THESE WORDS SPAKE JESUS,.... Referring to his sermons and discourses, his words of comfort, advice, direction, and instruction, delivered in the three preceding Chapter s: AND LIFT UP HIS EYES TO HEAVEN; the seat of the divine majesty, the throne of his Father. This is a prayer gesture. It is said... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THOU HAST GIVEN HIM POWER OVER ALL FLESH,.... All men, in distinction from angels; and these as fallen, as weak, frail, sinful, and mortal creatures; men of every nation, Jew or Gentile, and of every character, elect or non-elect: not but that he has also a power over angels; nor is his power ove... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL,.... That is, the beginning and pledge of it, the way unto it, and means of it, and what will certainly issue in it: THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, WHOM THOU HAST SENT. The knowledge of God here spoken of, is not the knowledge of him by the... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE GLORIFIED THEE ON THE EARTH,.... This is made use of as a reason and argument, why the Father should glorify him: Christ glorified his Father personally, as he held forth and expressed the glory of his person; and verbally, by ascribing, on all occasions, praise and glory to him; and really,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW, O FATHER, GLORIFY THOU ME WITH THINE OWN SELF,.... Not with his perfections, these he had, they dwelt bodily in him; or with his nature, in which he was one with him; but as Mediator, with his glorious presence in heaven, by setting him at his right hand, and crowning him with glory and hon... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE MANIFESTED THY NAME,.... Not the "Nomen Tetragrammaton", the name of four letters, the name "Jehovah", and which the Jews call "Shemhamphorash", and say is ineffable, and to be pronounced by Adonai; who also speak of other names, and say i, "truly the former wise men had holy names, which th... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEY HAVE KNOWN,.... The Syriac version reads it ידעת, "I have known"; and so the Persic and Gothic versions, contrary to most copies and other versions, which read, as we render, "they have known", that is, the disciples and apostles of Christ: THAT ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER THOU HAST GIVEN ME; al... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THEM THE WORDS,.... Not commands, but doctrines; and these not the doctrines of men; nor any of the divers and strange doctrines; but what are called in Scripture the doctrine of God, of Christ, of the apostles, are agreeably to the Scriptures, and according to godliness; and a... [ Continue Reading ]
I PRAY FOR THEM,.... This is to be understood of Christ, not as God; for as such he is the object of prayer; nor need he pray to any other; nor is there any superior to him under that consideration to pray unto; but as man and Mediator: nor is his praying any argument against his deity; nor proof of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL MINE ARE THINE, AND THINE ARE MINE,.... Christ is speaking not of things but of persons; otherwise all the perfections of his nature as God, and all the works he did, and doctrines he taught as man, were of his Father; as all the perfections of his Father, his nature, his names, his works, h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW I AM NO MORE IN THE WORLD,.... In the earth; which is no contradiction to his resurrection from the dead, and stay with his disciples for a while; nor to his return to judge the world at the last day; nor to his reigning on earth with his saints a thousand years; since it will not be the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE I WAS WITH THEM IN THE WORLD,.... This does not imply that Christ was not in the world now, for he was; but signifies that he was just going out of it; and that his continuance in it was very short: nor that he was, and would be no longer with his disciples; for this is to be understood of his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW COME I TO THEE,.... As in John 17:11, which he repeats as a very great happiness to himself, and with much pleasure and joy, but not without concern for those he was parting from: AND THESE THINGS I SPEAK IN THE WORLD; which he had expressed in this prayer concerning the nature of eternal l... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORD,.... The Gospel, and a commission and abilities to preach it, and which is a reason of what follows, namely, the world's hatred of them; because this word is not of men, nor agreeably to carnal reason; it magnifies the grace of God, and destroys boasting in men; it is agai... [ Continue Reading ]
I PRAY NOT THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE THEFT OF THE WORLD,.... Either in an unusual manner, by a translation, as Enoch and Elijah were; or by death in its common form, before their time, and purely to be rid of afflictions: this he prayed not for; for he had much work for them to do, by preaching the G... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD. These words are repeated from John 17:14, where they are given as a reason of the world's hatred to them; and here, as showing that they are exposed to the evil of it; and in both are used as an argument with his Father, that he would take no... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY THEM THROUGH THY TRUTH,.... The Syriac version introduces this petition, with the appellation אבא, "Abba, Father": and the sanctification prayed for regards the apostles, either as ministers of the word, and may intend their separation for their work and office; for which though they were s... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THOU HAST SENT ME INTO THE WORLD,.... Which does not suppose inequality of nature, nor change of place, nor any force upon him, nor disrespect unto him, or a state of separation from his Father; but that he was before he was sent; that he was a person, a divine distinct person from his Father; an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FOR THEIR SAKES I SANCTIFY MYSELF,.... Which is to be understood, not of his making himself holy; for he never was a sinner, and so stood in no need of sanctification: he was made like unto us, yet without sin; he looked like a sinner, but was not one; he was traduced, charged, and treated as su... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER PRAY I FOR THESE ALONE,.... Meaning his immediate apostles and disciples, for whose preservation and sanctification he had been particularly praying in John 17:19; and now, that it might not be thought that these were his only favourites, and the only persons he had a regard for, and to whom... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE,.... Among themselves. This may regard their unity in faith, and in the knowledge of Christ; for there is but one faith which all truly experienced souls agree in: they are converted by the same Spirit, and have the same work of grace wrought in them; and though they have no... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE GLORY WHICH THOU GAVEST ME,.... Not the glory of his deity; this is the same with his Father, what he has in right of nature, and not by gift; nor can it be communicated to creatures; this would be to make them one in the Godhead, as the three are one, which is not the design of the expressi... [ Continue Reading ]
I IN THEM,.... Christ is in his saints; not as he is in all the world, being the omnipresent God; or as he is in every man, communicating the light of nature as Creator; or as he is in the human nature, which is united to his divine person; or circumscriptively to the exclusion of him elsewhere; for... [ Continue Reading ]
FATHER, I WILL THAT THEY ALSO WHOM THOU HAST GIVEN ME,.... Not all the world, but a select number; not apostles only, nor as such; nor believers, or as such, for as such they were not given to Christ; nor as considered in the effectual calling; but as the elect of God, and by that eternal act of his... [ Continue Reading ]
O RIGHTEOUS FATHER,.... God is righteous in all the divine persons: the Father is righteous, the Son is righteous, and the Holy Spirit is righteous: he is so in his nature; righteousness is a perfection of it; he is so in all his purposes and promises; in all his ways and works of providence and gra... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HAVE DECLARED UNTO THEM THY NAME,.... Himself, his nature, his perfections, especially of grace and mercy, his mind and will, his Gospel; John 17:6. A very fit person Christ was to make this declaration, since he was with him from all eternity, and was in his bosom; the Father did all in him,... [ Continue Reading ]