Johnchapter 17
26 verses · BSBJohn book hub →
Speaks with:John 17×15John 15×51 John 5×5John 10×4John 14×3John 16×2
Summary
Chapter summary
High-priestly prayer. Jesus prays for himself, for the Eleven ('keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me'), and for all who will believe through their word. 'That they all may be one … as we are one.' Sanctified by the truth.
Context
Gospel · John — John overview
- A. 1–5 Father, the Hour Is Come: Glorify Thy Son
- B. 6–19 He Prays for His Own: Keep Them, Sanctify Them
- C. 20–26 That They May All Be One
The outline
A.Father, the Hour Is Come: Glorify Thy Sonvv. 1 to 5
Read vv. 1 to 5 →B.He Prays for His Own: Keep Them, Sanctify Themvv. 6 to 19
Read vv. 6 to 19 →C.That They May All Be Onevv. 20 to 26
Read vv. 20 to 26 →
The world behind this chapter
John 17The history
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.
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.
What it meant to them
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.
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.
Sources cited
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on John 17. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 9 · A picture of Christ
The breastplate bearing Israel's names over the heart prefigures Christ bearing his own before the Father.
Exodus 28:29→Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he shall bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of judgment, as a continual reminder before the LORD.
Exod 28:29; John 17:9; Habershon 1898
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.