John 17:14-18

17:14 I have given them your word, ¹  and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, ²  just as I do not belong to the world. ³  17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe ⁴  from the evil one. ⁵  17:16 They do not belong to the world ⁶  just as I do not belong to the world. ⁷  17:17 Set them apart ⁸  in the truth; your word is truth. 17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. ⁹ 

[17:14]  ¹ tn Or “your message.”

[17:14]  ² tn Grk “because they are not of the world.”

[17:14]  ³ tn Grk “just as I am not of the world.”

[17:15]  ⁴ tn Or “that you protect them”; Grk “that you keep them.”

[17:15]  ⁵ tn The phrase “the evil one” is a reference to Satan. The genitive noun τοῦ πονηροῦ (tou ponhrou) is ambiguous with regard to gender: It may represent the neuter τὸ πονηρόν (to ponhron), “that which is evil,” or the masculine ὁ πονηρός (Jo ponhro"), “the evil one,” i.e., Satan. In view of the frequent use of the masculine in 1 John 2:13-14, 3:12, and 5:18-19 it seems much more probable that the masculine is to be understood here, and that Jesus is praying for his disciples to be protected from Satan. Cf. BDAG 851 s.v. πονηρός 1.b.β and 1.b.γ.

[17:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “they are not of the world.” This is a repetition of the second half of v. 14. The only difference is in word order: Verse 14 has οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου (ouk eisin ek tou kosmou), while here the prepositional phrase is stated first: ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου οὐκ εἰσίν (ek tou kosmou ouk eisin). This gives additional emphasis to the idea of the prepositional phrase, i.e., origin, source, or affiliation.

[17:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “just as I am not of the world.”

[17:17]  ⁸ tn Or “Consecrate them” or “Sanctify them.”

[17:18]  ⁹ sn Jesus now compared the mission on which he was sending the disciples to his own mission into the world, on which he was sent by the Father. As the Father sent Jesus into the world (cf. 3:17), so Jesus now sends the disciples into the world to continue his mission after his departure. The nature of this prayer for the disciples as a consecratory prayer is now emerging: Jesus was setting them apart for the work he had called them to do. They were, in a sense, being commissioned.