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.
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John 17:16-18 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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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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.
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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
Show all 3 translations
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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.
Cross-references (35)
- John 15:3 (v17) You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
- Psalms 119:160 (v17) All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.
- Ephesians 5:26 (v17) that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
- 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.
Show all 35 cross-references
- 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…
- 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…
- 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…
- Psalms 119:11 (v17) I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
- John 17:14 (v16) 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.
- Psalms 119:9 (v17) How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
- Ephesians 4:21 (v17) if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 7:28 (v17) “Now, O Lord Yahweh, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
- Luke 8:11 (v17) Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
- Luke 8:15 (v17) Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with…
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 (v17) 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 20:21 (v18) Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
- Acts 15:9 (v17) He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
- 2 Corinthians 5:20 (v18) We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
- Psalms 119:144 (v17) Your testimonies are righteous forever. Give me understanding, that I may live.
- John 8:40 (v17) But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.
- John 17:3 (v18) This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (v17) in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth, and they may…
- Matthew 10:5 (v18) Jesus sent these twelve out, and commanded them, saying, “Don’t go among the Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans.
- John 4:38 (v18) I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
- Ephesians 3:7 (v18) of which I was made a servant according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.
- Isaiah 61:1-3 (v18) 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…
- Matthew 23:34 (v18) Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge…
- John 17:8 (v18) 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 17:21 (v18) 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…
- John 17:23 (v18) 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…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16. They are not of the world. That the…
16. They are not of the world. That the heavenly Father may be more favourably disposed to assist them, he again says that the whole world hates them, and, at the same time, states that this hatred does not arise from any fault of theirs, but because the world hates God and Christ.
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 vv17–18 That is, make them holy: and that is said…
That is, make them holy: and that is said to be holy, which is dedicated and made proper to God only.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16 They are not of the world, even as…
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Ver. 16. They are not of the world, &c.] Here indeed they have their commoration, but their conversation is in heaven, πολιτευμα, Php 2:21: they are clothed with the Sun of righteousness, and have the moon (all earthly things) under their feet, Rev 12:1. Pearls, though they grow in the sea, yet they have affinity with the heaven, the beauty and brightness whereof they resemble: so here. It is Chrysostom’s comparison.
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 vv16–18 This is the same thing which he had said…
This is the same thing which he had said before, Joh 17:14, which he again repeateth, either to fix it in their memories, that they, calling it to their minds, might direct their lives accordingly, or be thereby fortified against the hatred and malice of the world; for which purpose he told them so before, Joh 15:19, and again in this chapter, Joh 17:14; See Poole on "Joh 17:14".
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 vv17–18 Sanctify them, not initially, for so they were sanctified…
Sanctify them, not initially, for so they were sanctified already, but progressively: let them increase more and more in grace and holiness.
Learn hence, 1. That such as are already sanctified, must labour and ought to endeavour after further measures and higher degrees of santification: that the most holy may yet be more holy.
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2. The word of God is the great instrument in God’s hand for his people’s santification.
3. That the word of God is the truth of God; Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. The word of God is a divine truth, an eternal truth, an infallible truth, an holy truth.
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 v17 The next thing he prayed for for them was…
The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good.
I. Here is the petition (Joh 17:17): Sanctify them through thy truth, through thy word, for thy word is truth; it is true - it is truth itself. He desires they may be sanctified,
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1. As Christians. Father, make them holy, and this will be their preservation, Th1 5:23. Observe here,
(1.) The grace desired - sanctification. The disciples were sanctified, for they were not of the world; yet he prays, Father sanctify them, that is, [1.] "Confirm the work of sanctification in them, strengthen their faith, inflame their good affections, rivet their good resolutions." [2.] "Carry on that good work in them, and continue it; let the light shine more and more." [3.] "Complete it, crown it with the perfection of holiness; sanctify them throughout and to the end." Note, First, It is the prayer of Christ for all that are his that they may be sanctified; because he cannot for shame own them as his, either here or hereafter, either employ them in his work or present them to his Father, if they be not sanctified. Secondly, Those that through grace are sanctified have need to be sanctified more and more. Even disciples must pray for sanctifying grace; for, if he that was the author of the good work be not the finisher of it, we are undone. Not to go forward is to go backward; he that is holy must be holy still, more holy still, pressing forward, soaring upward, as those that have not attained. Thirdly, It is God that sanctifies as well as God that justified, Co2 5:5. Fourthly, It is an encouragement to us, in our prayers for sanctifying grace, that it is what Christ intercedes for for us.
(2.) The means of conferring this grace - through thy truth, thy word is truth. Not that the Holy One of Israel is hereby limited to means, but in the counsel of peace among other things it was settled and agreed, [1.] That all needful truth should be comprised and summed up in the word of God. Divine revelation, as it now stands in the written word, is not only pure truth without mixture, but entire truth without deficiency. [2.] That this word of truth should be the outward and ordinary means of our sanctification; not of itself, for then it would always sanctify, but as the instrument which the Spirit commonly uses in beginning and carrying on that good work; it is the seed of the new birth (Pe1 1:23), and the food of the new life, Pe1 2:1-2.
2. As ministers. "Sanctify them, set them apart for thyself and service; let their call to the apostleship be ratified in heaven." Prophets were said to be sanctified, Jer 1:5. Priests and Levites were so. Sanctify them; that is, (1.) "Qualify them for the office, with Christian graces and ministerial gifts, to make them able ministers of the New Testament." (2.) "Separate them to the office, Rom 1:1. I have called them, they have consented; Father, say Amen to it." (3.) "Own them in the office; let thy hand go along with them; sanctify them by or in thy truth, as truth is opposed to figure and shadow; sanctify them really, not ritually and ceremonially, as the Levitical priests were, by anointing and sacrifice. Sanctify them to thy truth, the word of thy truth, to be the preachers of thy truth to the world; as the priests were sanctified to serve at the altar, so let them be to preach the gospel." Co1 9:13, Co1 9:14. Note, [1.] Jesus Christ intercedes for his ministers with a particular concern, and recommends to his Father's grace those stars he carries in his right hand. [2.] 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. Let them have the Urim and Thummim, light and integrity.
