John 17:1a| lifting| John 11:41
John 17:1b| Father| Matt. 11:25, 26;| John 11:41
John 17:11c| glorify| John 17:5;| 7:39;| 12:16, 23;| 13:31, 32;| Acts 3:13;| John 16:14;| cf. John 11:4;| 17:10
| [ par. 1 2 3 ]
John 17:11 [1]| This is the subject of the Lord’s prayer in this chapter. He was God incarnated in the flesh, and His flesh was a tabernacle in which God could dwell on earth (1:14). His divine element was confined in His humanity, just as God’s shekinah glory had been concealed within the tabernacle. Once, on the mountain of transfiguration, His divine element was released from within His flesh and expressed in glory, being seen by the three disciples (Matt. 17:1-4; John 1:14). But then it was concealed again in His flesh. Before this prayer He predicted that He would be glorified and that the Father would be glorified in Him (12:23; 13:31-32). Now He was about to pass through death so that the concealing shell of His humanity might be broken and His divine element, His divine life, might be released. Also, He would resurrect that He might uplift His humanity into the divine element and that His divine element might be expressed, with the result that His entire being, His divinity and His humanity, would be glorified (see note 231 in ch. 12). The Father would thus be glorified in Him (see note 281 in ch. 12). Hence, He prayed for this.
John 17:11 [2]| The Lord’s prayer here concerning the divine mystery is fulfilled in three stages. First, it was fulfilled in His resurrection, in that His divine element, His divine life, was released from within His humanity into His many believers (12:23-24), and His whole being, including His humanity, was brought into glory (Luke 24:26), and in that the Father’s divine element was expressed in His resurrection and glorification. In His resurrection God answered and fulfilled His prayer (Acts 3:13-15). Second, it has been fulfilled in the church, in that as His resurrection life has been expressed through His many members, He has been glorified in them, and the Father has been glorified in Him through the church (Eph. 3:21; 1|Tim. 3:15-16). Third, it will ultimately be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, in that He will be fully expressed in glory, and God will be glorified in Him through the holy city for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23-24).
John 17:11 [3]| In praying in this way, the Lord unveiled His person, His deity; He is the same as the Father in the divine glory.
John 17:1d| glorify| John 12:28;| 13:31, 32;| 17:5;| cf. John 17:4;| 14:13;| 15:8;| 21:19
John 17:21| You
| This indicates the Lord’s work. The Lord has the Father’s authority over all mankind that He may give eternal life, not to all mankind but only to those whom the Father has given Him—the Father’s chosen ones.
John 17:2a| authority| Matt. 28:18;| cf. John 5:27
John 17:22| eternal
| See note 151 in ch. 3.
John 17:2b| life| John 10:28
John 17:2c| given| John 17:6, 9, 24;| 6:37, 65
John 17:31| eternal
| Eternal life is the divine life with a special function, that is, to know God and Christ (cf. Matt. 11:27). God and Christ are divine. To know the divine person, we need the divine life. Since the believers are born of the divine life, they know God and Christ (Heb. 8:11; Phil. 3:10).
John 17:3a| know| Heb. 8:11;| Matt. 11:27
John 17:3b| true| 1|John 5:20
John 17:32c| sent| John 17:8
| See note 61 in ch. 1; so in vv. 8, 18, 21, 23, 25.
John 17:3d| Christ| Phil. 3:10
John 17:41| glorified
| This means that while He was living on earth, the Lord manifested and expressed the Father.
John 17:4a| work| John 4:34;| 5:17
John 17:51a| glorify| John 17:1
| This word strengthens the indication in v. 1, concerning the deity of the Lord’s person. He had the divine glory along with the Father before the world was, in eternity past; hence, He should be glorified now with that glory along with the Father. The Lord participates in the divine glory not by Himself but along with the Father, for He and the Father are one (10:30).
John 17:5b| glory| John 17:22, 24
John 17:5c| with| John 1:2
John 17:5d| before| John 17:24
John 17:61| Your
| Your name, here and in v. 26, means the very name Father. The name God and the name Jehovah were adequately revealed to man in the Old Testament, but the name Father was not, though it was mentioned briefly in Isa. 9:6; 63:16; 64:8. The Son came and worked in the Father’s name (5:43; 10:25) to manifest the Father to the men whom the Father gave Him and to make the Father’s name known to them (v. 26). That name reveals the Father as the source of life (5:26) for the propagation and multiplication of life. Many sons would be born of the Father (1:12-13) to express the Father. Hence, the Father’s name is very much related to the divine life.
