Chapter Seventeen

1–26. The High Priestly Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. 37

Christ’s farewell discourse with the disciples is complete. But before going to meet the enemies who will lead Him to trial and torture, Christ pronounces a solemn prayer to the Father for Himself, for His disciples, and for His future Church, as the great High Priest of mankind. This prayer can be divided into three parts.

In the first part (verses 1–8), Christ prays for Himself. He asks for His own glorification, or for the gift to Him, as the God-man, of divine greatness, since He is the cornerstone of the Church, and the Church can attain its goal only when its Head—Christ—is glorified.

In the second part (verses 9–19), Christ intercedes for His disciples. He asks the Father to protect them from the evil that reigns in the world, and to sanctify them by the divine truth, for they represent the continuation of Christ’s work in the world. The world will receive the word of Christ in purity and with all its heavenly power only when the apostles themselves are established in this word and sanctified by its power.

In the third part (verses 20–26), Christ prays for those who believe in Him. In order for those who believe in Christ to accomplish their calling, to constitute the Church of Christ, they must maintain unity with each other, and it is for the maintenance of this unity among believers that Christ beseeches the Father. But first of all they must be in unity with the Father and Christ.

John 17:1. After saying these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said: Father! The time has come; glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify You, “Jesus looked up to heaven”—see the commentary to John 11:41. “Father! The time has come.” The time of glorification has come for Christ, because the time of death has come (cf. John 12:23). The victory over death, the devil, and the world has already, so to speak, been won by Christ—the time has come for the Son to receive the heavenly glory in which He abided before His incarnation (cf. verse 5). “And may Your Son glorify You.” Christ glorified His Father before (cf. Matt 9:8), just as the Father glorified Christ before (cf. John 12:28). But Christ’s glorification of God the Father has not yet been brought to its perfect fullness, while Christ still remains on the earth, in the conditions of existence that limit the full manifestation of His glory. Only when He, with His glorified flesh, sits again on the Divine throne, will it be possible for the complete revelation of His glory and the Father’s glory, which consists in drawing all the ends of the earth to Christ.

John 17:2. since You have given Him authority over all flesh, so that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. “Since You have given Him authority” is better rendered “in accordance with what” (καθώσ). Christ here explains His right to such glorification. This right is given to Him by the greatness of the work entrusted to Him by the Father—the salvation of people. “Over all flesh.” All of humanity, which is here called “flesh” because of its spiritual weakness, its powerlessness in accomplishing its own salvation (cf. Isa 40:6 and following), has been given into the authority of the Son. But, of course, it is only from heaven, from the heavenly throne that Christ can exercise this authority, make it real for countless millions of people scattered all over the earth (and this authority, once given, cannot and should not remain unused by Christ for the benefit of humanity and the glory of God’s name). Consequently, the Lord has every right and reason to ask the Father to glorify Him and with a higher, heavenly glory in His humanity as well. “So that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Christ has now spoken about the fact that the power given to Him over all humanity should be exercised. But in what direction this power will be exercised He has not yet determined. It could be manifested in the fact that Christ saves many people, but undoubtedly, by virtue of the same power, at the last judgment Christ will condemn many for their refusal to accept salvation from His hands. Now He speaks definitely that salvation, or rather, “eternal life” (cf. John 3:15), He wishes, in accordance with the Father’s will, to give not to all, but only to those who have been given to Him, whom the Father has specially drawn to Him as worthy of salvation (cf. John 6:37).

John 17:3. And this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. “And this is eternal life...” It seems that true eternal life consists, then, only in the knowledge of God. But Christ could not have expressed such a thought, because true knowledge of God does not guard a person from the loss of love (1 Cor 13:2). It is more correct to say, therefore, that here by “knowledge” is meant not only the theoretical assimilation of the truths of faith, but also the inclination of the heart toward God and Christ, true love. “The only true God.” Christ speaks of God in this way to point to the contrast between the knowledge of God which He has in mind and the incorrect knowledge that the pagans had of God, who transferred the glory of the One God to many gods (Rom 1:23). “And Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Here Christ calls Himself by this name for the first time. “Jesus Christ” now becomes His name, which later in the mouths of the apostles becomes His usual designation (Acts 2:38 and so on). The Lord thus in this last prayer of His, spoken aloud before the disciples, gives, so to speak, a certain formula which should subsequently be used in Christian society. It is quite probable that Christ proposes such a designation in opposition to the Jewish view of Him, according to which He was simply “Jesus” (cf. John 9:11). According to the opinion of negative criticism (for example, Beyschlag), Christ here clearly says that the Father is God, while He Himself is not God at all. But against such an objection it must be said that Christ is contrasting the Father as the one true God here not with Himself, but with the false gods whom the pagans honored. Then Christ says that knowledge of God the Father is attainable only through Him, Christ, and that knowledge of Christ Himself is as necessary for obtaining eternal life or salvation as knowledge of God the Father. Is it not clear that in this He testifies about Himself as one with God the Father in essence? As for the fact that He speaks of knowledge of Him separately from knowledge of God the Father, this, according to the observation of Znamensky, is explained by the fact that for the attainment of eternal life it is necessary to believe not only in God, but also in the redemption of humanity before God, which was accomplished by the Son of God through the fact that He became the Messiah—the God-man, sent from God the Father into the world.

