Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed. I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word. Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you, for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me. I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Parallel Translations
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Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
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These wordes spake Iesus and lyfte vp his eyes to heven and sayde: father the houre is come: glorify thy sonne that thy sonne maye glorify the:
as thou hast geve him power over all fleshe that he shuld geve eternall lyfe to as many as thou hast geven him.
This is lyfe eternall that they myght knowe the that only very God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ.
I have glorified the on the erth. I have fynysshed the worke which thou gavest me to do.
And now glorify me thou father with thyn awne selfe with the glory which I had with ye yerre the worlde was.
I have declared thy name vnto the men which thou gavest me out of the worlde. Thyne they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy sayinges.
Now they knowe that all thinges whatsoever thou hast geven me are of the.
For I have geven vnto them the wordes which thou gavest me and they have receaved them and knowe surely that I came out from the: and doo beleve that thou dyddest send me.
I praye for them and praye not for the worlde: but for the which thou hast geve me for they are thyne.
And all myne are thyne and thyne are myne and I am glorified in them.
And now am I no moare in the worlde but they are in the worlde and I come to the. Wholy father kepe in thyne awne name the which thou hast geven me that they maye be one as we are.
Whyll I was with the in the worlde I kepte the in thy name. Those that thou gavest me have I kepte and none of the is lost but that lost chylde that the scripture myght be fulfilled.
Now come I to the and these wordes speake I in the worlde that they myght have my ioye full in them.
I have geven them thy wordes and the worlde hath hated them because they are not of the worlde even as I am not of the worlde.
I desyre not that thou shuldest take the out of the worlde: but that thou kepe them from evyll.
They are not of the worlde as I am not of the worlde.
Sanctify the with thy truth. Thy sayinge is truth.
As thou dyddest send me into the worlde even so have I sent them into the worlde
and for their sakes sanctify I my selfe that they also myght be sanctified thorowe the trueth.
I praye not for them alone: but for them also which shall beleve on me thorowe their preachynge
that they all maye be one as thou father arte in me and I in the that they maye be also one in vs that the worlde maye beleve that thou hast sent me.
And that glory that thou gavest me I have geven them that they maye be one as we are wone
I in them and thou in me that they maye be made perfecte in one and that the worlde maye knowe that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.
Father I will that they which thou hast geven me be with me where I am that they maye se my glory which thou hast geven me. For thou lovedest me before the makynge of the worlde.
O ryghteous father the very worlde hath not knowen the: but I have knowen the and these have knowen that thou hast sent me.
And I have declared vnto them thy name and will declare it that the love wher with thou hast loved me be in them and that I be in them.
Show all 3 translations
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These things spake Iesus, and lift vp his eyes to heauen, and saide, Father, that houre is come: glorifie thy Sonne, that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee,
As thou hast giuen him power ouer all flesh, that he shoulde giue eternall life to all them that thou hast giuen him.
And this is life eternall, that they knowe thee to be the onely very God, and whom thou hast sent, Iesus Christ.
I haue glorified thee on the earth: I haue finished the worke which thou gauest me to doe.
And nowe glorifie me, thou Father, with thine owne selfe, with the glorie which I had with thee before the world was.
I haue declared thy Name vnto the men which thou gauest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gauest them me, and they haue kept thy worde.
Nowe they knowe that all things whatsoeuer thou hast giuen me, are of thee.
For I haue giuen vnto them the wordes which thou gauest me, and they haue receiued them, and haue knowen surely that I came out from thee, and haue beleeued that thou hast sent me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the worlde, but for them which thou hast giuen me: for they are thine.
And al mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
And nowe am I no more in the world, but these are in the worlde, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keepe them in thy Name, euen them whome thou hast giuen mee, that they may bee one, as we are.
While I was with them in the worlde, I kept them in thy Name: those that thou gauest me, haue I kept, and none of them is lost, but the childe of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee, and these things speake I in the worlde, that they might haue my ioy fulfilled in themselues.
I haue giuen them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou keepe them from euill.
They are not of the worlde, as I am not of the world.
Sanctifie them with thy trueth: thy word is trueth.
As thou diddest send me into the world, so haue I sent them into the world.
And for their sakes sanctifie I my selfe, that they also may bee sanctified through the trueth.
I praie not for these alone, but for them also which shall beleeue in mee, through their woorde,
That they all may bee one, as thou, O Father, art in me, and I in thee: euen that they may be also one in vs, that the worlde may beleeue that thou hast sent me.
And the glory that thou gauest me, I haue giuen them, that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them, and thou in mee, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the worlde may knowe that thou hast sent mee, and hast loued them, as thou hast loued me.
Father, I will that they which thou hast giuen me, be with me euen where I am, that they may beholde that my glorie, which thou hast giuen mee: for thou louedst me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the worlde also hath not knowen thee, but I haue knowen thee, and these haue knowen, that thou hast sent me.
And I haue declared vnto the thy Name, and will declare it, that the loue wherewith thou hast loued me, may be in them, and I in them.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (550)
- 1 John 5:20 (vv2, 3, 6) We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in…
- 1 John 5:11-12 (v3) The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have…
- John 15:3 (vv6, 17) You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
- Jeremiah 9:23-24 (v3) Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his…
- John 3:17 (vv3, 8, 21, 23, 25) For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
Show all 100 cross-references
- Psalms 119:160 (v17) All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.
- John 17:25 (vv3, 11, 21) Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
- Hosea 6:3 (v3) Let’s acknowledge Yahweh. Let’s press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain,…
- Ephesians 5:26 (v17) that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
- John 1:1-3 (v5) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were…
- John 14:9-10 (v3) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do…
- 1 Peter 1:22-23 (v17) Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from…
- John 17:19 (v17) For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
- Hebrews 8:11-12 (v3) They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their…
- 1 Corinthians 12:12 (vv21, 26) For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
- 1 John 4:6 (v3) We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the…
- John 13:31-32 (vv1, 4) When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in…
- Philippians 2:9-11 (vv1, 10) Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,…
- Psalms 121:7 (v15) Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.
- John 17:4-5 (v1) I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with…
- 1 Chronicles 28:9 (v3) You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all…
- John 8:32 (v17) You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- James 1:21 (v17) Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your…
- Colossians 1:15-17 (v5) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth,…
- Colossians 3:11-14 (v21) where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, or free person; but Christ is all,…
- Isaiah 61:1 (v3) The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken…
- Hebrews 12:2 (v13) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and…
- John 17:11 (vv21, 25) I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have…
- Psalms 109:6-19 (v12) Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him come out guilty. Let his prayer be turned…
- 1 John 5:18 (v15) We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him.
- John 3:34 (v3) For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
- Galatians 5:22 (v13) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 (v17) But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation…
- John 17:23 (vv3, 8, 18, 25, 26) I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved…
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 (vv3, 6, 24) seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory…
- Psalms 19:7-9 (v17) Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple. Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the…
- John 10:28-29 (v2) I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is…
- John 17:21 (vv3, 8, 18, 23, 25) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that…
- Psalms 119:11 (vv6, 17) I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
- Hebrews 9:24 (vv9, 11) For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in…
- Matthew 6:13 (v15) Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
- 1 Corinthians 12:25-27 (v21) that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. When one member suffers, all…
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (v15) But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
- John 17:16 (vv6, 14) They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8 (vv3, 25) punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- Matthew 6:9 (v11) Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
- John 4:34 (v4) Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
- John 12:26 (v24) If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
- John 17:5 (v24) Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
- Philippians 1:27 (v21) Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state,…
- John 10:30 (vv5, 10, 21) I and the Father are one.”
- John 17:14 (vv6, 8, 16) I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
- John 6:39 (vv2, 6) This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.
- John 17:2 (vv6, 9) even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
- Proverbs 18:10 (v11) Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
- John 10:27-28 (v12) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch…
- 1 Peter 1:20 (v5) who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake,
- 1 John 4:14-15 (v3) We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God…
- Psalms 119:9 (v17) How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
- John 16:27 (vv8, 23, 25) for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.
- John 18:9 (vv6, 12) that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, “Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.”
- John 14:3 (v24) If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
- Acts 20:24 (v4) But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I…
- Ephesians 4:21 (v17) if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:
- Philippians 2:6 (v5) who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
- John 17:8 (vv3, 18, 21, 25) for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have…
- John 6:37 (vv2, 6, 12) All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 (vv17, 22, 24) But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even…
- John 15:15 (vv8, 26) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I…
- John 15:18-21 (vv11, 14) If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But…
- Jeremiah 31:33-34 (v3) “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward…
- Daniel 7:14 (v2) Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an…
- 1 Peter 2:9 (v10) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
- John 13:35 (vv21, 23) By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 17:26 (vv6, 23) I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
- 1 Chronicles 4:10 (v15) Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border! May your hand be with me, and may you…
- Psalms 12:6 (v17) Yahweh’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.
- Psalms 119:104 (v17) Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
- Psalms 119:151-152 (v17) You are near, Yahweh. All your commandments are truth. Of old I have known from your testimonies, that you have founded them forever.
- John 14:26 (v3) But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said…
- Galatians 1:4 (v15) who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—
- Titus 2:14 (v19) who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for…
- John 17:6 (vv2, 9, 26) I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept…
- John 12:23 (vv1, 10) Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
- Genesis 45:13 (v24) You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
- Matthew 25:21 (v24) “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things.…
- Matthew 28:18 (v2) Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
- Luke 11:4 (v15) Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the…
- John 7:16-17 (v7) Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the…
- John 13:18 (v12) I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has…
- John 17:12-18 (v11) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son…
- Hebrews 2:11 (v19) For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
- 1 John 3:2 (v24) Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for…
- John 17:24 (vv2, 5, 6, 22, 23) Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you…
- John 10:29-30 (vv7, 11) My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
- John 12:27-28 (v1) “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause. Father, glorify your…
- John 14:21-24 (v6) One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love…
- John 17:21-22 (v11) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that…
- 2 Timothy 4:7 (v4) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
- 1 John 3:1 (v23) See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us,…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (550 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–26 1. These words spake Jesus. After having preached to…
1. These words spake Jesus. After having preached to the disciples about bearing the cross, the Lord exhibited to them those consolations, by relying on which they would be enabled to persevere. Having promised the coming of the Spirit, he raised them to a better hope, and discoursed to them about the splendor and glory of his reign. Now he most properly betakes himself to prayer; for doctrine has no power, if efficacy be not imparted to it from above. He, therefore, holds out an example to teachers, not to employ themselves only in sowing the word, but, by mingling their prayers with it, to implore the assistance of God, that his blessing may render their labor fruitful. In short, this passage of the Lord Jesus Christ might be said to be the seal of the preceding doctrine, both that it might be ratified in itself, and that it might obtain full credit with the disciples.
And lifted up his eyes to heaven. This circumstance related by John, that Christ prayed, lifting up his eyes to heaven, was an indication of uncommon ardor and vehemence; for by this attitude Christ testified that, in the affections of his mind, he was rather in heaven than in earth, so that, leaving men behind him, he converted familiarly with God. He looked towards heaven, not as if God’s presence were confined to heaven, for He filleth also the earth, (Jeremiah 23:24,) but because it is there chiefly that his majesty is displayed. Another reason was, that, by looking towards heaven, we are reminded that the majesty of God is far exalted above all creatures. It is with the same view that the hands are lifted up in prayer; for men, being by nature indolent and slow, and drawn downwards by their earthly disposition, need such excitements, or I should rather say, chariots, to raise them to heaven
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Yet if we desire actually to imitate Christ, we must take care that outward gestures do not express more than is in our mind, but that the inward feeling shall direct the eyes, the hands, the tongue, and every thing about us. We are told, indeed, that the publican, with downcast eyes, prayed aright to God, (Luke 18:13,) but that is not inconsistent with what has now been stated; for, though he was confused and humbled on account of his sins, still this self-abasement did not prevent him from seeking pardon with full confidence. But it was proper that Christ should pray in a different manner, for he had nothing about him of which he ought to be ashamed; and it is certain that David himself prayed sometimes in one attitude, and sometimes in another, according to the circumstances in which he was placed.
Father, the hour is come. Christ asks that his kingdom may be glorified, in order that he also may advance the glory of the Father. He says that the hour is come, because though, by miracles and by every kind of supernatural events, he had been manifested to be the Son of God, yet his spiritual kingdom was still in obscurity, but soon afterwards shone with full brightness. If it be objected, that never was there any thing less glorious than the death of Christ, which was then at hand, I reply, that in that death we behold a magnificent triumph which is concealed from wicked men; for there we perceive that, atonement having been made for sins, the world has been reconciled to God, the curse has been blotted out, and Satan has been vanquished.
It is also the object of Christ’s prayer, that his death may produce, through the power of the Heavenly Spirit, such fruit as had been decreed by the eternal purpose of God; for he says that the hour is come, not an hour which is determined by the fancy of men, but an hour which God had appointed. And yet the prayer is not superfluous, because, while Christ depends on the good pleasure of God, he knows that he ought to desire what God promised would certainly take place. True, God will do whatever he has decreed, not only though the whole world were asleep, but though it were opposed to him; but it is our duty to ask from him whatever he has promised, because the end and use of promises is to excite us to prayer.
That thy Son also may glorify thee. He means that there is a mutual connection between the advancement of his glory and of the glory of his Father; for why is Christ manifested, but that he may lead us to the Father? Hence it follows, that all the honor which is bestowed on Christ is so far from diminishing the honor of the Father, that it confirms it the more. We ought always to remember under what character Christ speaks in this passage; for we must not look only at his eternal Divinity, because he speaks as God manifested in the flesh, and according to the office of Mediator.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26 He first declareth, that as he came into the…
He first declareth, that as he came into the world to the end that the Father might show in him, being apprehended by faith, his glory in saving his elect, so he applied himself to that only: and therefore desireth of the Father, that he would bless the work which he hath finished.
Jesus Christ the everlasting high Priest being ready straightway to offer up himself, doth by solemn prayers consecrate himself to God the Father as a sacrifice: and us together with himself. Therefore this prayer was from the beginning, is, and shall be to the end of the world, the foundation and ground of the Church of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–26 1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his…
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Ver. 1. And lift up his eyes to heaven] This and the like outward gestures in prayer, as they issue from the fervency of the good heart, so they reflect upon the soul, whose invisible affections by these visible actions, in the saints, are the more inflamed. Howbeit, hypocrites, though they have their hands elbow deep in the earth, will seem to pierce heaven with their eyes lift up in prayer. Videntur torvo aspectu caelum ad se attrahere, saith Calvin somewhere; they so fix their eyes in public prayer, as if they would leave them on the roof of the church; when all is but histrionical, theatrical, counterfeit, προς το θεα θηναι, to be seen of men, Mat 6:1. The eagle, when she soareth highest, have ever an eye to the prey below; so hath the hypocrite to profit, credit.
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The hour is come] q.d. I ask not before the time is come, I am ripe and ready for thy kingdom. Some would be in heaven ere they have done their work upon earth. But what said that ancient? Domino, si tibi sim necessarius, non recuso vivere: Lord, if thou hast any further service for me to do, I am willing to live longer. When we come to heaven, the reward will be so large, that we shall repent us (if it were possible there to repent for anything) that we have done no more work. It is not lawful, saith Capel, to wish for death simply, neither to be set free from the troubles, fears, and cares of sin, nor that we would not conflict, nor wrestle any longer (for this were to serve ourselves, and seek our own ease and ends), but in hatred to sin, as it is sin.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–26 When our Lord had finished his discourses, of which…
When our Lord had finished his discourses, of which we have had a large account in Joh 14:1-16:33, he goes to prayer. As he taught us when we pray to direct our petitions to the Father, so in this he setteth us an example; and before he speaketh it is said he
lifted up his eyes to heaven, as his Father’s mansion house who, though he filleth heaven and earth, yet doth in heaven most manifest his glory: and therefore, teaching us to pray, he commandeth us to say, Our Father which art in heaven; not exclusively, as if God were not on earth also; but eminently, as heaven is the place where he most gloriously manifests himself. Lifting up the eyes was a usual gesture in prayer, and but an indication of the soul’s being lifted up, Psa 121:1; 123:1; yet no necessary gesture, for we shall at another time find our Saviour falling upon his face when he prayed, Mat 26:39; Mar 14:35. The lifting up of the soul to God, wherein the main and spiritual part of prayer lies, doth not necessarily require the lifting up of the eyes. The publican cast down his eyes upon the earth, in the sense of his unworthiness. Our Lord lifted up his eyes, and said,
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Father, the hour is come; that is, the hour of my passion, the time wherein thou hast determined that I should die; now make thy Son glorious, by raising me from the dead, by taking me up to heaven, or by giving me assistance from thee to do the work which I have to do, to drink this bitter cup: that so I, being risen again from the dead, and ascending up to heaven, may make thy name famous by publishing thy justice, goodness, and truth, upon the preaching of the gospel to all nations.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Our blessed Saviour having ended his consolatory and valedictory…
Our blessed Saviour having ended his consolatory and valedictory sermon, contained in the three foregoing chapters; in this chapter we have recorded his last prayer, with and for his disciples, before he left the world; which is a copy left upon earth, of what he doth now intercede for as an advocate in heaven. "It is good (saith one) to compare scripture with scripture, but not to prefer scripture before scripture; all scripture being written by inspiration of God:" but if any part of scripture be magnified above another, this chapter claims the pre-eminence; it contains the breathings out of Christ’s soul for his church and children, before his departure; not for his disciples only, but for the succeeding church to the end of the world.
In the verse before us, observe, 1. These words spake Jesus; that is, after he had finished his excellent sermon, he closes the exercises with a most fervent and affectionate prayer; teaching his ministers, by his example, to add solemn prayer and supplication to all their instructions and exhortations: if every creature of God be to be sanctified by prayer, much more the word of God, which works not as a natural agent, but as a moral instrument in God’s hand. Now as God sets the word on work, so is it prayer that sets God on work.
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Observe, 2. As the order of Christ’s prayer, so the gesture in which he prayed: He lifted up his eyes to heaven: as an indication of his soul being lifted up to God in heaven; to signify his reverence of God, whose throne is in heaven; and to denote his confidence in God, and raised expectation of aid and help from God, and not from any creature.
Learn, that the gestures which we use in prayer, should be such as may express our reverence of God, and denote our affiance and trust in him:
Observe, 3. The person prayed to, God, under the appellation of a Father: it intimates a sweet relation; it is a word of endearing affection, and implies great reverence towards God, and great confidence and trust in him.
Learn, it is very sweet and comfortable in prayer, when we can come and call God Father.
Observe, 4. The mercy prayed, for; The hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee. The hour is come; that is, "The hour of my sufferings, and thy satisfaction; the hour of my victory, and of thy glory; the hour, the sad hour, determined in thy decree and purpose." No calamity can touch us till God’s hour is come; and when the sad hour is come, the best remedy is prayer, and the only person to fly unto for succour is our heavenly Father.
Father, the hour is come, the doleful hour of my death and passion; glorify thy Son, glorify him at his death, by manifesting him to have been the Son of God; glorify him in his death, by accepting it as the death of thy Son for the sins of the world: glorify him after his death, by a speedy resurrection from the grave, and triumphant exaltation at thy right hand.
Here note, how the glory of the Father and the Son are inseparably linked together; it was the Father’s design to glorify the Son, and it was the Son’s desire to have glory from the Father, for this end, that he might bring glory to the Father: Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 11, 17, 20, 24 Here we have, I. The circumstances of this prayer,…
Here we have, I. The circumstances of this prayer, Joh 17:1. Many a solemn prayer Christ made in the days of his flesh (sometimes he continued all night in prayer), but none of his prayers are recorded so fully as this. Observe,
1. The time when he prayed this prayer; when he had spoken these words, had given the foregoing farewell to his disciples, he prayed this prayer in their hearing; so that, (1.) It was a prayer after a sermon; when he had spoken from God to them, he turned to speak to God for them. Note, Those we preach to we must pray for. He that was to prophesy upon the dry bones was also to pray, Come, O breath, and breathe upon them. And the word preached should be prayed over, for God gives the increase. (2.) It was a prayer after sacrament; after Christ and his disciples had eaten the passover and the Lord's supper together, and he had given them a suitable exhortation, he closed the solemnity with this prayer, that God would preserve the good impressions of the ordinance upon them. (3.) It was a family-prayer. Christ's disciples were his family, and, to set a good example before the masters of families, he not only, as the son of Abraham, taught his household (Gen 18:19), but, as a son of David, blessed his household (Sa2 6:20), prayed for them and with them. (4.) It was a parting prayer. When we and our friends are parting, it is good to part with prayer, Act 20:36. Christ was parting by death, and that parting should be sanctified and sweetened by prayer. Dying Jacob blessed the twelve patriarchs, dying Moses the twelve tribes, and so, here, dying Jesus the twelve apostles. (5.) It was a prayer that was a preface to his sacrifice, which he was now about to offer on earth, specifying the favours and blessings designed to be purchased by the merit of his death for those that were his; like a deed leading the uses of a fine, and directing to what intents and purposes it shall be levied. Christ prayed then as a priest now offering sacrifice, in the virtue of which all prayers were to be made. (6.) It was a prayer that was a specimen of his intercession, which he ever lives to make for us within the veil. Not that in his exalted state he addresses himself to his Father by way of humble petition, as when he was on earth. No, his intercession in heaven is a presenting of his merit to his Father, with a suing out of the benefit of it for all his chosen ones.
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2. The outward expression of fervent desire which he used in this prayer: He lifted up his eyes to heaven, as before (Joh 11:41); not that Christ needed thus to engage his own attention, but he was pleased thus to sanctify this gesture to those that use it, and justify it against those that ridicule it. It is significant of the lifting up of the soul to God in prayer, Psa 25:1. Sursum corda was anciently used as a call to prayer, Up with your hearts, up to heaven; thither we must direct our desires in prayer, and thence we must expect to receive the good things we pray for.
II. The first part of the prayer itself, in which Christ prays for himself. Observe here,
1. He prays to God as a Father: He lifted up his eyes, and said, Father. Note, As prayer is to be made to God only, so it is our duty in prayer to eye him as a Father, and to call him our Father. All that have the Spirit of adoption are taught to cry Abba, Father, Joh 17:25. For it will be of great use to us in prayer, both for direction and for encouragement, to call God as we hope to find him.
2. 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, Psa 2:8. What he had purchased he must ask for; and shall we expect to have what we never merited, but have a thousand times forfeited, unless we pray for it? This puts an honour upon prayer, that it was the messenger Christ sent on his errands, the way in which even he corresponded with Heaven. It likewise gives great encouragement to praying people, and cause to hope that even the prayer of the destitute shall not be despised; time was when he that is advocate for us had a cause of his own to solicit, a great cause, on the success of which depended all his honour as Mediator; and this he was to solicit in the same method that is prescribed to us, by prayers and supplications (Heb 5:7), so that he knows the heart of a petitioner (Exo 23:9), he knows the way. Now observe, Christ began with prayer for himself, and afterwards prayed for his disciples; this charity must begin at home, though it must not end there. We must love and pray for our neighbor as ourselves, and therefore must in a right manner love and pray for ourselves first. Christ was much shorter in his prayer for himself than in his prayer for his disciples. Our prayers for the church must not be crowded into a corner of our prayers; in making supplication for all saints, we have room enough to enlarge, and should not straiten ourselves. Now here are two petitions which Christ puts up for himself, and these two are one - that he might be glorified. But this one petition, Glorify thou me, is twice put up, because it has a double reference. To the prosecution of his undertaking further: Glorify me, that I may glorify thee, in doing what is agreed upon to be yet done, Joh 17:1-3. And to the performance of his undertaking hitherto: "Glorify me, for I have glorified thee. I have done my part, and now, Lord, do thine," Joh 17:4, Joh 17:5.
(1.) Christ here prays to be glorified, in order to his glorifying God (Joh 17:1): Glorify thy Son according to thy promise, that thy Son may glorify thee according to his understanding. Here observe,
[1.] What he prays for - that he might be glorified in this world: "The hour is come when all the powers of darkness will combine to vilify thy Son; now, Father, glorify him." The Father glorified the Son upon earth, First, Even in his sufferings, by the signs and wonders which attended them. When they that came to take him were thunder-struck with a word, - when Judas confessed him innocent, and sealed that confession with his own guilty blood, - when the judge's wife asleep, and the judge himself awake, pronounced him righteous, - when the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple rent, then the Father not only justified, but glorified the Son. Nay, Secondly, Even by his sufferings; when he was crucified, he was magnified, he was glorified, Joh 13:31. It was in his cross that he conquered Satan and death; his thorns were a crown, and Pilate in the inscription over his head wrote more than he thought. But, Thirdly, Much more after his sufferings. The Father glorified the Son when he raised him from the dead, showed him openly to chosen witnesses, and poured out the Spirit to support and plead his cause, and to set up his kingdom among men, then he glorified him. This he here prays for, and insists upon.
[2.] What he pleads to enforce this request.
First, He pleads relation: Glorify thy Son; thy Son as God, as Mediator. It is in consideration of this that the heathen are given him for his inheritance; for thou art my Son, Psa 2:7, Psa 2:8. The devil had tempted him to renounce his sonship with an offer of the kingdoms of this world; but he rejected the offer with disdain, and depended upon his Father for his preferment, and here applies himself to him for it. Note, Those that have received the adoption of sons may in faith pray for the inheritance of sons; if sanctified, then glorified: Father, glorify thy Son.
Secondly, He pleads the time: The hour is come; the season prefixed to an hour. The hour of Christ's passion was determined in the counsel of God. He had often said his hour was not yet come; but now it was come, and he knew it. Man knows not his time (Ecc 9:12), but the Son of man did. He calls it this hour (Joh 12:27), and here, the hour; compare Mar 14:35; Joh 16:21. For the hour of the Redeemer's death, which was also the hour of the Redeemer's birth, was the most signal and remarkable hour, and, without doubt, the most critical, that ever was since the clock of time was first set a going. Never was there such an hour as that, nor did ever any hour challenge such expectations of it before, nor such reflections upon it after. 1. "The hour is come in the midst of which I need to be owned." Now is the hour when this grand affair is come to a crisis; after many a skirmish the decisive battle between heaven and hell is now to be fought, and that great cause in which God's honour and man's happiness are together embarked must now be either won or lost for ever. The two champions David and Goliath, Michael and the dragon, are now entering the lists; the trumpet sounds for an engagement that will be irretrievably fatal either to the one or to the other: "Now glorify thy Son, now give him victory over principalities and powers, now let the bruising of his heel be the breaking of the serpent's head, now let thy Son be so upheld as not to fail nor be discouraged." When Joshua went forth conquering and to conquer, it is said, The Lord magnified Joshua; so he glorified his Son when he made the cross his triumphant chariot. 2. "The hour is come in the close of which I expect to be crowned; the hour is come when I am to be glorified, and, set at thy right hand." Betwixt him and that glory there intervened a bloody scene of suffering; but, being short, he speaks as if he made little of it: The hour is come that I must be glorified; and he did not expect it till then. Good Christians in a trying hour, particularly a dying hour, may thus plead: "Now the hour is come, stand by me, appear for me, now or never: now the earthly tabernacle is to be dissolved, the hour is come that I should be glorified." Co2 5:1.
Thirdly, He pleads the Father's own interest and concern herein: That thy Son may also glorify thee; for he had consecrated his whole undertaking to his Father's honour. He desired to be carried triumphantly through his sufferings to his glory, that he might glorify the Father two ways: - 1. By the death of the cross, which he was now to suffer. Father, glorify thy name, expressed the great intention of his sufferings, which was to retrieve his Father's injured honour among men, and, by his satisfaction, to come up to the glory of God, which man, by his sin, came short of: "Father, own me in my sufferings, that I may honour thee by them." 2. By the doctrine of the cross, which was now shortly to be published to the world, by which God's kingdom was to be re-established among men. He prays that his Father would so grace his sufferings, and crown them, as not only to take off the offence of the cross, but to make it, to those that are saved, the wisdom of God and the power of God. If God had not glorified Christ crucified, by raising him from the dead, his whole undertaking had been crushed; therefore glorify me, that I may glorify thee. Now thereby he hath taught us, (1.) What to eye and aim at in our prayers, in all our designs and desires - and that is, the honour of God. It being our chief end to glorify God, other things must be sought and attended to in subordination and subserviency to the Lord. "Do this and the other for thy servant, that thy servant may glorify thee. Give me health, that I may glorify thee with my body; success, that I may glorify thee with my estate," etc. Hallowed be thy name must be our first petition, which must fix our end in all our other petitions, Pe1 4:11. (2.) He hath taught us what to expect and hope for. If we sincerely set ourselves to glorify our Father, he will not be wanting to do that for us which is requisite to put us into a capacity of glorifying him, to give us the grace he knows sufficient, and the opportunity he sees convenient. But, if we secretly honour ourselves more than him, it is just with him to leave us in the hand of our own counsels, and then, instead of honouring ourselves, we shall shame ourselves.
Fourthly, He pleads his commission (Joh 17:2, Joh 17:3); he desires to glorify his Father, in conformity to, and in pursuance of, the commission given him: "Glorify thy Son, as thou hast given him power, glorify him in the execution of the powers thou hast given him," so it is connected with the petition; or, that thy Son may glorify thee according to the power given him, so it is connected with the plea. Now see here the power of the Mediator.
a. The origin of his power: Thou hast given him power; he has it from God, to whom all power belongs. Man, in his fallen state, must, in order to his recovery, be taken under a new model of government, which could not be erected but by a special commission under the broad seal of heaven, directed to the undertaker of that glorious work, and constituting him sole arbitrator of the grand difference that was, and sole guarantee of the grand alliance that was to be, between God and man; so as to this office, he received his power, which was to be executed in a way distinct from his power and government as Creator. Note, The church's king is no usurper, as the prince of this world is; Christ's right to rule is incontestable.
b. The extent of his power: He has power over all flesh. (a.) Over all mankind. He has power in and over the world of spirits, the powers of the upper and unseen world are subject to him (Pe1 3:22); but, being now mediating between God and man, he here pleads his power over all flesh. They were men whom he was to subdue and save; out of that race he had a remnant given him, and therefore all that rank of beings was put under his feet. (b.) Over mankind considered as corrupt and fallen, for so he is called flesh, Gen 6:3. If he had not in this sense been flesh, he had not needed a Redeemer. Over this sinful race the Lord Jesus has all power; and all judgment, concerning them, is committed to him; power to bind or loose, acquit or condemn; power on earth to forgive sins or not. Christ, as Mediator, has the government of the whole world put into his hand; he is king of nations, has power even over those that know him not, nor obey his gospel; whom he does not rule, he over-rules, Psa 22:28; Psa 72:8; Mat 28:18; Joh 3:35.
c. The grand intention and design of this power: That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Here is the mystery of our salvation laid open.
(a.) Here is the Father making over the elect to the Redeemer, and giving them to him as his charge and trust; as the crown and recompence of his undertaking. He has a sovereign power over all the fallen race, but a peculiar interest in the chosen remnant; all things were put under his feet, but they were delivered into his hand.
(b.) Here is the Son undertaking to secure the happiness of those that were given him, that he would give eternal life to them. See how great the authority of the Redeemer is. He has lives and crowns to give, eternal lives that never die, immortal crowns that never fade. Now consider how great the Lord Jesus is, who has such preferments in his gift; and how gracious he is in giving eternal life to those whom he undertakes to save. [a.] He sanctifies them in this world, gives them the spiritual life which is eternal life in the bud and embryo, Joh 4:14. Grace in the soul is heaven in that soul. [b.] He will glorify them in the other world; their happiness shall be completed in the vision and fruition of God. This only is mentioned, because it supposes all the other parts of his undertaking, teaching them, satisfying for them, sanctifying them, and preparing them for that eternal life; and indeed all the other were in order to this; we are called to his kingdom and glory, and begotten to the inheritance. What is last in execution was first in intention, and that is eternal life.
(c.) Here is the subserviency of the Redeemer's universal dominion to this: He has power over all flesh, on purpose that he might give eternal life to the select number. 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, Co2 4:15. 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. The administration of the kingdoms of providence and grace are put into the same hand, that all things may be made to concur for good to the called.
d. Here is a further explication of this grand design (Joh 17:3): "This is life eternal, which I am empowered and have undertaken to give, this is the nature of it, and this the way leading to it, to know thee the only true God, and all the discoveries and principles of natural religion, and Jesus Christ whom, thou has sent, as Mediator, and the doctrines and laws of that holy religion which he instituted for the recovery of man out of his lapsed state." Here is,
(a.) The great end which the Christian religion sets before us, and that is, eternal life, the happiness of an immortal soul in the vision and fruition of an eternal God. This he was to reveal to all, and secure to all that were given him. By the gospel life and immortality are brought to light, are brought to hand, a life which transcends this as much in excellency as it does in duration.
(b.) The sure way of attaining this blessed end, which is, by the right knowledge of God and Jesus Christ: "This is life eternal, to know thee," which may be taken two ways - [a.] Life eternal lies in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; the present principle of this life is the believing knowledge of God and Christ; the future perfection of that life will be the intuitive knowledge of God and Christ. Those that are brought into union with Christ, and live a life of communion with God in Christ, know, in some measure, by experience, what eternal life is, and will say, "If this be heaven, heaven is sweet." See Psa 17:15. [b.] The knowledge of God and Christ leads to life eternal; this is the way in which Christ gives eternal life, by the knowledge of him that has called us (Pe2 1:3), and this is the way in which we come to receive it. The Christian religion shows us the way to heaven, First, By directing us to God, as the author and felicity of our being; for Christ died to bring us to God. To know him as our Creator, and to love him, obey him, submit to him, and trust in him, as our owner ruler, and benefactor, - to devote ourselves to him as our sovereign Lord, depend upon him as our chief good, and direct all to his praise as our highest end, - this is life eternal. God is here called the only true God, to distinguish him from the false gods of the heathen, which were counterfeits and pretenders, not from the person of the Son, of whom it is expressly said that he is the true God and eternal life (Jo1 5:20), and who in this text is proposed as the object of the same religious regard with the Father. It is certain there is but one only living and true God and the God we adore is he. He is the true God, and not a mere name or notion; the only true God, and all that ever set up as rivals with him are vanity and a lie; the service of him is the only true religion. Secondly, By directing us to Jesus Christ, as the Mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. If man had continued innocent, the knowledge of the only true God would have been life eternal to him; but now that he is fallen there must be something more; now that we are under guilt, to know God is to know him as a righteous Judge, whose curse we are under; and nothing is more killing than to know this. 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. See Joh 6:39, Joh 6:40. Those that are acquainted with God and Christ are already in the suburbs of life eternal.
(2.) Christ here prays to be glorified in consideration of his having glorified the Father hitherto, Joh 17:4, Joh 17:5. The meaning of the former petition was, Glorify me in this world; the meaning of the latter is, Glorify me in the other world. I have glorified thee on the earth, and now glorify thou me. Observe here,
[1.] With what comfort Christ reflects on the life he had lived on earth: I have glorified thee, and finished my work; it is as good as finished. He does not complain of the poverty and disgrace he had lived in, what a weary life he had upon earth, as ever any man of sorrows had. He overlooks this, and pleases himself in reviewing the service he had done his Father, and the progress he had made in his understanding. This is here recorded, First, For the honour of Christ, that his life upon earth did in all respects fully answer the end of his coming into the world. Note, 1. Our Lord Jesus had work given him to do by him that sent him; he came not into the world to live at ease, but to go about doing good, and to fulfill all righteousness. His Father gave him his work, his work in the vineyard, both appointed him to it and assisted him in it. 2. The work that was given him to do he finished. Though he had not, as yet, gone through the last part of his undertaking, yet he was so near being made perfect through sufferings that he might say, I have finished it; it was as good as done, he was giving it its finishing stroke eteleiōsa - I have finished. The word signifies his performing every part of his undertaking in the most complete and perfect manner. 3. 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. It was a strange way for the Son to glorify the Father by abasing himself (this looked more likely to disparage him), yet it was contrived that so he should glorify him: "I have glorified thee on the earth, in such a way as men on earth could bear the manifestation of thy glory." Secondly, It is recorded for example to all, that we may follow his example. 1. We must make it our business to do the work God has appointed us to do, according to our capacity and the sphere of our activity; we must each of us do all the good we can in this world. 2. We must aim at the glory of God in all. We must glorify him on the earth, which he has given unto the children of men, demanding only this quit-rent; on the earth, where we are in a state of probation and preparation for eternity. 3. We must persevere herein to the end of our days; we must not sit down till we have finished our work, and accomplished as a hireling our day. Thirdly, It is recorded for encouragement to all those that rest upon him. If he has finished the work that was given him to do, then he is a complete Saviour, and did not do his work by the halves. And he that finished his work for us will finish it in us to the day of Christ.
[2.] See with what confidence he expects the joy set before him (Joh 17:5): Now, O Father, glorify thou me. It is what he depends upon, and cannot be denied him.
First, See here what he prayed for: Glorify thou me, as before, Joh 17:1. All repetitions in prayer are not to be counted vain repetitions; Christ prayed, saying the same words (Mat 26:44), and yet prayed more earnestly. What his Father had promised him, and he was assured of, yet he must pray for; promises are not designed to supercede 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. See how it is described. 1. It is a glory with God; not only, Glorify my name on earth, but, Glorify me with thine own self. It was paradise, it was heaven, to be with his Father, as Pro 8:30; Dan 7:13; Heb 8:1. Note, The brightest glories of the exalted Redeemer were to be displayed within the veil, where the Father manifests his glory. The praises of the upper world are offered up to him that sits upon the throne and to the lamb in conjunction (Rev 5:13), and the prayers of the lower world draw out grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in conjunction; and thus the Father has glorified him with himself. 2. It is the glory he had with God before the world was. By this it appears, (1.) That Jesus Christ, as God, had a being before the world was, co-eternal with the Father; our religion acquaints us with one that was before all things, and by whom all things consist. (2.) That his glory with the Father is from everlasting, as well as his existence with the Father; for he was from eternity the brightness of his Father's glory, Heb 1:3. As God's making the world only declared his glory, but made no real additions to it; so Christ undertook the work of redemption, not because he needed glory, for he had a glory with the Father before the world, but because we needed glory. (3.) That Jesus Christ in his state of humiliation divested himself of this glory, and drew a veil over it; though he was still God, yet he was God manifested in the flesh, not in his glory. He laid down this glory for a time, as a pledge that he would go through with his undertaking, according to the appointment of his Father. (4.) That in his exalted state he resumed this glory, and clad himself again with his former robes of light. Having performed his undertaking, he did, as it were, reposcere pignus - take up his pledge, by this demand, Glorify thou me. He prays that even his human nature might be advanced to the highest honour it was capable of, his body a glorious body; and that the glory of the Godhead might now be manifested in the person of the Mediator, Emmanuel, God-man. He does not pray to be glorified with the princes and great men of the earth: no; he that knew both worlds, and might choose which he would have his preferment in, chose it in the glory of the other world, as far exceeding all the glory of this. He had despised the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, when Satan offered them to him, and therefore might the more boldly claim the glories of the other world. Let the same mind be in us. "Lord, give the glories of this world to whom thou wilt give them, but let me have my portion of glory in the world to come. It is no matter, though I be vilified with men; but, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self."
Secondly, See here what he pleaded: I have glorified thee; and now, in consideration thereof, glorify thou me. For, 1. There was an equity in it, and an admirable becomingness, that if God was glorified in him, he should glorify him in himself, as he had observed, Joh 13:32. Such an infinite value there was in what Christ did to glorify his Father that he properly merited all the glories of his exalted state. If the Father was a gainer in his glory by the Son's humiliation, it was fit the Son should be no loser by it at long run, in his glory. 2. It was according to the covenant between them, that if the Son would make his soul an offering for sin he should divide the spoil with the strong (Isa 53:10, Isa 53:12), and the kingdom should be his; and this he had an eye to, and depended upon, in his sufferings; it was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross: and now in his exalted state he still expects the completing of his exaltation, because he perfected his undertaking, Heb 10:13. 3. It was the most proper evidence of his Father's accepting and approving the work he had finished. By the glorifying of Christ we are satisfied that God was satisfied, and therein a real demonstration was given that the Father was well pleased in him as his beloved Son. 4. Thus we must be taught that those, and only those, who glorify God on earth, and persevere in the work God hath given them to do, shall be glorified with the Father, when they must be no more in this world. Not that we can merit the glory, as Christ did, but our glorifying God is required as an evidence of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal life is God's free gift.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–25 As thou hast given him power over all flesh,....…
As thou hast given him power over all flesh,.... All men, in distinction from angels; and these as fallen, as weak, frail, sinful, and mortal creatures; men of every nation, Jew or Gentile, and of every character, elect or non-elect: not but that he has also a power over angels; nor is his power over men limited to their "flesh" or bodies, but reaches to their spirits or souls also: which power is a governing, disposing, and judicial one; he rules them with a sceptre of righteousness, he disposes of them in providence as he pleases, and will judge them at the last day: and this is a power that is "given" him by his Father, and is not that original power over all things he has as God, and the Creator of them, which is natural, essential, and underived; but is a derived and delegated power, which he has as Mediator, as subservient to the ends and designs of his office: and as God glorified him as such, by giving him this power; so he glorifies him again, by acknowledging it, and by using it for the end for which it is given:
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him; eternal life is a gift, and not owing to the merits of men; indeed there is no merit in men's works, no, not in the best; for these are previously due to God, cannot be profitable to him, if done aright, are not done in the creature's strength, but through the grace of God, and bear no proportion to eternal life; which is in Christ's gift: not only the promise of it is in him, but that itself; it is put into his hands, and he came into this world, that his people might have it; he has procured it, and has removed what lay in the way of their enjoyment of it; he has a right to bestow it, and their right unto it comes by him, through his blood and righteousness: the persons on whom he confers this gift, are not all men, but such as the Father in the everlasting covenant has given to him, as his people and portion, his spouse and children, his jewels and his treasure, to be saved and enjoyed by him; whom he has chosen and preserved in him, and made his care and charge; to these, and every one of these, Christ gives this great blessing; nor shalt any of them come short of it; and it is for the sake of this, that all creatures and things, all power in heaven and in earth, are given to him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 In this chapter our Lord prays,
In this chapter our Lord prays,
1. For himself, ver. 1-5. John xvii, 1-5
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2. For the apostles, ver. 6-19; John xvii, 6-19 and again, ver. 24- 26. John xvii, 24-26
3. For all believers, ver. 20-23. John xvii, 20-23 And
4. For the world, ver. 21-23. John xvii, 21-23 In his prayer he comprises all he had said from 31, and seals, as it were, all he had hitherto done, beholding things past, present, and to come. This chapter contains the easiest words, and the deepest sense of any in all the Scripture: yet is here no incoherent rhapsody, but the whole is closely and exactly connected.
Father - This simplicity of appellation highly became the only- begotten Son of God; to which a believer then makes the nearest approach, when he is fullest of love and humble confidence. The hour is come - The appointed time for it; glorify thy Son - The Son glorified the Father, both before and after his own glorification. When he speaks to the Father he does not style himself the Son of man.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Christ prays the Father to glorify him, 1.
CHAPTER XVII.
Christ prays the Father to glorify him, 1.
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In what eternal life consists, 2-3.
Shows that he has glorified his Father, by fulfilling his will
upon earth, and revealing him to the disciples, 4-8.
Prays for them, that they may be preserved in unity and kept
from evil, 9-16.
Prays for their sanctification, 17-19.
Prays also for those who should believe on him through their
preaching, that they all might be brought into a state of
unity, and finally brought to eternal glory, 20-26.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVII.
Verse 1. These words spake Jesus] That is, what is related in the preceding chapters. We may consider our Lord as still moving on towards Gethsemane, not having yet passed the brook Cedron, Joh 18:1.
Our Lord, who was now going to act as high priest for the whole human race, imitates in his conduct that of the Jewish high priest on the great day of expiation; who, in order to offer up the grand atonement for the sins of the people:-
1. Washed himself, and put on clean linen garments. This Christ appears to have imitated, Joh 13:4. He laid aside his garments, girded himself with a towel, c. There is no room to doubt that he and his disciples had been at the bath before: see Joh 13:10.
2. The high priest addressed a solemn prayer to God:
1. For himself this Christ imitates, Joh 17:1-5.
2. For the sons of Aaron: our Lord imitates this in praying for his disciples, Joh 17:9-19.
3. For all the people: our Lord appears to imitate this also in praying for his Church, all who should believe on him through the preaching of the apostles and their successors, Joh 17:20-24. After which he returns again to his disciples, John 17:25; John 17:26. See CALMET'S Dict. under Expiation and see La Grande Bible de M. MARTIN, in loc.
I. Our Lord's prayer for himself, Joh 17:1-5.
Father] Here our Lord addresses the whole Divine nature, as he is now performing his last acts in his state of humiliation.
Glorify thy Son] Cause him to be acknowledged as the promised Messiah by the Jewish people, and as the universal Saviour by the Gentile world; and let such proofs of his Godhead be given as shall serve to convince and instruct mankind.
That thy son also may glorify thee] That by dying be may magnify thy law and make it honourable, respected among men-show the strictness of thy justice, and the immaculate purity of thy nature.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 20, 24, 25 Joh 17:1-3. These words spake Jesus — Namely, the…
Joh 17:1-3. These words spake Jesus — Namely, the words recorded in the three preceding chapters; and lifted up his eyes to heaven — Put himself in the posture of prayer. The following has been called Our Lord’s Intercessory Prayer, because it is considered as a pattern of the intercession he is now making in heaven for his people. In it he comprises all he had said from chap. Joh 13:31, and seals, as it were, all he had hitherto done, beholding things past, present, and to come. It contains the easiest words, and the deepest sense, of any chapter in all the Scriptures; yet is there no incoherent rhapsody, but the whole is closely and exactly connected. Father — This simplicity of appellation highly became the only-begotten Son of God; to which a believer then makes the nearest approach, when he is most full of love and humble confidence. The hour is come — The time of my sufferings is come; glorify thy Son — Let me have such succours from thee as will enable me to bear them; let the circumstances of my trial, both in the Jewish and Gentile courts of judicature, be such as will plainly prove my innocence; and let my death be accompanied with such interpositions of thy power as will remove the scandal of the cross, and demonstrate the relation I stand in to thee; particularly let me be raised from the dead, and taken up to heaven; finally, shed down upon my apostles such miraculous gifts as will qualify them for bearing witness to my miracles, my death, my resurrection, and my ascension. Thus glorifying thy Son, he also will glorify thee — By converting to the belief and practice of true religion, many who will celebrate thy praises eternally. As thou hast given him power over all flesh — Thou hast sent thy Son into the world, and given him power over all men, in this respect, that he can bestow eternal life upon as many as thou hast given him, namely, upon all believers. This is a clear proof that Christ designed his sacrifice should avail for all mankind; yea, that all flesh, every man, should partake of everlasting life. For, as the Father had given him power over all, so he gave himself a ransom for all. And this is life eternal — Is the way to, a preparation for, and a pledge and earnest of life eternal; that they might know — Or, to know, by loving, obedient faith, thee; the only true God — The only cause and end of all things; not excluding the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God, (Joh 1:1,) nor the Holy Ghost, any more than the Father is excluded from being Lord, (1Co 8:6,) but the false gods of the heathen; and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent — To be their prophet, priest, and king. The meaning of our Lord here is, either, “1st, I teach that men should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, as the means of obtaining that eternal life which thou hast given me power to bestow: Or, 2d, Now this eternal life is bestowed by me on men, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent; importing that the happiness of eternity will consist in the knowledge of God and Christ. It is justly observed by Grotius, that the Father is here styled, the only true God, in exclusion of those deities which the ignorance and folly of the heathens had introduced. For, as in the latter clause our Lord undoubtedly spake of the Jews, when he mentioned it as the means of eternal life, that they should know Jesus Christ; so, it is probable, that in the former he had the Gentiles in his eye, when he represented the knowledge of the true God as the road to felicity. If so, we cannot from this passage infer that Jesus is not truly, or really God. For, had this been the meaning of the words, would the evangelist have begun his gospel with so solemn a declaration of our Lord’s divinity? Besides, in other passages of Scripture, the word μονος denotes a partial exclusion. For instance, (Gen 42:38,) Jacob, speaking of Benjamin, says, His brother is dead, και αυτος μονος καταλελειπται, and he only is left: he did not mean that he was his only son absolutely, but his only son by Rachel. In like manner, (Luk 9:18,) And it came to pass as he was alone, praying, his disciples were with him; where καταμονας is to be understood in exclusion of the multitude, and not of the disciples, who were now with him. So also, (Luk 9:36,) Jesus is said to be left (μονος) alone, notwithstanding the three disciples were with him. The meaning is, he was alone in respect of Moses and Elias, who were now departed from him. And to give no more instances, Jdg 1:4, uses μονος in this partial sense, where, speaking of some wicked men in his time, he says, they denied, τον μονον δεσποτην Θεον, και Κυριον ημων Ιησουν Χριστον, our only Master, God and Lord, Jesus Christ. For, whether the first clause is understood of Christ, it cannot mean that he is our only Lord and God, in exclusion of the Father; or, whether it is understood of the Father, it cannot be said that he is our only Lord, in exclusion of Christ, who is expressly styled Δεσποτης, Master.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 These words - The words addressed to them in…
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. Having expressed his love to his disciples, and made known to them his last desires, he now commends them to the protection and blessing of the God of grace. This prayer is moreover a specimen of the manner of his intercession, and evinces the interest which he felt in behalf of all who should become his followers in all ages of the world.
Lifted up his eyes - This was the common attitude of prayer. Compare Luk 18:13.
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The hour is come - That is, the appointed time for his sufferings and death. Compare the notes at Joh 12:27.
Glorify thy Son - Honor thy Son. See Joh 11:4. Give to the world demonstration that I am thy Son. So sustain me, and so manifest thy power in my death, resurrection, and ascension, as to afford indubitable evidence that I am the Son of God.
That thy Son also may glorify thee - This refers clearly to the manifestation of the honor of God which would be made by the spread of the gospel among men, Joh 17:2. Jesus prayed that God would so honor him in his death that striking proof might be furnished that he was the Messiah, and men thus be brought to honor God. By his death the law, the truth, and the mercy of God were honored. By the spread of his gospel and the conversion of sinners; by all that Christ will do, now that he is glorified, to spread his gospel, God will be honored. The conversion of a single sinner honors God; a revival of religion is an eminent means of promoting his honor; and the spread of the gospel among all nations shall yet do more than all other things to promote the honor of God among men. Whatever honors the Saviour honors God. Just as he is exalted in view of the mind, so will God be honored and obeyed.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26 Glorify thy Son, by signs and miracles, lest dying…
Glorify thy Son, by signs and miracles, lest dying so disgraceful a death, I seem to be no more than another man: that thy Son may glorify thee, that my death may make thee praised and glorified. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 John Chapter 17
John Chapter 17
Chapter 17 is divided thus: Joh 17:1-5 relate to Christ Himself, to His taking His position in glory, to His work, and to that glory as belonging to His Person, and the result of His work. Joh 17:1-3 present His new position in two aspects: “glorify thy Son”-power over all flesh, for eternal life to those given to Him; Joh 17:4-5, His work and its results. In Joh 17:6-13 He speaks of His disciples as put into this relationship with the Father by His revealing His name to them, and then His having given them the words which He had Himself received, that they might enjoy all the full blessedness of this relationship. He also prays for them that they may be one as He and the Father were. In Joh 17:14-21 we find their consequent relationship to the world; in Joh 17:20-21, He introduces those who should believe through their means into the enjoyment of their blessing. Joh 17:22-26 make known the result, both future, and in this world, for them: the possession of the glory which Christ Himself had received from the Father-to be with Him, enjoying the sight of His glory-that the Father’s love should be with them here below, even as Christ Himself had been its object-and that Christ Himself should be in them. The last three verses alone take the disciples up to heaven as a supplemental truth.
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This is a brief summary of this marvellous chapter, in which we are admitted, not to the discourse of Christ with man, but to hear the desires of His heart, when He pours it out to His Father for the blessing of those that are His own. Wonderful grace that permits us to hear these desires, and to understand all the privileges that flow from His thus caring for us, from our being the subject of intercourse between the Father and the Son, of their common love towards us, when Christ expresses His own desires-that which He has at heart, and which He presents to the Father as His own personal wishes!
Some explanations may assist in apprehending the meaning of certain passages in this marvellous and precious chapter. May the Spirit of God aid us!
The Lord, whose looks of love had until then been directed towards His disciples on the earth, now lifts His eyes to heaven as He addresses His Father. The hour was come to glorify the Son, in order that from the glory He might glorify the Father. This is, speaking generally, the new position. His career here was finished, and He had to ascend on high. Two things were connected with this-power over all flesh, and the gift of eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. “The head of every man is Christ.” Those whom the Father had given Him receive eternal life from Him who has gone up on high. Eternal life was the knowledge of the Father, the only true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom He had sent. The knowledge of the Almighty gave assurance to the pilgrim of faith; that of Jehovah, the certainty of the fulfilment of the promises of God to Israel; that of the Father, who sent the Son, Jesus Christ (the Anointed Man and the Saviour), who was that life itself, and so received as a present thing (1Jn 1:1-4), was life eternal. True knowledge here was not outward protection or future hope, but the communication, in life, of communion with the Being thus known to the soul-of communion with God Himself fully known as the Father and the Son. Here it is not the divinity of His Person that is before us in Christ, though a divine Person alone could be in such a place and so speak, but the place that He had taken in fulfilling the counsels of God. That which is said of Jesus in this chapter could only be said of One who is God; but the point treated is that of His place in the counsels of God, and not the revelation of His nature. He receives all from His Father-He is sent by Him, His Father glorifies Him. [63]
We see the same truth of the communication of eternal life in connection with His divine nature and His oneness with the Father in 1Jn 5:20. Here He fulfils the Father’s will, and is dependent on Him in the place that He has taken, and that He is going to take, even in the glory, however glorious His nature may be. So, also, in chapter 5 of our Gospel, He quickens whom He will; here it is those whom the Father has given Him. And the life He gives is realised in the knowledge of the Father, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
He now declares the conditions under which He takes this place on high. He had perfectly glorified the Father on earth. Nothing that manifested God the Father had been wanting, whatever might be the difficulty; the contradiction of sinners was but an occasion of so doing. But this very thing made the sorrow infinite. Nevertheless Jesus had accomplished that glory on the earth in the face of all that opposed itself. His glory with the Father in heaven was but the just consequence-the necessary consequence, in mere justice. Moreover Jesus had had this glory with His Father before the world was. His work and His Person alike gave Him a right to it. The Father glorified on earth by the Son: the Son glorified with the Father on high: such is the revelation contained in these verses-a right, proceeding from His Person as Son, but to a glory into which He entered as man, in consequence of having, as such, perfectly glorified His Father on earth. These are the verses that relate to Christ. This, moreover, gives the relationship in which He enters into this new place as man, His Son, and the work by which He does so in righteousness, and thus gives us a title, and the character in which we have a place there.
He now speaks of the disciples; how they entered into their peculiar place in connection with this position of Jesus-into this relationship with His Father. He had manifested the Father’s name to those whom the Father had given Him out of the world. They belonged to the Father, and the Father had given them to Jesus. They had kept the Father’s word. It was faith in the revelation which the Son had made of the Father. The words of the prophets were true. The faithful enjoyed them: they sustained their faith. But the word of the Father, by Jesus, revealed the Father Himself, in Him whom the Father had sent, and put him who received them into the place of love, which was Christ’s place; and to know the Father and the Son was life eternal. This was quite another thing from hopes connected with the Messiah or what Jehovah had given Him. It is thus, also, that the disciples are presented to the Father; not as receiving Christ in the character of Messiah, and honouring Him as possessing His power by that title. They had known that all which Jesus had was of the Father. He was then the Son; His relationship to the Father was acknowledged. Dull of comprehension as they were, the Lord recognises them according to His appreciation of their faith, according to the object of that faith, as known to Himself, and not according to their intelligence. Precious truth! (compare Joh 14:7).
They acknowledged Jesus, then, as receiving all from the Father, not as Messiah from Jehovah; for Jesus had given them all the words that the Father had given Him. Thus He had brought them in their own souls into the consciousness of the relationship between the Son and the Father, and into full communion, according to the communications of the Father to the Son in that relationship. He speaks of their position through faith-not of their realisation of this position. Thus they had acknowledged that Jesus came forth from the Father, and that He came with the Father’s authority-the Father had sent Him. It was from thence He came, and He came furnished with the authority of a mission from the Father. This was their position by faith.
And now-the disciples being already in this position-He places them, according to His thoughts and His desires, before the Father in prayer. He prays for them, distinguishing them completely from the world. The time would come when (according to Psa 2:1-12) He would ask of the Father with reference to the world; He was not doing so now, but for those out of the world, whom the Father had given Him. For they were the Father’s. For all that is the Father’s is in essential opposition to the world (compare 1Jn 2:16).
The Lord presents to the Father two motives for His request: 1st, They were the Father’s, so that the Father, for His own glory, and because of His affection for that which belonged to Him, should keep them; 2nd, Jesus was glorified in them, so that if Jesus was the object of the Father’s affection, for that reason also the Father should keep them. Besides, the interests of the Father and the Son could not be separated. If they were the Father’s they were, in fact, the Son’s; and it was but an example of that universal truth-all that was the Son’s was the Father’s, and all that was the Father’s was the Son’s. What a place for us! to be the object of this mutual affection, of these common and inseparable interests of the Father and the Son. This is the great principle-the great foundation of the prayer of Christ. He prayed the Father for His disciples, because they belonged to the Father; Jesus must needs, therefore, seek their blessing. The Father would be thoroughly interested for them, because in them the Son was to be glorified.
