Christ prays for Himself, His disciples, and for all believers
17
📚Jesus spoke these words, raised his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. 📖 Glorify your Son so that your Son may also glorify 📖 you,17:1 Here we see God the Son on earth as a man (John 1:14) praying to God the Father in heaven. But v 5 makes it clear that He is speaking as the eternal Son of God. He is a person distinct from the Father, as this whole prayer makes abundantly clear. See also Matt 3:16-17; and Phil 2:6. This prayer is one of the very great and profound chapters in the Bible, perhaps the most remarkable and blessed of all. Jesus prayed as the God-man, as the one Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), as the great High Priest of His people (Heb 4:14-16; 7:24-25). In this prayer He makes request only for Himself (vs 1,5), and for believers in Him, not for others (vs 9,20). He asks only one thing for Himself. For believers He asks for everything they need to ensure their salvation and eternal blessedness.
First, He prays that God the Father will keep them (vs 11-16).
Second, He prays that the Father will sanctify them (vs 17-19).
Third, He prays that they might be perfectly united with Himself and with each other (vs 21-23).
Fourth, He prays that they might all be brought to heaven at last to see His glory (v 24).
Christ prays only in accordance with God’s will, and so God the Father grants all these requests of His Son (see John 11:24; 1 John 5:14-15). He prayed that believers might understand that the things He requested for them are theirs and be filled with joy (v 13).
This is the only recorded prayer of any length we have of His in the New Testament. Here we see the matters which are closest to His heart. In this way He teaches us something for which we might pray when we think of the people of God (though, of course, being mere human beings none of us can use all the language of this prayer). The things He desired for them we should desire.⚜
2 📚as you have given him authority 📖 over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 📚And this is eternal life, 📖 that they might know you the only true God 📖 and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 📚“I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work that you gave me to do.
5 📚And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was.
17:5 Here is a clear declaration by Jesus Himself that He lived before the universe came into being, and a plain statement that He is a person distinct from the Father. See also John 1:1-3; Micah 5:2. God answered this prayer of His Son. See Acts 2:32-33; 3:13-15; Phil 2:9-11.⚜
6 📚“I have revealed your name 📖 to the men whom you gave me 📖 out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me. And they have kept your word.
17:6 In vs 6-10 He says eight things about His people and adds three more in vs 14,18. All these things are good and all are true of all believers. He does not speak of their sin and failure, the smallness of their faith, their only partial obedience. He does not accuse His people to His Father, He defends them (Rom 8:33-34; 1 John 2:1). He takes the highest possible view of them and presents them to His Father in the best possible light.⚜
7 📚Now they have come to know that all things which you have given me are from you. 8 📚For I have given to them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and have known with certainty that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
17:7-8 These two verses give us more facts about all believers – they know certain truth, receive it and believe it. They know that God has sent Jesus and was behind all that Jesus did and said. And they gladly accepted the words Christ gave them from the Father. They knew that Jesus Christ is the absolute authority for all they believed. Observe the plural – “words” – in v 8. See also John 12:49-50. Compare Matt 4:4.⚜
9 📚“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
17:9 Here is a seventh truth about believers – Christ makes them a very special matter of prayer. He did not (and, in the very nature of the case, He cannot) pray for the world of unbelievers as He prays for them.⚜
10 📚And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
17:10 Here is an eighth truth about believers – Christ is glorified through them. His love and mercy are glorified in dying for them. His power and grace are glorified in saving and changing them. His patience is glorified in bearing with them. His name is glorified by their witness in the world, etc. They are weak and sinful but still Christ is glorified through them. This is one great purpose God had in choosing them – Eph 1:5-6, 12. Through believers glory comes to both the Father and the Son. We should be conscious of this truth and gladly set out to promote their glory in everything (1 Cor 10:31).⚜
11 📚And now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are.
17:11 God gave His own “name” to Jesus (compare John 5:26-27). God granted that the nature, power, and authority of God should dwell in His human body (Col 2:9). In this verse we have the first request Jesus made for believers. It is repeated in different words in v 15. He asks God to protect them, to keep them from evil, so that they be not lost as Judas Iscariot was (v 12).
One reason why God needs to keep believers is seen here – they are still “in the world”. God chose them “out of” the world (v 6), and they are not “of” the world (v 14), but they are still “in” it, and the world still hates them (v 14). The world is full of temptations, deceiving spirits, and dangers (1 Pet 5:8). It is opposed to truth, faith, love of God and all else precious to believers. See 1 John 5:19. Spiritually speaking it is a dark and dirty place and it is easy to get defiled in it and lose one’s way. And believers themselves are often weak and foolish, and struggle with their own sinful natures (Rom 7:18; Gal 5:17; 1 John 1:8) – there is something in them which would betray them to the world and the devil. How, then, can believers be safe?