John 17:4. I have glorified You on earth, completing the work that You gave Me to do. John 17:5. And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed. A new motive for fulfilling Christ’s request for glorification consists in the fact that He has already, so to speak, objectively fulfilled the task entrusted to Him (see verse 3)—communicated to people the saving knowledge of the Father and of Himself. By this He has already glorified the Father, although, of course, only on earth, in the state of His humiliation. Now let the Father, in His turn, glorify Christ in His own presence, that is, raise Him to heaven and give Him that greatness in which He has abided from eternity (cf. John 1:1 and following; John 8:58). Christ possessed divine glory on earth, but this glory was nevertheless hidden and only occasionally flashed forth (for example, in the Transfiguration). Soon it will overshadow the entire Christ—the God-man—with all its magnitude.

John 17:6. I have revealed Your name to the people whom You gave Me from the world; they were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. John 17:7. Now they know that everything You have given Me is from You; John 17:8. for the words that You gave Me I have given them, and they have received them and truly know that I came from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. Speaking of the fulfillment of the task entrusted to Him in the subjective sense, namely of those results which He has achieved in the inner circle of those given to Him from the Father—the chosen ones—achieved through His teaching and deeds (cf. John 14:9 and following), Christ points out that He revealed to these people the “name” of the Father, that is, gave these chosen ones to know that God truly is a Father, that He loves all people and therefore from eternity determined to redeem them from sin, condemnation, and death. “They were Yours.” The apostles belonged to God even before they turned to Christ. Such was, for example, Nathanael—a true Israelite (John 1:48). “They have kept Your word.” Christ in this way recognizes the Gospel which He proclaimed not as His own, but as the word of the Father. The apostles received it as such and have kept it in their soul thus far. The Lord, saying that the apostles kept the word transmitted to them through Him, probably has in mind the statements which were made on their behalf by the apostle Peter (John 6:68) and by all of them (John 16:29). “Now they know...” With the understanding that everything Christ has told them has been given to Him by God is connected, of course, the entry onto the path of eternal life (cf. verse 3). “For the words that You gave Me...” The disciples came to such understanding because Christ, for His part, hid nothing from them (understandably, except what they could not understand, cf. John 16:12) and, on the other hand, because the apostles received Christ’s words with faith. It seems that here the understanding of Christ’s divine dignity (“that I came from You”) precedes faith in His Messianic dignity (“that You sent Me”). But in reality both occur simultaneously, and faith in Christ’s Divinity is placed first only by virtue of its superior importance.

John 17:9. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, because they are Yours. Christ is the Intercessor for the whole world (1 Tim 2:5-6) and desires to save all people (John 10:16). But at the present moment His thoughts are occupied with the fate of only those who are entrusted to Him and who must continue His work on earth. The world, for now, holds itself as hostile to Christ, and Christ has no occasion to speak to the Father at this moment about how he would wish to arrange the affairs of this world so foreign to Him. His care is entirely focused on the apostles as those for whom He must give account to the Father.

John 17:10. All that is Mine is Yours, and all that is Yours is Mine; and I am glorified in them. Observing that not only the apostles but all things are common between Him and the Father, Christ, as a motivation for a special prayer for them, points to the circumstance that He has already been glorified in them. Of course, He speaks of the future activity of the apostles, but by confidence in them He depicts their activity as already accomplished, as constituting the possession of history (“I am glorified in them”).

