept when it is obeyed. Those that have to teach others the commands of Christ ought to be themselves observant of them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 17:9-10
I ask on their behalf: marks the scope of this petition. The love of God for the world stands at John 3:16, and this hour's burden is the eleven. The mutual claim of verse 10, all I have is Yours, states one possession held by Father and Son.
John 17:9
“I pray for them--not as individuals merely, but as representatives of all such in every succeeding age (see on Joh 17:20). not for the world--for they had been given Him "out of the world" (Joh 17:6), and had been already transformed into the very opposite of it. The things sought for them, indeed, are applicable only to such.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
4 more voices on this verse
John 17:9
“Christ, who manifested himself in the last times above the types and figures of the Law, at once our high priest and mediator, prays for us as man. And at the same time he is ever ready to cooperate with God the Father, who distributes good gifts to those who are worthy. Paul showed us this most plainly in the words "grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Christ, then, prays for us as man and also unites in distributing good gifts to us as God.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 11patristic
John 17:9
“The consigning of the elect to Christ was so far from making them less the Father's that it was in order to making them the more so. Note, [1.] All that receive Christ's word, and believe in him, are taken into covenant-relation to the Father, and are looked upon as his; Christ presents them to him, and they, through Christ, present themselves to him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 17:9
“I pray for them - In view of their dangers and trials, he sought the protection and blessing of God on them. His prayer was always answered. Not for the world - The term world here, as elsewhere, refers to wicked, rebellious, vicious men. The meaning of this expression here seems to be this: Jesus is praying for his disciples. As a reason why God should bless them, he says that they were not of the world; that they had been taken out of the world; that they belonged unto God.”
John 17:9
“To begin with, I remark that our Lord Jesus pleads for His own people. When He puts on His priestly breastplate, it is for the tribes whose names are there. When He presents the atoning Sacrifice, it is for Israel whom God has chosen, and He utters this great Truth of God, which some regard as narrow, but which we adore, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world." The point to which I want to call attention is this—the reason why Christ prays not for the world, but for His people.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2331: “Christ's Pastoral Prayer for His People” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
ConnectionsExodus 28:29
All I have is Yours: The Greek speaks of things, a neuter form, as at 6:37 to 40. In them I have been glorified is said ahead of the event, looking to the apostles' preaching. It also names their faith, for in believing in Him they owned His glory.
John 17:10
“I am glorified in them - Christ speaks of the things which were not, but which should be, as though they were. He anticipates the glorifying of his name by the successful preaching of the apostles.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:10
“And this is the original ground of that peculiar property, which both the Father and the Son have in the persons who were given to Christ as Mediator; according to what is said in the close of the verse, of his being glorified by them; namely, believing in him, and so acknowledging his glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 17:10
“Those then who have been given to Christ are the Father's, but are not therefore removed from Christ. For God the Father reigneth with Him, and through Him ruleth over His own. For the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity share the same kingdom, and their universal dominion is one and the same; and whatever is the Son's will be subject to the glory of the Son and the Father; and also, whatever is said to be under the rule of the Father, over that the Son will surely hold sway.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John - Book 11patristic
protect them by Your name: asks the Father's own name to be their guard, the same name revealed in verse 6. The unity asked for is measured by the Father and the Son, one as We are one. He is addressed as Holy Father here alone.
John 17:11
“Keep them through thy name - Thy power, mercy, wisdom, that they may be one - with us and with each other; one body, separate from the world: as we are - By resemblance to us, though not equality.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:11
“I am no more in the world - I have finished my work among men, and am about to leave the world. See Joh 17:4. These are in the world - They will be among wicked men and malignant foes. They will be subject to trials and persecutions. They will need the same protection which I could give them if I were with them. Keep - Preserve, defend, sustain them in trials, and save them from apostasy.”
John 17:11
“I am no more in the world--(See on Joh 17:4). but these are in the world--that is, Though My struggles are at an end, theirs are not; though I have gotten beyond the scene of strife, I cannot sever Myself in spirit from them, left behind and only just entering on their great conflict.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John 17:12-13
the son of destruction: is Judas, named here without softening. Every other man given to the Son was protected and preserved by the Father's name. Jesus prays it aloud, in their hearing, so that His own joy may be fulfilled in them.
