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John Chapter
Seventeen
John 17
Chapter 17 is divided thus: Verses 1-5 relate to Christ
Himself, to His taking His position in glory, to His work, and to that glory as
belonging to His Person, and the result of His work. Verses 1-3 present His new
position in two aspects: "glorify thy Son"-power over all flesh, for
eternal life to those given to Him; verses 4, 5, His work and its results. In
verses 6-13 He speaks of His disciples as put into this relationship with the
Father by His revealing His name to them, and then His having given them the
words which He had Himself received, that they might enjoy all the full
blessedness of this relationship. He also prays for them that they may be one
as He and the Father were. In verses 14-21 we find their consequent
relationship to the world; in verses 20, 21, He introduces those who should
believe through their means into the enjoyment of their blessing. Verses 22-26
make known the result, both future, and in this world, for them: the possession
of the glory which Christ Himself had received from the Father-to be with Him,
enjoying the sight of His glory-that the Father's love should be with them here
below, even as Christ Himself had been its object-and that Christ Himself
should be in them. The last three verses alone take the disciples up to heaven
as a supplemental truth.
This is a brief summary of this marvellous chapter, in which we are
admitted, not to the discourse of Christ with man, but to hear the desires of
His heart, when He pours it out to His Father for the blessing of those that
are His own. Wonderful grace that permits us to hear these desires, and to
understand all the privileges that flow from His thus caring for us, from our
being the subject of intercourse between the Father and the Son, of their
common love towards us, when Christ expresses His own desires-that which He has
at heart, and which He presents to the Father as His own personal wishes!
Some explanations may assist in apprehending the meaning
of certain passages in this marvellous and precious chapter. May the Spirit of
God aid us!
The Lord, whose looks of love had until then been
directed towards His disciples on the earth, now lifts His eyes to heaven as He
addresses His Father. The hour was come to glorify the Son, in order that from the
glory He might glorify the Father. This is, speaking generally, the new
position. His career here was finished, and He had to ascend on high. Two
things were connected with this-power over all flesh, and the gift of eternal
life to as many as the Father had given Him. "The head of every man is
Christ." Those whom the Father had given Him receive eternal life from Him
who has gone up on high. Eternal life was the knowledge of the Father, the only
true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom He had sent. The knowledge of the Almighty
gave assurance to the pilgrim of faith; that of Jehovah, the certainty of the
fulfilment of the promises of God to Israel; that of the Father, who sent the
Son, Jesus Christ (the Anointed Man and the Saviour), who was that life itself,
and so received as a present thing (1 John 1:1-4), was life eternal. True
knowledge here was not outward protection or future hope, but the
communication, in life, of communion with the Being thus known to the soul-of
communion with God Himself fully known as the Father and the Son. Here it is
not the divinity of His Person that is before us in Christ, though a divine
Person alone could be in such a place and so speak, but the place that He had
taken in fulfilling the counsels of God. That which is said of Jesus in this
chapter could only be said of One who is God; but the point treated is that of
His place in the counsels of God, and not the revelation of His nature. He
receives all from His Father-He is sent by Him, His Father glorifies Him. [1]
We see the same truth of the communication of eternal
life in connection with His divine nature and His oneness with the Father in 1
John 5:20. Here He fulfils the Father's will, and is dependent on Him in the
place that He has taken, and that He is going to take, even in the glory,
however glorious His nature may be. So, also, in chapter 5 of our Gospel, He
quickens whom He will; here it is those whom the Father has given Him. And the
life He gives is realised in the knowledge of the Father, and of Jesus Christ
whom He has sent.
He now declares the conditions under which He takes this place on
high. He had perfectly glorified the Father on earth. Nothing that manifested
God the Father had been wanting, whatever might be the difficulty; the
contradiction of sinners was but an occasion of so doing. But this very thing
made the sorrow infinite. Nevertheless Jesus had accomplished that glory on the
earth in the face of all that opposed itself. His glory with the Father in
heaven was but the just consequence-the necessary consequence, in mere justice.
Moreover Jesus had had this glory with His Father before the world was. His
work and His Person alike gave Him a right to it. The Father glorified on earth
by the Son: the Son glorified with the Father on high: such is the revelation
contained in these verses-a right, proceeding from His Person as Son, but to a
glory into which He entered as man, in consequence of having, as such, perfectly
glorified His Father on earth. These are the verses that relate to Christ.
This, moreover, gives the relationship in which He enters into this new place
as man, His Son, and the work by which He does so in righteousness, and thus
gives us a title, and the character in which we have a place there.
