17:6 “I have revealed 5 your name to the men 6 you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, 7 and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed 8 your word.
1 tn Or “by finishing” or “by accomplishing.” Jesus now states that he has glorified the Father on earth by finishing (τελειώσας [teleiwsas] is best understood as an adverbial participle of means) the work which the Father had given him to do.
2 tn Grk “the work that you gave to me so that I may do it.”
3 tn Or “in your presence”; Grk “with yourself.” The use of παρά (para) twice in this verse looks back to the assertion in John 1:1 that the Word (the Λόγος [Logos], who became Jesus of Nazareth in 1:14) was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pro" ton qeon). Whatever else may be said, the statement in 17:5 strongly asserts the preexistence of Jesus Christ.
4 tn Grk “before the world was.” The word “created” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
5 tn Or “made known,” “disclosed.”
6 tn Here “men” is retained as a translation for ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") rather than the more generic “people” because in context it specifically refers to the eleven men Jesus had chosen as apostles (Judas had already departed, John 13:30). If one understands the referent here to be the broader group of Jesus’ followers that included both men and women, a translation like “to the people” should be used here instead.
7 tn Grk “Yours they were.”
8 tn Or “have kept.”