There is perfect safety because God in answer to the prayers of His Son keeps them – see Luke 22:31; Rom 5:10; Heb 7:25. His almighty power is at work for them – 1 Pet 1:4-5; Prov 18:10. He has begun a good work in them, and will finish it – Phil 1:6. Jesus the Son works with the Father in keeping believers, and it is the absolute will of God that the Lord Jesus keep them (John 6:39). Will He fail to do God’s will in this? Compare John 4:34. Believers are sheep put in His care. Will He not preserve them? See John 10:28. He prays for them continually. Will His prayers not be heard? See John 11:42. The answer to the prayers of Christ are not based on the good behavior of believers, or on their continuing in faith. The opposite of this is true – their good behavior and continuing in faith are dependent on His prayers.⚜
12 📚While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you gave me, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, 📖 that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 📖
17:12 While on earth the Lord Jesus kept all His believers. He did not keep them from weakness, foolishness, temptations and trials, nor even from all sin (see John 18:10-11; 19:25; Luke 22:24, 31, 32; 24:25; Matt 16:22-23; 26:69-75). But even when they were grievously failing, Jesus was keeping them. He kept them in a state of salvation in spite of their sin. He kept them believing in Him in spite of their weak faith and occasional unbelief. Now Jesus asks God the Father to keep them as He Himself had kept them. Did Jesus fail to keep Judas Iscariot “the son of perdition”? Was there an exception in His keeping of believers? No. Jesus is not saying that God had saved Judas and given Judas to Him and He had lost him.
To make clearer the meaning here perhaps we could translate this last sentence like this: “None of them has been lost. But the son of perdition has been lost so that the Scripture might be fulfilled”. Not one of those God gave to Jesus was lost. But one who was among them and counted as one of them was lost. See vs 6-10 for a description of true believers, the kind of people God gave to Jesus. Judas does not fit that description. From the beginning Judas’ character made him worthy of destruction. See John 6:64, 70 where it is clear that Judas was not a believer.⚜
13 📚“And now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world, so that they might have my joy 📖 in them to the full. 14 📚I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:14 See John 15:18-19. Both the Lord Jesus and His believers belong to the kingdom of God, to the world above, to heaven, not to this world (Phil 3:20).⚜
15 📚“I am not praying that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep 📖 them from the evil one.
17:15 Why does He want believers to be left in the world? See v 18; John 15:27; 2 Cor 4:17; 1 Pet 1:7; 2:9.⚜
16 📚They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 📚Sanctify them through your truth. Your word is truth. 18 📚As you sent me into the world, even so I have also sent them into the world. 19 📚And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
17:17-19 Here is the second request the Lord Jesus makes for believers. The Greek word here translated “sanctify” has a very wide meaning. Basically it means “to set apart”, usually for a good purpose or religious use. It means the same as the Hebrew word translated “sanctify” or “make holy” in the Old Testament (see note at Lev 20:7). It came to mean also “dedicate” or “consecrate”, and then “to purify”, “to make holy”. In what sense did the Lord Jesus use the word here? He may have meant all these, but probably the principal meaning of this prayer for believers is that God would dedicate or consecrate them, set them apart for Himself and His work on earth. This meaning is clearly the one in v 19 (see also John 10:36). Jesus did not need to be purified and made holy, but He consecrated Himself to do God’s will on earth. And He prayed that God would consecrate believers in this same way. See the words of John 15:3 – the disciples were already “clean” before Jesus prayed this prayer for them.
It is true that if believers are to be equipped to do the will of God they need to be purified in their thoughts and motives. So it may be that Jesus was asking for that too for them. But it seems the principal meaning here is this: Christ was praying that His Church as a whole, the body of believers of which He is the Head (Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18) be consecrated by God to be His holy people (1 Pet 2:9). Here in vs 17-19 we can learn seven things about this sanctification.
First, it is something God does in answer to the prayer of Christ. So He infallibly does it (John 11:42). The answer can be seen later in verses like Jude 1 and 1 Cor 1:2.
Second, it is something God does for all His children (v 20), not for just a select few. If God hears Christ’s prayer for some believers He hears it for all of them. If He answers and sanctifies some, then He sanctifies all.
Third, the sanctification of believers is a result of Christ sanctifying Himself (v 19). Christ consecrated Himself to be the sacrifice to take away sin (John 1:29). Because of that believers are sanctified, set apart, consecrated to God. See Heb 10:10; 13:12. For an Old Testament illustration see Lev 8:10-15, 30.
Fourth, the sanctification of believers is something like the sanctification of Christ (v 19). When did Jesus sanctify Himself? See John 10:36-38; Heb 10:5-7. When are believers sanctified? When they are united to Christ by faith to become God’s temple on earth (Eph 2:21; 1 Cor 3:16).
Fifth, the sanctification of believers has to do with the mission of the church to the world (v 18; John 20:21). They are called out of the world (v 6) and are not of the world (v 14), but God sanctifies them to send them back into the world.
Sixth, sanctification is a work God does “by” or “in” (the Greek can mean either) the truth. Notice here what truth is. It is God’s Word. And where is God’s Word to be found? Only in the Bible. Truth is the means God uses to sanctify believers and it is the sphere in which they live. For references and notes on the inner purity and holiness Christ desires for us see Matt 5:8; Rom 6:11-14; 8:12-13; 2 Cor 7:1; Eph 4:22-24; 5:1-7; Heb 12:14; 1 Pet 1:14-16, 22; 1 John 3:3.