He now speaks of the disciples; how they entered into
their peculiar place in connection with this position of Jesus-into this
relationship with His Father. He had manifested the Father's name to those whom
the Father had given Him out of the world. They belonged to the Father, and the
Father had given them to Jesus. They had kept the Father's word. It was faith
in the revelation which the Son had made of the Father. The words of the
prophets were true. The faithful enjoyed them: they sustained their faith. But
the word of the Father, by Jesus, revealed the Father Himself, in Him whom the
Father had sent, and put him who received them into the place of love, which
was Christ's place; and to know the Father and the Son was life eternal. This
was quite another thing from hopes connected with the Messiah or what Jehovah
had given Him. It is thus, also, that the disciples are presented to the
Father; not as receiving Christ in the character of Messiah, and honouring Him
as possessing His power by that title. They had known that all which Jesus had
was of the Father. He was then the Son; His relationship to the Father was
acknowledged. Dull of comprehension as they were, the Lord recognises them
according to His appreciation of their faith, according to the object of that
faith, as known to Himself, and not according to their intelligence. Precious
truth! (compare chap. 14:7).
They acknowledged Jesus, then, as receiving all from the
Father, not as Messiah from Jehovah; for Jesus had given them all the words
that the Father had given Him. Thus He had brought them in their own souls into
the consciousness of the relationship between the Son and the Father, and into
full communion, according to the communications of the Father to the Son in
that relationship. He speaks of their position through faith-not of their
realisation of this position. Thus they had acknowledged that Jesus came forth
from the Father, and that He came with the Father's authority-the Father had
sent Him. It was from thence He came, and He came furnished with the authority
of a mission from the Father. This was their position by faith.
And now-the disciples being already in this position-He
places them, according to His thoughts and His desires, before the Father in
prayer. He prays for them, distinguishing them completely from the world. The
time would come when (according to Psalm 2) He would ask of the Father with
reference to the world; He was not doing so now, but for those out of the
world, whom the Father had given Him. For they were the Father's. For all that
is the Father's is in essential opposition to the world (compare 1 John 2:16).
The Lord presents to the Father two motives for His
request: 1st, They were the Father's, so that the Father, for His own glory,
and because of His affection for that which belonged to Him, should keep them;
2nd, Jesus was glorified in them, so that if Jesus was the object of the
Father's affection, for that reason also the Father should keep them. Besides,
the interests of the Father and the Son could not be separated. If they were
the Father's they were, in fact, the Son's; and it was but an example of that
universal truth-all that was the Son's was the Father's, and all that was the
Father's was the Son's. What a place for us! to be the object of this mutual
affection, of these common and inseparable interests of the Father and the Son.
This is the great principle-the great foundation of the prayer of Christ. He
prayed the Father for His disciples, because they belonged to the Father; Jesus
must needs, therefore, seek their blessing. The Father would be thoroughly
interested for them, because in them the Son was to be glorified.
He then presents the circumstances to which the prayer
applied. He was no longer in this world Himself. They would be deprived of His
personal care as present with them, but they would be in this world, while He
was coming to the Father. This is the ground of His request with regard to
their position. He puts them in connection, therefore, with the Holy Father-all
the perfect love of such a Father-the Father of Jesus and their Father,
maintaining (it was their blessing) the holiness that His nature required, if
they were to be in relationship with Him. It was direct guardianship. The
Father would keep in His own name those whom He had given to Jesus. The
connection thus was direct. Jesus committed them to Him, and that, not only as
belonging to the Father, but now as His own, invested with all the value which
that would give them in the Father's eyes.
The object of His solicitude was to keep them in unity,
even as the Father and the Son are one. One only divine Spirit was the bond of
that oneness. In this sense the bond was truly divine. So far as they were
filled with the Holy Spirit, they had but one mind, one counsel, one aim. This
is the unity referred to here. The Father and the Son were their only object;
the accomplishing their counsels and objects their only pursuit. They had only
the thoughts of God; because God Himself, the Holy Ghost, was the source of
their thoughts. It was one only divine power and nature that united them-the
Holy Ghost. The mind, the aim, the life, the whole moral existence, were
consequently one. The Lord speaks, necessarily, at the height of His own
thoughts, when He expresses His desires for them. If it is a question of
realisation, we must then think of man; yet of a strength also that is
perfected in weakness.
This is the sum of the Lord's desires-sons, saints, under
the Father's care; one, not by an effort or by agreement, but according to
divine power. He being here, had kept them in the Father's name, faithful to
accomplish all that the Father had committed to Him, and to lose none of those
that were His. As to Judas, it was only the fulfilment of the word. The guardianship
of Jesus present in the world could now no longer exist. But He spoke these
things, being still here, the disciples hearing them, in order that they might
understand that they were placed before the Father in the same position that
Christ had held, and that they might thus have fulfilled in themselves, in this
same relationship, the joy which Christ had possessed. What unutterable grace!
