---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  John 17"
description: "CHAPTER 17   :-. THE
INTERCESSORY PRAYER. (See on  :-). Had this prayer not been recorded, what reverential
reader would not have exclaimed, Oh, to have b"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/john/17"
---

CHAPTER 17

. THE
INTERCESSORY PRAYER.
(See on ). Had this prayer *not* been recorded, what reverential
reader would not have exclaimed, Oh, to have been within hearing of
such a prayer as that must have been, which wound up the whole of His
past ministry and formed the point of transition to the dark scenes
which immediately followed! But here it is, and with such signature
of the Lips that uttered it that we seem rather to hear it from
Himself than read it from the pen of His faithful reporter.

**1-3. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes**—"John very seldom depicts the gestures
or looks of our Lord, as here. But this was an occasion of which the
impression was indelible, and the upward look could not be passed
over" [ALFORD].
**Father, the hour is come**—(See
on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).
**glorify thy Son**—Put
honor upon Thy Son, by countenancing, sustaining, and carrying Him
through that "hour."

**2. given**—gavest
**him power over all flesh**—(See
on ; ).
**give eternal life to as many
as,** &c.—literally, "to all that which thou hast given
him." (See on [John 6:37](../../../kjv/john/6/37)).

**3. this is**—that.
**life eternal, that they
might**—may.
**know,** c.—This life
eternal, then, is not mere conscious and unending existence, but a
life of acquaintance with God in Christ ().
**thee, the only true God**—the
sole personal living God in glorious contrast equally with heathen
*polytheism,* philosophic *naturalism,* and mystic
*pantheism.*
**and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent**—This is the only place where our Lord gives Himself
this compound name, afterwards so current in apostolic preaching and
writing. Here the terms are used in their strict
signification—"JESUS,"
because He "*saves* His people from their sins";
"CHRIST," as
*anointed* with the measureless fulness of the Holy Ghost for
the exercise of His saving offices (see on ); "WHOM THOU
HAST SENT," in the plenitude of Divine Authority and
Power, to save. "The very juxtaposition here of *Jesus Christ*
with *the Father* is a proof, by implication, of our Lord's
Godhead. The knowledge of *God and a creature* could not be
eternal life, and such an association of the one with the other would
be inconceivable" [ALFORD].

**4, 5. I have glorified thee on the
earth**—rather, "I glorified" (for the thing is
conceived as now *past*).
**I have finished**—I
finished.
**the work which thou gavest me
to do**—It is very important to preserve in the translation the
*past* tense, used in the original, otherwise it might be
thought that the work already "*finished*" was only
what He had done *before uttering that prayer;* whereas it will
be observed that our Lord speaks throughout as already beyond this
present scene ([John 17:12](../../../kjv/john/17/12),
&c.), and so must be supposed to include in His "finished
work" the "decease which He was to accomplish at
Jerusalem."

**5. And now**—in return.
**glorify thou me**—The "*I
Thee*" and "*Thou Me*" are so placed in the
original, each beside its fellow, as to show that A
PERFECT RECIPROCITY OF SERVICES of the Son to the Father
first, and then of the Father to the Son in return, is what our Lord
means here to express.
**with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was**—when "in the beginning the
Word was *with God*" (), "the only-begotten Son *in the bosom of the Father*"
([John 1:18](../../../kjv/john/1/18)). 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.*

**6-8.** From praying for Himself He
now comes to pray for His disciples.
**I have manifested**—I
manifested.
**thy name**—His whole
character towards mankind.
**to the men thou gavest me out
of the world**—(See on ).

**8. they . . . have known surely that
I came out from thee**—(See on ; [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).

**9-14. I pray for them**—not as
individuals merely, but as representatives of all such in every
succeeding age (see on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).
**not for the world**—for
they had been given Him "*out of* the world" ([John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)), and had been already transformed into the very *opposite*
of it. The things sought for them, indeed, are applicable only to
such.

