College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

John 17:6-19

PRAYER FOR THE DISCIPLES

I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word.

Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee:

For the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that you didst send me.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine:

and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them.

And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are.

While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.

As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Queries

How were the disciples given to Jesus?

How did the perishing of the son of perdition fulfill the scripture?

How is God to keep the disciples from the evil one?

Paraphrase

I have explained Your nature and declared Your will unto the men who were chosen by You, out of all mankind, to be My apostles. They were Yours before, being sincere disciples of Your covenant under Moses, and You directed them to Me through Your Word; and Your Word in the Old Testament, in John the Baptist and in Me they have guarded in their hearts. These men are fully persuaded that all the doctrines and all the miraculous works which You have given Me are all really derived from You. They have come to this persuasion upon the surest evidence for I have taught them no other doctrine but that which You gave Me to teach. Being therefore fully persuaded that My teaching is in perfect harmony with Your divine nature they have accepted and appropriated it in their hearts and have known assuredly that I am the Holy One of Israel truly commissioned by You and have trusted in their hearts that You sent Me. I am praying in the last moments of My life on earth for these men particularly and not for the world in general because they are more especially Your servants for upon these few shall fall the responsibility of carrying on My work of redeeming sinful men. Everyone who serves Me and carries on My work serves You and everyone who serves You serves Me. And every disciple who is true to Me and serves Me in faithfulness and fruitfulness brings honor and glory to Me. And now, having finished the work You gave Me to do, I am no longer to continue in the world but I am coming back to Your presence. These servants of Mine, however, must remain in the world and so, Holy Father, I am praying that You will care for them and guard them in Your Word which You gave to Me in order that when they are sent forth to carry on My work they may be one in doctrine and in deed imitating the oneness of the Father and the Son. During My personal ministry among them I guarded them in the Word which You gave Me and none of them fell away except the son of perdition and his falling away was not due to any defect in My care for him but was because of his own unrepentant rebellion and fulfilled the prophecy of scripture showing the foreknowledge and omniscience of the Father. Now I am coming to You so I am praying and teaching and demonstrating My care for them and Your care for them in order that they may have the joy that I know from Your care made full to overflowing in themselves. I have given them every doctrine and precept of Yours necessary to fit them for converting the world. The world hates them and persecutes them because they will not conform to the world but are endeavoring to be even as I amnot conformed to the world. Nevertheless, Father, I am not praying that You should remove them out of the world and keep them from persecution, but I am praying that You will guard them through the power of Your Word and Your Providence from the fiery darts of the evil one. These men are not of the world for they are Mine and I am not of the world. I pray that, by the sanctifying power of Your Spirit operating upon their minds by Your word, they may be separated from worldliness and dedicated to proclaiming Your Word which is Truth. And, as You sent Me into the World with Your regenerating Truth, I am sending them into the world with Your Word to transform the world. In order that these men may have power to be transformed, separated from worldliness and effective in carrying out their commission I now fully dedicate Myself in atoning death and resurrection. This is the truth which will give them the power for such sanctification.

Summary

Jesus pours out His heart in prayer for this select group of disciples. Upon them shall fall the tremendous responsibility of carrying on God's message of redemption to all mankind. He prays for their oneness and their sanctification in the Word. He prays that the Heavenly Father will protect them and keep them from the evil one.

Comment

There should not be any problem with how the Father gave these eleven disciples to Jesus, John 17:7-8 are explanatory of John 17:6. John 17:6 is even self-explanatory. The Father gave them to the Son by drawing them to the Son (cf. our comments on John 6:41-51). The Father gave them to the Son when the Son manifested the Father's name to these men. When they received the teachings of Christ and accepted His deity and chose to follow Him it was because the Father had given them to Jesus. By the divine omniscience and omnipotence of the Father these disciples (which included even Judas Iscariot in the beginning) were given the opportunity to hear Jesus preach, witness His miracles and be invited to follow Him. Furthermore, in the divine providence of God, these men were prepared aforetime by the revelation of God to them in the Old Testament. This, we believe, is the significance of the phrase, thine they were. They were sons of the covenant of Moses, sons of Abraham and Israelites in whom there was no guile, i.e., they were sincere and honest men (except for one). Some of them had even become disciples of the Voice crying in the Wilderness, John the Baptist. They were eager to hear and do the will of Jehovah God. But even the prophet of the wilderness was God's delivery man to give these disciples unto the Christ (cf. John 1:29-34; John 3:22-36). So, these men were called by God through preaching and providencethrough divine doctrine and divine deeds. But each one was chosen on the condition that he answer and respond to the call of his own free will. Each one was tested and each one was free to follow or free to go away (cf. John 6:66-67).