They had lost Him, visibly, to find themselves (by Him and in Him) in His own
relationship with the Father, enjoying all that He enjoyed in that communion
here below, as being in His place in their own relationship with the Father.
Therefore He had imparted to them all the words that the Father had given
Him-the communications of His love to Himself, when walking as Son in that
place here below; and, in the especial name of "Holy Father," by
which the Son Himself addressed Him from the earth, the Father was to keep
those whom the Son had left there. Thus should they have His joy fulfilled in
themselves.
This was their relationship to the Father, Jesus being
away. He turns now to their relationship with the world, in consequence of the
former.
He gave them the word of His Father-not the words to
bring them into communion with Him, but His word-the testimony of what He was.
And the world had hated them as it had hated Jesus (the living and personal
testimony of the Father) and the Father Himself. Being thus in relationship
with the Father, who had taken them out from the men of the world, and having
received the Father's word (and eternal life in the Son in that knowledge),
they were not of the world even as Jesus was not of the world: and therefor the
world hated them. Nevertheless the Lord does not pray that they might be taken
out of it; but that the Father should keep them from the evil. He enters into
the detail of His desires in this respect, grounded on their not being of the
world. He repeats this thought as the basis of their position here below.
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." What then
were they to be? By what rule, by what model, were they to be formed? By the
truth, and the Father's word is truth. Christ was always the Word, but the
living Word among men. In the scriptures we possess it, written and stedfast:
they reveal Him, bear witness to Him. It was thus that the disciples were to be
set apart. "Sanctify them by thy truth: thy word is the truth." It
was this, personally, that they were to be formed by, the Father's word, as He
was revealed in Jesus.
Their mission follows. Jesus sends them into the world,
as the Father had sent Him into the world; into the world-in no wise of the
world. They are sent into it on the part of Christ: were they of it, they could
not be sent into it. But it was not only the Father's word which was the truth,
nor the communication of the Father's word by Christ present with His disciples
(points of which from verse 14 till now Jesus had been speaking, "I have
given them thy word"): He sanctified Himself. He set Himself apart as a
heavenly man above the heavens, a glorified man in the glory, in order that all
truth might shine forth in Him, in His Person, raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father-all that the Father is being thus displayed in Him; the
testimony of divine righteousness, of divine love, of divine power, totally
overturning the lie of Satan, by which man had been deceived and falsity
brought into the world; the perfect model of that which man was according to
the counsels of God, and as the expression of His power morally and in glory-the
image of the invisible God, the Son, and in glory. Jesus set Himself apart, in
this place, in order that the disciples might be sanctified by the
communication to them of what He was; for this communication was the truth, and
created them in the image of that which it revealed. So that it was the
Father's glory, revealed by Him on earth, and the glory into which He had
ascended as man; for this is the complete result-the illustration in glory of
the way in which He had set Himself apart for God, but on behalf of His own.
Thus there is not only the forming and governing of the thoughts by the word,
setting us apart morally to God, but the blessed affections flowing from our
having this truth in the Person of Christ, our hearts connected with Him in
grace. This ends the second part of that which related to the disciples, in
communion and in testimony.
In verse 20, He declares that He prays also for those who
should believe on Him through their means. Here the character of the unity
differs a little from that in verse 11. There, in speaking of the disciples, He
says, "as we are"; for the oneness of the Father and the Son shewed
itself in fixed purpose, object, love, work, everything. Therefore the
disciples were to have that kind of unity. Here those who believed, inasmuch as
receiving and taking part in that which was communicated, had their oneness in
the power of the blessing into which they were brought. By one Spirit, in which
they were necessarily united, they had a place in communion with the Father and
the Son. It was the communion of the Father and of the Son (compare 1 John 1:3;
and how similar the language of the apostle is to that of Christ!). Thus, the
Lord asks that they may be one in them-the Father and the Son. This was the
means to make the world believe that the Father had sent the Son; for here were
those that had believed it, who, however opposed their interests and habits
might be, however strong their prejudices, yet were one (by this powerful
revelation and by this work) in the Father and the Son.
Here His prayer ends, but not all His converse with His
Father. He gives us (and here the witnesses and the believers are together) the
glory which the Father has given Him. It is the basis of another, a third, [2] mode of oneness. All partake, it is true, in
glory, of this absolute oneness in thought, object, fixed purpose, which is
found in the oneness of the Father and the Son. Perfection being come, that
which the Holy Ghost had produced spiritually, His absorbing energy shutting
out every other, was natural to all in glory.
