Ch. 17:1-26. CHRIST’S INTERCESSORY PRAYER.--HIS PRAYER OF PREPARATION
FOR THE PASSION.--HIS PRAYER OF INTERCESSION FOR HIS CHURCH.--HIS
MISSION AND ITS FULFILLMENT.--THE MISSION OF HIS FOLLOWERS.--HIS
FOURFOLD PETITION FOR THEM: PRESERVATION; CONSECRATION; SANCTIFICATION;
GLORIFICATION. See on ver. 24.
PRELIMINARY NOTE.--We rightly hesitate to analyze or criticise any
prayer; the language of devotion is too sacred. How much more when the
prayer is the intimate communing of the only begotten Son with his
Father, a prayer which no soul can ever comprehend, and none can
therefore ever interpret. Nevertheless, it would not have been
recorded if it had not been intended for our profit; and it can only
be for our profit as it is made the theme of our reverent study. In
this exposition of it I avoid as far as possible verbal and textual
criticism, giving results rather than discussions. These the student
can find in other commentaries, especially Tholuck and Meyer. For the
same reason I eschew theological polemics. Socinian, Arian, and
Trinitarian have fought over the words and phrases of this sacred
prayer, each, and perhaps the one not more than the other, evolving
from it arguments for his philosophy of the character of Christ, and
of life here and hereafter. Into such conflicts I have no heart to
enter. The student will find them indicated, and even illustrated, in
Alford. I have sought by meditation to enter into the spirit of
this, the most sacred utterance of our Lord, and I seek with
simplicity to aid others in meditating upon it; if through such
meditation the spirit of the believer is brought into unity with the
Spirit of his Lord, it is enough. The prayer is not didactic;
certainly not dogmatic. The office of public prayer--and by giving to
his church a record of this prayer our Lord has made it public--is not
to teach a system of theology, but to deepen the springs of spiritual
life, by leading the sympathetic soul into the presence of God. This
prayer has a twofold aspect. It is a revelation of the communings of
the only begotten Son with the Father; it thus presents to the church
Christ as the Son and Intercessor, pleading for his church, and shows
us what are his most secret and sacred desires for us. These are four:
election out of the world and preservation from its evil;
sanctification and consecration unto and in the truth; the perfect
unity of love, in God and with one another; and spiritual appreciation
of and participation in the glory of the Father and the Son in the
eternal life. But since we are all brought through Christ into the
adoption of the sons of God, this prayer is also an example and
inspiration for us. It is, in a sense, Christ’s second and fuller
answer to the request of his church universal, “Lord, teach us how to
pray.” The Lord’s prayer is given at the outset of our Lord’s ministry
to those who are just learning the Fatherhood of God. This prayer of
intercession is given at the close of our Lord’s ministry, to those
that had learned from him both what were their own wants and what
their heavenly Father’s grace had provided for them. The former is the
model for the universal church, young and old in Christian experience;
the latter is an inspiration to those who, through the teachings of
their Lord, have come into fellowship with God and his Son Jesus
Christ. It is not without significance that it follows close upon the
teaching that Christ is the vine and we are the branches, that we see
the Father in seeing the Son, that after Christ is gone and is seen no
more, he will yet be really present and spiritually perceived, and
that we are to ask in his name of the Father, who has himself loved
us. It is thus the Holy of Holies to which the preceding instructions
have been as outer courts conducting us. The key to its true
interpretation I believe will be found in two facts: (1) that it
immediately precedes and is a spiritual preparation for the impending
Passion, which in a measure the disciples shared with their Master;
and (2) the only glory which the N. T. recognizes is a glory of
_character_, not of circumstance or condition. Thus Christ’s prayer
here is that he may be sustained by divine grace in the hour of trial,
so that the character of the Father may be manifested by him in his
patient fidelity to the end, and that, through his example and his
Father’s influence, his disciples may be made like the Father and like
the Son in the glory of their love. See further on ver. 1.
There is some question whether we have the exact words of the Lord or
no. Alford goes beyond the declaration or even clear implication of
the sacred narrative, in saying, in opposition to Olshausen and the
German commentators generally, that we have here “the very words of
our Lord himself, faithfully rendered by the beloved apostle, in the
power of the Holy Spirit.” We can only say that the Lord has just
promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit will bring all things to
their remembrance which he has said to them (ch. 14:26); that on no
heart would these sacred words be more deeply impressed than on that
of the apostle who was leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the supper; that we
cannot conceive any utterance in the rendering of which that promised
inspiration would be more likely to be sought by John and vouchsafed
by the Lord; and that if we cannot be sure that we have the very words
of our Lord, we can be sure that no modern commentator has the right
to sift out the prayer and tell us what were Christ’s words and what
were the Evangelist’s. That the Holy Spirit did not consider the very
words essential to our profit is evident from the fact that, while the
prayer was almost certainly in Hebrew, John’s record is in Greek, and
our version of it is in English; but that we have in these words the
very spirit of the prayer, expressed as the Holy Spirit would have it
expressed for the guidance and inspiration of the church universal, is
as certain as the doctrine of inspiration itself.
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to
heaven, and said, Father, the hour[630] is come; glorify
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
[630] ch. 12:23; 13:32.
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he[631]
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
[631] verse 24; ch. 5:27.
3 And this[632] is life eternal, that they might know
thee[633] the only[634] true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou[635] hast sent.
[632] 1 John 5:11.
[633] Jer. 9:23, 24.
[634] 1 Thess. 1:9.
[635] ch 10:36.
