The simplest escape from the anger of the world was removal from it, but for this He would not ask: οὐκ ἐρωτῶ ἵνα ἄρῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου. They had a work to do which involved that they should be in the world. It also involved the fulfilment of the petition, ἵνα τηρήσῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ. Luther, Calvin, etc., take πονηροῦ as neuter; recent interpreters in general consider it to be masculine, “from the evil one,” as in 1 John 2:13; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 5:18; cf. Matthew 6:13. “The evil one” as the prince of this world and “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44) was the instigator of persecution.

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Old Testament