II. 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): "As thou hast sent me into the world, to be thine ambassador to the children of men, so now that I am recalled have I sent them into the world, as my delegates." Now here,
(1.) Christ speaks with great assurance of his own mission: Thou hast sent me into the world. The great author of the Christian religion had his commission and instructions from him who is the origin and object of all religion. He was sent of God to say what he said, and do what he did, and be what he is to those that believe on him; which was his comfort in his undertaking, and may be ours abundantly in our dependence upon him; his record was on high, for thence his mission was.
(2.) He speaks with great satisfaction of the commission he had given his disciples "So have I sent them on the same errand, and to carry on the same design;" to preach the same doctrine that he preached, and to confirm it with the same proofs, with a charge likewise to commit to other faithful men that which was committed to them. He gave them their commission (Joh 20:21) with a reference to his own, and it magnifies their office that it comes from Christ, and that there is some affinity between the commission given to the ministers of reconciliation and that given to the Mediator; he is called an apostle (Heb 3:1), a minister (Rom 15:8), a messenger, Mal 3:1. Only they are sent as servants, he as a Son. Now this comes in here as a reason, [1.] Why Christ was concerned so much for them, and laid their case so near his heart; because he had himself put them into a difficult office, which required great abilities for the due discharge of it. Note, 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 up in. [2.] Why he committed them to his Father; because he was concerned in their cause, their mission being in prosecution of his, and as it were an assignment out of it. Christ received gifts for men (Psa 68:18), and then gave them to men (Eph 4:8), and therefore prays aid of his Father to warrant and uphold those gifts, and confirm his grant of them. The Father sanctified him when he sent him into the world, Joh 10:36. Now, they being sent as he was, let them also be sanctified.
2. The merit he had for them is another thing here pleaded (Joh 17:19): For their sakes I sanctify myself. Here is, (1.) Christ's designation of himself to the work and office of Mediator: I sanctified myself. He entirely devoted himself to the undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially that which he was now going about - the offering up of himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. He, as the priest and altar, sanctified himself as the sacrifice. When he said, Father, glorify thy name - Father, thy will be done - Father, I commit my spirit into thy hands, he paid down the satisfaction he had engaged to make, and so sanctified himself. This he pleads with his Father, for his intercession is made in the virtue of his satisfaction; by his own blood he entered into the holy place (Heb 9:12), as the high priest, on the day of atonement, sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice at the same time that he burnt incense within the veil, Lev 16:12, Lev 16:14. (2.) Christ's design of kindness to his disciples herein; it is for their sakes, that they may be sanctified, that is, that they may be martyrs; so some. "I sacrifice myself, that they may be sacrificed to the glory of God and the church's good." Paul speaks of his being offered, Phi 2:17; Ti2 4:6. Whatever there is in the death of the saints that is precious in the sight of the Lord, it is owing to the death of the Lord Jesus. But I rather take it more generally, that they may be saints and ministers, duly qualified and accepted of God. [1.] The office of the ministry is the purchase of Christ's blood, and one of the blessed fruits of his satisfaction, and owes its virtue and value to Christ's merit. The priests under the law were consecrated with the blood of bulls and goats, but gospel ministers with the blood of Jesus. [2.] The real holiness of all good Christians is the fruit of Christ's death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased; he gave himself for his church, to sanctify it, Eph 5:25, Eph 5:26. And he that designed the end designed also the means, that they might be sanctified by the truth, the truth which Christ came into the world to bear witness to and died to confirm. The word of truth receives its sanctifying virtue and power from the death of Christ. Some read it, that they may be sanctified in truth, that is, truly; for as God must be served, so, in order to this, we must be sanctified, in the spirit, and in truth. And this Christ has prayed for, for all that are his; for this is his will, even their sanctification, which encourages them to pray for it,
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 vv16–18 They are not of the world, even as I…
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. These words are repeated from Joh 17:14, where they are given as a reason of the world's hatred to them; and here, as showing that they are exposed to the evil of it; and in both are used as an argument with his Father, that he would take notice of them, and preserve them.
, where they are given as a reason of the world's hatred to them; and here, as showing that they are exposed to the evil of it; and in both are used as an argument with his Father, that he would take notice of them, and preserve them.