=1-3. And lifted up his eyes to heaven.= See ch. 11:41, note. This is
not an indication that he and his disciples had gone out from the
chamber and were now in the environs of the city, though Godet even
undertakes to fix the exact location: “Jesus had spoken the preceding
words on the road from Jerusalem to Gethsemane; he was therefore on
the point of passing the brook of Kedron.” In fact, these words
indicate nothing as to locality. “The eyes may be lifted to heaven in
as well as out of doors; _heaven_ is not the _sky_, but the upper
region, above our own being and thoughts, where we all agree in
believing God to be especially present, and which we indicate when we
direct our eyes or our hands upward. The Lord, being in all such
things like as we are, lifted up his eyes to heaven when addressing
the Father.”--(_Alford._)--=And said, Father.= Not _our_ Father, for
Christ never identifies himself with his disciples; nor _my_ Father,
for that would too strongly emphasize the separation between him and
them; without identifying himself with his disciples, he yet uses
language on which their spirits too can ascend towards God.--=The hour
is come.= The hour of the Passion, to which all prophecy had pointed,
for which all the O. T. dispensation had prepared, and from which all
redemptive influences proceed. Comp. Matt. 26:45; Mark 14:41; John
7:30; 8:20, etc.--=Manifest thine own Son in his glory, that thy Son
also may manifest thee in thy glory.= The changed position of the
words, in the two clauses, in the original (σοι τὸν υἱὸν in the first
clause, υἱὸς σοι in the second), justifies the rendering _thine own
Son_. _To glorify_ (δοξάζω) in N. T. usage nearly if not quite always
signifies to _manifest_ glory. The authorities which Robinson (_Lex._,
δοξάζω) cites in justification of the definition to _make glorious_
are at best of doubtful interpretation. The glory of Christ is his
self-sacrificing love. The noblest manifestation of this glory is his
patient and peaceful endurance of the Passion. In the cross of Christ
alone would Paul glory (Gal. 6:14); it is the Lamb slain that is the
glory of heaven (Rev. 5:6). Christ here prays that the Father will so
enable him to endure the cross that it may become glorious, and so a
manifestation of the Father’s glory; it is Jesus Christ “lifted up”
who draws all men unto him, and this in order that through him they
may be drawn to the Father. He prays that every knee may bow and every
tongue confess him Lord, but only to the glory of God the Father
(Phil. 2:11). Throughout this prayer the thought is always the same;
glory is of character, not condition; the glory of a divine love
manifested in self-sacrifice; making the Son worthy to receive the
peculiar love of the Father; making all that, through Christ, become
partakers of the same divine nature, participators also in the same
divine love, sons of God, and therefore one with the Father and with
his Son.--=Inasmuch as thou hast given him power over all flesh, in
order that= (for the very purpose that) =unto the all which thou hast
given to him, to them he should give eternal life=. Maurice’s
criticism on our English version is just: “Our translators would have
appeared to themselves and to many of their readers to be using an
uncouth and strange form of speech, if they had rendered the words
literally. But I think they were bound to encounter any apparent
difficulty of construction, rather than to incur the risk of
contracting or perverting the sense.” Christ has authority (the
original implies both _power_ and _authority_; see ch. 1:12, note) not
merely over all mankind, but over all terrestrial life and the earth
itself, the abode of flesh and the realm of his redemptive work (Col.
1:14-18); but this authority and power is conferred upon him by the
Father (ch. 5:19, 30) for a purpose, namely, that out of the world he
may gather a kingdom, receiving the entire body which God has given to
him, and conferring on each individually, in that body, eternal life.
Thus here, as in ch. 6:37 (see note there), Christ speaks of the _all_
(πᾶν, neuter singular) as given to him in a body by the Father, but of
_each one_ as receiving individually (αὐτοῖς) the special, personal
gift of eternal life. Observe on the one hand that Christ declares
himself, by implication, Lord of all, not of Jews, or elect, or
Christendom merely; but on the other hand he also declares, by
implication, that not all will receive from him the gift of life
eternal. There is implied a redemption universal in its offer, but not
in its results. The _whole_ is given to him, but only that he may
impart eternal life to the _chosen_. Who are thus chosen is indicated
in ch. 6:40, namely, every one that seeth (spiritually) the Son and
hath faith in him. Because the Father has thus conferred divine
authority on the Son, for the work of redemption, the Son pleads with
the Father to so carry him through the Passion hour that this
redemptive work may be consummated and eternal life imparted to the
believer. Beware of reading _eternal_ life here as equivalent to
_everlasting_ life or _age-abiding_ life. The duration is merely
incidental; spiritual life _is_ everlasting; but that which is
essential is its spirituality, not its endurance. The nature of this
life is indicated in the next sentence.--=But this is eternal life,
that they may know thee the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent
forth, Jesus the Messiah.= _That_ (ἵνα) cannot here be rendered _in
order that_, and curiously both Alford and Meyer, who insist that it
is always _telic_, _i. e._, always signifies intention, here render it
without that signification. “This knowledge of God here desired _is_
the eternal life” (_Meyer_); “_is_, not is the way to” (_Alford_).