All men are given to the Son through the same plan of redemption. Jesus stated (Matthew 11:25-30) that no one knows the Father except those towhom the Son wills to reveal Him. But Jesus went on to explain that every man who wanted to come to Him might do so by learning of Him. These men, however, were chosen out of the world, i.e., they were called to a special office (cf. Matthew 16:13-20; Matthew 18:18-20; John 20:19-23; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Ephesians 4:11). These men were called to be apostles; given a special office, a special commission, special gifts. It was the will of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:11) to give certain people in the first century church special offices and special gifts for the special reason that the supernatural will of God had not yet been completely recorded in writing. These men were given to Christ out of the world (a group specially set aside from the rest of mankind) to become foundation stones in the church of ChristChrist Himself being the chief cornerstone. And, despite their failure to comprehend the spiritual nature of the Kingdom of Christ, they kept (guarded) the word of the Father as Christ had revealed and taught it to them. They were persuaded of His deity, of His Messiahship. They not only guarded His word but they also preached His word when He sent them forth (Matthew 10:1-42).

They had just proclaimed their belief in the divine origin of His teaching (John 16:29-30). In John 17:7-8 Jesus confirms the sincerity of their former profession. They came to this wonderful knowledge by receiving the words which Jesus taught them and believed them. These men heard His teachings and allowed His word to have free course in them while others who heard His teachings did not (cf. John 8:37, John 5:38). These men were willing to do His will and thus knew His teachings to be of God while others were not willing (cf. John 7:17, John 3:19-21).

McGarvey (Fourfold Gospel) gives four reasons or pleas of Jesus as to why the Father should bless the disciples of the Son: (a) because they are the Son's property in a special sense as a gift from the Father; (b) because of their reception and retention of the truth and the resulting knowledge and belief; (c) because the Son is glorified in them; (d) and last because the Son must very soon leave them alone in the world, (John 17:6-11).

Jesus emphasizes, in John 17:9, that, at the moment, He is concentrating His intercessory prayer upon this especially selected group of disciples and not upon men (even believers) in general. The prayer for all future believers comes later (beginning at John 17:21). The meaning of John 17:9 is, Father, I am now praying especially for these eleven disciples; I am not at this moment praying for any other than these who have been given to Me for a special and an extremely responsible task. Jesus prayed for men of the worldeven for His enemies (Luke 23:34) and taught all His followers to do the same (cf. Matthew 5:44; 1 Timothy 2:1). But here, momentarily, His intercession is on behalf of a soon-to-be bereaved band of intimate friends and co-laborers. The last few hours preceding this prayer has been concentrated on preparing them for the time (soon to come) when they shall be offended and scattered like sheep. They are not only dear to the heart of the Incarnate Son but they are the Father's dear ones also. The statement in John 17:10 of the relationship between Father and Son is so astounding that it never becomes trite. The Son has the same authority as the Father; the Father has the same love as the Son. Jesus prays fervently for He knows that the Father loves all that belongs to the Son with the same fervency.

Jesus prays a special intercessory pray for these eleven for whatever they say and do from henceforth will reflect and represent Him and His church and whatever reflects and glorifies Christ will glorify God. Jesus is glorified in them because He redeemed them and chose them by gracenot by merit. He is also glorified in them when they, by their transformed lives, let their lights so shine that men may see their good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven. Jesus is glorified when they testify to Him by preaching His kingdom. Whatever they do to bring honor and glory to the Son brings honor and glory to the Father. Therefore Jesus prays that the Father will grant them all that is needful for their carrying out the purpose for which they have been given Him.