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John 17:17
joh 17:17
joh 17:17
joh 17:17Sanctify them through thy truth,.... The Syriac version introduces this petition, with the appellation "Abba, Father": and the sanctification prayed for regards the apostles, either as ministers of the word, and may intend their separation for their work and office; for which though they were sanctified or separated from their mother's womb, and by Christ when he sent them forth, yet were to have a fresh commission and unction after our Lord's resurrection, and upon his ascension to heaven; and also their qualification for it, with the truth of grace and doctrine, with holiness of heart and life, and with a preservation in the truth, by being kept faithful to it: or it may also regard them as Christians and believers, and intend a greater degree of the sanctification of the Spirit, which is imperfect in this life; for though sanctification in Christ is perfect, and so it is in the saints, as to parts, yet not as to degrees; which appears from the imperfection of faith, hope, love, and knowledge, from indwelling sin, being in the best of saints, from their necessities, from their disclaiming perfection, and their desires after it. Sanctification is a progressive work, which is carried on gradually; as is clear from the characters of regenerate ones, who are first newborn babes, then young men, and afterwards fathers in Christ; from the similes, by which it is expressed as seed which opens and grows up by degrees, and light which shines more and more unto the perfect day from exhortations to a concern for the growth of it, and prayers for it: and it is indeed continually carrying on, as may be concluded from the hand in which it is; and the progress and finishing of this work, as well as the beginning of it, are entirely the Lord's; and the way and means in which this is done, are by or through the truth of the Gospel:
thy word is truth; it is "peculiarly" so, as the Arabic version reads it. The Gospel is here meant, and is so called on account of its original, it comes from the God of truth; and because of the concern which Christ, who is the truth, has in it, he being the author, preacher, and sum and substance of it; and because the Spirit of truth has dictated it, leads into it, qualifies men to preach it, and makes it effectual: and because it contains all truth necessary to salvation, and nothing but truth, and particularly that eminent truth, salvation alone by Christ; and because it is opposed to the law, which is but a shadow, of which the good things in the Gospel are the substance: now this is the means both of the beginning, and increasing, and carrying on the work of sanctification in the hearts of God's people, as well as of an experimental knowledge of it; and an increase of that knowledge does more and more qualify the ministers of it for their ministerial work and service, which seems here chiefly designed.
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 v17 Sanctify - Consecrate them by the anointing of thy…
Sanctify - Consecrate them by the anointing of thy Spirit to their office, and perfect them in holiness, by means of thy word.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv17–18 Verse 17. Sanctify them] αγιασον, from α, negative, and…
Verse 17. Sanctify them] αγιασον, from α, negative, and γη, the earth. This word has two meanings:
1. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service.
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2. It signifies to make holy or pure. The prayer of Christ may be understood in both these senses. He prayed -
1. That they might be fully consecrated to the work of the ministry, and separated from all worldly concerns.
2. That they might be holy, and patterns of all holiness to those to whom they announced the salvation of God. A minister who engages himself in worldly concerns is a reproach to the Gospel; and he who is not saved from his own sins can with a bad grace recommend salvation to others.
Through thy truth] It is not only according to the truth of God that ministers are to be set apart to the sacred work; but it is from that truth, and according to it, that they must preach to others. That doctrine which 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. Our Lord still acts here in reference to the conduct of the high priest, to whom it belonged to sanctify the priests, the sons of Aaron: See Clarke on Joh 17:1.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv16–17 See Joh 15:19.
See Joh 15:19.
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 v18 As thou hast sent me into the world, I…
As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. He speaks of that mission, which agreed with him, as man, and become man for the salvation of mankind, to which also the apostles, and their successors were to co-operate, as the ministers and instruments of Christ, by virtue of their mission for him. (Witham) --- For the same intent as Christ himself was sent, were the apostles sent also: whence St. Paul says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and he has placed in us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians v. 19.) (Glossarium.)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–18 They are not of the world, even as I…
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world--(See Joh 15:18-19). This is reiterated here, to pave the way for the prayer which follows.
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 vv17–18 17. Sanctify them—In the three ensuing verses Jesus represents…
17. Sanctify them—In the three ensuing verses Jesus represents their consecration to their mission. God must sanctify them as Christ sanctifies himself. To sanctify is to set apart to some special divine use; and this may or may not require an inner purification of the being set apart. If an unholy being, as man, be set apart to a pure use, he must be rendered internally as pure as the use to which he is appropriated. Of an indifferent thing, neither intrinsically holy or unholy, as a vessel for the sanctuary service, there can be no purification but a physical one with an emblematical meaning. Where a holy being, as Christ, is set apart for a holy work, as for the work of redemption, no inward purification is possible; for he is already perfectly pure. It is a consecration of the holy to the holy. The use to which man is divinely consecrated is eternal service in the sanctuary of heaven; but to attain this use his entire purification must be perfect. If he fails in this his failure is total.
Through thy truth—Rather in thy truth.
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Thy word is truth— Thy word doubtless means the Gospel revelation, both in its doctrinal and preceptive parts; its doctrinal parts exhibiting the scheme of salvation, its preceptive enjoining us to obey its conditions. The agent of this sanctification through or in the Gospel, according to Jesus’s prayer is God, who both gives the Gospel which sanctifies, and animates it by his Spirit to a sanctifying power. Hence it is not the mere instrumental truth, it is the divine Spirit, which sanctifies.
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 vv16–18 16. They are not … world] What was stated…
16. They are not … world] What was stated in Joh_17:14 as the reason for the world’s hatred is repeated here as the introduction to a new and more definite petition; not merely protection, but sanctification. There is a slight change from the order of the words in Joh_17:14; ‘Of the world they are not, even as I am not of the world.’ In both verses ‘I’ is emphatic.
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 vv16–18 (16) They are not of the world.—These words are…
(16) They are not of the world.—These words are repeated from Joh_17:14. The thought of their being still in the world leads on to their mission in the world, and the prayer passes from the thought of preservation to that of their sanctification for their work. Their fitness for this is prominent in this verse. Already they are not of the world, even as He is not of the world.
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 vv16–18 They are not of the world, even as of…
They are not of the world, even as of the world I am not. This verse simply repeats, with alteration of order, the clause of Ver. 14 as the basis of the next great petition.
Ver. 14 draws the comparison between Christ and the disciples; Ver. 16 lays, by a transposition of words, the greater emphasis on "the world." Alas that this great utterance should so often be utterly ignored! How often in our own days, is other-worldliness and unworldliness derided as a pestilent heresy, and "a man of the world," instinct with its purpose and saturated with its spirit, lauded as the true man and ideal leader of a Christian state!
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 vv16–18 They are not of the world, even as I…
Joh_17:16
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world
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The unworldliness of Christ
This does not mean
1.