But the principle of the existence of this unity, added
yet another character to that truth-that of manifestation, or at least of an
inward source which realised its manifestation in them: "I in them,"
said Jesus, "and thou in me." This is not the simple, perfect oneness
of verse 11, nor the mutuality and communion of verse 21. It is Christ in all
believers, and the Father in Christ, a unity in manifestation in glory, not
merely in communion-a oneness in which all is perfectly connected with its
source. And Christ, whom alone they were to manifest, is in them; and the
Father, whom Christ had perfectly manifested, is in Him. The world (for this will
be in the millennial glory, and manifested to the world) will then know (He
does not say, "that it may believe") that Jesus had been sent by the
Father (how deny it, when He should be seen in glory?) and, moreover, that the
disciples had been loved by the Father, even as Jesus Himself was loved. The
fact of their possessing the same glory as Christ would be the proof.
But there was yet more. There is that which the world
will not see, because it will not be in it. "Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am." There we are not only like
Christ (conformed to the Son, bearing the image of the heavenly man before the
eyes of the world), but with Him where He is. Jesus desires that we should see
His glory. [3] Solace and encouragement for us, after
having partaken of His shame: but yet more precious, inasmuch as we see that He
who has been dishonoured as man, and because He became man for our sake, shall,
even on that account, be glorified with a glory above all other glory, save His
who has put all things under Him. For He speaks here of given glory. It is this
which is so precious to us, because He has acquired it by His sufferings for
us, and yet it is what was perfectly due to Him-the just reward for having, in
them, perfectly glorified the Father. Now, this is a peculiar joy, entirely
beyond the world. The world will see the glory that we have in common with
Christ, and will know that we have been loved as Christ was loved. But there is
a secret for those who love Him, which belongs to His Person and to our
association with Himself. The Father loved Him before the world was-a love in
which there is no question of comparison but of that which is infinite,
perfect, and thus in itself satisfying. We shall share this in the sense of
seeing our Beloved in it, and of being with Him, and of beholding the glory
which the Father has given Him, according to the love wherewith He loved Him
before the world had any part whatever in the dealings of God. Up to this we
were in the world; here in heaven, out of all the world's claims or
apprehension (Christ seen in the fruit of that love which the Fatherhad for Him
before the world existed). Christ, then, was the Father's delight. We see Him
in the eternal fruit of that love as Man. We shall be in it with Him for ever,
to enjoy His being in it-that our Jesus, our Beloved, is in it, and is what He
is.
Meantime, being such, there was justice in the dealings
of God with regard to His rejection. He had fully, perfectly, manifested the
Father. The world had not known Him, but Jesus had known Him, and the disciples
had known that the Father had sent Him. He appeals here, not to the holiness of
the Father, that He might keep them according to that blessed name, but to the
righteousness of the Father, that He might make a distinction between the world
on one side, and Jesus with His own on the other; for there was the moral
reason as well as the ineffable love of the Father for the Son. And Jesus would
have us enjoy, while here below, the consciousness that the distinction has
been made by the communications of grace, before it is made by judgment.
He had declared unto them the Father's name, and would
declare it, even when He had gone up on high, in order that the love wherewith
the Father had loved Him might be in them (that their hearts might possess it
in this world-what grace!) and Jesus Himself in them, the communicator of that
love, the source of strength to enjoy it, conducting it, so to speak, in all
the perfection in which He enjoyed it, into their hearts, in which He
dwelt-Himself the strength, the life, the competency, the right, and the means
of enjoying it thus, and as such, in the heart. For it is in the Son who declares
it to us, that we know the name of the Father whom He reveals to us. That is,
He would have us enjoy now that relationship in love in which we shall see Him
in heaven. The world will know we have been loved as Jesus when we appear in
the same glory with Him; but our part is to know it now, Christ being in us.
[1] The
more we examine the Gospel of John, the more we shall see One who speaks and
acts as a divine Person-one with the Father-alone could do, but yet always as
One who had taken the place of a servant, and takes nothing to Himself, but
receives all from His Father. "I have glorified thee": "now
glorify me." What language of equality of nature and love! but He does not
say, And now I will glorify myself. He has taken the place of man to receive
all, though it be a glory He had with the Father before the world was. This is
of exquisite beauty. I add, it was out of this the enemy sought to seduce Him, in
vain, in the wilderness.
[2]
There are three unities spoken of. First of the disciples, "as we
are," unity by the power of one Spirit in thought, purpose, mind, service,
the Holy Ghost making them all one, their path in common, the expression of His
mind and power, and of nothing else. Then, of those who should believe through
their means, unity in communion with the Father and the Son, "one in
us"-still by the Holy Ghost but, as brought into that, as already said
above, as in 1 John 1:3. Then unity in glory, "perfect in one," in
manifestation and descending revelation, the Father in the Son, and the Son in
all of them. The second was for the world's believing, the third for its
knowing. The two first were literally accomplished according to the terms in
which they are expressed. How far believers are departed from them since need
not be said.