He then presents the circumstances to which the prayer applied. He was no longer in this world Himself. They would be deprived of His personal care as present with them, but they would be in this world, while He was coming to the Father. This is the ground of His request with regard to their position. He puts them in connection, therefore, with the Holy Father-all the perfect love of such a Father-the Father of Jesus and their Father, maintaining (it was their blessing) the holiness that His nature required, if they were to be in relationship with Him. It was direct guardianship. The Father would keep in His own name those whom He had given to Jesus. The connection thus was direct. Jesus committed them to Him, and that, not only as belonging to the Father, but now as His own, invested with all the value which that would give them in the Father’s eyes.
The object of His solicitude was to keep them in unity, even as the Father and the Son are one. One only divine Spirit was the bond of that oneness. In this sense the bond was truly divine. So far as they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they had but one mind, one counsel, one aim. This is the unity referred to here. The Father and the Son were their only object; the accomplishing their counsels and objects their only pursuit. They had only the thoughts of God; because God Himself, the Holy Ghost, was the source of their thoughts. It was one only divine power and nature that united them-the Holy Ghost. The mind, the aim, the life, the whole moral existence, were consequently one. The Lord speaks, necessarily, at the height of His own thoughts, when He expresses His desires for them. If it is a question of realisation, we must then think of man; yet of a strength also that is perfected in weakness.
This is the sum of the Lord’s desires-sons, saints, under the Father’s care; one, not by an effort or by agreement, but according to divine power. He being here, had kept them in the Father’s name, faithful to accomplish all that the Father had committed to Him, and to lose none of those that were His. As to Judas, it was only the fulfilment of the word. The guardianship of Jesus present in the world could now no longer exist. But He spoke these things, being still here, the disciples hearing them, in order that they might understand that they were placed before the Father in the same position that Christ had held, and that they might thus have fulfilled in themselves, in this same relationship, the joy which Christ had possessed. What unutterable grace! They had lost Him, visibly, to find themselves (by Him and in Him) in His own relationship with the Father, enjoying all that He enjoyed in that communion here below, as being in His place in their own relationship with the Father. Therefore He had imparted to them all the words that the Father had given Him-the communications of His love to Himself, when walking as Son in that place here below; and, in the especial name of “Holy Father,” by which the Son Himself addressed Him from the earth, the Father was to keep those whom the Son had left there. Thus should they have His joy fulfilled in themselves.
This was their relationship to the Father, Jesus being away. He turns now to their relationship with the world, in consequence of the former.
He gave them the word of His Father-not the words to bring them into communion with Him, but His word-the testimony of what He was. And the world had hated them as it had hated Jesus (the living and personal testimony of the Father) and the Father Himself. Being thus in relationship with the Father, who had taken them out from the men of the world, and having received the Father’s word (and eternal life in the Son in that knowledge), they were not of the world even as Jesus was not of the world: and therefor the world hated them. Nevertheless the Lord does not pray that they might be taken out of it; but that the Father should keep them from the evil. He enters into the detail of His desires in this respect, grounded on their not being of the world. He repeats this thought as the basis of their position here below. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” What then were they to be? By what rule, by what model, were they to be formed? By the truth, and the Father’s word is truth. Christ was always the Word, but the living Word among men. In the scriptures we possess it, written and stedfast: they reveal Him, bear witness to Him. It was thus that the disciples were to be set apart. “Sanctify them by thy truth: thy word is the truth.” It was this, personally, that they were to be formed by, the Father’s word, as He was revealed in Jesus.
Their mission follows. Jesus sends them into the world, as the Father had sent Him into the world; into the world-in no wise of the world. They are sent into it on the part of Christ: were they of it, they could not be sent into it. But it was not only the Father’s word which was the truth, nor the communication of the Father’s word by Christ present with His disciples (points of which fromJohn 17:14 till now Jesus had been speaking, “I have given them thy word”): He sanctified Himself. He set Himself apart as a heavenly man above the heavens, a glorified man in the glory, in order that all truth might shine forth in Him, in His Person, raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father-all that the Father is being thus displayed in Him; the testimony of divine righteousness, of divine love, of divine power, totally overturning the lie of Satan, by which man had been deceived and falsity brought into the world; the perfect model of that which man was according to the counsels of God, and as the expression of His power morally and in glory-the image of the invisible God, the Son, and in glory. Jesus set Himself apart, in this place, in order that the disciples might be sanctified by the communication to them of what He was; for this communication was the truth, and created them in the image of that which it revealed. So that it was the Father’s glory, revealed by Him on earth, and the glory into which He had ascended as man; for this is the complete result-the illustration in glory of the way in which He had set Himself apart for God, but on behalf of His own. Thus there is not only the forming and governing of the thoughts by the word, setting us apart morally to God, but the blessed affections flowing from our having this truth in the Person of Christ, our hearts connected with Him in grace. This ends the second part of that which related to the disciples, in communion and in testimony.
InJohn 17:20, He declares that He prays also for those who should believe on Him through their means. Here the character of the unity differs a little from that inJohn 17:11. There, in speaking of the disciples, He says, “as we are”; for the oneness of the Father and the Son shewed itself in fixed purpose, object, love, work, everything. Therefore the disciples were to have that kind of unity. Here those who believed, inasmuch as receiving and taking part in that which was communicated, had their oneness in the power of the blessing into which they were brought. By one Spirit, in which they were necessarily united, they had a place in communion with the Father and the Son. It was the communion of the Father and of the Son (compare 1Jn 1:3; and how similar the language of the apostle is to that of Christ!). Thus, the Lord asks that they may be one in them-the Father and the Son. This was the means to make the world believe that the Father had sent the Son; for here were those that had believed it, who, however opposed their interests and habits might be, however strong their prejudices, yet were one (by this powerful revelation and by this work) in the Father and the Son.
Here His prayer ends, but not all His converse with His Father. He gives us (and here the witnesses and the believers are together) the glory which the Father has given Him. It is the basis of another, a third, [64] mode of oneness. All partake, it is true, in glory, of this absolute oneness in thought, object, fixed purpose, which is found in the oneness of the Father and the Son. Perfection being come, that which the Holy Ghost had produced spiritually, His absorbing energy shutting out every other, was natural to all in glory.
But the principle of the existence of this unity, added yet another character to that truth-that of manifestation, or at least of an inward source which realised its manifestation in them: “I in them,” said Jesus, “and thou in me.” This is not the simple, perfect oneness ofJohn 17:11, nor the mutuality and communion ofJohn 17:21. It is Christ in all believers, and the Father in Christ, a unity in manifestation in glory, not merely in communion-a oneness in which all is perfectly connected with its source. And Christ, whom alone they were to manifest, is in them; and the Father, whom Christ had perfectly manifested, is in Him. The world (for this will be in the millennial glory, and manifested to the world) will then know (He does not say, “that it may believe”) that Jesus had been sent by the Father (how deny it, when He should be seen in glory?) and, moreover, that the disciples had been loved by the Father, even as Jesus Himself was loved. The fact of their possessing the same glory as Christ would be the proof.
But there was yet more. There is that which the world will not see, because it will not be in it. “Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.” There we are not only like Christ (conformed to the Son, bearing the image of the heavenly man before the eyes of the world), but with Him where He is. Jesus desires that we should see His glory. [65] Solace and encouragement for us, after having partaken of His shame: but yet more precious, inasmuch as we see that He who has been dishonoured as man, and because He became man for our sake, shall, even on that account, be glorified with a glory above all other glory, save His who has put all things under Him. For He speaks here of given glory. It is this which is so precious to us, because He has acquired it by His sufferings for us, and yet it is what was perfectly due to Him-the just reward for having, in them, perfectly glorified the Father. Now, this is a peculiar joy, entirely beyond the world. The world will see the glory that we have in common with Christ, and will know that we have been loved as Christ was loved. But there is a secret for those who love Him, which belongs to His Person and to our association with Himself. The Father loved Him before the world was-a love in which there is no question of comparison but of that which is infinite, perfect, and thus in itself satisfying. We shall share this in the sense of seeing our Beloved in it, and of being with Him, and of beholding the glory which the Father has given Him, according to the love wherewith He loved Him before the world had any part whatever in the dealings of God. Up to this we were in the world; here in heaven, out of all the world’s claims or apprehension (Christ seen in the fruit of that love which the Fatherhad for Him before the world existed). Christ, then, was the Father’s delight. We see Him in the eternal fruit of that love as Man. We shall be in it with Him for ever, to enjoy His being in it-that our Jesus, our Beloved, is in it, and is what He is.
Meantime, being such, there was justice in the dealings of God with regard to His rejection. He had fully, perfectly, manifested the Father. The world had not known Him, but Jesus had known Him, and the disciples had known that the Father had sent Him. He appeals here, not to the holiness of the Father, that He might keep them according to that blessed name, but to the righteousness of the Father, that He might make a distinction between the world on one side, and Jesus with His own on the other; for there was the moral reason as well as the ineffable love of the Father for the Son. And Jesus would have us enjoy, while here below, the consciousness that the distinction has been made by the communications of grace, before it is made by judgment.
He had declared unto them the Father’s name, and would declare it, even when He had gone up on high, in order that the love wherewith the Father had loved Him might be in them (that their hearts might possess it in this world-what grace!) and Jesus Himself in them, the communicator of that love, the source of strength to enjoy it, conducting it, so to speak, in all the perfection in which He enjoyed it, into their hearts, in which He dwelt-Himself the strength, the life, the competency, the right, and the means of enjoying it thus, and as such, in the heart. For it is in the Son who declares it to us, that we know the name of the Father whom He reveals to us. That is, He would have us enjoy now that relationship in love in which we shall see Him in heaven. The world will know we have been loved as Jesus when we appear in the same glory with Him; but our part is to know it now, Christ being in us.
Footnotes for John Chapter 17
63: The more we examine the Gospel of John, the more we shall see One who speaks and acts as a divine Person-one with the Father-alone could do, but yet always as One who had taken the place of a servant, and takes nothing to Himself, but receives all from His Father. “I have glorified thee”: “now glorify me.” What language of equality of nature and love! but He does not say, And now I will glorify myself. He has taken the place of man to receive all, though it be a glory He had with the Father before the world was. This is of exquisite beauty. I add, it was out of this the enemy sought to seduce Him, in vain, in the wilderness.
64: There are three unities spoken of. First of the disciples, “as we are,” unity by the power of one Spirit in thought, purpose, mind, service, the Holy Ghost making them all one, their path in common, the expression of His mind and power, and of nothing else. Then, of those who should believe through their means, unity in communion with the Father and the Son, “one in us”-still by the Holy Ghost but, as brought into that, as already said above, as in 1Jn 1:3. Then unity in glory, “perfect in one,” in manifestation and descending revelation, the Father in the Son, and the Son in all of them. The second was for the world’s believing, the third for its knowing. The two first were literally accomplished according to the terms in which they are expressed. How far believers are departed from them since need not be said.
65: This answers to Moses and Elias entering into the cloud, besides their display in the same glory as Christ, standing on the mountain.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 John 17
THE HIGH-PRIESTLY, INTERCESSORY PRAYER OF CHRIST ON BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE. A PRAYER FOR THE GLORIFICATION OF HIS NAME EVEN TO THE GORIFICATION OF HIS PEOPLE AND THE WORLD, OR UNTIL THE VANISHMENT OF THE WORLD AS WORLD. CHRIST, IN HIS SELF-SACRIFICE FOR THE WORLD, THE TRUTH AND FULFILLMENT OF THE SHEKINA AND ALL THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD IN THE WORLD. GLORIFICATION OF THE PRAYER, OF DECISIVE CONFLICTS OF SPIRIT, OF SACRIFICE. THE HEAVENLY GOAL
John 17
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1These words spake1 Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said [and having lifted up … he said],2 Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy [the] Son also [omit also] may glorify thee: As [According as] thou hast given him [gavest him, ἔδωχας] power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many 2as thou hast given him [that whatsoever, or, all which thou hast given him, he might give to them life eternal, ἵνα πᾶν δ δέδωχας αὺτῷ, δώσει αὐτοῖς ζωὴν αἰὠνιον]. 3And this is life eternal [the eternal life, ἡ αἰὠνιος ζωή], that they might know3 thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent [didst send]: 4I have glorified [I glorified, ἐδόξασα] thee on the earth: I have finished [having finished, or, by finishing, τελειώσας]4 the work which thou gavest [hast given, δέδωχας] me to do. 5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.5
6I have manifested [I manifested] thy name unto the men which [whom] thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest6 them [unto] me; and they have kept thy word. 7Now they have known [they know]7 that all things whatsoever [even as many as] thou hast given me are of [from] thee. 8For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known [they received them and knew]8 surely that I came out [forth] from thee, and they have believed [and believed] that thou didst send me. 9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which [those whom] thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10And all mine [all things that are mine, τὰ ἐμὰ πἀντα, neut.] are thine, and11thine are mine; and I am [have been] glorified in them. And now [omit now] I am no more [longer] in the world, but [and, χαί] these are in the world, and I come [am coming] to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom [keep them in thy name which ἐν τῷ ὀνὁματί σου ᾧ]9 thou hast given me, that they may be one 12[even] as we are [omit are]. While I was with them in the world [omit in the world]10 I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept [I kept them—ἐτήρουν—in thy name which11 thou hast given me, and guarded, watched over—ἐφύλαξα—them], and none [not one] of them is lost, but the son of 13perdition; that the Scripture might [may] be fulfilled. And [But] now come I [I am coming] to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might 14[may] have my joy fulfilled [made full] in themselves. I have given [δέδωχα] them thy word; and the world hath hated [hated, ἐμίσησεν] them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil [the evil one, ἐχ τοῦ πονηροῦ]. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17, Sanctify them through thy12 truth [in the truth]: thy word is truth. 18As thou hast sent [didst send] me into the world, even so have [omit even so have] I also sent 19[or, even so I sent] them into the world. And for their sakes [or, for them, in their behalf] I sanctify myself [mine own self], that they also might [may] be sanctified through [in] the truth.
20Neither pray I for these alone [Yet not for these alone do I pray], but for them also which shall believe [but also for those who believe, τῶν πιστευό ντων]13 on [in] me through their word; 21That they all may [may all] be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one14 in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent [didst send] me. 22And the glory which thou gavest [hast given, δέ δωχας] me I have given [δέ δωχα] them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in [perfected into, τετελειωμένοι εἰς] one; and [omit and15] that the world may know that thou hast sent [didst send] me, and hast loved [didst love, or, lovedst] them, as thou hast loved [didst love, or, lovedst] me. 24Father, I will that they also, whom [that what16] thou hast given me,17 be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25O [omit O] righteous Father,18 [and (yet), χαί19] the world hath not known thee [knew thee not]: but I have known [knew] thee, and these have known [knew] that thou hast sent [didst send] me. 26And I have declared [I made known] unto them thy name, and will declare it [make it known]; that the love wherewith thou hast loved [didst love, or, lovedst] me may be in them, and I in them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[Introductory Remarks.—The seventeenth chapter, the simplest, and yet the deepest and sublimest in the whole Bible,20 contains the sacerdotal or high-priestly prayer of our Lord, so called because He here intercedes for His people and enters upon His function as the High-Priest in offering His own life as a perfect sacrifice for the Bins of the whole world.21 Dr. Lange (see Doctr. and Ethic. below). justly claims for it also a prophetical and kingly character. There are several prayers of Jesus recorded in the New Testament: the model prayer for His disciples (Mat_6:13), brief thanksgivings (Mat_11:25-26; Joh_6:11; Joh_11:41-42); the petition in Gethsemane (Mat_26:39; comp. the similar petition Joh_12:2); and the exclamation on the cross: “Father, forgive them,” “Eli Eli,” “Father, into Thy hands.” The sacerdotal prayer, spoken in the stillness of the night, under the starry heavens, before the wondering disciples, in view of the approaching consummation of His work, for Himself, His apostles, and His Church to the end of time, is peculiarly His own, the inspiration of His grand mission, and could be uttered only by Christ, and even by Christ only once in the world’s history, as the atonement could occur but once, but its effect vibrates through all ages. It is not so much the petition of an inferior, or dependent suppliant, as the communion of an equal, and a solemn declaration of His will concerning those whom He came to save. While praying to the Father He teaches the apostles (Bengel: orat Patrem, simulque discipulos docet).22 He prays as the mighty Intercessor and Mediator standing between earth and heaven, looking backward and forward, and comprehending all His present and future disciples in one holy and perfect fellowship with Himself and the eternal Father. The words are as clear and calm as a mirror, but the sentiments as deep and glowing as God’s fathomless love to man, and all efforts to exhaust them are in vain. See the quotation below sub B.—P. S.]
A. The time of the High-priestly prayer of Jesus. It is indicated with the going forth over the brook Kedron [18:1]. The crossing of the brook Kedron was the act and sign of final decision. It is not necessary to understand the going forth as a going forth from the Supper-room, for the precincts of the city probably extended, in single residences, down into the valley.
B. Worth of the prayer. The highest estimation was accorded it by ancient theologians. Luther: “It is, verily, an exceeding fervent, hearty prayer; a prayer wherein He discovereth, both unto us and to the Father, the abysses of His heart and poureth forth its treasures.”23 Spener, according to Canstein (Spener’s Leben, p. 146), would never preach on this chapter; he declared that a true understanding of it mounted above the ordinary degree of faith which the Lord is wont to communicate to His people on their pilgrimage. The evening before his death, however, he caused it to be read to him three times in succession.24 Chytræus called it precatio summi sacerdotis. Similarly, Melanchthon (see Lücke, II., p. 692),25 Lampe, Bengel [see quotation on p. 511], Herder and others have expressed their admiration of the prayer.
[Barnes: “It is perhaps the most sublime composition to be found anywhere.” Owen: “It is Christ’s almighty fiat, addressed to the Father, as Him from whom He came forth, and as the one that had covenanted to save and bless all who by the drawing of His ineffable love had come to Jesus.” Tholuck: “If in any human speech divinity is manifest, and sublimity is joined to condescending humility, it is in this prayer.” De Wette: “Here all the parting discourses are summed up and raised to the highest pitch of thought and feeling. It is beyond a doubt the sublimest part of the evangelical tradition, the pure expression of Christ’s lofty consciousness and peace of God (unstreitig das Erhabenste was uns die evang. Ueberlieferung aufbewahrt hat, der reine Ausdruck von Jesu hohem Gottesbewusstsein und Gottesfrieden).” This testimony has all the more weight on account of the skeptical tendency of De Wette. Luthardt (II., 354): “Neither in the Scripture nor in the literature of any nation can there be found a composition which in simplicity and depth, in grandeur and fervor may be compared to this prayer. It could not be invented, but could proceed only from such a consciousness as the one which speaks here. But it could be preserved and reproduced by a personality so wholly devoted and conformed to the personality of Jesus as the Evangelist.” Ewald (p. 386 f.): “A prayer such as the world never heard nor could hear … For Himself He has little to ask (Joh_17:1-5), but as soon as His word takes the character of an intercession for His own (6–26), it becomes an irresistible stream of the most fervent love … Sentence rushes upon sentence with wonderful power, yet the repose is never disturbed.” Meyer (p. 587) calls it “the noblest and purest pearl of devotion in the New Testament (die edelste und reinste Perle der Andacht im N. T.).”—P. S.]
Bretschneider, on the other hand, has opened the way for the most unfavorable opinions of modern, negative criticism. He calls it an “Oratio frigida, dogmatica, metaphysica.”
[Rationalists and the advocates of the mythical and legendary hypothesis of the life of our Lord can do nothing with this prayer. Renan (Vie de Jésus, p. 275, 12th ed.) disposes of all the parting discourses, John 13-17, in a short footnote, categorically declaring that they cannot be historical, but must be a free fiction of John in his own language. So also Strauss, Weisse, Baur, Scholten. Such a view, which stands and falls with the whole fiction-theory of the Johannean discourses of Christ, is not only revolting to all religious feeling, but plainly incompatible with the depth and height, the tenderness and fervor of this prayer. If John, or whoever was the author of the Gospel, invented it, he must have been conscious of his own fiction and intention of deceiving the reader. That a person in such a frame of mind and heart could produce such a prayer as this, is a psychological and moral impossibility. That the prayer, as the discourses of Christ generally, was not only translated from the Hebrew into the Greek, but freely reproduced in John’s mind, and received his peculiar coloring, may be admitted without impairing the faithfulness as to the thoughts and spirit, especially if we take into consideration that the Paraclete reminded the apostles of Christ’s words and opened to them their full meaning (Joh_14:26; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:13-14). Godet (II., 367) justly remarks against Reuss, that the internal miracle of a faithful reproduction of the long discourses of Christ is less inexplicable than the artificial composition or fiction of such a master-piece.—P. S.]
C. Historical truth of the prayer and its relation to the agony in Gethsemane. The modern criticism of Bretschneider, Strauss, Baur pretends to discover a contradiction between the triumphant mood of Jesus in this prayer and His dejection in Gethsemane. This rests partly on the false assumption that in Gethsemane Christ petitioned for the averting of His death. See, in opposition to this view, Comm. on Matthew [p. 481, Am. Ed.] Since there can be no question of a change of resolve, but only of a change of mood, we have simply to recognize the profundity and gloriousness of Jesus’ psychical life in the great contrasts presented by His mental frames. [Sudden transitions of feeling belong to human nature, and cannot appear strange in Christ who was peculiarly sensitive and sympathetic, yet in all these changing moods retained equilibrium and self-control, comp. Joh_11:33 ff. On the apparent inconsistency between the calmness and repose of the sacerdotal prayer and the subsequent agony in the garden, which was but the anticipation of the sufferings of the cross, comp. also the sensible remarks of Meyer, p. 588, Hengs-tenberg, III. 143, and Godet, II. 507 f.—P. S.]
D. But why did not John append the psychical combat of Jesus in Gethsemane to this prayer? A presentation of that was, like a presentation of the Supper, foreign to his plan, and the omission must be justified by that plan. The victory of Jesus, in His spiritual sorrow, over Judas (Joh_13:31), involved the victory in Gethsemane, as also His victory on the cross. Moreover, John had related the prelude consisting of the suffering of Jesus in the circle of disciples, and the scene in the Temple-precincts (Joh_12:27), and could assume the Church’s familiarity with the conflict in Gethsemane, to which familiarity Heb_5:7 also bears testimony. [Besides Christ Himself points to the agony, Joh_14:30, in the words: “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.”—P. S.]
E. Symbolism of the prayer: With eyes upraised to heaven. An evidence that He seeks His home above, where the Father is. The observation that, in an astronomical sense, there is no above or beneath, is a worthless one here. Heaven, as the place where the Divine glory is manifested, constitutes the above, in antithesis to earth. Christ prays aloud, in order to the consolation and elevation of the disciples, for here, too, the rule holds good, that the human reference and design of prayer does not vitiate its directness and subjectivity. See Joh_11:42. Augustine: Tanti magistri non solum sermocinatio ad ipsos, sed etiam oratio pro ipsis discipulorum est ædificatio.
F. Progression of the Prayer:
1. Christ first prays for His own glorification, Joh_17:1-5.
2. Then for the preservation of His disciples, Joh_17:6-19.
3. Finally for the congregation of believers, which they are to lead to Him; for their unity and perfection in the kingdom of glory, that the whole world may believe through them, may attain unto knowledge and, as world, vanish out of existence, Joh_17:20-24.
4. The conclusion sums up the whole in the thought that Christ’s love in the disciples shall become the full presence of Christ in the world. [The connecting idea of the three parts is the work of God, as accomplished by Christ, carried on by the apostles, and to be completed in the church, to the glory of God.—P. S.]
Joh_17:1. These words spake Jesus and having lifted up His eyes, etc. [Ταῦταἐλάλησε ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ ἐπάρας τοὺςὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἶπε. The double καί (text. rec.) is not carelessness (De Wette), but solemn circumstantiality of expression (Meyer). But ἐπάρας without καί is better authenticated than ἐπῇρεν with καί—P. S.].—With this expression the Evangelist connects the prayer of Jesus with the farewell discourses, making it the sealing of the same. Prayer the blossom of holy speech; meditation the root of prayer. [Christ prayed aloud, partly from the strength of emotion which seeks utterance in speech, partly for the benefit of His disciples (Joh_17:13), that He might lift them up to the throne of grace and reveal to them and to the church the love and sympathy of His heart. Such reflection, especially in a prayer of intercession for others, is quite consistent with the deepest spirit of devotion (comp. on Joh_11:42). The occasion made an indelible impression on the mind of John, who depicts here also the gesture and heavenward look of the praying Lord.—P. S.]
To heaven.—Calvin: Quia cœlorum conspectus nos admonet, supra omnes creaturas longe eminere deum. See the beginning of “Our Father.” We could not absolutely infer from this remark by itself, that Jesus offered up His prayer in the open air, as Rupert and others affirm. Since that fact, however, is otherwise established, the expression gains in significance.
[In prayer the eye of faith is always instinctively directed to heaven, as heaven is everywhere open, and angels are ascending and descending. Heaven is the abode of the Hearer of prayer and Giver of every good gift. Every prayer of faith is a spiritual ascension. Christ addresses God here as “Father,” πά τερ, simply, six times in this prayer, not “Our Father,” as in the Lord’s Prayer, which is intended for the disciples, nor “My Father,” where He prays for Himself only. Bengel: “Talis simplicitas appellationis ante omnes decuit Filium Dei.” He is the Only Begotten Son of His,. Father, we the common children of our Father (comp. Joh_20:17). The name of Father is the most endearing under which we can know and address God, and which calls out all our feelings of filial trust and gratitude. Christ probably used the Aramean word אַבָּא, Abba, which passed into the devotional vocabulary of Christians, Rom_8:15; Gal_4:6.—P. S.]
The hour is come [ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὥρα].—The great, unique hour of decision by death and resurrection, which are inseparable; the hour whose aim and consummation is the glorification [12:23; 13:1, 32].
Glorify Thy Son [δό ξασόν σου τὸν υἱόν—σου placed first to give force to the petition which, being the prayer of the Only Begotten Son, can not be refused—ἵνα (καὶ) ὁ υἱός (σου) δοξά σῃ σέ.—P. S.]. δό ξασον, conduct Him into the state of δόξα of glory. See Joh_17:5. This glorification of the Son was fulfilled in the Resurrection and Ascension, the “unbounding” of Christ; similarly, the thence-issuing glorification of the Father was fulfilled through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the establishment of the Church and of the gospel ministry. The interpretation of Didymus [De Wette, Reuss]: Manifest Me to them who know Me not, is expressive of but one consideration: the effect of Christ’s exaltation. “The communication to mankind of the true consciousness of God” (Baur) is, apprehended monotheistically, a glorification of the Father. [Stier: “These words are a proof that the Son is equal to the Father as touching His Godhead. What creature could stand before his Creator and say, ‘Glorify Thou me, that I may glorify Thee?’ ”—The Son glorifies the Father, not by adding to His glory, but by making it known to men through the Holy Spirit, who makes known and thus glorifies the Son.—P. S.]
Joh_17:2. According as Thou gavest Him, etc. [Καθὼς ἔδωκας αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν πάσης σαρκό ς].26—The power over all flesh, received by Christ, in His divine-human person, from God, 13:3], and in spirit exercised by Him through His spiritual victory, is the measure and index of His hope of glorification. The infinite power of His personality over mankind, the infinite verification of that power in the self-humiliation of His love, shall be the measure of His infinite glorification.—Over all flesh [πάσης σαρκό ς].—An Old Testament expression [col basar=all mankind], not found elsewhere in John. A solemn emphasizing of the universalism of His destination for the whole human race; the designation applied to mankind is significant not only of its antithesis to the spiritual life of Christ, but also of its susceptibility of salvation. This power over all flesh is expressive, therefore, of the magnitude of His expectations with regard to the spread of His gospel. See Php_2:6 ff.
That all which Thou hast given Him, to them He should give, etc. [ἴνα πᾶν ὅδέδωκας αὐτῷ, δώσῃ (al. δώσει) αὐτοῖς ζωὴν αἰώνιον].—A select number is not here meant by this; the peculiar expression (πᾶν, αὐτοῖς) brings out the fact that the Father has given Him a great, unitous collectivity in the creation;—a mass limbing and sundering into individual members, as men, successively exercising, and departing in, faith, come into possession of eternal life. The collective mass of created beings, souls destined for salvation, is necessarily broken up into individual members, for every man must singly attain to saving faith; this individualization, however, is but conducive to a higher unity. See Joh_17:21. His glorification is, it is true, an end in itself; nevertheless, it also aims at the bliss of believing humanity; and the one design is inseparable from the other. The design of the creation of the world is the glorification of God and Christ in the blessedness of men; such, likewise, is the design of the redemption. The Father is to be glorified by the diffusion of salvation in Christ, the dissemination of eternal life.
Joh_17:3. Now this is the eternal life [αὕτη δέ ἐστον ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή].—Ζωὴ αἰώνιος see Joh_1:4; Joh_3:16; Joh_3:36. According to the Prologue, the Logos appears in the fundamental forms of light, life, and love; and His absolute life (1Ti_6:19) is communicated to believers, through the Holy Ghost, as the fundamental impulse and might of eternal life. Life is an appearing from within outwards, in the form of self-development; eternal life is an eternal self-rejuvenating and appearing; it is life in the eternity of God, inclusive of all times and spaces; the eternity of God in the power of life; an unobstructed self-developing beyond the æons. The believer has the unity of eternity in the manifoldness of life and the manifoldness of life in the unity of eternity27 “If we define life as the undisturbed self-development of the idea implanted in the being, the term signifies, subjectively, self-gratification, bliss,—objectively, the glorification of the finite life in the divine.” Tholuck. Joh_15:1-3. This is, αὕτη δέ ἐστιν Not metonymically: hoc modo paratur (Beza, etc.), but by way of explanation: heroin it consists, in respect of its principle.
That they must know Thee [ἵνα γινώσκωσί (γινώ σκουσί). σέ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεὸν]—the distinctive truth of the O. T.—καὶ ὁν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστό ν—the distinctive truth, of the N. T.]. ἵνα. Eternal life at the same time an eternal unobstructed striving or further striving, toward a goal continually attained and as continually set afresh.28 See the Textual Notes. The tendency toward the knowledge of God is not distinct and separate from that toward the knowledge of Christ; they are in reality one; the essential, true tendency of man. To this bias there is an objective and a subjective definitiveness.
I. The objective. Meyer after Lücke: A (confessionally distinct) summary of belief in antithesis to the polytheistic (τ. μόνον ἀληθ. θεόν), and Jewish κόσμος (which latter rejected Jesus as the Messiah). The distinction of the true God and His Ambassador emphasizes the personality of God and Christ, and lays stress upon the knowledge of it as the condition of life and development for the human personality (in opposition to Pantheism). The objective definitiveness of the expression requires that Christ should speak of Himself in the third person; He subsequently returns to ἐγώ—The only true God [τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεὸν comp. μό νοςσοφὸς, Rom_16:27; μόνος ὅσιοςκύ ριος., Rev_15:4.—P. S.]. The only essential, real God;—ἀληθινός in antithesis to the unreal, symbolical and mythical gods of the world, not of the Gentile world alone, but also of later Judaism in its estrangement from the faith of revelation, 1Jn_5:20; Rev_5:7; 1Th_1:9. It is the God of revelation in Christ, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Eph_1:3; not in antithesis to the Old Testament idea of God or to the idea of Christ, but in antithesis to all false and obscured belief in God; hence God as He reveals Himself in Christ, distinct as to His divine consciousness and distinguished from Christ.—And Him whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. Tholuck: Not Moses, not a prophet, could have been named in this co-ordination, by the side of God, but He only who could say: “he that seeth Me, seeth the Father.” Calvin: Sensus est, Deum mediatore tantum interposito cognosci. At the same time, however, the modification of God’s and Christ’s personality must be observed. Where God is rightly known, He is known as the μόνος ἀλ̇ηθινός where Jesus is rightly known as the Sent of God, He is known as the Χριστόνς. In opposition to this, Tholuck says: According to the Christological view, the Father is not known along with the Messiah, but in Him, Joh_10:38; Joh_14:7-8; Joh_18:19. But it is just in the distinction of the two personalities that true knowledge of God in Christ is consummated.
Several explanations present themselves:
(1) Augustine, Ambrose [Hilary] and others: As though it were written: Ut te et, quem misisti, Jesum Christum, cognoscant solum verum deum.29 This is contrary to the text, though from the distinction of Christ from God the Arians and Socinians draw an unjust inference against the divine nature of Christ, the knowledge of God being indissolubly connected with the knowledge of Christ.
(2) The two terms are nomina propria in undivided unity (Tholuck, Luthardt).30 In such case, however, too great a portion of the weight of the passage would be transferred from the objective to the subjective side, the knowing.
(3) Τὸν μόνον, etc. is predicate to σε, Χριστός is predicate to: “Whom Thou hast sent,” Jesus (Clerikus, Nösselt and others).31
(4) Χριστός is the subject; the predicate is contained in ὅν ἀπέστειλας (De Wette).
The last two interpretations lay too great stress upon the ideal on the objective side. We must not apprehend the modifications as predicates, declarative of doctrine, but as definitions, explanatory of the nature of Father and Son, or definitive nomina appellativa.
II. Subjective definitiveness of the sentence. “The schools, after the precedent of Augustine, held γινώσκειν to be a proof of the beatitudo intuitiva æternitatis; in the Hegelian period it was considered to prove the dignity of speculative science. But even Greek exegesis recognizes the practical value of the term; Cyril: τὴν ἐνἕργοις πίστιν, Calov.: notitia practica, better: experimental knowledge. See Joh_6:19.” Tholuck. Still, we cannot overlook the fact that the whole experience of faith is teleologically leveled at its consummation in contemplative knowledge (Mat_5:8; 1Co_13:12). John recognizes no knowledge that is not practical, but also no practice whose aim is not seeing. The term knowing is so centrally poised between believing and seeing, as to embrace both, as well as mark the transition from the first to the second.32
Joh_17:4. I glorified Thee on the earth [ἐγώσε ἐδόξασα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τὸ ἕργον τελειώσας (rec. ἐτελείωσα). The aorists are proleptical and should not be rendered as perfects as in the E. V.—P. S.]—Foundation of the foregoing petition. This not in the sense of urging His claims to being, glorified by the Father on the score of legal merit, but in a sense that presents Him as intimating that, by His glorification of the Father, He has prepared the moment of His own glorification, and that He may now expect such glorification as a recompense agreeable to the fundamental law of the kingdom of love and righteousness. In Joh_17:1 He modified the succession thus: Father, glorify the Son, that the Son may glorify Thee; now He says: I glorified Thee, now do Thou glorify the Son. To avoid a mingling of the conceptions, we must admit the question to be here of a preliminary glorification of the Father through the Son. And this is Christ’s meaning; He says: I glorified Thee on the earth, and in elucidation of these words He acids: I have finished the work, etc. In His doctrine and life Ho had manifested the Father conformably to the grace and truth of the latter, Joh_1:17. He could lay this work before the Father as finished and complete. Augustine and Gerhard understand by these words the sacrifice of Christ’s death, of which He speaks, say they, as from the stand-point of its consummation. “Most commentators, even Grotius, at least consider it (the death-sacrifice) to be jointly included by prolepsis; Socinian exegesis alone absolutely excludes it. The fact that Joh_17:6-9 speak exclusively of Christ’s doctrinal ministry is not decisive in favor of such exclusion.” Tholuck. It is more decisive, however, that Christ here reckons His death as comprising one point in the Father’s glorification of the Son. Hence it is doubtless in the more limited sense that He has been speaking of the work which the Father has commanded Him to do; in a sense similar to that of the words: I must work as long as it is day; the night cometh, etc., Joh_9:4. Now, however, this work is brought to a conclusion; He makes His high-priestly offering of Himself and seals that with His Passion. The Passion comes under consideration as the conclusion of His obedient doing. See also the καὶ νῦν δόξασον μὲ σύ
Joh_17:5. And now glorify Me, Thou, Father, with Thyself [καὶ νῦν δόξασόν μεσύ, πάτερ, παρὰ σεαυτῷ τῇ δόξῃ ᾖεἶχον].33—Although the mortal suffering of Jesus should indirectly conduce to the glorification of the Father (see Joh_17:1), it must be primarily a glorification of the Son; His glorification by death, resurrection and ascension. Christ henceforth conducts Himself passively; the Father assumes the active. With Thyself, i.e. not simply in heaven, but in His submissive resignation to God, in His going to the Father, in His being in God (Col_3:3), in antithesis to His life in the world hitherto. He has glorified the Father in this world and from this world; the Father is to glorify Him in the other world and from the other world. [παρά denotes closest proximity and equality with personal distinction, “with Thyself as Thy fellow;” comp. 1:2.—P. S.]
With the radiance of glorification [τῆδόξῃ, the glory].—It is the real glory which Christ, as the Son of God and the λόγος possessed, as the medium of the world, before the existence of the world; at once the ideal radiance of glorification which He then, as the future divine-human Lord of glory, had in the view of God, and the ideo-real radiance of glorification of His eternal nascency and advent from the beginning. For Christ in His glorification, did not merely receive back that which He once possessed in the μορφὴ θεοῦ (Php_2:6; Joh_1:1); He also newly received a glory destined Him from the beginning and from the beginning in embryo, as the ideo-real fundamental impulse of the world (see the Prologue). Accordingly, the interpretation which apprehends this δόξα ideally alone, as significant of the destinatio divina (the Socinians, Grotius, Baumg.-Crus.), is inadequate; and inadequate is also the view which would limit the reference of the words to a re-reception of the original real glory (Meyer after some ancients). Be it observed that the future divine-human glory was assured to the Son along with His eternal Logos-glory. It is a question how the δόξα which, according to Joh_1:14, He manifested even in the state of humiliation, must be distinguished from that other δόξα. The divine highness or majesty consists in the limitless, unobstructed self-manifestation of God in omnipotence and omnipresence or in creative working and appearing; the divine lowliness, or self-divestment of Christ, consists in a self-limitation within the divinely appointed limits of judgment and suffering,—limits actualized in the counter-operations of the world against the Holy One; this self-limitation is carried to impotence, as the antithesis to omnipotence, and to death, as the antithesis to omnipresence:—only, however, that it may thus be all the more gloriously manifested in the δόξα of grace and truth. First, omnipotence and omnipresence stood forth, limitless, and grace and truth were, as yet, hidden; then grace and truth advanced; so boundless these, that omnipotence and omnipresence appeared to vanish behind them. The new condition of Christ, however, will consist in the glorifying of His grace into omnipotence, and of His truth into omnipresence, or of His self-divestment into majesty. Dogmatically defined: At first, alone the “physical” attributes of God are, in the Logos,’ exhibited in the creation of the world. In the redemption of the world, the “ethical” attributes are exhibited in the self-humiliation of Christ. In the glorification of the world, the “ethical” and “physical” attributes are to shine united, as a manifestation of the majesty of Christ. And so the new glory of Christ shall be an eternal synthesis of the gloria mediatoria (which Lampe considers as the sole meaning of the text) and the primordial majesty (Heb_1:3); this latter, however, must not be described as the quality “by which God is God,” unless we are prepared to understand by it the glory of God as the sum of all His attributes.
Joh_17:6. I manifested Thy name to the men, etc. [ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὅνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὓς ἔδωκάς μοι ἐκ τοῦ κό σμου] Here begins the intercession for the disciples. He introduces it with a rationale; they are not simply worthy of His intercession; God’s eyes must be fastened upon them as bearers of His name and Christ’s work. The great work of manifestation must in them be protected and secured.—Manifested Thy name.—Such, in one word, was Christ’s work hitherto. The name of God, its specific self-manifestation in the Son, and, with that name, the God of Christ, the personal, heavenly Father, was distinctly manifested to men by the word, work, and life of Christ. The prophetic office of Christ is completed in an absolute manifestation of God. Though the disciples were not yet enlightened to gaze into this revelation, it, nevertheless, was finished, as regarded its objective elements.—The men whom Thou gavest me.—[οὕς ἕδωκάς μοι ἕκ τοῦ κόσμου] The disciples (see Joh_17:8; Joh_17:11, and Joh_16:30). God gave them to Him through His election, through the attraction drawing them to the Son, and through the power of His calling.
Christ then defines the process of development exhibited in their conversion:—
1. Thine they were [σοὶ ἦσαν]. Not merely in the general cense in which all things belong to God (Cyril), but as Israelites without guile (see Joh_1:47; Joh_3:21); per fidem Veteris Test. (Bengel.)
2. Thou gavest them to Me.—[καὶ ἐμοὶ αὐτοὺς ἕδωκας]. The before-mentioned considerations of this giving became manifest and realized in the calling, Joh_10:27.
3. And they have kept Thy word. [καὶ τὸν λόγον σου τετήρκαν]. Though it is still necessary that they should be sifted, they have stood the main test, and have not suffered themselves to be entangled in the apostasy of Judas. To Christ’s eyes, they do already issue victorious out of temptation (see Joh_8:51).
4. Now they know that all, etc. [νῦν ἕγνωκαν (Alexandrian form for ἐγνώκασιν) ὅτι πάντα, κ. τ. λ.]. Their fidelity has been rewarded by the beginnings of a higher faith-knowledge, or cognition of faith, as they have already testified. See Joh_16:30. Their knowledge is the knowledge that everything which has been given to Christ, i.e., His doctrine (De Wette), and particularly His work (Luthardt), is of God; i.e., they know God in Christ. They know the words of Christ to be divine by the works, the works by the words; the latter method Christ brings out with special prominence (as the higher way of knowledge, see above, Joh_14:11), in order to explain how they have attained to their faith-knowledge. They have received in faith Christ’s words which He gave them. From this trust in the divine words confided to them by Him, there has sprung a true cognition of the divine nature of Christ (they truly knew that I am come forth from Thee, Joh_17:8), and thereby a belief in His divine mission to the world, in which mission theirs should now be rooted, has been mediated (they believed that Thou didst send Me). The Aorists [ἕγνωσαν and ἐπίστευσαν] jointly serve as an elucidation of the Perfect: νῦν ἕγνωκαν.—Such are the reasons why He prays for them.
[Joh_17:8. For I have given them the words which Thou gavest me, ὅτι τὰ ῥήματα ἅ ἕδωκάς (gavest; so A. B. C. D.) Lachm., Tischend., Alf., Westc. versus δέδωκάς, hast given, which is supported by א. L. X. and text. rec.) μοι, δέδωκα αὐτοῖς. “On the truth of this saying stands the whole fabric of creeds and doctrines. It is the ground of authority to the preacher, of assurance to the believer, of existence to the church. It is the source from which the perpetual stream of Christian teaching flows. All our testimonies, instructions, exhortations, derive their first origin and continuous power, from the fact that the Father has given to the Son, the Son has given to His servants, the words of truth and life.” Bernard, Progress of Doctrine in the N. T. (1867) p. 25.—P. S.]
Joh_17:9. I pray (am praying) for them; I pray not (am not praying) for the world, etc.—[ἐγὼ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐρωτῶ• οὐ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ἐρωτῶ, ἀλλὰ περὶ ὥν δέδωκάς μοι, ὅτι σοί εἰσιν]. The grand stress of this intercession is contained, 1. In the ἐγώ; 2. in the fact that the proposition, I pray for them, is first simply laid down, then 3. negatively expressed: not for the world; 4. positively expressed: but for them; the motives assigned being: they have been given Me by Thee, and they are Thine. The expression: not for the world, is doubtless of dogmatic moment (which Meyer denies); it is, however, destitute of a predestinarian import (Calvin, Lampe; pro quibus Christus non orat, pro iis non satisfecit, and others; see Joh_17:20; Mat_5:44; Luk_23:34).”34 It is significant of the purely dynamical view of the world and arrangement of the Gospel. By means of this dynamical principle, first concentrated in Christ and henceforth to be concentrated in His apostles, the world, as world, is to be clean done away with. Christ does not work by a fire of sparks, sprinkling them incidentally, one here and one there; His working is a concentrated central fire of absolute, positive resurrective force, which fire takes hold of the world in the centre of her receptive susceptibility, in order to her transformation. It is the strict vital law of the concentration of the divine power of the Gospel, archetypally declared in the calling and isolation of Abraham, typically set forth in the separation of Israel, and still continuing in the regulations which Christ has made for the development of His church (see Act_1:4; Act_1:8). But the expression of Christ does not bear simply an ideo-dogmatical emphasis; it has, resulting from the ideo-dogmatical, also an affectionate emphasis: I pray, above all things, for these, who are Thine as the fruit of the Old Testament, and Mine as the firstlings of the New Testament; similarly, the expression has a religious force: the δόξα of Thy name is concerned; that δόξα is henceforth entrusted to them; it must be secured in them, must, through them, become universal in the world as the principle of the world’s glorification. This expression of supreme entreaty, however, is simultaneously the expression of confidence: in them Thy divine work and Mine shall be made secure in the world.
[Bengel, Meyer, Stier, Luthardt, Alford, etc. explain in substance: I am not praying for the world now and in this manner (hoo loco, tempore, et his verbis), but I shall do so afterwards, Joh_17:20-21. But this appears somewhat trivial, and does not give the exclusion the full force. The words οὐ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ἐρωτῶ, are intended to justify and to emphasize the intercession of Christ for His own. The whole sacerdotal prayer is not offered for the outside world at all but only for His disciples, first for those whom He had already called out of the world (6–19) and then for those who should hereafter come out of the world and believe in Him (περὶ τῶν πιστευόντων, Joh_17:20 ff.). The world appears, even in Joh_17:20-21; Joh_17:23, not as an object of intercession, but as a hostile force, against which He asks the protection of the Father. Yet by the preservation and perfection of Christ’s church in holiness and unity, which is the direct object of this prayer, the world itself is at last to be brought to believe in the divine mission of the Son, ἵνα ὅ κόσμος πιστεύῃ ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας, Joh_17:21; Joh_17:23. Hence the exclusion of the world is not absolute (in the sense of supralapsarian commentators), but relative. On proper occasions Christ did pray for the ungodly world, even His murderers (“Father forgive them,” Luk_23:34, adding, however, as a motive not, as here, “they have known,” Joh_17:11, but on the contrary, “they know not what they do”); and He especially commands us to pray for our enemies (Mat_5:44), as Stephen prayed for the persecuting Saul (Act_7:60). For Christians we should pray that God may preserve them from the world and the devil, for the ungodly world, that it may cease to be worldly and believe in Christ.—P. S.]
Joh_17:10. All things that are Mine are Thine.—[τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα σά ἐστιν, καὶ τὰ σὰ ἐυά. The E. V. “All Mine is Thine” may be understood of persons only, while all things, the Godhead itself included, are meant. Comp. Alford.—P. S.] He gives prominence to the worth possessed by the disciples as the objects of His intercession. As Christ’s property, they are the property of God; as God’s property, they are the property of Christ; and since He is glorified in them, the δόξα of Christ, which is the δόξα of God, must be protected in them.
Joh_17:11. And I am (henceforth) no more in the world [κἀι οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῶ κόσμῷ]. This is the motive for His urgent, provident petition. He is departing out of the world, they remain in the world and so will be needing special protection. The words: and I come to Thee [κἀγὼ πρὸς σὲ ὲρχομαι], cannot be regarded as a mere repetition of the declaration: “I am no more,” etc. On the contrary, the position and task of the disciples in the world shall be assured by Christ’s coming to the Father with His intercession. In the first place, the going away of Christ is expressed, as perilous for the disciples who remain here; and, secondly, His going home is intimated, as the indemnification for the disciples, whose position and task are here.
Hence the apostrophe: Holy Father [πάτερ ἅγιε]. God is to be the holy Father to Christians in this world when Christ has gone away.35 God, in His holiness, is entirely separated from the unholy world, in order that He may belong entirely to the world that is to be sanctified: so, the Holy. He is the holy Father (Joh_17:11) of the Son who sanctifies Himself for His own, i.e., goes away from both them and the world, in order to be entirely devoted to them and, through them, to the world (Joh_17:19), that they too may in this sense be sanctified in His truth, Joh_17:17. The petition itself: keep them in [better than through of.—E. V.] Thy name, etc. [τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῶ ὀνόματί σου.] In the revelation for Christian knowledge, as in Christian knowledge of revelation,—in that consciousness of God which Christ entertained.
Which (whom) Thou, etc. [ᾧ (οὕς) δέδωκάς μοι.] The reading ᾧ (see Text. Notes) is by Meyer and others, supported by Cod. D., considered to stand by attraction for ὅ and to relate to the name of God [ἐν τῶ ὀνόματίσου]. We must acknowledge that we have difficulty in reading: “Thou hast given me Thy name,”—the name of the Father and that of the Son not being mingled. From this difficulty the Recepta [which reads οὔς, whom] has doubtless arisen. We, therefore, prefer to read ᾧ as Dativ. instrum. [by which], in perfect accordance with the sense of Joh_17:6; Joh_17:12, and interpret the passage thus: through My manifesting Thy name unto them, in Mine office as Thine Ambassador, they did believe on Me and are thus become Mine. On the glorification of the Father through Christ as His Ambassador, through whom the Father operated, the glorification of the Son is founded. Since, however, the instrumental construction is scantily supported and a stronger expression might be expected for it, we suffer the interpretation given in the translation [den, which] to stand, only explaining the term: which Thou hast given Me, by: which Thou, with Thy revelation, hast confided to Me.
[Stier says that ᾧ can bear no proper meaning. One feels tempted with Bengel and Godet to read ὅ, and to refer this not to ὅνομα, but to the disciples, as equivalent to οὕς, just as in Joh_17:2, πᾶν ὅ δέδωκας—αὐτοῖς), and Joh_17:24, if ὅ be the proper reading there. But ὅ is very poorly supported, though it may more easily have been changed by mistake into ᾧ, than into οὕς. The reading of the text. rec. (sustained by D.2 and Vulg.) is no doubt the easiest and falls in best with the style and general sentiment of John, comp. Joh_17:6; Joh_17:9. But inasmuch as ᾧ has all the weight of external testimony (א. A. B. C., Syr., etc.) and is adopted by the best critical editors (Lachmann, Tregelles, Alford, Tischendorf, Westcott), we must give it the preference. The name must mean the essential revelation which the Father made to the Son, and the Son to the world (Luthardt), or rather the peculiar attribute of Saviour, Jehovah our Righteousness. (Alford and Wordsworth). There is, it is true, no strict parallel passage where God is said to have given His name to His Son, but an approach to it, Exo_23:21 : “My name is in Him,” viz., the angel of the covenant; comp. Isa_9:6; Jer_23:6, and especially Php_2:9-10, “God hath given Him a name (ὅνομα, but not His name) above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.”—P. S.]
The motive of the prayer is: whom Thou hast given Me. As the name of the Father is given Him for the disciples, so the disciples are given Him for the name (the Gospel of the New Covenant is for the called of the Old Covenant in the wider sense, and contrariwise). Purpose of the prayer: ἵνα ὧσιν ἕν. Meyer makes the ἵνα relate to ὃ δέδωκάς μοι, instead of to τήρησον, as is usual. The latter reference, however, is the more obvious one, for the full development of the unity of believers arrives as the fruit of their conservation. It is a question of consummate oneness (see Joh_17:22).
That they may be one as we [ἵνα ὧσινἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς]. Throughout the high-priestly prayer, Christ brings into view the oneness of the disciples as the mark of their matured discipleship: the sign that they are one in the name of the Father of Christ. The living, known name of God has this unifying power. As it is the bond of union between the Father and Son, it is, in like manner, to be the bond of union among the disciples. In the true, living consciousness of God is the divine life of love, the unity of divine revelation and human religion, the unity of human faith and the unity of human ethics, Eph_4:6. [Alford: “The oneness here is not merely harmony of will or of love,—as some have interpreted it, and then tried to weaken the Oneness of the Godhead by the καθώς,—but oneness by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, the gift of the covenant (1Co_6:17), and ultimately oneness of nature, 2Pe_1:4, where the ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηται answers to the ὄνομα ὅ δέδωκάς μοι here.” Godet: “Les mots comme nous signifient que, comme c’est par la possession de essence divine que le Père et le Fils sont un, c’est par la commune connaissance de cettle essence (le nom) que les disciples peuvent aussi rester un et être individuellement gardés.” Yet the community of the spiritual life derived from Christ, must be added to the community of knowledge.—P. S.]
Joh_17:12. While I was with them (in the world) [ὅτε ἥμην μετ’ αὐτῶν]. Further explication of the words, Joh_17:11.—I kept them [έφύλαξα]. Ἐγώ with emphasis. Held them fast in Thy name. Their natural inclination tended ever out of the bounds constituted by the consciousness of God and by Christ’s view of the world; His faithfulness held them fast within these limits, and, as souls given Him by the Father (see the Textual Note), He watched over them faithfully. Φυλάσσειν is an intensified expression of His vigilant care over them. He guarded them as the faithful Shepherd of the souls entrusted Him by the Father.—And none of them perished except the son of perdition [καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώλετοεἰ μὴ ό υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας. Christ does not say, “I lost none “(comp. Joh_18:9, where no exception is made). “Judas lost himself.” Even after the betrayal he might have been saved if he had in true penitence fled to the cross.—P. S.] Not simply a painful recalling of the traitor (Tholuck), but also the account-rendering of a faithful and good conscience concerning Judas, and, as such, appropriate at this moment.36 The son of perdition.—A Hebrew expression:37 the properly of perdition, the prey of perdition, comp. Joh_12:36; Mat_13:12. But the specific child of perdition, in whom the ἀπώλεια (see Mat_7:13) of the Jews was concentrated, was also the instrument of perdition (see 2Th_2:10).—That the Scripture might be fulfilled [ἵναἡγραφἡπληρ ωθῇ]. Here, as in Joh_12:38; Joh_13:18, consolation is found in contemplating the decree of divine judgment. It was, however, not fated that Judas should become a child of perdition, but that, as such, he should be lost from the circle of disciples in accordance with the righteous judgment of God.38
What passage of Scripture is here intended? According to Lücke and Meyer [Godet], Psa_41:10, on account of the citation of that passage, Joh_13:18; according to Euthymius Zigabenus, Psa_109:8 (see Act_1:20); according to Kuinoel the whole mass of prophecies relative to the death of Jesus. We are of opinion that the passage Isa_57:12 is the one meant (see Leben Jesu ii., p. 1412). It should be noted that the passage Psa_41:10 was already fulfilled in the occurrence referred to Joh_13:18. But Isa_57:12-13 treats specifically, in typical prophecy, of the perdition of the destroyer.
Joh_17:13. To Thee, and speak these things [νῦν δέ πρός σε ἔρχομαι, καὶ ταῦταλαλῶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ]. I.e., I can no longer watch over them, as I have done hitherto, in visible, individual intercourse. Henceforth something else must guard them. But what shall this be? His joy shall become perfect in them, and shall be their guard. His joy is that complete consciousness of God which is to be imparted to them by the Holy Ghost, as the source of the most untrammeled vital movement in their spirits (see chap. 16). I speak these things,—I now, being still in the world and heard by them as well as by Thee, do confidentially carry this petition before Thee, that, etc. I.e., not simply: Through My intercession they shall be assured of Thy protection and hence be filled with perfect gladness,—but rather: My intercession shall awaken the spirit of prayer in them and open their hearts for the reception of the Holy Spirit of perfect joy, for whom I am suing on their behalf. And if Thou keep them thus, by the bestowal of the Spirit of joy, He will watch over them as I have done until now.
Joh_17:14. I have given them Thy word [Ἐγὼ δέδωκα αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον σου]. The prayer for the preservation of the disciples now divides itself into two petitions; the one is for their negative protection from the Evil One in the world, the other for their positive sanctification in the truth. First the negative portion, the protection, is discussed. Christ having given them His word, they are taken from the world and hence are become, equally with Himself, objects of the world’s hatred. The ungodly consciousness of the world gravitates outwards into the impersonal; consequently the divine consciousness of Christ and His people, gravitating, in its impulse of faith and love, toward the absolute personality of God, is odious to the world. The antithesis: I, and: the world, contains the most concise expression of this fact. The world hateth them, properly: hath conceived a hatred for them (ἐμίσησεν αὐτούς). Luther: “The world’s hatred is the true livery of Christians, which they wear on earth.
Joh_17:15. I pray not that Thou, etc. [οὐκἐρωτῶ ἵνα ἄρῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλ’]. The petition regarding the protection of the disciples from the world, likewise divides itself into two parts, a negative and a positive. They are to remain in the world, but are to be preserved from the world. Luther: “What I want is not that they also should pass out of the world with Me, for I have still more to accomplish by means of them; they must increase My little flock.”—That Thou shouldst take them out of the world, i.e., neither by actual death nor by ascetic mortifications. Christ has here rejected monkery also, as a form of life un-suited to His disciples, they having attained their majority. They are to be in the world, but not of the world. The petition runs thus: that Thou shouldst keep them from the Evil One. The question as to whether ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ is to be construed as neuter [the evil.—E. V.] or as denoting Satan [the Evil One], is decided by Olshausen, Baumg.-Crusius in the former, by Lücke and Meyer [Alford] in the latter sense with reference to “the Prince of this world,” Joh_12:31; Joh_14:30; Joh_16:11, and to 1Jn_2:13-14; 1Jn_3:12; 1Jn_5:18-19. If we add to these chapters 8:44, we find that John merges the whole world in personal relations, as regards evil also; the world, as world, lies in the Wicked One; it has its pole in Satan; this is in conformity to the purely dynamical view of the world. The expression τηρεῖν ἐκ, Rev_3:10.