That He cared nothing for the world. There are men so utterly selfish, and absorbed with their own concerns that in a sense they may be said to be not of the world. They care nothing for it. But Christ was intensely interested in the men about Him. He went about doing good.
2. That He did not appreciate the natural blessings of the world. There are austere souls who are not of the world in this sense: its innocent amusements they regard with a pietistic horror; they have a superstitious fear of eating and drinking lest they should give their body an advantage over their soul. But Christ came eating and drinking. What is the world? It is
I. PRACTICALLY ATHEISTIC. It is without God. Not theoretically, for the laws of the mind render Atheism as a conviction an impossibility. But practically men have been without God ever since the Fall, His presence is not acknowledged, nor His will consulted, practically, and were it assured to-day that no God existed, its life would remain unaltered. Christ was intensely theistic. The Father filled His own horizon, and was never out of His mind. The moment the soul feels God to be in the world, the world assumes a new form.
II. PRACTICALLY MATERIALISTIC. Men ever since the Fall judge, walk, live after the flesh. Christ was intensely spiritual. Men are carnally minded.
1. Their pleasures are material. What shall we eat, what shall we drink? Christs pleasures were spiritual, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
2. Their honours are material. The highest honour is an earthly crown; the highest victories those of the sword. Christs kingdom was not of this world. He did not war after the flesh; His empire was Spirit; His weapons truth; His legions saints and angels.
III. PRACTICALLY SELFISH. Every man seeks His own. There are as many interests in the world as men; hence the collisions, domestic, social, ecclesiastical, natural. Christ was love, and pleased not Himself. Conclusion: The subject furnishes
1. A test of genuine Christianity. A true Christian is like Christ.
2. A guide to mans grand interest--which is to get out of the moral spirit of the world, which is the Babylon of the soul. Arise ye, and depart, &c. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The unwordliness of a Christian life
This text teaches us
I. THAT CHRIST IS NOT OF THE WORLD.
1. Christ came down from a higher world into this. He was not the product of the age in which He lived. Some say that He was.
(1) Now it is no doubt true that every age has men who are very much like their contemporaries, but endowed with a larger nature and a better gift of utterance, so that they can express better than anybody what everybody thinks and feels. When they speak, you say How clever! Thats just what Ive thought all my life long, but never could express it. The representative men of an age are always popular. People are charmed to hear that which chimes in so well with their own sentiments. Representative men make a great noise in their own time, but the echoes wax feebler and feebler, and at length die out.
(2) Was Christ simply the representative man of His age? What was that age? A period of decay. In Judaea there was no political and very little religious life. The Jews paid tribute to the Romans. The Pharisees had long since degenerated. The Sadducees had sunk into practical scepticism. In place of the open vision of prophecy there were tradition and the authority of doctors. The Messianic ideas were not what we might have expected from such a generation. What the nation really needed was the transfusion of new blood, the breathing of fresh life, what it looked for was a Messiah-king, who would transform it into a great and victorious nation. Was Christ the representative man of that age? There is no theory further from the truth.
(a) Christ was full of fresh life, whilst the age was dead.
(b) Christ was spiritual, whilst the age was formal.
(c) In a time in which the oracles were dumb, Christ spoke forth that which men felt to be the word of God.
(d) In an age of artificiality, He was real.
If Christ had been the creation of His age, He would have perished with it. Christ was crucified by the Jews, because He did not answer their expectation of a political Messiah.
2. If all this is true, we might naturally expect that Christ would be unworldly. Anything which puts a man before his time tends to make him so, because it withdraws him from the influences which are at work around him into a higher sphere. I understand by a worldly man, one who does not seek to raise the standard of his generation, but who conforms to it. The worldly standard differs in different ages. In the last century it was favourable to duelling and drinking. In the present day, it is against all outward breaches of decorum, but it is strongly in favour of the worship of wealth and outward success. The worldly spirit is the utter antipodes of the spirit of Christ. All Christs teaching was unworldly. He praised the very virtues which worldly men do not praise. He did not look upon either things, or men, or women, or cities as the worldly man looks upon them. He did not regard the distinctions of society, but looked below them all.
II. THAT CHRISTS DISCIPLES ARE NOT OF THE WORLD.
1. It has not been always expected that disciples should have the same disposition or lead the same life as their Teacher. It has been enough if they received His system. But no adherence to a system will make us disciples of Christ. If we have not the spirit of Christ, we are none of His. Not that a disciple is perfectly like Christ: he may be very imperfect, as were the first disciples. A disciple is a learner, and you do not expect a learner to be perfect. But in the very act of entering Christs school His disciples turn their backs upon the world and deny themselves its vanities. Hence Christ said, If any man will be My disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me.
2. If you will be Christs disciples
(1) You must have a high standard; you must not be content with that of people around you.
(2) You will love not the artificialities of the world, but that which is simple and natural.
(3) You will not be carried away by the bustle of business or the flutter of gaiety, you will have your thoughts raised to the city of God.
(4) You will not be mere cyphers in the worlds great sum; you will feel always the worth of your own individual soul.
3. The history of the struggle between the Christian life and the spirit of the world may be divided into two periods.
(1) During the first three centuries Christianity had to struggle with the brute force of the world, as embodied in the Roman Empire. Imperialism was not merely a political thing, it was also a religion. The Emperor was worshipped. The Christians never objected to fulfil any duty binding on them as citizens; but they would not worship brute force. And he who admires force more than goodness, who sticks to legal right in preference to moral right, is no true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) The main struggle since then has been with the corruptions of the world. The history of those corruptions may be divided into three periods.
(a) The world corrupted the Church with heathenism. All the true Christian life in the Middle Ages had to struggle up towards the light shining through any loop-holes which there might be in that dense system of superstition.