One thing that is definitely needed is a oneness of heart and mind and purpose. Jesus would soon leave them. The Word of God Incarnate, the Holy Spirit in the Flesh, kept them (except Judas Iscariot) united in oneness of mind and heart. Jesus, by His constant expressions of love, tender rebukes, stern exhortations and patiently repeated lessons bound them together as one. And now He must leave them in a physical sense, but He prays that His Spirit living in them through His Word and in the Name of the Father may keep them in this oneness. The prayer of Jesus here, we must remember, is specifically for these eleven disciples. The same request is made by Jesus in John 17:20-23 for all who believe in Him. The oneness which Jesus prays may exist in the disciples is a oneness deeper than any organizational union or hierarchical system. Jesus is not praying that the disciples organize themselves into a group with a pope and bishops and laymen. He is praying that they will so partake of the divine nature that there will be a oneness of their spirit with the Spirit of God. As Hendriksen puts it, In God the unity is basic to the unity of manifestation. Before the disciples can present to the world a unified program of evangelization, they must be made one in Christ by allowing His Spirit to live in them. There can never be Christian unity until Christians individually and collectively surrender to the authority of God's Word and allow His Spirit to dwell in them. We shall say more about this later on. Christ here prays for the spiritual regeneration, sanctification and oneness in the divine name and with the divine nature which brings forth a unified proclamation and practice. Of course, the disciples cannot expect to attain the same essential oneness which belongs to the Father and the Son, nor did Jesus pray for such a oneness. He simply prayed that they might be kept in His name (His name means His mind, will, doctrine, Spirit, personality, authority) in order that they may be one with Christ and with one another in word and deed, similarly as Christ and the Father are one.

Westcott says, ... all spiritual truth is gathered up in -the name-' of God, the perfect expression (for men) of what God is, which name-' the Father gave to the Son to declare when He took man's nature upon Him. (Cf. Exodus 23:21) It is this truth with which Christ the Logos captured and guarded (kept) the disciples while He was with them. It was His deity and doctrine which kept them (cf. John 6:68). And not one of them fell away but Judas Iscariot, the son of perdition. The term son was given by the Hebrews to those who possessed the character described by the word or name following (cf. sons of Belial; sons of light, sons of the prophets, etc.). Judas was called by the One who reads the heartson of perdition. Judas was a thief, traitor and murderer from the beginning. But Matthew was a tax-collector and James and John were hot-tempered fishermen. The difference was that the Word of God and the personality of Christ changed their natures when they surrendered their wills to Him. In fact there were many different personalities and persuasions among that band of twelve but subsequent history of the eleven demonstrates the power of the Spirit of Christ to keep them one in love, doctrine and purpose. R. C. Foster says, This prayer, in so far as it applied directly to the early Christians was fulfilled. The apostles stood up on the day of Pentecost an absolute unit in faith and love and in the declaration of a single, tremendous proclamation. The early preaching of the gospel would not have been powerful had it not been for this unity. Difference of opinion as to method (Paul and Barnabas) developed in the apostolic church but unity of faith remained until after the gospel was given its final form in the N.T. (Parenthesis ours).

The title son of perishing was not a title given to Judas by foreordination of predestination apart from his own choosing but one which described the very nature of Judas-' own willful determination to remain a thief and traitor. There is no indication that Jesus was including Judas in His prayer for the disciples this night. He had prayed many times for Judas, no doubt, just as He had tried by teaching and revealing to Judas that He knew his secret schemes to convert him. But Judas did not wish to be changed and had so completely surrendered to the devil that there was nothing more Christ could do to change him.
It was not the fault of Jesus that Judas had capitulated so completely to Satan. Judas was lost by his own free-will determinedly choosing evil in the presence, and under the teachings, and in spite of the warnings, of Jesus Christ. God who, dwelling in eternity, foresees all possible contingencies, foresaw his fall, and foretold it, and made it to serve His purposes of grace in redemption, without having, in the least degree, foreordained it. It is to be remembered that the fall of Judas, terrible as it was, is only one instance out of multitudes in which God permits men to receive gifts which they fling away, and occupy spheres for which in the end they, through their own fault, prove themselves unfit. (Sadler). Neither position in the church nor association with church people assures one of salvation. Judas companied with Jesus Christ, was chosen and named among the -apostles, was given power to work miracles, and was lost!That which avails unto salvation is being kept in the name of God the Father and Christ the Son. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)!