John 17:12
“Those whom thou hast given me I have guarded, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition - So one even of them whom God had given him is lost. So far was even that decree from being unchangeable! That the Scripture might be fulfilled - That is, whereby the Scripture was fulfilled.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
But now I am coming to You: He is coming to the Father, yet He speaks while still in the world, after verse 11 said He would no longer be in it. The joy is the joy His resurrection, ascension and intercession would bring them, as at 15:11. The prayer is framed in a human manner.
John 17:13
“My joy fulfilled ... - See the notes at Joh 15:11. The expression “my joy here probably refers to the joy of the apostles respecting the Saviour - the joy which would result from his resurrection, ascension, and intercession in heaven.”
1 more voice on this verse
John 17:13
“Keep in mind once more what we were just now saying, and you will easily understand the drift of the passage. For He on all occasions preserved the juxtaposition of the two aspects of His character, at the same time displaying the Divine majesty for which He was pre-eminent, and not discarding the proper limitations of the Human Nature which He assumed at His Incarnation. For there would be something absurd in the supposition that He wished to disown what He had willingly taken upon Himself.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John - Book 11patristic
John 17:14-15
the world has hated them: already, before the cross, and the ground of it is that they belong elsewhere. The petition asks the Father to keep them from the evil one while they stay in the world. The prayer leaves them where they are.
John 17:14
“I have given them thy word - Or, thy doctrine - τον λογον σου. In this sense the word λογος is often used by St. John. And the world hath hated them - The Jewish rulers, etc., have hated them. - Why? Because they received the doctrine of God, the science of salvation, and taught it to others. They knew Jesus to be the Messiah, and as such they proclaimed him: our Lord speaks prophetically of what was about to take place. How terrible is the perversion of human nature!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
keep them from the evil one: They stay because their witness was still to be borne, beginning in Judea, and the course of their apostleship was unfinished. Christ leaves His people in the present life to prepare them for their heavenly home. They must be in the world, though no longer of it.
John 17:15
“That thou shouldest take them out of the world - Though they were going into trials and persecutions, yet Jesus did not pray that they might be removed soon from them. It was better that they should endure them, and thus spread abroad the knowledge of his name. It would be easy for God to remove his people at once to heaven, but it is better for them to remain, and show the power of religion in supporting the soul in the midst of trial, and to spread his gospel among men.”
1 more voice on this verse
John 17:15
“THE text, as we observed on a former occasion, [Sermon #47, Volume 1—CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE contains two prayers—a negative prayer and a positive prayer. First, there is the negative prayer—"I pray not that You should take them out of the world." There are wise ends to be observed by their remaining here. It will ultimately increase their happiness in Heaven. It will give glory to God.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2703: “The Preservation of Christians in the World” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
John 17:16-17
They are not of the world: Verse 16 repeats verse 14 word for word. Sanctify them by the truth asks that they be set apart for God, which is what sanctify means. Your word is truth names the means, the word the Father gave the Son and the Son gave them.
John 17:16
“The Lord speaks to his Father in the Gospel as follows: "They are not of the world, as I am not of the world." … No one can understand the truth and force of this except one who has gone through the trials of what [Jesus] was talking about—one who has been under the teacher of experience.”
John Cassian · written before 435 · CONFERENCE 1.7.2, 4-5patristic
1 more voice on this verse
John 17:16
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. These words are repeated from Joh 17:14, where they are given as a reason of the world's hatred to them; and here, as showing that they are exposed to the evil of it; and in both are used as an argument with his Father, that he would take notice of them, and preserve them.”
Sanctify them by the truth: To sanctify has two senses, to consecrate to God's service and to make holy, and the prayer carries both. The Spirit sets them apart for their office, and the truth of the Father's word makes them holy. Holiness in a believer grows over time.
John 17:17
“We are made sons through Christ by adoption and grace, partaking of his Spirit. For "as many as received him," he says, "to them he gave power to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name." And therefore, he is also the Truth, saying, "I am the Truth," and in his address to his Father, he said, "Sanctify them through your Truth, your Word is Truth." We, by imitation [of this truth], become virtuous and sons.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Discourses Against the Arians 3.25.19patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:17
These wonderful verses form a fitting conclusion of the most wonderful prayer that was ever prayed on earth —the last Lord's prayer after the first Lord's Supper. They contain three most important petitions which our Lord offered up in behalf of His disciples. On these three petitions let us fix our attention. Passing by all other things in the passage, let us look steadily at these three points. We should mark, first, how Jesus prays that His people may be sanctified. "Sanctify them," He says, "through your truth—Your word is truth."