(b) The world corrupted the Church with her vices. Superstition, in the long run, leads to vice. All the institutions of the Church gradually degenerated till indulgences became a regular source of income to the Pope. It was these indulgences which roused the spirit of Luther, and led to his crusade against the Papacy.
(c) The world has in our day corrupted the Church with her indifference. There never was an age in which there was more organization for doing good, but the life to animate it is wanting.
III. THAT THOUGH THE CHRISTIAN IS TO BE UNWORLDLY, HE IS NOT TO SEPARATE HIMSELF (verse 16). We are not to desire to be taken out of
1. The world of nature. It is a beautiful world. It is full of emblems of that which is spiritual and Divine. Talk about it being a waste howling wilderness, it is our souls which are wildernesses.
2. The world of humanity. Our Lord did not estrange Himself from this world. He ate and drank with publicans and sinners. Is He not our example? While saying this, I do not forget that there is such a virtue as Christian prudence. Some are spiritually strong, others weak. But the Church cannot influence humanity, if she estranges herself from it. We ought not to frown on any pure human joys. We need not pull long faces, or wear a peculiar garb. The true Christian, like his Lord, loves to see the fully developed man in his prime of manhood; the woman with her womanly beauty; the child with its fresh grace and innocent ways.
3. The little world in which we are cast in the order of Gods Providence. It is better for us not to desire to go out of that but rather to shape it after the patterns in the heavens.
IV. THAT WE ARE TO PRAY GOD TO KEEP US FROM THE EVIL IN THE WORLD (verses 16). I have been speaking about the bright side of things, but these words remind us that there is a dark side. There is a dark side both to nature and humanity. There are volcanoes, earthquakes, inundations. There has been perpetual struggle and competition. There are disease and death. Sin has been the great curse of the world--the curse of all our lives. But there is One who came down from a higher world, in order to redeem us from captivity to evil. Through His grace many millions have walked through this worlds miry ways, and have kept their souls unstained. There were great differences of race, age, temperament, belief among them; but there was one thing in which they were all alike--they all had unwordly, simple, childlike hearts. (R. Abercrombie, M. A.)
Worldliness described
Worldliness is the spirit of childhood carried into manhood. The child lives in the present hour: to-day to him is everything. The holiday promised at a distant interval is no holiday at all: it must be either now or never. Natural in the child, and therefore pardonable, this spirit, when carried on into manhood, of course is worldliness. The most distinct illustration given us of this is the case of Esau. Esau came from the hunting-field worn and hungry: the only means of procuring the tempting mess of his brothers pottage was the sacrifice of his fathers blessing, which, in those ages, carried with it a substantial advantage. But that birthright could be enjoyed only after years; the pottage was present, near and certain: therefore he sacrificed a future and higher blessing for a present and lower pleasure. For this reason, Esau is the Bible type of worldliness: he is called in Scripture a profane, that is, not distinctly a vicious, but a secular or worldly person--an overgrown child, impetuous, inconsistent; not without gleams of generosity and kindliness, but over-accustomed to immediate gratification. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Attractions of worldliness
Nearly all can recall that favourite fiction of their childhood, the voyage of Sindbad the sailor into the Indian Sea. They will remember that magnetic rock that rose from the surface of the placid waters. Silently Sindbads vessel was attracted towards it; silently the bolts were drawn out of the ships side, one by one, through the subtle attraction of that magnetic rock. And when the fated vessel drew so near that every bolt and clamp was unloosed, the whole structure of bulwark, mast, and spars tumbled into ruin on the sea, and the sleeping sailors awoke to their drowning agonies. So stands the magnetic rock of worldliness athwart the Christians path. Its attraction is subtle, silent, slow, but fearfully powerful on every soul that floats within its range. Under its enchanting spell bolt after bolt of good resolution, clamp after clamp of Christian obligation, are stealthily drawn out. What matters it how long or how fair has been the mans profession of religion, or how flauntingly the flag of his orthodoxy floats from the masthead? Let sudden temptation smite the unbolted professor, and in an hour he is a wreck. He cannot hold together in a tempest of trial, he cannot go out on any cruise of Christian service, because he is no longer held together by a Divine principle within. It has been drawn out of him by that mighty loadstone of attraction, a sinful, godless, self-pampering, Christ-rejecting world. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
The danger of worldliness
In this verse Christ repeats the argument used in Joh_17:14. This repetition is not idle. The reason may be conceived either with respect to the disciples, for whom He prayed, and so it is to inculcate their duty; or with respect to God, the Person to whom He prayed, and so He urgeth their danger.
I. REPETITIONS OF THE SAME POINT ARE SOMETIMES NECESSARY Php_3:1).
1. They may be tedious to nature
(1) Out of an itch of novelty. Most men love truth while it is new and fresh; there is a satiety that groweth by acquaintedness; the Israelites grew weary of manna, though angels food.
(2) Out of the impatience of guilt; frequency of reproof and admonition is like the rubbing of a sore, grievous to a galled conscience (Joh_21:17).
2. But it is profitable to grace.
(1) To cure weakness.
(a) Our knowledge is little. Narrow-mouthed vessels take in liquor by drops, so do we Divine truths, and therefore you have need to hear the same things often, that your understandings may grow familiar with them Isa_28:10).
(b) Our attention is small. We do consider it when we understand it. Study findeth out a truth, meditation improveth it.
(c) Our memories are weak. A man needeth no remembrancer to put him in mind of worldly gain, and to revenge injuries; but as to good things, our memories are as a bag with holes, or as a grate that retaineth the mud, and lets the running water go (Heb_2:1).
(d) Our wills are slow and averse (2Pe_1:12-13; 1Jn_2:21).
(2) To help duties.