John 17:11. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one, as We are one. Here a new motive for prayer for the apostles appears. They will remain alone in this world hostile to them: Christ is departing from them. “Holy Father.” God’s holiness consists in the fact that God is infinitely exalted above the world, separated from it as the totality of all imperfection and sinfulness, but at the same time can always come into the world for salvation or for judgment. “Keep them.” As one completely without sin and at the same time punishing sinners and saving the righteous, the Father can preserve the apostles from the influence of worldly vices and from the persecutions of the world. “In Your name”: better read “in Your name” (in the Greek text it is read ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου). God’s name serves, as it were, as the central point where the apostles find refuge from the influence of the world. Finding shelter here, they will recognize each other as spiritual brothers, as people who are distinguished from those who live in the world. In the name of God, or rather, in God Himself, the apostles will find the support necessary for maintaining the unity among themselves that exists between the Father and the Son. And this unity is most necessary for them so that all their activity will be successful. Only by united efforts will they be able to win victory over the world.

John 17:12. While I was with them in the world, I protected them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have guarded, and not one of them has been lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Until now Christ Himself was doing the work which He now asks the Father to take upon Himself. And He did this work successfully: eleven apostles are preserved; they stand here near Christ. If one of those entrusted to Him was lost, Christ is not guilty of his destruction. The Holy Scripture itself foretold this fact (Ps 108:17). The Lord, evidently, wishes by this reference to the words of the Psalmist to say the same thing he said in chapter 13 (John 13:18).

John 17:13. But now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy made complete in themselves. Since Christ must now depart from the disciples, He purposely speaks His prayer for them aloud, while He still remains with them “in the world.” Let them hear, let them know to whom He is entrusting them. This knowledge that the Father Himself has become their protector will keep them from spiritual despair in the face of the trials that are approaching.

John 17:14. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Here the need of the apostles for protection from the Father is even more clearly defined (cf. verse 11). On the one hand, through the word given to them from the Father (verse 8), the disciples are separated from fellowship with the world; on the other hand, for the same reason, like Christ (cf. John 8:23), they have become the object of hatred for the world (John 15:18-19).

John 17:15. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Of course, to protect the disciples from the hatred of the world, one could take them out of the world. But the world cannot get along without them; it must receive from them the message about the redemption accomplished by Christ. Therefore the Lord asks that in the apostolic work that lies before them, evil will not overcome them.

John 17:16. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. The Lord repeats the thought expressed in verse 14 in order to provide the foundation for the following request.

John 17:17. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. “Sanctify them” (ἀγίασον αὐτούς). Here the Lord speaks not only of keeping the apostles from corrupt worldly influences: He already asked the Father for this before; but also of supplying them with holiness in the positive sense of the word, which they need for the accomplishment of their future service. “In Your truth”: better—“in truth” (ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ). Christ immediately explains that this truth is the “word of the Father,” which Christ transmitted to the apostles (verses 8, 14). Once the apostles, with the help of the grace of the Father who will grant them this grace through the Holy Spirit, assimilate this “word,” they will prove themselves fully ready (sanctified) to spread this word throughout the world.

John 17:18. As You sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. The sanctification of the apostles is necessary in view of their high calling: they are sent by Christ with great authority, as Christ Himself was sent by the Father into the world.

John 17:19. And for their sakes I consecrate Myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. Before Christ asked the Father to sanctify the disciples for their high service. Now Christ adds that He Himself consecrates Himself to God in sacrifice so that the disciples may be fully sanctified. “For their sakes,” that is, for their benefit (ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν). “I consecrate Myself.” According to the interpretation of the holy fathers, here the discourse is precisely about Christ’s offering of Himself as a sacrifice (see, for example, in St. John Chrysostom). Some modern commentators object to such an explanation, pointing out that Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for all people, whereas here the discourse is only about the apostles. For this reason “consecration,” as understood, for example, by Zahn, is not the offering of a redemptive sacrifice, but the offering of what is called a dedicatory sacrifice, which was once offered by Aaron for himself and his sons (Num 8:11). But even if such an interpretation can be accepted, the essence of what Christ means here will not change, and what is important is that He offers in sacrifice, even if a dedicatory one, as He enters upon the service of high priest (“Myself,” ἐμαυτόν). To this self-sacrifice of His Christ points in order to underscore the special importance of the calling of the disciples. “So that they also may be sanctified.” Here “sanctification” (the same verb ἀγιάζειν is used as in the main clause) is undoubtedly understood as the consecration of the disciples to belong to God, their consecration to God’s service without direct allusion to the apostles’ offering of their own lives to God as a sacrifice. “In truth” (ἐν ἀληθείᾳ) is more precise, in opposition to the symbolic prefiguring consecration which took place in the Old Testament.

John 17:20. I am not asking only for them, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, The circle of persons for whom Christ deems it necessary to present His prayer to the Father is now expanding. If before He deemed it necessary to ask the Father only for the apostles, now He directs His prayer to the whole of His future Church, which will be formed from those who will believe the preaching or word of the apostles.