Seventh, the sanctification which Christ requested for believers is absolutely essential. If it were not, Christ would not have prayed as He did. He prayed only for those things God wills for believers.⚜
20 📚“I am praying not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their words,
17:20 The Lord Jesus prayed in advance for all believers in all generations. He desired the same things for us now as for His disciples then.⚜
21 📚so that they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.
22 📚“And the glory which you gave me I have given them, so that they may be one, just as we are one; 23 📚I in them and you in me, so that they may be made perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and have loved them just as you have loved me.
17:21-23 Verse 11. Here is the third request He made for all true believers – oneness. In vs 20-23 we learn the following things about it.
First, it is a oneness that God gives in answer to Christ’s prayer (John 11:42). It is not something men create or that church leaders can establish, and Christ has not asked them to do so.
Second, it is a oneness of a certain kind of people only – true believers, those described in vs 6-10. So it is not an organizational unity that men create and which includes multitudes of nominal Christians to be found in churches in every country.
Third, it is a oneness of all believers without exception, in whatever generation they may live, to whatever church they may belong, whatever their country or race (v 21 – “all”).
Fourth, this oneness in some ways is like the oneness of God the Father and the Son (v 21). That is, it is a perfect union, a oneness of life.
Fifth, this oneness is actually in the Father and the Son. Obviously this is something far different from organizational unity, and far superior to it. As God was in Christ and Christ in God, so all believers are in them (v 21. See 1 Thess 1:1; Rom 6:5). This is the only kind of oneness Christ prayed for here.
Sixth, this oneness comes about only because Christ is in them (v 23). Believers are joined eternally with Him and with each other. If He is not in them there is nothing men can do to produce the oneness for which He prayed. If He is in them there is nothing they need to do to bring it about.
Seventh, this oneness is perfect (v 23).
Eighth, this oneness is connected with the glory Christ has given them (v 22). He does not define this glory, but it may mean the glory of being God’s children and His representatives on earth. Or it may mean the glory that is theirs because they are in Christ the glorified One (v 1,5. See also Eph 2:5-6; Col 3:3-4). The fact that Christ has chosen believers for glory in Him makes them one. For God’s answer to this prayer see 1 Cor 12:12-13 (see also 1 Cor 6:15, 17; Rom 12:5; Eph 1:22; 4:15-16; 5:29-32). The Holy Spirit came and baptized all believers into the spiritual body of Christ and made them one with Him and with each other. Each time an individual believes, Christ’s prayer is answered again – the Holy Spirit still unites every believer to Christ and His spiritual body, the true Church of the living God. This oneness is a fact which, men can recognize but cannot create, improve, or destroy.
Ninth, this oneness produces certain results (vs 21,23).
“That the world may believe...that the world may know” – many people think this has not been the result of the oneness God has created for believers and demand another kind of unity – a unity of all Christians in one Church organization with one earthly head. But there has been a progressive fulfillment of Christ’s prayer and desire. When He uttered these words the world outside Israel had heard almost nothing about Him. In one generation His disciples spread the good news all over the Roman Empire and to other places in the world, and multitudes had believed. The process is still going on today wherever Christ’s believers stand together to preach the truth. And the end is not yet. At His coming all that He wants the world to know will be fully revealed. It is certain that if the union of all believers in the spiritual body of Christ has not produced the result He wanted, no union of believers and unbelievers in one super church organization will accomplish it.
Tenth, believers should recognize this oneness they possess and manifest it. This truth is only implied here but taught elsewhere. See Eph 4:1-6.⚜
17:23 God loves believers as much as He loves Christ, the Son of God! Compare Rom 5:8; Eph 2:4; 1 John 3:1, 16.⚜
24 📚“Father, I desire that those whom you have given me, also be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you gave me. For you loved me before the foundation of the world.
17:24 Here is the fourth request Christ makes for believers. He asks God to make sure that all believers get safely into His presence, to have the vision of His glory. This prayer will certainly be answered as all of Christ’s other prayers are answered. Christ’s prayers were not mere expressions of hope which may or may not be realized. “Glory” is the final step in the process of their salvation, and because He prayed for it, and because they are united to Him who is glorified, God counts it as already accomplished. Compare Rom 8:29-30; Eph 2:6. See in this verse that God the Father loved Christ the Son before the creation of the world. Again we see a distinction between Father and Son, and the eternal love between them.⚜
25 📚“Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have come to know that you sent me.
26 📚And I have made our name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them”.
17:26 The fact of Christ’s living in believers is linked with the revelation He gives them of God the Father. Without the one there will not be the other. On this revelation see v 6; Matt 11:27. Observe also that God’s love for Christ is in believers (Rom 5:5; 2 Cor 5:14; 1 John 2:5; 4:12, 16).⚜