[3] This
answers to Moses and Elias entering into the cloud, besides their display in
the same glory as Christ, standing on the mountain.
── John Darby《Synopsis of John》
John 17
Chapter Contents
Christ's prayer for himself. (1-5) His prayer for his
disciples. (6-10) His prayer. (11-26)
Commentary on John 17:1-5
(Read John 17:1-5)
Our Lord prayed as a man, and as the Mediator of his
people; yet he spoke with majesty and authority, as one with and equal to the
Father. Eternal life could not be given to believers, unless Christ, their
Surety, both glorified the Father, and was glorified of him. This is the
sinner's way to eternal life, and when this knowledge shall be made perfect,
holiness and happiness will be fully enjoyed. The holiness and happiness of the
redeemed, are especially that glory of Christ, and of his Father, which was the
joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame; this
glory was the end of the sorrow of his soul, and in obtaining it he was fully
satisfied. Thus we are taught that our glorifying God is needed as an evidence
of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal life is God's free gift.
Commentary on John 17:6-10.
(Read John 17:6-10.)
Christ prays for those that are his. Thou gavest them me,
as sheep to the shepherd, to be kept; as a patient to the physician, to be
cured; as children to a tutor, to be taught: thus he will deliver up his
charge. It is a great satisfaction to us, in our reliance upon Christ, that he,
all he is and has, and all he said and did, all he is doing and will do, are of
God. Christ offered this prayer for his people alone as believers; not for the
world at large. Yet no one who desires to come to the Father, and is conscious
that he is unworthy to come in his own name, need be discouraged by the
Saviour's declaration, for he is both able and willing to save to the
uttermost, all that come unto God by him. Earnest convictions and desires, are
hopeful tokens of a work already wrought in a man; they begin to evidence that
he has been chosen unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth. They are thine; wilt thou not provide for thine own? Wilt
thou not secure them? Observe the foundation on which this plea is grounded,
All mine are thine, and thine are mine. This speaks the Father and Son to be
one. All mine are thine. The Son owns none for his, that are not devoted to the
service of the Father.
Commentary on John 17:11-16
(Read John 17:11-16)
Christ does not pray that they might be rich and great in
the world, but that they might be kept from sin, strengthened for their duty,
and brought safe to heaven. The prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity.
He pleaded with his holy Father, that he would keep them by his power and for
his glory, that they might be united in affection and labours, even according
to the union of the Father and the Son. He did not pray that his disciples
should be removed out of the world, that they might escape the rage of men, for
they had a great work to do for the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind.
But he prayed that the Father would keep them from the evil, from being
corrupted by the world, the remains of sin in their hearts, and from the power
and craft of Satan. So that they might pass through the world as through an
enemy's country, as he had done. They are not left here to pursue the same
objects as the men around them, but to glorify God, and to serve their
generation. The Spirit of God in true Christians is opposed to the spirit of
the world.
Commentary on John 17:17-19
(Read John 17:17-19)
Christ next prayed for the disciples, that they might not
only be kept from evil, but made good. It is the prayer of Jesus for all that
are his, that they may be made holy. Even disciples must pray for sanctifying
grace. The means of giving this grace is, "through thy truth, thy word is
truth." Sanctify them, set them apart for thyself and thy service. Own
them in the office; let thy hand go with them. Jesus entirely devoted himself
to his undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially the offering up himself
without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. The real holiness of all true
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. If our views
have not this effect on us, they are not Divine truth, or we do not receive
them by a living and a working faith, but as mere notions.
Commentary on John 17:20-23
(Read John 17:20-23)
Our Lord especially prayed, that all believers might be
as one body under one head, animated by one soul, by their union with Christ
and the Father in him, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. The more they
dispute about lesser things, the more they throw doubts upon Christianity. Let
us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, praying that
all believers may be more and more united in one mind and one judgment. Thus
shall we convince the world of the truth and excellence of our religion, and
find more sweet communion with God and his saints.
Commentary on John 17:24-26
(Read John 17:24-26)
Christ, as one with the Father, claimed on behalf of all
that had been given to him, and should in due time believe on him, that they
should be brought to heaven; and that there the whole company of the redeemed
might behold his glory as their beloved Friend and Brother, and therein find
happiness. He had declared and would further declare the name or character of
God, by his doctrine and his Spirit, that, being one with him, the love of the
Father to him might abide with them also. Thus, being joined to Him by one
Spirit, they might be filled with all the fulness of God, and enjoy a
blessedness of which we can form no right idea in our present state.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on John》
John 17
Verse 2
[2] As
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh — This answers to glorify thy Son. That he may give eternal life,
etc.-This answers to that thy Son may glorify thee.