(a) Meditation. The mind works freely upon such objects to which it is accustomed; in things rare and seldom heard of there is more need of study than meditation, to search them out.
(b) Application. We hear to do and practise, not only to know. We do not hear to store the head with notions, but that the life and heart might be bettered.
II. THE REASONS OF THIS REPETITION.
1. As regards their constitution and temper of mind. Christ repeats it again; and so learn that we need to be cautioned often and often against the world.
(1) Because of our proneness to it. The love of the world is natural to us.
(a) It is a part of original sin. It is hard for any to say they are not tempted to covetousness; it is their nature.
(b) We are daily conversant about the things of the world; our affections receive taint from the objects with which we usually converse.
(c) It is of a present enjoyment; we have the world in hand and heaven in hope, and think heaven a fancy and the world substance.
(d) It is a sin applauded by men (Psa_10:3).
(e) It is a cloaked sin. It is hard to discover it and find it out, there are so many evasions of necessity and provision. It is a great part of religion to keep ourselves unspotted from the world (Jam_1:27).
(2) Because of the heinousness and danger of it. It is called
(a) Adultery (Jam_4:4).
(b) Idolatry (Col_3:5; Eph_5:5).
(c) Enmity with God (Jam_4:4).
(3) Because of the unsuitableness of it to the Divine nature.
(a) To the new nature (1Jn_5:4).
(b) To our hopes. God has provided heaven to draw us off from the world.
(c) To the aim of Christ (Heb_11:16).
(4) Let us then beware the more of worldliness.
(a) Consider our condition--strangers and pilgrims.
(b) We are called to better things (1Th_2:11-12). It is not for princes to embrace the dunghill.
(c) Take the Apostles argument (1Ti_6:7). A mans wealth does not follow him, but his works do. In our birth we are contented with a little cradle, at death with a little grave.
(d) Consider how hard it is to have Christ and heaven and the world Mat_16:26).
(e) Thou art as thy love is. If thou lovest this world thou art worldly; if thou lovest God thou art godly. Take a glass, put it to,yards heaven, there you shall see the figure of heaven; put it towards the earth, and you see the figure of the earth, trees, meadows, fruits: thou receivest a figure from the objects to which thou appliest thy heart, earthly things or heavenly.
(5) But you will say, Is it a fault to enjoy the world? No; but to have a worldly spirit. Be not of a worldly spirit
(a) When thou wantest the world. Be not over-careful; use the means God hath ordained, trust God with the issue and event of all (Luk_12:22).
(b) When thou hast the world. A godly man may be a rich man; but do not trust in riches, &c., for they are vain; nor delight in them, for they are snares; nor be proud of them, they do not make us better; we do not value a horse by the trappings, but by his spirit and courage.
(c) Be not over-sorrowful when thou losest them.
2. As regards the outward condition of the disciples: They are not of the world, i.e., not respected by it, left out of the worlds tale and count.
(1) It is a hard thing to digest the worlds neglect and disrespect. We had need be urged again and again; because every one would be somebody in the world.
(a) Let them alone; look after better things (Psa_17:14).
(b) Remember by whose providence it falleth out. Many times God raises bad men to high places, not because they deserve it, but because the age deserves no better.
(c) If you are favoured by God, why should you trouble yourselves about the worlds respects? Thou hast the testimony of Gods Spirit, and many now in hell have had much of the worlds respects. Their disrespect cannot hurt thee; It may profit thee.
(2) An excellent means to digest the worlds neglect is to consider the example of Christ.
(a) It is our duty. In His example we have a taste of His Spirit: I am not of the world, saith Christ; and we should imitate Christ as dear children Eph_5:1).
3. It will be your comfort. It is a sweet comfort in all conditions to remember the similitude of condition between Christ and us (Col_1:24).
4. It will be for our profit. First suffer, then enter into glory; winter is before the spring (Rom_8:17). (T. Manton, D. D.)
Danger of absorption in worldly things
I once saw a picture of an artist sitting on a rock in the ocean, which had been left bare by the retreating tide. There he sat, sketching on his canvas the beautiful scenery around him, sky and wave and sea, all unconscious that the tide had turned, had cut him off from the shore, and was rapidly covering the rock on which he sat. The tempest, the waves, the rising sea were forgotten, so absorbed was he in his picture; nor did he hear his friends calling to him from the shore. (W. Baxendale.)
Distinguishing character of Christians
I. NEGATIVELY. The text does not imply
1. That they have no connection with the men of the world. Grace does not dissolve the union between man and man.
(1) The righteous and the wicked may be nearly allied, as Abel and Cain, and the young Abijah to the wicked Jeroboam.
(2) Much business may also be lawfully and even necessarily transacted between men of widely different characters (1Co_5:10).
2. That they are to be wholly disengaged from the things of the world. They have their farms and their merchandise as well as others, and it is not requisite that under a pretence of religion they should sequester themselves from all secular concerns. They may be as much in their duty while in their worldly callings as in the closet. An idle Christian is no good character: for if we do not find ourselves some employment, Satan will. Not slothful in business (1Co_7:24; Act_20:34).
3. That even the best of men are entirely divested of a worldly spirit, though they are not of the world. Those whose affections are set on things above, and whose conversation is in heaven, have frequent occasion to say, My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken Thou me accordingly to Thy word. After the fullest conviction of the emptiness and vanity of creatures, we shall still find our hearts strongly attracted by them.
II. POSITIVELY.
1. They are in a considerable degree mortified to the things of this life, so as not to have the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. They are in the world, but not of it: it is their residence, but not their portion. Real Christians are neither terrified by the frowns nor allured by the smiles of the world. The possession of the good things of this life does not excite immoderate joy, nor the want of them occasion inordinate grief. The world, notwithstanding all his endeavours to drive it out, may occupy some corner of the Christians heart, but the uppermost room and principal seat are reserved for his Lord and Master. His motto is, In one Jesus I have all.