John 17:21. so that they all may be one. Just as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, may they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. Here are indicated three subjects or three goals to which the attention of the praying Christ is directed (the particle ἵνα—so that—is used three times). The first goal is contained in the request: “so that they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.” The unity of believers is here, evidently, understood as an agreement in the motives and goals of their spiritual aspirations. Of course, such exact unity as exists between the Father and Christ cannot exist among people. But, in any case, this highest unity between the Persons of the Godhead should always be presented to believing consciousness as an ideal. The second goal is determined by the words “and may they also be in Us.” Believers will only then be able to maintain mutual unity when they abide in the Father and the Son: the unity existing between the Father and the Son will contribute to strengthening the unity among believers. The third goal is special: “so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” The world, tormented by selfish aspirations, could never dream of achieving true unity of thoughts and feelings. Therefore, the harmony which it sees in Christian society will strike it with amazement, and from such amazement it will not be far to the transition also to faith in Christ as the Savior sent to people by God Himself. History of the Church indeed shows that such cases have occurred. Thus the unity of all believers, in turn, should itself serve the work of divine economy. The unbelievers, seeing the close unity of believers with each other and with the Father and the Son, will come to faith in Christ, who established such wonderful unity (cf. Rom 11:14).

John 17:22. The glory that You have given Me I have given them, so that they may be one, as We are one. John 17:23. I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. In order to make the unity of believers more firm, Christ has already made His first disciples partakers of His glory, which He possessed even on earth as the Only-begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14). Here one can discern an allusion to the power given to the apostles when they were first sent out to preach the ability to work miracles—a power which Christ did not take back (cf. Matt 10:1; Luke 9:54). And now He does not leave them: remaining in communion with Christ, they abide through this in communion with the Father as well, and in this way they attain perfect communion with each other. As a result, the whole world again receives spiritual benefit.

John 17:24. Father, I desire that those also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:25. Righteous Father, the world does not know You, but I know You; and these know that You have sent Me. John 17:26. And I have made Your name known to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. Here is the conclusion of the prayer. As the One whom the Father has loved before the creation of the world, the Son now expresses not a request, but a desire (“I desire”) that the believers—not only the apostles—be with Him and would contemplate His glory. It is quite probable that Christ is speaking here of His second coming to earth, coming in glory (Matt 24:30). Christ is fully confident in the fulfillment of His desire: the “righteous,” that is, just, Father cannot fail to fulfill His desire. It may be possible to deny glory to the world, which does not know the Father, but it cannot be possible to deny it to those who believe, whom Christ has already taught to know the Father and will continue to teach this (through the Spirit-Comforter). From Christ the Father will transfer His love to the believers (John 16:27). And since the eternal and immediate object of the Father’s love is Christ Himself, in whom the Father’s love rested completely, it means that, together with the Father’s love, Christ Himself enters into the souls of the believers. * * * This prayer of Christ has long been known by such a name. But interpreters of Scripture to this day explain the meaning of this name differently and not sufficiently soundly. Some say that Christ prays here to the Father as a high priest who has prepared to offer a great sacrifice for the sins of all humanity—to give for the redemption of people His own life. But such an explanation cannot be accepted, because this prayer does not contain clear indications of Christ’s death as a redemptive sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. Others, remembering that the chief duty of the high priest was to intercede for the people, see in this prayer a model of those intercessory prayers with which our eternal Intercessor, Christ, addresses His Father (1 John 2:1). But neither can one agree with this opinion, because here Christ does not appear as an intercessor, as He became after accomplishing redemption, when He entered into His glory, but only as one asking, who in a short time will enter into His glory and will intercede for people there, in heaven. It is not for nothing that Christ here uses the word Τρωτχν for His prayer, and not ἐντυγχάνειν. The first denotes a request, the fulfillment of which depends on the free decision of the person to whom the request is addressed, while the second denotes the intercession of one who lawfully enters as a mediator, whose voice cannot fail to be heard. Moreover, everywhere in this prayer the verb ἐρωτᾶν is used with the preposition περὶ, not with ὑπέρ. This indicates that Christ here does not appear as an intercessor for people, but as one asking on behalf of people especially close to Him. Therefore Bengel correctly translates throughout the entire chapter the preposition περί with δe and never—προ. The explanation given by Steineyer seems most correct, according to which Christ prays here as one just entering upon the service of high priest—a high priest offering Himself as a purification sacrifice for the sins of people.