**10. all mine are thine, and thine
are mine**—literally, "All My things are Thine and Thy
things are Mine." (On this use of the *neuter* gender, see
on [John 6:37](../../../kjv/john/6/37)). Absolute
COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY
between the Father and the Son is here expressed as nakedly as words
can do it. (See on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).

**11. I am no more in the world**—(See
on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).
**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.
**Holy Father**—an
expression He nowhere else uses. "*Father*" is His
wonted appellation, but "*Holy*" is here prefixed,
because His appeal was to that perfection of the Father's nature, to
"keep" or preserve them from being tainted by the unholy
atmosphere of "the world" they were still in.
**keep through thine own
name**—rather, "in thy name"; in the exercise of that
gracious and holy character for which He was known.
**that they may be one**—(See
on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).

**12. I kept**—guarded.
**them in thy name**—acting
as Thy Representative on earth.
**none of them is lost, but the
son of perdition**—It is not implied here that the son of
perdition was one of those whom the Father had given to the Son, but
rather the contrary ([John 13:18](../../../kjv/john/13/18))
[WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
It is just as in [Luke 4:26](../../../kjv/luke/4/26);
[Luke 4:27](../../../kjv/luke/4/27), where we are not to
suppose that the woman of *Sarepta* (in Sidon) was one of the
widows of *Israel,* nor Naaman the *Syrian* one of the
lepers in *Israel,* though the language—the same as here—might
*seem* to express it.
**son of perdition**—doomed
to it ([2 Thessalonians 2:3](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/2/3); [Mark 14:21](../../../kjv/mark/14/21)).

**13. I speak in the world, that they
might have my joy fulfilled in themselves**—that is, Such a
strain befits rather the upper sanctuary than the scene of conflict;
but I speak so "*in the world,*" that My joy, the joy
I experience in knowing that such intercessions are to be made for
them by their absent Lord, may be tasted by those who now hear them,
and by all who shall hereafter read the record of them,

**9-14. I pray for them**—not as
individuals merely, but as representatives of all such in every
succeeding age (see on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).
**not for the world**—for
they had been given Him "*out of* the world" ([John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)), and had been already transformed into the very *opposite*
of it. The things sought for them, indeed, are applicable only to
such.

**15-19. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world**—for that, though it would
secure their own safety, would leave the world unblessed by their
testimony.
**but . . . keep them from the
evil**—all evil in and of the world.

**16. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world**—(See [John 15:18](../../../kjv/john/15/18);
[John 15:19](../../../kjv/john/15/19)). This is reiterated
here, to pave the way for the prayer which follows.

**17. Sanctify them**—As the
former prayer, "*Keep* them," was "negative,"
asking *protection* for them from the poisonous element which
surrounded and pressed upon their renewed nature, so this prayer,
"*Sanctify* them," is positive, asking the *advancement
and completion* of their begun sanctification.
**through**—in.
**thy truth**—God's
revealed truth, as the medium or element of sanctification; a
statement this of immense importance.
**thy word is truth**—(Compare
[John 15:3](../../../kjv/john/15/3); [Colossians 1:5](../../../kjv/colossians/1/5);
[Ephesians 1:13](../../../kjv/ephesians/1/13)).

**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.*

**19. And for their sakes I
sanctify**—consecrate.
**myself that they also
might**—may.
**be sanctified**—consecrated.
The only difference between the application of the same term to
Christ and the disciples is, as applied to Christ, that it means *only*
to "consecrate"; whereas, in application to the disciples,
it means to consecrate with the *additional idea* of previous
sanctification, since nothing but what is holy can be presented as an
offering. The whole self-sacrificing work of the disciples appears
here as a mere *result* of the offering of Christ [OLSHAUSEN].
**through**—in.
**the truth**—Though the
article is wanting in the original here, we are not to translate, as
in the *Margin,* "*truly* sanctified"; for the
reference seems plainly to be "the truth" mentioned in . (See on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).