To all whom thou hast given him — To all believers. This is a clear proof that Christ designed his
sacrifice should avail for all: yea, that all flesh, every man, should partake
of everlasting life. For as the Father had given him power over all flesh, so
he gave himself a ransom for all.
Verse 3
[3] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
To know — By
loving, holy faith, thee the only true God - The only cause and end of all
things; not excluding the Son and the Holy Ghost, no more than the Father is
excluded from being Lord, 1 Corinthians 8:6; but the false gods of the
heathens; and Jesus Christ - As their prophet, priest, and king: this is life
eternal - It is both the way to, and the essence of, everlasting happiness.
Verse 4
[4] I
have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do.
I have finished the work — Thus have I glorified thee, laying the foundation of thy kingdom on
earth.
Verse 5
[5] And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was.
The glory which I had — He does not say received - He always had it, till he emptied himself of
it in the days of his flesh.
Verse 6
[6] I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the
world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
I have manifested thy name — All thy attributes; and in particular thy paternal relation to
believers; to the men whom thou hast given me - The apostles, and so John 17:12.
They were thine — By
creation, and by descent from Abraham.
And thou hast given them me — By giving them faith in what I have spoken. So John 17:9.
Verse 7
[7] Now
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Now they know that all things — Which I have done and spoken, are of thee - And consequently right and
true.
Verse 8
[8] For
I have given unto them the words 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.
They have received them — By faith.
Verse 9
[9] I
pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;
for they are thine.
I pray not for the world — Not in these petitions, which are adapted to the state of believers
only. (He prays for the world at John 17:21,23, that they may believe - That they
may know God hath sent him.) This no more proves that our Lord did not pray for
the world, both before and afterward, than his praying for the apostles alone, John 17:6-19, proves that he did not pray for
them also which shall believe through their word, John 17:20.
Verse 10
[10] And
all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
All things that are mine are thine, and that
are thine are mine — These are very high and strong
expressions, too grand for any mere creature to use; as implying that all
things whatsoever, inclusive of the Divine nature, perfections, and operations,
are the common property of the Father and the Son. And this is the original
ground of that peculiar property, which both the Father and the Son have in the
persons who were given to Christ as Mediator; according to what is said in the
close of the verse, of his being glorified by them; namely, believing in him,
and so acknowledging his glory.
Verse 11
[11] And
now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one, as we are.
Keep them through thy name — Thy power, mercy, wisdom, that they may be one - with us and with each
other; one body, separate from the world: as we are - By resemblance to us,
though not equality.
Verse 12
[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 might be fulfilled.
Those whom thou hast given me I have guarded,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition — So
one even of them whom God had given him is lost. So far was even that decree
from being unchangeable! That the Scripture might be fulfilled - That is,
whereby the Scripture was fulfilled. The son of perdition signifies one that
deservedly perishes; as a son of death, 2 Samuel 12:5; children of hell, Matthew 23:15, and children of wrath, Ephesians 2:3, signify persons justly obnoxious
to death, hell, wrath. Psalms 109:8.
Verse 13
[13] And
now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have
my joy fulfilled in themselves.
In the world —
That is, before I leave the world.
My joy —
The joy I feel at going to the Father.
Verse 15
[15] I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil.
That thou wouldest take them out of the world — Not yet: but that thou wouldest keep them from the evil one - Who reigns
therein.
Verse 17
[17]
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Sanctify —
Consecrate them by the anointing of thy Spirit to their office, and perfect
them in holiness, by means of thy word.
Verse 19
[19] And
for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth.
I sanctify myself — I
devote myself as a victim, to be sacrificed.
Verse 20
[20]
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word;
For them who will believe — In all ages.
Verse 21
[21] That
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
As thou art in me —
This also is to be understood in a way of similitude, and not of sameness or
equality.
That the world may believe — Here Christ prays for the world. Observe the sum of his whole prayer, 1.
Receive me into thy own and my glory; 2. Let my apostles share therein; 3. And
all other believers: 4. And let all the world believe.
Verse 22
[22] And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one:
The glory which thou hast given me, I have
given them — The glory of the only begotten shines in
all the sons of God. How great is the majesty of Christians.
Verse 24
[24]
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am;
that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me
before the foundation of the world.
Here he returns to the apostles.
I will — He
asks, as having a right to be heard, and prays, not as a servant, but a Son: that
they may behold my glory - Herein Is the happiness of heaven, 1 John 3:2.