Joh_17:16. They are not of the world [ἐκτοῦ κόσμου οὐκ εἰσὶν καθὼς ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου]. Motive for the following positive petition. They no longer have their vital principle in the world, but, like Christ and through Him, in the Father; therefore He prays that they may be perfected, in accordance with this their divine birth and kind.
Sanctify them in the truth [ἀγίασοναὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, as the element in which the ἁγιάζειν takes place]. Explanations:
1. Chrysostom, Euthymius [Lücke, Godet, Wordsworth]: Make them holy through [ἐν instrumental, as in the E. V.] the gift of the Holy Ghost, and by true doctrine.
2. Luther: Adverbially construing in the truth: Make them truly [ἀληθῶς] holy [in distinction from the present imperfect holiness.—Hengstenberg. Against this is the article, and still more the following ὁ λόγος, etc.—P. S.]
3. Erasmus, Calvin: Take them away from the fellowship of the world.
4. Theophylact, Lampe: Separate them for the office of the ministry.
The phrase, That they also may be sanctified (Joh_17:19), must be defined pursuant to the holiness of God, Joh_17:11, and the self-sanctification of Christ, Joh_17:19. Now God is holy in withdrawing Himself from the ungodly world, in order to reveal Himself in a godly, kingly-priestly people, Lev_11:44-45; 1Pe_3:16. In conformity thereto, Christ sanctifies Himself; He departs out of the world in His self-humiliation, in order to enter into the world in His majesty. On the basis of this fact, the disciples are to be sanctified, the word of God in them, through the Holy Ghost within them, being converted into perfect truth, i.e. into a unitous light, a principially developing luminous and vital view and vital power, ever emancipating them more completely from the world in order to conduct them into the world, as emancipators, with the gospel. The expression ἐν τῇ is generally apprehended as denoting instrumentality: By means of or by virtue of the truth; Meyer, on the other hand, maintains it to mean: That He would furnish them, in this their vital sphere of truth, with holy consecration, i.e. inspiration, illumination, through the Holy Ghost. This view, however, brings the holy consecration into dubious antithesis to the truth. Doubtless the word, already possessed by the disciples, must be supplemented by the Holy Ghost with His consecration, but it is to the end that the word may for them be rendered living truth, at once the vital sphere and the instrument of their sanctification. Now Apostolic sanctification is always both moral and official sanctification. The further thought-sequence, however, proves that the official sanctification should be emphasized in this place.
The rationale of the petition follows: Thy word is truth. [ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς ἀλήθειά ἐστι. Cod. B. reads ἡ, the truth, but all other authorities omit the article.—P. S.] Truth, this time without the article, as predicate of the word. The word of God is, in the abstract, pure truth, a lively word, the source of light and the light-impulse to perfect enlightenment; and so, what it is in itself, it must become in the disciples. See Joh_4:24; Joh_18:37; 1Jn_5:16; 2Jn_1:1 ff.
Joh_17:18-19 contain the further assignment of motives for the whole intercession of Christ on behalf of the disciples.—As Thou didst send Me [καθὼς ἐμὲ ἀπέστειλαςεἰς τὸν κόσμον]. First motive of the entire petition: that God would keep and sanctify the disciples. He is the great, unitous Messenger of God, in whom God’s whole apostolate to the world is contained and who has been really consecrated for it by God (Joh_10:36); from Him they now are to become apostles, who, being divinely consecrated to His apostolate, ramify and go forth with the same into all the world. See Joh_15:9; Joh_20:21; 2Co_5:20. The Aorist ἀπέστειλα corresponds in part with the proleptical character of the high-priestly Prayer,—as from the stand-point of that consummation of which He is in spirit assured,—in part with the fact that the commissioning of the disciples had its beginning simultaneously with their calling (Matthew 10), although this commissioning, graded hitherto, was to continue in gradual development until its perfection, Joh_20:21; Mat_28:19; Acts 1, 2 The καθὼς ἐμέ is placed first as the basis and degree of the mission of the disciples.
Joh_17:19. And for them I sanctify Myself [καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐγὼ ἁγιάζω ἐμαυτόν, ἵνα, κ.τ.λ. The sense of καὶ here is: And, to make their sanctification (Joh_17:17) possible, I sanctify Myself. Mark the difference between the active ἁγιάζω and the passive ἡγιασμένοι and between ἐγὼ—ἐμαυτόν and αὐτοί=Christ sanctifies Himself by His inherent holiness, Christians are sanctified by another power.—P. S.] The specific, high-priestly element of the intercession as the concluding motive. Christ is already sanctified by the Father (Joh_10:36), in coming into the world; He now sanctifies Himself unto the Father, in leaving the world and, by His death, going unto the Father on behalf of His disciples, in order to lay the foundation for their sanctification. Christ sanctifies Himself for His people. The death of Jesus was a sacrificial death of self-sacrificing love for the benefit of His people; a death that as an expiatory death rendered them capable of sanctification through the Spirit, as a death of self-sacrificing love called them to a consecration unto the same love-life in the world. The expression ἁγιάζειν (הִקְדִּישׁ) is a customary term for the offering of a sacrifice in the Old Testament, Deu_15:19 ff.; 2Sa_8:11; Rom_15:16.
Various interpretations:
1. Ἁγιάζειν denotes the same thing in both sentences:
a. I sacrifice Myself for them that they may be truly consecrate to present themselves a sacrifice, Rom_12:1 (Chrysostom);39
b. That they also may be consecrated to sacrificial brotherly love (Olshausen and others).
Against these interpretations Tholuck cites the passive form of the second sentence; this form, however, is explained by the nature of the case, especially by the fact that the second sanctification (that of the disciples) is designated as the result of the first (the self-sanctification of Christ).
c. The official consecration of Christ is to result in the official consecration of the disciples (Heumann, Semler and others). The Present tense is unfavorable to this view.
d. There takes place a sanctification even on the part of Christ, inasmuch as the stripping off of the σάρξ is a being taken away from the world’s fellowship (Luthardt).40 Against this view Tholuck justly remarks: This is neither biblical nor correct. Nevertheless, the intimation of a sound thought is contained therein.
e. Christ’s consecration to His holy deed of love is to have for its result the corresponding consecration of the disciples (De Wette). Correct as an item of the whole.
2. Ἁγιάζειν is diverse in both sentences: I consecrate Myself to death, that they may be sanctified in the truth or, truly;
a. To righteousness in faith (Luther);
b. To obedientia nova (Calvin, Lampe).
Here, also, we must securely grasp the two imports of the conception: “to sanctify.” Christ sanctifies Himself, in the negative sense, in that by His sacrificial death He separates Himself utterly from the world, is crucified to the world and goes unto God; positively, in that He thereby gains the power to come again into the world in the power of the Holy Ghost. He sanctifies Himself negatively for His people in that He presents His life for them as an expiation for their guilt; positively, in that, by this highest love-offering, He exercises a quickening reflex-influence over them and establishes a principle of suffering out of which their martyr-sufferings shall develop, as do their works out of His works, Col_1:24. Thereby the disciples are said to be negatively sanctified, in that they recognize their crucifixion to the world (Gal_2:19) and present their lives unto God as a thank-offering; positively, in that, as peace-messengers, they proclaim the gospel to the world in a self-sacrificing love that stops not short of a martyr’s death. This sanctifiedness (Geheiligtsein) in the self-sanctification of Christ (ἵνα ὦσινἡ γιασ μένοι) must be distinguished, as synonymous with justification by faith, as 1Pe_1:2, from the moral self-sanctifying and becoming sanctified that results from justification.
May be sanctified in truth [ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ὦσιν ἡγιασμένοι ἐνἀληθείᾳ]. Two explanations:
1. The term in truth is adverbial and means truly sanctified, ἀληθῶς (Chrysostom, Beza, Calvin, Bengel, Meyer):
a. In antithesis to the Jewish consecration, the sanctimonia cæremonialis (ancient exegetes [and Godet]);
b. The eminent consecration in antithesis to every other ἁγιότης in human relations (Meyer). There is, however, in Scripture no conception of ἁγιότης other than the Old Testament typical, and the New Testament real, idea.
2. Ἐν ἀληθείᾳ is to be construed substantively; in truth=in the truth, as Joh_17:17 (Erasmus after some ancients, Bucer, Lücke [Olshausen, De Wette, Brückner, Ewald], etc.). In opposition to this view Meyer remarks: “In that ease the article could not be dispensed with; advocates of this view in vain appeal to Joh_1:14; Joh_4:24;—the word must be interpreted in accordance with 3Jn_1:1.” But even in the latter passage its interpretation is doubtful. The lack of the article is explained by the fact that the ἀλήθεια is not to be conceived of here as an independent cause, but as the medium or element of the effect emanating from Christ. In that Christ sanctifies Himself, His disciples are sanctified in the blessing of truth that proceeds from Him. His expiatory power is the element of truth that pours forth from Him in His Spirit, in order to present them as sanctified persons. The fact that they are at the same time truly consecrated thereby, in antithesis to Old Testament priestly consecration, needs no comment.
Joh_17:20. Yet not for these alone do I pray. [Οὐ περὶ τούτω δὲ ἐρωτῶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν πιστευόντων διὰ τοῦλόγου αὐτῶ νεἰς ἐμέ, ἵνα πάντες].—Now follows the intercession for future believers. “The view expands in space and, Joh_17:24, also in time.” Tholuck. Since Joh_17:24 treats of the being of believers with Christ in glory, the glimpse afforded is into extended space as well. Time and space go on mutually expanding until the supreme consummation. The present πιστευόντων (see Textual Notes), is a vivid realization of the future. The subject of His petition is not introduced by ἵνα (according to Grotius and others); that rather denotes the purpose, the aim, as Joh_17:11. Consequently, the subject of the intercession is the same as before: that in the world they may be preserved from the Wicked One and may be sanctified in the truth. Here too, however, the aim is their oneness.
Joh_17:21. That they all may be one according as, etc. [ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν, καθὼςσύ, πάτερ, ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν σοί].—Thus, in this place, also, unity is the goal to be attained. Explanations:
1. Origen: The final aim, Deus omnia in omnibus, 1Co_15:28. But of this there is just now no question, as Joh_17:21 [last clause, ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύσῃ] proves. The remaining world has yet to be won by this unity which, doubtless, we are to understand as the unity of believers.
Hence, 2. The ancient exegetes: The unity of Christians in faith and love, as Act_4:32; Eph_4:4. In these things, then, shall the unity of Christians first appear, conditioned by their being crucified to the world and presenting themselves, a sacrifice of love, to the Lord.
According as Thou, Father, (art) in Me and I in Thee.—So utterly should Christians be bound one to another and united. The Arians thence inferred that the unity between Father and Son was likewise merely a moral one. Orthodox believers rejected this view with the comment that the text did not turn upon sameness, but upon similarity. With more correctness some commentators (Cyril, Hilary, a few Lutheran theologians) have remarked that the unity of Christians is not a merely moral one either. Unity in the one Holy Ghost, who is the same in all, is indeed more than moral unity. Since John starts from the presupposition of a purely personal; dynamical view of the world, along with this very oneness of persons, their characteristic self-distinction is brought to completion, i.e., this oneness is precisely the opposite of a pantheistic obliteration of personal distinctions. And Christ gives utterance to this truth in setting up His oneness with the Father, as the type. They are just as decidedly distinct one from the other as they are One. In accordance with this, Their oneness, therefore, Christians are to become one in individuals and confessions. Where there is no Christian distinction of character, there is no true union. Uniformity is the negation of unity. On the other hand, the making of distinctions and the distinctions themselves between believers are elementary, raw, bad, if they do not serve to promote unity.
That they also may themselves be (one) in us. [ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν (ἕ ν) ὦσιν].—The design of the preservation of the faithful was: 1. The unity of all; 2. a unity such as the unity between Father and Son; now 3. unity in the unity of the Father and Son.41 The design is triply intensified: 1. All one; 2. one as We; 3. one in Us. This is the unity of vital fellowship with God, through the Holy Ghost in faith, through connection with the glorified Christ in the sacrament, through personal union with the Triune in the unio mystica. Irenæus, v. 1: Filius dei propter immensam dilectionem factus est, quod nos sumus, ut nos perficeret, quod est ipse. Augustine De civit. dei ix. 15: Beatus et beatificus Deus factus particeps humanitatis nostræ, compendium præbuit participandæ divinitatis suæ. The overstepping of the human limitation of this assimilation to the Divinity, in the doctrine of deification, advanced by the medieval mystics [Master Eckart, Ruysbroek, Tauler, Suso, etc.] may not be controverted by laying too great stress upon the temporal and creaturely nature of man, but by the absolute dependence of the life of the branches on their connection with the Vine [ch. 15:1 ff.]
That the world may believe. [ἵνα ὁκόσμος πιστεύσῃ ὅτι σύ μεἀπέστειλας].—The Church, as the blessed congregation of confession and worship, or the communion of saints, is an end to herself; but she is also a means to an end as an institution of healing for immature believers and, especially, as a mission-community for the world. Hence the second ἵνα, the more remote design. The belief that the Father has sent Christ is characterized in Joh_17:8 as the true believingness of the disciples. The meaning of our passage is, therefore,—that the world may attain unto faith. Joh_17:9 must be explained accordingly. True, immediate prayer for Christians is true, immediate prayer for the world.
[This verse and Joh_17:23 are the classical passages on Christian union, or the communion of saints. The following points seem to be implied in the text. 1. Christian union presupposes the vital union of believers with Christ (περὶ τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ), and is conditioned by it. 2. It is a reflection of the union which subsists between the Father and the Son (καθὼς σὺ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν σοί), consequently not merely a moral union of sympathy, but a community of spiritual life; all partaking of the life of Christ, as the branches of the vine (comp. John 15). 3. It centres in Christ and the Father who are one (ί́να ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν). Christ is the divine harmony of all human discords, and Christians are one among each other just in proportion as they are one with Him. There is no intimation whatever of a visible centre of unity on earth (such as Rome claims to be), or of a particular form of government (such as episcopacy or presbytery), or form of worship, as a necessary condition of such union, or means of its promotion. There was considerable difference in the apostolic age between the Jewish-Christian and the Gentile-Christian type of Christianity, between the doctrinal system of Paul and of James, etc., and yet there was essential unity and harmony, 4. Hence Christian union is free and implies the greatest variety (but no contradictions) of types and phases of Christian life. Christian union and Christian liberty are not contradictory, but complementary and mutually sustaining forces (comp. Joh_8:36; Rom_8:2; Gal_5:1). 5. The unity must manifest itself in some outward form, so that the world may perceive it and be impressed by it (ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύσῃ). This was the case already in the apostolic church, Act_2:47; Act_4:32, and in the times of persecution, when the heathen used to exclaim: “How these Christians love one another, and how they are ready to die for one another.” Even among the sectarian strifes the spiritual union of Christians has never been lost; and it will deepen and expand, and be fully realized at last, like all the other attributes of the church (catholicity and holiness, etc.), with the glorification of the body of believers (ἵνα ὦσι τετελειωμένοι εἰς ἕν, Joh_17:23, ἵνα θεωρῶσιν τὴν δόξαν ἐμήν, Joh_17:24). “Corporeality,” says Œtinger, “is the end of God’s ways.” To promote the union for which our Saviour so fervently prayed, is the duty and privilege of every Christian.—I quote in addition the note of the late Dean Alford who had liberal and enlightened views on this subject: “This unity has its true and only ground in faith in Christ through the word of God as delivered by the apostles; and is therefore not the mere outward uniformity, nor can such uniformity produce it. At the same time, its effects are to be real and visible, such that the world may see them.”—P. S.]
Joh_17:22. The glory which Thou gavest me, I have, etc. [κἀγὼ τὴν δόξαν, ἣνἔδωκάςμοι, δέδωκα αὐτοῖς, ἵνα ὦσινἕν.]—The glory which the Father has given Christ, is the state of glorification (see Joh_17:5). This glory, i.e., full fellowship in His glorified state (see Rom_8:17), Christ gave His disciples by giving them the principle of future glory in His word which was about to be glorified by the Spirit of glory (1Pe_4:14). Baumg. Crusius explains the given as destinare. Meyer’s interpretation amounts to the same thing, although he combats the view in rejecting the reference of the passage to the glory of the inner life (Olshausen), to filiation (Bengel), love (Calvin), grace and truth (Luthardt). It is more correct to deny its reference to the gloriousness of the apostolic office in doctrine and the working of miracles (Chrysostom), though all believers have their modest portion even of that. This word of the Spirit, with which the Spirit comes, is the bond of union and peace, and is designed to be this bond. Therefore: that they may be one as We, etc., Eph_4:4.
Joh_17:23. I in them, and Thou in Me, that, etc. [ἐγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοί, ἵνα ὦσιν τετελειωμένοι εἰςἕν, κ.τ.λ.]—“Appositional explication of ἡμεῖς; not isolated, not a new proposition,” etc. Meyer. God’s life in Christ through the Holy Spirit founds the ever richer life of Christ in believers; this founds their ripening to man’s stature, to perfection (Eph_4:13); this brings with it their unity; this, finally, is instrumental towards the full conversion of the world, when it not only knows the Christ (does not simply believe), but also knows living Christians in their dignity: and didst love them, as Thou didst love Me.
Joh_17:24. That which (they whom) Thou hast given Me, I will, etc. [πατήρ, ὃ—comprehending all believers as one gift of the Father to the Son (text. rec. οὕς)—δέδωκάς μοι, δέλωἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, κἀκεῖνοι ὦσιν μετ’ἐμοῦ, ἵνα θεωο ῶσιν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἐμήν, ἣν δέδωκάς μοι, ὅτι, κ.τ.λ.]—The declaration θέλω must certainly not be referred to the following ἵνα; it is absolute. Since He has not now to ask for that which the Father has already given Him, θέλω is neither a prayer (Kuinoel), nor a desire (Beza, etc.), nor a petitioning in the consciousness of His ἐξουσία (Meyer), which would contain a certain contradiction, but the familiar communication of His wish from this time to assume possession of that which has been given Him. I will have them, i.e., have them with Me, those whom Thou hast given Me, i.e., with the ascension of Christ, the goal of perfected believers should be with Him in heaven (see Joh_14:1 ff.) [The θέλω (volo, not velim, which is too weak, comp. Mar_6:25; Mar_10:35) and the corresponding verses have, as it were, the solemn tone of a testamentary act. Bengel: Rogat Jesus cum jure, et postulat cum fiducia, ut Filius, non ut servus. Alford: θέλω is an expression of will, founded on acknowledged right; Comp. διατίθεμαι, Luk_22:29.—P. S.]
That where I am, etc. Not the subject matter of a petition, but the consequence of a familiar expression of will. Be it observed that the prayer of Christ from this point does not issue in a human doxology of God, but in a divine dialogue with the Father. In the presentiment of His heavenly stand-point, He takes possession of them as objects bestowed by the Father. 1. They shall be with Him, where He is, in heaven (Meyer says here again: in the Parousia); 2. they shall see His glory which the Father has given Him. Of course this includes a participation in the same (Meyer; see Rom_8:18; Rom_8:29). This latter admission, however, not to the preclusion of the fact that the beholding of Christ’s glory does especially constitute their bliss (Olshausen). Luther: We should let this utterance be our soul’s pillow and bed of down, and with joyful heart resort thereunto when the sweet hour of rest is at hand.—Because Thou didst love Me (comp. Joh_17:5). [ὅτιἠγάπησάςμεπρὸκαταβολῆςκόσμου].—Here, without doubt, as in Joh_17:5, the subject treated of is not simply the divine, but the divine-human δόξα of Christ in His state of exaltation; and, correspondingly, it is not a question merely of the trinitarian love of the Father for the Son, but of the eternal complacency of God in Christ in anticipation of His good conduct, in which complacency God appointed Him this state of exaltation. (Meyer). Comp. Eph_1:19; Php_2:6 ff.
Joh_17:25. Righteous Father! [πάτερ δίκαιε, καὶ ὁ κόσμος. See Text. Note.] Two difficulties present themselves here; first the accosting of the Father with δίκαιε, secondly the καί before ὁ κόσμος. Δίκαιος appears again in John as a predicate of God, 1Jn_1:9. It there denotes a graciously recompensing righteousness. For our passage, however, the preceding saying, Joh_16:10, is decisive: In respect of righteousness, that I go to the Father It is agreeable to the righteousness of God and Christ that a separation should be made betwixt the perfected Christ and this present world in its blindness,—that Christ should be exalted to heaven. For the world has not known God, either in His general revelation through nature and history, or in the mission of Christ; neither does it know Him now in the judgment wherein it is judged of God even whilst it judges His Christ, whereby Christ consequently bears the judgment of the world. Christ, however, even as Man, has known Him in His whole revelation; finally, He has known and understood Him in the present coming upon Him of the judgment of retributive justice. Therefore He confides in that righteousness as one that rewards also, that shall translate Him to heaven. But because the disciples also have known that He was sent from God, and thereby have begun to know the righteousness of God, they too belong on His side; after they have performed His work in the world, they must come to Him into His heaven. “The work of divine (and divine-human) holiness (Joh_17:11) would otherwise fail of its final consummation and manifestation” (Meyer). The manifestation of pure holiness shall be sealed in the manifestation of pure righteousness. But because Christ confides Himself to the Father in His punitively retributive righteousness, He likewise trusts Him in His remunerative righteousness; this latter, in establishing the antithesis between heaven and earth, becomes in its turn a divider.
Hence the antithesis: καί, δέ,—differently interpreted by different commentators:
1. As forming an antithesis to what precedes: Righteous Father, Thou art righteous, Thou givest such good things, and yet the world hath, etc. (Chrysostom, Meyer, Luthardt).
2. As drawing a deduction from the foregoing in a predestinarian sense: Quia justus es, ideo te non cognovit mundus (after Augustine, Lampe).
3. As announcing a subsequent antithesis: On the one side, on the other side (Heumann, Lücke, Tholuck). This grammatical construction of καί, δέ is combated by Meyer,—with reason justified by Tholuck. Yet we
4. Hold the antithesis to be not yet adjusted by the preceding view. He glances back upon the former antithesis: Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. This contrast of the eternal Christ to the upright world constitutes the first motive for His exaltation above the world. To it there is now added the second corresponding contrast, that the sinful world has also not known the righteous Father, whilst He has known Him thoroughly.
Joh_17:26. And I made known to them Thy name [καὶ ἐγνώ ρισα αὐτοῖς τὸ ό́νομἀ σου καὶ γνωρίσω, ἵνα, κ.τ.λ.].—The first motive for the elevation of believers to a participation in His heavenly glory, was that they had believed in Christ’s mission from God. This is continued in the second, viz., that He has made known unto them the Father’s name and will still make it known until the perfect revelation of it in glory. To these the third is added: the love of God for the Son must also be in them, Christ Himself being thereby in them, (through the Holy Ghost) [ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη, ἣνἠγάπησάς με, ἑν αὐτοῖς ᾖ κἀγὼ ἐναὐ τοῖς]. That is, they must be utterly lifted up to Christ in order to be perfected in the communion of the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (see 2Pe_1:4). Luther: That we may know the Father’s heart, now set before us through the Word, afterwards, in that life, to be openly beheld.
[Κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς, I in them, with all the fulness of My love and the Father’s love: this is the last and most appropriate word of this sublime prayer, and as Stier says, “a better seal than any doxology or Amen.” The prayer was richly answered in the experience of the apostles; nothing could separate them from the love of Christ (Rom_8:39), and Christ ever remained with them and in them by His Spirit, and will remain with believers to the end, their strength and comfort and peace.—P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On the high valuation set upon this Prayer in the Church, see the Introductory Remarks. Comp. Heubner, p. 482; Besser, on John, chap. 17. As prominent works upon the seventeenth chapter,—works important at once for their bearing upon doctrinal ground-questions, and upon homiletics, we must mention: Freylinghausen, The Sacerdotal Prayer of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ; twenty-six public Meditations upon it, as contained in the seventeenth chapter of St. John. Halle, 1719. Again: The Sacerdotal Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, twenty Meditations, by Dr. Schmieder, Hamburg, Agency of the Rough House, 1848. Meditations of great worth, preceded also by an exceedingly momentous treatise upon theosophy and its relation to theology and orthodoxy. A full list of older theological and homiletical writings, see in Lilienthal’s Bibl. Archivarius der heil. Schriften Neuen Testaments, p. 335. Among the works here mentioned, A. H. Francke’s Meditations upon the Sacerdotal Prayer are worthy of note; also I. I. Ulrich in Zurich: The Spiritual Aaron (48 Sermons). [A long list of English sermons and treatises on John 17 see in Darling’s Cyclop. Bibl., Ι. 1147 ff. A. W. Tyler gives the Greek text with a critical digest and translation in the Andover Biblioth. Sacra for April, 1871, pp. 323–333.—P. S.]
2. The High-priestly Prayer is high-priestly not merely because of its being the intercession of Christ for His entire kingdom of God, but also on account of its consummation of the sacrifice of Christ, His offering up of Himself, Joh_17:5; Joh_17:13, and especially Joh_17:19. At the same time, however, it is also a prophetic prayer, in that, seizing upon the principal periods and stages, it sketches and announces with divine certitude the entire progress of the kingdom of God in development. None the less is it kingly; conscious of His internal victory over the world, and believing in the consequences of this victory, Christ transports Himself, not to the stand-point of the Last Day or of the Ascension-Day, but to that of the deliverance upon Golgotha: It is finished. This royal feature of the Sacerdotal Prayer appears especially conspicuous in Joh_17:24. On the Sacerdotal Prayer, comp. also the ingenious words of Braune, p. 388; Stier, Words of the Lord Jesus, and others. We have still to direct attention to the fact that all doctrinal ideas find their expression here in the vivid representation of the march of the kingdom of God in development. The Trinity (the doctrine of the Spirit, though receding in the letter, advances all the more in point of fact), the divinity of Christ, the ideal foundation of the world. The lapse of the ungodly world into the power of Satan. The active obedience of Christ. His sacrifice. The completion of His work. The sending of His apostles. The form of the true Church in her unity. The gradual progress of the kingdom of God. The goal of the glorification of God in the eternal blessedness or heavenly glory of men.
3. If the decided self-offering of Christ in this Prayer be understood, a species of relapse into unclear reasoning or arbitrary imagining could alone render possible the assumption that Jesus did, in Gethsemane, call in question this offering or pray for an averting of death; as, similarly, it would evidence a want of exact Christologico-ethical thought to suppose that by the anticipation of the Passover Christ could have accelerated His death-journey by a whole day, thus wilfully forsaking the divine path and order prescribed through the law. On Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane, see Comm. on Matthew.
4. Out of Christ’s divinely rich prayer-life there emerge, as from an ocean, the pearls of those single prayers of His that are preserved to us: The prayer given in the Sermon on the Mount for the use of His people—Our Father; the ascription of praise to God at the departure from Galilee (Mat_11:25); the prayers at the grave of Lazarus, and within the precincts of the temple; our high-priestly prayer; the supplication in Gethsemane, and the prayer-words of the Crucified One—Father, forgive them—Eli, Eli—and the closing prayer, Father, into Thy hands, etc., to which the exultant cry, It is finished, attaches itself, inasmuch as from one point of view it may be regarded as a word of prayer. Add to these the mentions of the prayings, the thanksgivings, the heavenward sighings of Christ, as also His summonses and encouragements to prayer, and He appears as the Prince of humanity even in the realm of prayer; in the manner, likewise, in which He has concealed His prayer-life, exhibiting it only as there was necessity for its presentment. If we regard His work as a tree that towers into heaven and overshadows the world, His prayer-life is the root of this tree; His overcoming of the world rests upon the infinite depth of His self-presentation before God, His self-devotion to God, His, self-immersion in God, His self-certitude and power from God. In His prayer-life, the perfect truth of His human nature has also approved itself. The same who, as the Son of God, is complete revelation, is, as the Son of Man, complete religion.
5. The glorification of God through Christ, the redemption of the world. Christ distinguishes (a) that glorification of the Father which He has already accomplished (Joh_17:4); b the glorification of His own Person, now following thereupon (Joh_17:5), and (c) that which the latter glorification is to be instrumental in producing, the glorification of the Father in the Holy Ghost, which is also an actual glorification of the Holy Ghost. Glorification here is manifestly a presentation in the glory peculiar to the Glorified One, the glory κατ’ ἐξοχήν, i.e. the unlimited power and appearing of the Spirit,—in accordance with the idea of Christ’s life. Glory is realized ideal beauty; the radiant exhibition of the dominion of the one Spirit in the rich, developed fulness of personal life. Now if the glorification of God and Christ be the redemption of humanity, it follows that this redemption is likewise the foundation of its glorification, and appropriated redemption the germ of glorification (the Spirit of glory, 1Pe_4:14; the earnest of glory, Eph_1:14; Rom_8:29-30). The most definite conception of this glorification appears Php_3:21. If the vile—perishable—body be glorified as such, it is exempted from the creatural conditions of transitoriness, redeemed from a beginning and end in temporality, that pursuant to its eternal idea, it may, as a dislimited organ of the spirit, circle in infinitude as in itself. In the case of the perishable body, the ocean of air that seeks to absorb man, infinitely predominates at last over the canal of rejuvenating vital power that flows toward him; the earthly vital root ever languishes more and more. The body, when glorified, shall, above all things, be endowed with an endless faculty of rejuvenescence.
6. It corresponds to the idea of glorification that that dynamical and personal view of the world which is peculiar to Christianity in general and which is brought out with especial force in the Gospel of St. John, should appear in our chapter in its finished splendor. In Christ, the Apostles are dynamically comprehended; He is their Root and their Stem; in the Apostles, all future believers are dynamically comprehended (Rev_21:14); these, again comprehend the whole Church, and in the Church the whole world is dynamically comprehended. What is matter here, compared with the personal life of Christ? Before this noble “visage” (Angesichte) the whole “weight of the world” (Weltgewichte) vanisheth. And because this view of the world is so dynamical, it is on that very account not merely a view of the world, but also a grasping and overcoming of the world (see Eph_1:19 ff.). Absolute-dynamical—that, however, means at the same time absolute-personal. The worth and import of the personal life here appear in full light. The glorification of the Father, the restoration of His personal glory on which the whole kingdom of love is founded, is the issue and root of the whole work of redemption,—His name. Now the Son is glorified in His redeeming personality; then the personal life of the Apostles develops itself, and the all (the πᾶν) which the Father has given Christ, unfolds itself in the most definite πάντες, to whom Christ gives eternal life. And these (the πάντες) arrive at complete unity and oneness just on account of their attaining complete personal articulation and self-distinction. Unsanctified individuals mingle themselves together without discipline and restraint in the same degree in which, as foes, they fall out; and religious denominations, also, loosely vibrate pell-mell into one another, in like measure as they abruptly fluctuate asunder. In their eccentric onesidedness they pitch into the onesidedness, of an opposite denomination, instead of cultivating their peculiar charisma in clear articulation. The highest union in the kingdom of personal life is at once the highest self-distinction; and the converse also holds true. The dynamical kingdom, as the kingdom of absolute life, is the personal kingdom as the kingdom of light, and both, because it is the kingdom of love. Christ prays for the manifestation and consummation of the kingdom of love.
7. The world, in her disunity, is Babel; the Church of unity is the eternal, ideal Zion; the Holy Ghost is the Mediator of this union. One Body and one Spirit. See also Eph_4:13.
8. For the rest, we can but indicate the wealth of fundamental thoughts in this chapter, referring, in so doing, to the Exegetical and Critical division. These captions may, at the same time, serve as homiletical hints: Joh_17:1. Glorification of prayer: Prayer a fruit of true meditation and preaching.—Glorification of time: The hour of decision is at hand.—Christianity the glorification of Christ.—Christ’s glorification the glorification of God (in del gloriam).
Joh_17:2. Christ’s power over all flesh is to be developed in the bestowal of eternal life upon all persons.—The flesh, purified, shall in its turn develop into fair personalities.
Joh_17:3. Trusting knowledge is faith; cognitive, personal knowledge is love; perfected, seeing knowledge is the felicity of the blessed; in all stages, however, it is life eternal, in respect of the beginning, progress and consummation of the same. It is agreeable to the idea of personal knowledge that we know God and Christ (distinctively) as well as God through Christ (Father and Son in their unity).—The divinity of Christ, and His humanity as the manifestation of that divinity.
Joh_17:4. It is finished; Here the: “It is finished,” of the cross, is ideally included; but as the sealing of the work of Christ; while the mortal passion of Christ comes under consideration particularly as the work of the Father.
Joh_17:5. The preexistence of Christ. The self-divestment of Christ. The status exaltationis of the divine-human Christ. Christ, before the foundation of the world, the principle of its foundation, its Alpha and Omega.
Joh_17:6. The Gospel a manifestation of the supreme name. The election of the disciples: a. Eternal, b. conditioned (they have kept His word), c. elected for the good of the world.
Joh_17:7. Christianity alone pure, full, entire theism. Theism must be regenerated into Christianity, Christianity must discover itself in its theistic ideality.
Joh_17:8. The complete life in the life-words of Christ.
Joh_17:9. Dynamical importance of the Apostles. The Apostles the pure medium of the conversion of the world. The effect of Christ’s work conditioned by its ideal and dynamic concentration.
Joh_17:10. All that is Mine is Thine: The holiness of Christ. All that is Thine, is Mine: His glory. Christ’s glorification in the Apostles, the foundation of His glorification for the world. (Luther says it is easier to say: All Mine is Thine, than the converse: All Thine is Mine. But only Christ could, in the ethical sense, say: All Mine is Thine).
Joh_17:11. Christ’s feeling of victory hovering over the world. His going to the Father pure intercession. The care of the Perfected One in the other world for the unperfected in this world. The preservation of the disciples a work of God’s holiness. The strength of their preservation: His name. The purpose: Unity; personal kingdom of love.
Joh_17:12. Direct, and temporarily mediated Providence. Christ, Providence become visible. Providence and freedom. The lost son and divine dispensation.
Joh_17:13. The consolation of Christ’s intercession the impulse of His people to prayer, even to the life of the Spirit, of perfect joy.
Joh_17:14. At the word of God, the hatred of the ungodly world is developed.
Joh_17:15 The Christian’s renunciation of the world no flight from it, but a stand in it in order to the overcoming of it.
Joh_17:16. Separation from the world, as the cause of the world’s hatred, the common mark of Christ and Christians.
Joh_17:17. The real ordination of the disciples of Jesus: 1. Through the truth; 2. in the word; 3. as an act of God.
Joh_17:18. Their mission: 1. From Christ; 2. through Christ from God; 3. like Christ from God.
Joh_17:19. The foundation of the entire Apostolic mission, of the entire Church, is the self-sacrifice of Christ.
Joh_17:20. From the prayer of Christ on His own behalf there proceeded the petition for the disciples, from that the intercession for the whole body of the faithful.
Joh_17:21. The whole Christian life characterized in accordance with its design: 1. As oneness; 2. like the oneness of the Father and Christ; 3. through oneness in God and Christ.—The glory of the triune God in the communion of the faithful. The unity of the Church: the conversion of the world to the faith.
Joh_17:22. And the foundation of the glory of Christians. The glory of all Christians but one glory in the glory of Christ. Giving and embellished receiving again in giving, is the richness of life in the personal kingdom of love.
Joh_17:23. The glory of Christians, the leading of the world unto knowledge.
Joh_17:24. The completion of the manifestation of glory in the heavenly kingdom. The foundation of the heavenly kingdom. Its appearing at the end of time grounded, before the beginning of time, in the love of God to the Son. The reception of the inheritance on the part, of the Son.
Joh_17:25. The knowableness of God: 1. Simply unknowable for the world in its ungodliness; 2. conditionally knowable and known for the disciples in the beginnings of their life and faith; 3. absolutely knowable and known of Christ; this knowledge the goal of Christians, 1Co_13:12. The steps of this knowledge are at once the steps of the kingdom of love and eternal life (see Joh_17:3).
Joh_17:26. The consummation of the kingdom, a consummation in love through the consummate proclamation of the name of God. The great Epiphany. The perfected kingdom of love also the appearing of the imperishable beauty or glory.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
For details see the foregoing Doctrinal and Ethical Thoughts. Upon the whole Prayer: The prayer of Christ as high-priestly.—As Messianic: prophetic, high-priestly and kingly at once.—The prayer for the consummation of the kingdom of heaven as a prayer for the consummation of the revelation of the Trinity: 1. The kingdom of the triune God; 2. the triune life in power (δύναμις), light (ideality) and love (personality: giving and receiving); 3. the three stepping-stones in the conversion of the world (believing on Christ, knowing Christ, knowing Christians); 4. the triple consummation: holiness, righteousness, glory.—The prayer of Christ: 1. For Himself; 2. for the disciples; 3. for believers generally (indirectly an intercession for the world, which shall be swallowed up by the kingdom of believers).—Heaven’s foundation upon the righteousness of God.—The three sections singly. Christ’s petition for Himself, etc.—The aim of the kingdom of love: salvation in the praise of God’s name.
Starke: Luther: The sum and cause of this chapter is as follows: a good sermon calls for a good prayer; that is, when a man has given utterance to the word, he should begin to groan and earnestly to entreat, that it may have strength and produce fruit. I know not how strong in spirit others may be, but, let me be never so learned and full of genius, I cannot grow so holy as to gather devotion for prayer without hearing and handling the word of God,—Zeisius: Heart and eyes should simultaneously be raised to heaven.—Christian, if thou wouldst succeed in all that thou doest, set about each act with hearty prayer and end thus too.—Cramer: God is a hidden God; had Christ not come into the world, He had remained a hidden God, but because Christ hath glorified and revealed Him, we can know God clearly in the Son.—Power denotes, in general, such power as is associated with right; in particular, it is employed in the sense of power to rule; hence magistrates are often called powers, 1Co_15:24; Eph_1:21; Eph_3:10; Col_1:16; Dan_7:14; see also Mat_28:18; Rev_12:10.—Canstein: Whoso will not submit himself to Christ in the obedience of faith, to his everlasting salvation, is subjected to His power to everlasting perdition.—Hedinger: Christ the fountain of life; thirst for that fountain!—Ibid.: Mark the chief ground of felicity, Isa_53:11; 1Co_13:12; 1Jn_3:2.—Nova Bibl.: If Jesus Himself had, in the redemption, no other final purpose than the honor and glorification of His Father, how much rather and more justly is it said concerning believers: Whatsoever ye do, either in word or deed, etc., Col_3:17.—Quesnel: God glorifies in heaven those who glorify Him on earth.—Hedinger: Christ was faithful in His Father’s house (Heb_3:2), having kept back nothing from us.—Quesnel: Christ will have no servants in the ministry of the word but those whom His Father has elected thereunto and presented to Him for His own.—Canstein: Our election to eternal life is something hidden in God; yet we may know it if we lay hold on Christ in true faith, perseveringly continuing therein.—Ibid.: The fellowship of believers gives a Christian the comfort and encouragement of knowing, when the devil assaults him, that he (the devil) is laying hold not, on one finger but on the whole spiritual body of Christ, i.e. all the Christians in the world, nay, God and Christ Themselves.—How wonderful is it that Jesus, standing upon the threshold of His Passion, was yet overwhelmed with joy at the contemplation of the joy of those who were the cause of all His griefs! O how great is the strength of His love!—The hatred of the world is a genuine mark of a true. Christian.—Preachers who, after the perverse fashion of the world, join in everything that is going on and are consequently favorites everywhere, are of no account.—Zeisius: Believing Christians, though in the world, are not of the world; they have not its mind, ways, habits, are not on the same footing with it; they possess the mind of Christ and follow His example alone.—Hedinger: It is necessary for us to suffer in the world so long as we are able, and in duty bound, to be useful; God will call us away; we must not, in vexation and self-will, wish our own lives away.—We must recognize life in the world to be a benefit and be occupied in serving the world as long as we live.—Zeisius: A child of God, as long as he is in the world, is in peril of being seduced by it; hence praying and watching are highly necessary.—Believers must be crucified to the world and the world must be crucified to them, in imitation of Christ.—Zeisius: The dignity and bliss of believers is great. How great, is not discoverable here, but when it shall appear, it will be manifest that they are like the Lord.
Gerlach: We do not merely receive eternal life through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; this knowledge itself is life, is possession of the highest good. For this is not the shadowy knowledge of the sense sundered from the substance; it is the union of the knowing and the Known, in which, therefore, light, life and love unite.—As the Father and Son have been distinct from eternity and yet are One through the eternal Spirit of love, who proceedeth from both, so God hath, by the Son, created a world full of contrasts which His Spirit continually transfigureth into a glorious unity in love. Sin hath banished this harmonizing Spirit from man, hath perverted the contrasts into contradictions and rent men one from the other, as from God. But the work of Jesus Christ, the completion of His redemption, is that the Father’s unity with the incarnate Son becometh a unity wherein the whole human race that believeth on the Son, is one with the Father.—This “sanctifying” of Christ’s, therefore, embraces His whole active and passive obedience: the sacrifice of His will and the guilt-offering of His holy humanity laden with the sin of the world; by this sacrifice all of believing humanity is sanctified unto God as a sacrifice.—Jesus prays for future believers also, to the end that these may, with His then existing disciples, form one communion in holy love. With these words, the Lord declares the whole essence of His Church on earth. He came to restore unity to the disrupted human race, by means of their reconciliation to God.—This is a beholding whereby the beholder becometh one with the Beheld (1Jn_3:2-3), whereby the glory of the Lord doth itself pass into him.
Lisco: Because it is the vocation of the disciples to diffuse heavenly life on earth, they may not live retired from the world, or, still less, quit it already by death; the more needful, therefore, is it that they should be preserved from all evil in the world.
Braune: He who prays is not merely an artist erecting a monument to the grace of God; he is, at the same time, a work of art—the monument itself. Thus here the Redeemer who hath restored the image of God in humanity and doth restore it as the High Priest and Sacrifice of mankind.—The Prayer linked itself to His discourses. It is necessary for a good sermon to conclude with a good prayer. First Christ spake of God to His disciples; now He talketh of them to the Father. In this prayer is summed up that which the preceding discourses had unfolded.—Thither He raised His eyes, whither He would be taken by God.—The hour of suffering obscured Him in the eyes of those who looked upon Him as one tormented and stricken by God, and in the sight of His most faithful adherents. But He was confident that the Father would glorify the Son, would take Him to Himself, would give Him the glory of exalted efficacy.—In the world, unbelief and superstition had covered the Father’s name with darkness. Out of that obscurity, the gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaimed in the power of the Spirit, should draw it forth into the true light.—In the beginning, the life of men was light; they, however, stretched forth their hands beyond life to grasp the light of knowledge; they desired to know, without being; to possess the knowledge of God without divine life. This is the old sin, new even to this day. Thus acting, they lost life and light. But now, through the light of truth, fragmentarily offered them in the Word of life, they should regain life.—Yea, a mind to do the will of God, helps a man to a clear knowledge of the truth that Christ and His doctrine are of God. Therefore despise no piety or fear of God, even though as yet they be not Christian.—“Heart and heart at one together.” [Herz und Herz vereint zusammen,—one of the best hymns of Zinzendorf, based on this chapter.—P. S.]—“That, in sooth, is a true heavenly ladder, that rests upon earth, but whose top reaches to heaven, nay, to the throne of God, as the place where is the greatest unity. We, however, must not begin at the top, but must make sure of the first steps—we must see that we are first born anew of God through the word of truth, and thus become one with God and His life” (Rieger).
Gossner: Now the death-pass must be crossed. There Thou must crown Thy Son with honor and glory, that Thou mayest be praised and magnified in Him.—He giveth this life unto all whom the Father giveth Him, i.e., all who, drawn by the Father, sundered from the world by preventing grace, suffer themselves to be attracted unto Him, and turn to Him in faith.—We have it from the mouth of Jesus that this, to know the Father and Him, is heaven on earth.—Hence, we have to teach men to know Jesus Christ; for the name of God is in Him, in Him dwelleth all fulness.—He saith: “I have finished my course,” etc.; let come now what will. So it is with he day’s work that is given a man,—whereunto a man is destined from his mother’s womb. That is not cut short; though the pleasure of seeing its blessed results be something bated, the grand work to which the Saviour hath called a man, suffereth no retrenchment.—Almost all preachers, even the better sort, make of Christ a mere Teacher and Servant who bides outside of us, who does but teach us what is good; they do not say that He is to rule within us and Himself work good works in us.—“In Thy name have I kept them,” says He. It is a bad thing for a shepherd to keep the flock in his own name only, as somewhat belonging to him, to his own glory, through his strength, and not as property entrusted to his care by God, and to God’s glory, through God’s grace and strength.—He hath left us perfect joy, and that His own. Thereby shall the work of sanctification be perfected in us, as David saith: Let the glad Spirit keep me; continue grace unto me.—Happy is he who knows that it is better to be hated by the world and loved by Christ, than to be loved by the world and rejected by Christ.—Christians, says Macarius, are children of another world, of the heavenly Adam, a new race, children of the Holy Ghost, of light, brothers of Christ; they are not of this world.—The “as I” can mean nothing else than that we too should be crucified to the world and the world to us, like Jesus, like Paul, like all true followers of Christ.—The word must sanctify us; it divides everything like a two-edged sword, and Satan, in his servants, is always seeking to make it a secondary affair, or to hustle it out of the way altogether.
Joh_17:18. Men appeal in vain to these words of Christ and to the divine authority of their office, in support of their claim to be respected and heard like Christ, unless they are anointed by Christ, filled with His Spirit and the fulness of God, blessed, called and sent by Him, as He was sent by the Father, by means of an internal mission and anointing, not simply by outward calling and installation.—Who is not glad that Christ prayed for him before his Passion, in His high-priestly prayer? And He is always heard.—The highest pattern of unity is in heaven, between Father and Son, the copy is on earth.
Joh_17:21. The case stands thus: every Christian must believe himself into Christ as deeply as if he were Christ. This constitutes everything, this constitutes faith, it constitutes all deeds, the walk, the virtues.
Heubner: The Father’s cause was tarnished by the fall; Satan could rejoice at having seduced mankind; what had become of God’s purpose in the creation? The Son came as Redeemer and put God’s enemy to shame and made God glorious. The highest aim is to glorify God; he who does nothing towards that end, does nought.—Christ is Lord of the human race; He hath unlimited power and authority over it: far more than didactic authority. This authority, however, is for the good of men: Christ is to employ His power in making them happy.—All things that Thou hast given Me, My doctrine, My miraculous powers. To consider this all that was in Christ as of divine origin, is to believe on Christ.—Gradual progress to faith: Instruction, or external preaching, favorable reception, true knowledge, i.e., heartfelt knowledge, the result of experience and the power of the Spirit.—Holy Father; How can a Christian ear endure that this holiest of all titles should be given to a sinful man.—All joy, all felicity, is finally reduced, in respect of its deepest element, to love; from love flows joy. Hell is joyless because it is loveless.—Christ’s prayer repudiates the foolish desire for exemption from the trials and conflicts of this world. It would indeed be by far the more comfortable thing to be transported at once to heavenly bliss, without a battle. Christ might thus have taken the Apostles immediately to heaven with Him. But how then would they have become Christ’s Apostles? how would the world have been converted? how would they have been able, without labor, without conflict, without victory, to enjoy happiness in heaven? It likewise follows that the Essenic, Ascetic course is not the true one.—In Thy truth. 1. Through the truth: the Word of God is the means of sanctification; 2. in accordance with Thy truth: the Word of God is the rule of sanctification; 3. consecrate them to Thy truth: to the vocation of witnessing for the truth.—How does this prayer shame cold Christians! The Lord thought of the coming generations, and they think too little of Him.—There is but one Apostolic Christianity, and none beside; whoso will not have that, has none.—That unity of the Father and Son is, therefore, not simply a type, but a true and effective cause, of the oneness of Christians. They, belonging to the Father and the Son, united to the Father through the Son, remain one. As the children of one Father, united to Him through the First-born, they repose on a sure foundation of unity.—If the Church of Christ stood forth as a harmonious community of brethren, where nought but order, love and peace ruled, it would be so unique a phenomenon in our egotistical world that every one would be forced to acknowledge that here was a divine work, and to see in it the government of a higher Spirit, namely, the Spirit of Christ. All doubts as to, and accusations against, Christianity must perforce hold their peace.—The world knoweth Thee not; it has no idea that there is an ocean of love in God. Nevertheless, that does not do away with the love.
Besser: There, on the holy mount, His countenance shone as the sun; here His soul shineth like the sun, His soul beameth like a calm, majestic light.—“It being certain that they are Mine and that I am their Lord, Master and Saviour, it is also certain and beyond doubt that they are Thine, nay, Thine not only now, but Thine from the begining, and that they come unto Me through Thee” (Luther).—“The Father the Root, Christ the Stem, the Holy Ghost the Sap, believers the branches that draw the Sap unto themselves, the Christian life the fruit of one Tree of the holy church” (Gerhard).—Freylinghausen: The above-cited Meditations of Gerhard are furnished with an exceedingly significant frontispiece in two divisions. Above is the picture of the Old Testament high-priest burning incense at the altar of incense; underneath are the words: Which is a shadow of things to come. Beneath, a picture of the high-priestly praying Christ, surrounded by His disciples, with the inscription: But the body itself (the substance) is in Christ, Col_2:17.
Schmieder, in the Introduction to his Meditations, depicts the solemn repose of the full moonlit night-heavens, up to which Christ, praying, gazed,—and the solemn repose in His soul. He is the High-priest who maketh us priests.—The fellowship of Jesus with the Father was a relationship appearing in Him simultaneously with His self-consciousness.—The hour. It is exceedingly noteworthy how Jesus, for everything that is to happen, knows, defines, and chooses time and hour—even that very instant to which the event belongs. (Entirely correct; being sensible of His eternity, He is sensible of His moment; the following is a fundamental thought of the Preacher Solomon: All is vain, for the reason that men in their vanity no longer have a perception of the moment, agreeably to the truth that everything has its time.)—Thus He invariably does and suffers that which is proper for each hour.—Glorification is the complete revelation of a form of life either abstractly or relatively perfect. A bud is glorified when it bursts its envelope and comes forth a flower.—The Son must earn this dominion which the Father has given Him, in order that it may be as truly His own as it is a gift from the Father. For all dominion is real autocracy so far only as it is acquired by individual prowess.—As the Father, in His Divine Kingdom, fills all the Divine Persons, being wholly in each One, and working in the Divine House that rules in eternal, creative joy, so Jesus would be and work in all men who are saved by Him, whom the Father has given Him, to the end that His joy may be perfect in them. And together with Him, the love in which the Father loves Him shall be in them (i.e., the fellowship in the blessedness of God, the divine heritage of Christ’s co-heirs).
[Craven: from Hilary: Joh_17:3. To know the only true God is life, but this alone does not constitute life: What else then is added? And Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
Joh_17:21. Unity is recommended by the great example of unity.—Augustine: Joh_17:1. Our Lord, in the form of a servant, could have prayed in silence had He pleased; but He remembered that He had not only to pray, but to teach.—Father, the hour is come, shows that all time, and everything that He did or suffered to be done, was at His disposing, who is not subject to time.—Father, the hour is come, glorify Thy Son; the hour is come for sowing the seed, humility; defer not the fruit, glory.—The Son glorified the Father, when the Gospel of Christ spread the knowledge of the Father among the Gentiles.—Glory was defined among the ancients to be fame accompanied with praise.—When sight has made our faith truth, then eternity shall take possession of, and displace, our mortality.
Joh_17:11. That they may be one, as We are: That they may be one in their nature, as We are one in Ours.—As the Father and the Son are one not only by equality of substance, but also in will, so they, between God and whom the Son is Mediator, may be one not only by the union of nature, but by the union of love.
Joh_17:13. He says He spoke in the world, though He had just now said, I am no more in the world: inasmuch as He had not yet departed, He was still here; and inasmuch as He was going to depart, He was, in a certain sense, not here.,
Joh_17:17. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thus were they to be kept from the evil.
Joh_17:19. That they also might be sanctified through the truth, i.e., in Me; inasmuch as the Word is truth, in which the Son of man was sanctified from the time that the Word was made flesh.
Joh_17:21. They are in us and we in Them, so as that they are one in Their nature, we one in ours: they are in us, as God is in the temple; we in Them, as the creature is in its Creator.—Is not this unity, that peace eternal which is the reward of faith, rather than faith itself?
Joh_17:23. That they may be made perfect in one; the reconciliation made by this Mediator, was carried on even to the enjoyment of everlasting blessedness.—As long as we believe what we do not see, we are not yet made perfect, as we shall be when we have merited to see what we believe.—And hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me; There is no reason for God’s loving His members, but that He loves Him; but since He hateth nothing that He hath made, who can adequately express how much He loves the members of His Only Begotten Son, and still more the Only Begotten Himself?
Joh_17:24. It was not enough for Him to say, I will that they may be where I am, but He adds, with Me: to be with Him is the great good; even the miserable can be where He is, but only the happy can be with Him—as a blind man, though he is where the light is, yet is not himself with the light, but is absent from it in its presence, so not only the unbelieving, but the believing, though they cannot be where Christ is not, yet are not themselves with Christ by sight.—That they may behold; He says, not, that they may believe; it is the reward of faith which He speaks of, not faith itself.
Joh_17:25. What is it to know Him, but eternal life, which He gave not to a condemned but to a reconciled world? For this reason the [condemned] world hath not known Thee; because Thou art just, and hast punished them with this ignorance of Thee; and for this reason the reconciled world knows Thee, because Thou art merciful, and hast vouchsafed this knowledge, not in consequence of their merits, but of Thy grace.
Joh_17:26. And I in them; He is in us as in His temple; we in Him as our Head.—From Chrysostom: Joh_17:1. Our Lord turns from admonition to prayer; thus teaching us in our tribulations to abandon all other things, and flee to God.—He lifted up His eyes to heaven to teach us intentness in our prayers: that we should stand with uplifted eyes, not of the body only, but of the mind.
Joh_17:9. I pray for them: As the disciples were still sad in spite of all our Lord’s consolations, henceforth He addresses Himself to the Father, to show the love which He had for them; He not only gives them what He has of His own, but entreats another for them, as a still further proof of His love.
Joh_17:14. Again, our Lord gives a reason why the disciples are worthy of obtaining such favor from the Father; I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them; i.e., they are had in hatred for Thy sake, and on account of Thy word.
Joh_17:15. Keep them from the evil: i.e. not from dangers only, but from falling away from the faith.
Joh_17:16. They are not of the world; because they have nothing in common with earth, they are made citizens of heaven.
Joh_17:17. Sanctify them in Thy truth; i.e. make them holy, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and sound doctrines: for sound doctrines give knowledge of God, and sanctify the soul.—Thy word is truth, i.e., there is in it no lie, nor anything typical, or bodily.—Sanctify them in Thy truth, may mean, separate them for the ministry of the word, and preaching.
Joh_17:19. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, i.e., I offer myself as a sacrifice to Thee; for all sacrifices, and things that are offered to God, are called holy [sanctified].—That they also may be sanctified through the truth, i.e., for I make them too an oblation to Thee; either meaning that He who was offered up was their Head, or that they would be offered up too; as the Apostle saith, Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy.
Joh_17:20. Another ground of consolation to, them, that they were to be the cause of the salvation of others.
Joh_17:21. For there is no scandal so great as division, whereas unity amongst believers is a great argument for believing; for if they quarrel, they will not be looked on as the disciples of a peace-making Master.
Joh_17:22. By glory He means miracles, and doctrines, and unity; which last is the greatest glory.——From Bede: Joh_17:6. And they have kept Thy word; He calls Himself the Word of the Father, because the Father by Him created all things, and because He contains in Himself all words; as if to say, they have committed Me to memory so well, that they never will forget Me: Or, they have believed in Me:
Joh_17:15. Keep them from the evil: every evil, but especially the evil of schism.——From Theophylact: Joh_17:25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: as if to say, I would wish that all men obtained these good things which I have asked for the believing; but inasmuch as they have not known Thee, they shall not obtain the glory and crown.
[From Burkitt: Chap. 17. If any part of Scripture be to be magnified above another, this chapter claims the pre-eminence; it contains the breathings out of Christ’s soul for His Church and children before His departure; not for His disciples only, but for the succeeding Church to the end of the world.
Joh_17:1. These words spake Jesus: that is, after He had finished His excellent sermon, He closes the exercise with a most fervent and affectionate prayer; teaching His ministers to add solemn prayer to all their instructions and exhortations.—He lifted up His eyes to heaven: The gestures which we use in prayer should be such as may express our reverence of God, and denote our affiance and trust in Him.—It is very sweet and comfortable in prayer, when we can come and call God Father.—The hour is come: that is, The hour of My sufferings, and Thy satisfaction; the hour of My victory and of Thy glory; the hour, the sad hour, determined in Thy decree: no calamity can touch us till God’s hour is come; and when the sad hour is come, the best remedy is prayer, and the only person to fly unto for succor is our heavenly Father.—Glorify thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: Note how the glory of the Father and the Son are inseparably linked together: it was the Father’s design to glorify the Son, and it was the Son’s desire to have glory from the Father, that He might bring glory to the Father.
Joh_17:2. Observe 1. The dignity with which Christ was invested, power over all flesh; 2. How Christ came to be invested with this power; it was given Him by His Father.—All mankind are under the power and authority of Jesus Christ as Mediator: He has 1. a legislative power, or a power to give laws to all mankind; and 2. a judiciary power, or a power to execute the laws that He hath given.—That He might give eternal life to as many as God hath given Him: Note 1. That all believers are given by God the Father unto Christ; they are given to Him as His charge, to redeem, sanctify, and save; and as His reward, Isa_53:10; Isaiah 2. All that are given to Christ, have life from Him; a life of justification and sanctification on earth, and a life of glory in heaven; 3. The life which Christ gives is eternal life; 4. That this eternal life is a free gift from Christ unto His people; though they do not work for wages, yet they shall not work for nothing.