John 17:17
“Sanctify - Consecrate them by the anointing of thy Spirit to their office, and perfect them in holiness, by means of thy word.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 17:18-19
You sent Me into the world: sets the pattern. For them I sanctify Myself means the Son setting Himself apart for the sacrifice hours away. Their own setting apart rests on His, and the same sending now falls on them, so that they too are sanctified by the truth.
John 17:18
“HERE is a great fact mentioned, namely, that the Father sent the Son into the world. Our Lord's disciples believed this. Jesus says Himself, "They have believed that You did send me." It is one of the first essentials of saving faith to believe in Christ as the Sent One of God. They had proved, in their own experience, that Jesus was sent of God, for they had found Him to be sent to them. Especially they knew this because they had found in Him eternal life.”
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:18
“As thou hast sent--sentest. me into the world, even so have I also sent them--sent I also them. into the world--As their mission was to carry into effect the purposes of their Master's mission, so our Lord speaks of the authority in both cases as co-ordinate.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John 17:18
“As thou hast sent me - so have I also sent them - The apostles had the same commission which Christ had, considered as man - they were endued with the same Spirit, so that they could not err, and their word was accompanied with the same success.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
For them I sanctify Myself: Jesus had no sin, so to sanctify Himself here is to set Himself apart for the work the Father gave Him, His death for them. Of the disciples the same word adds a cleansing first, for only what is holy can be given to God.
John 17:19
“I sanctify myself - I consecrate myself exclusively to the service of God. The word “sanctify” does not refer here to personal sanctification, for he had no sin, but to setting himself apart entirely to the work of redemption. That they also ... - 1. That they might have an example of the proper manner of laboring in the ministry, and might learn of me how to discharge its duties. Ministers will understand their work best when they most faithfully study the example of their great model, the Son of God.”
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:19
“I sanctify myself - I devote myself as a victim, to be sacrificed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 17:19
“Let us pay attention to the distinction of the Godhead from the flesh. In each there speaks one and the same Son of God, for each nature is present in him. And yet, while it is the same person who speaks, he does not always speak in the same way. At one time you see in him the glory of God, at another time human characteristics. As God he speaks the things of God because he is the Word.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Christian Faith 2.9.77-78patristic
That They May All Be One
John 17:20-21
believe in Me through their message: The prayer widens past the eleven to everyone who believes in Me through their message. The oneness asked for is modelled on the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. Its stated purpose is that the world may believe that the Father sent Him.
John 17:20
“Neither pray I for these alone--This very important explanation, uttered in condescension to the hearers and readers of this prayer in all time, is meant not merely of what follows, but of the whole prayer. them also which shall believe--The majority of the best manuscripts read "which believe," all future time being viewed as present, while the present is viewed as past and gone.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
John 17:20
“IN the very opening of this subject one feels inexpressibly delighted to see the wondrous love of our Savior towards His people. He here promises that He will intercede for each of them before His Father's Throne and He declares that this intercession also rises for those who are yet uncalled, unconverted and unregenerated! Mark the depth of His affection— He spends all His time in continually interceding for His people. I marvel at the condescension of Jesus Christ, that His people's names are always on His lips.”
that all of them may be one: The as of this verse is likeness, neither sameness nor equality. Here Christ prays for the world, that it may believe the Father sent Him. The first believers were one in heart and soul at Acts 4:32, the oneness this prayer asks for all who believe.
John 17:21
“The Saviour, then, saying of us, "As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they too may be one in Us," does not signify that we were to have identity with Him; for this was shewn from the instance of Jonah; but it is a request to the Father, as John has written, that the Spirit should be vouchsafed through Him to those who believe, through whom we are found to be in God, and in this respect to be conjoined in Him.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse 3, Chapter 25patristic
3 more voices on this verse
John 17:21
“That they all may be one - This prayer was literally answered to the first believers, who were all of one heart and of one soul: Act 4:32. And why is it that believers are not in the same spirit now? Because they neither attend to the example nor to the truth of Christ. That the world may believe - are have already seen that the word, κοσμος, world, is used in several parts of this last discourse of our Lord to signify the Jewish people only.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John 17:21
“As thou art in me - This also is to be understood in a way of similitude, and not of sameness or equality. That the world may believe - Here Christ prays for the world. Observe the sum of his whole prayer, 1.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 17:21
“But the Spirit of Christ, illuminating, transforming, and reigning in the hearts of the genuine disciples of Christ, drawing them to each other as members of one family, and prompting them to loving co-operation for the good of the world--this is what, when sufficiently glowing and extended, shall force conviction upon the world that Christianity is divine.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John 17:22-23
the glory You gave Me: is handed on to them. I in them and You in Me sets the indwelling of Father and Son inside the church. The last clause measures the Father's love for these men by His love for His own Son.