Verse 25
[25] O
righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and
these have known that thou hast sent me.
Righteous Father —
The admission of believers to God through Christ, flows even from the justice
of God.
Verse 26
[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.
I have declared to them thy name — Thy new, best name of love; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me -
That thou and thy love, and I and my love, may be in them - That they may love
me with that love.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on John》
Chapter 17. Jesus' Intercession
Glory of
Oneness
Shame of Separation
I. Jesus Prays
for Himself
II. Jesus Prays
for Disciples
III. Jesus
Prays for Believers
── Chih-Hsin Chang《An Outline of The New Testament》
That The World May Know (17:20-23)
INTRODUCTION
1. Shortly before His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion, Jesus prayed to His Father... a. For Himself - Jn 17:1-5 b. For His disciples - Jn 17:6-19 c. For all His future believers - Jn 17:20-26 2. His prayer is truly remarkable... a. It has been called "The Lord's High Priestly Prayer" b. It is truly "The Lord's Prayer", a title normally given to the sample prayer found in Mt 6:9-13; Lk 11:2-4 3. We learn what weighed heavily on our Lord's mind, knowing that "the hour has come"... a. He sought to be glorified by His Father b. He was concerned for the well-being of His disciples c. He wanted His followers to be one, even as He and the Father were one - Jn 17:20-23 4. It is our Lord's concern for unity that I want us to examine in this study... a. Why was unity so important to Jesus? b. What has Jesus done that it might be accomplished? c. In our religiously divided world today, how can we maintain unity among those who believe in Jesus? [As we look closer at our text (Jn 17:20-23), we are immediatelyimpressed with...] I. THE IMPORTANCE OF UNITY
A. "THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE" - Jn 17:21 1. Without unity, it is difficult to persuade unbelievers that Jesus came from God a. Those in the world care little about doctrine and theological distinctions b. But in a world with racial, ethnic and cultural divisions, unity can capture their attention! 2. This is not to say that doctrine is not important! a. Jesus had already emphasized the importance of abiding in His word - Jn 8:31 b. But the proclamation of truth must be accompanied by unity 3. When we are united in Christ, it gives credence to our claims a. That Jesus was sent from God b. That as the Son of God who rose from the dead... 1) He lives in our hearts 2) He has transformed our lives by the power of His resurrected life! -- Which is why some have referred to unity as "The FinalApologetic" (Schaeffer)
B. "THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW" - Jn 17:23 1. Jesus again emphasizes the power of unity among His disciples to convince an unbelieving world! 2. Not only that they may know God sent Jesus... a. But that God has also loved them! - Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:9-10 b. Indeed, even as God loves His only begotten Son ("as Youhave loved Me")!
3. What a powerful message we have to share with the world! a. God loves them even as He loves His Son! b. But to convince the world of such love, unity among disciples is imperative! [In light of Jesus' prayer for unity, no true disciple can be contentwith religious division as it exists today (cf. 1 Co 1:10). Paramount in our discipleship should be efforts to eliminate any kind ofreligious division that is contrary to the will of Christ! But how can we be one, even as the Father and the Son are one? Hereare some thoughts on...] II. THE ATTAINMENT OF UNITY
A. JESUS HAS PROVIDED "GLORY" FOR US TO BE ONE... 1. "Glory" which He had received from the Father - Jn 17:22 a. Which He had given to His disciples b. Which enabled them to be one just as He and the Father were one! 2. What is this "glory" to which Jesus refers? a. It may involve the idea of Jesus abiding in us 1) I.e., the glory of Jesus abiding in us even as the Father abides in the Son 2) Through such abiding, we may be made perfect in one - Jn 17:23 b. Certainly without abiding in Jesus, we can do nothing - cf. Jn 15:4-5 [Whatever the "glory" refers to, we should note that true unity comes from Jesus Himself; with this in mind, note the following...] B. JESUS ATTAINED UNITY THROUGH HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS... 1. As Paul expounded in Ep 2:14-16 a. The division between Jew and Gentile ended at the cross b. Jesus died to make it possible for us to be one body! - Ep 4:4 2. When we come to Christ through obedience to His gospel, we are united with all believers in His one body! a. We are baptized into one body - 1 Co 12:13 b. Thus we begin the Christian life united with all believers in Christ! [When it comes to "attaining" unity, Jesus accomplished the unity forwhich He prayed! Our challenge is "maintaining" this unity if we wishto honor Jesus' prayer...] III. THE MAINTENANCE OF UNITY