Spiritual knowledge and spiritual life are in so far the same that
neither is possible without the other. We become like God only as we
know him (2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:2); we know him only as, becoming like
him, we become sharers of his life (Matt. 5:8; John 3:3; Heb. 12:14; 2
Pet. 1:5-9). For this knowledge (γιγνώσκω) is not intellectual
understanding of the truth about God, but a personal and spiritual
acquaintance with him; it is not psychological, but sympathetic. See
Jer. 9:24; Ephes. 3:19; Phil. 3:10; comp. 1 Cor. 8:2. The connecting
particles are important. Christ prays that the Father will glorify him
in the approaching Passion, in order that he may be able to give
eternal life to those whom the Father has given to him, for this life
can be given only by giving them a true apprehension of the one God,
and he can be made known to them only through him whom he hath sent
into the world, Jesus the Messiah. The knowledge of the only true God
is in contrast with polytheistic paganism; knowledge of Jesus as the
Messiah is in contrast with Jewish pride and prejudice. The first was
the burden of Paul’s preaching at Athens; the second of Peter’s
preaching at Jerusalem (Acts 2:22-36; 17:22-34). The use of the third
person here, and the phrase Jesus Christ, often found together in the
Epistles, but never in Christ’s previous discourses, have been cited
by rationalistic critics as an evidence that this prayer was the work
of a later writer, who with doubtful dramatic license put it into the
mouth of Christ. The answer is (1) that the time had now come for
Jesus to declare in unmistakable language his Messiahship, and that no
more natural or suitable form could be employed than that of such a
prayer; (2) that the very fact that the names appear so frequently in
conjunction in the Apostolic writings, and in the early church, is
itself a reason for believing that the apostles derived them from
their Master.
4 I[636] have glorified thee on the earth: I[637] have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
[636] ch. 14:13.
[637] ch. 19:30; 2 Tim. 4:7.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me, with thine own self,
with the glory which I[638] had with thee before the world
was.
[638] ch. 1:1, 2; Phil. 2:6; Heb. 1:3, 10.
=4, 5. I have manifested thy glory on the earth: I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do.= By anticipation Christ regards that
as consummated, the consummation of which is so near at hand. In fact,
not the least part of his work was the endurance of the Passion of the
next twenty-four hours. Comp. Paul in 2 Tim. 4:7, “I have finished my
course,” etc.--=And now glorify thou me, O Father, with thyself, with
that glory which I have always had with thee before the world was.=
That is, _Manifest my glory in and with thee, that glory which I have
always possessed_. The word _glorify_ is used throughout this prayer,
I believe, always with the one signification, viz., to show forth
glory, not to confer it (see on ver. 1), and that the glory of
inherent character, not of circumstance or condition. _I have had_
(εἶχον, imperfect) is, as above rendered, equivalent to _always_ or
_habitually had_. The language _before the world was_ clearly implies
Christ’s pre-existence with the Father from the creation of the world.
It is not, and by no candid interpretation can be made, the language
of a merely human experience. God is said to have chosen his saints
(Ephes. 1:4), but not to have loved and glorified them, from before
the beginning of the world; but Christ’s grace was prepared and his
glory was manifested before the foundation of the world (Col. 1:17; 2
Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). Christ declares that he has manifested the glory
of the Father by the fulfilling of the Father’s work thus far; and he
prays the Father to remember the glory of love which bound the Son and
the Father together in the eternal life of the past, and to so sustain
him in the trying experiences of the present, that this divine glory,
which he has had with the Father from before the beginning of the
world, may be made manifest.
6 I[639] have manifested thy name unto the men which
thou[640] gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and
thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy[641] word.
[639] verse 26; Ps. 22:22.
[640] verses 2, 9, 11; Rom. 8:30.
[641] Heb. 3:6.
=6.= Christ here passes from the prayer for himself to the
intercessory prayer for his disciples, with whom, by the request in
ver. 20, he includes all who have faith in him, through all time.--=I
have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou entrusted to me out of
the world. Thine they were, and thou entrusted them to me; and they
have guarded thy teaching.= To _manifest_ is literally to cause to
shine (φανερόω, from φαίνω). The name that was enveloped in darkness,
of him whom no one by searching can find out, who was, and apart from
Christ ever is, the unknown and unknowable, Christ has made to shine
forth out of the darkness. The _name_ represents all that which lies
back of and gives meaning to the name, here the power and character of
God. See Matt. 28:19, note. Especially his name of Father Christ has
made to shine out upon a before orphaned world, both by manifesting in
himself the character of God the Father, and by his life, and notably
by this prayer, manifesting also the relation which may and should
subsist between the children and the Father to whom Christ gives
access (Rom. 5:2; Ephes. 2:18; 3:12). The verb rendered _gave_, here
and below (δίδωμι), is equally capable of being rendered _entrusted_
or _committed_ (_Rob. Lex._). This is clearly its meaning in Matt.
16:19; 25:15; John 5:22; and I think represents the meaning here and
in John 10:29 better than the word _gave_. The Father entrusts his
children to the guardian keeping of his Son, but will at the end
receive them again unto himself when the Son delivers up the kingdom
to God, even the Father (1 Cor. 15:24). They were the Father’s
(_thine_) before they were entrusted to the Son, not because they were
Israelites; for Christ includes all, Gentiles as well as Jews, in this
prayer, and elsewhere makes it clear that he does not regard any one
as of God because descended from Abraham (ch. 8:37, 39, 40; comp. Luke
3:8); nor because they were chosen by God from the foundation of the
world; for there is no distinct declaration nor any necessary
implication of election, either absolute or conditional, here. The
disciple of Christ is the Father’s, because he is born from above, by
the Spirit of God, before he can see the kingdom of God, certainly
therefore before by faith he can enter it. Thus he is of the Father
before he hears Christ’s voice; he is given by the Father to the Son
before he comes to the Son (John 3:5; 6:37, 44; 8:47). _Teaching_ or
_word_ (λόγος), a different Greek word from that rendered _words_ in
ver. 8, indicates the whole system of divine truth entrusted by the
Father to Christ and by him taught to his disciples, and pre-eminently
that truth of God which was embodied in the Son’s life and death even
more than in his verbal instructions (ch. 7:16; 12:48, 49). It is
called the Father’s _word_ or _teaching_ because the words of Christ
were not his, but the Father’s (ch. 14:24). To _keep_ (τηρέω) is to
guard watchfully, as one guards a prisoner; it therefore includes the
idea both of watchful attention to the word and solicitude to preserve
it by obedience in the life and heart (ch. 8:51, note). Christ then
declares that he has made luminous the name of God, by interpreting
the divine Fatherhood, not to the whole world, but to those selected
out of the world and entrusted to his guardian keeping; and that those
thus entrusted to him by the Father, to whom they owe the first
impulse of divine life that sent them to Christ for light, have been
attentive to hear and careful to preserve the instructions they have
received from him. In the succeeding two verses he indicates what was
the heart of this divine instruction.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast
given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words[642] which thou
gavest me; and they have received _them_, and have known
surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send me.