Joh_17:3. This is the true way and means to obtain eternal life, namely, by the true knowledge of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ the Mediator.—Learn, 1. That the beginning, increase, and perfection of eternal life lyeth in holy knowledge; 2. That no knowledge is sufficient to eternal life, but the knowledge of God, and Jesus Christ.—The knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ the Mediator, is the life of grace, and the necessary way to the life of glory.
Joh_17:4. I have glorified Thee on the earth: The whole life of Christ, while here on earth, was a glorifying of His Father; by 1. The doctrine He preached; 2. The miracles He wrought; 3. The unspotted purity and innocency of His life; 4. His unparalleled sufferings at death.—I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do: He speaks of what He was resolved to do, as already done. Here note that 1. It is work that glorifies God; 2. Every man has his work assigned him by God; 3. This work must be finished here upon earth; 4. When we have done our proportion of work, we may expect our proportion of wages; 5. It is a blessed thing at the hour of death to be able to say in uprightness that we have glorified God, and have finished the work which He appointed us to do.
Joh_17:5. Learn that, 1. Whoever expects to be glorified with God in heaven must glorify Him first here upon earth; 2. After we have glorified Him, we may expect to be glorified with Him, and by Him.—With the glory which I had with Thee before the world was: Here note that Christ—1. As God, had an essential glory with God the Father before the world was; 2. As Mediator, did so far humble Himself, that He needed to pray for His Father to bestow upon Him the glory which He wanted; namely, the glory of His ascension and exaltation.
Joh_17:6. By the name of God, we are here to understand His nature, properties, attributes, designs and counsels for the salvation of mankind: Christ, as the Prophet of His Church, made all these known unto His people.—Learn that, 1. All believers are given unto Christ, as His purchase, and as His charge: as His subjects, as His children; as the wife of His bosom, as the members of His body; 2. None are given to Christ, but those that were first the Father’s; 3. All those that are given unto Christ, do keep His word; they keep it in their understandings, they hide it in their hearts, they feel the force of it in their souls, they express the power of it in their lives.
Joh_17:7. Observe, 1. The faithfulness of Christ in revealing the whole will of His Father to His disciples; 2. The proficiency of the disciples in the school of Christ.—Learn hence that, 1. Christ hath approved Himself a faithful messenger from His Father to His people, in that He hath added nothing to His message, and taken nothing from it; 2. It is our duty to know and believe on Christ, as the only Messenger and Mediator sent of God.
Joh_17:8. Learn that, 1. The doctrine of the gospel, which was revealed by Christ, was received from the Father; 2. Faith is a receiving of the Word of Christ, and of Christ in and by the Word; 3. The ministers of the gospel are to preach that, and only that, which they have out of the Word of God.
Joh_17:9. Learn that, 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great and gracious Intercessor; 2. All believers are under the fruit and benefit of Christ’s intercession; 3. As all the members of Christ in general, so the ministers and ambassadors of Christ in special, have a peculiar interest in Christ’s intercession; and great are the advantages of His intercession from (1) The person interceding, Christ: consider the dignity of His person, God-man; the dearness of His person, God’s Son, (2) The manner of His intercession, not by way of entreaty, but meritorious claim, (3) The sublimity of the office; our Intercessor is near to God, even at His right hand, (4) The fruits of His intercession; it procures the acceptance and justification of our persons, the hearing and answering of our prayers, the pardon and forgiveness of our sins, our preservation in grace, and our hopes of eternal glory.
Joh_17:10. We may understand this two ways: 1. Of all persons,—all My friends, all My disciples are Thine, as well as Mine. 2. All Thy things are Mine, and all My things are Thine; Christ and His Father are one, and They agree in one; They have the same essence and nature, the same attributes and will; Christ hath all things that the Father hath.—Thence note, That the Lord Jesus Christ is eminently glorified in and by all those that believe in Him, and belong unto Him.
Joh_17:11. Note, 1. The title and appellation given to God, Holy Father when we go to God in prayer, we must look upon Him as an holy Father, as essentially and originally holy, as infinitely and independently holy; 2. The supplication: Keep through Thy name those whom Thou hast given Me, the perseverance of the Saints is the effect of Christ’s prayer; 3. The end of the supplication, That they may be one as We are.—Three things concur to the believer’s perseverance; 1. On the Father’s part, everlasting love and all sufficient power; 2. On the Son’s part, everlasting merit and constant intercession; 3. On the Spirit’s part, perpetual inhabitation and continued influence.—Note, 1. The heart of Christ is exceedingly set upon the unity of His members; 2. The believers’ union with Christ and with one another, has some resemblance to that betwixt the Father and the Son: it is a union, (1) holy, (2) spiritual, (3) intimate, (4) indissoluble.
Joh_17:12. Observe that, 1. Those who shall be saved, are given unto Christ and committed to His care and trust; 2. None of those that are given unto Christ shall be finally lost.
Joh_17:13. There is a double care which Christ takes of His people; namely, a care of their graces, and a care of their joy and comfort.—Learn that, 1. Christ is the author and original of the joy of His people: My joy; 2. It is Christ’s will and desire that His people might be full of holy joy: That My joy may be fulfilled in them; 3. The great end of Christ’s prayer and intercession was, and is, that His people’s hearts might be full of joy.
Joh_17:14. Learn that, 1. Christians, especially ministers, to whom Christ has given His word, must expect the world’s hatred; 2. It is to the honor of believers that they are like unto Christ in being the objects of the world’s hatred.
Joh_17:15-16. Observe 1. That the wisdom of Christ sees fit to continue His children and people in the world, notwithstanding all the perils and dangers of the world: He has work for them, and they are of use to Him, for a time, in the world; till their work be done, Christ’s love will not, and the world’s malice cannot, remove them hence: 2. Yet Christ prays that His Father will keep them from the evil, i.e., the sins, temptations and snares of the world.—Note, 1. That a spiritual victory over evil is to be preferred before a total exemption from it; 2. How necessary divine aid is to our preservation and success, even in the holiest and best of enterprises, and how necessary it is to seek it by fervent prayer; 3. That such as sincerely devote themselves to Christ’s service, are sure of His aid whilst so employed.
Joh_17:17. Learn that, 1. Such as are already sanctified, ought to endeavor after higher degrees of sanctification; 2. The Word of God is the great instrument in God’s hand for His people’s sanctification; 3. The Word of God is the truth of God.—The Word of God is a divine truth, an eternal truth, an infallible truth, a holy truth.
Joh_17:18. Observe, 1. Christ’s mission: The Father sent Him into the world; Christ did not of Himself undertake the office of a Mediator; 2. As Christ’s mission, so the Apostles’ mission; As Thou hast sent Me, so have I sent them: Learn thence that none may undertake the office of the ministry, without an authoritative sending from Christ Himself; 3. Such as are so sent [by the ministers of Christ] are sent by Christ Himself; and it is the people’s duty to reverence their persons, to
respect their office, to receive their message.
Joh_17:19. Christ’s sanctifying Himself imports, 1. His setting Himself apart to be a sacrifice for sin; 2. His dedication of Himself to this holy use and service.—The great end for which Christ did thus sanctify Himself was that He might sanctify His members; that we should be consecrated to, and wholly set apart for Him.
Joh_17:20. That, 1. All believers have a special interest in Christ’s prayer; 2. In the sense of the gospel they are believers, who are wrought upon to believe in Christ through the word; 3. Such is Christ’s care of, and love to, His own, that they were remembered by Him in His prayer, even before they had a being.
Joh_17:21. The special mercy and particular blessing which Christ prays for, on behalf of believers, is a close and intimate union betwixt the Father, Himself and them, and also betwixt one another.—Note 1. The mystical union betwixt Christ and His members has some resemblance with that union which is betwixt the Father and the Song of Solomon 2. Unity amongst the ministers and members of Jesus Christ is of so great importance, that He did in their behalf principally pray for it.—Union amongst Christ’s disciples is one special means to enlarge the kingdom [Church] of Christ, and to cause the world to have better thoughts of Him and His doctrine.
Joh_17:22. Learn that, 1. God the Father hath bestowed much glory on Christ His Son, as He is man and Mediator of the church; 2. The same glory for kind and substance, though not for measure and degree, which Christ as Mediator has received from the Father, is communicated to true believers; 3. The great end of this communication was, and is, to oblige and enable His people to maintain a very strict union among themselves; 4. Unity amongst believers is part of that glory which Christ as Mediator hath obtained for them.
Joh_17:23. Observe 1. As the Father is in Christ, so is Christ in believers, and they in Him; the Father is in Christ in respect of His divine nature, essence, and attributes; and Christ is in believers, by the inhabitation of His Holy Spirit; 2. The happiness of believers consisteth in their oneness, in being one with God through Christ, and one amongst themselves; 3. God the Father loved Christ His Son; (1) as God; (2) as Mediator, Joh_10:17; John 4. God the Father loves believers, even as He loved Christ Himself; 5. Christ would have the world know, that God the Father loveth the children of men, as well as Himself.
Joh_17:24. Our Saviour had prayed for His disciples’ sanctification before, here He prays for their glorification: 1. That they may be where He is; now Christ is with them in His ordinances, in His word, and at His table; ere long they shall be with Him, as His friends, as His spouse, as His companions in His kingdom; 2. That they may be with Him where He is; that is more than the former: to be with Christ where He is, imports union and communion with Him.—Learn 1. All those that are given to Christ as His charge, and as His reward, shall certainly come to heaven to Him; 2. The work and employment of the saints in heaven chiefly consists in seeing and enjoying Christ’s glory; for it will be a possessive sight; 3. The top and height of the saints’ happiness in heaven consists in this, that they shall be with Christ.
Joh_17:25. O righteous Father: righteous in making good Thy promises both to Me and them.—Observe what it is that our Saviour affirms concerning the wicked and unbelieving world, that they have not known God,—have no saving knowledge of God.—Christ is the original and fontal cause of all the saving knowledge that believers have of God.
Joh_17:26. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it; i.e. I have made known unto them Thy nature, attributes, counsels, will and commands, and I will continue the manifestation of the same unto the end.—That the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be in them, and I in them; It is not enough for the people of God that His love is towards them, but they must endeavor to have it in them; that is, experience it in the effects of it, and in the feeling of it in their own souls: the safety of a Christian lies in this, that God loves Him; but the happiness of a Christian consists in the sensible apprehension of this love.
[From M. Henry: Chap. 17. Christ prayed this prayer in their hearing, so that it was a prayer 1. After sermon; when He had spoken from God to them, He turned to speak to God for them; Those we preach to, we must pray for; 2. After sacrament; 3. Of a family: He not only, as a son of Abraham, taught His household (Gen_18:19), but, as a son of David, blessed His household (2Sa_6:20), prayed for them and with them; 4. Of parting; when we and our friends are parting, it is good to part with prayer, Act_20:36,—dying Jacob blessed the twelve patriarchs; dying Moses, the twelve tribes; and so, here, dying Jesus the twelve apostles; 5. That was a preface to His sacrifice, specifying the blessings designed to be purchased by His death for those that were His; 6. That was a specimen of His intercession.—All that have the Spirit of adoption, are taught to cry, Abba, Father, Rom_8:15; Gal_4:6 : If God be our Father, we have liberty of access to Him, ground of confidence in Him, and great expectations from Him.—Christ calls Him holy Father (Joh_17:11); and righteous Father (Joh_17:25); it will be of great use to us in prayer, both for our direction and encouragement, to call God as we hope to find Him.—Christ began with prayer for Himself, and afterward prayed for His disciples; We must love and pray for our neighbor as ourselves, and therefore must in a right manner love and pray for ourselves first.—He was much shorter in His prayer for Himself than in His prayer for His disciples; Our prayer for the church must not be crowded into a corner of our prayer.
Joh_17:1. The Father glorified the Son upon earth, 1. In His sufferings, by the signs and wonders which attended them; 2. By His sufferings: It was in His cross that He conquered Satan and death; His thorns were a crown, and Pilate in the inscription over His head wrote more than he thought; 3. Much more after His sufferings; the Father glorified the Son when He raised Him from the dead.—They that have received the adoption of sons, may in faith pray for the inheritance of sons; if sanctified, then glorified.—Good Christians in a trying hour, particularly a dying hour, may thus plead,—“Now the hour is come, stand by me.”—Father, own Me in My sufferings, that I may honor Thee by them.—If God had not glorified Christ crucified, by raising Him from the dead, His whole undertaking had been crushed; therefore glorify Me, that I may glorify Thee.—Hereby He hath taught us, 1. What to aim at in our prayers, in all our designs and desires, viz., the honor of God; 2. What to expect and hope for.
Joh_17:2-3. See the power of the Mediator: 1. The original of His power; Thou hast given Him power; 2. The extent of His power, He has power over all flesh, i.e., (1) all mankind, (2) mankind considered as corrupt; 3. The grand intention and design of this power; Here is the mystery of our salvation laid open; Here is (1) the Father making over the elect to the Redeemer; (2) the Son undertaking to secure the happiness of those that were given Him; (3) the subserviency of the Redeemer’s universal dominion to this; 4. A further explication of this grand design (Joh_17:3): Here is (1) the great end which the Christian religion sets before us, viz., eternal life; (2) the sure way of attaining this blessed end, which is, by the right knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; This is life eternal, to know Thee; which may be taken two ways: First, Life eternal lies in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; the present principle of this life is the believing knowledge of God and Christ; the future perfection of that life will be the intuitive knowledge of God and Christ: Secondly, The knowledge of God and Christ leads to life eternal; this is the way in which Christ gives eternal life, by the knowledge of Him that has called us (2Pe_1:3); and this is the way in which we come to receive it.—The Christian religion shows the way to heaven by directing us, 1. To God, as the author and felicity of our being; 2. To Jesus Christ, as the Mediator between God and man.—They that are acquainted with God and Christ, are already in the suburbs of life eternal.—The Church’s king is no usurper, as the prince of this world is.
Joh_17:4. With what comfort Christ reflects on the life He had lived on earth; I have glorified Thee, and finished My work; it is as good as finished; He overlooks the poverty and disgrace He had. This is recorded, 1. For the honor of Christ, that His life upon earth did in all respects fully answer the end of His coming into the world; 2. For example to all; (1) We must make it our business to do the work God has appointed us to do; (2) We must aim at the glory of God in all; 3. For encouragement to all those that rest upon Him.
Joh_17:5. All repetitions in prayer are not to be counted vain repetitions.—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.—The brightest glories of the exalted Redeemer were to be displayed within the veil, where the Father manifests His glory.
Joh_17:6-10. The apostleship and ministry, which are Christ’s gift to the Church, were first the Father’s gift to Jesus Christ.
Joh_17:6. Thou gavest them Me, as sheep to the shepherd, to be kept; as patients to the physician, to be cured; as children to a tutor, to be educated.
Joh_17:6; Joh_17:8. Observe, 1. The great design of Christ’s doctrine, which was to manifest God’s name, to declare Him; 2. His faithful discharge of this undertaking: I have done it: His fidelity appears (1) in the truth of His doctrine; (2) in the tendency of His doctrine, which was to manifest God’s name.—It is Christ’s prerogative to manifest God’s name to the souls of the children of men. Sooner or later, He will manifest God’s name to all that were given Him, and will give them His word to be, 1. The seed of their new birth; 2. The support of their spiritual life; 3. The earnest of their everlasting bliss.
Joh_17:6-8. What success the doctrine of Christ had among those that were given Him, in several particulars: 1. They have received the words which I gave them; 2. They have kept Thy word, have continued in it; have conformed to it; 3. They have understood the word—have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee; 4. They have set their seal to it; They have known surely that I came out from God.
Joh_17:8; Known surely; It is a great satisfaction to us, in our reliance upon Christ, that He and all He is and has, all He said and did, all He is doing and will do, are of God, 1Co_1:30 : If the righteousness be of God’s appointing, we shall be justified; if the grace be of His dispensing, we shall be sanctified.—See here, 1. What it is to believe; it is to know surely: We may know surely that which we neither do nor can know fully; 2. What it is we are to believe: That Jesus Christ came out from God.—Christ is a Master who delights in the proficiency of His scholars: See how willing He is to make the best of us, and to say the best of us; thereby encouraging our faith in Him, and teaching us charity to one another.—The due improvement of grace received, is a good plea, according to the tenor of the new covenant, for further grace.
Joh_17:9. They are Thine: 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; 2. This is a good plea in prayer,—Christ here pleads it; we may plead it for ourselves.
Joh_17:10. Those shall have an interest in Christ’s intercession, in and by whom He is glorified.—That in which God and Christ are glorified, may, with humble confidence, be committed to God’s special care.
Joh_17:11-16. The particular petitions which Christ puts up for His disciples, 1. All relate to spiritual blessings in heavenly things; the prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity; 2. They are for such blessings as are suited to their present state and case, and their various exigencies and occasions; Christ’s intercession is always pertinent; 3. He is large and full in the petitions, orders them before His Father, and fills His mouth with arguments, to teach us fervency and importunity in prayer, to be large in prayer, and dwell upon our errands at the throne of grace, wrestling as Jacob.—Note 1. The taking of good people out of the world is a thing by no means to be desired, but dreaded rather, and laid to heart, Isa_57:1; Isaiah 2. Though Christ loves His disciples, He does not presently send for them to heaven, but leaves them for some time in this world, that they may do good, and glorify God upon earth, and be ripened for heaven.—It is more the honor of a Christian soldier by faith to overcome the world, than to retreat from it; and more for the honor of Christ to serve Him in a city than in a cell.
Joh_17:11. It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers, that Christ Himself has committed them to the care of God Himself: Those cannot but be safe, whom the Almighty God keeps, and He cannot but keep those whom the Son of His love commits to Him.—He here puts them 1. Under the divine protection; Keep their lives, till they have done their work; keep their comforts, and let not them be broken in upon by the hardships they meet with; keep up their interest in the world, and let not that sink; 2. Under the divine tuition; Keep them in their integrity, keep them disciples, keep them close to their duty.—He speaks to God as a holy Father; In committing ourselves and others to the divine care, we may take encouragement, 1. From the attribute of His holiness; 2. From this relation of a Father, wherein He stands to us through Christ.—What we receive as our Father’s gifts, we may comfortably remit to our Father’s care: Father, keep the graces and comforts Thou hast given Me; the children Thou hast given Me; the ministry I have received.—Keep them through Thine own name; i.e., 1. Keep them for Thy name’s sake; so some—Thy name and honor are concerned in their preservation as well as Mine, for both will suffer by it if they either revolt or sink; 2. In Thy name; so others; the original is so, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι; Keep them in the knowledge and fear of Thy name; keep them in the profession and service of Thy name whatever it costs them; 3. By or through Thy name; so others; Keep them by Thine own power, in Thine own hand: keep them Thyself.—Keep them from the evil: 1. The evil one, Satan; 2. The evil thing, sin; 3. Keep them from the evil of the world, and of their tribulation in it, so that it may have no sting in it, no malignity.
Joh_17:12. Concerning all saints, it is implied that, 1. They are weak, and cannot keep themselves; 2. They are in God’s sight valuable and worth keeping; 3. Their salvation is designed, for to that it is that they are kept, 1Pe_1:5; 1 Peter 4. They are the charge of the Lord Jesus.
Joh_17:11. It should be a pleasure to those that have their home in the other world, to think of being no more in this world; for when we have done what we have to do in this world, and are made meet for that, what should court our stay?—They who love God, cannot but be pleased to think of coming to Him, though it be through the valley of the shadow of death.—When our Lord Jesus was going to the Father, He carried with Him a tender concern for His own which are in the world: We should have such a pity for those that are launching out into the world when we are got almost through it.
Joh_17:13. Note, 1. Christ has not only treasured up comforts for His people, in providing for their future welfare, but has given out comforts to them, and said that which will be for their present satisfaction; 2. Christ’s intercession for us is enough to fulfil our joy in Him.
Joh_17:14. They that receive Christ’s good will and good word, must expect the world’s ill will and ill word.—Those that keep the word of Christ’s patience, are entitled to special protection in the hour of temptation, Rev_3:10 : That cause which makes a martyr, may well make a joyful sufferer.—They to whom the word of Christ comes in power, are not of the world, for it has this effect upon all that receive it in the love of it, that it weans them from the wealth of the world, and turns them against the wickedness of the world.
Joh_17:16. They may in faith commit themselves to God’s custody, 1. Who are as Christ was in this world, and tread in His steps; 2. Who do not engage themselves in the world’s interest, nor devote themselves to its service.
Joh_17:17. Note, 1. It is the prayer of Christ for all that are His that they may be sanctified; 2. Those that through grace are sanctified, have need to be sanctified more and more; not to go forward is to go backward; 3. It is God that sanctifies as well as God that justifies, 2Co_5:5; 2 Corinthians 4. It is an encouragement to us in our prayers for sanctifying grace, that it is what Christ intercedes for, for us.—Jesus Christ intercedes for His ministers with a particular concern.—The great thing to be asked of God for gospel ministers is, that they may be sanctified, effectually separated from the world, entirely devoted to God, and experimentally acquainted with the influence of that word upon their own hearts, which they preach to others.
Joh_17:18-19. We have here two pleas or arguments to enforce the petition for the disciples’ sanctification, 1. The mission they had from Him (Joh_17:18); 2. The merit they had from Him; For their sakes I sanctify Myself.
Joh_17:18. Whom Christ sends He will stand by, and interest Himself in those that are employed for Him; what He calls us out to, He will fit us out for, and bear us out in.
Joh_17:20-23. Next to their purity, He prays for their unity; for the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable.
Joh_17:20. Note, 1. Those, and those only, are interested in the mediation of Christ that do, or shall, believe in Him; 2. It is through the word that souls are brought to believe on Christ; 3. It is certainly and infallibly known to Christ, who shall believe on Him; 4. Jesus Christ intercedes not only for great and eminent believers, but for the meanest and weakest; 5. Jesus Christ in His mediation had an actual regard to those of the chosen remnant that were yet unborn: prayers are filed in heaven for them beforehand.
Joh_17:21. The oneness prayed for includes three things: 1. That they might all be incorporated in one body; 2. That they might all be animated by one Spirit; 3. That they might all be knit together in one heart; that they all may be one, (1) in judgment and sentiment; not in every little thing—it is neither possible nor needful; (2) in disposition and inclination; (3) in their designs and aims; (4) in their desires and prayers; (5) in love and affection.—It is taken for granted that the Father and Son are one; this is insisted on in Christ’s prayer for His disciples’ oneness: 1. As its pattern; 2. As its centre—that they may be one in us, all meeting here; 3. As its plea.—Believers are one, in some measure, as God and Christ are one; for, 1. The union of believers is a strict and close union; they are united by a divine nature, by the power of divine grace, in pursuance of divine counsels; 2. It is a holy union, in the Holy Spirit, for holy ends; 3. It is, and will be at last, a complete union; Father and Son have the same attributes, properties, and perfections; so have believers now, as far as they are sanctified, and when grace shall be perfected in glory, they will be exactly consonant to each other, all changed into the same image.
Joh_17:23. The words, I in them, and Thou, in Me, show what that union is which is so necessary: viz., 1. Union with Christ; I in them; 2. Union with God through Him; Thou in Me; 3. Union with each other, resulting from those; that they hereby may be made perfect in one.
Joh_17:22. The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them: Christ gave it them, that they might be one; 1. To entitle them to the privilege of unity; 2. To engage them to the duty of unity; the more Christians are taken up with the glory Christ has given them, the less desirous they will be of vain-glory, and, consequently, less disposed to quarrel.—He pleads the happy influence their oneness would have upon others, showing, 1. His good will to the world of mankind in general; 2. The good fruit of the Church’s oneness: it will be an evidence of the truth of Christianity and a means of bringing many to embrace it, (1) In general, it will recommend Christianity to the world; the uniting of Christians in love and charity, is the beauty of their profession, and invites others to join them; when Christianity, instead of causing quarrels about itself, makes all other strifes to cease, when it cools the fiery, smooths the rugged, and disposes men to be kind and loving, courteous and beneficent, to all men, studious to preserve and promote peace in all relations and societies, it will recommend itself to all; (2) In particular, it will beget in men good thoughts, (a) of Christ: they will know and believe that Thou hast sent Me; (b) of Christians; they will know that Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me (Joh_17:23).
Joh_17:24. A petition for the glorifying of all those that were given to Christ: observe the connection of this request with those foregoing; He had prayed that God would preserve, sanctify, and unite them; and now He prays that He would crown all His gifts with their glorification: In this method we must pray,—first for grace, and then for glory.—Father, I will: Here, as before, He addresses Himself to God as a Father, and therein we must do likewise; but when He says θέλω—I will, He speaks a language peculiar to Himself; He declares, 1. The authority of His intercession in general; He intercedes as a king, for He is a Priest upon His throne (like Melchizedek); 2. His particular authority in this matter; He had a power to give eternal life.—Three things make heaven: It Isaiah , 1. To be where Christ is; where I Amos 2. To be with Him where He Isaiah 3. To behold His glory, which the Father has given Him. Observe (1) The glory of the Redeemer is the brightness of heaven. (2) The felicity of the redeemed consists very much in the beholding of that glory.—The ground upon which we are to hope for heaven is no other than purely the mediation and intercession of Christ, because He hath said, Father, I will.
Joh_17:25. O righteous Father; When He prayed that they might be sanctified, He calls Him holy Father; when He prays that they might be glorified, He calls Him righteous Father.—These have known that Thou hast sent Me; To know and believe in Jesus Christ, in the midst of a world that persists in ignorance and infidelity, is highly pleasing to God and shall certainly be crowned with distinguishing glory: Singular faith qualifies for singular favors.
Joh_17:26. Observe 1. What Christ had done for them: I have declared unto them Thy name: Those whom Christ recommends to the favor of God, He first leads into an acquaintance with God; 2. What He intended to do yet further for them; I will declare it; 3. What He aimed at in all this; not to fill their heads with curious speculations, but to secure and advance their real happiness in two things: (1) Communion with God; (2) union with Christ in order hereunto; and I in them.—When God’s love to us comes to be in us, it is like the virtue which the loadstone gives the needle, inclining it to move toward the pole.—It is the glory of the Redeemer to dwell in the redeemed; it is His rest forever, and He has desired it; Let us therefore make sure our union with Christ, and then take the comfort of His intercession.
[From Scott: Joh_17:1-5. Fervent prayer forms the proper conclusion of religious instruction, and the preparation for approaching trials: and our hearts should habitually be lifted up to God, that He would glorify Himself in and by us; prosper our endeavors to honor Him; support us in resisting temptations; and carry us through all difficulties to His heavenly kingdom.
Joh_17:12. Many have called Christ Lord, and seemed to be the children of God, who at length proved “sons of perdition.” Such examples should excite to serious self-examination and prayer; but should not distress the believer, who, though he cannot do the things he would, is conscious of integrity in his professed repentance, and faith in Christ, and desire of living to His glory.
Joh_17:15. The disciples of Christ should be willing to die, but not impatiently desire it.
Joh_17:20-26. Union and communion with the Father and the Son, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and harmony with one another, formed the substance of our Redeemer’s prayer for all His disciples, to the end of time.——From A. Clarke: Joh_17:17. Through Thy truth; The doctrine that is not drawn from the truth of God can never save souls: God blesses no word but His own, because none is truth without mixture of error, but that which has proceeded from Himself.
Joh_17:26. Christ’s sermon on the mount shows men what they should do, so as to please God: this sermon (beginning at Joh_13:13) shows them how they are to do the things prescribed in the other: In the former, the reader sees a strict morality, which he fears he shall never be able to perform; in this, he sees all things are possible to him who believes, for that very God who made him, shall dwell in his heart, and enable him to do all things that He pleases to employ him in.——From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh_17:1. Take notice of the precious indication of the gesture with which our Saviour pronounced the words which follow. (Comp. Joh_11:41, and St. Mar_6:41.) There are far more indications in our Lord’s manner and gesture contained in the Gospels than a careless reader would suppose.—Glorify Thy Son; “Some things He knew should come to pass, and notwithstanding prayed for them; because He knew that the necessary means to effect them were His prayers.” (Hooker.)
Joh_17:3. God is the life of the soul, as much as the soul is the life of the body: and we must not think of Eternal Life as a thing to be begun hereafter; but as something to be begun now: The Life of Glory is, in fact, the Life of Grace continued. (C. Marriott.)
Joh_17:4. The Son had glorified the Father upon the earth, by 1. Performing the great work which the Father had given Him to do; 2. His miracles; 3. His doctrine; 4. His pure and spotless life; 5. The call of the Twelve; 6. Laying the foundation of the Church.
Joh_17:9. “In that prayer for Eternal Life, which our Saviour knew could not be made without effect, He excepteth them for whom He knew His sufferings would be frustrate, and commendeth unto God His own.” (Hooker.)
Joh_17:15. Until our appointed earthly work is completed, Divine Love is concerned only to keep us from the power of the Enemy; not to take us out of the world.
Joh_17:19. All is for our sakes!
Joh_17:23. This communion of the Saints with the Son of God is, as most evident, so most remarkable. (Bishop Pearson.)
Joh_17:24. Rather, “I wish;” that is, “I request:” And O the unspeakable condescension of that wish on the lips of the Eternal Son!—even that He may be united throughout the ages of Eternity to the men whom the Father had given Him.
[From Stier: John 17 : This Prayer is the climax and consummation of all His discourses, pressing nearest to heaven and most immediately breathing of its mysteries,—a triumphantly and serenely bright It is finished before the darkness surrounded Him upon the cross, so that that must be first rightly interpreted by this!—“Every one of these words could have been spoken by Him alone, and by Him only at such a conjuncture.” (Theremin.)—“Here is the inwardness of the East, the home of religion, seized and expressed with the precision of the West, the home of science.” (Braune.)—The most glowing mystic and the most careful thinker finds each his own language in these words, embracing both opposites in one.—The Lord, approaching the Father as His Son, proceeds from Himself—and His glorification now come, laying claim on that account to eternal life for all given to Him;—He then as Intercessor embraces all His disciples present and future—beginning with the commencement of His work within them, and continually enlarging the circle of His intercession until it reaches eternity and the full consummation of all;—and, finally, He carries back their glorification with becoming dignity to the first words concerning His own—I in them!
Joh_17:1. The first word of the praying Lord is, Father—and nothing more. Not our Father, which He could never say; not even My Father, for that would be here too much.—The Son desires His own glorification not egotistically, but solely to the end that He again may glorify the Father, and give back to Him the might, honor, and glory which Himself should receive; and here once more we find that first petition after the invocation of the Father in heaven, a petition which includes all others—Hallowed be Thy name.
Joh_17:2. Authority over all flesh, obtained by His becoming a man in the flesh, and the Head of our race, the Lord received with joy from His Father—“not as a burdensome commission, but as an authority conferred.” (Rieger.)—To become such a possession of Jesus (2Th_2:14)—is ever the condition for the reception of eternal life.—“Know this well, O man, that it is not given to thee to be thy own master; thou must have another Lord, the choice is between God and thine eternal enemy and His.” (Theremin.)—That real life which is eternal; that fellowship with God which at once begins with living faith, and is consummated only in the full blessedness of eternal glory.
Joh_17:3. “For to know Thee is perfect righteousness; yea, to know Thy power is the root of immortality.” (Wis_15:3.)—Knowledge means, in Scripture, not apprehension, imagination, thinking in cold speculation, or feeling in the unillumined warmth of false mysticism; nor is it belief as mere admission and credence, but a living, conscious possession of fellowship with Him.—To know God—the highest thing possible to the creature, or for which the creature was formed. When that is perfect, the life is consummate.—The two opposites to the knowledge of the true God here referred to, were in their historical manifestation at that time—1. Gentile idolatry, which knew not nor acknowledged even the one true God; 2. Jewish rejection of His Anointed in the person of Jesus: But in their internal and permanent principle, as the Lord here points to it for all futurity, they are—Pantheistic denial of the personal supermundane Creator, and deification of the creature, which is the root of all heathenism; and Deistical rationalism, which heeds not and rejects Christ.—“To take the Lord for our God is the natural part of the covenant; the supernatural part is, to take Christ for our Redeemer: The former is first necessary, and implied in the latter.” (Baxter’s Saints’ Rest.)—The babblers who find here no more than a praying mortal, have but a very slight perception of what the prerogative of God’s honor above every praying creature demands. Was not Moses sent of God, and many others like him? But how would it run, Eternal life and blessedness consists in this, to know God and Moses—or God and Paul!—This is the only time that the Lord Himself unites thus simply and immediately His Christ-name with His Jesus-name;—but the occasion stands alone. The Lord here confirms, unfolds, explains, and glorifies the central word of the Old Testament, now fulfilled in Him; avows in the most solemn manner before the Father that He, Jesus, is the only true Messiah.—“Not to no purpose is it that the Lord does not simply say Me, but speaks of Himself in the third person; commemorating [declaring] Himself His own proper name, in order that He may intimate the mystical meaning which it involves.” (Lampe.)—Jesus; This name of salvation (Luk_2:21), first uttered by Gabriel, which combines a name common among the people with the sole and incomparable truth of its signification, which was borne in the Old Testament by typical persons, which in apostolic preaching is expounded even as the Angel of the Lord had expounded it (Act_4:12; Acts 17:30; Mat_1:21)—is it not here fittingly used, where He who bears it presents Himself before the Father in the full consciousness of its power and meaning? St. Matthew’s record of the conception, and St. John’s of the departure, coincide in the name of Jesus.
Joh_17:4-5. To have the authority and power to save, according to the meaning of His name—this is the joy and the crown of His Jesus-heart at the present point of transition in His prayer, as He approaches the Father with the name of Jesus, that this name also may be glorified with and in Him.
Joh_17:4. In this finished, before the fulfilment upon the cross, consists the pre-eminent wonder of this prayer, which anticipates the heavenly mediation and intercession.—“The foundation of the world was not laid, heaven was not yet created, when God planned for my best interest; His grace was extended to me before I had my being. It was His counsel that I should have life through His only begotten Son; Him would He provide as a Mediator for me, Him did He set forth as a propitiator, that through His blood I should be sanctified and saved.” (Hermann.)
Joh_17:6. Christ first preached and testified concerning the Father (Joh_16:25)—in His own person He brought down and unfolded this great word, teaching man how he may, and why he should, call God his Father.—The question concerning the name of God had been hitherto answered by the inconceivable Jehovah, which the awe of the far-off worshippers dared not even pronounce, and which rather repelled, therefore, than satisfied the inquiry: but now eternal being is plainly revealed to be eternal love.—Beyond this name—Father, and its appropriate honor, the creature has nothing further to know, to confess, and to praise.—He announced Him first to be His own, the Son’s, Father, and then ours, because He hath given to us the Son.—This is the permanent pre-eminence of the Adamic creature over all other “children of God,” that they through Christ have God as in the most direct and essential manner their Father.—“Thine they were; They were the Father’s, not only as His creatures and the heirs of the covenant with the fathers, but also as good hearts yielding to the discipline and drawing of God.” (Rieger.)
Joh_17:8. Well for us, if we do not merely utter our own we have believed and we have known, but are also acknowledged before the Father by the ἀληθῶς of His Son!
Joh_17:9. That which He had promised in Mat_10:32, He begins now to fulfil; as well as what He had said in Joh_14:16—I will ask the Father for you.—“To pray for the world, and not to pray for the world, must both be right in their place.” (Luther.)—As the typical high priest prayed only for Israel, bore only the twelve tribes on His breast-plate, so there is a corresponding prayer of the eternal High Priest only for the true people of God.
Joh_17:10. And I am glorified in them, and all that which is Thine and Mine belongs also to them; so that every Christian may in the joyful confidence of faith, utter the same word to Christ, All that is Thine is Mine! (1Co_4:21-21.)
Joh_17:11. I am no more in the world; although in some degree still remaining in them, He yet leaves His beloved disciples on going to the Father. And this thought touches His heart with the feeling of all their future need.—Holy Father, God is holy, that is, exalted in His ineffable and incomparable praiseworthiness above all praise of the creature, while He in pure love condescends to the creature, even to His fallen creatures, in order to re-establish in them this His honor and glory, that He is love.… Thus finally, God, as the Merciful One, who yet, in this self-communication of redeeming love, abideth righteous, true, the One God,—is praiseworthy, exalted, to be adored in deepest reverence, high above all praise (hence sometimes the נוֹדָא is connected with the קָדוֹשׁ)—but this holiness in it’s fullest and profoundest sense has its New Testament disclosure in the equally sublime and condescending Father-name. … Thus the formula which Christ here uses—Holy Father—condenses the Old and New Testament expressions into one, uniting the deepest word of the past revelation with the new name which was now to be revealed, and both being one in their meaning.—Christ, who bears in Himself and brings to the world the name of the Father, prays as if He should say, Keep them in Me.—That they may be one; The prayer glances forward to the great end of their preservation: One among themselves, because one with Me and Thee, with Us.
Joh_17:12. Let no man depend upon the keeping of the Father and the Son, or upon the intercession of the High Priest, as upon an irresistible grace which will render this being lost impossible.—“Jesus caused it not, still less the Scripture, least of all God” (Braune),—but Judas himself; although a child of Satan, he is at the same time the author and father of his own sin and his own perdition.
Joh_17:13. That which the intercession of Jesus prayed for and assured to His own, is made in the hands of the Spirit a blessing distributed in ever-increasing measure to all.—Whosoever speaks and writes under the benediction of this discourse of Jesus increases and fulfils the joy of those who hear and read.
Joh_17:14. The hatred of the world is the always resulting consequence, in the degree in which the Word has been given to us.—After the creation of the new man, which is now their proper person, after their union with Christ through the regeneration of the word, they are no longer of the world.
Joh_17:15. This is the inmost reason why they must remain in the world: they must pursue the conflict unto victory.—Christ asks not that His disciples should be taken out of the world; then ask it not thyself, either for thyself or for others! Reply with the Apostle to thine own desire to depart, Nevertheless it is better, for it is more needful, to remain in the flesh and in the world. Content thyself with praying for thy preservation, until thou hast fulfilled all thy work, and art thyself made perfect.—The reasons for which it was better that they should remain: 1. Believers are to continue the witness and work of the Lord in the world; 2. Only in the struggle to accomplish this, are we ourselves perfected and sanctified.—“Men wonder when a believer falls; but they should much more wonder to see him hold fast to the end, and finish his course with joy.” (Hofacker.)—The great prize, the full fruit of our discipline is this, to be able to say throughout the conflict and at the end—But in all these we are more than conquerors! Rom_8:37.—The evil is really the same comprehensive term here as in the Lord’s Prayer—sin, the malitia mundana; it includes all the miserable fruits and consequences of sin, from the equally tempting as profitable κακία (Mat_6:34), up to the tremendous ἀπώλεια of eternity.
Joh_17:17. There is still something of the world in them; they are still in the evil; therefore they need to be sanctified: 1. for their own sake and in themselves; 2. as Joh_17:18 shows, for the sake of the world, and for their mission to it.—The great means of this sanctification is, the word of truth, just as in Act_20:32.—“Thy truth” and “Thy word” embrace even here every Old Testament word also, concerning which Psa_119:160 gloried—Thy word is true from the beginning, or—The sum, the essential substance of Thy word is Truth.—But now it is obvious that “if the word of God is thus consecrated as a sanctifying medium,” it receives this consecration as a living word, not regarded therefore as without and independent of the Spirit. It is the Son who sanctifies us in Himself; it is the Father who sanctifies us through the Son in the Spirit; specifically and conclusively it is thus the Spirit, as the living truth of God, who produces this sanctification.
Joh_17:18. Christ does not merely leave them in the world, He sends them to it and into it! As He Himself in the flesh overcame through conflict, and by true obedience sowed the seed which was now to produce the full harvest of His glory—so also is it with us. Thus we have here the strongest reason why Ho will not take His own out of the world; why we should not wish to forsake the society of men, and be at rest before the time; why we should rather persevere in our mission, as He did.
Joh_17:19. The common theory of atonement, which does not penetrate into the living oneness of the true humanity of Christ with the fallen children of Adam, will never be able to understand this memorable saying; for it leaves Jesus apart in His holiness, just where He, nevertheless, descending to and penetrating our humanity, sanctifies Himself for us. Does the ἁμαρτία by imputation lie only upon Him? Is it not rather, according to all Scripture, in His flesh, the same flesh of sin in the ὁμοίωμα of which He was sent and was born; so that in His flesh, this human nature and human person of the incarnate Son, sin was condemned and done away? [?]—In proportion as sin becomes to us, through the fellowship of His holy and willing Spirit, a bitterness, we also are sanctified in the truth, essentially in truth. The truth of God is the objective element and goal of actual, essential sanctification.
Joh_17:20-26. He first prays for the unity of all who should believe in Him and the Father; passing altogether from praying (now become a θέλω, I will) into the final promise of Joh_17:25-26.
Joh_17:20. In this intercessory prayer, the beginning and pledge of that intercession which still prevails on high, every one who believeth has his place.—Faith itself is not prayed for or given; here, as in Joh_17:8, it is the condition of the validity and effect of the intercession.—All faith in all ages comes through the word; this, on the one hand, maintains the doctrine of prevenient grace, the grace of Him who calls, as universal for the world and as special for the individual, without which faith were entirely out of the question: while, on the other hand, it recognizes the freedom of our own decision, for through the word “means the free way of light and conviction.” (Braune.)
Joh_17:21. What diversities are found among the members of the great body the Church, in external relation to the world, as well as in vocation, gifts, knowledge—and yet all are one! These two words most significantly meet here; this casts down the wall of partition between Israel and the Gentiles; as also all such distinctions as the ancient world recognized, according to Gal_3:28; Rom_1:14; similarly, by anticipation, all the distinctions which the modern world, and the Christian world itself, has set up.—An enforced, external, deceptive unity is far from being the thing spoken of here; but the one Word on which faith rests, the one end of the one way in the imitation of the one Lord and Shepherd, the one Spirit by whom all have access to one Father, make the essential unity of all who believe, and according to the proportion of their faith, know and live in believing.—“The being one of believers is not only a being one after the similitude of the Father and the Son, but it is bound up with their being one; it is at the same time a being one with Father and Son, since God through Christ and His Spirit essentially dwells in them.” 1Jn_1:3 (Meyer).—The Restitution brings us abundantly more than man’s original prerogative at the creation; although Mallet said well in his sermon, “Who can hear this petition from the heart and voice of Jesus—That they may be one, as We are—without thinking of the word, Let Us make man an image of Ourselves?”—The Lord (1) testifies now at the end His own desire and will that all the world might believe; (2) He suggests this aim of universal, all-seeking grace to His Church; and would teach His people to regard this as the goal, however unattainable in itself, of all the efforts of their united love—ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύση.—That unity which alone gives power to its missions, and those missions which rest solely upon unity, are in their union the end of the Church.—An intimation from above, that the greatest obstacle to the world’s believing is the want of manifest unity in faith and love on the part of the imperfect Church.
Joh_17:22. The glory which Thou hast given Me is that same glory of grace and truth, of love, of unity with the Father, which, according to Joh_1:14, beamed forth to faith from the humanity of Jesus; and this He had truly given to His disciples upon earth already, because and so far as He is in them.—Even the slightest glimmering of heavenly light which begins to shine out of the countenance of a justified publican, is an outbeaming of His future glorification; and so is the still brighter angel-face of the crowned martyr at his trial.—Regard each other, at least, O believers, with respect! Learn, ye children of God, to stand in awe of your own dignity, that ye defile not yourselves with sin! Let your thanksgivings for what hath been already given, invigorate your prayer and effort after holiness and perfection!—And all this through faith! “A drop of faith is far more noble than a whole sea of mere science, though it be the historical science of the Divine word.” (Francke.)
Joh_17:24. The Lord, when He reaches this point, elevates His tone, changes His petition into an authorized demand, and sets it before the hearers of His prayer in the form of a strong promise: θέλω, I will, is no other than a testamentary word of the Son, who in the unity of the Father, is appointing what He wills.—Our love teacheth us that to be with Christ would be in itself fully sufficient for blessedness; love desires, even in heaven, nothing beside for its unutterable joy;—as the same love here also speaks in Christ: “I will and must have all My children with Me.” (Francke.)—This is the resolution of the contest between disinterested love and the regard to reward; with the supremest majesty Christ here speaks of His own glory and the beholding it, as the highest blessedness of His glorified ones; comp. Exo_23:18.—He does not, however, say “My glory” otherwise than as He appoints it to be shared by us. Behold is an experiencing and tasting (as Joh_8:51), for, according to Joh_17:22, the Lord had given to us already His glory.
Joh_17:25. “Nothing is more wholesome and refreshing for every one of us, nothing more effectually secures the peace of the soul, than to say after the Saviour—Righteous Father! that is, when he can accept all—the death of his flesh, the life of his spirit, the destruction of his sin, the service of the living God, the loss of his portion in this life, with the corresponding heirship of God, and co-heirship with Christ—as grounded in the righteousness of the Father” (Rieger)—and when he can also, like Christ in this last word of solace, accept it as right that its part in the tree of life and the holy city should be taken away from the world.—The not knowing is its own proper guilt, on account of which God can manifest Himself to it as only just.—The world, even the [nominally] Christian world, knoweth not the righteous Father, even to this day, knoweth not the Lord who revealeth Him—although naming and calling upon both, like the Jews with their God and their Messiah. And these have known; They knew Me as sent of Thee and as Thy Son (as Christ, the Son of the living God), and thus, through Me and in Me, Thyself also as My Father, holy and righteous—and this they know with Me, in opposition to the world from which they are saved.
Joh_17:26. Yea, as He loveth Christ He loveth us, for He giveth Him up for us all.—And will declare it; It is to be noted that, through the Spirit, the Church of Christ is truly led to the knowledge of the Father.—Love (not faith, not eternal life, not glory)—only love is the last word here! let every one ponder this and feel it. “With this end of creation, redemption, and sanctification, the Redeemer closes His High-priestly prayer. Love created the world, love took compassion upon the sinful world, love will unite in one the sanctified. Love is the eternal essence of God, and the principle of all His dealings.” (Fikenscher.)—The indwelling of His love is not simply “the practical end “of the knowledge of the name and nature of God, as it is very generally distinguished; but the love being in them is itself the living, consummate knowledge.—The love of the Father dwelleth in us only through the mediation of the Son; we know and we have the Father only as the Father of Christ, nor shall we possess Him throughout eternity otherwise: thus the last word of all after the last is, I in them!—Christ in us, the love of the Father in us—is no other in its truth and power than the communion of the Holy Ghost, who bringeth through the grace of Christ the love of God to man.—John 17 : That all things which He prays for and promises may be Yea and Amen,—the Lord of glory went, after these words, to the woe of Gethsemane, to the death of the cross, and, through the death endured for our sins, to His holy and righteous Father. This death is the centre of all that grace and truth of which the word bears witness to faith; out of this death cometh life, and love, and sanctification, and unity, and eternal glory.
[From Barnes: They were proceeding to the garden of Gethsemane [?] (Joh_14:31); 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 peculiarly tender circumstances in which Jesus and His Apostles were.
Joh_17:1. Glorify Thy Son; honor Thy Son, see Joh_11:4; give to the world demonstration that I am Thy Son; so sustain Me, and so manifest Thy power in My death, resurrection and ascension, as to afford indubitable evidence that I am the Son of God.
Joh_17:2. He has power over all; He can control, direct, sustain them. Wicked men are so far under His universal dominion, and so far restrained by His power, that they shall not be able to prevent His bestowing redemption on those who were given Him.
Joh_17:3. Might know Thee; The word know includes all the impressions on the mind and life which a just view of God and of the Saviour is fitted to produce. To know God as He is, is to know and regard Him as a lawgiver, a sovereign, a parent, a friend—To know Jesus Christ is to have a practical impression of Him as He is, that is, to suffer His character and Work to make their due impression on the heart and life. Simply to have heard that there is a Saviour is not to know it.
Joh_17:4. I have finished the work; How happy would it be if men would imitate His example, and not leave their great work to be done on a dying bed! Christians should have their work accomplished, and when that hour approaches have nothing to do but to die, and return to their Father in heaven.
Joh_17:17. Truth is a representation of things as they are. The Saviour prayed that through those just views of God and of themselves they might be made holy. To see things as they are is to see God to be infinitely lovely and pure; His commands to be reasonable and just; heaven to be holy and desirable; His service to be easy, and religion pleasant, and sin odious; to see that life is short, that death is near, that the pride, pomp, pleasures, wealth and honors of this world are of little value, and that it is of infinite importance to be prepared to enter on the eternal state of being. He that sees all this, or that looks on things as they are, will desire to be holy; he will make it his great object to live near to God, and to glorify His name.
Joh_17:19. That they also, etc. That they 1. Might have an example of the proper manner of laboring in the ministry; 2. Might be made pure by the effect of My sanctifying Myself, i.e., by the shedding of that blood which cleanses from all sin.
Joh_17:20. In the midst of any trials, we may remember that the Son of God prayed for us.
Joh_17:21. That they also may be one in us; A union among all Christians founded on and resulting from a union to the same God and Saviour.
Joh_17:23. May be made perfect in one; That their union may be complete; that there may be no want of union, no jars, discords, or contentions.—It is worthy of remark how entirely the union of His people occupied the mind of Jesus as He drew near to death.—All that is needed now, under the blessing of God, to convince the world that God sent the Lord Jesus, is that very union among all Christians for which lie prayed.
Joh_17:26. I in them; By My doctrines, and the influence of My Spirit—that my religion may show its power and produce its proper fruits in their minds. Gal_4:19.——From Jacobus: John 17 : “First He prays for Himself, then for the whole Church, and for it He implores the four principal things of the Church—(1) the preservation of true doctrine, (2) concord in the Church, (3) the application of His sacrifice, (4) and the last and highest good, that the Church with Christ may be invested with life, joy and eternal glory.” (Melanchthon.)
Joh_17:2. He will lose none who are given to Him—and He will lose nothing that belongs to any of them (John 10), not even their bodies (Joh_6:39).
Ver, 3. This is life eternal—the life eternal—not, this is the way to life eternal, but this is it.—“To know God, and to have experience of His graciousness, is the very participation of Him, and life results from the participation of God.” (Irenæus.)—Our Lord uses the name by which He was known, Jesus, accompanied with the official title, Christ—thus solemnly recognizing these titles as embodying the treasures of that knowledge of which He here speaks—and giving a sweet sanction to this double title for the Church in all time.
Joh_17:4. Have finished; “How doth He say that He hath finished the work of man’s salvation since He hath not yet climbed the standard of the cross? Nay, but by the determination of His will, whereby He hath resolved to endure every article of His mysterious passion, He may truly proclaim that He hath finished the work.” (Polycarp.)
Joh_17:5. There is shown here the oneness of Christ’s person, in His three estates, before the world was—on earth—and afterward in Heaven. This glory of Christ He did not receive, but possessed; He had it originally, and always—and never began to have it.
Joh_17:7. They have known; They have a knowledge derived from experience; they have that knowledge which is promised to those who follow on to know the Lord.
Joh_17:8. Their reception of the truth came from His manifestation of it to them (Joh_17:6), and their reception of it was cordial, leading to obedience.
Joh_17:9. It is not meant that He never could or would pray or ask any thing for the world as distinct from His people.—“The Lord knoweth them that are His,” and this is the inscription on the seal of His foundation (2Ti_2:19).
Joh_17:10. Thine are Mine; How could any creature say this? What larger claim to Godhood could be made?
Joh_17:11. And now I am no more in the world; Here we get a glimpse within the vail. We are given to see how He will make this the burden of His prayer in Heaven.—Keep in Thy name; Keep them in the knowledge and acknowledgment of Thy covenant titles and truths.—That they may be one, as we are; “Then will our unity be truly happy when it shall bear the image of God the Father, and of Christ, as the wax takes the form of the seal which is impressed upon it.” (Calvin).
Joh_17:12. I have kept; I have guarded—or kept as with a military guard.—The son of perdition; It was no falling from grace, because he had no grace to fall from.
Joh_17:13. It is not enough for Christ that His people be perfectly safe for eternity; He will have them also perfectly happy.
Joh_17:15. We are not to seek our removal from the earth before the time—not to retire from active part in the affairs of this life—but we are to labor in our business here, seeking only to be preserved from the evil and to grow in grace.
Joh_17:17. “The revealed word of God is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.” (Westminster Cat.)—Whatever contradicts this divine word is falsehood.
Joh_17:19. I sanctify Myself; This, as applied to Christ, cannot refer to spiritual sanctification, but has necessarily the Old Testament sense of holy self-consecration to His sacrificial death.
Joh_17:21. One in us; It is only by having fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, that they could be one.—-This unity may consist with a variety of form, but it cannot consist with diversity of spirit. “Union implies parts.” (Jay.)
Joh_17:23. The stalk and root of the Vine are one, so as that the branches should be one also, by having all of them a vital relation to the Vine, and deriving of its one life.
Joh_17:24. When the Christian dies, we may regard it as being at this expressed “I will” of Christ. He claims that they shall have death to do them the service of introducing them to the beatific vision of their Lord.—Will declare it; This implies that He would continue His work of revealing the Father, by the mission of the Comforter, and that all these unfoldings of the Divine character, in all ages of the Church, should work in them a “hope that maketh not ashamed”—“Christ in them, the hope of glory.”——From Owen: Joh_17:1. We are conducted, in the very opening of this sublime prayer, to the mysterious unity of the Father and Son, which is the great foundation upon which all that follows is based.
Joh_17:6. The full and blessed import of the passage has reference to the covenanted inheritance of Jesus Christ, known, determined, and provided for, before the foundation of the world.
Joh_17:8. Our Lord, by the word surely characterizes their knowledge as of a higher type than the we know of Nicodemus, Joh_3:2.
Joh_17:9. The intercessory prayer of Jesus embraces those only who are or are to be the actual subjects of His redeeming love.—Through Thine own name; literally, in Thine own name, the idea being that of dwelling or abiding in the protective power of God.
Joh_17:12. There is a concealed argument, a fortiori; if they stood in need of God’s protecting care, while Jesus was personally with them, much more would its continuance be necessary, now that they were to be left by Him, to carry on the great work of evangelizing men.
Joh_17:13. Our Lord uttered this intercessory prayer in the hearing of His disciples, in order that it might be a source of comfort in the dark hour of trial and affliction to them, and also to all who should come after them and be inheritors of like promises and blessings.
Joh_17:15. This verse implies a conflict not only between His disciples and the world without, but also with the world within, according as indwelling sin gave force to the temptations by which they might be beset.
Joh_17:16. As Jesus had been actuated by a supreme desire to do His Father’s will, so they were influenced by a like heavenly spirit and temper. Their whole life and purpose was an antagonism of good with evil, truth with error, light with darkness.
Joh_17:17. “They who are true disciples of Christ live and move in the word of truth as their element; they breathe it. This element, like all the means of grace, has a sanctifying tendency.” (Schauffler.)—”The true sanctifying Word” (Incarnate Word), “by union to which men become holy, separate from the world, united to God, and partakers of the divine nature.” (Lewis.)—The living word of inspiration, that is, the revelation which the Incarnate Logos made of God, is the divinely appointed means of sanctification.
Joh_17:19. The difference between this act (sanctification), as predicated of Him and of His disciples, is twofold: 1. He sanctifies Himself, 2. this very self-sanctification proves His personal holiness from the very beginning; but the disciples (1) were sanctified by the Spirit of God; (2) and this proves them to have been previously defiled by sin.
Joh_17:20. This passage defines the true position of the preached Word in all which pertains to the salvation of men: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Rom_10:14-17.
Joh_17:21. The oneness of believers here spoken of, is one not of essence, but of love. It is the unity of the Spirit, resulting from their being “one body, one Spirit, one hope of [the believer’s] calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.” (Eph_4:4-6).—The unity here prayed for, does not imply—1. an absolute sameness of opinion on matters of religious faith and practice among Christ’s followers [Does it not require a certain degree of sameness?—E. R. C]; 2. That silence should be kept when error is taught, or when a Christian brother goes astray; 3. The surrender of any essential point of belief, in order to effect a compromise of doctrinal views, and thereby seek to remove all denominational distinctions. [Can any point of doctrine be essential, on which evangelical denominations disagree?—E. R. C]—The Spirit of our Lord’s petition is aimed against those sectarian prejudices and animosities, etc., which have so often brought dishonor upon the religion of Christ.—That the world may believe, etc.; This is not so much the purpose, as the result of unity among Christians.
Joh_17:22. The union of believers by the indwelling Spirit with the Father and Son from whom the Spirit proceeds, entitles them through grace to participate in the glory given to Christ.—The hidden spiritual life which they possess through faith in Him, and by which they become partakers of His glory, unites them all to Him, as the branches are united to the vine.
Joh_17:23. That they may be made perfect in one; Moral perfection is not here referred to, but a completeness and perfection of unity, according to the pattern of that which subsisted between the Father and Son.—The evidence of the Father’s love for believers, is here declared to be the great love which they manifest for one another, and the unity and harmony of purpose and aim which pervades their life.
Joh_17:24. The verb see, in this connection, has the idea also of partake; “No mere spectator could see this glory.” (Alford.)
Joh_17:25. “He appeals to the righteousness of God against the evil world, and in favor of His people; see 16:10.” (Webster and Wilkinson.)
Joh_17:26. I in them; As the Son was loved of the Father, His indwelling presence secured for His followers a participation in the Father’s love.
[Joh_17:21. That they all may be one, etc.; The unity of the Church here prayed for, was not (or not only) that of essence which already existed, and was complete and invisible; but that of perfection (Joh_17:23) which might be broken, was susceptible of increase, and was apparent to the world.—The union contemplated was one immediately of individuals, and not of denominations.—That which Christ prayed for, it is the Church’s duty to strive after.]
