John 17 - Introduction

John 17. The High-Priestly Prayer. Various guesses (they are nothing more) have been made as to the scene: the upper chamber, or the way to Gethsemane, or the courts of the Temple. The substance of such a prayer may well have been remembered and handed down. It is clear that the language is Johannine, and that the process of translating has led to the same sort of modification that we find elsewhere in Jn. But it is equally clear that these Chapter s teach us much as to the source of the author's theology, and perhaps of some of the language in which it is expressed. The prayer is in three parts, natural to the circumstances of its presumed utterance; for Christ Himself (John 17:1), for His disciples (John 17:9), and for the wider circle of those whom they should bring into the fold (John 17:20).