[642] ch. 6:68; 14:10.
=7, 8. Now.= _Already_; the word is emphatic.--=They know.= _Assuredly
know_; the perfect tense has the present signification, but
indicates completed knowledge; not that the disciples were perfect in
knowledge of Christian truth, but they were fully convinced of the
fundamental truth of Christianity, viz., that it is a divine
revelation, not an earth-born and human philosophy.--=That all things
whatsoever thou hast entrusted to me are bestowed by thee.= _Are of
thee_ (παρὰ σοῦ ἐστεν) signifies _bestowed by thee_; the former is the
more literal, the latter is the truer translation, because it renders
the Greek idiom into its English equivalent (see _Rob. Lex._, παρά,
I:2). Christianity is a _gift_ of the Father through Christ.--=That
the words which thou hast entrusted to me I have entrusted to them.=
This clause, like the preceding one, is dependent on the first clause;
the disciples have assuredly known that whatsoever truths are
possessed by Christ came from the Father, and that whatsoever the
Father has entrusted to him he has in turn entrusted to them, keeping
nothing back for fear or favor. Comp. Acts 20:20, 27. I see no reason
for translating the same Greek particle (ὅτι) _that_ in ver. 7, _for_
or _because_ in ver. 8, first clause, and _that_ again in the last
clause of the same verse. Christ before spoke of _doctrine_ or
_teaching_ (λόγος), _i. e._, the system as a whole; he now speaks of
_words_ (ῥήμα), thus emphasizing the truth that each specific word in
his teaching, whether of promise, commandment, or instruction, is from
the Father. These words were entrusted by the Father to Christ, and
now that Christ is about to leave his disciples he entrusts these
words in turn to them, sending them forth, as he himself was sent
forth, to teach only what they are commanded. See ver. 18; Matt.
28:20. He does not merely give these words to us for our own behoof;
he entrusts them to us to be used for others.--=And they have
received= (not _them_, an addition by the translators which the
context does not warrant), =and known assuredly that from thee I came
forth=. They have just declared their reception of this central truth
of Christianity, that Jesus Christ came forth from the Father (ch.
16:29, 30). They not only have known that Christ has taught only what
the Father imparted to him, _i. e._, is a teacher sent from God (ch.
3:2, note), but they have gone on from this _knowledge_ to the
spiritual reception _by faith_ of the truth that Christ himself has
come forth from the Father. Their faith has laid hold on not only his
divine teaching, but also his divine character. Whosoever begins by
accepting Christ as a divine and authoritative teacher, and holds fast
to that faith, grows into the experience of continuous acceptance of
him in his person and character as a manifestation of the Father from
whom not only the words, but he himself, came forth.--=And have had
faith that thou didst send me.= “_That I came out from thee_ is more a
matter of conviction from inference, hence _they have known_; whereas
the other side of the same truth, _thou hast sent me forth_, the act
of the Father unseen by us, is more a matter of pure faith, hence
_they have had faith_.”--(_Alford._)
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world,[643] but for
them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
[643] 1 John 5:19.
10 And all mine[644] are thine, and thine are mine; and
I[645] am glorified in them.
[644] ch. 16:15.
[645] Gal. 1:24; 1 Pet. 2:9.
=9, 10. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world.= It is
monstrous exegesis to conclude from this that Christ never prays for
the world; he simply says, I am not now praying for the world, but for
my own disciples. He enjoined on his followers to pray for the
unbelieving (Matt. 5:44); he prayed upon the cross for them, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34); in this
very prayer, in ver. 23, he prays “That the world may know that thou
hast sent me,” etc. The tense here is present, and the above
translation accurately represents the original. In asking for those
who have accepted him as a manifestation of the glory of the Father,
that they may be kept even unto the end, he is praying for his own.
“The most he asked for the world is that it may be converted, not that
it may be sanctified or kept.”--(_Luther._) To the same effect are
Godet, Alford, Meyer, and the modern commentators generally.--=But for
those whom thou hast entrusted to me; for they are thine; and mine all
are thine, and thine mine, and my glory is manifested in them.= _All_
is emphatic; the only begotten Son has nothing in reserve from the
Father. What Luther says is true: “Any man may say, What is mine is
thine, but only the Son can say, What is thine is mine;” nevertheless
there are few that can utter with the whole heart, and without any
reserve, even the first clause, “Mine _all_ are thine.” Christ pleads
for his own on two grounds: (1) They are the Father’s in the ownership
of love; thus the covenant mercy of God for his own is plead as one
ground of intercession. Comp. Ps. 51:1; 69:13, 16. (2) They are
entrusted to the Son’s safe-keeping, and their preservation and
sanctification will manifest the Son’s glory, _i. e._, the glory of
his redeeming love and power; thus the Father’s love for the Son is
plead as a second ground of intercession. Thus also his example
indicates what it is to pray to the Father in the name of the Son,
viz., in order that his glory of redeeming love may be manifested.