A. REQUIRES THAT WE OBEY THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST... 1. Unity is impossible without adherence to the same standard a. Unless there were standards regarding weights and measures, confusion and division would result every time we went to the store b. Religious division occurs because people accept different standards of authority 1) Some accept the authority of a pope, presbytery, prophet, or preacher 2) We cannot maintain the unity for which Jesus died unless we can agree on the same standard 2. For Christians our standard of authority must be that which... a. Originated from Christ - cf. Jn 8:31; Mt 28:18 b. Was delegated to His apostles - cf. Jn 13:20; Mt 28:20;Ac 2:42
c. Was proclaimed and written by His apostles - cf. 1 Th 2:13;1 Co 14:37
3. Taught by His apostles, we must be careful to... a. Observe ALL that He has commanded - Mt 28:20 b. Not allow traditions of men to make void the commandments of God - Mt 15:3-6 c. Not teach as doctrine the commandments of (uninspired) men - Mt 15:9 -- The "apostles' doctrine" (i.e., the New Testament) must be our standard of authority, even as Jesus acknowledged when He prayed "for those who will believe in Me through their word" (i.e., the apostles' teaching) - Jn 17:20 B. REQUIRES THAT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST... 1. As Paul instructed the Philippians - Ph 2:2-5 a. There is no place for selfish ambition or conceit b. We must esteem others highly, and look out for their interests 2. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians - Ep 4:1-3 a. We must manifest lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, forbearance in love b. With such diligence, we "keep" (maintain) the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace -- Without this "mind" of Christ, we will misuse the word of God and destroy the unity Jesus attained through His death on the cross! [With His doctrine before us, His mind in us, we can maintain the unityJesus attained. With lives transformed by His teachings and Hisattitude, we provide visible proof to the world that Jesus did come
from God and that the Father loves them also. Finally, some thoughts about a providing a "visible" unity ("That TheWorld May Know")...]
IV. THE DEMONSTRATION OF UNITY
A. MUST BE MANIFESTED IN THE LOCAL CHURCH 1. It is in the context of the local congregation that unity will be most evident a. For that is where interaction of Christians most often occurs b. Note that the warnings against division were often addressed in the context of the local church - e.g., 1 Co1:10-13; 3:3-4; 11:18
2. Therefore unity truly begins "at home" a. We may rightly deplore the religious division elsewhere b. But our first concern must be preserving unity in our own congregation! c. How sad when those who condemn religious division in the denominations can't even preserve unity in their own congregation! B. PRECLUDES ORGANIZATION ABOVE THE LOCAL CHURCH 1. In the New Testament, each congregation was self-governing and independent a. Governed by a plurality of elders (bishops, pastors) whose authority was limited to the flock of God among them - cf. Ac 14:23; 20:28; 1 Pe 5:1-2 b. There was no authority above the local congregation other than that of Christ and His apostles 2. It was only after the apostles died that things soon changed a. "During the second century A.D. churches came to have a single bishop, and then that bishop came to exercise oversight over nearby rural churches as well as the city church so that his ecclesiastical territory became known as a "diocese" or "see" ("eparchy" in the East). Bishops of churches that had been founded by apostles were said to be in succession to the apostles, and hence their teaching was held to be authentic and their authority collegial. By 400 A.D. in the West, the bishop of Rome extraordinary authority above other bishops." (Holman Bible
Dictionary) b. "Ignatius shows that in the early second century the office of bishop over the elders had developed, but Lightfoot hasshown that it was not so in the first century." (Word
Pictures, A. T. Robinson) 3. Such changes were not only unscriptural, but set the stage for denominational division a. Churches were expected to line up under one bishop, patriarch, or council b. Rather than let the Lord Himself judge each church (cf. Re2-3), religious hierarchies began determining which
churches were faithful c. This has led to the denominational division so rampant today, and which presents a religiously divided picture to the world! -- As long as the denominational practice of organizing churches under some hierarchy above the local church continues, religious division will remain! CONCLUSION
1. No true disciple of Jesus should treat religious division with nonchalance... a. It is contrary to our Lord's prayer for unity - Jn 17:20-23 b. It is condemned by Paul as a manifestation of carnality - 1 Co 3:3-4
2. Unity among disciples of Christ must be a primary concern, for Jesus... a. Died on the cross to attain unity b. Believed it to be "The Final Apologetic" to convince the world that He came from God 3. Since Jesus attained unity through His death, our task is to maintain it by... a. Following the doctrine of Christ as communicated through His apostles b. Displaying the mind of Christ as we interact with one another in our local churches c. Honoring the New Testament pattern of church organization, which is designed to slow the growth of religious division whenever it occurs It is not always possible to avoid religious division (cf. 1 Co 11:19),but may we do all we can to preserve the unity we enjoy in Christ!
－－《Executable
Outlines》