**20-23. 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.

**21. that they all may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in
us**—*The indwelling Spirit of the Father and the Son* is
the one perfect bond of union, knitting up into a living unity, first
all believers amongst themselves; next, this unity into one still
higher, with the Father and the Son. (Observe, that Christ *never
mixes Himself up with His disciples as He associates Himself with the
Father,* but says I in THEM
and THEY in US).
**that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me**—sentest me. So the grand impression upon
the world at large, that the mission of Christ is divine, is to be
made by *the unity of His disciples.* Of course, then, it must
be something that shall be *visible* or perceptible to the
world. What is it, then? Not certainly a merely formal, mechanical
unity of ecclesiastical machinery. For as that may, and to a large
extent does, exist in both the Western and Eastern churches, with
little of the Spirit of Christ, yea much, much with which the Spirit
of Christ cannot dwell so instead of convincing the world *beyond
its own pale* of the divinity of the Gospel, it generates
infidelity to a large extent within its own bosom. 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.
Doubtless, the more that differences among Christians disappear—the
more they can agree even in minor matters—the impression upon the
world may be expected to be greater. But it is not *dependent*
upon this; for living and loving oneness in Christ is sometimes more
touchingly seen even amidst and in spite of minor differences, than
where no such differences exist to try the strength of their deeper
unity. Yet till this living brotherhood in Christ shall show itself
strong enough to destroy the sectarianism, selfishness, carnality,
and apathy that eat out the heart of Christianity in all the visible
sections of it, in vain shall we expect the world to be overawed by
it. It is when "the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on
high," as a Spirit of truth and love, and upon all parts of the
Christian territory alike, melting down differences and heart
burnings, kindling astonishment and shame at past unfruitfulness,
drawing forth longings of catholic affection, and yearnings over a
world lying in wickedness, embodying themselves in palpable forms and
active measures—it is then that we may expect the effect here
announced to be produced, and then it will be irresistible. *Should
not Christians ponder these things? Should not the same mind be in
them which was also in Christ Jesus about this matter? Should not His
prayer be theirs?*

**22. And the glory which thou
gavest**—hast given.
**me I have given them, that
they may be one, even as we are one**—The last clause shows the
meaning of the first. 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.

**23. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one**—(See on ).

**24-26. Father, I will**—The
majesty of this style of speaking is quite transparent. No petty
criticism will be allowed to fritter it away in any but superficial
or perverted readers.
**be with me where I am**—(See
on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).
**that they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me**—(See on [John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)). 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" ([John 17:1](../../../kjv/john/17/1)).

**25. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee**—knew thee not.
**but I have known thee**—knew
thee.
**and these have known**—knew.
**that thou hast sent**—sentest
**me**—As before He said
"*Holy* Father," when desiring the display of that
perfection on His disciples (), so here He styles Him "*Righteous* Father,"
because He is appealing to His righteousness or justice, to make a
distinction between those two diametrically opposite classes—"*the
world,*" on the one hand, which would not "know the
Father, though brought so nigh to it in the Son of His love, and, on
the other, *Himself,* who recognized and owned Him, *and even
His disciples,* who owned His mission from the Father.

**26. And I have declared**—I made
known or communicated.
**thy name**—in His past
ministry.
**and will declare it**—in
yet larger measure, by the gift of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost and
through all succeeding ages.
**that the love wherewith thou
hast loved**—lovedst.
**me may be in them, and I in
them**—This eternal love of the Father, resting first on Christ,
is by His Spirit imparted to and takes up its permanent abode in all
that believe in Him; and "He abiding in them and they in Him"
([John 15:5](../../../kjv/john/15/5)), they are "*one
Spirit.*" "With this lofty thought the Redeemer closes
His prayer for His disciples, and in them for His Church through all
ages. 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. The seed of
the new world must be sown in Death, that thence Life may spring up"
[OLSHAUSEN].

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