The chapter on which we now enter contains what is generally known as our Lord's High-priestly Prayer. Such a name is appropriately given it; partly, because it is the longest and most solemn utterance recorded of the intercessions with which Jesus approached the throne of His heavenly Father on His... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:1. THESE THINGS SPAKE JESUS, AND LIFTING UP HIS EYES TO HEAVEN, HE SAID. Thus the Evangelist connects the prayer before us with the parting discourse contained in the previous Chapter s. It is offered in the same place, while the disciples stand around, and in the same frame of mind as that... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:2. EVEN AS THOU GAYEST HIM AUTHORITY OVER ALL FLESH, IN ORDER THAT ALL THAT WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN HIM, HE MAY GIVE UNTO THEM LIFE ETERNAL. This verse is clearly connected with John 17:1. It unfolds the means by which the glorifying of the Father is to be accomplished; and the first clause co... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:3. AND THIS IS THE ETERNAL LIFE, THAT THEY MAY LEARN TO KNOW THEE THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND HIM WHOM THOU DIDST SEND, JESUS, AS CHRIST. The article is used before ‘eternal life' in order to carry our thoughts back to the ‘life eternal' of John 17:2; and the conception involved in these words is... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:4. I GLORIFIED THEE ON THE EARTH, HAVING ACCOMPLISHED THE WORK WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME TO DO. The first petition of Jesus in this prayer had been ‘glorify Thy Son.' That petition is now to be repeated in a more emphatic form (John 17:5), but first we have a fuller statement of the ground on... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:5. AND NOW GLORIFY THOU ME, O FATHER, WITH THINE OWN SELF WITH THE GLORY WHICH I HAD WITH THEE BEFORE THE WORLD WAS. The glory prayed for is distinguished by two particulars: (1) It is ‘with Thine own Self' (comp. chap, John 13:31-32), in contrast with the words ‘on earth' of John 17:4. (2)... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:6. I MANIFESTED THY NAME UNTO THE MEN WHICH THOU GAVEST ME OUT OF THE WORLD. Jesus now passes to the thought of those disciples who had been led to rest on Him in faith. His work was over: theirs was to begin; and it involved a struggle and needed strength, similar to His own. In tenderest p... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:7. NOW HAVE THEY LEARNED TO KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER THOU GAVEST ME ARE FROM THEE. These words do more than state that the disciples knew this fact. They include a far deeper meaning, intended to bring out more fully the position of the disciples as the representatives of Jesus. For w... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:8. BECAUSE THE WORDS WHICH THOU GAVEST ME I HAVE GIVEN THEM, AND THEY RECEIVED THEM, AND LEARNED TO KNOW TRULY THAT I CAME FORTH FROM THEE, AND BELIEVED THAT THOU DIDST SEND ME. These words explain the fact stated immediately before. The disciples had received a consciousness similar to that... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:9. I ASK CONCERNING THEM; I ASK NOT CONCERNING THE WORLD, BUT CONCERNING THEM WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME. In the preceding verses the mind of Jesus has been filled with the thought of the position of the disciples: He now proceeds directly to pray for them; and the substance of His prayer is t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:10. AND ALL THINGS THAT ARE MINE ARE THINE, AND THINE MINE, AND I HAVE BEEN GLORIFIED IN THEM. It does not seem necessary to regard the two first clauses of this verse as a parenthesis, and to restrict the last words ‘in them' to the disciples only who had been spoken of in John 17:9. Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:11. AND I AM NO LONGER IN THE WORLD, AND THEY ARE IN THE WORLD, AND I COME TO THEE. One thought rising before the mind of Jesus now deepens His earnestness of entreaty on behalf of His disciples, the contrast between their condition and His own. _His_ labours and sorrows are over, but _they_... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:12. WHEN 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. It is out of the fulness of His heart that Jesus continues to speak. The sad change that is to take p... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:13. BUT NOW I COME TO THEE. These words are to be connected with what follows rather than with what precedes. The thought of His immediate departure leads Jesus to pray that His disciples may be filled with a joy independent of His personal presence, ‘in themselves.' AND THESE THINGS I SPEA... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:14. 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. The prayer for preservation is over: our Lord now speaks of the work of His disciples in the world. In John 17:8 He had said ‘the words (_or_ sayings) which Thou gavest... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:15. I ASK NOT THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD, BUT THAT THOU SHOULDEST KEEP THEM OUT OF THE EVIL ONE. The disciples are in the world, and Jesus cannot yet pray that they may be taken out of it, for it is the very purpose of the Father that they shall be left in it to carry on... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:16. THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD. These words met us in John 17:14, but they are again introduced in a slightly different order, the emphasis being now thrown on of the world, in order to prepare the way for the complete antithesis to be immediately expressed.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:17. CONSECRATE THEM IN THE TRUTH: THY WORD IS TRUTH. The word here rendered ‘Consecrate' is constantly used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to express the entire dedication and consecration both of persons and of things to God. In this sense, but with the deeper meaning of inwa... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:18. EVEN AS THOU DIDST SEND ME INTO THE WORLD, I ALSO SENT THEM INTO THE WORLD. Jesus has prayed for the consecration of His disciples in the truth, and He now speaks of the necessity that existed for it. They have been sent into the world (the sending is viewed as already accomplished) ‘eve... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:19. AND FOR THEM I CONSECRATE MYSELF, THAT THEY THEMSELVES ALSO MAY BE CONSECRATED IN TRUTH. It was for the very purpose of bringing them to a consecration like His own that His whole work of love and sacrifice had been freely undertaken. He might have said ‘ I was consecrated,' a thought wh... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:20. BUT NOT CONCERNING THESE ONLY DO I ASK, BUT ALSO CONCERNING THEM WHICH BELIEVE IN ME THROUGH THEIR WORD. From the thought of the disciples whom He was sending forth to carry on His work, Jesus now turns, in the third and last section of His prayer, to the thought of all who through their... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:21. THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS THOU, FATHER, ART IN ME, AND I IN THEE, THAT THEY THEMSELVES ALSO MAY BE IN US. The petition on behalf of all believers follows in these words, and their last clause expresses it in its highest form. The second ‘that is neither parallel to the first, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:22. AND THE GLORY WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME I HAVE GIVEN THEM, THAT THEY MAY BE ONE EVEN AS WE ARE ONE. Jesus had prayed that all believers might be one as He and the Father were one. He now turns to what He Himself had done that He might effect this end. We have already seen that the ‘glory'... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:23. I IN THEM, AND THOU IN ME, THAT THEY MAY BE PERFECTED INTO ONE. That is: not only that this oneness may be readied, but that, in its being so, the last step to be taken with believers may be accomplished, the final issue and perfect of all that Jesus has to do for them. Whereupon follows... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:24. FATHER, WHAT THOU HAST GIVEN ME, I DESIRE THAT WHERE I AM THEY ALSO MAY BE WITH ME, THAT THEY MAY BEHOLD MY GLORY WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME, BECAUSE THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. Having prayed for the spirituality and unity of all His disciples, Jesus now, in the clo... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:25. RIGHTEOUS FATHER, BOTH THE WORLD LEARNED NOT TO KNOW THEE, BUT I LEARNED TO KNOW THEE, AND THESE LEARNED TO KNOW THAT THOU DIDST SEND ME. Not in the last clause of John 17:24, but now, we have the ground upon which Jesus prays that the ‘glory ' of which He has spoken may be conferred upo... [ Continue Reading ]
John 17:26. AND I MADE KNOWN UNTO THEM THY NAME, AND WILL MAKE IT KNOWN, THAT THE LOVE WHEREWITH THOU LOVEDST ME MAY BE IN THEM, AND I IN THEM. The thought of John 17:25 is now more fully expressed, and, with it, the result to which the knowledge spoken of conducts all believers is summed up in the... [ Continue Reading ]