While this declaration, “Mine all are thine and thine mine,” is to be
taken in its more comprehensive sense, as indicating the unity of the
Son and the Father in all things, yet the context gives a peculiar and
spiritual significance to it. All that come to Christ by faith, so
becoming his, are born from above and are the children of God; and all
that are truly born from above and are the children of God come to
Christ by faith, and so become his (ch. 6:44, 45; 8:42, 47).
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep[646] through
thine own name[647] those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one, as we _are_.
[646] 1 Pet. 1:5; Jude 1:24.
[647] Prov. 18:10.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in
thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and
none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the
scripture[648] might be fulfilled.
[648] Ps. 109:8; Acts 1:20.
=11, 12. And now I am no more in the world, and these are in the
world, and I am coming to thee.= An additional plea for those whom he
is leaving behind. He can no longer be with them, their guide and
guardian; therefore he pleads for the guidance and the guardianship of
the Father.--=O Holy Father, guard them in that name of thine which
thou hast entrusted to me, in order that they may be one in like
manner as we are.= There is some uncertainty as to the reading; (ὅ,
and οὕς and ῶ are all found in MSS.) Some manuscripts give authority
for our English version, _Keep those whom thou hast entrusted to me_;
others give as above, _Keep those in thy name which thou hast
entrusted to me_. The latter is sustained by the best critics
(_Alford_, _Meyer_, _Bengel_, _Groesback_, _Tischendorf_). Every word
in this sentence is weighty. The meaning of _holy_ is pure, clean,
without blemish. The divine holiness is ever going out of itself,
imparting of itself to others, aiming to make all other natures holy;
thus by the appellation _Holy Father_ Christ appeals to the cleansing
nature of the Father. To _keep_ is to guard with watchful care. See
above on ver. 6. _In_ (ἐν) is instrumental; as the life of the flower
is preserved _in_ the sunshine, so the life of the soul _in_ the name
of the Father, in whom we live and move and have our being. The _name_
stands here, as above (ver. 6), for all which that name represents:
the paternal God. This name was not _given_ to Christ, he does not
bear it; but it was _entrusted_ to Christ, that he might manifest it
to his disciples, by teaching them the Fatherhood of God; and it is to
this name that Christ commends his disciples, for it is by faith in
this name, _i. e._, in the essential fatherly character of God, that
the disciple receives the spirit of adoption whereby he becomes a
child of God (Rom. 8:15-17), and it is this faith in his Father’s
holy keeping which is a shield to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked (Ephes. 6:16). _In order that_ may grammatically express either
the object for which the Father’s name was entrusted to Christ, or the
object of the holy keeping which Christ seeks for his disciples. In
fact, the object of the manifestation and of the fatherly guardianship
is the same, namely, that the disciples who have by faith received
that name, and are protected by it, may become partakers of the divine
nature, and so become one with the Son and the Father, not only in
general purpose, but in all essential elements of character (Heb.
12:10; 2 Pet. 1:4).--=While I was with them I guarded them in that
name of thine which thou didst entrust to me.= The reading here, as
above, is involved in some uncertainty, but this is the better
reading. The words _in the world_ are a gloss, and are needless.--=And
I preserved them.= Our English version obscures the meaning by
rendering two different Greek words (τηρέω and φυλάσσω) by the same
English word (_keep_) in this and the preceding verse. Christ declares
above that he has kept watch, here that this watch has been
successful, and that he has _preserved_ those over whom he has
watched.--=And no one of them has destroyed himself.= This, which is
the sense of the middle voice in Greek, it is important to preserve.
“Christ did not lose Judas, but he lost himself.”--(_Alford._) But the
language implies that every one might have destroyed himself but for
the guardian care of Christ.--=Except the son of destruction, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled.= See John 13:18; Acts 1:20; Ps. 41:9. It
was predetermined, not that one who might have been saved should
destroy himself in order to fulfill prophecy, but that one who would
destroy himself should be among the twelve. Judas was not lured to
destruction in order to fulfill prophecy, but prophecy was fulfilled
in his self-destruction. See ch. 19:28, note. “Judas fell that the
Scripture might be fulfilled. But it would be a most unfounded
argument if any one were to infer from this that the revolt of Judas
ought to be ascribed to God rather than to himself, because the
prediction laid him under a necessity. * * * Nor was it the design of
Christ to transfer to Scripture the cause of the ruin of Judas, but it
was only intended to take away the occasion of stumbling by showing
that the Spirit of God had long ago testified that such an event would
happen.”--(_Calvin._) It is a noticeable fact that the phrase _son of
destruction_, here employed to designate Judas, is employed by Paul in
2 Thess. 2:3 to designate the Anti-Christ.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the
world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world[649] hath
hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world.
[649] ch. 15:18, 19.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world, but[650] that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
[650] Gal. 1:4.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
=13-16. But now I am coming to thee.= and therefore can no longer be
an earthly guardian. As a mother dying entrusts her children to God,
so Christ his disciples.--=And these things I speak in the world that
they may have my joy filled to overflowing in themselves.= _These
things_ include not only the prayer now offered for the disciples, but
also the whole course of instruction given to them and immediately
preceding the prayer. The object of both instruction and prayer is the
same, that his disciples may be brought into that oneness with the
Father, that life in him, and that consequent consecration to his will
and service, which filled the Son with an abiding peace and joy, and
that so they might be filled to the full with the same joy. See ch.