Footnotes:
[1]Joh_17:1.—[Cod. A. B. C. D. E., etc., Tischend., Treg., Alf., Westc. and H., read ἐλάλησεν, Cod. Sin. λ ε λ ά λ η κ ε ν, had spoken, which Noyes follows in his translation: “When Jesus had thus spoken.”—P. S.]
[2]Joh_17:1.—[א. B., etc., Lachm., Treg., Tischend., Alford, etc., read ἐ π ά ρ α ς without καί, instead of the text. rec.: ἐπῇρεν. … καί.—P. S.]
[3]Joh_17:3.—The ἵνα γινώσκουσιν (A. D. G. L., etc., Tischendorf) probably not merely an ancient error in transcription (Meyer), but also a dogmatical correction. Ἵνα γινώσκωσι seems at the same time to denote the impulse of a striving after the perfect knowledge of God and Christ, characterizing such impulse as the beginning of eternal blessedness. [Tischend., ed. viii., and Tregelles read γινώσκ ο υ σιν, but Lachm., Alford, Westcott and Hort, read γινώσκ ω σιν, which is supported by א. B. C. X., Orig., and adopted also by Lange in his version: “dass sie dich müssen erkennen.” Alford and Noyes translate “to know,” Conant: “that they know.”—P. S.]
[4]Joh_17:4.—[The text. rec. reads ἐτελείωσα with D., Vulg.; but א. A. B. C. L., etc., and the best modern authorities read τελειώσας, which explains ἐδόξασα—P. S.]
[5]Joh_17:5.—[Instead of πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον ε ἶ ν α ι παρὰ σοί, Cod. D. reads γ ε ν έ σ θ α ι.—P. S.]
[6]Joh_17:6.—[For the second δ έ δ ω κ α ς, thou hast given (C. L., Orig., etc., Alford), I prefer ἔ δ ω κ α ς, gavest, which is supported by א. A. B. D. K., and adopted by Tregelles, Tischend., Westcott and Hort.—P. S.]
[7]Ver 7.—[ἔ γ ν ω κ α ν is best sustained by (A.) B. C. D., etc., Lach., Tisch., Treg., Alf., Westc. Cod. Sin. reads ἔγνων. U. X. ἔγνωσαν.—P. S.]
[8]Joh_17:8.—Καὶ ἔγνωσαν is wanting in A. D., Sin.,* Itala; it is bracketed by Lachmann, and by Meyer regarded as a gloss. It, however, has a decided reference to Joh_16:30. Codd. B. [C. L.], etc., Hilary, support it. [Alford, Tregelles, Tischend. ed., viii., Westcott and Hort retain it.—P. S.]
[9]Joh_17:11.—The reading ᾧ [referring to ὄνομα] instead of οὕς [referring to αὐτούς], rests upon A. B. C. [א.], etc., and is decisively established by the Codd. [ᾧ is adopted by Treg., Alf., Tischend., W. and H. See the Exeg.—P. S.]
[10]Joh_17:12.—Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ is wanting in B. C.* D. L., Sin., etc. With reason rejected by Lachmann and Tischendorf.
[11]Joh_17:12.—Codd. B. L., etc., read ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι καὶ ἐφύλαξα. Thence arises the reading in Tischendorf: “I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given me, and I have watched or guarded them.” Codd. A. D., etc., are against said reading, [Treg., Alf., Tischend. ed. viii., W. and H., read also in Joh_17:12 ᾧ, instead of the οὗς of the text. rec.—P. S.]
[12]Joh_17:17.—Σου is to be rejected in accordance with A. B. C.,* etc., (Lachmann).
[13]Joh_17:20.—In accordance with A. B. C. D., Sin., etc., πιστευόντων instead of [text. rec.] πιστευσόντων. [All critical edit, read πιστευόντων.—P. S.]
[14]Joh_17:21.—Ἕν is wanting in Codd. B. C.* D., etc., in the Itala, etc., in Hilary (Tischendorf). Ἕν is supported by Cod., A., Origen and, very decidedly, by the subsequent sentence. The world can see that Christians are one, but it cannot see that they are in God. [Cod. Sin. sustains the text, rec., but all the latest critical editions except Lachm., drop ἕν.—P. S.]
[15]Joh_17:23—The καί before ἵνα should be omitted. [So all the crit. edd.]
[16]Joh_17:24.—Tischendorf reads ὅ in accordance with Codd. B. D., Lachmann οὕς in accordance with Cod., A., etc. This reading of the Recepta is sanctioned by Cyprian and Hilary. [ὅ is also sustained by Cod. Sin., and adopted by Alford, Tregelles, Tischend., Westcott and Hort. “The neuter has a peculiar solemnity uniting the whole church together as one gift of the Father to the Son” (Alford). In this case we should translate: “I will that what thou hast given me (ὅ δέδωκάς μοι), even they (κἀκεῖνοι) may be with me,” etc.; or “As to that which thou hast given me, I will that they also be with me,” etc.—P. S.]
[17]Joh_17:24—We retain the reading δέδωκας in accordance with the weightiest Codd. [instead of ἔδωκας. The E. V. is by no means consistent in the rendering of the tenses, and repeatedly confounds the aor. and perf. in this ch.—P. S.]
[18]Joh_17:25.—[πατήρ: A. B.; πάτερ: א. C. D. L.—P. S.]
[19]Joh_17:25.—[καί is omitted in D. and Vulg., but sustained by the best authorities. On its meaning see the Exeg. Alford. like the E. V., ignores it in the translation; Meyer translates: und gleichwohl (and yet); Lange: ja doch.—P. S.]
[20][Bengel: “Quis non gaudeat, hæc perscripta exstare, quæ cæm Patre locutus est Jesus? Hoc caput in tota Scriptura est verbis facillimum, sensibus profundissimum.”—P. S.]
[21][Precatio sacerdotalis or summi sacerdotis, first used in the sixteenth century by a Lutheran divine (Chytræus). Godet: “On a appelé cette prière sacerdotale. C’ est bien, en effet, ici l’acte du souverain sacrificateur de l’humanité, qui fait offrande à Dieu et de lui-même et de tout son peuple présent et futur.” Hengstenberg derives this designation, rather arbitrarily, from the Aaronic benediction, Lev_9:22; Num_6:22 ff.—P. S.]
[22][Comp. also Lampe: “Confirmatio et conservatio discipulorum, Scopus primarius harum precum erat.” Schmieder (Das hohepriesterl. Gebet, 48): “His speech was not only an outpouring of His heart towards the Father, but at the same time a well considered self-exhibiting work for the disciples.”—P. S.]
[23][Luther adds: “Plain and simple in sound, it yet is so deep, rich and broad that no one can fathom it.” Luther’s exposition of John 17 was composed in 1534.—P. S.]
[24][So did John Knox, who never feared the face of man, but bowed, like a child, before the will and word of God. In his last sickness he directed his wife and his secretary “that one of them should every day read to him, with a distinct voice, the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel according to John, the fifty-third of Isaiah, and a chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. This was punctually complied with during the whole time of his sickness.” Th. M’Crie, Life of John Knox (Philada. ed. 1845), p. 332.—P. S.]
[25][Melanchthon says: “Digniorem nec sanctiorem nec fructuosiorem, nec magis patheticam vocem in cœlo ac terra unquam auditam fuisse quam hanc ipsius Filii Dei precationem,” Zanchius (quoted by Lampe, iii., p. 358): “Plena est maximis consolationibus”—P. S.]
[26][Ewald begins a new sentence with καθώς, which is concluded in Joh_17:4, so that Joh_17:3 is parenthesis. Against this construction see Meyer.—P. S.]
[27][Webster and Wilkinson: “As elsewhere, so here most especially, it is important to notice that ζωή in this connexion does not mean merely conscious existence, nor αἰώνιος merely endless duration; but by ζ. αἰών. is signified ‘the life belonging to eternity,’ the highest kind and state of being of which the creation is capable.”—P. S.]
[28][Godet: ἵ ν α est mis au lieu de ὅ τ ι, parce que la connaissance est présentée comme un but à atteindre.—P. S.]
[29][This would require in Greek: ἵνα γιν. σε κ. Ἰησ. χρ ὅν ἀπέστ., τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν. The fathers adopted this forced interpretation to escape the Arian conclusion that Christ was of a different and created substance, and subordinate to the Father. But the juxtaposition of Christ with the Father in connection with all that follows (comp. ἡμεῖς ἕν, Joh_17:22), is quite inconsistent with Arianism and Sociniauism, God is here called ἀληθινός, not in distinction from His Son, but from idols and quasi-divinities. Christ, as to His divine nature, is Himself called ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεός, 1Jn_2:22. Alford: “I do not scruple to use and preach on this verse (Joh_17:3) as a plain proof of the co-equality of the Lord Jesus in the Godhead.”—P. S.]
[30][So also the E.V., Lücke, ed. iii., Godet, Alford, and most English commentators. Comp, Joh_1:17; 1Jn_1:3; 1Jn_1:7, and especially the Pauline epistles where Ἰησοῦς Χριστός is the usual designation of the divine-human Mediator.—P. S.]
[31][So also Lücke, ed. ii., Meyer and Ewald. But then we would expect the article before χριστόν, as in all the eighteen passages of John where χριστός occurs without Ἰησοῦς, except Joh_9:22 (ὁμολογήσῃ χριστόν). Meyer thinks that Christ prayed in Hebrew, יֵשׁוּצַ הַמָשִׁיחַ, but this is by no means certain, and would not affect Greek usage. Comp, also 1Jn_2:22; 1Jn_4:3; 1Jn_5:1; 1Jn_5:6; 2Jn_1:9, and the later writers, e.g. Hegesippus in Euseb. H. E. II. 23: ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστὶν ὁ χριστός. …. κινδυνεύει πᾶς ὁ λαὸς Ἰησοῦν τ ὸ ν χριστὸν προσδοκᾶν. Moreover, the predicate under which Christ is to be known, is already expressed by ὃν ἀπέστειλας.—P. S.]
[32][Godet: “L’écriture prend toujours le mot Connaitre dans un sens plus profond. Quand il s’ agit du rapport de deux [personnes, ce mot désigne la parfaite intuition que chacune a de l’ être moral de. l’ autre, leur rencontre dans le même milieu lumineux.”—P. S.]
[33][Alford has a good note here: “Notice the correction, which Meyer has pointed out, between ἐγώ σε before, and με σύ now. The same Person (ἐγώ) who had with the Father glory before the world, also glorified the Father in the world, and prays to be again received into that glory. A decisive proof of the unity of the Person of Christ, in His three estates of eternal præ-existence in glory, humiliation in the flesh, and glorification in the Resurrection-Body. This direct testimony to the eternal præ-existence of the Son of God has been evaded by the Socinian and also the Arminian interpreters by rendering εἶχον—‘habebam destination tua,’ Grot, Wetstein.”—P. S.]
[34][Calvin (like Augustine, Luther, and Melanchthon) expresses himself moderately, and cannot be quoted in favor of the supralapsarian doctrine of a limited atonement, but rather held that Christ’s atonement, though efficient only for the elect, is yet intrinsically sufficient for all. Lampe’s explanation is much more harsh, and concludes with the revolting words: Dum Jesus eos ab intercessions sua excludit, declarat, se eorum sacerdotem non esse adeoque mortem pro iis non obiturum. Tantum aberat, ut pro iis orare deberet, ut potius eorum interitum expetat omnesque diras in illos pronunciet. Among modern commentators Hengstenberg defends this interpretation; he refers to 1Jn_5:16 (ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον, οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἳνα ἐρωτήσῃ), as a parallel, and distinguishes between the susceptible world, which is an object of intercession (Joh_1:29; Joh_3:17; Joh_4:42), and the anti-Christian world which cannot receive the truth (14:17), and which is as little an object of intercession as the ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου, but rather of the curses of God (Psa_79:10; Act_6:10). Then he quotes Luther, who says: “How squares His refusal to pray for the world with His teaching us, Mat_5:44, that we are to pray even for our enemies? This is in brief the answer: to pray for the world and not to pray for the world must both be right and good. For soon after He says Himself: ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on Me through their word.’ These very persons must yet be of the world, He must therefore pray for the world for the sake of those who are yet to come forth from the world. St. Paul was certainly of the world, when he persecuted and killed Christians, yet St. Stephen prayed for him and he was converted. Thus, too, Christ Himself prayed on the cross (Luk_23:34). It is thus true that He prayed for the world, and does not pray for the world; but this is the distinction: In the same way and in the same degree in which Christ prays for them that are His, He does not pray for the I world.”—P. S.]
[35][What a blasphemous profanation to call a mortal, sinful man, like the pope, “holy father!”—P. S.]
[36][So also Godet: “Par le mot fils de perdition, et par l’allusion qu’il fait a la prophétie, Jésus veut uniquement dégager sa propre responsabilité, et nullement atténuer celle de Judas.”—P. S.]
[37][כֶּן מָוֶת, υἱὸς θανάτου (1Sa_26:16); υἱὸς γεέννης (Mat_23:15); Ἀβαδδών (Rev_9:11, the name of the angel of the abyss, in Greek, ἀπολλύων, Destroyer); τέκνα ὀργῆς (Eph_2:3); τέκνα κατάρας (2Pe_2:14). The “man of sin” is also called “the son of perdition,” 2Th_2:3. The same term is applied to Satan in the Evang. Nicodemi, c. 20.—P. S.]
[38][Wordsworth: “He perished in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But the Scripture would not have been written by God, unless God had foreseen that he would perish. And this divine Prescience, though it foreknew and foretold that he would perish, did not in any way cause him to perish. Why then was this Scripture written? In order that even his perishing might be an evidence of God’s foresight; and so the traitor himself, even in the hands of Satan, and betraying Christ, might be a witness of the truth, even by his perishing; and Judas, ‘the Son of Perdition,’ might still even in his perdition, be an Apostle of the Son of God.”—P. S.]
[39][Chrysostom takes ἀγιάζ. ἐμ in the sense of προσφέρωσοὶ, I offer Myself as an oblation, as a holy victim to Thee. Christ is both priest and sacrifice. Heb_9:14; Eph_5:2. So also Meyer: “die thatsächliche Weihe, welche Christus, indem Er Sich durch Seinen Tod Gott zum Opfer darbringt, an Sich Selbst vollzieht.”—P. S.]
[40][Similarly Godet: Christ has a human nature with human inclinations, of which He was constantly making a holy offering of obedience to God to he completed in death, comp. Heb_9:14. “Sa vie entière recoit ainsi la sceau d’ une consécration croissante, qui abutit enfin à l’ entière immolation.”—P.S.]
[41][Godet one-sidedly presses the last: “Il ne s’agit donc pas ici, comme on le croit souvent, de l’unité des chrétiens entre eux, mais de celle du corps des croyants avec Christ et, par lui, avec Dieu. Le Siegneur voit se former autour des apôtres, par leur prédication, un vaste cercle de croyants, qui sera son corps.” Lange’s more comprehensive view is in accordance with the text.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 him power over all flesh--(See on Mat 11:27; Mat…
given--gavest
him power over all flesh--(See on Mat 11:27; Mat 28:18-20).
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give eternal life to as many as, &c.--literally, "to all that which thou hast given him." (See on Joh 6:37-40).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Christ’s self-presentation before the Father, Joh_17:1-5.
Christ’s self-presentation before the Father, Joh_17:1-5.
As already noted, Jesus now speaks as if his Passion were but a point in time, and that he is already ascended into the Paternal presence. Commentators, in consequence of not appreciating this, have lost much of the beauty and power of this great prayer. It is the commencement and specimen of his ever-living intercession; nay, it is that intercession itself. Ever here recorded, it is ever being offered. Read by the Church on earth, it ever avails in the sanctuary of heaven.
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Father—The first appealing word of the eternal intercession, simply Father, (see note on Joh_17:11,) a name of God unknown to the world before the Son revealed it. God is Father of all by creation; he is Father of the justified by regeneration; he is sole Father of this sole Son as he is Father of nothing else in the universe besides. Yet this sole Son stands before God in order that he may be the First-born among many brethren.
The hour is come—As we have elsewhere noted, (Joh_2:4,) the life of Jesus was marked by the divine order into hours, periods, or crises. But verily now had come the hour of hours, the consummating period of a complete work and an attained glory.
Glorify thy Son—Invest his glorified resurrection body, now identified with his eternal Spirit compositely, with an eternal glory.
That thy Son… glorify thee—In the great mediatorial work, gathering a glorious Church into the everlasting habitations, he will unfold to the universe the divine glory. Reciprocally and eternally in majesty, power, but most of all in love, will Father and Son thus glorify each other.
1. Lifted… eyes to heaven—Hitherto his glance had been horizontally directed upon his listening apostles; but now our Evangelist beholds him turn his eye upward, and recognizes that his spirit is with God. The phrase to heaven would naturally, but not necessarily, imply that he was under the open sky. Heaven, though upward, is not the sky.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–26 1. These words] More exactly, these things, as in…
1. These words] More exactly, these things, as in Joh_16:1; Joh_16:4; Joh_16:6; Joh_16:25; Joh_16:33.
lifted up his eyes] in calm confidence and in the assurance of victory (Joh_16:33). The attitude is in marked contrast to His falling on His face in the garden (Mat_26:39). ‘To heaven’ does not prove that He was in the open air: comp. Act_7:55; Luk_18:13.
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Father] This is His claim to be heard. Comp. ‘Abba, Father’ in Mar_14:36, and see Lightfoot on Gal_4:6.
the hour] See on Joh_2:4 and Joh_12:27. S. John loves to mark each great crisis in Christ’s life; this is the last.
glorify thy Son] By His return to glory (Joh_17:5) through suffering and death. Comp. Php_2:9-11.
that thy Son also may glorify] By making known the glory of God, through the Son. To make God known is to glorify Him. ‘Also’ must be omitted, and for ‘Thy Son’ we ought perhaps to read ‘the Son.’
1–5. The Prayer for Himself
The Son was sent to give to men eternal life, which consists in the knowledge of God. This work the Son has completed to the glory of the Father, and therefore prays to be glorified by the Father.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–26 (1) These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his…
(1) These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven.—Comp. Note on Joh_14:31. If the view thus adopted is the correct one, it follows that the prayer of this chapter, as well as the discourses which preceded it, was uttered as they were preparing to leave the chamber after supper. The words “to heaven” ought not to be taken to imply that he looked up to the sky, and must, therefore, have been in the open air. The upward look is naturally expressive of feeling, and irrespective of place. This chapter contains, then, the words uttered by our Lord, with eyes lifted up to heaven, in prayer to the Father. It is often spoken of as the High Priest’s Prayer (comp. Joh_17:19). He who would understand it must remember that he is in the Holy of Holies, and must approach it with eyes and heart uplifted to the God to whom and by whom it was spoken.
Bengel speaks of this chapter as the simplest in word, and profoundest in thought, in the whole Bible. The key to the thought is in the presence of the Spirit, who shall guide into all truth (Joh_16:26).
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Father, the hour is come.—“Father,” without any addition, as in Joh_17:5; Joh_17:21; Joh_17:24. Comp. “Our Father,” in the prayer taught to the disciples, and “Holy Father” and “Righteous Father” in Joh_17:11; Joh_17:25. In the first petition of this prayer the disciples are not identified with Him, and yet He does not by the use of the singular person exclude them. Through Him they and all believers receive the spirit of adoption, and cry, as He cried, “Abba, Father.” For the thought of the hour, comp. Joh_12:23; Joh_12:28; Joh_13:1; Joh_13:31-32.
Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.—What is meant by glorifying the Son is further explained in Joh_17:5. But this implies the dark path of death, which has to be trodden before that glory will be attained. (Comp. Joh_12:23 et seq.) The glorifying of the Father by the Son is the manifestation of God’s glory in the completion of the Messianic work by the mission of the Advocate and the future victories of the Church. This is further explained in Joh_17:2-4.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Vers. 1-26. 4. The high-priestly intercession. Audible communion of…
Vers. 1-26. 4. The high-priestly intercession. Audible communion of the Son with the Father. The prayer which now follows reveals, in the loftiest and sublimest form, the Divine humanity of the Son of man, and the fact that, in the consciousness of Jesus as the veritable Christ of God, there was actually blended the union of the Divine and human, and a perfect exercise of the prerogatives of both. The illimitable task which writers of the second century must have set themselves to accomplish, if they had by some unknown process conceived such a stupendous idea without any historical basis to support it, has actually been so effected, that a representation is given which adequately conveys such a synthesis. The author of the Gospel does, however, draw rather upon his memory of that night than upon his philosophical imagination for a passage which surpasses all literature in its setting forth the identity of being and power and love in the twofold personality of the God-Man. We are brought by it to the mercy-seat, into the heaven of heavens, to the very heart of God; and we find there a presentation of the most mysterious and incomprehensible love to the human race, embodied in the Person, enshrined in the words, of the only begotten Son. It need not perplex those who believe that we have the words of Jesus, that this prayer of sublime victory and glorious promise should be followed by the agony and the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, where the glorification of the Son of man passed into the advanced stage of his willing and perfect surrender to the Supreme Will. Hengstenberg finds explanation of John"s silence touching that agony in the supplemental character of the Gospel, which does not repeat a description of a scene already familiar to all readers of the synoptic narrative. This may account for the mere form of the record, but does it meet the perplexity that arises as to whether the scene of Gethsemane could possibly follow John"s narrative? Is not such a conception incompatible altogether with the cry, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me"? Our answer is a reference to Joh_12:27, where there is the exact counterpart of the scene in the garden. Nor is a mysterious troubling of the Redeemer"s soul elsewhere absent from the Johannine narrative. At the grave of Lazarus, as well as when the Greeks wrung from his lips the cry, "Father, save me from this hour," followed by "Father, glorify thy Name," we have the blending of an utterly indescribable affliction with a triumphant acceptance by him of the Divine purpose of his mission and the will of his Father. Throughout these discourses he is meditating his departure with all its accompanying grief and agony. He describes the way he is about to take as one which would be like the travail-pang of a new humanity; but in his capacity of living in the light of the Father"s will, he treats the whole mystery of the cross, the grave, the resurrection, the ascension, as already achieved. Throughout this prayer he regards the work as finished, and the new order of things as already existent. Thus he had prayed for Lazarus and for his restoration from the grave, and he knew then that God heard him; but still he wept, and, groaning within himself, came to the sepulcher. It should also be remembered that (Joh_14:30) he had expressly said that he was then about to encounter the prince of this world. The perfect humanity of Jesus, on which John continually insists, does entirely justify the rapid changes of mood and the vehemence of the emotions which were in their conflict issuing in sublime courage and perfect peace. The school of Renan, Strauss, and others, following the lead of Bret-schneider, see insuperable difficulties, because they have an idea of Christ"s Person which would render it inconceivable and incredible (see Introduction, p. 106.).
Vers. 1-5. (1) With reference to himself.
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Jesus spake these things; i.e. the discourse which precedes, and then turned from his disciples to the Father. The place where the prayer was offered is comparatively unimportant, yet it must have been uttered somewhere. It has been well suggested that the Lord, with the disciples, sought the comparative quiet of the Father"s house, and in some of the courts of the temple, within sight of the golden gate with its mighty vine, had enacted all that is recorded in John 15-17. This does not interfere with the idea that the starry sky was visible to them, and that from some portion of the temple-courts our Lord should have lifted his eyes to heaven; for the heavens are the perpetual symbol of the majesty of God, and show that side on which, by instinctive recognition of the fact, men may and do look out upon the infinite and the eternal. And havinglifted up his eyes to heaven or, lifting (Revised Version) up his eyes to heaven he said, in a voice which the wondering, believing, and troubled disciples might hear (see Ver. 13), and from which they were intended to learn much of the relation between their Lord and the eternal Father. There is a twofold division of the prayer: From Vers. 1-5 he offers prayer for himself, but in special relation to his own power over and his own grace to the children of men; from Vers. 6-19 he contemplates the special interests of his disciples, in their present forlorn condition, in their work, conflict, and ultimate triumph; from Vers. 19-26 he prays for the whole Church,
(a) for its unity,
(b) for its expansion,
(c) its glory.
"For himself he has little to ask (Vers. 1-5), but as soon as his word takes the form of intercession for his own (Vers. 6-26), it becomes an irresistible stream of the most fervent love. Sentence rushes upon sentence with wonderful power, yet the repose is never disturbed" (Ewald). Father; not "my Father," nor "our Father," the prayer given to his disciples, nor "my God" as afterwards upon the cross; nor was it the customary address to "God" of either Pharisee or publican; but it recalls the "Abba, Father" of the garden, which passed thence into the experience of the Church. (Rom_8:15 Gal_4:6) The hour which has so often presented itself as inevitable, but which so often has receded, and which even now delays its full realization (Joh 2,joh 7,joh 12,joh 13) as part of a Divine plan concerning him, the hour of the fiery baptism, of the solemn departure, of the conflict with the prince of this world, and of complete acceptance of the Father"s will, has come; glorify thy Son, that (thy) the Son may (also) glorify thee. Lift thy Son into the glory which thou hast prepared, that the Son whom thou hast sanctified and sent into the world may glorify thee. It is very noticeable that he speaks of himself in the third person. This is justified by the fact that he here conspicuously rises out of himself into the consciousness of God, and loses himself in the Father. The glorification of the Son is first of all by death issuing in life. He was crowned with glory in order that he might taste death for every man. The conflict, the victorious combat with death, was the beginning of his glory. In taking upon himself all the burden of human sorrow, and exhausting the poison of the sting of death, he would "glorify God". (cf. Joh_21:19) This does not exhaust the meaning, but the further forms and elements of his glory are referred to afterwards.
Vers. 1-5. Christ"s intercessory prayer.
The great High Priest appears on the eve of his final sacrifice of himself for his people. He prays, first, for restoration to his Divine glory.
I THE ATTITUDE AND SPIRIT OF THIS PRAYER. "He lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father.
1. His attitude, as he looked upwards, bespoke his reverence for God, whose throne is in heaven, his confidence in God, and his expectation of help and comfort from on high.
2. His spirit is that of confidence and filial affection, if his prayer was in Aramaean, he said, "Abba," which henceforth passes into the usage of the Church, as the term so sacred to Christians. (Rom_7:15 Gal_4:6)
II THE PURPORT OF THIS PRAYER. "The hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
1. There was an hour appointed in the Divine counsels for his death and Passion. It was the fitting time. The best remedy for such a sad moment is prayer.
2. It was an hour that involved in its consequences the glorification of the Son.
a. Not by his mere death,
b. nor by his resurrection,
c. but by the change in his personal condition, which would enable him in heaven to consummate the work he had begun on earth.
3. Mark how the glorification of the Father and the Son are inextricably linked together.
4. Mark the authority which Christ has received, as Mediator, over the whole human race. "As thou hast given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
(1) Mark the universality of the gospel; for it applies, not to Israel only, but to all people. (Mat_28:19)
(2) The authority of the Son over the race of man is conferred by the Father. It is not implied that the Son was not God, because he received all from his Father, for the text speaks of his authority as Mediator.
(3) The design of this authority is that he might give eternal life to his own people.
(a) All believers are the Father"s gift to the Son, as his charge and as his reward. (Isa_53:10) We may, therefore, infer that such a gift will not be in vain.
(b) Eternal life is Christ"s free gift to sinners.
(i) It is not temporary life, but life without break or end.
(ii) It is a life, as a Puritan says, unbought, unsought, unthought, by sinners.
III THE TRUE NATURE OF ETERNAL LIFE. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
1. The life of grace begins with knowledge.
(1) Ignorance is the great hindrance to life.
(2) Christ, by his Spirit and Word, removes this hindrance, enlightening our understanding.
2. The true objects of holy knowledge are God and Christ.
(1) The only true God, in opposition to the error of polytheism.
(2) It is the whole essence of the Godhead Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is the only true God.
(3) Christ is to be known as the manifestation of the Godhead.
(a) Without him, we do not know God as reconciled, and therefore cannot come to him with boldness.
(b) The dependence of eternal life in the knowledge of the Son implies his coequal Godhead with the Father and the Spirit. How could the knowledge of a mere creature be equally necessary to salvation with that of God himself?
(c) The mission of the Son was
(i) from God and heaven;
(ii) it was into this world;
(iii) it was in our business and for our benefit.
(iv) Therefore we ought to honor the Son as we honor the Father.
IV THE SON"S GLORIFICATION OF THE FATHER ON EARTH. "I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
1. The Son glorified the Father by
a. his doctrines,
b. his miracles,
c. his obedience,
d. his sufferings till death.
2. The work of his life was now ended.
(1) This implies that his work was finished before his death, lie refers to his obedience in life in our stead, which was as necessary as his obedience unto death for our salvation.
(2) Because it is a finished work, it is sinful and foolish for man to add to it.
V THE PRAYER FOR THE SON"S GLORIFICATION IN HEAVEN. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." These words imply:
1. That the Son had an essential glory with the Father before the foundation of the world.
2. That he emptied himself for a time of that which he received again. (Php_2:7)
a. That the glory of his Divinity was fulfilled in his ascended manhood.
b. Mark the glorious advancement of our nature in the Person of Christ.
c. The true fulfillment of this prayer is set forth in the exaltation described in the Philippian Epistle. (Php_2:9-12)
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Ver. 1. The Divine idea of glory.
There have ever been prevalent among men false views of glory. It is natural to admire pomp and splendor, wealth, magnificence, and power. Christianity has done much to counteract the common tendency to place glory in external greatness, to rebuke and to banish such conceptions from the higher thinking of men. Our Lord employs the term "glory" in a higher, a moral and spiritual acceptation. He teaches us what true glory is when he prays, "Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
I THE GLORIFICATION OF THE SON BY THE FATHER. For this Jesus prayed; therefore it was something yet to be.
1. Christ sought to be glorified in and after his approaching suffering and humiliation. The scenes through which he was about to pass, the pains and sorrows he was about to endure, were such as could not easily in most minds be associated with glory. Still, to the enlightened and sympathetic mind, there was even in the cross a majesty unparalleled. The demeanor of the Crucified was a demeanor, morally glorious. But the prayer of our Savior probably had reference to the victory which he should reach even through his seeming defeat. The Resurrection and Ascension completed and crowned the work of humiliation and suffering. "The head that once was crowned with thorns Is crowned with glory now; A royal diadem adorns The mighty Victor"s brow.
2. Christ sought to be glorified in the efficacy and results of his mediation. The results of his earthly ministry might to some minds seem meager. But the "greater works" which followed his ascension were such as to excite the amazement of the world. The new dispensation excelled in glory. The trophies of Immanuel were many and illustrious. The conversion of nations, the submission of kings, the homage of society, all proved to be glorious, all contributed to render glorious, the Name of the Son of man. And this spiritual glory never wanes; it is destined to grow and brighten with the advancing ages.
II THE GLORIFICATION OF THE FATHER BY THE SON. This is represented by the Lord Jesus as consequent upon that glorification for which he prayed. The ultimate end of all is the glory of the Eternal himself. How is it that this result is brought about?
1. The Father is glorified when there is imparted to men a true knowledge of himself.
2. By the diffusion throughout humanity of the new and Divine life.
3. By the obedience and praise offered consciously, willingly, and reasonably, to the Father, by the growing multitudes of Christ"s redeemed, through countless ages, on earth and in heaven. T.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Ver. 1. The Father glorified through the Son.
Here are words of Jesus in this prayer which we are, as it were, doubly bound to consider. For this prayer went up in the midst of the disciples. We can hardly even say that it was overheard by them; that would imply that they were not intended to hear it. The Father heard the prayer, and the disciples heard it too. And in the hearing there came upon them great responsibilities, great opportunities, great inspirations. The same things also come upon us.
I THE INVOCATION. This invoking word, "Father," must not be forgotten in one single sentence of the whole prayer. The prayer is but one revealed breathing of an unbroken communion. "Father" was no new or occasional word on the lips of Jesus. The thought of it directed and circumscribed every petition. The prayer is the prayer of One who was in the closest intercourse with him to whom he prayed. The harmony was the harmony of a union which, the more we think of it, deepens into mysterious unity. What were the Son without the Father what were the Father without the Son?
II THE OCCASION. The hour has come. What Jesus meant by that hour we soon discern when the prayer is closed. Streams that had long. been flowing towards each other were about to meet at last. The time and the events of the time were going to correspond. With God there is no "too soon" or "too late." The time came for Jesus to be delivered up into the hands of men, and he made no resistance, achieved no miraculous escape. The hour was come to reveal the essential weakness of human power; and Jesus was ready to give the opportunity of illustrating it. All that men did and all that Jesus suffered could not have happened otherwise. All that was done by all who were concerned in the death of Jesus was done according to their natural inclinings. We ought not to be astonished at a single dreadful feature in the whole transaction. Men did what they might be expected to do; and now the heavenly Father is looked to for what he may be expected to do.
III THE SUPPLICATION. That the Father would glorify the Son. The Father had, indeed, been doing nothing else from the beginning, but this paternal glorification had now to be made peculiarly manifest. The disciples had got into the way of not looking beyond or above Jesus. It seemed as if he did the things rather than the Father through him. He said that he could only do what the Father gave him to do; but this could only be clearly seen when through a set of entirely different experiences. The workings of that Being whom Jesus calls Father should appear. Jesus, who heretofore had been strenuously active, was now to be almost entirely passive. The Father was now going to glorify him through the manifestation of the meekest, lowliest, most patient Spirit. Then beyond the death there lay the resurrection. He who believes that Jesus really rose from the dead can see in that, above all things, the glorifying stamp of the heavenly Father.
IV THE MOTIVE. A glorified Son means a glorified Father. The praise of him who was sent is inseparable from the praise of him who sent him. The risen Jesus becomes the instrument of proclaiming far and wide that God who is a Father. A Father with none of the limitations of human fathers; a Father who, to those who contemplate his doings, opens up new possibilities and joys in human fatherhood. Further, there is an example. We, in our measure, should pray that our heavenly Father may glorify us, for so we shall glorify him. We who have come short of the glory of God shall yet fully illustrate that glory in every particular. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 These words spake Jesus
Joh_17:1-5
These words spake Jesus
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Christs prayer for Himself
I.
THE CIRCUMSTANCE.
1. The place--probably the west bank of the Kidron; but to a devout soul any spot serves as an oratory (Joh_4:21; 1Ti_2:8).
2. The time--the last night of His life. Not surprising that sinful men should pray then: and comforting to know that the Sinless One then found solace in prayer.
3. The audience--not in solitude as oftentimes before (Joh_6:15; Mat_14:23; Luk_9:28), or in the company of strangers Joh_11:41; Mat_11:25), but in the hearing of His disciples. Note the distinction between private and public prayer--the former for individual profit, the latter the advantage of others as well.
II. THE SPIRIT.
1. Reverential--lifted up His eyes. It becomes those who approach the throne of grace to remember whose throne it is (Psa_11:4; Psa_45:6), to cherish exalted views of His majesty (Psa_31:8; Psa_89:7), and to show them by corresponding outward postures (Exo_3:5; Heb_12:28).
2. Filial--Father. In the Spirit of a Son He maintained communion with the Father, which is also the true Spirit for us (Rom_8:15).
3. Believing. Shown by the appeal Christ makes to the arrival of His hour as a reason why His prayer should be heard. The hour being prearranged by the Father, He intercedes for the fulfilment of the promise which was bound up with it. True prayer ever springs from faith in the Fathers promise (Psa_119:49; Heb_11:6).
4. Urgent. Revealed by the action above described, and by the twofold recurrence of the main petition (verses 1-5). Fervent importunity a characteristic of right prayer.
III. THE PETITION. Father, glorify, &c.
1. What it implied.
(1) That the praying Son had been in existence before the world was (verse 5).
(2) That though the Son He was not in that glory.
(3) That He had laid aside that glory in order to become the Father s servant (Php_2:6-7).
2. What it desired.
(1) Not posthumous fame through the influence of the gospel (Psa_72:17); this He could not have had before the world was.
(2) That having finished the Fathers work, He might resume His preexistent glory in an incarnate form.
IV. THE PLEAS.
1. The honour of the Father. He saw that the cause the Father had at heart could be more successfully carried forward by the Son on the throne of the universe.
2. The salvation of the Church. The work of bestowing eternal life on dead souls would proceed more efficaciously were He in heaven.
3. The recompense of Himself (verse 4). Yet Christ employs this argument only in the third place.
Learn
1. The Fatherhood of God is the best refuge for dying men.
2. The chief end of man is to glorify God.
3. Eternal life is impossible apart from the grace of God and the revelation of Christ.
4. The best preparation for heaven is the faithful execution of
Gods will on earth. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The prayer of Christ
Between this and the one offered in Gethsemane there is a difference we cannot help observing. Both were offered on the same night, yet in the one Christ is filled with calmness and triumph, and in the other with agony and dejection. This has been seized by sceptics as proof of the untrustworthiness of Scripture. But note
1. That whilst Christ was Divine He was also human. In proportion as human nature is refined and sensitive it is liable to varying moods arising out of the different influences which play upon it. Christs humanity was peculiarly so.
2. That Christ was wont, at times, to dwell upon separate aspects of His destiny. Some were bright, others dark. What more natural in pondering the former as He does here, He should rise into ecstasy.
3. That whatever the Saviours mood, He was always true to His redeeming purpose. Proceeding to the prayer, note
I. THAT JESUS SPEAKS TO GOD ON THE GROUND OF GODS FATHERLY RELATION. He does not go as servant or subject, but as child, and says Father six times in the prayer. Mark
1. How unrestrictedly the name is used. Not My Father. He had already taught His disciples to say Our Father; so now He makes no selfish appropriation of the name: teaching us Christs perfect oneness with ourselves, and our privilege to trust in the love of God.
2. How reverently the name is spoken! The tone we cannot hear; but the gesture suggests it, and the epithets of verses 11 and 25. When you go to the Father never lose sight of the Sovereign, lest you dishonour Him and disgrace yourselves.
II. THAT JESUS CONFESSES TO GOD HIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE NEAR FULFILMENT OF HIS MISSION, The hour is come. No hour of His life was unimportant, but one hour overshadowed all others--the hour of His sacrificial death. Take that away and what is there left? To Him it was the hour of agony, but of triumph also. To us it is the hour of life and joy, shaded by the thought that to be such to us it was necessary that it should be terrible to Him.
III. THAT JESUS PRESENTS TO GOD A PETITION RESPECTING THE ISSUE OF THE CRISIS TO WHICH HE HAD COME. Although perfect He had to fortify Himself for the trial by prayer.
1. Father, glorify Thy Son.
(1) By inspiring Him with strength and courage.
(2) By maintaining His integrity.
(3) By giving Him victory.
(4) By making the bruising of His heel to be the breaking of the serpents head.
(5) By raising Him from the dead and setting Him at Thy right hand.
2. That Thy Son also may glorify Thee--beautiful unselfishness!
(1) By showing to men that Thou art the Father, enabling Him to suffer and triumph on their behalf.
(2) By vindicating to men the grandeur of Thy attributes, and the rightness of Thy claims.
(3) By revealing to men the purposes of Thy love and the promises of Thy grace.
(4) By bringing men, through the power of His sacrifice, into loving worship at Thy feet and into the enjoyment of everlasting life in Thy presence. (B. Wilkinson, F. G. S.)
A petition urged by a threefold argument
I. THE PETITION. A vindication of Christs character. Glorify Thy Son. Answered by
1. The signs at His death.
2. His resurrection.
3. His ascension.
II. THE ARGUMENT is
1. Christs relation to the Father. Influence increases in proportion to the nearness of relationship (Heb_1:3; Col_1:15).
2. Christs relation to time and to a special period. There is a special hour in every conflict which determines the value of all that has gone before, and gives defeat to one side and victory to the other So this hour in Christs conflict with the powers of evil.
3. Christs relation to the glory of the Father. That which would bring honour to Christ would bring honour to God, inasmuch as He claimed to be the revealer of the Father.
Lessons from this answered prayer:
1. It is not only for our comfort, but Gods glory that prayer in accordance with His will should be answered.
2. It is right to ask for a vindication of our character when under a cloud, not only for our own sake but for that of others. (W. Harris.)
God has no son without prayer
What strange condescension, that He who hath the key of David should knock at the Fathers gate, and receive His own heaven by gift and entreaty! These are Mantons words of surprise at the first sentences of our Lords prayer in Joh_17:1-26.: Father, glorify Thy Son. Even to Jesus it is said, Ask of Me. God had one Son without sin, but never a son who did not pray. The cry of Abba, Father! is the mark of sonship. True prayer is the sign of a true-born child of God: Behold, he prayeth is the token by which each heir of glory is known. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Supreme things in mans spiritual history
I. The supreme PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE--to glorify the Father. What is this? Not laudation however enthusiastic; not contributing to His blessedness and grandeur, this is impossible--but the revelation of Him in our character and life. Whatever creature works out the nature that God has given him in harmony with His will glorifies Him. It is here indicated that we can only glorify God as He glorifies us. There is more of God seen in a Divinely-inspired and righteously-regulated soul than in all the splendour of the heavens.
II. The supreme MISSION OF CHRIST. In Joh_17:2 it is suggested
1. That Christ is Master of the race. Power over all flesh. His authority is absolute and independent, yet never interfering with the freedom of any of His subjects, and estimating their services not by their amount but their motive.
2. That Christ is Master by Divine appointment. The Divine rights of kings is an impious fiction, but Christ reigns by right divine, and therefore we should obey Him and rejoice in His government.
3. That Christ is thus Divinely appointed in order to make us happy. Eternal life or goodness is the supreme necessity of man. Goodness is eternal because God is eternal. Sin is death.
III. The supreme SCIENCE OF MAN (Joh_17:3). Physical science is promoted and extolled amongst us. But compared with this knowledge all else is a meteor flash. I only really know the man with whose character I have an intense sympathy. Only so can I know God, and thus knowing God I have eternal life (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The hour is come
The supreme hour
When regarded aright, no hour of any human life can be considered unimportant. It is a portion, and a necessary portion, of one great whole. It may seem to be trivial. We may treat it as though it were of little worth, casting it from us as something we can afford to waste; but that is to act with ignorance, if not with criminality. Examine any building from the foundation to the top-stone, and the architect, who sees the meaning of every stone and the reason of its position, will tell you that all the stones are needed for strength, for symmetry, or for beauty. Remove one, misplace one, and its importance will be evident, for to that degree the structure is imperfect. It is so with our life--the hours of which it is composed are of untold value in their relation to each other and the great whole of which they are parts, so that we dare not be indifferent concerning any one. This is further manifest if we remember that any hour may be to us the most momentous hour of all. Yesterday is the parent of to-day, and by an inexorable law, to-days history makes the facts of tomorrow. So that it may be said that in the present hour, as the germ in the seed, lies our coming destiny. How, then, can we call any period unimportant, if it leads on to the most important of all? It becomes great by what it helps to bring. And to every life some great and solemn period comes--a period that may be called the greatest--a period that is decisive--a period that seems to condense in itself all others--for which all others have prepared--just as it is said the hundred years of patient culture have prepared the aloe-tree for the single year in which it blossoms into flower--a period when we are tested--when it is seen what our real characters are--a period which we each may describe as My hour. Then we may win everything or lose everything that is worth having. These hours may come in youth or middle age. They do come to us in our temporal affairs and in our spiritual history. Now, the two facts of which I have been speaking are in an infinitely higher degree true of Jesus Christ. There was no season or event in His career that was in any sense unimportant. Knowing who He was--the Divine Man, the worlds Saviour--it is impossible to think of even His simplest action as without significance. Yet we notice that even in His life, in which every moment was supremely great, there was a period which stood forth to His own mind, and which appears in the history as overshadowing all other periods, and, indeed, giving new importance to them all. We have here a remarkable illustration of
I. A DESTINY FORESEEN. It has been maintained by some that there is a certain fixed plan or destiny for every life. The mere statement of such a theory is sufficient to suggest immediately the immense difficulties with which it is surrounded. For you begin to think upon the multitude of gross, wicked, worthless, and suffering lives that are passed in the world, and to wonder whether they are all according to the appointment and will of God. Yet it is impossible not to be convinced that if there be a God, wise, powerful, good, He must have some plan and purpose for all human lives. This, in few words, is our conception of Divine Providence--it is care for the whole, and care for each part. God is the God of order, and if He had not a purpose and a plan, and consequently what we may term a destiny, for each human soul, He would be working without order, and chance and accident would be the governors of the world, and not God. This we can never believe. That it is possible to get out of this order, and to follow our own blind and foolish wills, choosing our own path rather than Gods, seems to me also undeniable. Just as a father, looking upon his son, shall say, I will educate and prepare my boy for such a business or profession; he shall go to this school for so many years, and then at such an age he shall be placed yonder, and I shall have great comfort when I am an old man in seeing him fulfil all those purposes which I have cherished as the best ambition of my life. All fathers, I suppose, have some such ideas as these. But how few are realised? The son begins to exercise his own freedom of choice, and sometimes bounds off in a directly opposite road--and all the plans seem confused and broken and worthless. Is not the whole Bible a record of the fact that men constantly choose a way that is not His way, and seem to frustrate the destiny for which they were appointed? All sin is a disturbing element in Gods plans. Yet with this in view we are compelled to believe in the existence of a sovereignty that is able to see all possible contingencies, to estimate and provide for every catastrophe, to compel all things to work out His designs. If I did not hold fast to that, the world would appear to me a chaotic confusion, a terrible place of disorder--no lordship, no mastery--and, therefore, an unaccountable mistake.We come into life for a purpose What that is seems hidden from us. We learn by experience; all is concealed, and it is only afterwards we see Gods purposes, just as Joseph, when in Egypt, saw them. He could not understand his destiny when taunted and sold by envious brothers. It was all mystery when, through a false charge, he was thrust into prison. Some men, however, have seemed to be inspired by an almost supernatural belief that they were sent into the world to accomplish an object very clear to their own minds. The great moral and spiritual reformers of every age have expressed themselves as Divinely inspired and delegated to fulfil the great mission to which they have given their energies--until it was accomplished their hour had not come. Now when we speak of Jesus Christ in such a connection as this we do not forget what and who He was, and that His mission was one of grander importance than that of any other being who has entered our world. He acts and speaks as though He knew and could see that His life and His death are all the result of a prearranged plan. There was to be nothing accidental--nothing that could be attributed to the wild uncertainties of chance. He came not so much to live as to die. That was the supreme hour of His life. For then He became the Lamb of God bearing the Sins of the world. Then He accomplished the purpose of Divine mercy; revealed as it was never before revealed the infinite love of Gods heart to a race that regarded Him with fear and suspicion and hatred. That was Christs hour--an hour of untold sorrow, but an hour of wondrous triumph and glory. Do you not see that distinct plan--luminous, certain, inevitable in our Lords life? Is it not the thing in His life? Take that away, and what is left? The meaning has gone. The beauty is marred. Like music without the leading part, the air, there may be harmony, but the chief significance is altogether wanting--you can make nothing of it.
II. A FORESEEN DESTINY TRIUMPHING OVER ALL OBSTACLES. We have said that this object lay before Christ all through His life, that all pointed to that supreme hour. But have you ever thought what wonderful preservations there were which prevented any failure? To most of us the thought of Christs failure is overwhelmingly terrible, for it means to us the quenching of all hope, a night of bitter despair. A world such as this without a Saviour is the most frightful of all conceptions. What more fearful spectacle can we imagine than that of a company of wretched shipwrecked men fixing all their hopes upon a lifeboat that has started to save them, and yet doomed to see it and their would-be saviours overwhelmed and drowned by the angry sea? But, thank God! that was impossible. Yet He was tried. The devil tried Him in those fierce wilderness-temptations. He would have had Him show His power then, and so gain triumph. When He was in the midst of a multitude teaching them the great truths of the kingdom, His very relatives came and attempted to seize Him, declaring that He was mad. The Pharisees and scribes, with some of His own friends, urged Him to work miracles, and by some grand display of power win a victory over all hearts. Nor, on the other hand, could evil pervert or hinder Him. Persecution ever dogged His steps seeking occasion to destroy Him, but it could not prevail against Him. But His hour was not yet come, and He calmly passed through the midst of them and went His way. Twice the same reason is assigned for His preservation. What was it made them so helpless, then, in comparison with the time shortly after, when they could take and maltreat and crucify Him according to their own wicked will? What was it? Surely the might of God. These facts are rich with comfort to all the faithful servants of Christ in times of anxiety and trouble about their own lives and their work. If we have yielded our hearts to Divine guidance, and are striving in all we do to subordinate our wills to Gods will, to work out His plans in our life, then we have a right to believe that He is ever presiding over our course, arranging and controlling events and circumstances by a wise, unerring, merciful Providence, and that in all He is working out His gracious purposes. So that no room is left for fear. So, on the other side, if any should fear lest the final hour will come and cut them off from achieving the work on which their heart is set--illness, sudden feebleness, even early death-let such be comforted. There is a grand truth in the familiar phrase, Man is immortal till his work is done. (W. Braden.)
The momentous hour
1. In every mans history there are hours of peculiar importance. When a young man leaves home for the first time, and when he becomes his own master; when the man of enterprise wins his first battle and establishes his claim to the public confidence; when the scientific or literary man publishes his first or his greatest work; when the mother gives birth to her first child; when we die.
2. Note the deep interest our Lord attaches to this hour. It was always present to His imagination: In the brighest hours of His life, as at Cana and the Transfiguration and when the Greeks came to Him, and at the darkest, in Gethsemane.
I. JUSTIFY THE INTEREST WHICH ALL DEVOUT MINDS ATTACH TO THIS HOUR, not only in earth, but in heaven (Rev_5:11-12).
1. The estimate which God forms of it. As there are some seasons on which man fixes with peculiar interest, so with God--the day of creation, the day of the deluge, the day of the Lord, but beyond all is the day of the Son of Man--his birth hour and death hour.
2. The long train of dispensations which preceded it and pointed it out. This is the key of them all. When God at sundry times and in divers manners spake to the fathers, it was but to point to the hour when He should more fully speak unto us by His Son. If He manifests Himself to patriarchs, it is to point out to them His day; if He chooses a peculiar people it is to make them depositaries of the promises of His coming; if He appoints sacrifices and ceremonies, it is but to typify His death.
3. The great work that was accomplished in that hour.
(1) Mans redemption.
(2) Satans overthrow.
(3) The harmony of the Divine perfections.
(4) The opening of the gates of heaven.
II. WITH WHAT FEELING SHOULD WE REVERT TO THE TRANSACTIONS OF THIS HOUR?
1. With the deepest humiliation that such a sacrifice was needed on our part.
2. With a humble determination to apply its benefits. (Homiletic Magazine.)
The supreme hour
Father, the hour is come. The hour; the hour of all hours the most important. What hour like that in interest, what hour so big with momentous issues on all the past, and on all the future! That was the central hour of all times hours. The confluence of the two eternities was at that time-point. That hour was the keystone of times huge arch, that arch which rests on the one side, and the other on eternity. Many hours in the worlds history are marked and memorable. The hour of the birth or death, the crisis-hour of one of the worlds great ones, a thinker, worker, statesman, or warrior; the hour which gave birth to and introduced some mighty revolution, which proved to be the birth or death hour of a nation, altering the destiny of millions of our race for weal or for woe, is important and to be marked; but what hour like this! an hour which had its bearing on the whole universe, and whose transactions were to effect eternally God and man, angels and devils. It was for this hour that the great clock of Time was set in motion at first. It was for this hour that the world was created and upheld; for this hour Heavens justice waited; in it sin was made an end of, and transgression was finished; in it the law of God was magnified, and made honourable; holiness was vindicated; the devil and his work virtually destroyed; death slain, and Gods chosen people saved with an everlasting salvation. The hour is come. The time was numbered to an hour. The betrayer had gone forth on his fell errand; the machinery of death was prepared, and the Victim was ready to bleed and die on the altar. And He it is who reminds the Father that the hour is come. It is Isaac that tells Abraham that it is time he should be laid on the wood and the knife be upraised. The Lamb of God says, It is time He should die, to take away the sin of the world. The hour is come: how solemn and how applicable are the words! This hour was long in coming, but it has come at last. The eye of many a priest and prophet, king and peasant, of the olden time, had been strained in looking earnestly across the intervening ages towards that hour; but, one by one, the eye of these men grew dim with age and closed in death, and still it came not. (T. Alexander, M. A.)
The final hour of the Son of God
This hour was marked by the union of wide extremes, by strange contrasts, and wondrous results. This will appear if we consider it
I. AS THE HOUR OF THE DEEPEST HUMILIATION AND YET OF TRANSCENDENT GLORY.
1. The Son of God was humbled by taking our nature upon Him, and by the poverty and reproaches which He endured; but all these were nothing compared with the humiliations of this hour.
2. Yet it was the hour of His glory. Sense saw nothing but the darkest clouds of shame; faith beholds those clouds gilded with heavenly splendour.
(1) The highest virtues were displayed in that hour--fortitude, meekness, submission, forgiveness, filial tenderness, above all, love.
(2) He was glorified by God. As there were miracles at His birth, at His baptism, in His ministry, so in His death. As on Mount Tabor He received glory and honour, so on Mount Calvary.
II. AS MARKED BY THE GREATEST OF HUMAN CRIMES AND THE MOST AFFECTING DISPLAYS OF THE DIVINE MERCY.
1. Jesus made His appearance in a wicked age; among other reasons for this, to show that the worst may find mercy. In this hour every evil appears under its greatest aggravations. Hatred of goodness, resistance to the authority of heaven, opposition to the evidence of truth, ingratitude.
2. The hour was not less distinguished by the mercy of God. The murderers were spared to be the subjects of grace. The Sufferer whom they hurried to Calvary was then bearing the punishment of their sins. He whom they stretched upon the cross was the atoning Lamb then laid upon that rude altar. The blood which they drew was then flowing to wash away the guilt even of their sins, and to sprinkle the mercy-seat to give their prayers acceptance.
III. AS EXHIBITING WICKED MEN AND THE EVER-BLESSED GOD ACCOMPLISHING OPPOSITE AND CONTRARY PURPOSES. The intention of the Jews was obvious.
1. It was to destroy Christ and His religion together, and they seemed fully to have accomplished their purpose. Ah, the blindness of man! Christ was put to death by wicked men; but in this they only accomplished the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Their success was their failure. They conceived that they had disproved His claims to the Messiahship by killing Him; but of the truth of these claims His death was one of the strongest evidences. It accomplished the prophecies and fulfilled the types.
2. They expected, too, to maintain the honour of their law against Him who, as they conceived, proposed to destroy it; but by the very means of His death that law was abrogated. When Christ said, It is finished, the shadowy dispensation passed away.
IV. AS BEING THE HOUR OF THE TRIUMPH AND OVERTHROW OF HELL.
1. The tyrant Death triumphed over Him who declared Himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. Satan triumphed over the Church. The disciples were dispersed, and hope was gone.
2. But this very hour of triumph was hells overthrow. Approaching it Christ rejoiced in spirit, and said, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. The arm extended on the cross was extended that it might shake down the kingdom of Satan. The head was bowed that it might wear crowns won from the destroyer. He suffered the stroke of death only to rob the monster of his sting; and He sunk into the grave only to seize the key of its power, to open the gloomy realms, and call forth the prisoners to everlasting life. And the triumph over the Church was but temporary. The disciples were scattered only to be gathered again; discouraged only to be emboldened.
V. AS DISTINGUISHED FROM EVERY OTHER as a point of time standing between the eternity of the past and the future, and related to each in a manner which marks no other.
1. From eternity it was regarded by God. His plans of creation, providence, and grace were all arranged with respect to it. The law was given and types were set up all with reference to it. To it the patriarchs looked with intense feeling. The prophets inquired diligently into the import of their own predictions.
2. Through time and the eternity which follows there will be a constant looking back upon this hour. The Saviour looks back upon His sorrows. He remembers what it cost Him to redeem; and He will not therefore hastily destroy. Penitents look back to that hour, and hope for pardon, holiness, and eternal life. Saints look back upon it; and it fires their love and kindles their joys. The glorified spirits of believers will for ever look back upon it, and exclaim, Worthy is the Lamb, &c. Conclusion: This eventful hour suggests
1. The infinite evil of sin.
2. Motives of
(1)The strongest hope. He that spared not His own Son, &c.
(2) Love and obedience. How can we sufficiently love Him who has shown all this love for us?
(3) Holy fear. Where much is given, much is also required. (R. Watson.)
Glorify Thy Son
The Divine glorification
I. THE FACT. Father, the hour is come. He does not say Our Father as He had taught His disciples to say, for that would have seemed to place Him on a level with them; nor My Father, as this might seem to suggest separation; but He says simply Father! that great name which He alone had fully unfolded as summing up all the grace of His nature and all the mystery of redemption. The hour was the hour of
1. Mysterious suffering.
2. Mortal conflict (Joh_14:30). Satans hosts were to be overthrown and the world emancipated from their grasp.
3. Glorious exploit. It was the crisis of the worlds history and hope.
II. THE PETITION. Jesus here speaks in the third person--Thy Son, not Glorify Me; as if to indicate still more impressively the relationship between Him and the Father. But this was not all that was meant. The voice from the celestial presence had again and again declared, This is My beloved Son, &c. The Saviour here, as it were, reminds the Father of this. The words glory and glorify vary in signification according to circumstances. Glory to a man engaged in earnest conflict would be victory; to a man struggling with poverty affluence; to a man in sickness, health. So Christ has in view the hour of agony, and the completion of His work and His glorification has, therefore, a special relation to that. The petition comprehended
1. Divine recognition. Own Me as Thy Son. And this glorification was given Him. Nature sympathized with the mysterious Sufferer, and the Roman centurion was constrained to say, Truly this was the Son of God. Especially by the Resurrection was He declared to be the Son of God with power.