John 17:22
“The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them - The glory of the only begotten shines in all the sons of God. How great is the majesty of Christians.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
John 17:22
“It is not the future glory of the heavenly state, but the secret of that present unity just before spoken of; the glory, therefore, of the indwelling Spirit of Christ; the glory of an accepted state, of a holy character, of every grace.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Perfectly united means a union made complete, with no discord, as a machine is complete when every part is present and in order. The world is Israel first, then the Gentiles. The oneness of the Son with the Father stays distinct from the union of the head with His body.
John 17:23
He reminds us that the whole Christian people are one in God, and, as his well-beloved children, are "partakers of the divine nature." We have already said (and the truth must now be inculcated more in detail) that we are not one in the Father and the Son according to nature but according to grace. For the essence of the human soul and the essence of God are not the same, as the Manichaeans constantly assert. But, says our Lord, "You have loved them as you have loved me."
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Jovinianus 2.29patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:23
“May be made perfect in one - That their union may be complete. That there may be no jars, discords, or contentions. A machine is perfect or complete when it has all its parts and is in good order when there is no portion of it wanting. So the union of Christians, for which the Saviour prayed, would be complete or perfect if there were no controversies, no envyings, no contentions, and no heart-burnings and jealousies. It is worthy of remark here how entirely the union of his people occupied the mind of Jesus as he drew near to death.”
John 17:23
“There are some … who in their desire to deny the unity of the divine substance try to make light of the love of the Father and the Son, because it is written, "You have loved them, as you have loved me." But when they say this, what else do they do but adopt a likeness of comparison between the Son of God and human beings? Can we indeed be loved by God as the Son is, in whom the Father is well-pleased? The Son is well-pleasing in himself; we are well-pleasing through him.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.7.88-91patristic
before the foundation of the world: I want those You have given Me carries thelo, a verb of will. The rest of the prayer asks; this line states a desire. What they will see is the glory the Father gave the Son, and the love behind it runs before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24
“THE PRAYER OF THE SAVIOR rises as it proceeds. He asked for his people that they might be preserved from the world, then that they might be sanctified, and then that they might be made manifestly one; and now he reaches his crowning point—that they may be with him where he is, and behold his glory. It is well when in prayer the spirit takes to itself wings.”
3 more voices on this verse
John 17:24
“Here he returns to the apostles. I will - He asks, as having a right to be heard, and prays, not as a servant, but a Son: that they may behold my glory - Herein Is the happiness of heaven, 1 John iii, 2.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 17:24
“Christ regards it as glory enough for us to be admitted to see and gaze for ever upon His glory! This is "the beatific vision"; but it shall be no mere vision, for "we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is" (1Jo 3:2).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John 17:24
“That they may behold my glory - That they may enjoy eternal felicity with me in thy kingdom. So the word is used, Joh 3:3; Mat 5:8. The design of Christ is, that all who believe should love and obey, persevere unto the end, and be eternally united to himself, and the ever blessed God, in the kingdom of glory.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John 17:25-26
the world has not known You: Three kinds of knowing stand in one verse. The world has not known You, the Son knows the Father, and the disciples know that the Father sent Him. The prayer's last request is that the love the Father has for the Son may be in them.
John 17:25
“The world hath not known thee - Has not acknowledged me. See on Joh 1:11, Joh 1:12 (note). And these have known - Here our Lord, returning to the disciples, speaks: 1st. Of their having received him as the Messiah; 2dly. Of his making the Father known unto them; 3dly. Of his purpose to continue to influence them by the Spirit of truth, that they might be perfectly united to God, by an indwelling Savior for ever.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:25
“Righteous Father - The admission of believers to God through Christ, flows even from the justice of God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 17:25
“He prayed for himself first. Though Christ, as God, was prayed to, Christ, as man, prayed; thus it became him to fulfill all righteousness. It was said to him, as it is said to us, Ask, and I will give thee, Ps. ii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
and will continue to make it known: Readers take the promise to continue two ways. Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes read it of the forty days after the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. Augustine of Hippo reads the Father's name as made known by faith now and to be made known by sight hereafter.