John 17:6a| name| John 17:11, 12, 26
John 17:6b| gave| John 17:2
John 17:6c| Yours| John 17:9
John 17:62| word
| The Father’s words are of two kinds: the constant word (v. 6) and the instant words (v. 8). Both are used by the Lord to impart eternal life to the believers who receive both kinds of words.
John 17:8a| words| John 6:63, 68
John 17:8b| given| John 17:14
John 17:8c| came| John 8:42;| 16:27, 30
John 17:81| from
| See note 145 in ch. 1.
John 17:8d| sent| John 17:18, 21, 23, 25
John 17:9a| ask| Luke 22:32
John 17:9b| given| John 17:2
John 17:9c| Yours| John 17:6
John 17:10a| Yours| John 16:15
John 17:101| glorified
| Since the disciples expressed the Lord, He was glorified in them.
John 17:102| in
| I.e., because of them.
John 17:11a| in| John 13:1
John 17:11b| coming| John 17:13
John 17:111| Holy
| The Son’s believers are still in the world. They need to be kept that they may be one even as the Divine Trinity is one, that is, that they may be one in the Divine Trinity. The Son prayed that the holy Father would so keep them.
John 17:11c| keep| John 17:12, 15
John 17:112| in
| To be kept in the Father’s name is to be kept by His life, because only those who are born of the Father and have the Father’s life can participate in the Father’s name. The Son has given the Father’s life to those whom the Father has given Him (v. 2); hence, they share the Father’s name by being kept in it, and they are one in it. The first aspect of this oneness, that is, the first aspect of the building up of the believers, is the oneness in the Father’s name and by His divine life. In this aspect of oneness the believers, born of the Father’s life, enjoy the Father’s name, that is, the Father Himself, as the factor of their oneness.
John 17:11d| name| John 17:6
John 17:11e| one| John 17:21, 22, 23
John 17:12a| kept| John 17:11
John 17:12b| name| John 17:6
John 17:12c| not| John 18:9;| 6:39
John 17:121d| perished| John 3:16;| 10:28
| Perished (a verb) and perdition (a noun) are from the same Greek root.
John 17:12e| son| John 6:70, 71;| cf. 2|Thes. 2:3
John 17:12f| Scripture| Psa. 41:9
John 17:13a| coming| John 17:11
John 17:13b| joy| John 15:11
John 17:14a| given| John 17:8
John 17:141| word
| The Lord has given the believers two kinds of words: the constant word (vv. 14, 17) and the instant words (v. 8).
John 17:142| world
| The world is the system of Satan (12:31). The believers are not of the world (vv. 14, 16) but are separated from the world (v. 19), and are not taken out of the world (v. 15) but are sent into the world (v. 18) for the Lord’s commission. (So in vv. 15, 16.)
John 17:14b| hated| John 15:18;| 1|John 3:13
John 17:14c| not| John 17:16
John 17:143| of
| Lit., out of; so in v. 16.
John 17:14d| I| John 8:23
John 17:15a| keep| John 17:11
John 17:151| out
| Or, out of the evil.
John 17:152b| evil| Matt. 6:13;| 13:38;| 1|John 2:13-14;| 3:12;| 5:18-19
| The whole world lies in the evil one (1|John 5:19). Hence, the believers need to be kept out of the hands of the evil one, and they need always to be watchful in prayer that they may be delivered from the evil one (Matt. 6:13).
John 17:16a| not| John 17:14
John 17:171a| Sanctify| John 17:19;| 1|Thes. 5:23;| Eph. 5:26;| Heb. 2:11
| To be sanctified (Eph. 5:26; 1|Thes. 5:23) is to be separated from the world and its usurpation unto God and His purpose, not only positionally (Matt. 23:17, 19) but also dispositionally (Rom. 6:19, 22). God’s living word works in the believers to separate them from anything worldly. This is to be sanctified in God’s word, which is the truth, the reality.
John 17:172| in
| Or, in the reality. Reality is the Triune God (1:14, 17; 14:6; 1|John 5:6). Since the Triune God is contained and concealed in His word, His word is reality (see notes 146 in ch. 1 and 66 in 1|John 1). We are sanctified in the reality of this word.
John 17:173| word
| The Father’s word carries the reality of the Father with it. When God’s word says, “God is light,” it carries God as light in it. Hence, God’s word is reality, the truth, unlike Satan’s word, which is vanity, a lie (8:44).