14:27; 15:11, notes.--=I have entrusted to them thy teaching.= Not
_given_, but _entrusted_. See above on ver. 6. The teaching which the
Father entrusted to the Son, the Son in turn entrusted primarily to
the apostles, secondarily to his disciples throughout all time, that
they may become lights of the world as he was the Light of the world,
teachers of the truth of God as he was the Great Teacher (Matt. 5:14;
Phil. 2:15). That this is the meaning is indicated by what follows. It
is only as the disciples become, by their life and words, teachers of
the truth, that the world hates them.--=And the world has hated them,
because they are not from= (ἐκ) =the world, in like manner as I am not
from the world=. The disciple of Christ is born from above (ch. 3:3;
Gal. 6:15; 1 Pet. 1:3), and thus is spiritually like his Master (ch.
8:23). The origin of the divine life in Christ and his followers is
the same; in both it proceeds from the Father.--=I pray not that thou
shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest guard them
from the Evil One.= Not as Norton renders it, and as our English
version implies, from what is evil, though that is included by
implication; but from the Evil One, _i. e._, Satan. The original is,
indeed, capable of either meaning; but the latter interpretation
agrees best with John’s usage elsewhere. See 1 John 2:13, 14; 3:12;
5:18. The Evil One is treated by Christ as the source, or at least the
representative, of all that is evil, as the prince of the kingdom of
darkness and sin. Compare Matt. 13:25, 38, 39, where the tares, _i.
e._, the children of the wicked, are represented as sown by the enemy,
_i. e._, the devil.--If Christ does not desire for us that we should
be taken out of the world, we are not to desire it for ourselves.
Temporary retreat from the world, the better to prepare us for it, is
legitimate; so Christ sometimes retreated, seeking strength in
solitude and communion with his Father. But Christianity is not
asceticism. The disciple is sent into the world that he may be a light
to the world, and the measure of his Christian life is not his
experience in hours of retirement from it, but the fidelity of his
life in it.
17 Sanctify[651] them through thy truth: thy word[652] is
truth.
[651] Acts 15:9; Ephes. 5:26; 2 Thess. 2:13.
[652] Ps. 119:151.
=17. Consecrate them in thy truth; thy teaching is truth.= The
original (ἀγιάζω) may be rendered either _consecrate_ or _sanctify_.
It means both to set apart from a common to a sacred use, and also to
make holy for that use; in other words, it may mean to make holy in
_mission_ or in _character_. But the former is evidently the meaning
here; for it cannot be said that Christ made himself holy in character
for the sake of his disciples (ver. 19). Christ prays that the Father
will set apart his disciples to a life of divine service, as priests
unto God (Rev. 20:6). This consecration of the disciple involves his
sanctification; for the sinner cannot be set apart to a holy work
while yet in his sins. It does not involve sanctification in the Son,
because he had no sins to be cleansed away. This consecration of the
disciple is effected both by imparting to him through the Holy Spirit
the truth of God (ch. 14:26), and by commissioning him to serve that
truth by bearing witness of it unto others (Matt. 28:20; Acts 1:8).
_In thy truth_ (ἐν, dative) expresses the idea that the truth is both
the instrument by which and the service to which the disciple is
consecrated. We are consecrated unto the truth as we live _in_ the
truth; so Samuel was consecrated to the temple by being brought while
yet a child to live _in_ the temple. Christ designates the teaching or
word which he has imparted, and which the Holy Spirit will further
impart to his disciples, _thy teaching_, because all that comes
through the Son and the Spirit comes from the Father (ch. 14:10;
16:13).
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also
sent them into the world.
19 And[653] for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they
also might be sanctified through the truth.
[653] 1 Cor. 1:2, 30.
=18, 19. In like manner as thou hast sent me into the world, I also
have sent them into the world.= Full weight is to be given to the
phrase _as_, _i. e._, _in like manner as_ (καθὼς). This is the most
weighty and solemn declaration of the mission of the disciple, I
think, in the N. T., albeit it corresponds with the universal teaching
of both Gospel and Epistle, viz., that Christ is the first-born among
many brethren, and that those who are his disciples are also to be _in
all things_ his followers; like him _teachers of the truth_; like him
_manifesting the life and character of God_ in the world, by the
divine life begotten in them from above; like him _bearing the sins of
others in their own person_, and so filling up what is behind of the
sufferings Of Christ (Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 4:13). Christ does
not merely _leave_ his disciples in the world, he _sends_ them into
it, as he was sent, each disciple to be in his narrower sphere a
saviour of others, and the whole discipleship to be the body of an
ever living, ever incarnate, ever teaching, and ever atoning Lord.
Thus, too, not only because they are _left alone_, but yet more
because they are _sent forth_ to complete his work, does the Son ask
the Father to be to them what he has been to their Lord in his earthly
mission.--=And for their sakes I consecrate myself, in order that they
also might be consecrated in the truth.= As above, both _in_, _i. e._,
by means of, and _unto_, _i. e._, to serve the cause of the truth. The
definite article is wanting, and Meyer reads the phrase _consecrated
in truth_, as simply equivalent to “truly consecrated”; but the other
interpretation is warranted by Greek usage, and better accords with
the context. While Christ identifies himself with his disciples in his
prayer that they may become one with him, in his declaration that they
are in the spiritual life born of the same divine Father, and in his
commission to them to carry out his work, he distinguishes between
himself and them; for he _consecrates himself_; they must be
consecrated by a higher power. The consecration which the Lord made of
himself was not made, though it was consummated, at Calvary. His death
was a crowning act, not the whole act. “Our Lord possessed a human
nature like our own, endowed with inclinations and dislikes as our own
is, though of such only as are perfectly lawful. Of this nature he was
continually making a holy offering; he constrained it to obedience;
negatively by sacrificing it when it was in contradiction with his
mission; positively by devoting to his divinely appointed task all his
powers, all his natural and spiritual talents. It was thus that ‘He by
the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God’ (Heb.