2. They possess different tempers and dispositions from the men of the world. Old things are passed away, and all things become new. The bias of the soul receives another direction: it has a new taste, new appetites, and new enjoyments. Their treasure being in heaven, their hearts are there also. They walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The spirit of the world is hateful, sensual, discontented, overwhelming men with ignorance, guilt and misery; but the spirit which is of God is humble, teachable, contrite, benevolent and submissive, active in doing good, and patient in suffering.
3. They speak a different language from the rest of the world. It may be said to the Christian as it was said to Peter, Thy speech betrayeth thee. And so it may be said of the opposite character: He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. The world is placed in their heart, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But Gods promise to His people is, that He will turn to them a pure language, so that they shall speak the truth without hypocrisy, address Him without formality, and talk of Divine things with holy freedom. Flattery will be as much avoided by them as detraction, and equivocation as a known lie. Their common discourse will be seasoned with salt, ministering grace unto the hearers; and they will be ready to give to every one a reason of the hope that is in them, with meekness and fear. The talk of a carnal man will be about the world through which he is passing; that of a good man about the world to which he is going.
4. They are neither influenced by the maxims of the world, nor do they imitate its customs. The real Christian is the worlds nonconformist; not in an affected singularity of speech or dress, in the shape of his coat or form of his hat, but in the whole tenor of his life and conversation.
5. They do not take up their rest in this world. They are born from heaven, and are bound to heaven. Their language is, Arise, let us depart hence: this is not our rest, because it is polluted.
III. TO ILLUSTRATE THIS CHARACTER, CHRIST HAS GIVEN US HIS OWN 1Jn_4:17). Conclusion: From this view of the subject we may learn
1. What judgment we are to form of those about us.
2. What is duty with respect to ourselves. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The character of Christs people
We shall take our text and look at it.
I. DOCTRINALLY. It is not so much that they are not of the world, as that they are not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world. This is an important distinction, for there are people who are not of the world, and yet they are not Christians. Amongst these I would mention sentimentalists. Their spirits are so refined, that they cannot attend to ordinary business. They live in the air of romance; would like continually to live in a cottage near a wood, or to inhabit some quiet cave, where they could read Zimmerman on Solitude for ever. I heard of one young lady, who thought herself so spiritually-minded that she could not work. A wise minister said to her, That is quite amusing! very well, you are so spiritually-minded that you shall not eat unless you do. These people are not of the world, truly; but the world does not want them, and the world would not miss them much, if they were gone. There are others, too, so like monks, who are not of the world. They are so awfully good, that they cannot live with us sinful creatures; or if they condescend to do so, they must be distinguished from us in many ways. They could not be expected to wear worldly coats and waistcoats. They must wear nondescript dresses, that none may confound them with ordinary men. We have also in our Protestant Churches certain men who think themselves so eminently sanctified that it would be wrong to indulge in anything like sensible pronunciation. Such persons are, however, reminded, that it is not being not of the world, so much as being not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world.
1. Christ was not of the world in nature.
(1) In one point of view His nature was Divine; and as Divine, it was perfect and spotless, and therefore He could not descend to things of earthliness. In another sense He was human; and His human nature was begotten of the Holy Ghost, and therefore was so pure that in it rested nothing that was worldly. We are are all born with worldliness in our hearts. But Christ was not so. His nature was essentially different from that of every one else, although He sat down and talked with men. He stood side by side with a Pharisee; but every one could see He was not of his world. He sat by a Samaritan woman, but who fails to see that He was not of her world? He ate with Publicans and sinners; but you could see that He was not of their world. Nay, not even John, though he partook very much of his Lords spirit, was exactly of Christs world: for even he said, Let us call down fire from heaven, &c.
(2) In some sense, the Christian is not of the world in nature. Many persons think that the difference between a Christian and a worldling is, that one goes to chapel another does not; one of them takes the sacrament, the other does not, &c. But, that does not make a Christian. The distinction is internal. A Christian is a twice-born man; in his veins runs the blood of the royal family of the universe.
2. In office
(1) Christs office had nothing to do with worldly things. To Him it might be said, Art Thou a king, then? Yes, but My kingdom is not of this world. Art Thou a priest? Yes; but My priesthood is not one which shall be discontinued, as that of others has been. Art Thou a teacher? Yes; but My doctrine cometh down from heaven. He had no aim which was in the least carnal. He did not seek applause, His own fame, His own honour.
(2) Believer! what is thy office? Thou art a king and priest unto God, &c. Whether yours be the office of minister, or deacon, or church member, ye are not of this world.
3. In character. Look at Jesus character; how different from every other mans--pure, perfect, spotless, even such should be the life of the believer.
II. EXPERIMENTALLY. Every Christian will feel that he is not of the world.
1. When he gets into very deep trouble. You have had at times deep sorrows. Did you break under them? If you did, methinks you are no Christian; but if there was a rising up, it was a testing moment, and it proved that you were not of the world, because you could master affliction.
2. When he is prosperous. Some of Gods people have been more tried by prosperity than by adversity. Do you feel that these comforts are nothing but the leaves of the tree, and not the fruit, and that you can not live upon mere leaves? Or do you say, Now, soul, take thine ease, &c.
3. When he is in solitude and in company.
III. PRACTICALLY.
1. Thou who art of the world, whose maxims, habits, feelings, are worldly, listen to this. It is Gods solemn truth. Thou art none of His. With all your profession thou art in the gall of bitterness.