Judas was not compelled against his own will and choice in the course which he followed in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, but his fall and character was foreknown by God and foretold by God and by Judas-' subsequent choice the prophecy of God did receive a completion or fulfillment. This would strengthen the other disciples afterward when they finally understood that the betrayal of Christ and the apostasy of Judas was not a slip-up on God. They would understand that God foreknew it all and used it all to His eternal purpose of redemption. See our comments on John 13:18.

The road to joy for Jesus was that of conflict, self-denial and then victory. Their joy is at the end of the same road as He shows in John 17:13-14. They were also rejoicing, no doubt, in this audible prayer of the Master as He held them up before the Throne of Grace. They heard Him speak of their oneness and faithfulness and to know that the Master Himself was rejoicing in their stedfastness was a joy to them. Refer to our comments on John 15:1-11 for the joy of Jesus being in the disciples. For a discussion of the hatred of the world toward the disciples see our comments on Chapter s 15 and 16.

In John 17:15-16 Jesus prays about a problem that has plagued Christians since the founding of the church (the problem, in fact, dates back as far as the patriarchs of the O.T.): how may God's called out people remain in the world and not be contaminated by the world!? The apostle Paul dealt with the same problem in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 and 2 Corinthians 6:14, John 7:1. A Christian would have to go out of the world altogether to avoid any association with wicked people. What Jesus means is that Christians must not be of the world. Their natures are transformed rather than being conformed (Romans 12:1-2). The Christian becomes a new man and does not set his mind on things of this world (Colossians 3:1-17). The Christian does not withdraw his leavening or savoring influence from the world but keeps himself pure and true in the midst of the world. He is to help shed the light of salvation in the world and not to be corrupted by it. In the midst of the world the Christian himself is also perfected as he is tried, tested and victorious. Dr. Wm. Barclay has a wonderful note on this subject and we shall quote it here:

The first essential is to note that Jesus did not pray that His disciples should be taken out of this world. Jesus never prayed that His disciples might find escape; He prayed that they might find victory. The kind of Christianity which buries itself in a monastery or a convent would not have seemed Christianity to Jesus at all. The kind of Christianity which finds the essence of the Christian life in prayer and meditation, and in a life withdrawn from the world, would have seemed to Jesus a sadly truncated version of the faith He died to bring to me. It was Jesus insistence that it was in the hurly-burly and the rough and tumble of life that a man must live out his Christianity. Of course there is need of prayer and meditation and quiet times, times when we shut the door upon the world to be alone with God, but all these things are not the end of life; they are the means to the end; and the end of life is to demonstrate the Christian life in the ordinary work of the world. Christianity was never meant to withdraw a man from life; it was meant to equip him better for life. Christianity does not offer us release from problems; it offers us a way to solve our problems. Christianity does not offer us an easy peace; it offers us a triumphant warfare. Christianity does not offer us a life in which troubles are faced and conquered. However much it may be true that the Christian is not of the world, it still remains true that it is within the world that his Christianity must be lived out. The Christian must never desire to abandon the world; he must always desire to win the world.

The Christian is not impertinent when he longs for his home with Christ (cf. Philippians 1:21-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10) in heaven away from this world, but the Christian's task is to plant that longing in the hearts of all men while the Christian himself is a sojourner and a pilgrim here. In this war of ideas and idealsthe war oftruth and falsehoodthe Christian disciple may have protection from the evil one. Jesus prays for the protection of His disciples and that prayer includes the request made in John 17:17 for their sanctification. John wrote later in 1 John 5:18-19, We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not; but he that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. Our protection comes from Almighty God but we avail ourselves of that protection by faith and obedience to His commandments. By faith and obedience to the Word of truth we are sanctified, set aside, set free from sin and the world. Therefore it is in this sanctification by faith that we are protected from the evil one: Not only are we protected but we also enter into battle with the forces of evil by faith and sanctification (cf. Ephesians 6:10-20). Our protection and victory over the evil one consists in fleeing from him and drawing nigh unto God (cf. James 4:7-8).

Sanctification is not something reserved for an elite few. Neither does it come by some mystical miracle worked by God today apart from the supernatural regenerating power of His word which is truth. All men may be purified, reconciled, justified and sanctified by faith in the Person of Christ expressed by obedience to His Word as it is given once for all in the New Testament. To be sanctified means to be called out from the world and set apart. We are called by the gospel as it was preached and recorded by the apostles (1 Thessalonians 2:7-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15). Of course there is a revelation of truth from God in nature and in the providential operation of the Holy Spirit apart from the supernaturally recorded Word of God. But nature and providence are very nearly inexplicable without the special revelation of God in the Word formerly spoken and now written. And so, ultimately, our sanctification to the degree which pleases God rests upon our response to His written Word.