9:14).”--(_Godet._) So also substantially Calvin, Alford,
Hengstenberg. Comp. John 10:11, note.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one;[654] 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.
[654] Rom. 12:5.
=20, 21. Not for these only am I praying, but also for those who have
faith upon me through their teaching.= The statement is not general,
_I am accustomed to pray for believers_, but special, _It is for all
believers that I am now praying_. His intercessory prayer is for us no
less than for them.--=That all may be one; in like manner as thou,
Father, in me, and I in thee, that also they in us one may be; that
the world may have faith that thou hast sent me.= The emphasis of the
Greek is partially represented in this nearly literal rendering.
Observe the close connection with what has gone before. The burden of
Christ’s prayer has been that his disciples may be preserved in the
world, and consecrated for their mission as truth-bearers to the
world; he now adds, I ask this in order that they may be one in us.
His prayer is not merely that they may be one, but that they _may be
consecrated in and to the truth, so that they may become one_. The
implication is that whenever Christians are thoroughly consecrated to
the service of Christ all differences so disappear that they work
together in unity of the spirit and of faith; and this truth history
abundantly confirms. This unity is not in creed, ceremonial, or
ecclesiastical organization, but in the _Father and the Son_, _i. e._,
the unity of personal devotion to, and love for, and spiritual
communion and fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ (1
John 1:3). This spiritual union in and with God will finally lead to
but it is not founded on unity in opinion. It is a union that is
apparent as well as real. The world will see it, and seeing will be
led to believe that the Father has sent the Son, _i. e._, that
Christianity is of divine origin, so marvellous will seem to be the
power of love uniting in one kingdom elements, opinions, and
nationalities so diverse. This spiritual unity of the discipleship of
Christ is almost the consummation of Christ’s prayer. He has only one
higher request to prefer for his church, namely, that through this
unity in him and the Father who has sent him, the church may come to a
true spiritual appreciation of the Son’s eternal glory with and in the
Father (ver. 24).
22 And the glory[655] which thou gavest me I have given
them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
[655] 2 Cor. 3:18.
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
=22, 23. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that
they may be one in like manner as we are one.= _I_ is emphatic. The
Father has given glory to the Son; the Son makes all his followers
participators in that glory. In what does this glory consist? Not in
the power of working miracles (_Chrysostom_), for this he has not
given to all those that believe in his name. Not the glory of the
heavenly state (_Meyer_), for this he _will_ give, but had not given
to his disciples when he uttered this prayer. Not the glory of unity
with the Father and the Son (_Hengstenberg_), for the glory is given
in order that this unity may be attained; this unity with the Godhead
is not the glory, but the result of it. The glory which the Father
gave the Son was the glory of being the Son of God (Matt. 3:17; John
1:14; Heb. 1:5; 3:6). This glory Christ imparts to his followers, who
through him are received into the adoption of God by faith, and become
themselves sons of God (ch. 1:12; 1 John 3:1). And it is as we become
thus sons of God that we become one with each other because one in
him, one household of faith only as we are united to one Father (Rom.
8:29; Ephes. 1:10; 2:19). This glory of sonship involves not only
filial relations with the Father, but the possession of a divine life
begotten by the Father, and therefore a nature akin to that of the
Father, who is love, and whose children we are only as we dwell in
love (1 John 3:9, 10; 4:8, 16).--=I in them and thou in me.= And
therefore the Father in them through the Son, by whom they have access
to the Father.--=That they may be perfected unto unity.= This unity of
love with the Father and the Son, and therefore with one another, is
the culmination of the divine life, as well as the disclosure of it.
Comp. Ephes. 4:11-13: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.”--=In order that
the world may know that thou hast sent me forth.= It shall no longer
_have faith_ merely; it shall _know_ assuredly the divine origin and
authority of the Christian religion, and this conviction shall be
compelled by the moral and spiritual power of a spiritually united
church.--=And that thou hast loved them in like manner as thou hast
loved me.= Comp. ch. 16:27. With a love not merely of compassion, but
now, all quarrels with one another ended because all separation
and estrangement from God are at an end, with a love of cordial
approbation. Then the voice shall speak to the universal discipleship,
Behold my beloved sons in whom I am well pleased; and the whole world
shall hear and acknowledge him who has wrought this redemption (Phil.
2:10; Rom. 14:11).
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me,
be[656] 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.
[656] 1 Thess. 4:17.
=24. Father, whom thou hast entrusted to me, I will that where I am
they also may be.= (The sense is the same whether the reading ὅ or οὕς
be adopted.) Christ changes his expression; he no longer says _I
pray_, but _I will_. “He demands with confidence as a Son, not as a
servant.”--(_Bengel._) There are two Greek verbs which are capable of
being rendered _I will_; the one (βούλομαι) expresses an inclination,
the other (θέλω) a positive purpose. The latter is the word used here.
