John 17:15

ἐκ τ. πονηροῦ. From the evil one: comp. 1 John 2:13-14; 1 John 3:12, and especially John 5:18-19. The world and the Gospel are regarded as in ceaseless opposition in S. John’s writings, and the evil one is ‘the ruler of this world’ (John 12:31; John 16:11). Just as Christ is that in which His disciples live and move, so the evil one is that out of which (ἐκ) He prays that they may be kept. Believers are ἐν τῷ�, ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ (1 John 5:20): but the world ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται. In 1 John 4:4 we have the opposite mode of statement; Christ is in believers and the evil one is in the world. All these passages seem to shew that τοῦ πονηροῦ must be masculine.