2. All-sufficient support, that He might bear up under all and go through all as became Him who had undertaken the work of human salvation.
3. Perfect success. He had come to do a glorious work, and its accomplishment was essential to His glory.
III. THE OBJECT. That Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Do not these words bear decisive testimony to the Godhead of our Saviour? What mere creature could presume to ask this? The Divine glory would be secured by Christs suffering, for it was
1. The vindication of the Divine authority which had been defied. Sin could not pass unpunished in the universe of a holy God. Therefore the incarnate Son gave Himself to the cross as heavens protest against hellish falsehood and mans iniquity, and to make an end of sin.
2. A new revelation of the Divine character. Evil had darkened the human mind so that the knowledge of God among men became lost. The Creator was looked upon with dislike and distrust. Jesus came to reveal the Father. Men would see in the Cross more gloriously than anywhere besides the perfections of the loving, righteous, and merciful God.
3. The triumph of the Divine grace. Jehovahs highest honour amongst men is in the pardon of sin and the salvation of the lost, and in the bringing of many sons unto glory. (J. Spence, D. D.)
The mediatorial glory of Christ
The Lord Jesus is here praying in His mediatorial character. He is praying not as God alone, nor as man alone, but as God-man. And praying thus as God-man, He seeks that the Father may glorify Him. In the fifth verse we are told distinctly what the glory was which He sought. It was the very same glory which He had with the Father, when He dwelt in His bosom before the forthgoings of all time. As God He needed not to seek this glory. As God it was His of eternal and natural right. But as God-man, as the Covenant-head and Surety of His people, it was the promised reward of His work, sufferings and death. It was not all the reward, but it was part of it. He shall see His seed. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. These were parts of it, but this glory was part of it also. As the one only Covenant head of His people--as the one Daysman between God and man--as uniting in his own person the Divine nature and the human, and in that person doing a work, He was to be exalted, and that above every name, thing and power. He was to be uplifted, as the representative of His Church, to the supreme seat of the universe, as God-man in glorified humanity, He was to be surrounded with the full blaze of the glory of eternity, to be made the centre of every holy eye, the joy of every holy heart, the love of every ransomed soul. He, the Sun of Righteousness, was to ray forth every beam of the Fathers love, power, excellence, and perfection. As the Head of His Church--the representative of His people--all honour and all glory were to be His, the full glory of the Godhead was to be His; the glory of the triune Jehovah, as it existed before the birth of time, in the remotest silence of the past and unpeopled eternity, was to be His, and for an inheritance for ever. As the Eternal Son, and so as God, He had a right of nature to the undivided glory of the triune Jehovah, but as God-man, and as the Substitute of His people, He stood on other ground. Ere He could possess this glory, as Mediator, He had a work to perform. He had the law to obey, its curse to endure, and God to glorify on the earth; and, in consideration of this work and as a reward for it, as God-man, this, the accumulated glory of eternity, was to be conferred upon Him by the Father. (T. Alexander, M. A.)
As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh
The royal prerogative
I. THE POSITION ASSIGNED TO CHRIST. It is of mediatorial supremacy. The word rendered power is authority--the right of dominion.
1. The source of this authority was God (Joh_5:22-26).
2. Its nature is power to legislate and rule.
3. Its extent is universal--not the race of mankind only. His dominion as the Christ extends to all life that has been damaged by the Fall and cursed by sin.
4. This supremacy is not a matter of mere doctrinal importance, it is of momentous interest and highest encouragement. He who rules over us is one of ourselves, with human feelings and human sympathies, and yet altogether free from human imperfections.
II. THE PREROGATIVE WHICH CHRIST IS SO EXERCISE
1. Its object is to give eternal life to man.
(1) It presupposes that men are doomed to die or are dead.
(2) But there is life, and Christ Jesus is invested with mediatorial power to give it (1Jn_5:12).
2. Its extent. To as many, &c. The interests and affections of the Father and the Son must be identical; still there is the truth that the Fathers gift to the Son measures the Sons gift of life to men. But vast is the gift which the Father has given to the Son (Psa_2:8; Heb_2:10; Rev_7:9).
3. Christ exercises this prerogative personally and directly. Human governments influence their subjects indirectly; but life comes straight from Christ to every one of His disciples through the quickening grace of His Holy Spirit. He has entrusted to no Church, system, set of men, this power. Hence every one of His disciples may say as truly as St. Paul, He loved me and gave Himself for me; and exclaim with St. Thomas, in adoration and worship, My Lord and my God. (T. Alexander, M. A.)
Christs authority
1. As the text stands it is sometimes interpreted to mean that God gave Christ power over all flesh in order that He should impart eternal life to a certain number selected by the Father and given over to Him. In the stricter rendering, the meaning appears rather to be that God has given Christ authority over all flesh, that to all given to Him He might give eternal life; thus suggesting that it is Gods plan to give Him authority over all in order that He may give eternal life to all. Then if that be the ease, if any do not receive that life it is because they resist the authority. It is their own fault. In the contrary view not only does it appear unnecessary to have given Him a universal power for a partial work; but those who do not receive the life are not to be blamed, as they never had the opportunity of receiving it. If I were to gather fifty people and say, I have received authority from a person whom you ought to obey to offer you a gift, which I hold in my hand for those who wish to have it; supposing some turned away, the blame would be their own if they did not receive it. But if I brought the same persons together, and said, I have authority to offer some of you, privately selected, a gift which I have here; you could not find great fault if some sat still and said, We do not see why you have summoned any except those chosen favourites, and we will wait to see if we are among them. In the one we see what looks like a flaw in the perfect justice of God, which we do not see in the other.
2. But some people will say we have no right to sit, so to speak, in judgment on the perfect justice of God. Do you remember John Knoxs answer when Queen Mary asked him who was he that presumed to school the nobles and the sovereign of her realm? A subject, madam, said he, born within the same. Birth has its rights; and one of the birthrights of Gods children is to form their own judgment of their Fathers dealings with them. Does Gods character come fairly out of a transaction such as has been described? Why authorize Christ to say, Come unto Me all ye that labour, &c.; when the real meaning is--You may all come, but there is rest for the souls of only a certain number. Now, the meaning which we find in the most literal rendering of this text is most in agreement with the righteous character of God. Let us see what the statement teaches us.
I. GOD HAS GIVEN CHRIST AUTHORITY OVER ALL FLESH.
1. Authority is a higher thing than power, for it appeals to that which is within a man, while power appeals to the outward man. Though I had no rightful authority over a man, I might have such a power over him as to force him to do my will; but my power could not coerce his reason or conscience. It is to these authority appeals. It may rule these though it has no outward strength, and may be powerless and yet be none the less authority. Christs authority over all men was the same when He hung upon the cross as when He raised the dead. For it was not an official authority such as that of viceroy, which ceases when he is recalled; such as that of the priest who claims to absolve the sinner and direct the conscience, because he has been ordained by a bishop. It was not an authority which He had won for Himself by His displays of power, and which was lost when these were made no longer. It was the authority of the Divine character of the perfect Man swaying, because of His Divine perfectness, the hearts and minds of men.
2. We are helped to understand this when we compare with this chap. 5:27. Christ receives authority to judge men because Himself a Man, and yet the embodiment and example of the sinlessness of which they fall short. The authority which Christ has over us is the authority of love. And there is no authority like this, because you see Him to be the worthiest of your love and in whose love for you have full confidence.
II. OUR POSITION IN REGARD TO THIS AUTHORITY.
1. Had He an absolute power over us, then of course there would be no resisting. We should be forced to yield to Him. But this authority we can resist, or we can yield to it. What it expects from us is spiritual submission. In thus yielding to Him we are carrying out the desire and design of God. We are working together with Him, so are working out our own salvation; for the end for which God has planted this Divine authority in Christ is that we should have eternal life.
2. This is eternal life--to enter into the light and freedom and blessedness of a true knowledge of God as He is revealed in Christ. It is the life of the spirit, the life which is akin to Gods and can never taste of death. We enter on this through yielding to the authority of Christ. The essence of the eternal life is not endless existence. That might be a curse rather than a blessing.
Let us understand
1. That God has given His Son authority to win us by love, not to sway us by force.
2. That God does not work in order to bless any one section of mankind, but to bless the race at large. The authority of Christ is co-extensive with that dominion of God which is over all His works.
3. To trust this all-embracing love and goodwill, and do what we can to meet it, and to show in our own lives its sanctifying power.
4. To feel our responsibility. (R. H. Story.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 1. These words spake Jesus. This prayer, so solemn…
1. These words spake Jesus. This prayer, so solemn and so tender, would never have been recorded had it not been intended for our study and profit, but I approach it with a feeling that it is almost too sacred for the usual verbal and textual criticism. It is the overflow of the full soul of the Lord in devotion to the Father, a fitting close to the wonderful discourses beginning in chapter 13; offered in the Upper Room, just before the Lord led his disciples out into the moonlit night, on the way to Gethsemane. This is the real Lord's Prayer of the sacred Word; the prayer of Matt. 6:9–13, is the disciples' prayer, taught to them by the Lord. In order to drink in its spirit, we must realize that the Lord stands at the foot of the cross, is about to suffer, and before the separation from his disciples and the agony and shame of the cross, he goes to the Father in their behalf and in his own. Father, the hour is come. “The hour” of the great sacrifice, of the tragedy of the cross, the hour for which Christ came into the world, had now come. Glorify thy Son. He was about to stoop to shame. Had he been left in the tomb, the shame would have been complete. Christ not only prays that he shall be “lifted up,” but that he may so “drink the cup” that the cross itself shall be a glory.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Joh_17:1. These things spake, etc. (ταῦτα ἐλάλησεν).—The reference is…
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh_17:1. These things spake, etc. (ταῦτα ἐλάλησεν).—The reference is to the discourse just ended. Lifted up.—From the troubles of earth and time the mind and soul are raised to the thoughts of eternity. It is the attitude of the victorious incarnate Son, not that of the Man of Sorrows in the final temptation (Luk_22:41). He spoke aloud that the disciples might in the hour of tribulation be led to follow His example. Glorify (comp. Joh_12:23; Php_2:9).
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Joh_17:2. Even as Thou gavest Him authority, etc.—As God manifest in the flesh for the redemption of men this authority was given Him; but it was only after His ascension and glorification that He could pour forth those spiritual gifts which are to life eternal. Eternal life is a present possession; for it is a state or condition that is attained to through the Spirit, in whom we become one with Christ, partakers of His life, partakers of the divine nature and the life of God. All flesh (כל בשׂר).—“Mankind in their weakness and transitoriness” (Westcott). It is to this imperfect humanity Christ gives eternal life.
Joh_17:3. Him whom Thou didst send, [even] Jesus the Christ (Messiah).—Only through the true knowledge of God can men attain to life eternal; but this knowledge can be attained alone through Him who is the revelation of the Father—the visible representative of the Father’s glory, “full of grace and truth.”
Joh_17:4. I glorified (ἐδόξασα).—The work is regarded as all completed. He has manifested the glory of the Father in all His works and ways; and His redemptive work—His passion—is also viewed as accomplished; for the will to go forward is in His heart, and with Him to will is to perform.
Joh_17:5. And now, etc.—The Son is still in His estate of humiliation, but is looking forward to re-entering on that glory which was His ere He was manifested as the Word made flesh. Here we have a more definite statement of our Lord’s claim to be the pre-existent eternal Son than even in Joh_8:58.
Joh_17:6-19. Prayer for the disciples.
Joh_17:6. I manifested Thy name, etc.—The contents, so to speak, of the divine name were not fully known till Christ came as the brightness of the divine glory, etc. Thine they were, etc.—Joh_1:37; Joh_6:44; Joh_15:16. Thy word, etc. (λόγον).—The whole revelation of Christ is the Father’s word. They heard His word and obeyed (Joh_6:45).
Joh_17:7. Now they do know (see Joh_16:30).—Imperfect as was their faith and knowledge, they had arrived at this fundamental position, that as the result of their training they, in some measure, knew that all His words and works were a manifestation of the Father’s wisdom, power, love, etc (Joh_5:36; Joh_12:49). See also following verse.
Joh_17:8. The words, etc.—As above, Joh_12:49. They have received, etc.—And therefore, being themselves now sons of God, they could not fail to recognise the Only Begotten of the Father, “full of grace and truth” (Joh_1:12).
Joh_17:9. I pray for them, etc.—He is praying that the disciples may be sanctified and fitted for their work. This prayer He could not offer for the world. But this very prayer for the disciples includes the world; for they were to be sent forth in His power on their saving work. There is therefore no limitation here of His redeeming love. But He prays now specially for His faithful ones, “chosen in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph_1:4).
Joh_17:11. Holy Father, etc. (see Joh_17:25—“righteous Father”).—The world is evil; the disciples, as sanctified, are opposed by the world, and therefore they are rightly committed to the care of the Holy Father. Keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me (Php_2:9; Rev_2:17; Rev_19:12; Rev_22:4).—“The ‘giving of the Father’s name’ to Christ expresses the fulness of His commission as the incarnate Word to reveal God. He came in His Father’s name (Joh_5:43), and to make that name known (comp. Joh_17:4 ff.). He spoke what He had heard (Joh_8:26; Joh_8:40; Joh_15:15). And all spiritual truth is gathered up in ‘the name’ of God, the perfect expression (for men) of what God is, which ‘name’ the Father gave to the Son to declare when He took man’s nature upon Him. Comp. Exo_23:21” (Westcott). “This name—not the essential Godhead, but the covenant name, Jehovah our righteousness—the Father hath given to Christ” (Alford).
Joh_17:12. None of them is lost, but the son of perdition.—Even he, it seems, was given to Christ, but he perished by his own act. He strayed from the flock into ways that led to death in spite of the tender entreaties of love that would have kept him safe (Joh_13:2-5; Joh_13:18; Joh_13:21; Joh_13:26-27, etc.). Son of perdition.—A Hebraism—בֵּןִ־מָוֶת, a son of death; בֵּךמַשְׁחִית, a son of corruption or destruction. That the Scripture might be fulfilled (Act_1:20)—His perdition was foreknown; but this was in no wise the cause of his fall. This is one of the proofs of the inspiration of Scripture.
Joh_17:13. My joy (see Joh_15:11).
Joh_17:14. Not of the world.—But “fellow-citizens of the saints” (Joh_8:23; Eph_2:19).
Joh_17:17. Sanctify.—i.e. consecrate, separate. In Thy truth, etc.—i.e. the truth which they had kept (Joh_17:6-8), which He had made known to them (Joh_17:14); the word of truth—the revelation of the divine mind and will spoken to the prophets, and now fully manifested in Christ Himself. This led to their divine consecration, and it was in order to make this known to the world that they were separated and set apart (Rom_12:1).
Joh_17:18. As Thou didst send, etc.—To reveal the Father, whom to know is life eternal; so I send you to testify of Me; for they who know Me know Him that sent Me, and thus partake of the heavenly gift.
Joh_17:19. And for their sakes I consecrate Myself, etc.—“I sanctify or hallow Myself, My body sis an offering for sin (Heb_10:5), and I sanctify My body the Church, whose members are members of Christ, and sanctified in Him” (Augustine in Wordsworth’s Greek Testament). By His sacrificial offering of Himself He would fulfil the Father’s will and the great work of redemption. Then being raised on high He would receive gifts for men, and pour forth upon the disciples the gift of the Spirit, through which consecrated and inspired they would go forth with the message of life to men.
Joh_17:21. That they all may be one, etc.—Inspired and vivified in life and activity by one Spirit. One in the unity of love, for such is the unity between the Father and the Son. But even more. As the Father and the Son are one in nature, so in Christ through the indwelling Spirit believers become “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pe_1:2-3; Rom_12:5; Ephesians 2; Ephesians 4; etc.). It is a blessed fact of Christian experience; but also a divine mystery (Eph_5:30-32). Here too we meet again the mystery of the Trinity. Believers are joined to the Father and the Son, but their bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost They are one in the triune Jehovah.
Joh_17:22. And the glory, etc. (Joh_14:23; Col_1:27).—Even now the Church shines in the beauty of holiness (Isa_60:1-3).
Joh_17:23. That the world may know, etc.—The shining of the heavenly light and life in the lives of believers will lead men everywhere to render homage to Christ, till every knee shall bow in His name and every tongue confess, etc. (Php_2:10-11). The beauty and glory of the Church, even in its present state of imperfection, will be an irrefragable proof of the divine mission of Jesus.
Joh_17:24. Father, I will, etc.—He has gone to prepare a place for them (Joh_14:1-3). Where He is, there will His people be. The members of His mystical body are one with their living Head (Joh_17:22).
“One family we dwell in Him,
One Church above, beneath,
Though now divided by the stream,
The narrow stream of death.”
C. Wesley.
But a more glorious communion awaits His people beyond, in the undimmed radiancy of the eternal glory (Rev_3:21). There is in the universe no higher aim than the glory of God in Christ; and to participate in and behold that glory means eternal blessedness. Thou lovedst Me, etc.—Here the eternal pre-existence of Jesus is expressly implied. God is eternal love. The Son is the eternal object of the Father’s love, and manifests it to the world, so that it is seen in glory in His redeeming work. And it is especially manifested to those who are in Christ (Joh_16:27), and become obedient as He was to the Father’s will (Joh_17:26).
Joh_17:25. Righteous Father, etc. (πάτερ δίκαιε).—The world which does not know Him shall learn of His righteous judgments. But righteousness and peace (Psa_85:10) kiss each other at the cross of Christ. And God is there glorified in believers.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE CHAPTER
The scope and contents of our Lord’s intercessory prayer.—With the words, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” the Lord had concluded the discourse which He had spoken, in this hour of parting, to His disciples. To the richness of the comfort which He left to His Church in those words His love would yet add a richer jewel, and He spoke in this hour before the Father of what moved His high-priestly heart, whilst He prayed that the blessings of His victory should descend from the Father upon His disciples. Thus He manifested forth His glory, and the disciples saw it. Yonder on the holy mount His countenance shone as the sun, and His garments were white as the light, and a voice fell from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17). Here His Spirit shone like the sun, and His words beamed like a mild, majestic light; for upward to heaven ascended the voice of prayer of the only begotten Son, who in the flesh of His brethren had overcome the world, and was going to the Father, to give them the glory which the Father had given Him. This is the manner of prayer of that man who is God the Lord.
The Lord Jesus is our high priest and advocate (Rom_8:34; 1Jn_2:1; Heb_7:25). No ear has ever heard how He entreats for us at the right hand of God. But here we listen to something that must resemble it. “How He as our advocate with the Father speaks with Him,” says Steinhofer, “cannot be known by us here, and indeed cannot be comprehended in the present condition of our humanity. Yet He had once on earth spoken (so that all might hear), in the tongue of men, a prayer laid before the Father’s heart; so that we might know the feeling of His heart toward us, and what He now accomplishes in heavenly fashion, since He has been glorified by the Father.” In all times the Church (for which her Head and faithful High Priest in this prayer petitioned for power and might in her activity) has accepted this as a noble jewel in the treasury of the Holy Scripture, and quickened herself thereat as at a full stream of living water. Melancthon, who shortly before his end had delivered his last lectures on this high-priestly prayer, praised its excellency in these words: “No more noble, no more holy, no more salutary, no more lofty voice has ever been heard in heaven or earth than this very prayer of the Son of God.” Spener on his deathbed desired three times that it should be read to him: “Thereby to indicate” (says his biographer Canstein) “that he specially loved this chapter. But he would never preach on it: it seemed to him so high above human understanding.” Luther testifies in the exposition of this chapter: “It is indeed above measure a fervent, heart-felt prayer, in which He revealed and poured out the depth of His heart both toward us and toward His Father. But the power, the character, and the virtue this prayer has in itself I cannot set down sufficiently, I fear. For however plainly and simply it is expressed, it is so deep, so wide, so rich, that no one can sound its depths.” Thus speaks Bengel also: “This chapter is in all the Scriptures the most easy in its language, but contains the deepest meaning.” And with this agrees Hofacher, in the introduction to his consecrated sermon on the high-priestly prayer: “To preach on our Gospel for to-day is no light task. Not that its words are difficult to understand. They are, on the contrary, exceedingly clear and simple. But that which these words express, the meaning they contain, is so deep that we can never thoroughly penetrate it with our thoughts and words.” What then shall we do in entering on the study of this chapter? Let us be in the Spirit, so that He, as in St. John, may shed abroad in our hearts the love of Christ, whence sprang this high-priestly prayer. Then an understanding of the same will be given to us according to our need; and there will be fulfilled in our experience what Augustine said of the Scripture as a whole: that it is a stream “wherein the lamb may wade and the elephant swim.” … Let the Spirit which searches even the deep things of God dwell in us—as the Spirit of prayer let Him enable us to search these words of prayer with which the Saviour sealed all His words and actions.
The hour which would bring to the disciples pain and sorrow, offence and dispersion, had come. But He who had overcome the world bade His disciples be of good cheer. He was of good cheer, and had peace in that hour, for He was not alone, for the Father was with Him. And with eyes clear as the unclouded sun He looked to the open heaven above Him, and prayed, “Father, glorify Me” (comp. Joh_12:28; Joh_13:31). This prayer for Himself and for His own glory did the divine Son of man proffer in the first part of His prayer (Joh_17:1-5) in threefold fashion. He made reference to the glory of the Father, whom through His own glorification He desired also to glorify; to the salvation of sinners, who would be able to attain to eternal life in the glorifying of the Son through the Father, and of the Father through the Son; to the completion of His mediatorial work, through which He gained His glorification as reward and crown. In the second part (Joh_17:6-19) He prayed for His apostles, the first inheritors of eternal life to whom He had revealed the name of His Father, through the word He had given them; and in whom He was glorified, because they believed on Him. For them He prayed, that they in a world which hated them might be kept and sanctified in order to their perfect Christian joy. Then this petition for the keeping and sanctifying of His disciples finally includes all the faithful. Most explicity does He pray for His whole Church in the third part (Joh_17:20-26), that they may all be one in the truth, a consecrated missionary Church for the salvation of the world, and may be partakers of His glory, in the first place inwardly, as believing members of His body, and in the next outwardly, as visible inheritors of the kingdom of His glory.
J. Gerhard thus brings the unity of the whole clearly into view: “In the first place, Christ prays for Himself in order to His glorification, because He is the chief corner-stone of the Church (Eph_2:20), and because on His merits all heavenly and spiritual blessings rest. Next He prays for the apostles, the teachers appointed to the world, who should, in the words of the Gospel, present to the world the treasures of salvation won by Christ. For this reason they are called the foundation of the Church, on which other believers are builded (Eph_2:20). Finally, He prays for the whole Church, whose members should through the apostles’ preaching believe on Him.
Firstly, He speaks of this gain,—i.e. that He through His sufferings, death, and resurrection should restore their lost salvation to men, and He prays that His offering may be acceptable to the Father. Secondly, He speaks of the means,—i.e. that He, through the preaching of the apostles, should spread abroad the gifts won by His being glorified, and He prays that the Father would sanctify and fit the apostles for their office. Thirdly, He speaks of the fruit,—i.e. that the faithful should be made partakers of His gifts through the apostolic preaching, and He prays that the Father would keep them in the unity of faith and love, and lead them to the end of faith—the heavenly glory.”—Translated from Dr. R. Besser.
Joh_17:2-3. Life eternal.—The word life, as used here by our Lord, includes all blessedness. It is the supreme gift He has obtained for men. And although it must not be limited to the blessed life beyond this scene, yet there it will attain to its full perfection. It is on what might be called the material aspect of this life that men have been wont to dwell. The new Jerusalem, with its streets of gold, its angel-guarded gates of pearl, its strong bulwarks, its divine temple, its river of the water of life, with trees on either bank for the healing of the nations, etc.—such figures start up insensibly in the mind at the thought of the life eternal. And no doubt they prefigure glorious facts. But eternal life is not something outward, but inward. We have not to wait for it till heaven is revealed. It is given to Christ’s people now.
I. It is life in Christ, and therefore eternal life.—
1. It was this that Jesus came to win for His people. “I am come that,” etc. (Joh_10:10).
2. This life contains the idea of happiness, and is opposed to punishment, misery, death. It begins here in germ, although it is perfected hereafter. “God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1Jn_5:11). Life begun here, progressive, and unending beyond is the result of abiding in Christ. The possession of it is heaven—life eternal.
3. This was a truth known, though dimly, by God’s people from the beginning. The Old Testament saints felt that God’s true people never die. They did not so much trouble themselves about a future state. Their divine life was a present reality. They stood firm on the rock of the divine presence often visibly manifested, and could from that vantage-ground look unmoved on quaking earth, trembling mountains, and raging seas. His presence, the knowledge of Him—that they felt sufficient for time and eternity.
4. But how their hearts would have rejoiced had they attained all the fulness of knowledge that Jesus came to impart (Joh_8:56)! Christ hath truly brought life and immortality to light. The dim dawn hath given place to glorious morning.
II. This eternal life comes to men through their attaining to the true knowledge of God in Christ.—
1. Christ came to reveal the Father. Men had some dim and illusory conceptions of the greatness, power, wisdom, etc., of God in the past. Those who were inspired by His Spirit especially had arrived at true ideas of His fatherly care (Psalms 23; Psalms 103, etc.).
2. But with few exceptions how erroneous were the conceptions of men regarding the Deity! With what fatal facility did not even the Israelites, with their heaven-given law and ordinances, fall into idolatry; whilst with regard to the rest of the world the apostle’s charge was terribly true (Rom_1:18-32).
3. And this ignorance regarding God means moral and spiritual death. It is so with many of the heathen nations and tribes at the present day. They lie under the shadow of spiritual ignorance, darkness, and death. Even in the case of merely nominal Christians, who “have a name to live,” we see how through ignorance of the true character and the ways of God “they are dead” (Rev_3:1).
4. But Jesus revealed the Father: in Him men saw the divine glory “full of grace and truth.” He brings to view the divine hatred of sin, a clear view of the demands of the divine righteousness; so that men are led to repentance, which is the first step to true spiritual life.
III. The source and stay of eternal life is the divine love.—
1. “God is love; and he that abideth in love,” etc. (1Jn_4:16). It was this love that looked in saving pity on the world (Joh_3:16). It was this love which shone in mild rays of mercy in Christ’s redemptive work (Joh_15:9; Eph_5:2). “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1Jn_4:8); and the knowledge of God is life eternal (Joh_17:3).
2. The lack of love is the root of all evil. Selfishness lies at the base of sin. Sin is the abominable thing which God hates (Jer_44:4); therefore the impenitently sinful, those whose hearts are barren of love, cannot dwell in the divine presence, where alone is life eternal (Joh_17:24)
3. The grace of love is the root, essential grace. The loveless being might be placed (if that were possible) near the throne of heaven’s eternal King; but he would flee in terror “sheer o’er the crystal battlements,” and seek his appointed place.
4. The presence of love is the absence of sin. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour” (Rom_13:10). If on one spot of earth love reigned supreme—pure, unselfish love—there, even in spite of sorrow and trial, would be a true foretaste of heaven and eternal life. In the heavenly state love will be supreme. Therefore no sin shall cloud the light of the divine love, no mists of misconception rise between friend and friend. The objects of love shall be perfect, and it shall “never fail.”
5. The knowledge of God, the reign of love, the absence of sin—these elements constitute eternal life, and these we have in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Men need not wait for the revelation of the heavenly state ere this promise can be fulfilled to them. Here and now Christ gives His people eternal life. It is in and through Him. Without Him we can do nothing. His incarnation, His life and death, were necessary to cancel the guilt of sin, and vindicate the eternal law of righteousness. There is necessary a living faith, uniting men to Christ in order that spiritual grace and power may flow into their souls, producing the heavenly character. But this divine love of Christ constrains His disciples to love Him in return, and to live unto Him who died for them and rose again (2Co_5:1; 2Co_5:14-21). And this is life eternal, begun even here in the human soul, leading to the living hope of the eternal inheritance beyond (1Pe_1:4).
Joh_17:14-15. Christian separation from the world,—The secret of the higher life is separation from the world. The believer is in the world, but not of it. Christ does not wish us to withdraw from the world. His earnest prayer for His disciples, who were not of the world as He was not of the world, was that they might be kept from the evil. That is what we are to keep from as strangers and pilgrims.
I. Christian separation from the world does not mean withdrawal from the society of our fellow-men.—
1. That is what men thought in the earlier ages of the Church’s history, when the Church began to come into contact with the sinful and unbelieving world. They fled to hermitages and desert places, they avoided the society of their kind, and lived lives of solitary retirement, thus thinking to escape the pollutions of the world, but forgetting the purpose for which they had been sent into it.
2. And this error spread so that in mediæval times it grew into a system, and the light of truth was hidden often within monastic walls, whilst all around the darkness of sin and superstition was gross among men.
3. And did this seclusion always conduce to real separation from the world? In nowise! True, within those monastic cells were many true-hearted men and women who earnestly followed Christ. But for the most part, especially in pre-Reformation times, men and women took the world with them into monastery and convent, till these often became centres of darkness instead of light. And without those walls were witnesses to the truth, who lived consecrated lives, as well as within.
4. The monastic system in its time had a purpose, and formed a protest against the sin and wickedness of the world. But could not this have been better done had the good from within those walls lived more in fellowship and unity with the good without?
5. As Christ “the light of the world” did not shun the society of men, so should those who are His true followers, and therefore in Him also lights in the world, let their “light shine,” not alone at the family altar, or in the public services of the sanctuary, but in the field or on the market-place, and in all the innocent intercourse of society. Christ does not desire that His people, who are “the salt of the earth,” should remove themselves or be removed from the world, else the world’s destruction would be near at hand. And Christ desires the world’s salvation—came to save the world.
II. Christian separation from the world means being kept from the world’s evil.—
1. As Christ’s disciples, as members of God’s spiritual family, and therefore “strangers and pilgrims” on earth, although we are forbidden to seclude ourselves from the society of men and the pursuits of life, we are also bidden to keep ourselves free from that sin and evil which make the world inimical to God and God’s people.
2. Our daily prayer should be this petition in that prayer which Jesus taught His disciples—“Deliver us from evil.” And when it is remembered that evil inheres as it were in a centre, comes from one dark source, then the petition should also run—“Deliver us from the evil one.” It was for this that Jesus prayed His Father just before the cross, that He would keep the disciples from the evil one.
3. It is not then the world in itself that is evil. The earth indeed is full of the divine goodness. “The heavens declare the divine glory,” etc. “Earth with her thousand voices praises God” (Coleridge). Reverent intercourse with nature to the spiritually minded leads them nearer to God. And nature in itself has no sympathy with evil (Rev_3:22). It is from the world of evil men, inspired by the spirit of evil, that the believer is to be kept free.
4. And this is the difficulty. Hic labor, hoc opus. How can men escape that which touches their lives at every point! In what enticing guises and disguises does evil solicit even in a Christian land! Under the guise of sociability and good fellowship it offers the intoxicating cup. With the specious promise of pleasure it tempts with those “fleshly lusts that war against the soul.” With the tempting bait of easy gain, and the excitement of chance, it entices its victims into worshipping at those shrines (of gambling, etc.) dedicated to Mammon. Great need for prayer that we should be kept from the world’s evil—that the high-priestly prayer of our Lord should be answered in our case also.
III. How then shall believers be kept from the evil in the world?—
1. Not by their own strength. They must be inspired by a higher power. Another spirit must reign within them than that which dominates this evil world. As in malarious districts, those who have to go through them prepare themselves by prophylactics to resist the poisoned air, so that the deadly swamp fever may not lay its burning hand upon them—so the Christian who must come in contact with the evil world must have a spiritual prophylactic. “Sanctify them through Thy truth.”
2. The men who are spiritually healthy, holy, will be best fitted to resist spiritual disease, and be able to go about as spiritual healers among men.
3. And this we may attain to through union with the Saviour; for then we shall be kept by the Father from evil and the evil one. In this struggle we do not stand unaided and alone. A heavenly panoply is provided for us (Eph_6:11-18); a heavenly weapon—the divine word—is put into our hands; a divine Spirit inspires the Christian pilgrim and soldier with strength to endure; a divine Friend is ever near to aid and help in time of need.
IV. The purposes for which the Christian disciple is to remain in the world.—
1. There is a personal, spiritual gain in wrestling with and overcoming evil. Our faith is strengthened by the conflict with unbelief. Every temptation overcome is a step upward on the heavenly stairway, every victorious struggle with evil thoughts from within and incitements from without is a gain to the moral nature. Every firm refusal to yield to the blandishments of the world, the flesh, the devil, every time the indignant word, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” is spoken, the struggle will be less painful, and the victory in Christ’s strength more sure.
2. And as the divine Son was “perfected through sufferings,” so will it be with His disciples. In our present condition we must either overcome the world or be overcome by it. But Jesus has shown us the way in which we may be more than conquerors, through His grace. And the promise is to those who overcome (2Ti_4:7-8; Rev_21:7).
3. There was also a purpose regarding the world served by the disciples of Christ remaining in it. They were to be witnesses for Christ. Inspired by the Spirit, they were to make known His saving power. “Having their conversation honest among the Gentiles,” “shining as lights in the world,” they would lead men to see the sinfulness of sin, the need of Christ’s salvation, and thus bring glory to God (1Pe_2:12).
4. And as they were so are we in the world. If we are truly Christ’s disciples, He gives us a work to do for Him whilst we are here which we alone can do. He calls us to witness for Him by our lives, by word and deed, in the world, showing by our walk that we are not of the world, but seek a better country, even a heavenly. Thus men will be led also to seek for and rejoice in this salvation, and in the end glorify our heavenly Father (Mat_5:16).
Joh_17:15. “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world.”—Some reasons why our Lord asks for His friends that they should not be taken out of the world.
I. He asks it for the benefit of the world.—If Christ were to remove men to His immediate presence so soon as they become His followers, He would be taking away from the world those who were meant to be its greatest blessings. True Christians are the salt of the earth. Distributed over its surface, they help to preserve it from the utter corruption to which it would otherwise sink. They are more—they are its light. If ever the world is brought to the knowledge of God, it must be through their instrumentality. If they were removed, there would be no Church on earth to witness for God. It would be the darkness of Egypt, without light in any dwelling—the corruption of Sodom, without a Lot to be grieved for it; and if the earth were still preserved, it would only be for the sake of those who, in time coming, might be drawn from it to God. This world would then be a quarry from which stones were taken, as from heathen Tyre, and transported, so soon as cut, to form the house of God in another land. But it would not be a site on which a temple shall rise to God’s glory, growing from age to age, until it fill the extent of the wide earth, and have the “headstone brought forth with shoutings, Grace, grace, unto it!”
II. He asks it for the honour of His own name.—There is glory that accrues to the name of Christ and there is joy among the angels when a sinner drops the weapons of rebellion, and becomes, through Him, the child of God. There is glory also that comes to Him when His redeemed are brought home, and when, arrayed in the beauties of holiness, they cast their crowns before the throne with the ascription, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” But it is for His honour also that there should be an interval between—a pathway of struggle, where the power of His grace may be seen in preserving His friends in every extremity. The more threatening the rocks and eddies, the fiercer the winds and waves, so much the more honour to Him, who sometimes asleep in the ship (as men deem it), sometimes absent, can keep it from wreck, and carry it in safety to the desired haven. What an emphatic challenge there is to every enemy in His own words, “I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand”!
III. He asks it for the good of Christians themselves.—“Master, it is good for us to be here,” Peter said, when a ray of heaven’s light shone upon him on the holy mount; “let us build here three tabernacles.” As if he had said, “Why go down again into the dark world of opposition and trial, when we can enjoy here at once the heavenly vision?” But “he wist not what he said,” and he was compelled to descend, and travel many a weary footstep, before he reached that higher mount where he now stands with his Lord in glory. We, too, may sometimes feel that it would be better for us to be carried past these temptations and struggles, and to enter at once into rest. There are times when that rest seems so much to be desired, and this world so little, that our soul, like that of the ancient Israelites, “is much discouraged because of the way.” But He who undertakes for us knows what is best, and as it was expedient for us that He should depart, so must it also be that we should for a season remain behind. There are lessons which we have to learn on this earth which can be taught us in no other part of our history. One of these is the evil of sin. Another part of God’s desire may be that we should enjoy more fully the blessedness of heaven. Our bitter bereavements will intensify the joy of its meetings; its rest will be sweeter for the hard toil; and its perfect light and purity fill the soul with a far more exceeding glory for the doubts and temptations which oppress us here.—Dr. John Ker.
Joh_17:16-17. Christian separation from the world.—The circumstances under which this prayer was offered render it pre-eminently a revelation of Christ’s last thoughts concerning the Church of the future. In this prayer we enter the solemn temple of the Saviour’s soul, and, gazing on the mighty thoughts that were throbbing there, we read those spiritual principles on whose foundation the kingdom of heaven rises into might and majesty. Christ throughout draws a sharp distinction between the disciples and the world. At the outset He draws a broad line of demarcation, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.” That distinction comes out yet more sharply as He passes on. He implies that the world has become conscious of it, and shows its detection of the difference by hating the disciples. He asks not that they may be taken out of the world, but kept from its evil. If, then, this prayer be a revelation of Christ’s profoundest thoughts on the mission of His disciples, we are compelled to infer that, if this separation be lost, the Christian Church will lose its power and leave its work undone. And this conviction is forced upon us, inevitably, as in approaching the close of the prayer the Saviour carries the thought to its conclusion in the words, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”
The Christian separation from the world: its nature, attainment, and purpose.
I. Its nature.—“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Christ does not so much mean to say that His disciples were not of the world because He was not, as that they were unworldly precisely in the same way that He was.
1. Looking at Christ’s life, we observe that His separateness was not an outward separation from the world, but an inward separation from its spirit.
2. Christ walked the earth as God’s world. He looked into the beautiful eyes of lilies and saw the touch of the eternal finger, and beheld the Father’s care in every falling sparrow. Men have tried to be separate from the world by condemning the glad, the social, the free; but He who blessed little children blessed the mirth and joy of childhood. So little of an ascetic was He that men called Him a “wine-bibber,” and by His very first miracle He hallowed and glorified the gladness of human love. Whence came this spiritual atmosphere of separation amid His close contact with men? We may trace two sources of it:
(1) His life of holy consecration;
(2) His life of abiding prayer.
II. Such, then, is the nature of Christian separateness. We are not required to retire outwardly from the world; we are not called upon to be sad, stern, severe; not to abjure the common, the familiar, and the social; but in the midst of all to manifest a separateness of spirit. But the question meets us here, How is this to be attained? how can a man acquire this spiritual separateness? “Sanctify them through Thy truth.” To sanctify means to set apart, to separate for God. Set them apart in spirit from the world “through Thy truth.” He whose eye gazes on the eternal pierces the shadows of the apparent. The world lives in and for the present, the visible, the temporal. He walks with God, and His life and conversation are in the heavenly. Hence arises that spiritual separation. The entanglements of the world’s life are broken and overcome. Its charms are snapped. Its practical falsehoods fade before the light of an unveiled eternity.
III. Its purposes.—“As Thou hast sent,” etc. Our mission of witnessing to the truth, love, will of God, can only be fulfilled by this spiritual separation from the world. Apart from this everything else fails; it alone gives power to our direct Christian activity. Our influence is just in proportion to what we are. Men will read the reality of our lives, whatever they may appear to be. It is vain to preach, etc., unless we can prove by this spirit of Christlike separation that, like Christ, we are “not of the world.” This forms our mightiest power over men, because its action is silent, constant, irresistible.—E. L. Hull, B.A.
Joh_17:16-19. The spirit in which Christians are to live separated from the world.—
I. As God’s sanctified ones.—
1. “Your bodies,” wrote the apostle, “are temples of the Holy Ghost.” “Ye are the temple of God.” This is to be kept in view in all the relationships of life, in the training of our spiritual being, in seeking to influence others for good. It is for this end our Lord prayed for His disciples that they might be sanctified by the truth.
2. Nor is it easy to live in this spirit. It is hard for men to deny themselves, to oppose that spirit of self which naturally inspires them, to submit themselves to discipline that may sometimes seem like the cutting off of a right hand or the plucking out of a right eye. So hard is this that men and women, in their present imperfect condition, could not of themselves accomplish the task. They need to surrender themselves to the guidance of the Spirit, to be led by Him into all truth, to be sanctified through the truth.
3. But guided thus and quickened by the example of Jesus, who for their sakes sanctified Himself, His disciples will be able through His grace to maintain their freedom from the evil in the world. They will remember that these bodies of theirs are sacred places, and that sin committed is committed against the indwelling God. “Shall I profane the temple of God?” They will be led to say, “Shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God, against His Spirit that dwells within me?” And thus they will be led to pray ever more earnestly, “Deliver us from evil.”
II. As members of God’s spiritual family.—
1. Though not of the world, and separated by a gulf deep as eternity from the evil that is in it and the evil men, believers do not stand alone. They are members of a great spiritual family, of which God is the Father and Jesus the great elder Brother. And, strengthened by this fellowship, they will be enabled more and more to resist the world’s evil.
2. The citizens of the heavenly state strengthen each other in their, struggle against the forces of evil. And this they do through union and communion with God in Christ Jesus. “Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” And in Him we have fellowship one with another. The traveller over difficult and dreary paths is upheld and cheered by the presence of like-minded fellow-travellers, and by mutual help delivered from many a danger.
3. And this very fellowship acts with deterrent power in keeping men from the evil. How shall we sin against and bring dishonour on the name of our brethren? How, above all, shall we through sin “tread under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant, wherewith we were sanctified, an unholy thing, and do despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Heb_10:29).
4. Shall we not rather through grace seek to have higher conceptions of duty, a noble scorn of what is base and unrighteous, and resolve, aided by grace divine, to attend to the apostle’s exhortation, “I … beseech you to walk worthy of the high calling wherewith ye are called” (Eph_4:1).
III. In holy activity for the world’s salvation.—
1. Why were the disciples to remain in the world but in order to carry out, after Jesus had left it, the work given by the Father to Him to do? And was not their activity simply a continuation of the work of Jesus Himself, now working for the world’s salvation from His heavenly throne? As the Gospel story tells of all that Jesus began to do and teach, so the Acts of His Apostles, and the history of the Christian Church, show how He has continued His work (Act_1:1).
2. Separation from the world does not mean hatred of the world. Jesus met the hatred of the world with love; He died for it. So the disciples of Jesus must meet the hatred and persecution of the world with love, and seek to win the world for Christ, so that it may no longer be the world, but that its kingdoms may become the kingdom of our Lord, etc.
3. For this end Christ’s disciples are “sent into the world” (Joh_17:18), so that by their holy example, their earnest proclamation of redemption, the spiritual power of their witness-bearing, they may be the instruments of bringing many to believe unto salvation; and that thus over all the glory of God and the Redeemer may be seen.
4. Modern disciples should “walk according to the same rule, should mind the same things.” Their conversation should be in heaven (Php_3:16; Php_3:20), as they walk in the present evil world, so that they may win men by their holy example (Mat_5:14-16). The love to Christ which inspires them will lead them in love to seek to win a perishing world for Him. The extension of His kingdom in their own hearts and in the world will be their first and dearest desire. They will give themselves and their gifts freely and ungrudgingly for Christ’s cause and kingdom.
5. And thus living in the unity of the faith with Christ and His people they will joyfully realise that His prayer for His disciples has in their case been blessedly answered; they will “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom_5:2).
Joh_17:17. Thy word is truth.—Look at the testimony of our Lord to the truth of revelation. When He prayed for His disciples, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth”:—
I. What did Christ mean by these words?—
1. Did He mean, as modern critics would have us suppose, a revelation that, whilst containing the truth, was at the same time so mixed up with error that it required the training of experts to distinguish the one from the other? And if this had been the case, would He not in some way have warned His disciples of the fact, if fact it was? Surely He would.
2. It was not Christ’s method to keep His disciples in darkness regarding matters of such moment to them. In all His teaching, and even whilst earnestly warning the disciples against the teaching of those who had made “the word of God of none effect through their tradition” (Mar_7:13), we have no hint of the existence of human error in the divine word, or any warning to avoid in it the elements of fabrication, which modern critics assert are to be found in it.
3. No; on the contrary, He asserts as here, “Thy word is truth”—not merely, notice, that it contains the truth mixed up with other elements, but “is truth.” “I came not to destroy,” etc. “Not one jot or tittle,” etc. (Mat_5:17-18). “The law and the prophets prophesied,” etc. (Luk_16:16). “Blessed are they that hear,” etc. (Luk_11:28). “Search the Scriptures, … for they,” etc. (Joh_5:39). In all His teaching there is no word of errancy in the Scripture. Nay, He showed that error arose just from want of knowledge of those same Scriptures. “Ye do err,” He said to the Sadducees, “not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.”
4. Apostolic testimony is in the same line as our Lord’s. And all this referred to the Old Testament only. To our Lord and His disciples it is truth. “Thy word is truth.”
5. And in Joh_16:13 our Lord shows how the word is “truth,” and gives the basis of our belief in the New Testament as a divine revelation. “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: … whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.” Scripture, as to its substance, is God-given, although in its form it was necessarily human. Only,—the human promulgators or heralds of the word were divinely guided into “all truth.” The Old Testament stands on the same basis as the New; “for the prophecy (teaching) came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
II. God’s faithfulness a foundation for the truth of His word.—
1. Would God leave us with an ambiguous and perhaps erring presentment of His mind and will? When we look for bread, will He give us a stone, or the wheat of His truth so mixed up with the poison of error that we do not discover it, and go on eating until the skilful analysts come along and warn us of our danger—all disagreeing among themselves meanwhile as to the nature and proportion of the poison?
2. Our brethren for many a century have been fed on this word; and the more heartily they partook of it, so much more did they grow in spiritual strength. Many of them from childhood knew “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
3. We believe this is the experience of many still, who will decline to accept this critically refined and desiccated production offered by modern critics as the pure wheat of the word. We shall be inclined rather to acquire for our spiritual nourishment that commended by our Lord as “truth,” and by the apostle as “able to make us wise,” etc., believing that the concentrated essence offered by the critics is not spiritually nourishing, and will, like many other patents, have its day, and then pass away into merited oblivion.
4. The Admiralty, and those in the department responsible for the direction of the navigation of our great navy and mercantile marine, issue charts of all the oceans that are so nearly absolutely correct that seamen, steering faithfully by them, will pass safely over seas they have never traversed before. It may sometimes happen that a reef, hitherto unnoticed, causes disaster; but then it is immediately noted, and of course new reefs and rocks are continually rising here and there through the labours of the coral insects, or the upheavals of volcanic forces. On the whole, however, those navigation charts are wonderfully exact, and they are founded not alone on actual patient investigation of seas and shores, but on the movements of the unerring heavenly bodies, whereby the exact latitude and longitude of every point on the trackless waste of waters can be determined.
5. But what should we think of those officials who, with all the astronomical calculations and results of navigation before them (and our nation depends more on those specialists perhaps than even on its greatest statesmen), should issue charts with the leading routes and ports, and some of the dangerous spots marked, it may be, yet at the same time with so much omitted that should be known, and so many errors left uncorrected, that the navigator would be in danger night and day? And shall we think it possible that the almighty and omniscient One should, when giving a revelation of His mind and will, so permit truth and error to be mixed up that the wayfaring man should need a specialist at his elbow to help him to discriminate between them—nay, that the truth and error should be so mingled that even the specialists (the critics) are not agreed among themselves where the one begins and the other ends?
6. No; some of us are still old-fashioned enough to believe that God has spoken to us in His word, and that “His word is truth.” It is true we cannot comprehend it all; for the human cannot entirely apprehend the divine. But what is necessary for the practical and spiritual life we can know; and the Spirit has been promised to guide us into all truth. It is true, also, there are difficulties, and seeming discrepancies in its pages; but as many of these have been cleared away in the past, so the future will see more removed.[6] And if there are statements and facts which seem to clash with the moral government and love of the divine Father; so there are in the works of nature, and we do not deny that nature is the workmanship of His divine hand. We see things with our purblind human intelligence. To realise the divine thought we must rise to the divine standard; and we believe that in days to come it will be as in days gone by. The fashions and modes of thought among men will change and fluctuate; but the word of God, as it has done through centuries of trial in the past, will in the future shine only with clearer lustre as the truth, when the clouds of conflict clear away,—“a light shining in a dark place” until the eternal day dawn, and the Day-star, the Sun of righteousness, the Truth, the Light and Life of men, shall be revealed to us in all His glory:—
[6] These may be trivial blemishes caused by want of care on the part of scribe or copyist, or printer even. But all these petty variations alter in no whit the general meaning of any passage or portion, or make the divine plan of salvation less clear.
“The works of man inherit, as is just,
Their author’s frailty and return to dust;
But truth divine for ever stands secure,
Its head is guarded and its base is sure:
“Fix’d in the rolling flood of endless years,
The pillar of the eternal plan appears;
The raving storm and dashing wave defies,
Built by the architect that built the skies.”
Cowper.
Joh_17:17. “The Gospel is true, true, true.”—Yes, let us preach doctrines, Christians! But do you know what paralyses our preaching? Alas! it is the little effect which those doctrines produce in many of those who accept and profess them. For my part I declare that it is in regard to this that my faith is often troubled. When I consider Christianity itself in its magnificent unity; when I view the sublime truths of revelation, like to lofty mountains whose summits are lost in the depths of the heavens; when I follow along the centuries the marvellous history which begins in the bower of Eden, and which is to result in the universal reign of righteousness and love over a world at peace; when I turn my gaze on the adorable face of the Christ, on His unequalled holiness, on His love as it shone on Calvary; when I hear the word that comes from His lips with the accent of an authority that is divine,—then I believe, I adore, and cry like Felix Neff, when dying, “The Gospel is true, true, true!” But what often troubles me is the life of those who call themselves Christians. How shall we believe that these doctrines are efficacious, when those, who for twenty or thirty years have embraced them and profess them, are the same to-day as they were then—when a bitter or narrow spirit animates them—when from their lips there fall unmerciful judgments of their brethren? How shall we believe it, when the most pressing appeals of charity hardly succeed in moving them, and only win what remains over from what self, vanity, and the desire to make a show have sacrificed to the world? How shall we believe it, when we see those who demand faithful preaching, that we should speak of a Holy God, of sin, of life and death eternal, plunging into the whirlpool of the world, and astonishing us by their levity; when sudden falls or secret licentiousness come to light to humiliate the Church and cause rejoicing to the worldly-minded? How shall we believe it, when in business matters an external appearance of piety covers the unhandsomeness of the behaviour, the want of scruple and honesty; so that toward religious talk by such people just men sometimes exhibit an instinctive mistrust? See, my brethren, what often makes men sceptics; see in this what makes our preaching weak, and strikes dead our endeavours and apologies; see in this that which destroys souls, which would destroy the Church, if the Church could be destroyed. Ah! may such thought fill our minds with salutary fear. May we all, humbled and repentant, beat on our breasts, and remember that, if the truth which we believe does not change our hearts and transform our lives, it will at the last rise up to condemn us.—Translated from Eugène Bersier.
Joh_17:19-21. Sanctification through the truth the source of human peace and unity.—That the spirit of the present age is materialistic is shown by the attitude many have assumed toward religion. The Truth has been assumed to be unnecessary to fit the individual for the work of life. The cry has been on the lips of many so-called reformers for a secular education, from which Christianity should be excluded. Give children a good secular training in the schools of the country, oust religious teaching altogether, or thrust it into a corner. The latter has been the course adopted in many places in our own country; and the result of more than twenty years’ experience has not been reassuring. Thoughtful men of all Churches and classes are beginning to see the necessity of putting the Bible into its former position in our public schools, and of teaching the young the broad catholic truths of that Christianity which the nation professes.
I. The neglect of the religious training of the young is a sign of the practical materialism of the age, and a national danger.—
1. When that covetousness of material things “which is idolatry” becomes the ruling spirit of a community, it will speedily attempt to get rid of whatever conflicts with it. It is impossible to serve God and Mammon; and when Mammon is worshipped God is contemned and for the time forgotten.
2. Mammon-worshippers therefore see no need to train their children to religious service. A thorough training for this life seems sufficient. Therefore religious training is to be excluded from the public schools. And does the end answer the expectation? Do the children thus trained without religion succeed even in this life?
3. An instructive example has come to us from Victoria. During the years of apparent prosperity and Mammon-worship, when people “took their ease, ate, drank, and were merry” (Luk_12:19); men not only seemed to forget that God and eternity were around them, they appeared to think it possible to live and thrive without much regard for man’s chief good, i.e. God. “They went to the disgraceful extreme of removing the name of Christ from the school-books,” rendering anything like moral training impossible; for all reference to the Christian sanction of morals was forbidden, and nothing was put in its place.
4. And what was the consequence? A practical scepticism became largely prevalent. During this period of a godless education, whilst the population increased 32·24 per cent., arrests for serious crime increased 54 per cent. The increase of native-born Victorians was (during a decade) 42·94 per cent., but the increase of crime among them reached the appalling figure of 88·65 per cent., and the increase of arrests for drunkenness 63·19 per cent. “And the great increase of crime comes from those under twenty-one” (Professor Harper, British Weekly, January 18, 1894). Well might those Victorians pray to be delivered from the worship of Mammon, which even in this life leads to such disastrous results; and religious people are regarding the commercial catastrophe which has overtaken the colony as a blessing in disguise. Well might the more earnest people among these colonists, and all who have the welfare of humanity at heart, breathe for their brethren the Saviour’s prayer, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” The bitter experience of failure has led the legislature to resolve to replace the name of Christ, etc., in all the school-books of the colony.
II. The only hope for the elevation and peace of humanity is their sanctification—their consecration to God through His truth.—
1. When men adopt practical heathenism as their creed they must not be surprised if the abominations of heathenism appear in their immediate surroundings. Divorce Christianity and education, and the result will infallibly be evil. When education has no moral and religious basis, it is a house founded on sand. Divorce religion and national life, and the way is opened for corruption and dishonesty, not only in the central government, but in every phase of the nation’s life. A religious people, which considers religion a prime necessity, will tolerate no rule founded on unrighteousness or mere expediency. And such a people will be truly strong and prosperous. “Happy is that people which is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord” (Psa_144:15).
2. Let those then who are bent on secularising the state, on divorcing religion from national life, consider whether the results of the experiment, as given in history, warrant any hope of blessing from such a source. Consecration to the service of God through the truth, and thus submission to the rule of Christ, is the true panacea for the world’s evils.
3. Is it unity and fellowship between man and man that is desired—
“When man to man the warld o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that”?
Robert Burns.
Then that which is a dream of the socialist’s creed, and could never be anything more if it depended only on that system of covetousness and selfishness, individualistic or collectivist, can be realised in union with Christ. And the more men are transformed into Christ’s likeness, the nearer will the realisation of such a unity be. Is it peace on earth men desire? Then they may rejoice; for Christ’s kingdom is the kingdom of peace. And it will be when men are sanctified by His truth that they shall “beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks” (Isa_2:4). Is it help for the wretched, food for the hungry, labour for the strong and skilful, enough and to spare for all? Then men may legislate as they will, and legislate till doomsday, if they legislate in the spirit of covetousness; if they labour for the sake of mere class interests, regardless of the interests of their fellow-workers, and the interests of their fellows as a whole, they will in the end fail. “Christ in the employer and Christ in the employed” is the true solution of all these evils. “Love born of the love of the indwelling Christ will always inspire right treatment of the neighbour” (Homiletic Review, January 1894).
Joh_17:20-21. Christian unity.—The unity for which Christ prayed by its manifestation leads to the glory of God, through the walk and conversation of Christ’s true disciples. The world will know Christ in His people, will be convinced that only union with Him can make them lights of the world. And even in this period of the Church’s obscuration, when the Church’s light is dimmed by the veil of sect or party, “the glory of the Lord” is seen shining through it.
I. The Church of Christ should be the centre of Christian unity.—
1. The influence of this spirit of unity and the manner of its working are beautifully expressed in Psalms 133. True Christian unity is like the precious fragrant oil used for anointing Israel’s high priest. Flowing down from the head, it sanctifies the whole man. It is like the dew of Hermon, which saturates the air with refreshing moisture, which is wafted by genial airs even to the lower hills.
2. The first has a personal reference—the anointing of the spirit sanctifies the whole man. The second refers to the collective and universal effects of the unity of believers. As the dews distilled on Hermon bless also the lower heights of Zion, so this spiritual unity exists not only on the high summits of spiritual and religious life, but descends to the lower ranges of men’s experience—their governments, their political, social, commercial, and industrial interests—to every member of the common-weal, refreshing and quickening all. This is what would happen if everywhere brethren dwelt together in unity in the spirit of Jesus.
3. This unity of Christians should not remain an ideal. It is intended to be translated into fact, as it was in the days of the apostolic Church (Act_2:41-47). So it should be now. True, the small company has increased and is scattered abroad. Men cannot now have “all things in common.” But that was not the essential of their unity. It was their continuance in fellowship and doctrine and prayer. This would bring to us now more unity—not uniformity. How few were the articles of their creed compared with our cumbrous symbols! Where such union and fellowship exist they bring to those influenced by them priestly beauty of character, priestly honour as called to be fellow-workers with Christ, priestly blessedness in the sense of oneness with God in Christ. Thus Christ’s disciples show forth His glory, so that the world may believe and know that He is the Sent of God.
II. The blessed effects of this unity are widespread.—
1. They are seen in all who “dwell together in unity.” The active life is penetrated and quickened by its spirit. It binds the most distant units of the spiritual family to one another and to their head. It should come with blessing in all life’s activity—politics, business, pleasure, etc., for these affect our brethren’s weal. Christ’s kingdom is not of the world, but in it. It is intended to bless the world.