We have what is almost a paradox. Jesus prays that the disciples may be set apart from the world in order that they might be sent into the world. It is not such a strange paradox, however, when one gives it a moment's thought. What the world definitely does not need is more worldly minded people. What the world definitely has not and cannot do is redeem itself or regenerate itself. The world through its wisdom knew not God and therefore it must have a supernatural wisdom. The world must have messengers who have been reborn with a supernatural nature to deliver to it the message of salvation.
And so Jesus prays that these eleven men might so set themselves apart, might deny themselves with the same self-denial which He knew, and thus become messengers fit for the service of God. Jesus Himself has given them the Word of the Father and has prepared them and now He prays that they may continue to grow in this sanctifying power as they are sent forth into the world.
Christ not only calls them and commissions them, He empowers them. For their very sakes He sets Himself apart in order that they may have a power with which to be set apart. Lenski says, The sanctification of Jesus for his heavenly mission is to make possible the sanctification of the disciples. They are only to receive sanctification by a gift from the Father. And this gift to them is to proceed from what Jesus now does for them. Out of the one sanctification the other is to proceed; thus the two are placed side by side.
Men are made holy first by the atoning blood of Christ applied to their sins through their faith in Him, and their allowing His Spirit live in them. Out of this comes the power for them to sanctify themselves. The power is not resident in men but in God but even God's power is available only conditionally. The condition is faith-surrender-obedience. Westcott says, The work of the Lord is here presented under the aspect of absolute self-sacrifice. He showed through His life how all that is human may be brought wholly into the service of God; and this He did by true personal determination, as perfectly man. By union with Him they also are -themselves sanctified in truth,-' through the Spirit whose mission followed on His completed work, and who enables each believer to appropriate what Christ has gained.

There is no possibility of sanctification or holiness apart from a moral response to the supernatural special revelation of God written in the Bible. There is first of all an initial response in initial obedience which brings us into Christ and sanctifies us as the Corinthians were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord. and in the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:11) when they heard and believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8). But sanctification is a continuing moral response to the call of the Spirit of truth as He calls by the Word of God as it is written upon our hearts. We are to abound more and more in sanctification (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8) by knowing God and receiving His Holy Spirit. We must continue to be led by the Spirit by believing the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13-15), which is the sanctification of the Spirit. We are to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15) by such a continuing intellectual and experiential knowledge of Him through His Word that we may give answer to every man who asks us concerning the hope that is in us. Hope has a sanctifying and purifying power (1 John 3:1-3), and by the precious promises God has given us in His Word we may escape the corruption that is in the world (2 Peter 1:1-4). Perhaps the plainest explanation of the relationship of a continuing moral response to divinely revealed truth in bringing about a continuing sanctification is found in Ephesians 4:17-32. Here the apostle makes it plain that holiness and sanctification, even after one has become a Christian, is dependent upon one's moral obedience and practice of the truth. and that truth is in Jesus. Truth is Personal. truth is in the Person of Christ. Truth is He and Him not it. Therefore, He must live His life in us if we are to speak the truth each one with our neighbor. And here is the important part of it all. we know His Person only through our intellectual and moral response to the infallible revelation of His Personality in the written Word of the Spirit, the Bible. Sanctification means primarily singleness of purpose, integration of all the faculties of the person toward one goal. Sanctification in Christ means singleness of purpose toward Him and His Word. Sanctification or the lack of it on the part of individual members in the church is the primary problem with the lack of unity in the whole body of Christ.

Quiz

How did God the Father give these eleven disciples to the Son?

What does Jesus mean, they were given to Him out of the world?

Why does Jesus say He is not praying for the world (John 17:9)?

What oneness does He pray may belong to the eleven disciples?

Why did the son of perdition fall? Was it predestined? Explain your answer.

Why did Jesus pray that the disciples be not taken from the world? How could they remain in the world and not be of the world?

What is sanctification? Who is to be sanctified? How may one be sanctified?

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