John 17:3

“And this is life eternal, that they should know you the only true God and him whom you did send, even Jesus Messiah.”

This life, we now learn, consists of men entering a plane whereby they “know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent”. They enter into a deep and personal experience of God. They ‘know Him', that is, they ‘see' and enter under the personal rule of God (John 3:3) and receive a new spiritual awareness. To them God is no longer far off, but is real in their experience. But this will then lead on to them knowing Him in eternity in the fullness of His being and glory (Revelation 22:4).

It is significant that here Jesus alters His description from ‘Father' to ‘only true God', for here He is including Himself within the Godhead as the One member of the Triune Godhead sent from the only God in all His fullness. Being sent by God does not necessarily signify that He Himself was not God, any more than being sent by a Committee would necessarily involve not being a member of that Committee. Note also the exaltation of His own status as ‘Jesus Messiah (the anointed One)'. This is the first use of a term which will later become a regular one on the lips of His followers, and explains why they so easily took it up. He is the anointed representative of the one true God.

The combination of ‘the only true God' and ‘the One sent from God, the anointed One' is Heaven's view of Jesus' earthly life. We may liken the words to those of a committee member sent from his committee to act on their behalf. In communicating with the committee he would say to them ‘you sent me', distinguishing himself as the one sent, without intending to exclude himself from being a member of the committee. In the same way here Jesus Messiah was sent from the Godhead, as a member of the Godhead, but with His own unique task to fulfil as the unique representative of the Godhead, while not excluding Himself from the Godhead.

‘Even Jesus Messiah'. This is the first use of the combined term. No one today can fully appreciate the wonder, the awe, the excitement raised in those days by the idea of the Messiah. He was God's coming and expected deliverer! The beginnings of the title are found in Daniel 9:26 (compare also Isaiah 61:1), and in all previous references to the coming of a Saviour and Redeemer (often spoken of in terms of God or YHWH). It had been taken up by Jewish writers who tended to interpret him as a military figure, although others saw him as a great teacher. But all saw him as someone supremely sent from God. Jesus had previously only revealed Himself as Messiah to the Samaritan woman, and there it was in terms of the Samaritan expectation of ‘the Restorer'. Martha too had confessed Him as Messiah (John 11:27) and as we know from the other Gospels, so had Peter (Mark 8:29; Matthew 16:16), but in the latter case He forbade the disciples to make it known (Matthew 16:20) and reinterpreted it in terms of ‘the Son of Man' (Mark 8:31). Evil spirits also testified to Him as the Messiah (Christ) and He forbade them too (Luke 4:41). The only other direct references are in Matthew 23:8; Matthew 23:10 and Mark 9:41. But now that the danger of misinterpretation has passed He takes the title openly.

‘Even Jesus Messiah.' Some see this as a comment added by John, but if it was so it would be unique. While he does elsewhere add explanatory comments it is always as a sentence or more in order to explain things that Gentiles may not understand or as an expansion of a previous dissertation. There is hardly need for either here. It is therefore unlikely that this is an explanatory comment.

So this life is to be given to “as many as You have given him” (John 17:2 compare John 6:37; John 6:39; John 6:65; John 10:26). This is a reminder of God's sovereignty in the work of salvation, a sovereignty which He has put in Jesus' hands (v. 2). As we are told elsewhere, the Spirit works where He wills (John 3:8).