John 17:17-21

17:17 Set them apart ¹  in the truth; your word is truth. 17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. ²  17:19 And I set myself apart ³  on their behalf, ⁴  so that they too may be truly set apart. ⁵ 

Jesus Prays for Believers Everywhere

17:20 “I am not praying ⁶  only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe ⁷  in me through their testimony, ⁸  17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray ⁹  that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

[17:17]  ¹ tn Or “Consecrate them” or “Sanctify them.”

[17:18]  ² 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.

[17:19]  ³ tn Or “I sanctify.”

[17:19]  ⁴ tn Or “for their sake.”

[17:19]  ⁵ tn Or “they may be truly consecrated,” or “they may be truly sanctified.”

[17:20]  ⁴ tn Or “I do not pray.”

[17:20]  ⁵ tn Although πιστευόντων (pisteuontwn) is a present participle, it must in context carry futuristic force. The disciples whom Jesus is leaving behind will carry on his ministry and in doing so will see others come to trust in him. This will include not only Jewish Christians, but other Gentile Christians who are “not of this fold” (10:16), and thus Jesus’ prayer for unity is especially appropriate in light of the probability that most of the readers of the Gospel are Gentiles (much as Paul stresses unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Eph 2:10-22).

[17:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “their word.”

[17:21]  ⁵ tn The words “I pray” are repeated from the first part of v. 20 for clarity.