2. You who are children of God. Have we not often been too much like the world? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Unworldliness
In the 14 th verse this separation of the disciples from the world is assigned as the reason of the worlds hatred to them; and here it is made the reason for special intercession on their behalf. There can be no difficulty in understanding what is meant by the world, though the phrase is used with considerable latitude of signification in the Scriptures. But here the meaning is unquestionably moral and spiritual, and the expression marks off all other than godly people. Now, it is of considerable importance that we should know how we are to understand this statement what precisely is its significance.
I. NEGATIVELY.
1. Well-meaning, though certainly not over-wise, people there are, who seem to think their godliness calls for harsh views and depreciating language concerning the earth on which God has placed us. It is the proper thing with them, and evidences their other-worldliness, to regard this world as a place which by its wretchedness serves chiefly as a foil to the better land above. It is a sort of dark background, bringing the other world into relief. It is to them a desert, a vale of tears, a waste, howling wilderness. Such a state of mind, where it is not the result of ignorance, tells at once of unhealthiness and perversion. Such people appear to forget that it is Gods world of which they thus speak, made by Him to be the fitting abode of men.
2. Nor must we look for this unworldliness in a lack of interest in the worlds affairs--in its government, for instance. If politics have reproach attached to them, no little Of the blame lies at the door of those who could have done better, but have culpably stood aloof and allowed so vast a power and so solemn a trust to fall into unscrupulous hands. No man can deal thus with divlnely-entrusted responsibilities and be blameless. The proper government of our country, the just settlement of national and international questions, profoundly concerns us all, and each has a responsibility here of which he cannot divest himself.
3. Neither, again, must we look for this unworldliness along the line of abstention from all the social pleasures and amenities of life. For that means a strained and unnatural kind of piety, and there was nothing forced about the life of Jesus, who is our Exemplar here as elsewhere. He was no ascetic. We must seek elsewhere than in such particulars for the lines of demarcation. Where are those lines, then?
II. POSITIVELY.
1. Christians form, and were by our Lord intended to form, a community distinct and separate from the world. All through the Scriptures this idea of separatedness runs. The Jews were in the most literal and extreme sense a people set apart. By geographical limits, by mode of government, by peculiarity of laws and customs, as well as by religion, they were marked off from all other nations. Christians are in the truest and highest sense a separated people. Jesus set up His Church in the world with the intention that all who avowed themselves His disciples should form part of an organized community. This is the body of which He is the Head; the household of which He is the Master.
2. But especially are we to look for this unworldliness of Christians in their spirit and in their principles of action. This is the great dividing line. The spirit of the world is distinctly and essentially irreligious; there is no right apprehension or estimate of spiritual things; godless maxims, and fashions, and laws rule--that is the nature of a worldly spirit. The Spirit of Christ is just the opposite. And it is along the line of spirituality of character and conduct that our unworldliness as disciples of Jesus is to be manifested. But now, lest the practical significance of this should be overlooked, note a few details in which this spirit will show itself.
(1) In our associations and friendships. Like is drawn to like. The voluntary companionship follows the personal preference. This people shall be My people follows upon their God shall be my God. Let young disciples beware how they affect worldly society, and ever seek their friendships among those who love God. This for two reasons:
(a) For their own safety;
(b) as a visible declaration of the side on which they are.
(2) Our recreations. There are amusements which, by association, by inevitable tendency, and by common consent, are worldly. They lie, by general admission, within territory forbidden to Christians; and in such cases, all the special pleading in the world about their being innocent in themselves can have no weight with those who would act worthily and wisely. Remember, we cannot afford, as disciples of Jesus, to see how near the line we can go without overstepping it.
3. Our Home and Business-Life. In the former, in such matters as
(1) the education of our children; the character of the schools and teachers we select for them;
(2) the choice of their calling in life;
(3) their marriage; many parents have sown the wind here and reaped the whirlwind. In the business-life our unworldliness will be seen in the high principles that govern us. Gain will not be our only or chief consideration. We shall show that we can afford to be poor, but cannot afford to have a stained conscience.
CONCLUSION.
1. If such be our character, let us not be surprised if we are misunderstood by the world. It was so with Jesus.
2. Expect to be hindered by the world in your religious life. It has no sympathy with your views, and oft deems your piety fanaticism, and your religious scruples a nuisance.
3. Do not be afraid of a needful singularity. Avoid needless difference, but have the courage of your convictions.
4. Guard against the subtle encroachments of a worldly spirit. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
5. Walk prudently to them that are without. Take ears less by a worldly conduct you give the lie to an unworlldy profession.
6. Do not forget we have a mission to the world. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world.
7. Keep your final home in view. Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour. (R. M. Spoor.)
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 v17 17, 18. Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word…
17, 18. Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. To sanctify is to render holy, or to consecrate. Those sanctified are saints. The means of canonization is not a Pope, but the truth; and, lest some should mistake, Christ adds, “Thy word is truth.” He prays for their consecration by the power of the word in their hearts. Every disciple should be thus consecrated, but the means is not a miraculous work of grace, but the reception of God's word into our hearts and the complete surrender to his will spoken in his word.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v17 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.
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 kosmos = world-system. Joh 18:36; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield…
world
kosmos = world-system. Joh 18:36; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield "Rev 13:8").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v18 into the world
into the world
Here into "the world" is a metonym that means to the people who live in the world. AT: "to the people of the world" (See: Metonymy)
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so that they themselves may also be set apart in truth
You can translate this in an active form. AT: "so that they may also set apart themselves truly to you" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
send
world
set apart
true
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 v16 17:16-18 Being holy refers to purity gained by separation…
17:16-18 Being holy refers to purity gained by separation from the world, and living a life so aligned with God that it reflects his passions. Disciples are set apart by God, equipped by the Spirit, and readied by God’s word to enter the world without being victimized by its darkness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.