John 18:9

thou gavest me have I lost Better, Thou hast given me I lost (see on John 17:4). The reference is to John 17:12, and is a strong, confirmation of the historical truth of chap. 17. If the prayer were the composition of the Evangelist to set forth in an ideal form Christ's mental condition at the time, this reference to a definite portion of it would be most unnatural. The change from -not one of them perished" to -I lost of them not one" brings out more clearly the protective intervention of Christ.

It does not follow, because S. John gives this interpretation of Christ's words, that therefore they have no other. This was a first fulfilment, within an hour or two of their utterance, an earnest of a larger fulfilment in the future. The meaning here must not be limited to bodily preservation. Had they been captured, apostasy (at least for a time) might have been the result, as was actually the case with S. Peter.