John 17:181a| sent| John 17:3, 8
| The Father sent the Son into the world with Himself as life and everything to the Son. In the same way, the Son sends His believers into the world with Himself as life and everything to the believers. See note 212 in ch. 20.
John 17:181b| sent| John 20:21
| See note 181.
John 17:191| sanctify
| The Son is absolutely holy in Himself. Yet, to set an example of sanctification for His disciples, He still sanctified Himself in His way of living while He was on earth.
John 17:19a| sanctified| John 17:17
John 17:20a| ask| John 17:9
John 17:211a| one| John 17:11
| This is the second aspect of the believers’ oneness, the oneness in the Triune God through sanctification, separation from the world by the word of God. In this aspect of oneness the believers, separated from the world unto God, enjoy the Triune God as the factor of their oneness.
John 17:21b| in| John 10:38;| 14:10, 11
John 17:21c| in| John 14:20
John 17:21d| in| John 14:20;| 1|Cor. 1:30;| Rom. 8:1;| John 14:3
John 17:21e| world| John 17:23
John 17:21f| sent| John 17:8
John 17:221a| glory| John 17:5, 24;| 1:14
| The glory that the Father gave to the Son is the sonship with the Father’s life and divine nature (5:26). The sonship was given so that the Son could express the Father in His fullness (1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). The Son has given this glory to His believers that they too may have the sonship with the Father’s life and divine nature (v. 2; 2|Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in the Son’s fullness (1:16).
John 17:222b| one| John 17:11
| This is the third aspect of the believers’ oneness, the oneness in the divine glory for the corporate expression of God. In this aspect of oneness the believers, their self having been fully denied, enjoy the glory of the Father as the factor of their perfected oneness and thus express God in a corporate, built-up way. This is the oneness of the divine commission; it fulfills the Son’s prayer that He be fully expressed, that is, glorified, in the building up of the believers, and that the Father be fully expressed, glorified, in the Son’s glorification. Hence, the ultimate oneness of the believers is (1) in the eternal life of God (in the Father’s name), (2) by the holy word of God, and (3) in the divine glory to express the Triune God for eternity. That the Son might accomplish this oneness, the Father gave Him six things: the authority (v. 2), the believers (vv. 2, 6, 9, 24), the work (v. 4), the words (v. 8), the Father’s name (vv. 11-12), and the Father’s glory (v. 24). That the believers may participate in this oneness, the Son gave them three things: the eternal life (v. 2), the holy word of God (vv. 8, 14), and the divine glory (v. 22). (So also for one in v. 23.)
John 17:22c| one| John 10:30
John 17:23a| in| John 14:20;| Rom. 8:9
John 17:23b| in| John 17:21
John 17:23c| one| John 17:11
John 17:23d| sent| John 17:8
John 17:231| loved
| The Father loved the Son by giving the Son His life, His nature, His fullness, and His glory that the Son might express Him. In the same way, the Father loved the Son’s believers by giving them His life, His nature, His fullness, and His glory that they might express Him in the Son. This is a story of love as well as glory.
John 17:23e| loved| John 17:24, 26
John 17:24a| given| John 17:2
John 17:241| be
| The Son is in the divine glory of the Father’s expression. Therefore, for the Son’s believers to be with Him where He is means that they are with Him in the divine glory to express the Father. The fulfillment of this matter began with the Son’s resurrection, when He brought His believers into participation in His resurrection life, and will consummate in the New Jerusalem, when His believers will be brought fully into the divine glory for the ultimate corporate expression of the Triune God in eternity.
John 17:24b| where| John 14:3
John 17:24c| glory| John 17:5, 22
John 17:24d| loved| John 17:23, 26
John 17:24e| before| John 17:5
John 17:251| Righteous
| The world neither knows nor wants the Father, but the Son and the Son’s believers do. Hence, the Father loves the Son and His believers so that He gives His glory to both the Son and His believers. In this matter He is righteous and just. In sanctifying the Son’s believers, the Father is holy (v. 11). In loving the Son and His believers so that He gives the Son and the believers His glory, the Father is righteous.
John 17:25a| known| John 8:55;| Matt. 11:27
John 17:25b| sent| John 17:8
John 17:26a| name| John 17:6
John 17:261b| love| John 17:23, 24
| The love here is the love of the Father. In this love the Father gave His life and glory to the Son and His believers so that the Son and His believers can express Him. The Son prayed that this love would be in His believers and that they would always have the sense of this love.
John 17:26c| in| John 14:20;| Rom. 8:9