2. The art of government and the business of life should not be ruled by expediency, or made the sport of envy, strife, malice, and every passion. Christian unity should quicken into a richer, fuller activity every occupation and work of men. If all these were engaged in in the spirit of Christian unity Christ would be glorified.
3. Alas! how far is it otherwise: party jealousies, labour disputes, Church divisions, destroy it. Hence men are looking in other directions for unity—socialism, communism, etc., by which paths only greater disunion can be reached.
III. What can be done to realise fully this oneness for which Christ prayed?—
1. Christians must seek to realise, and act on the realisation, that amid much outward diversity the true fellowship of saints may exist, that unity does not mean uniformity (1Co_12:4-5). Why should there not be between the various communities, of reformed Christians at least, not only mutual regard, but mutual helpfulness in consecrated activity? It is not fundamental principle that separates them, but opinions which are not of the essence of Christianity. Diversity is not always a blemish. It is a feature of nature: why not of God’s spiritual creation?
2. The Church is likened in Old Testament allegory to an Eastern garden. In such a garden there is the widest diversity; but that detracts neither from its beauty nor its usefulness. It would not be well to have nothing in the garden but roses or lilies, or any single flower. It will be a greater delight to the owner to have it as an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices (Son_4:13-14). Each has its place, and the garden is richer and more beautiful for the diversity.
3. Thus the Lord may see it good to have variety in His spiritual garden, the Church. As the plants and trees do not envy or grieve at each other in the garden, but each fulfils its own place and function, watered by the same dews and rains, and blessed with the same light and heat rays, so should it be in the Church of Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Where brethren dwell in unity of love and service, and inspired by the same blessed Spirit, working together for Christ’s glory, then the barren and thirsty tracts of life are refreshed by copious dews of spiritual blessing.
4. And the glory of the Church will be manifested to the world, proving a centre of attraction for all men, so that “the Gentiles shall come to her light and kings to the brightness of her rising.”
Joh_17:20-23. Christ’s prayer for the unity of His Church.—It is impossible to read these words and yet think of the Speaker as merely human. He speaks of a glory which was His before all worlds; but His utterances are marked by such conscious dignity that, taken in connection with His life and works, they come home with the force of truth to the mind. It is vain for men to seek to explain away such utterances. They refuse to yield to such treatment. They are as clear and distinct in their meaning to-day as when they were first spoken, and they reveal the glory of Him who spoke.
I. How this prayer has been answered.—
1. It did not seem likely when these petitions were presented that an answer would speedily come. How widespread is the belief, even beyond the bounds of Christendom, that Christ was a heavenly messenger! That name, once despised, is now honoured worldwide. The cross of Christ, the symbol of shame, has become the centre of the world’s spiritual life, the rallying-point of what is noble, good, and true. Men of divers nationalities, various ranks, even of non-Christian ideas, have conspired to honour it.
“In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.”
Bowring.
2. Not by force of arms, fascination of ritual, glamour of learning and philosophy, has the gospel, whose chief expression is the cross of shame, entered into human life and transformed it; but by its own inherent power, warring only against sin, the gospel has lifted human life to higher levels, working moral miracles, glorifying everyday existence.
3. So doing it has crowned Christ Himself with a glory that is growing in ever-increasing brightness, and which will grow whilst men have hearts to love Him and tongues to sing His praise. But it is not yet perfected; for it is manifested on earth among men, and therefore must be imperfect so far. For the chief, or one of the chief, elements of this glory is the unity of Christ’s people in Him.
4. It should then be one of the chief motives of Christians to exhibit that glory in their unity. Yet what seems most striking in view of the Christian Church is rather diversity than unity. It is the want of it that greatly retards the progress of Christian truth, that dwarfs and minimises the output of Christian energy and effort.
5. It does exist to some extent—it is not necessarily co-extensive with outward unity. It flows from a spiritual affinity which may exist under diverse forms. But outward disunion is too frequently indicative of inward disunion, for unity of action is often entirely lacking. The Christian Churches are not all like divisions of one great army under one head, but are often rather like contending factions. And effort misdirected by sectarian jealousy makes often one part of the vast field of the world like Gideon’s fleece when wet with dew, whilst all around stretches a dry and barren land. How, then, shall Christ’s prayer for His Church be answered? What is the nature of Christian unity? how is it to be attained?
II. Christian unity is the result of a peculiar unity of relationship.—
1. It does not arrive by external force. It is produced by an affinity of spiritual life in the persons united. Mere human relationship or proximity does not of itself lead to unity of sentiment or action. A man’s foes are sometimes those of his own household. But those united spiritually in Christ, however diverse in outward circumstances or tastes, can live in harmony. They are partakers of the same Spirit. The Spirit given without measure to Jesus works in their hearts. A unity of disposition is attained to in Christ, and leads to unity of action. This will be seen in the hatred of sin and striving against it—zeal for the divine glory, etc., whether they eat or drink, etc.
2. Thus they are brought into a peculiar relationship with Christ and the Father. God is in a special sense the Father of all who believe. They are the children of God through Jesus Christ. But though this relationship of the redeemed to the Father is like that of Christ to the Father, it is also widely different in degree at least. Christians who are united to Christ become childlike in their love and obedience to the Father. Yet even in this sense of sonship—not to speak of the essential oneness of nature of the divine Son with the Father—they lag far behind Him, with whom in all things the Father was well pleased.
3. Still, there exists, as will be seen, a peculiar unity of relationship, between God and His redeemed children, which does not exist between Him and other men, and which lifts the life of the redeemed into closer unity with Him.
4. And this has a vital effect on the relations of believers to each other. They become one as Christ and the Father are one. With one aim before them, the glory of God and the divine vision, and a constant striving after that perfection to which they are called, there is produced, above all, a deeper union than any that is merely human, and an anticipation of eternal communion hereafter.
III. How do believers attain to this union?—
1. The answer is brief and simple—faith in Jesus Christ, uniting them to Him as branches of the living vine. Thus His life flows into their souls, and that renewal of the nature in His likeness is produced on the basis of this union.
2. True faith which brings salvation leads to a change in the life of men which cannot be mistaken, and they show evidences of the presence in them of that germ of new life which is the earnest of life eternal. They know the regenerating power of Christ’s gospel, through which the current of their being has been changed. It is when men enter through faith into union with Christ and become members of His mystical body that they become one in Him with the Father (Joh_17:21). It is in this heavenly relationship that believers are bound by a common love and common interests. This will show that they are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. They will rejoice in the companionship of all who are likeminded with themselves. And one chief proof of their having passed from death to life, and thus entered into their eternal fellowship, will be their love of the brethren (1Jn_3:14).
IV. This unity can only be attained to in part on earth.—
1. There will always be something to mar the harmony that should exist even among those filled with the same spirit, prompted by the same motives, swayed by the same impulses. This is caused by the presence of sin, the great disturbing element, producing disunion and consequent weakness. The “old man” is not entirely subjugated, the “new man” is not yet perfected.
2. But the Church of Christ should ever keep this goal in view. It should ever seek to be more catholic. The motto of sincere Christians should be: “In essentials unity; in nonessentials tolerance; in all things charity.” It is a hopeful sign that men do not so readily assemble now at the beat of the “drum ecclesiastic.” The more Christians realise the prophetic vision of the great multitude which “no man can number” (Rev_7:9), who with united voice praise God and the Lamb, the more they will be ashamed of strifes and divisions. And although union cannot be perfected here, it must be begun here, and ought to grow toward perfectness.
3. Unity with Christ must be first assured: unless we are one in Him, we are not included in this petition for His Church. But the closer our union with Him, the more sincere our hatred of sin, the more ardent our imitation of Him, the closer will be our union one with another.
4. Then shall our relations to our brethren in Christ be more harmonious, we shall learn to bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. The strong will bear with the infirmities of the weak; and generally the relations of all believers to their Christian brethren, and to those without, will be animated by the spirit of Christian love, which is the fulfilling of the law.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Joh_17:3. The essence of life eternal.
Still, still with Thee—when purple morning breaketh,
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
Fairer than morning, lovelier than the dawning
Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee!
Still, still with Thee! as to each new-born morning
A fresh and solemn splendour still is given,
So does the blessed consciousness awaking
Breathe, each day, nearness unto Thee and heaven.
When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,
Its closing eye looks up to Thee in prayer;
Sweet the repose beneath Thy wings o’er-shading,
But sweeter still to wake and find Thee there.
So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,
When the soul waketh, and life’s shadows flee;
Oh in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,
Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1867.
Joh_17:15. Patience under trial.—To be kept in the world and kept from its evil means, to suffer under its trials and to be preserved from impatience. If a man would escape trial, he must needs go out of the world, and when Christ prayed that His disciples should be kept in it, He knew that they were to suffer affliction. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Moral distinctions are not observed in the providential allotment of calamity. Famine, pestilence, shipwreck, and death in every shape, light upon those who are God’s servants, when they are hastening on His errands. This stumbles many. But only consider. If God were to adopt another plan, and exempt His friends from trial, He would antedate the day of judgment. He would take away from Christians one of the most effective means of their training, and one of the most striking ways in which they can prove their likeness to Christ. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, but it is not seen in his being saved from suffering; it is in the way in which he meets it. A merely worldly spirit is ready in severe affliction to fall into one of two extremes,—either to cast the trial aside in levity, and to dissipate thought by some engrossing preoccupation; or to sink into despondency, and consider all as lost. The spirit of the Christian, which is also that of the true man, is described by the apostle: “Not to despise the chastening of the Lord, nor to faint when we are rebuked of Him.”—Dr. John Ker.
Joh_17:15. The world is full of danger.—“Behold,” said Christ, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” He spoke then, of course, of the persecutions that were lying ready to His people, but His words are as true of the moral and spiritual dangers that lurk to-day in every corner of God’s universe for our souls. The world is a very cruel place for character. We cannot live in it long without finding that out, how terribly cruel a place the world is. Now in this respect one does not need to speak only of presumptuous temptations which abound in it. It is enough to remind ourselves of how morally exhausting our ordinary life is. To live in the present day an ordinary and average life takes it out of a man tremendously. The drain upon character is constant and tremendous. If even in that simpler age in which He came our Lord warned His disciples of the cares of this life, how much more warning do we need whose lot has fallen in this far more complex time! The cares of this life, innocent and legitimate as they may be, are exhausting, morally and spiritually exhausting; and if we give ourselves to them, taking no care to provide compensation from other sources, they are bound, however gradually, to drain the life-blood from our souls, and to reduce us to spiritual death. That is the case even with our honest work. There are some men who imagine that to give up one’s self to one’s daily duty, to the profession one has adopted, to the routine work of every day, that that is sufficient; and if a man does that he will grow. No, he does not; he does not grow. If you bind yourselves over hand and foot to your work like that, without taking care to draw in from other sources compensation, how wasted and distorted a life do you become! how selfish does mere attention to work and labour make us! how selfish do our studies make us! Oh, how necessary it is, in the midst of this earthly life that sucks in upon our poor hearts from all sides, how necessary it is to lay hold on eternal life, to pull it toward ourselves, to make our spiritual life, not, as we so often do, a mere pleasure and luxury, but a necessary and indispensable agony. What need is there for us all to recognise our dangers in even the purest walks of life, and to call in to counterbalance their effect all the ready grace and influence of the Holy Spirit!—Prof. G. A. Smith, from “British Weekly.”
Joh_17:15. Danger from unlooked-for sources.—Take even the lovelier aspects of this world in which we are placed. The indulgence of friends and the praise of friends are at times the sweetest and most needed cups of blessing that God can lift to a weary and dispirited man’s lips. But how often at other times do they inevitably relax his moral strenuousness, and he slumbers; I say it is part of a sane man’s sanity and a vigilant man’s vigilance to be on his guard against these dangers in the world, even where the world is most innocent.—Idem.
Joh_17:18. Filial trust in and submission to God.—This is a duty incumbent on those whom He adopts into His family; the very name Father dispels fear and inspires confidence; and yet it is but little that the best of men who bear this endearing name are able to do for us. In our greatest emergencies we should often be left without relief if we had no better father than they on whom to rely. But when the great God ranks us among His children, what is there that we may not look for at His hands? In whom shall we confide, if not in such a Father? To whom can we so cheerfully consign our cares and entrust our interest as to Him, who is no less able than He is willing to do for us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think”? His promise is ever sure, that, “If men, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto their children, much more shall our Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him”; and, trusting in this promise, it becomes us to “be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, to make our requests known unto Him: and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Filial submission to the chastening of God is another duly incumbent on His children. They know that their severest afflictions come from a Father’s hand, and are sent to them, not in wrath, but in mercy, as a salutary discipline tending to their good. This consideration is fitted, if anything be, to reconcile them to the endurance of the hardest trials; for there is an unanswerable force in the apostle’s argument: “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb_12:5-10). Further, we may draw from the thought of our heavenly sonship a powerful motive to abstinence from base pursuits, sordid pleasures, and unworthy companionships, and to the maintenance of a dignity of character and loftiness of sentiment suited to our high vocation. Even a heathen philosopher could thus argue: “If any one were duly affected with the opinion that we are all originally descended from God as our Father, he would not, I suppose, conceive anything mean or ignoble concerning himself. If Cæsar should adopt thee, thou wouldst be greatly elated; and if then thou knowest that thou art a son of God, much more ought this to elevate thy mind” (Epictetus). To the same effect another learned heathen remarks: “It is useful for states that valiant men should believe themselves to be born of the gods, although it be false, in order that their minds, thus assured of their divine extraction, may the more boldly undertake great enterprises, pursue them the more earnestly, and hence accomplish them the more successfully, from the security and confidence which this belief produces” (Varro). If heathens thus estimated the dignity of a divine sonship, it ought not surely to be less esteemed by those who are children of God by faith in His beloved Son, and “if children, then heirs—heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” It becomes them to shrink from aught that would be disparaging to the character they sustain and the destiny they have in prospect. “Beloved,” we may say to them, in the words of an apostle, “beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1Jn_3:2-3). Finally, it becomes those who are partakers of the heavenly sonship to show their high estimation of its preciousness by the habitual gladness and cheerfulness of disposition with which the thought of it is fitted to inspire them. To “joy in God through the Lord Jesus Christ” is the duty, no less than the privilege, of believers. And if a Christian at any time allows himself to be harassed with cares, or overwhelmed with griefs, or cast down by gloomy and desponding imaginations, he may justly be considered as walking unworthily of the high vocation wherewith he is called. The question put of old to a disconsolate Jewish prince may with much greater emphasis be put to such a Christian, “Why art thou, being the king’s son, growing lean from day to day?” (2Sa_13:4). For, certainly, of all men he has the least excuse for suffering any causes of disquietude to prey upon him, who can call himself a son of the very King of kings, and who knows that, by the gracious providence of His Father in heaven, all things work together for his good. Whatever reasons the children of God may have, or think that they have, at any time for being sorrowful, they have always far greater reasons for being joyful. No outward losses can rob them of their blessed portion as “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Nor can any of “the sufferings of this present time” be deemed “worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.” Hence it is a just description that is given of them, “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things,” and it is a reasonable injunction that is laid upon them, “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, rejoice.”—Dr. T. J. Cranford.
Joh_17:18. Christ’s perfect self-surrender our example.—Christ’s prayer for us should be our aim and deepest desire for ourselves, and His declaration of the condition of its fulfilment should prescribe our firm adhesion to, and constant abiding in, the truth as revealed and embodied in Him, as the only means by which we can attain the consecration which is at once, as the closing verses of the lesson tell us, the means by which we may fulfil the purpose for which we are sent into the world, and the path on which we reach complete assimilation to His perfect self-surrender. All Christians are sent into the world by Jesus, as Jesus was sent by the Father. We have the charge to “glorify Him.” We have the presence of the Sender with us, the sent. We are inspired with His Spirit. We cannot do His work without that entire consecration which shall copy His devotion to the Father, and eager swiftness to do His will. How can such ennobling and exalted consecration be ours? There is but one way. He has “consecrated Himself,” and by union with Him, through faith, our selfishness may be subdued, and the Spirit of Christ may dwell in our hearts, to make us “living sacrifices, consecrated and acceptable to God.” Then shall we be “truly consecrated,” and then alone, when we can say, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” That is the end of Christ’s consecration of Himself—the prayer which He prayed for His disciples—and should be the aim which every disciple earnestly pursues.—Dr. A. Maclaren.
Joh_17:19-21. The direful results of the neglect of divine truth.—In small communities like ours it is possible, in a very remarkable way, to gather up the results of social movements, and in this way the results of the delirium of the past ten years have been set forth for our instruction in rather an interesting fashion. Some little time ago the Bishop of Manchester, making use of his experience in Melbourne, warned the English people of the moral dangers which secular education would bring with it. As a proof he adduced statistics to show that crime, especially juvenile crime, had greatly increased in Victoria since primary education was secularised. An admirer of the Birmingham system wrote to a leading Congregational minister in Melbourne, asking for a correction of the bishop’s figures. The checking was done by the Rev. W. Savage, also a Congregational minister, and it more than verified all Dr. Moorhouse had said. The effect of the statement was great. It killed any remaining Congregational opposition to Scripture-reading in State schools, and brought its author into the committee of the National Scripture Education League. The Argus, too, took it up, and, after careful revisal of the figures, endorsed them, at the same time raising a note of alarm. Nor are any of these results to be wondered at, for, roughly, the figures reveal that crime and drunkenness have been increasing, during the ten years from 1881 to 1891, out of all proportion to the increase of population. [The leading figures are given above, p. 488.] … And the great increase of crime comes from those under twenty-one. As for the cause of this state of things there was of course the relaxing influence of our recent speculative period, one terribly destructive aspect of which was the absence of family religion and parental control. Then men made money quickly and the drink bill went up. But the most potent cause has undoubtedly been the bitter secularism of the State system of primary education. As I have stated, it went to the disgraceful extreme of removing the name of Christ from the school books, etc. (see above). It may perhaps not seem patriotic to proclaim the disgrace of these past delirious years, but I have done it with two good objects. The first is to declare also that the remedy will soon be applied. The Scripture Education League has taken votes of the householders on the question whether extracts from the Bible should be read in the schools, and in almost every locality ten have been for it, one against it. In the last vote taken, a month or so ago, the majority was forty-six to one. Most probably a plebiscite upon the subject will soon be taken, and we may hope then to end this most disastrous experiment. In our folly we cut up the roots of moral life in the schools, and we have seen it wither away. We shall live to plant them painfully again; but if our disasters enable us to do that, they will prove to be blessings, hardly even in disguise. The second is to warn the religious people of the old lands never to let the Bible out of the primary schools. Let it be read there, and receive such a modicum of explanation as will make it intelligible as an English classic. That will be enough. In the London School Board there have been very perilous discussions as to whether the duty of Christ may be taught. Let the Bible be read, and teach what is in it of that and other things. That is the minimum which should be irreducible, and more in the primary schools is of little use. We have writhed in the prison of secularism for twenty years with most disastrous results. Let our experience be a word to the wise.—Prof. And. Harper of Melbourne, in “British Weekly,” Jan. 18, 1894.
Joh_17:20-21. The golden rule of Christ the bond of human brotherhood.
Not without envy Wealth at times must look
On their brown strength who wield the reaping-hook
And scythe, or at the forge-fire shape the plough,
Or the steel harness of the steeds of steam;
All who, by skill and patience, anyhow
Make service noble, and the earth redeem
From savageness. By kingly accolade
Than theirs was never worthier knighthood made.
Well for them if, while demagogues their vain
And evil counsels proffer, they maintain
Their honest manhood unseduced, and wage
No war with Labour’s rights to Labour’s gain
Of sweet home-comfort, rest of hand and brain,
And softer pillow for the head of Age.
And well for Gain if it ungrudging yields
Labour its just demand; and well for Ease
If, in the uses of its own, it sees
No wrong to him who tills its pleasant fields,
And spreads the table of its luxuries.
The interests of the rich man and the poor
Are one and same, inseparable evermore;
And when scant wage or labour fail to give
Food, shelter, raiment, wherewithal to live,
Need has its rights, necessity its claim,
Yea, even self-wrought misery and shame
Test well the charity suffering long and kind.
The home-pressed question of the age can find
No answer in the catch-words of the blind
Leaders of blind. Solution there is none
Save in the Golden Rule of Christ alone.
J. G. Whittier.
Joh_17:20-23. Phases of unity among believers.—We can distinguish a sequence of thought in the references to the unity contained in this prayer. There is first the most general form, “one as We are,” having one purpose, one mind, one dwelling-place—the Father’s name—the Holy Spirit thus making them one. There is again the more special form, oneness in the communion of Father and Son, proving that the unity of believers is more than a merely moral consent, that it is in a real sense a vital unity, “As Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us.” And, lastly, there is the perfected unity, which is realised through the giving of the glory which the Father gives the Man Jesus, viz. the knowledge of Him as the Father, and fellowship with Him as the Son with the Father, and which is consummated in the everlasting participation in the Father’s beatific presence. Corresponding to the two latter, there are results in the world. The unity of believers in the communion of the Father and the Son is the means of awakening belief in the divine mission of Christ. The unity in glory—the perfecting into it—is the means of revealing the love with which the Father loves Him, so that men may recognise not only the mission of Christ, but the fellowship of His people in that love. As the perfecting proceeds, the knowledge of the love of God, reflected in and from the Church, will increase. Ah! when we speak of failure, of the powerlessness of the Church, of the weakness of her testimony, and the fruitlessness of her toil, let us ask whether the perfecting into unity is advancing as it should. Unity, oneness, is the predominant feature of the last part of the prayer. To the hostile world it is the sign of the Church of Jesus; it is the power of the Church also. Without it all evidences fail. With it there is a force which the world cannot resist. We may not linger over the sublime conception; we cannot analyse the wonderfully suggestive language. This only,—it is unity in truth, unity in love, unity in the consciousness of the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” Certainly it is something at once much higher and more elastic than any external uniformity. Yet there must be a visible attestation of the union. Else how could the world believe? How could the world know? There can be no doubt that the attestation is hindered by the disunion of Christians. But, through all the times, and notwithstanding all kinds of divisions, there has been, is, and will be, the working of the same Spirit, the same holy and eternal life. Blurred and marred as the writing is, men have traced—the human heart does trace—the characters: “I in them, and Thou in Me, one in Us.”—Dr. Marshall Lang.
Joh_17:20-23. Christian unity is not formal, but spiritual.—If we are looking for formal union, we are looking in the wrong direction, and we are looking for the wrong thing. It is as if we should ask the question, Are men alive? and should then determine to answer to the inquiry by stature, complexion, accent, or by any other accident attaching to the individual. Who would assent to the doctrine that it is right to determine living humanity by such incidents or accidents? We should protest against the judgment; we should say, We are looking in the wrong direction, we are in quest of the wrong test and standards; life is wholly different from stature, complexion, or local position and attitude. Human love is not formal; it is spiritual. What is its shape, what its colour, what its bulk in plain ounce weight? Where is it? Yet we all know it, we all feel it; life would be poor without it; yet it resists organisation beyond a given point, it believes in organisation also up to that point, and most fully and sacredly. Love claims united love; love is the genius that presides over household life; love will unite even national life, when political instinct fails to touch the necessity of the hour. Still, love is more than organisation. Love is always surprising us with new revelations of its beauty and goodness; love is always revealing to us some hitherto unknown or unrealised aspect of God. Human life is not formal; it is spiritual. Who has seen life? Where does life reside in the body? Put a finger upon the residence of life, saying, Here you will find it, and nowhere else. No man has seen life. Yet life is organised; life has its body, its tabernacle, its system of nerves, and its wondrous incarnation; it presses itself against these forms in palpitation that means it is greater than can be confined within physical boundaries. Life, like love, is always surprising us by new energy, new passion, new capacities. Who can throw a line upon life and say, We will keep thee here, and bind thee like a beast of burden? The very life that could purpose to deal so with other life gives itself the lie; its own energy, its own aspiration after primacy, declares that it has miscalculated the quality and the quantity of that supreme mystery which we call life. So it is with the Church of Christ. It has organisation—without organisation it could not live; but it has more than organisation. Emerson speaks of some men who are blessed with “over-soul,” soul enough and to spare; soul that goes out in evangelistic yearning and solicitude after other souls less favoured, pining away in the desert or in the darkness. So with the Church of Christ. Its organisations are valuable; up to a given point these organisations are sacred: but whose house has outbuilt all other houses and made them nothing but huts not worth living in? The house is sacred, yet there is a house next door, there is a house behind, there is a house opposite; the whole place is covered with joyous habitations, lighted early in the winter-time, rich with flowers all the summer-time, and the children are so like one another in their laughter, in their innocent glee, that only their mothers can tell which is which. Is there not some analogy, or at least dim hint of meaning, as to ecclesiastical and religious life to be gathered from the life of the household and of the neighbourhood? When we lose the spiritual conception of unity, then the mechanical conception is exaggerated; it is set in false proportions and in misleading cross-lights; we have lost the meridian, and men are keeping their time by their own guesses and their own wild conjectures and speculations. The moment we lose hold, so to say, of Christ’s hand, we are the prey of the enemy, we are lost; we are like planets loosed from their centres; we plunge where we ought to revolve in silent rhythm around the governing Flame. Men become controversial when they become unspiritual. When men cease to pray, they begin to argue and to fight. How wonderful it is that men are usually one in prayer, but the moment they rise from their knees and begin to state their opinions, the Church becomes a battle; pray, then, without ceasing.—Dr. Joseph Parker.
Joh_17:21-22. The blessedness of unity of labour among different sections of the Church.—The Church of Christ, no longer the scene of intestine warfare among the several denominations into which it is cantoned and divided, presents the image of a great empire, composed of distant but not hostile provinces, prepared to send forth its combatants, at the command of its invisible Sovereign, to invade the dominions of Satan and subdue the nations of the earth. The weapons of its warfare have already made themselves felt in the east and in the west; and wherever its banner is unfurled, it gathers around it, without distinction of name or sect, “the called, the chosen, the faithful,” who, at the heart-thrilling voice of Him whose “vesture is dipped in blood,” and who goes forth “conquering and to conquer,” rush to the field, unmindful of every distinction but that of his friends and foes, and too eager for the combat to ask any other question than, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Who?”—Robert Hall.
“Come out from among them, and be ye separate,” etc.—There is a most profound philosophy in this. If we are to impress the world, we must be separate from sinners, even as Christ, our master, was, or at least, according to our human degree, as being in His Spirit. The great difficulty is, that we think to impress the world, standing on the world’s own level and asking its approbation. We conform too easily and with too much appetite. We are all the while touching the unclean thing—bowing down to it, accepting its law, eager to be found approved in it. God therefore calls us away. Oh that we could take our lesson here, and plan our life, order our pursuits, choose our relaxations, prepare our families, so as to be truly with Christ, and so, in fact, that we ourselves can say, each for himself, “The Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me”!—H. Bushnell.
Joh_17:23. Unity with the spiritual children is dear to God’s heart.—Does He not know all things? Why limit thus the range of His omniscience? Is there anything that can be hid from the search of His piercing gaze? Is not the way of the wicked also known to Him? known so well that He has travelled over the far country to seek and to save that which was lost. Yes; but there is a sense in which He only knows the good. His eyes behold, His eyelids try all that belongs to the eye; but there is a knowledge which belongs not to the eye, but to the heart, the knowledge which men call sympathy. Hundreds know me as a man, but only my child knows me as a father. Even so the heavenly Father has a special knowledge of His child. His knowledge is His nearness; it is the attraction of a kindred sympathy, the gravitation of love. He looks into the glass of our humanity, and He beholds there, in miniature, the brightness of His own glory, the express image of His own person, the Christ that is to be, and, when He sees it, He rejoices with an exceeding great joy. My soul, wilt thou fulfil this joy of thy Father’s heart? He waits to behold in thee the impress of His own likeness. He sits as a refiner of silver till He sees in thee the reflection of His own image; and when He sees His image reflected He knows that the refining is complete. Wilt thou grant Him the joy of that knowledge? Wilt thou let Him behold a Christ in thee, Himself in thee? Wilt thou let Him feel that there is a heart in sympathy with His heart, a life in unison with His life, a will in harmony with His will? Then thou shalt have the joy of all joys, the joy of making glad the heart of God. Communion is dear to the Spirit of the heavenly Father, for the Spirit of the Father is love, and love seeketh not her own. It cannot rest in aught but the vision of its object; it must speak, and it must be answered again: it must know even as it is known.—Dr. Geo. Matheson.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v1 John 17. O the infinite moment, interest, value, and…
CHAPTER 24.
VALEDICTORY PRAYER
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John 17. O the infinite moment, interest, value, and consolation of this prayer! Because it is the last, regular, formal petition our Savior offered for His disciples in all ages and nations, consequently we are all equally interested in this farewell prayer. “Jesus spoke these words, and lifting up His eyes, to heaven, said, Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, in order that the Son may glorify Thee: as Thou hast given to Him authority over all flesh, in order that everything Thou hast given unto Him, He may give eternal life unto them.” Jesus was glorified when He died, the period of His humiliation having expired. So the saints all enter glorification when they evacuate this body. As to the essence of glorification, we are like a sinner describing regeneration, or an unsanctified Christian expounding that precious grace, as we all have to die in order to be glorified. N. B. — Glorification is a spiritual experience, as real as regeneration or sanctification, the soul being glorified when it evacuates the body, and the body when raised from the dead or translated. The human soul of Jesus was glorified when it evacuated His body, and His body when He arose from the dead.
“This is eternal life, when they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” The unsaved are all utterly ignorant of God and His Christ, an introduction to the Father and the Son by the Holy Ghost being always synonymous with salvation.
“I glorified Thee upon the earth, having completed the work which Thou hast given Me that I may do it.” When on the Cross He bowed His head, He said, with His dying words, “It is finished.” Hence it is here spoken proleptically, actually being consummated on the cross.
“And now glorify Thou Me, Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” We see here a confirmation of the pre-existence of His humanity. Nineteen hundred years before He was born in Bethlehem He visited Abraham at Mamre in the form of a man, and ate with him. He laid aside this glory when He came down in His humiliation to suffer and die for a guilty world. When He finished His expiatory atonement, the Father conferred on Him this glory again.
“I have manifested Thy name to the people whom Thou hast given: Me out of the world.” Eklektos, “elect,” is from ek, “out,” and lego, “to choose.” Hence the elect are, those whom God chose out of the world and gave His Son. “They were Thine, and Thou gavest them to Me; and they have kept Thy word. Now they know that all things so many as Thou hast given Me are with Thee. Because I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest unto Me, and they received them, and they truly know that I came out from Thee, and they believed that Thou hast sent Me. I pray for these; I pray not for the world, but for these whom Thou hast given unto Me; because they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.” You see from this prayer that sanctification, for which He is praying, is only for His disciples, and not for the people of the world and make you a disciple, and the other to give farewell prayer and fail to see the two works of grace in sanctification; i.e., the one to take you out of the world, and make you a disciple, and the other to give you the sanctification for which Jesus prays for all of His disciples.
“Holy Father, keep them through Thy name whom Thou hast given unto Me, in order that they may be one as We are.” You see clearly from this prayer that sanctification is the only unifier of the Lord’s disciples. We are all witnesses that the true sanctification this day destroys all sectarians division, bringing the people of God into glorious unity and harmony. You see here that all sectarian divisions are interdicted by our Lord’s farewell prayer.
“When I was with them, I kept them whom Thou hast given Me unto Thy name, and preserved them; and none of them perished, except the son of perdition, in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled.” “Son of destruction” is a peculiar Oriental phrase, simply meaning that he was destroyed, and not involving the idea of necessity in the matter.
“And now I come to Thee” — spoken proleptically; and verified the next day at 3 P.M. “I speak all things in the world, in order that they may have My joy complete in them.” We can not ignore the human intellect in our efforts to reach and save people, but must recognize it and govern ourselves accordingly. Jesus observed this principle by plainly telling them all the facts appertaining to the redemptive scheme, the Holy Ghost, subsequently not only lighting up their minds, but wonderfully illuminating the words and predictions of Jesus.
“I have given unto them Thy Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.” Regeneration takes people out of the world, and sanctification takes the world out of them thus rendering God’s true people pre-eminently unworldly. O what an emphasis Jesus lays upon these facts!
“Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth.” The Bible is the volume of truth, containing all the truth which the world has ever received, other books only being true as they harmonize with the Bible. Here you see that God’s Word is the only medium of our sanctification. O how we should devour it day by day! The Holy Spirit is the Agent of our sanctification; the blood of Jesus the element, Divine elixir; the Word the medium; and faith the condition.
“I pray not for these only, but for those who believe on Me through their word, in order that they may all be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may also be in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” Here we see that our Lord specifically prays for the sanctification of all the Christians in all ages, in order to the unification of His people on the basis of the Divine unity. As the Father and the Son are one, either in the other, so all of the Lord’s people, regardless of race, color, sect, or nationality, shall be one body, perfectly harmonious in all things essential to salvation appertaining to real spirituality. Hence, you see, sanctification is the Savior’s basis of Christian union. A thousand schemes have been launched, having in view the unification of God’s people in the earth, and all collapsed, ultimating only in the addition of another sect, to join the belligerent parties and augment the babel already blinding the popular mind to the true religion, and girdling the globe with confusion. How strange that people claiming to be the followers of Jesus will not sit meek at His feet and let Him teach them in all things! If all religious denominations would see that the Lord’s prayer for their sanctification is answered, the union of Christians in all lands would follow as normally as every substance casts a shadow.
“I have given unto them the glory which Thou hast given unto Me, in order that they may be one as We are one.” You see there is an especial glory in the union of all Christians. Like the old man who had been grieved over the disharmony of his sons so that he must die, who called them all to his bedside, and ordered each one of the five to bring a stick, and then tie them all in a bundle. Now, beginning with the youngest, he had him try to break the bundle. Each one in turn, up to the eldest, tried, and utterly failed. Then he had the bundle untied, giving each one a stick, and ordered him to break it. In a moment the five sticks were all broken. Now he said: “My sons, you see how there is strength in union, and weakness in disharmony. When I am gone, will you live in peace and harmony, helping one another?” No wonder the devil has an easy victory over all the Churches, when they expend their strength fighting one another, instead of uniting their forces against him. O what a glory would follow the union of all Christians, taking the whole world by conquest for Jesus, driving the devil from all his hiding-places, bringing on the millennium, and expediting the return of our glorious King! All this would follow the sanctification for which our Lord importuned His Father in His valedictory prayer.
“I in them, and Thou in Me, in order that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.” Here, you see, our Lord prays for the perfection of the Christians, synonymously and interchangeably with His petition for their sanctification, illustrating the fact so patent in Scripture that these two words refer to the same state of grace; i.e., full salvation. You see, also, by the phraseology that our Lord makes perfection the unifier of all Christians, the grand end here contemplated being the conversion of the world. I am an old revivalist. I have frequently gone into a wicked community, and witnessed a wonderful Pentecostal revival, uniting all Christians of the different denominations, the happy result of seeing all the sinners come down at the altar, weeping over their sins and seeking the Lord, following as a normal consequence.
“Father, whatsoever Thou hast given to Me, I wish that where I am, there they may be also with Me, in order that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given unto Me; because Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.” What a sweet and loving petition for the elect whom the Father gave Him! Every saint says “Amen!” as our hearts leap with enthusiasm in contemplation of eternally abiding where Jesus is.
“Righteous Father, the world does not know Thee; but I know Thee, and these know that Thou hast sent Me.” While the world is ignorant of God, to their ineffaceable, shame and eternal ruin, we must not forget that worldly Churches are equally ignorant of God, the same being true of worldly preachers and leaders. These sad facts explain many problems in this life which otherwise would be riddles indissoluble.
“I have made known to them Thy name, and will make it known, in order that the Divine love with which Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” 1 John 4 says twice, “God is love;” i.e., agape. Hence, you see, this agape is the Divine nature. The summary of this wonderful farewell prayer is, that His people shall be filled with the heavenly agape, and that He shall abide in them continually. O what a prayer! And yet Jesus is not mocking us. There is a glorious feasibility of its full answer climaxing the happy experience of all His disciples in every age and nation.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Perhaps the first thought which arrests the mind…
Joh 17:2
I. Perhaps the first thought which arrests the mind in this wide-circling verse is the connection of power and mercy—power all subordinate to mercy. Three gifts, you will observe—three gifts are separately mentioned, and these three gifts comprise everything. The whole truth, as it is in Jesus, is wrapt up in these three gifts. God gives Christ a people. Over that people, when He had died for them, God gives Christ authority,—for that is the meaning of the word "power:" authority, prerogative, rule. And Christ, using the power, gives to them eternal life.
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II. It is just what we want—a force superior to the grossnesses of nature—an authority which asserts itself over the material—something that can elevate what we call the baser to something which seems to us to be, and which perhaps is, the higher part of our being. We want it daily in ourselves—we want it in those we love—we want it in the thickness and oppressiveness of a burdened life—we want it in all the great things of life—we want it in the Judgment Day—we want it in the new heavens and the new earth—we want it and we have it. "Thou hast given Him power over all flesh."
III. What is eternal life? (1) It is a thing present. Never think of eternal life as a thing beginning the other side of the grave. It begins now, or not at all. (2) To know God is eternal life. But remember it is no knowledge of God or of Christ to know them intellectually—to know them abstractly. You must know them personally. You must not know of them as you read in a book, as you know persons in history; but you must know them as you know one with whom you are intimate, whose mind you have read; in whose smile you have sunned yourself; in whose heart you are; with whom you have held sweet converse. That is life here—that is life for ever and ever.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 314.
References: Joh 17:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 566; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 122; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 314. Joh 17:1-8.—W. Roberts, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 277. Joh 17:1-7.—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 265. Joh 17:3.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 310; S. Baring Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 43; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 17; Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 5; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 33.
Joh 17:4
I do not think that here in this text our Lord intended to refer to the final and completing act—the blood-shedding which was remission. I believe He reviewed His life—the subjection, the pain, the obedience learned by the things He suffered, the teaching and the trial, the subjection to indignities, to time and space, to cold and hunger, to devils and to men—in the light of all these visionary recollections, He said: "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." This saying of our Lord—it is a very arrow of light gleaming across the burdened valley of our being—"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." In this speciality, which was the Saviour’s triumph, lies the ground also of the Christian’s consolation—speciality, I say, for God sets the work, God hems the work around with difficulties. We succeed, it is because He has aided us; we fail, it is because He would teach us; and thus often failure becomes the footstool of the highest success. It is an illustrious thought, and it is the bright, red light along the horizon of life, that every one has his appointed field. "Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us."
I. Sorrow is work. Was not His sorrow work? Sorrow is the rain which descends down to the very roots of our being. Sorrow has an influence on the heart like that of the atmospheric action on the hard rocks and hills: it loosens, it softens, it disintegrates, it levels, and from the mould it makes the flowers and the fruits of the heart, as the flowers and fruits of earth spread their bloom.
II. Temptation is work. Man does not see the victory or the triumph; but God does.
III. Faith is work. But this is our work in relation to God, and sympathy is work—our work in relation to man.
Think how Divine is work—in its lowest as well as in its highest form—to make something. Not one is forgotten before God. The fisherman going forth to the rivers, the ploughboy to the fields, the dairyman to the farmyard, the artisan to the shop, much-enduring man to toil. How Divine, how godlike is work—to draw the silken thread of Spirit through the hard needle of difficulty.
E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 306.
Joh 17:4
Consider what were the purposes of God which by the death of our Lord were answered, and which without it, as far as we can see, could not have been answered so that God was thereby glorified.
I. And first, I think, we must feel that hereby a mark was set upon the devil’s work, sin, which no other conceivable procedure could have set upon it. Its hatefulness to God; its exceeding atrocity; the fearfulness of being tempted to commit it; was hereby made intelligible to all—that nothing less than this agonising torture inflicted on the Son of God could expiate it.
II. The next important purpose answered by the sufferings of our blessed Master, and the manifest carrying out of God’s will thereby, is their eminent adaptation to establish a spiritual kingdom as wholly distinct from a carnal one. His kingdom was manifestly not of this world. Pilate marvelled that it could be called a kingdom at all, not comprehending the power of holy example, of hearty doctrine, of humble patience. Yet herein was our Father glorified, and hereby were won such glorious triumphs as worldly policy, or force of arms, or outward wealth and influence could never have achieved. For these do but for a while affect the present interests of mankind; whereas the patient endurance, the cheerful alacrity of our blessed Lord unto every good work, His humility, His meekness, His constancy, His love, His gentleness, His unexampled self-denial on all occasions, have left behind them solid and everlasting memorials—have in all ages of the world been the stay of sufferers, the comfort of mourners, the strength of them that wrestled with temptation, the hope of downcast, afflicted souls; and not only so, but have sanctified all the instrumentalities wherewith the purposes of this world are carried out.
III. Consider how entirely Christ, by His life and death, has shut out all shams and pretences to religion,—has made it impossible for insincerity and worldliness to indulge in the flattering hope of entering in through the door whose posts and lintels are all sprinkled with blood. What is this blood, and what does it signify? It is the blood of the Lamb that was slain, of the only begotten Son of God, Who gave His life for our lives, due to God for sin.
Bishop Thorold, Penny Pulpit, No. 410, new series.
As regards the finished work of Christ, our duty is (1) to understand, value, believe and appropriate it; (2) to cultivate and carry to the highest degree possible an inner life of pious thoughts and feelings in communion with God, and an outer life of holiness, whereby we shall gradually grow meet for the eternal presence, and services and enjoyments of Almighty God; and (3) we have to do such good works here, as God hath before ordained that we should walk in them for the good of our fellow creatures and the extension of the kingdom of Christ. It is the third work which I now desire to consider.
I. The worst of all possible conditions is the state of those who live without the testimony of their own conscience that they have some work that they are doing for God. And yet, it is the position of thousands. They live, in this sense at least, a pointless and an aimless life, and they incur the retributive consequence—they pass a restless, because a Christless; and a joyless, because a useless existence. Life has never been traced up to its true bearing, and therefore, the character is weak, the energies are loose and the happiness vapid. And very solemn at last will be the evening, when the Lord of the vineyard meets these workless ones.
II. We lay it down first, that every one’s natural position, his providential circumstances, his work or business, or profession, which he has chosen, determines his chief work in life which, taken from God, he is to execute for God. There is many a man and many a woman whose work through life is to glorify God in some quiet home scene, in the daily Christian performance of unnoticed duties, and the unworldly discharge of some worldly service,—only let each accept it as from heaven, and be careful to throw heaven into it. Then, it is a training and a discipline for the higher services of another world. But whether you find it in your place in the family, in your business in the world, or whether it lie in something that you have undertaken more expressly for the cause of religion and for God, only look well to this, that it be real work—that you distinctly feel you have a mission to it—that it is a work given to you, and that it be done piously for God, in God, to God. "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 5th series, p. 149.
References: Joh 17:4, Homilist, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 933. Joh 17:4, Joh 17:5.—J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension Day to Trinity, p. 82. Joh 17:5.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 267. Joh 17:8-11.—W. Roberts, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 357. Joh 17:11.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 14th series, p. 76. Joh 17:11, Joh 17:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1883.
Joh 17:11
I. The Author and maintainer of Unity. "Holy Father, keep." Unity wherever it exists flows from God. He is the cloud whence the drops of peace distil first upon crowning Hermon, and then flow down to all the lower heights. And as He is the exclusive author, so is He also the exclusive maintainer of unity. Peace and unity in families—unity, peace and concord among nations—harmony between contending parties, whether in the state or in the church—all these are the result of that maintenance and support which God as the Eternal Father is continually ministering to His creatures, and accordingly must be traced to Him as their origin.
II. Note the method by which God maintains this unity through His own Name. It is an unfeigned acknowledgment of Divine love on one hand, and Divine justice on the other, in which our Saviour here prays that God would keep His chosen. Keep their hearts ever alive to all the attributes which constitute Thy Name or character. Proclaim Thou Thy name before them, and give them to walk conformably to it, yielding Thee an obedience, strict indeed, as with One who will not suffer sin upon them; but at the same time free and princely, and hearty and loving—the obedience not of slaves, but of dear children.
III. Note the persons between whom this unity may be expected to subsist: "Those whom Thou hast given Me." Union, real vital union, cannot exist among and with those who are ignorant of God.
IV. How close will be the bond of the fellowship; that "They may be one, as We are." What mortal shall tell, what mortal shall comprehend the exceeding closeness of that unity, perfect unity of counsels—perfect unity of will—perfect unity of ends—perfect unity of nature? And even such a bond shall clasp the elect together, nay is now clasping them, and being gradually drawn more closely around them.
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons at Holywell, p. 182.
References: Joh 17:11.—New Outlines on the New Testament, p. 72; G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 46; J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension to Trinity, p. 21; Church of England Pulpit, vol. v., p. 241.
Joh 17:12
Christ’s Care for His Disciples
I. Observe, first, what a comforting thing it is to know that Christ would sooner work a miracle to restrain the enemies of His servants, than leave those servants to an encounter too great for their strength. The disciples, we may believe, would have been sure to fall away, had the band which seized Christ laid hands also on them; they had not yet received grace sufficient for the trial, therefore were they miraculously delivered. Apostasy would have been inevitable, and thus God never suffers it to be. But we dare not say that afterwards, when they had received grace sufficient for the trial, apostasy became impossible. It was no longer true that they must fall, through not having strength enough; it was still true that they might fall, through not using strength aright.
II. In place of procuring His followers an opportunity for escape, might not Christ have imparted an ability to endure? Though God could have given to the disciples grace adequate to martyrdom, he could not have given it consistently with the laws which prescribe His dealings with accountable creatures. It would have taken more grace than could be bestowed without destroying all freedom of will. Remember that grace is that in which you are bidden to grow; and in spiritual stature no more than in bodily is the infant made the giant with no stage between. The spiritual temple rises stone by stone, as beneath the hands of a builder; it does not soar at once, wall—dome—pinnacle—complete, as beneath the wand of an enchanter.
III. Christ’s promises and purposes in regard of His people are large and comprehensive. In covenanting to give us eternal life, Christ hath also covenanted to put His shield round us, that we may be kept from all the power of the enemy. The saving of the disciples from bodily danger might be taken as an assurance that Christ would not fail to conduct them safely to His heavenly kingdom; and therefore was it a sort of primary accomplishment of the gracious purpose that none of them should be lost. What a brightness would it shed over present deliverances, what a sweetness would it give to present mercies, were all in the habit of regarding them as so many earnests of a rich inheritance above!
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1875 (see also Voices of the Year, vol. ii., p. 195).
References: Joh 17:12.—S. Cox, Expositions, 1st series, pp. 331, 348. Joh 17:12-19.—T. Birkett Dover, The Ministry of Mercy, p. 141.
Joh 17:15
There are two reasons why God does not take His people out of the world, but rather keeps them in it and preserves them from the evil. One reason respects themselves—the other, the world.
I. And first, it is for a good and salutary work on themselves that they are thus brought into contact with temptation, and face to face with evil. None really stands firm but he who has assured his footing. A man may seem to stand, may think he stands, but it may be only because he has never been assailed. His position may be erect, his attitude apparently safe; but the first shock shall dislodge him, because he has never learned how to withstand it; on which side, and how with best effect, resistance may be offered. We are made perfect by trials and conflicts; they are to us as the winds of heaven are to the tree, trying its root—exercising its weak parts one after another, that they may be excited to growth and strength. Our heavenly Father does not take us out of the world, but keeps us in it, within reach of all its allurements and vanities and ungodliness, that we may grow up, by combating and resisting these, into a perfect man in Christ, armed at all points against enemies whom we well know, and with whom we have contested every foot of the ground and painfully won it for Him.
II. If all God’s people were to seclude themselves and fly from temptation, where would be the work of the Church on earth? where our Lord’s last command, Go ye into all the world and evangelise every creature? The kingdom of heaven is as leaven. Where does leaven work? From without? No—but from within. And if the leaven is kept out of the lump, how shall the lump become leavened? We must not take ourselves out of the world; for the world’s sake, if not for our own. Christ’s work is often done, and done most effectually by those who range apparently at a distance from the direct subject itself; who by the influence of ordinary conversation, in which Christian principles are asserted and upheld, impress and attract others, without the use of words to them unusual and repulsive. It is to multitudinous droppings of such unseen and gracious influences, rather than to any great flood of power, in books or in ministers, that we must look for the Christianising of society here and through the civilised world.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. v., p. 109.
Much of our modern religious teaching favours withdrawal from the world, and even encourages the wish for an early death. In many of our popular hymns the ruling thought is safety in the arms of Jesus, rest in Paradise. Nothing is said of labour, which they must undergo who claim rest; nothing of that conflict with the world, which alone makes it a place of probation. It needs little argument to prove which is the more correct—to pray to live, or to pray to die. When Moses, Elijah and Jonah requested for themselves to die, they erred; and if it still be a doubtful point, Christ’s prayer that the apostles should be kept in the world for its good and His glory, that they should mix in its society, and yet be free from its contamination through the sanctification of His Spirit, is conclusive, as it agrees with the feelings of nature and the dictates of reason. It being then a necessity, as well as part of our religion, to be in the world, a right adjustment of claims has to be made between the extremes of overmuch fondness for it, and entire neglect of it.
I. The first principle of safety I would lay down is the recognition that the world—for which I might read polite society—is still full of danger for those who devote themselves to it in earnest. Though we soften the Bible sentences, and allow for a gradual leavening of modern society by the Gospel, yet its tone is distinctly irreligious, and quite removed from the New Testament ideal. God is not in all its thoughts. Christ is not the object of its faith or its love. The Holy Spirit does not dictate its conversation or moderate its fashions. And yet this is the world, though so manifestly in opposition to God, that we court.
II. You are not doing enough for Christ, if merely you shun the world; rather you must go into it, pass as one of it—for the Lord knoweth them that are His—possibly be much occupied with it, yet without imbibing its spirit. It will come to be attractive to you in a sense that you would not expect until you approached it with the deeper insight into Christ’s purposes concerning it; for it is His creation. He is the light of it, and you a light-bearer. He has loved it and redeemed it, to reconsecrate it to Himself; and you, who know it, are to proclaim that love is the ministry of reconciliation. As Christ came not to condemn the world, but to save the world; so you must not scold it or judge it, but do what you can to improve it.
C. E. Searle, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, May 13th, 1880.
Note:—
I. What Our Lord asks for His followers. To be kept from evil in the world means (1) to be engaged in the world’s business and have it rightly directed; (2) to suffer under its trials and be preserved from impatience; (3) to be exposed to its temptations and preserved from falling into sin.
II. Why our Lord asks for His friends that they should not be taken out of the world. He asks it (1) for the benefit of the world; (2) for the good of Christians themselves; (3) for the honour of His own name.
References: Joh 17:14-15; Good Words, vol. iii., p. 317. Joh 17:15.—J. Vaughan, Church of England Pulpit, vol. x., p, 401; Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 73; E. D. Solomon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 164; J. G. Rogers, Ibid., vol. xxvii., p. 104; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 47; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 123; J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 274; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 216; H. Batchelor, The Incarnation of God, p. 155; J. M. Neale, Sermons to Children, p. 21. Joh 17:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 78; J. Miller, Pulpit Analyst, vol. ii., p. 481; T. H. Thom, Laws of Life after the Mind of Christ, p. 295; Good News, vol. iii., p. 379; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 90.
Joh 17:16-17
Christian Separation from the World
I. Its nature. The unworldliness of Christ is our model. The separating line which marked His life from the world’s life is the line which is to mark our own. Christ’s separation was not an outward separation from the world, but an inward separation from its spirit.
II. This spiritual atmosphere of separation, amid His close contact with men, arose (1) from His life of holy consecration; (2) from His life of abiding prayer.
III. Its purposes. "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." Our mission of witnessing to the truth, love, will of God, can only be fulfilled by this spiritual separation from the world. Apart from this, everything else fails; it alone gives power to direct our Christian activity.
E. L. Hull, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 191.
Joh 17:17
I. Revelation, or, as our Lord terms it solemnly, the truth, sanctifies us first of all by putting before us an ideal of sanctity. The man of action, like the artist, needs an ideal. It is, in fact, his first necessity, and outside the sphere of revelation there have been such ideals; but they have been vague, indistinct, varying,—above all, they have been conspicuous by their failure, again and again, to satisfy the higher demands even of the natural conscience. By giving the world, before the eyes of men, the record of one life spotless and consecrated, the truth does sanctify those who will submit themselves to its power. It affects thousands for good in degrees which fall far short of sanctification. It sanctifies those who desire to be made holy, and who, with their eyes fixed on this, the one typical form of excellence, ask earnestly for the Holy Spirit of God, whose work it is in the sacraments, and in other ways, to take of the things of Jesus and to show or to give them to His own.
II. The truth sanctifies, secondly, by stimulating hope. It gives every man who wills it not only an ideal, but a future. Be he what he may, or may not be, he may look forward. There is, he knows, another world, another life; and between this and that there are opportunities. Where there is no such hope, nothing visible to the eye of the soul beyond the horizon of time; where there is no future intimately related to this present life, or growing out of it—there sanctity, in its proper sense, is impossible. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." To live hereafter, to any purpose at all, is to live at the feet of One whose very name is an incentive to sanctification.
III. But Christian truth sanctifies also as being a revelation of the love of God. Love has a power of making men holy. There are moral conditions which defy fear, but which cannot defy love. "Sanctify" is the response which the heart makes to unmerited mercy. It is the generous response not to be at least untouched by love. If you would find the fructifying power which, in the successive generations of Christendom, has raised up men and women to lead supernatural lives—to live, as it were, in view of the other world, with marks of the character and teaching of St. Paul and of the Lord Jesus clearly stamped upon them—you will find it in the eternal truth, that the Son of God took flesh, and died out of love for fallen man, being so deeply graven on their hearts.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 528.
We see here—
I. One cause of the hopeless degradation of the heathen world, even in its most refined and advanced state of mental culture. Truth was discussed in their schools of philosophy, but it was to them only a philosophy; it was not a life. It was to them a startling revelation to say, as the Gospel said, that truth was only truth to those who loved it, that the law of restored humanity was that each advance in illumination should be an advance in spiritual purity.
II. Again, this same principle shows the fallacy of referring to Jewish customs and the standard of Jewish morality to justify lax lives in Christians. Jewish spirituality is no standard for Christian life, unless we can reduce the compass of Christian truth within the limits of Jewish truth.
III. Again, we here see the true nature and course of Christian revivals. As a general law, a revival of doctrine precedes a revival of life. Revivals which arise from truths which fasten themselves in the soul expand and grow with the truths themselves, and become, like them, abiding principles.
IV. It is needful that those who hold the truth should be warned of the dangers and deceits which, adhering to the fullest and most correct apprehension of doctrine, may yet make shipwreck of their faith. (1) It is clear that, as we receive any fresh truth, our first thought should be, "What does this involve? To what change, what progress in my life, does this naturally lead?" (2) Again, we here learn a rule for our devotions. If our devotions tend to earnest practical aspirations as their aim, they will act upon our lives; and the reverse is equally true. (3) A warning needs to be given to those who, by the grace of God, are drawn to an earnest self-devotion, after a sinful and careless life. The graces of a saintly character grow less quickly than the convictions of truth. It is not that sanctity is uncertain, or the results of the grace of God and His truth less real than our natural corruption, but that the noblest plants are of slowest growth, and the consequences of our fall remain to trouble us in the course of our repentance, as a penance ordained to be borne for a while. (4) Be diligent and watchful concerning the lesser facts of daily life, and not merely its greater trials. As "he that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little," so he alone that labours to conform himself to the will of God in the constant claims of everyday life shall rise by little and little to his consummation of bliss, in his predestined union with God.
T. T. Carter, Sermons, p. 136.
References: Joh 17:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1890; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 186; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 80; E. Cooper, Practical Sermons, vol. i., p. 194; H. P. Liddon, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 97; E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 228. Joh 17:17-19.—H. Mackennal, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 216. Joh 17:18, Joh 17:19.—S. Hebditch, Ibid., vol. xxvii., p. 317.
Joh 17:19
Sanctification
I. The sanctification of which our Lord speaks in this place, is the consecration of the whole creature, of the whole being, to the spiritual purpose of the service of our heavenly Father. To give up everything in order that His will may be accomplished, to do that will to the very full—this is the perfect sanctification of all things. And, of course, this sanctification, in itself, does not necessarily imply any change in the thing which is sanctified. If we think of things which stand at the lowest end, and of things which stand at the highest end of being, there is no change at all in the consecration of either to the fulfilment of the will of God. But when we think of all that stands between these, when we think of the consecration of a finite creature—or, still more, of a finite creature, intelligent and possessed of will, and yet the evil in that will—it is plain that the consecration, of necessity, must imply a real change in the thing that is consecrated. If there is evil, that evil cannot be dedicated to God; if there is anything which hinders the service of our Father, that hindrance must be taken away.
II. In all work that has to be done for the sake of God here among men, the same unchanging rule ever prevails; and the man who would undertake to do it, must himself begin in his own person that regeneration which he is desirous to produce in others, and must begin to sanctify himself. If he is to help others to sanctify themselves, if he is to be the source of any moral and spiritual growth, it must be because there is in him the same moral and spiritual growth, and he must derive it from the source of all moral and spiritual growth—the sanctification of the Lord Jesus Himself. It is only by beginning within, and by seeking to be what He was, that it is possible for us to do His holy work; and those who desire to be a blessing to their fellowmen must copy the words of the Lord, and since it is their sanctification that is really needed, they must begin by sanctifying themselves.
Bishop Temple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 82.