It might justly be rendered _It is my will_. It is nowhere else used
by Jesus. With the close of his prayer there comes such assurance of
his own unity with the Father that he no longer prefers a request; he
declares his purpose. In this declaration of his purpose he recurs to
the promise which he had made at the opening of this most sacred
interview, “I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where
I am, there ye may be also” (ch. 14:3). In this expression _I will_,
Christ’s prayer can hardly be a model for his followers. We may say to
our Father, I wish; but we can never be so sure of his gracious
purposes and of our union with him in them, that we can safely say to
him, _Father, I will_.--=That they may behold my glory, which thou
gavest me, because thou lovedst me before founding a world.= Observe,
not _before the foundation of the world_, but _before founding any
world_; the definite article is not in the original. On the
significance of this declaration as a testimony to the pre-existent
glory of Christ, see on ver. 5. To _behold_ (θεωρέω) is primarily to
be a spectator of, and in its primary signification includes the idea
of attention, wonder, admiration. It is, however, here used certainly
of spiritual apprehension; we shall be filled with wonder and surprise
when the veil drops from our eyes and we see him as he is. The glory
which Christ had with the Father from the beginning is the glory of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), the glory
of a character whose radiance is infinite love, of which the sacrifice
of Christ, purposed from the remote past, is the highest
manifestation; and this is the glory which the saints, redeemed by
his blood, behold in heaven (Rev. 5:8; 7:9; 21:23). Christ’s will,
then, for his disciples is that they may be so spiritually exalted
that they may be able to apprehend the full glory of that
self-sacrificing love which now they look upon with so feeble
appreciation, and which to the unbelieving world is inglorious (1 Cor.
1:23). This is the consummation of his prayer; what a climax in what
an ascending scale! First that his disciples may be guarded in his
absence by the divine care in which he himself has trusted (11-13);
then that, guarded in the world, they may be consecrated to their
Christly mission, to teach, to manifest God, to suffer (15-19); then
that, with all believers, they may be brought into spiritual unity
with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, being made sons of God, and
so sharers in the glory of him whose greatest glory it was and is to
be the well-beloved Son of the Father (20-23); and finally that, thus
preserved, consecrated, adopted, they may be able to realize the glory
of that love of self-sacrifice, to which we all sometimes find it
difficult even to submit without rebellion, and in which only the most
consecrated are ever able to rejoice.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I
have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
_it_: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them, and I in them.
=25, 26. O righteous Father.= Christ first appealed simply to the
Fatherhood of God (ver. 1), then to his holiness (ver. 11), now at
last even to his righteousness or justice. For since the Son has
finished the work which the Father gave him to do, he may ask of
righteousness itself to complete it. Thus justice and purity compete
with love in pleading for the fulfillment of redemption. So in 1 John
1:9 it is said that “he is faithful and _just_ to forgive us our
sins.”--=Though= (καὶ) =the world has not known thee, I have known
thee, and= (καὶ) =these have known that thou hast sent me forth=. The
world, the Son, and the disciples stand here in a triple contrast; to
the world God is the absolute unknown; to the Son he is known; to the
disciples God is manifested in the Son, who comes forth from God and
goes to God again.--=And I have made known thy name to them, and will
make it known.= And with the name all that the name represents--the
justice, the holiness, and pre-eminently the Fatherhood. See on ver.
6. These words attest the consciousness in Christ that an answer has
been vouchsafed to his prayer. He began by asking the Father to
glorify the Son, that the Son might glorify the Father. He closes by
declaring, not only that he has thus far made known the name of the
Father (ver. 5), but that in the impending hour of passion and death
he will make the Father known, and so will glorify him. It is true
that the whole work of the church ever since, and of Christ in his
church, has been making known the name of the Father; but it has been
by interpreting the meaning of the cross of Christ, by preaching
Christ and him crucified, as the wisdom and power of God (Rom. 1:16; 1
Cor. 1:23, 24; 2:2). Thus this prayer ends, as it began, with an
implied reference to the impending Passion; but it begins with
petition; it ends with assurance of victory.--=In order that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.= That is,
both that they may possess an experience of the Father’s love for
them, and may possess a love like the Father’s, being made perfect in
love, even as their Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48); so also
that the Spirit of Christ may dwell in them, and that by this
indwelling their own spirit may be conformed unto his (2 Cor. 3:18).
In this simple and sublime sentence the Son embodies the object of his
mission as the Divine Teacher, the Divine Revealer, and the Divine
Sufferer. The object of his teaching, incarnation, and atonement is
that he may make known the Father to those that will learn of his Son;
and this that he may make them one with the Father and his Son--one in
spiritual fellowship, because one in spiritual character.
It is a shallow criticism which imagines an incongruity between this
prayer recorded by John and the prayer in Gethsemane which immediately
followed, and which John has not recorded. Here Christ asks that he
may be enabled to glorify the Father’s name to the end; there he asks
that the same results may, _if it is possible_, be accomplished
without the terrible ordeal of the betrayal, the desertion, the mock
trials, the mob, the crucifixion, the veiling of the Father’s face.
But in the agony of Gethsemane, as portrayed by the other three
Evangelists, the Son never for a moment wavers from the supreme wish
that the Father’s will may be accomplished and the Father’s name made
manifest. The power, not merely to resign himself to the Father’s
will, but affirmatively to pray, “Not my will but thine be done,” was
a part of that very glory with which he besought the Father to invest
him. The devout student will recognize in the prayer of Gethsemane a
partial answer to the prayer in the upper chamber; for in
Gethsemane, no less than in the court of Caiaphas, the judgment hall
of Pilate, and the death on Calvary, the Father glorified the Son and
the Son glorified the Father.