John 17:26
“I have declared unto them thy name, etc. - I have taught them the true doctrine. And will declare it - This he did: 1st. By the conversations he had with his disciples after his resurrection, during the space of forty days. 2dly. By the Holy Spirit which was poured out upon them on the day of pentecost. And all these declarations Jesus Christ made, that the love of God, and Christ Jesus himself, might dwell in them; and thus they were to become a habitation for God through the eternal Spirit.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
John 17:26
“He says that knowledge of God the Father was at once in Him and in the disciples who attended Him. And, lest any man should be beguiled into gross extravagances of opinion, and think that His disciples had this knowledge in an equal degree with Himself, Christ at once distinguishes between them and Himself, and makes the difference very clear, showing that He revealed God unto them, while they, through Him, received knowledge.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 11patristic
John 17:26
“He has compressed into the last moments given Him for conversation with His own the most sublime and glorious sentiments ever uttered by mortal lips. But hardly has the sound of the last word died away, when He passes with the disciples over the brook Kedron to Gethsemane--and the bitter conflict draws on.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: A prayer in three parts: for Himself, then for the disciples from verse 6, then for all the faithful from verse 20, as Aquinas classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Glory asked and glory given | The words glory and glorify stand eight times in the Berean text of the chapter, at verses 1, 4, 5, 10, 22 and 24. The Son asks to be glorified, says He has glorified the Father, and gives the disciples the glory the Father gave Him. John Chrysostom notes that Jesus calls the cross itself glory, for the Father as well as for the Son.John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 80, on John 17:1. | John 17:1, John 17:4, John 17:5, John 17:22, John 17:24 |
| The world, prayed about and prayed for | The word world stands eighteen times in the Berean text of the chapter. At verse 9 Jesus says He does not ask on behalf of the world, and at verses 21 and 23 He asks that the world may believe and know that the Father sent Him. John Wesley marks the second: here Christ prays for the world.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on John 17:21. | John 17:9, John 17:21, John 17:23 |
| Those You have given Me | The Father's giving to the Son runs through the prayer, in eleven places across ten verses from verse 2 to verse 24: authority, work, words, glory and people all come as gifts. Albert Barnes marks the distinction the prayer draws at verse 2 between all people and those given to Him.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, on John 17:2. | John 17:2, John 17:6, John 17:9, John 17:24 |
How the prayer is built
8 more paragraphs on the patterns
Thomas Aquinas divides the prayer in three: Jesus prays for Himself in verses 1 to 5, for the disciples from verse 6, and for all the faithful from verse 20 (Commentary on John, on John 17:1, 17:6 and 17:20). The circle widens each time, from the Son to the eleven to everyone who believes through their message. Albert Barnes adds the setting, that the prayer was offered in the stillness of the night and in the open air, as they went toward the garden (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, on John 17:1).
The debated reading: the only true God
Verse 3 calls the Father the only true God, and the fathers take up the question whether that shuts the Son out. Cyril of Alexandria holds that the Son is in no way excluded from being true God by this naming of the Father (Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 11). John Chrysostom reads only as a word of distinction, as when Paul writes of himself and Barnabas at 1 Corinthians 9:6 (Homily on the Gospel of John 80).
Hilary of Poitiers reads the verse as joining the Sender and the Sent in the one hope of life, so that the believer draws no line between Them (On the Trinity 3.14).
The debated reading: the son of destruction
Verse 12 says that none was lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. Adam Clarke reads Judas as first given by God to Christ and then lost (Commentary on the Bible, on John 17:12). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that the verse does not imply that Judas was one of those the Father had given the Son, and point to 13:18 (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on John 17:12). Each position is stated by its holder and the page settles neither.
Where the prayer reaches
Adam Clarke sees the prayer for unity answered in the first believers, who were of one heart and one soul at Acts 4:32 (Commentary on the Bible, on John 17:21). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown close their reading of the chapter with what follows at once, as Jesus passes over the brook to Gethsemane and the conflict draws on (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on John 17:26).
Keep studying
Studies13
Words12
Trails1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on John 17:1; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, on John 17:1; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John, on John 17:1 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, on John 17:1, 17:6 and 17:20.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Augustine of Hippo; Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John; Cyril of Alexandria; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel according to John; John Chrysostom; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on John.