References: Joh 17:19.—F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 204; E. Bersier, Sermons, 1st series, p. 120; Joh 17:20; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life after the Mind of Christ, p. 18. Joh 17:20, Joh 17:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 668; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 376; R. Thomas, Ibid., vol. x., p. 112.
Joh 17:21
The Unity of the Race
What a vision Jesus must have had of the essential oneness of the race. Man is one continuity of the race throughout all the ages. Bird and beast are always beginning; they are what bird and beast were thousands of years ago. Man is the exception. In his life today, he shows a whole past of human knowledge. It is the whole race of man which is the image of God; for ever in the making, never made. We are members of Christ; we are members of the whole body of humanity, past, present, and to come. The whole family in heaven and earth centres in Him; derives its life and spirit from Him.
I. In speaking the words of the text, Jesus was leaving the world and returning to the heavens; for party interests in the world were too strong to allow Him to live. But of one thing He was sure—that men would believe in Him; that after His death, the affections of men in the world would go out of the world, and would seek to centre themselves in Him. Our poor animal senses may be shut up in the world, but our hearts never. The hearts of the most sceptical men refuse to be dictated to by their unbelieving brains. The world cannot hold back its heart from Christ—that is the supreme fact in the world; and when other facts and attractions have had their day, human hearts are found struggling away towards the Christ of God and the Christ of humanity. He was sure, therefore, that although His last day in the world was come, He was only at the beginning of His reign.
II. "The Father Himself loveth you," says Jesus; "that you all may be one love and one glory." There is but one revealed glory—living glory—and that is the glory of God, the eternal love. He says, "I will give to the children that glory; I will centre it in their souls as the very fountain of their power." What an inseparable, unutterable union, this indwelling of the Divine glory will make. First of all, our union with God Himself; not by anything that is from ourselves, but first of all, by the glory of God Himself being put into our souls, and so uniting us with Himself, by Himself, and the very bond which unites us with heaven unites for ever one with another.
J. Pulsford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 177.
References: Joh 17:22.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 182. G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 114; Bishop Simpson, Sermons, p. 81. Joh 17:22, Joh 17:23.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1472; Ibid., Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 222. Joh 17:22, Joh 17:23.—H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 17. Joh 17:23.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 213. Joh 17:24.—W. B. Pope, Sermons, p. 140; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1892; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 82; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 82; J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 123; A. Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, p. 208; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Marlborough College, p. 148; Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 31; vol. xvi., p. 234; New Outlines on the New Testament, p. 76; J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 198; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 77; W. Wilkinson, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 67.
Joh 17:24
Christ’s Wish for Man
This must always be the first joy of any really good life, its first joy and its first anxiety at once, the desire that others should enter into it. Indeed, here is a test of a man’s life. Can you say: "I wish you were like me?" Can you take your purposes and standards of living, and quietly, deliberately, wish for all those who are nearest to you that they should be their standards and purposes too? Do not consent to be anything which you would not wish to ask the soul that is dearest to you to be. Be nothing which you would not wish all the world to be.
I. Thus, then, we understand Christ’s longing for the companionship of His disciples. He wanted them to be with Him. That wish of His must have run through all the scale of companionship which we have traced, but it must have completed itself in the desire that they should be like Him, that they should have His character, that in the obedience of God, where He abode, they should abide with Him.
II. He wants His disciples to be with Him, "that they may behold My glory." Before these words can be cut entirely free from low associations and soar into the high pure meaning which belongs to them, we must remember what Christ’s glory is which He desires us to see. Its essence, the heart and soul of it, must be His goodness. It is Christ’s goodness then that He would have His people see. Think for a moment what prospects that wish of our Lord opens. Only by growth in goodness can His goodness open itself to us. What is He praying for then? Is it not that which we traced before in the first part of His prayer, the same exactly, that we might be like Him? So only can we see Him. It is His glory that He wants us to see; but back of that, He wants us to be such men and women that we can see His glory. The only true danger is sin, and so the only true safety is holiness. What a sublime ambition. How it takes our vague, half-felt wishes and fills them with reality and strength, when the moral growth, which makes a man complete, is put before us, not abstractly, but in this picture of the dearest and noblest being that our souls can dream of, standing before us and saying to us: "Come unto Me," standing over us and praying for us, "Father, bring them where I am."
Phillips Brooks, Sermons, p. 299.
Joh 17:25
The Religion of Daily Life
I. These are the words of the greatest man that ever lived; of the founder of our religion, even of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They were spoken the night before His death, concerning His followers on earth; and, I presume, He knew what He was saying. But those words are not what many persons would have expected. They would fancy that our Lord’s prayer would have been rather after this fashion: "I pray that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, that they may be kept from the evil." But so prayed not Christ. Such persons would fancy that our Lord would rather have bid His followers retire into a desert, and there, amid the solitude of nature, to meditate on spiritual things; to prepare their souls for heaven. But so commanded not Christ. We cannot be thankful enough that Christ came, not to call men out of the world, but to teach them how to live in the world; not to proscribe work and business as irreligious, but to sanctify and ennoble it.
II. And that is what Christ did, by His example and by His words, during His whole life on earth. He never, by any act of His, gave encouragement to those who would separate religion from the common acts of daily life. We know how Christ spent His time before He began His ministry; that He spent it, not away from His fellowmen, in some desolate retirement, in some lonely wilderness; but that He worked, as other men work, with His own hands, as a carpenter in the village of Nazareth. By His example He taught us that, if we would live Christian lives, we must live useful ones; if we would follow Him and His religion, we must not take ourselves out of the world, but do our duty in the world.
III. Never think that your work, whatever it is, need be a hindrance to religious life. It ought to be a help to you, not a hindrance. And it will be a help to you, if only you bear in mind that by doing your duty faithfully you are serving Him who said of old, "Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
J. Vaughan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 4.
References: Joh 17:25-26.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 75. Joh 18:26.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 148; W. M. Taylor, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 100. Joh 17:25, Joh 17:26.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1378.
Joh 17:26
The Eloquence of the Cross
Christ was standing, when He spoke these words, on the very margin of His death, with little or nothing beyond except His crucifixion; and then He says, evidently pointing to His suffering, "I will declare Thy name." The declaration could be taken in no other sense than the eloquence of the Cross. For after that, He did not talk much with His disciples, but He left the Cross to stand out and speak alone. And had we but the eye of faith to penetrate that deep mystery, I believe that we might stand beneath the Cross on which the Saviour hung, and in that contemplation we might read more of God, and the reality of God’s being, than books can ever contain or words can ever express.
I. The first view of the Father which the Cross presents to the mind is His holiness, His unutterable holiness. Sin was impossible to God. He determines to put sin away from Him; absolutely, irrevocably, eternally, to banish all and every sin, and every phase of sin, and every shade of sin, and every degree of sin, out of His own sight for ever. On His Son He laid the gathered sin of the whole fallen creation.
II. His justice. The original sentence of God against sin was fulfilled to the letter. Not a line was erased, not a syllable weakened. All do die—die as it were, eternally; there is no exception. Every man is a sinner, and every sinner dies. Some in themselves; some in Christ. Some in their own undying torments; some in their covenanted Head.
III. His wisdom. He did an act which gives the free pardon of the King of kings to every offender; while, by the same act, He made the law honourable and sin detestable. Who shall dare to trifle with that which went on its unbending way, till it executed the Lord of Life and Glory?
IV. His love. Faithful is it—for it came from all eternity, and it stretches on, unchanging, to eternity again. Large it is—for it reaches from hell to heaven, and girdles the universe. But still, love is a retiring grace; and the heart that would read love, must make around itself a little sanctuary of deep, still, holy, personal thought; and then, in calm, quiet meditation, you will, by the still teachings of the Holy Ghost, find, in a way that no sermon can preach it, how the Father’s love shines in the Cross, and how true it is about it, "I will declare it."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 2nd series, p. 120.
References: Joh 17:26.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1667.—Homilist, vol. vii., p. 343. John 18—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 5, etc. Joh 18:1.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 69; vol. xvi., p. 225; G. T. Coster, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 168. Joh 18:1-8.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 280. Joh 18:1, Joh 18:2.—A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 60. Joh 18:2-9.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 70; R. C. Trench, Shipwrecks of Faith, p. 59. Joh 18:4-8.—Homilist, vol. iv., p. 326.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 7.(Joh 17:1-26.)
Section 7.(Joh 17:1-26.)
The Melchizedek Priest: His work anticipatively completed.
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His discourse with them is ended, and He turns now to the Father, to put into His hand these poor and presently to be scattered sheep, of whom He is going to show Himself, in the very hour of their scattering, more than ever the good Shepherd. It is the Melchizedek, or Royal, Priest however, to whom we are privileged to listen in His intercession for His people, the work being anticipated as done, that puts Him in the place. We have seen this character attaching to much that He says, in all this part of John, as very largely to the doctrine of the Gospel as a whole. In this closing portion, we have seen Him at the commencement in the place of Advocate, or rather what connects with this, and which involves the same position as the Risen and Ascended Man in which we find Him here. So it is said, -"knowing that the Father had put all things into His hands;" -that is really His Kingship: He is Lord of all.
There is, of course, a special form of His Kingdom which He takes for a special purpose, when as Son of man He brings the earth from its disorder back to God. Into man’s hand it was put at the beginning, and by man’s fall it was corrupted and ruined. By man’s hand that ruin must be repaired: and thus that Kingdom is the Kingdom of the Son of man: but He is King already before this comes, sitting on the Father’s throne, and we are "translated into the Kingdom of the Son of His love."
The Melchizedek Priesthood is supposed by some to contemplate simply the millennial kingdom; -that is, in its exercise; but the bread and wine of our Melchizedek should lead us into a wider application of the type. Indeed, as a type, -in which way alone we must view the application made of Gen 14:1-24, -the whole action and the circumstances speak more distinctly of our blessing as Christians than they do of any other. For Sodom is not judged, and Abraham with his typical heavenly calling we may claim without hesitation as our representative: "Abram the Hebrew," (the "passenger,") -passing through a world by which he will not be enriched, "from a thread even to a shoe-latchet." No doubt, there is a right application to millennial times: and the Lord will be seen and will act in that character in relation to Israel and the earth. This is quite true: while it is clear that the argument of the epistle to the Hebrews shows us Christ after the order of Melchizedek now, though the type in relation to the "shadow of heavenly things" in the tabernacle brings before us necessarily the type of Aaron.
The relation to what we have in Hebrews is clear in the position taken by the Lord in the prayer He utters. We see Him in the first place with authority given Him over all flesh; then, as not praying for the world: that is, "separate from sinners." Lastly, He is shown as "higher than the heavens," -in the glory given Him, to which (though a glory always His own) it is as Man He goes back. The mingling of blessing and prayer is quite characteristic. The Royal (and more than royal) Priest is manifest throughout.
1. The Lord’s heart is free; He is no longer hindered by the unbelief of those about Him, nor occupied with them, but for them with God. He speaks as the Son of the Father, who has fulfilled the mission upon which He came, and is going back, to take the place belonging to Him, -to the glory which He had before; yet still as Man, to take it from His Father’s hand, and to carry through in power what He had begun in suffering. He speaks in the consciousness and communion of the coequal Son, yet in entire devotion to the Father’s glory: -"Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Authority over all flesh is His; but it is His Father’s gift, as His people are. He has ability to sustain what requires no less than divine power, and He gives eternal life, -a divine gift; but the power He uses is in obedience, and everywhere the mystery of His Person manifests itself in His utterances. He is God Himself, in the creature’s place to make good the failure of the creature, and by His condescending love to win him from his ruinous path of self-will back to Himself. Who could henceforth refuse a path in which he saw before him the Son of God, -"Leader and Finisher of faith" in its whole course?
But it was His also to give to them eternal life, -a nature to receive and delight in the revelation made. For "this," He says, "is eternal life, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." This is not a definition absolutely of eternal life, but how it is known and realized, now that Christ is come. The Lord’s words necessarily look on, not back; to make them rule out the possibility of eternal life in an Old Testament saint, because he could not say, "Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent," would be a very unwarranted deduction.
2. (1) Marked out by these characters, as He tells us distinctly His disciples were, (for He had made known to them the Father’s Name, and they had received His words, and knew surely that He had come out from the Father,) He now presents them to the Father. As the Priest with God, He is the Intercessor for His own, and not for the world, -"separate from sinners," as we read in Hebrews. The priest supposes established relationship with those for whom he stands before God, although with Israel under the law all was but a shadow of the true. Our Priest goes into heaven in the value of an offering once offered, never to be repeated, by which He has "perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
"The only true God," whom Israel knew in contrast with the false gods of the heathen, was nevertheless, as such, in His innermost reality unknown. And this the veil of the sanctuary shutting men out from Him declared. Even by Moses His Face could not be seen. Thus the Lord speaks of "Thy Name which Thou hast given Me." It was His work to declare that Name; and He declares it as a name of relationship to Himself. The Son speaks of the Father: yet God had been spoken of as such before. Nay, He had, as we know, proclaimed Himself a Father to Israel; and we have heard the Jews boldly venturing upon it: "We be not born of fornication," they had said to Jesus Himself; "we have one Father, even God." But they were pushed into saying so: if you had asked them for the Name of Israel’s God, you would have heard of Jehovah, or the Lord Almighty, but it is not likely that the Father" would have leaped to any body’s lips. Alas, Israel was no child by nature to such a Father; and God could be no right Father to such a child. On the lips of the Divine Son, sent in servant-form into the world for man’s necessity, how different does it become!
It is an eternal relationship, not one of time. It is not relation contracted for a purpose, however blessed may be the purpose. It belongs to His eternity. Love has in Him an Object worthy of itself. Could it be imagined away without a loss so great as to be disastrous?
Think, then, of this, the Son of His bosom, here in the world, a world which He created, at His own personal cost to put away the evil, and bring those who had wandered from Him back to God! This as the manifestation to men of Him who could give His Son for such a purpose, and to be the Head of a new creation built up out of the old, the assurance to it of fullest and abiding blessing!
Thus has He manifested to us the Father’s Name; but He has done more even than this, -He has given us a place with Him as children, in the value of a life communicated to us, as those of whom thus He, taking as Man the First-born place among them, is not ashamed!
No wonder, therefore, that the authority given Him over all flesh should be for this as the fundamental and decisive exercise of it, to give eternal life to as many as are given to Him; thus of necessity separated from the world which has rejected Him. How dear are they to Him as the Father’s gift! how dear as those of whom His grace can say, forgetting all that could be pleaded, however rightly, against them, They have kept Thy word!" He has taken fullest care that they should know, in all that He can speak of as His own, the Father as the Source of all. For He has given them but the words given Him, and in receiving them they know Him as the One come out from Him -the Sent One of God.
Here then are those with regard to whom He prays: the Father’s own, the fruit of the Father’s mission of the Son; those given Him of the Father and still the Father’s; even as in the perfect communion of that relationship all things are. In these also, the fruit of His own work, He is glorified.
(2) Now He was no longer to be in the world, but they would be left in it, without that gracious, all-sufficient companionship which they had been enjoying. He commits them, therefore, to the care of that Divine Father, under whose guidance and government the children of God still walk (1Pe 1:17); He abiding as the Lord who directs their service (Eph 4:5-6; 1Co 12:5). For all things are in His hands, to work out in power, as has been said, what He has in suffering laid the foundation for; but the relation of the Father to the children is as plainly to be recognized. He prays, therefore, to the Holy Father, to keep them in the power of that Name which He has manifested to them. The power of it would be to keep them near to Him: for the sanctuary of His Presence is the only refuge from self and sin. At a distance from the Light, evil and good become soon merged and indistinguishable. With Christ the atmosphere in which He lived was God, and into it He brought all others: -"While I was with them, I kept them in Thy Name, which Thou hast given Me." Alas. there was one who was repelled by it: "I have guarded them, and not one of them has perished but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled."
He was going to God, but would leave them, not in sorrow, but in joy. "The joy of the Lord is strength;" and He had spoken to them as He had, that they might have that joy which had been His own, in the midst of a scene of sorrow such as the world would all the more be; for in proportion as they had their joy in God, would it be realized how far it was away from Him, and it would hate them as not of it. The light would bring its shadows, and they would be identified with Himself in sorrow and in joy alike. Yet He did not pray that they should be taken out of the world: the wilderness would have for them its harvests, to be reaped through all eternity. How Israel’s feast of tabernacles tells of that! He prayed only that they might be kept out of the evil in it. From the world itself He had entirely separated His own; they belonged to it, in the appointment of God and in the nature He had given them (inconsistent as they might be with this) no more than did He Himself.
(3) The truth was to be the means of sanctification to them, -"Thy truth," He says, that is, the truth as characterized by that revelation of the Father of which He has been speaking. Now, sending them into the world, as He was doing, the open glory of heaven into which He had introduced them was to be henceforth characterized by a new Object in it, -a Man, set apart there to God (as "sanctified" means), -sanctified by Himself, as none other ever was, to be for Him His image in human form (2Co 4:4). Divine glory shining out in the face of Jesus.
We have here another instance of the foundation of Paul’s doctrine being in this Gospel. The "gospel of the glory of Christ" was that by which the apostle of the Gentiles was turned to God, and this was the light in which he henceforth walked. Christ in glory was the power over him, the joy within him. Here was his eye fixed; here was the goal of his course, which in his ardor was a race. The passion of his soul was to "win Christ, and to be found in Him." And he states but his experimental knowledge of the Lord’s words here when he says that "Christ is made unto us wisdom from God, even . . . sanctification" (1Co 1:30). The Object before him detached him from the world, and drew him heavenward. It absorbed and inspired him. Generalizing his experience, he affirms for Christians at large the result as he had realized it: "We all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face," -it is the Lord’s face that is "open," or without a veil, -"are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit" (2Co 3:18).
This is an inspired comment upon the words before us in the Gospel. We shall find them developed for us by the apostle in various ways, which at present we shall not attempt to follow. Every Christian heart should know for itself this central glory of the gospel, in which God and Man meet, and meet for ever; in which Christ gone in to God, with His work achieved, our Forerunner, invites us to abide where He abides. Who shall deny Him what His soul has wrought for? -or refuse to go in out of the night, where there is no night more?
Where this light falls, it is glory: "from glory to glory," says the apostle. The least degree is that; and where it shines it brightens to the endless day. "That they may be sanctified in truth," says the Lord; and the touch of these rays is the dispelling of all illusion. What is the world? it ignored, insulted, crucified Him! -a world in which He could serve, but not reign! and yet even the life here is lifted into glory, when we can say, "The life which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
And here the Lord explicitly assures us of our interest in all this: "Neither pray I regarding these alone, but also regarding those believing on Me through their word; that they may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me."
This is a unity of practical life, oneness of heart and mind, such as subsists between the Father and the Son: a unity which the world is to be able to as to be led by it to faith. It is not, of course, that the world as a whole will believe, but men of the world have been at all times wrought upon by it. It is not the Church that is meant, -in John we have not this; although, no doubt, every breach of Church unity has begun as a breach in the practical life. The life has its character from the truth entered into; and "one in Us" shows it to be a life of fellowship with the Father and the Son. How glorious such a witness! What a testimony to Him who can work it in such as we are!
3. The prayer now passes into blessing pronounced, -the expression of His will with regard to His own, and in which He goes beyond the time of His absence to that in which His glory will be openly revealed. The change is suited to this, and to the Melchizedek character as well; though we have no reason to limit this to the time of open manifestation.
The glory given us we shall be seen in together when the Lord appears, and it will be the glory in which He will appear as Son of man. Then the world therefore will know, -it will be no question of faith any longer, but of sight, -that Jesus was sent of the Father. In that day He will come "in His own glory, and that of His Father, and of the holy angels" (Luk 9:26).
But it is not said, "in the glory of His saints," although they have glory; and the reason is here apparent, that it is in His glory they will come. His is the glory which they reflect, and so the Lord says, in them," and the apostle, that "He cometh to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, . . . in that day" (2Th 1:10). The glory will be seen to be His, but they will share it; and being thus "perfected into one," -in a unity of glory such as shall be worthy of Him, the world shall know, He says. "that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me." Words these are indeed, which none but Himself would have dared to use; but we stand before God in the value of what He is: grace finding in this way its ability to manifest itself so as to bring out all the depths of His nature. He is going in the ages to come "to show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:7). Need we say of anything, it is too great to show forth this?
But there is a glory His which is greater than that in which He is to be seen with His people, and which can only be seen in His own eternal dwelling-place; therefore He desires that we may be with Him, to behold it there. It is glory which as Man He enters, and in that sense "given" glory, and yet as the recognition of the love which was eternally His. Thus it is Divine glory, as far as the creature can be strengthened to behold it. There are necessary limits here, -limits which forbid even our defining them further. And the whole of what we have here is of a nature which requires rather prayer than study to apprehend it. We must be where He is, to realize the vision.
The Lord appeals now to the "Righteous Father," as One who, in the midst of a world "alienated from the knowledge of Him," has known Him; and He links His disciples, spite of their feebleness, with Himself, as those who at least have known Him as sent of the Father. To them He had made known His Name, and would go on to make it known; for (they and we) must here be learners still. The love of the Father to the Son is, as we have seen, part of that manifestation and so this becomes an inward realization in the soul; and He, the Object of the Father’s love, in whom therefore the Divine nature in its glory revealed itself, -He becomes in them the necessary Object also, and the One in whom fellowship with God is henceforth found.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv1, 14, 17, 20, 24, 25, 26 Joh 17:1 - Joh 17:19.
John
THE INTERCESSOR
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Joh 17:1 - Joh 17:19.
We may well despair of doing justice to the deep thoughts of this prayer, which volumes would not exhaust. Who is worthy to speak or to write about such sacred words? Perhaps we may best gain some glimpses of their great and holy sublimity by trying to gather their teaching round the centres of the three petitions, ‘glorify’ {Joh 17:1, Joh 17:5}, ‘keep’ {Joh 17:11}, and ‘sanctify’ {Joh 17:17}.
I. In Joh 17:1 - Joh 17:5, Jesus prays for Himself, that He may be restored to His pre-incarnate glory; but yet the prayer desires not so much that glory as affecting Himself, as His being fitted thereby for completing His work of manifesting the Father. There are three main points in these verses-the petition, its purpose, and its grounds.
As to the first, the repetition of the request in Joh 17:1 - Joh 17:5 is significant, especially if we note that in the former the language is impersonal, ‘Thy Son,’ and continues so till Joh 17:4, where ‘I’ and ‘Me’ appear. In Joh 17:1 - Joh 17:3, then, the prayer rests upon the ideal relations of Father and Son, realised in Jesus, while in Joh 17:4 - Joh 17:5 the personal element is emphatically presented. The two petitions are in their scope identical. The ‘glorifying’ in the former is more fully explained in the latter as being that which He possessed in that ineffable fellowship with the Father, not merely before incarnation, but before creation. In His manhood He possessed and manifested the ‘glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’; but that glory, lustrous though it was, was pale, and humiliation compared with the light inaccessible, which shone around the Eternal Word in the bosom of the Father. Yet He who prayed was the same Person who had walked in that light before time was, and now in human flesh asked for what no mere manhood could bear. The first form of the petition implies that such a partaking in the uncreated glory of the Father is the natural prerogative of One who is ‘the Son,’ while the second implies that it is the appropriate recompense of the earthly life and character of the man Jesus. Joh 17:4, where
The petition not only reveals the conscious divinity of the Son, but also His willing acceptance of the Cross; for the glorifying sought is that reached through death, resurrection, and ascension, and that introductory clause, ‘the hour is come,’ points to the impending sufferings as the first step in the answer to the petition. The Crucifixion is always thus treated in this Gospel, as being both the lowest humiliation and the ‘lifting up’ of the Son; and here He is reaching out His hand, as it were, to draw His sufferings nearer. So willingly and desiringly did this Isaac climb the mount of sacrifice. Both elements of the great saying in the Epistle to the Hebrews are here: ‘For the joy that was set before Him, [He] endured the Cross.’
The purpose of the petition is to be noted; namely, the Son’s glorifying of the Father. No taint of selfishness corrupted His prayer. Not for Himself, but for men, did He desire His glory. He sought return to that serene and lofty seat, and the elevation of His limited manhood to the throne, not because He was wearied of earth or impatient of weakness, sorrows, or limitations, but that He might more fully manifest by that Glory, the Father’s name. To make the Father known is to make the Father glorious; for He is all fair and lovely. That revelation of divine perfection, majesty, and sweetness was the end of Christ’s earthly life, and is the end of His heavenly divine activity. He needs to reassume the prerogatives of which He needed to divest Himself, and both necessities have one end. He had to lay aside His garments and assume the form of a servant, that He might make God known; but, that revelation being complete, He must take His garments and sit down again, before He can go on to tell all the meaning of what He has ‘done unto us.’
The ground of the petition is twofold. Joh 17:2 represent the glory sought for, as the completion of the Son’s mission and task. Already He had been endowed with ‘authority over all flesh,’ for the purpose of bestowing eternal life; and that eternal life stands in the knowledge of God, which is the same as the knowledge of Christ. The present gift to the Son and its purpose are thus precisely parallel with the further gift desired, and that is the necessary carrying out of this. The authority and office of the incarnate Christ demand the glory of, and consequent further manifestation by, the glorified Christ. The life which He comes to give is a life which flows from the revelation that He makes of the Father, received, not as mere intellectual knowledge, but as loving acquaintance.
The second ground for the petition is in Joh 17:4, the actual perfect fulfilment by the Son of that mission. What untroubled consciousness of sinless obedience and transparent shining through His life of the Father’s likeness and will He must have had, who could thus assert His complete realisation of that Father’s revealing purpose, as the ground of His deserving and desiring participation in the divine glory! Surely such words are either the acme of self-righteousness or the self-revealing speech of the Son of God.
II. With Joh 17:6 we pass to the more immediate reference to the disciples, and the context from thence to Joh 17:15 may be regarded as all clustered round the second petition ‘keep’ {Joh 17:11}.
That central request is preceded and followed by considerations of the disciples’ relation to Christ and to the world, which may be regarded as its grounds. The whole context preceding the petition may be summed up in two grounds for the prayer-the former set forth at length, and the latter summarily; the one being the genuine, though incomplete discipleship of the men for whom Christ prays {Joh 17:6 - Joh 17:10}, and the latter their desolate condition without Jesus {Joh 17:11}.
It is beautiful to see how our Lord here credits the disciples with genuine grasp, both in heart and head, of His teaching. He had shortly before had to say, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me?’ and soon ‘they all forsook Him and fled.’ But beneath misconception and inadequate apprehension there lived faith and love; and He saw ‘the full corn in the ear,’ when only the green ‘blade’ was visible, pushing itself above the surface. We may take comfort from this generous estimate of imperfect disciples. If He did not tend, instead of quenching, ‘dimly burning wicks,’ where would He have ‘lights in the world?’
Joh 17:6 lays down the beginning of discipleship as threefold: Christ’s act in revealing; the Father’s, in giving men to Jesus; and men’s, in keeping the Father’s word. ‘Thy word’ is the whole revelation by Christ, which is, as this Gospel so often repeats, not His own, but the Father’s. These three facts underlying discipleship are pleas for the petition to follow; for unless the feeble disciples are ‘kept’ in the name, as in a fortress, Christ’s work of revelation is neutralised, the Father’s gift to Him made of none effect, and the incipient disciples will not ‘keep’ His word. The plea is, in effect, ‘Forsake not the works of thine own hands’; and, like all Christ’s prayers, it has a promise in its depths, since God does not begin what He will not finish; and it has a warning, too, that we cannot keep ourselves unless a stronger Hand keeps us.
Joh 17:7 - Joh 17:8 carry on the portraiture of discipleship, and thence draw fresh pleas. The blessed result of accepting Christ’s revelation is a knowledge, built on happy experience, and, like the acquaintance of heart with heart, issuing in the firm conviction that Christ’s words and deeds are from God. Why does He say, ‘All things whatsoever Thou hast given,’ instead of simply ‘that I have’ or ‘declare’? Probably it is the natural expression of His consciousness, the lowly utterance of His obedience, claiming nothing as His own, and yet claiming all, while the subsequent clause ‘are of Thee’ expresses the disciples’ conviction. In like fashion our Lord, in verse 8, declares that His words, in their manifoldness {contrast Joh 17:6, ‘Thy word’}, were all received by Him from the Father, and accepted by the disciples, with the result that they came, as before, to ‘know’ by inward acquaintance with Him as a person, and so to have the divinity of His Person certified by experience, and further came to ‘believe’ that God had sent Him, which was a conviction arrived at by faith. So knowledge, which is personal experience and acquaintance, and faith, which rises to the heights of the Father’s purpose, come from the humble acceptance of the Christ declaring the Father’s name. First faith, then knowledge, and then a fuller faith built on it, and that faith in its turn passing into knowledge {Joh 17:25}-these are the blessings belonging to the growth of true discipleship, and are discerned by the loving eye of Jesus in very imperfect followers.
In Joh 17:9 Jesus assumes the great office of Intercessor. ‘I pray for them’ is not so much prayer as His solemn presentation of Himself before the Father as the High-priest of His people. It marks an epoch in His work. The task of bringing God to man is substantially complete. That of bringing men by supplication to God is now to begin. It is the revelation of the permanent office of the departed Lord. Moses on the Mount holds up the rod, and Israel prevails {Exo 17:9}. The limitation of this prayer to the disciples applies only to the special occasion, and has no bearing on the sweep of His redeeming purpose or the desires of His all-pitying heart. The reasons for His intercession follow in Joh 17:9 - Joh 17:11. The disciples are the Father’s, and continue so even when ‘given’ to Christ, in accordance with the community of possession, which oneness of nature and perfectness of love establish between the Father and the Son. God cannot but care for those who are His. The Son cannot but pray for those who are His. Their having recognised Him for what He was binds Him to pray for them. He is glorified in disciples, and if we show forth His character, He will be our Advocate. The last reason for His prayer is the loneliness of the disciples and their exposure in the world without Him. His departure impelled Him to Intercede, both as being a leaving them defenceless and as being an entrance into the heavenly state of communion with the Father.
In the petition itself {Joh 17:11}, observe the invocation ‘Holy Father!’ with special reference to the prayer for preservation from the corruption of the world. God’s holiness is the pledge that He will make us holy, since He is ‘Father’ as well. Observe the substance of the request, that the disciples should be kept, as in a fortress, within the enclosing circle of the name which God has given to Jesus. The name is the manifestation of the divine nature. It was given to Jesus, inasmuch as He, ‘the Word,’ had from the beginning the office of revealing God; and that which was spoken of the Angel of the Covenant is true in highest reality of Jesus: ‘My name is in Him.’ ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.’
Observe the issue of this keeping; namely, the unity of believers. The depths of that saying are beyond us, but we can at least see thus far-that the true bond of unity is the name in which all who are one are kept; that the pattern of the true unity of believers is the ineffable union of Father and Son, which is oneness of will and nature, along with distinctness of persons; and that therefore this purpose goes far deeper than outward unity of organisation.
Then follow other pleas, which are principally drawn from Christ’s relation to the disciples, now ending; whereas the former ones were chiefly deduced from the disciples’ relation to Him. He can no more do what He has done, and commits it to the Father. Happy we if we can leave our unfinished tasks to be taken up by God, and trust those whom we leave undefended to be shielded by Him! ‘I kept’ is, in the Greek, expressive of continuous, repeated action, while ‘I guarded’ gives the single issue of the many acts of keeping. Jesus keeps His disciples now as He did then, by sedulous, patient, reiterated acts, so that they are safe from evil. But note where He kept them-’in Thy name.’ That is our place of safety, a sure defence and inexpugnable fortress. One, indeed, was lost; but that was not any slur on Christ’s keeping, but resulted from his own evil nature, as being ‘a son of loss’ {if we may so preserve the affinity of the words in the Greek}, and from the divine decree from of old. Sharply defined and closely united are the two apparent contradictories of man’s free choice of destruction and God’s foreknowledge. Christ saw them in harmony, and we shall do so one day.
Then the flow of the prayer recurs to former thoughts. Going away so soon, He yearned to leave them sharers of His own emotions in the prospect of His departure to the Father, and therefore He had admitted them {and us} to hear this sacred outpouring of His desires. If we laid to heart the blessed revelations of this disclosure of Christ’s heart, and followed Him with faithful gaze as He ascends to the Father, and realised our share in that triumph, our empty vessels would be filled by some of that same joy which was His. Earthly joy can never be full; Christian joy should never be anything less than full.
Then follows a final glance at the disciples’ relation to the world, to which they are alien because they are of kindred to Him. This is the ground for the repetition of the prayer ‘keep’, with the difference that formerly it was ‘keep in Thy name,’ and now it is ‘from the evil.’ It is good to gaze first on our defence, the ‘munitions of rocks’ where we lie safely, and then we can venture to face the thought of ‘the evil,’ from which that keeps us, whether it be personal or abstract.
III. Joh 17:16 - Joh 17:19 give the final petition for the immediate circle of disciples, with its grounds.
The position of alienation from the world, in which the disciples stand by reason of their assimilation to Jesus, is repeated here. It was the reason for the former prayer, ‘keep’; it is the reason for the new petition, ‘sanctify.’ Keeping comes first, and then sanctifying, or consecration. Security from evil is given that we may be wholly devoted to the service of God. The evil in the world is the great hindrance to that. The likeness to Jesus is the great ground of hope that we shall be truly consecrated. We are kept ‘in the name’; we are consecrated ‘in the truth,’ which is the revelation made by Jesus, and in a very deep sense is Himself. That truth is, as it were, the element in which the believer lives, and by abiding in which his real consecration is possible.
Christ’s prayer for us should be our aim and deepest desire for ourselves, and His declaration of the condition of its fulfilment should prescribe our firm adhesion to, and constant abiding in, the truth as revealed and embodied in Him, as the only means by which we can attain the consecration which is at once, as the closing verses of the passage tell us, the means by which we may fulfil the purpose for which we are sent into the world, and the path on which we reach complete assimilation to His perfect self-surrender. All Christians are sent into the world by Jesus, as Jesus was sent by the Father. We have the charge to glorify Him. We have the presence of the Sender with us, the sent. We are inspired with His Spirit. We cannot do His work without that entire consecration which shall copy His devotion to the Father and eager swiftness to do His will. How can such ennobling and exalted consecration be ours? There is but one way. He has ‘consecrated Himself,’ and by union with Him through faith, our selfishness may be subdued, and the Spirit of Christ may dwell in our hearts, to make us ‘living sacrifices, consecrated and acceptable to God.’ Then shall we be truly ‘consecrated,’ and then only, when we can say, ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ That is the end of Christ’s consecration of Himself-the prayer which He prayed for His disciples-and should be the aim which every disciple earnestly pursues.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Christ's High-Priestly Prayer
Christ's High-Priestly Prayer
1-26. Christ's Great Intercession for Himself, for the Apostles, and for the World. This prayer is often, and suitably called Christ's 'High-priestly prayer,' because in it He solemnly consecrates Himself to be priest and victim in the approaching sacrifice. The veil is drawn back for a moment from the inner sanctuary of His mind, and we are enabled to contemplate with awe and reverence the nature of that close communion which He habitually maintained with His heavenly Father.
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Christ prays (1) for Himself (Joh_17:1-5), that as He has glorified the Father by His life on earth, so He may also glorify Him by His death, and after death may receive again that glory which for our sakes He resigned at His Incarnation. (2) For the Apostles (Joh_17:6-19), that they may be kept from sin, and from unfaithfulness in the midst of a wicked and hostile world, that they may be perfectly united in affection and will, and that they may be consecrated, even as He is consecrated, for the solemn mission which they are to undertake. (3) For the world (Joh_17:20-26), that it may be converted (Joh_17:21), for believers that they may have perfect union and communion, visible and invisible, with one another, in virtue of their union with the one God through the one Christ; and that finally all may attain to everlasting salvation, and see Christ enthroned in that glory which He had with the Father before the world was.
1. The hour] viz. of My glorification through death. Glorify thy Son] Christ asks the Father to glorify Him by accepting the sacrifice of His death, and by raising Him from the dead. When this is done, the Son will glorify the Father by converting the world.
2. Power] RV 'authority.' At the Incarnation the Father gave the Son authority to die for the sins of the whole world, and to proclaim the Father's gracious offer of salvation to all mankind. As many as thou hast given him] RV 'whatsoever thou hast given him.' Those whom the Father 'gives' to Christ, are those who freely accept the offer of salvation which is freely made to all.
3. Eternal life consists in a knowledge of God, and of Jesus as the Messiah sent from God, i.e. as a preëxistent, divine being. 'Knowledge' here is not intellectual knowledge, but knowledge based on the religious experience of the devout Christian soul.
4. Our Lord's sinlessness and moral perfection are implied.
5. The memory of Jesus extends beyond His birth, and beyond the creation of the world, back to eternity, when He was 'in the form of God,' and 'equal to God' (Php_2:6); cp. Joh_17:24. With thine own self] i.e. at Thy side.
6. Thy name] i.e. Thy nature. The men] i.e. the Apostles. Kept thy word] an expression especially characteristic of St. John's Gospel, 1st Ep., and Rev. (Joh_8:51; Joh_14:23; 1Jn_2:5, etc.).
9. I pray not for the world] rather, 'I am not now praying for the world.' Jesus prays for the world in Joh_17:20-26, especially in Joh_17:21, and enjoins others to do so, Mat_5:44, etc. That Christ prays for the world is proved by the entire nature of His work, the object of which is the salvation of the world (Joh_4:42, etc.).
10. All mine, etc.] RV 'all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine.' All the attributes which belong to the Son belong to the Father; and all the attributes which belong to the Father (omniscience, omnipotence, etc.) belong to the Son.
11. Keep through thine own name] RV 'keep them in thy name which thou hast given me,' i.e. keep them in a state of grace defended by that almighty power, which, by Thy gift, I share with Thee. God's 'name' here is practically His divine nature and omnipotence. One] How close must be that union and fellowship, which is compared with the unity of Persons in the Godhead, itself!
12. The son of perdition] i.e. him who is destined to perdition, viz. Judas Iscariot. In 2Th_2:3 the expression is used of Antichrist.
The phrase is a Hebraism: cp. Mat_23:15,; 'a son of Gehenna.' The scripture] in accordance with Joh_13:18, is Psa_41:9.
13. My joy] i.e. the joy which I derive from loving communion with the Father, as in Joh_15:11 : see 1Jn_1:4.
14. Thy word] i.e. Thy whole revelation of Thyself as disclosed in My life. Hath hated them] i.e. will hate them, the past tense expressing the certainty of the hatred, already so clearly foretold, Joh_16:2.
15. I pray not, etc.] Because, if the Apostles were taken out of the world, they would not be able to convert it. From the evil] more correctly rendered by the RV, 'from the evil one.' St. John habitually conceives of evil as personal: see 1Jn_3:10, 1Jn_3:12; 1Jn_5:18, 1Jn_5:19.
17. Sanctify them (RM 'consecrate them') through thy truth (RV 'in the truth')] Consecrate them to their apostolic office, endowing them also with divine illumination and wisdom for their work: cp. Exo_28:41. Our Lord also was 'consecrated' for His work when He entered the world: see Joh_10:36.
18. 'As Thou didst not send Me into the world without first consecrating Me (see Joh_10:36), so now I consecrate My Apostles before sending them forth.'
19. 'Now once more I consecrate Myself, not this time as a mere teacher, but as priest and victim in the approaching sacrifice. The blood of the new covenant, which My death will initiate and ratify, will consecrate My Apostles to their office and work.' For 'sanctify' in the sense of offering a victim in sacrifice, see Exo_13:2; Deu_15:19 : cp. 2Sa_8:11. Through the truth] RV 'in truth,' i.e. truly.
21. That they all may be one] A leading passage on the unity of the Church. The centre of unity is not on earth but in heaven. Christians are 'one,' because they are spiritually united to the Father and the Son, whose divine life and blessed union they share through the faith that gives eternal life (Joh_3:16, etc.), and through believing participation in the sacraments (Joh_3:5; Joh_6:56; 1Co_10:16-17; 1Co_12:13). In this, its deepest sense, the unity of the Church cannot be broken by outward divisions. But inward unity ought also to show itself in visible outward unity, 'that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me.' Hence every Christian is bound to pray and work for the reunion of Christendom.
22. The glory] i.e. according to the context, mainly the glory of unity and love.
23. That the world may know] The whole world will be converted when the Church of Christ presents the spectacle of perfect love and visible unity. Divisions hinder the work of Christ, unity advances it.
26. Thy name] i.e. Thy nature.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v1 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXII. The Lord's…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXII. The Lord's Prayer].
CXXII. THE LORD'S PRAYER. (Jerusalem. Thursday night.) dJOHN XVII.
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d1 These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven [the action marked the turning of his thoughts from the disciples to the Father], he said, Father, the hour is come [see Mat_28:18). All humanity was given into his hands that he might give life to that part of it which yielded itself to him in true discipleship.] 3 And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, i even Jesus Christ. [God is revealed in Jesus Christ: Jesus had just prayed for his glorification that the Father may be fully revealed in him. The revelation of God is the first step toward the attainment of eternal life. The inner reception of that revelation by a daily conformity to it is the second step. As we actually live God's life we come to know him; but we cannot attempt to live his life without a revelation.] 4 I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. [679] [As the hour for finishing his work had arrived, Jesus speaks of it as already finished. As he had finished that for which he had emptied himself of his glory and entered the world, he asks that now, on his departure from the world, he may be reinstated and permitted to assume again that which he had laid aside. Paul's words are commentary on these two verses ( Phi_2:5-11). Thus Jesus ends the first division of his prayer which is a petition for himself, for the glory of the Father, and the good of the world. The second division which follows is a fourfold plea for the disciples which he then had, followed by petitions in their behalf.] 6 I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me [As a first plea or reason why the Father should bless the disciples of the Son, the Son urges that they are his property by gift of the Father. The Father is possessor of all humanity as the Creator; the Son by gift from the Father possesses the believing portion of humanity as its redeemer]; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: 8 for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received i them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. [As a second reason for blessing the disciples Jesus pleads their reception and retention of the truth which the Father had sent him to reveal, and the resulting knowledge and faith. The truth revealed by Jesus was so palpably divine that the disciples could know that its bearer came from heaven. But whether that bearer came of his own volition or as a commissioned messenger of the Father they could not know. But where knowledge was impossible, they trusted to Jesus and believed.] 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: 10 and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them. [As a third plea he urges the joint possession which the Father held with [680] him in the disciples, and the further fact that the Son was glorified in the disciples.] 11 And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. [As a last plea he urges the necessity of the Father's care over the disciples since the Son will be no longer in the world to care for them.] Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we i are. [Our Lord's first petition grows out of his last plea. His departure would tend to scatter the disciples; they had been united by faith in the name of Christ, that is, by the divine power given of God and revealed in Christ ( Exo_23:21, Isa_9:6, Jer_23:6), and Jesus asks that they may be still so kept, and that their unity may be as perfect as that subsisting between the Father and the Son.] 12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition [literally, son of perishing]; that the scripture might be fulfilled. [ Psa_41:9. Jesus emphasizes the fervency of his petition by urging his own conduct as to that which he asks. He asks the Father to care for those for whom he had himself been so painstakingly careful that not one had been lost, save him whom it was impossible to save, and whose loss the Scripture had predicted--a loss in no way chargeable against the loving fidelity of the Good Shepherd.] 13 But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. [Being about ready to depart from the world, Jesus had taught and prayed for his disciples that they might be brought into a oneness with the Father similar to that which he himself enjoyed, and the consequent joy which filled his own life might in some measure fill theirs also. This also was part of his care for them.] 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. [An additional reason for the Father's care is here presented. The reception of the Father's word had brought upon them the hatred of the world, thereby increasing their need of a [681] heavenly blessing, as a counter-balance to the curse of the world. Jesus as advocate gives potency to his petitions as to the sufferings of his disciples by suggesting that he has himself shared them-- Heb_2:10-18.] 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil i one. [The care which he asks in protection in, and not removal from, the world. It is best both for the Christian and for the world that he should remain in it. The world is blessed by the Christian's presence ( Mat_4:14-16), and abiding in the world affords the Christian an opportunity of conquest and reward-- Rom_8:37, Rev_2:26, Rev_3:21.] 16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. [To sanctify means to set apart to a holy use. As Jesus himself had been set apart as God's messenger to the world, so he had set apart the apostles as his messengers to it. This setting apart was not a formal, empty act, but was accomplished by God's imparting or developing a fitness in the one sanctified to perform the duties for which he was set apart. Fitness in this case would be imparted by imbuing the apostles with the Spirit of truth. Jesus had set himself apart ( Heb_9:14), that the apostles might follow his example-- 2Co_5:14-17 (and also the church-- Phi_2:5, Rom_12:1, Rom_12:2), that thereby the world might be saved. Our Lord's prayer as to the apostles is, therefore, a threefold petition, viz.: that they may be kept in unity, kept from the world and the devil, and that they may be set apart and equipped for the gospel service. We come now to the third division of the prayer wherein he asks for blessings upon future believers.] 20 Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, i art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send [682] me. [Here again the first petition is for unity, and again the unity subsisting between the Father and the Son is designated as the kind desired. That future disciples may understand the nature of this unity, Jesus sets it forth in an amplified statement, which reveals the fact that he does not ask for a unity similar to that subsisting between the Father and the Son, but for that very unity itself enlarged and extended so as to become a triple instead of a dual unity by the comprehension of the disciples within its compass. As a reason why the Father should bring about this unity (and a reason also why all Christians should work for it), our Lord states that its attainment will result in the conversion of the world to the Christian faith.] 22 And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we i are one [Jesus here states that to bring about the unity which he here prays for he has bestowed upon the disciples the glory which the Father had bestowed upon him. The glory mentioned was that of being the Son of God ( Mat_3:17, Joh_1:14, Heb_1:5, Heb_3:6), which glory Jesus imparts to his followers ( Joh_1:12, 1Jo_3:1). In other words, he made us his brethren that we might be united in one great household ( Rom_8:29, Eph_1:10, Eph_2:19, 1Jo_3:9, 1Jo_3:10, 1Jo_4:8, 1Jo_4:16). A true comprehension of the Fatherhood of God and our brotherhood in Christ must result in unity]; 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me. [He here states that the perfect unity of the church and the putting forth of its power in harmonious effort to convert the world will be equivalent to a demonstration of the truth of his divine mission. 1Jo_3:2). The second petition of Jesus, therefore, in no way savors of a vainglorious desire that his disciples may behold him to lead them to admire him, but a wish that they may participate in the heavenly state, and know the Sonship of Jesus and all its attendant blessedness by, in some measure, participating in it.] 25 O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me; 26 and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them. [In theses closing sentences Jesus blends his present and his future disciples. To his present disciples he had made known the Father's name, and to the future ones he would make it known. The knowledge which he had of the Father had been imparted to the disciples, and they had received it, and had thereby been in some measure fitted for the revelation of the glory for which he had just prayed. The world, on the contrary, had rejected Christ's revelation, and had refused to know God, and had thus become unworthy of the privilege here asked for the disciples. Jesus had revealed the Father while on earth that men might attain to the revelation of God in the hereafter, thus participating in the love which the Father has for the Son because the Son is spiritually in them. It is a significant fact that the two of the five petitions of this prayer are for Christian unity. It may be said generally of all [684] the petitions that they ask the Father to complete that which the Son has already begin and completed to the limit of his present circumscribed power.]
[FFG 679-685]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25 Seven petitions:
glorify
Seven petitions:
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(1) That Jesus may be glorified as the Son who has glorified the Father (Joh 17:1), Php 2:9-11.
(2) for restoration to the eternal glory (Joh 17:5);
(3) for the safety of believers from
(a) the world (Joh 17:11) (b) the evil one (Joh 17:15);
(4) for the sanctification of believers (Joh 17:17);
(5) for the spiritual unity of believers (Joh 17:21);
(6) that the world may believe (Joh 17:21);
(7) that believers may be with Him in heaven to behold and share His glory (Joh 17:24).
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Finished Work. (Joh 17:1-5.)
CHAPTER 17
1. The Finished Work. (Joh 17:1-5.)
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2. The Father’s Name and the Father’s Gift. (Joh 17:6-10.)
3. Not of the World but Kept in it. (Joh 17:11-16.)
4. Sanctification of Himself for His Own. (Joh 17:17-21.)
5. The Glorification. (Joh 17:22-26.)
His words were ended to the eleven disciples and next He spoke to the Father, and His disciples listened to all His blessed words. What moments these must have been! His words to the Father told them once more how he loved them, how He cared for them, what He had done and what He would do for them. Whenever we read this great Lord’s prayer we can still hear Him pray for His beloved people. What a glimpse it gives of His loving heart! The prayer is His high-priestly prayer. He is in anticipation on the other side of the cross. He knows the work is finished, atonement is made; He is back with the Father and has received the glory. This anticipation is seen in His words, “I have finished the work thou gavest me to do”; “and now I am no more in the world”;--”the glory thou hast given me I have given to them.” It is impossible to give an exposition of this great chapter. Blessed depths are here which we shall fathom when we are with Him. All He taught concerning Himself and eternal life, what believers are and have in Him, He mentions in His prayer. All the great redemption truths more fully revealed in the New Testament Epistles may be traced in this high-priestly prayer of our Lord. We mention seven of these great truths as made known by Him in addressing the Father.
1. Salvation. He has power to give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work thou gavest me to do.” He glorified the Father in His life and He finished the work He came to do on the Cross. There alone is redemption and salvation.
2. Manifestation. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.” (Joh 17:6.) The Name of God, He, the Son, has made known to those who believe on Him is His Name as “Father.” Such a name and relationship of the believer to God was not known in the Old Testament. The Son of God had to come from heaven’s glory and declared the Father. After He gave His life and rose from the dead He spoke of “My Father and your Father.” The Spirit of Sonship was given by Whom we cry: “Abba-Father.”
3. Representation. He is our Priest and Advocate. He appears in the presence of God for us. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” (Joh 17:9.) Like the High Priest He carries only the names of His people upon His shoulders and upon His heart. He prays now for His church, His body, for every member. When the church is complete and the body is united to Himself in glory, He will pray for the world. “Ask of Me,” the Father has told Him, “and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance.” (Psa 2:6.) When He asks this, He will receive the Kingdoms of this world. What comfort it should be to all His people to know He prays for us individually! His love and His power are for us.
4. Identification. We are one with Him, and all His Saints are one. The church is His body, an organism and not an organization. He did not pray for a unity in organization, but for a spiritual unity, which exists. “That they also may be one in us” is not an unanswered petition. The Spirit Who has come unites believers to Him and baptizes them into one body. “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me”--this looks on towards the blessed consummation, when the Saints will appear with Christ in glory; then the world will know.
5. Preservation. He prayed for the keeping of His own. He commits them into His Father’s hands. The believers’ keeping for eternal life and glory rests not in their own hands but in His hands. Judas is mentioned as the son of perdition; he was never born again.
6. Sanctification. (See Joh 17:17-19.) He is our Sanctification. In Him we are sanctified. We are sanctified by the Truth, by walking in obedience. Believers are constituted Saints in Christ and are called to walk in separation. The separating power is the Word and the Spirit.
7. Glorification. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one as we are one” --”Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” This is His unanswered prayer. Some day it will be answered and all His Saints will be with Him and share His glory.
And oh! the wealth of Grace and Truth in His wonderful words we must pass by! May His own Spirit lead us deeper and fill our hearts with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 9, 12, 14, 20, 25 Christ’s Great Sacerdotal Prayer.
Christ’s Great Sacerdotal Prayer.
Christ prays for His own glorification:
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v. 1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee,
v. 2. as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
v. 3. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.
v. 4. I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.
v. 5. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
Jesus had finished the words of His last great charge to His disciples. And now He lifts up His eyes to His heavenly Father and pours forth His soul in a most wonderful and inspiring prayer of intercession. It has fitly been called the great sacerdotal prayer, for here Jesus appears in His work as Mediator, beseeching His heavenly Father first for Himself, then for His little band of disciples, and finally for all those that would be gathered by the proclamation of the Gospel. There is so much beauty, comfort, and power in this simple prayer that its main thoughts at least, if not the entire text, should be memorized. Jesus prayed in the presence of His disciples; what He wanted to tell the Father, what He wanted to ask of the Father, was in their interest, and in the interest of the faithful of all times. "But this is the summary and reason for this Chapter. Upon a good sermon there should follow a good prayer, that is: If one has sent forth the Word, he should begin to utter prayerful sighs and to desire that it may also have power and work fruit. For since Christ the Lord has now enunciated all His doctrine and office and completed it, and has blessed His disciples with the fine, long, comforting sermon, He finally felt constrained to speak a prayer, both for them and for all Christians, in order that He might fully bring to end His office, as our one High Priest, and omit nothing that would serve to strengthen and keep them, since He wanted to leave them behind Him in the world. " Jesus addresses His Father in just that one word, thereby giving to His prayer a tone of intimacy and confidence which should characterize every true prayer. The hour is come, that one hour which was to be the climax and culmination of His life’s work, the hour in which He was to go to the Father through His death. Therefore the Father should glorify the Son, He should have the purpose of His life carried out through His Passion, death, resurrection, and session at the right hand of God. This glorification concerns the human nature of Christ; according to this nature He was to be endowed with the unlimited exercise of all the divine attributes. And the object of this glorification would be, in turn, that the Son should glorify the ’Father. The fulfillment of the will of the Father, the reconciliation of the world, the imparting of the redemption to all believers, all these facts would redound to the glory of the Father. The entire work of Christ in His state of exaltation is a continuous glorifying of the Father: its aim and object is the praise of God for His grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. The glorification of the Father is therefore in accordance with the measure of power given to Christ with respect to all flesh, that God, on account of the work of Jesus, might have the Savior give to everyone that belonged to Him eternal life. The Son has the authority and power to give eternal life to them that God gave Him as His own. Through His suffering and death Jesus has power over all flesh, since He earned all men, gained them for Himself, by His redemption. There is none excepted: whosoever belongs to the category "flesh" is included in the number of those for whom Jesus paid with His blood. And out of this whole number God has given certain ones to Jesus. They are the ones that actually receive the salvation of Jesus by faith, they are the only ones that actually become partakers of the grace of God in Christ the Savior. The object of salvation, intended for all men, is realized only in the case of the believers. But this life eternal, which the believers receive at the hands of Jesus, consists in the true knowledge, in the right understanding of God as the only true God, as the one and only Lord, and of Jesus Christ, the Savior, in both His person and office, as the one sent by God to accomplish the salvation of the world. The knowledge and belief in both the Father and the Son are necessary for the obtaining of eternal life, for the two are on the same level: the Father has revealed Himself in the Son, and the Son has made known the Father. Eternal life is the intimate union and communion with the Father and the Son. This happiness and bliss begins even here in time; here on earth, indeed, only in part, but in the future life in all its fullness and glory. In this way the Son glorifies the Father, by bringing the believers to the right knowledge of the Father. This work He began in this world, that was one of the purposes of the incarnation. The fact that Jesus carried out the work entrusted to Him, that He fulfilled the will of the Father in every detail, will serve the glory and praise of the Father. Every person that was gained by the teaching of Jesus will add his voice in praising the God of mercy and in praying to Him in spirit and in truth. All this being accomplished, the Father should now, in turn, receive the Son up into glory. crown His human nature with the full and unrestricted exercise of all the divine attributes and powers which were His in the bosom of the Father before the world began. Jesus, even in the midst of humiliation on earth, was the possessor of the divine glory; even as man He was almighty, omniscient, omnipresent. But He did not make use of these divine attributes communicated to Him except in His miracles and at a few other occasions when the flashes of His divine majesty became visible to men. But through His Passion, death, and resurrection Jesus wanted to enter into the state of glory, into the full exercise and enjoyment of the heavenly, divine essence, and of all the joy and bliss in the presence of His Father, also according to His human nature. This section of Christ’s prayer therefore includes a petition for Himself, namely, for His own glorification as man; but He indicates even here that this glorious culmination will be of benefit also to men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
The part of the story from the previous chapter continues. Jesus had been speaking to his disciples, but now he begins to pray to God.
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he lifted up his eyes to the heavens
This is an idiom that means to look upward. AT: "he looked up to the sky" (See: Idiom)
heavens
This refers to the sky.
Father ... glorify your Son so that the Son will glorify you
Jesus asks God the Father to honor him so that he can give honor to God.
Father ... Son
These are important titles that describe the relationship between God and Jesus. (See: Translating Son and Father)
the hour has come
Here the word "hour" is a metonym that refers to the time for Jesus to suffer and die. AT: "it is time for me to suffer and die" (See: Metonymy)
all flesh
This refers to all people.
translationWords
Jesus
heaven
God the Father
glory
Son of God
authority
eternity
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 17:1-26 This chapter records Jesus’ longest prayer, which is…
17:1-26 This chapter records Jesus’ longest prayer, which is often called his “high priestly prayer.” It provides an intimate glimpse into his heart. In this prayer, which closes the farewell that began at 13:31, Jesus expressed his own concerns to his Father (17:1-8) and then turned to concerns for the church and its future (17:9-26).
17:1 Jesus looked up to heaven, assuming the traditional Jewish posture for prayer (11:41; Ps 123:1). He probably also raised his hands (Exod 9:33; 17:11; Ps 28:2). Prayers like this were said aloud so that followers could hear (John 11:41-42; 12:27-30; also Matt 11:25-30; Luke 10:21-22). • Father was Jesus’ usual way to address God, which he did six times in this prayer (see also John 11:41; 12:27). This title—unusual in Judaism—reflected Jesus’ intimacy with God. • This hour included Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, torture, death, and resurrection (see study note on 12:23). • Glorify your Son: In the Gospel of John, the cross is a place of honor. Jesus’ oneness with the Father means that if the Son is glorified, the Father will also be glorified.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.