Jesus' glorification depended on the well-being of those whom the Father had given to Him (v. 2). Consequently Jesus prayed for them too. He made several requests for them but first expressed the reasons He was praying for them and why He wanted the Father to grant His requests.
The length of this section of the prayer suggests that Jesus had greater concern for His disciples' welfare than for His own.
"Jesus prayed for His disciples before He chose them (Luke 6:12), during His ministry (John 6:15), at the end of His ministry (Luke 22:32), here (John 17:6-19), and later in heaven (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25)."519
Moreover in view of their weaknesses they were in great need of God's grace to sustain them in the future. It was God's keeping power rather than their strength that made Jesus' confident as He prayed for them.
17:6 Jesus viewed these disciples as those whom God had given to Him out of the world (cf. 6:37; 15:19), not as those who had chosen to follow Him. This viewpoint accounts for Jesus' confidence as He anticipated their future. They belonged to God, and God would therefore protect them. Jesus had revealed God to them. The name of God summarizes everything about Him (cf. Exod. 3:13-15; Isa. 52:6). Manifesting the name of God to people means revealing His essential nature to them. The Eleven had kept God's word by believing on and following Jesus even though they were not consistently obedient.
17:7-8 There was much that the Eleven did not yet understand, but they did believe that Jesus had come from God and that His utterances (Gr. rhemata) were God's words. Commendably they accepted Jesus' teachings even though they did not understand them fully, and what they understood they believed. Jesus' unusual phrasing stresses His unity with the Father.
"As long as we stay with the figure of the Galilean Jesus (perhaps romanticizing over the beauty of his holiness and lowliness) so long we miss what really matters. What is central is that all that we see in him is of God. It is not so much the Man of Galilee as the eternal God on whom our attention should rest."520
17:9-10 Because the Eleven had believed on Him Jesus made request for them, not for the world, at this point. The basis for that request was that these disciples belonged to God, so their welfare was His special interest. Those who belong to the Father belong equally to the Son. Thus Jesus claimed equal concern for the Eleven with the Father. This is another claim of equality with the Father. Glory had come to Jesus through the faith of the Eleven, as it had not come from the world.
17:11a Jesus also explained that He was praying for these disciples as He was because He was about to depart from them and return to the Father. They needed the Father's added grace because they would no longer have the Son's encouraging presence with them as they lived in the hostile world.
17:11b The title "Holy Father"appears only here in the fourth Gospel and is a reminder of both aspects of God's nature. It balances ideas of ultimate purity with intimate paternity and so prepares for what lies ahead, namely the need for loving sanctification (vv. 17-19). The Father's holiness serves as a model for the holiness of disciples (cf. Lev. 11:44; Matt. 5:48; 1 Pet. 1:16). The reason Jesus and disciples can be holy is that the Father is holy.
Jesus asked His Father to keep these disciples "in your name"(Gr. en to onomati sou). The NIV interpreted this phrase to mean "by the power of your name"(cf. Ps. 20:1; 54:1; Prov. 18:10).521However the preposition enmay be locative instead of instrumental in mood. In that case the idea would be "keep them in your name,"meaning keep them loyal to you.522Some commentators argued that both ideas were in Jesus' mind.523The context favors the second view. Loyalty seems to be the objective of the keeping and the dominant idea, not the means to it, namely the Father's power. The name that the Father had given to the Son probably refers to the revelation of God's character that Jesus had manifested (vv. 6-8; cf. 1:18; 14:9).
The ultimate end of God keeping these disciples loyal to the revelation that Jesus had given them was they they might experience unity. They would be one with one another as well as one with the Son and the Father if they remained loyal to Jesus' revelations. Projecting this idea further we can see that the Scriptures are the basis for the unity of believers with one another and with God.
17:12 Jesus had kept these disciples loyal to God and had protected them from external attacks while He was with them. The only exception was Judas Iscariot who was always the traitor that the Old Testament had predicted would betray the Messiah (Ps. 41:9; 69:25; 109:6-8; cf. John 13:18). His defection did not prove Jesus a failure but Scripture trustworthy. Jesus did not include Judas in His requests for the Eleven.
The term "son of perdition"(Gr. ho huios tes apoleias, NIV "the one doomed to destruction") could describe Judas' character (cf. Isa. 57:4) or his destiny (Isa. 35:4). He had a perditious character and would end in perdition, but the second idea seems to be stronger in the context. Perdition in the New Testament usually refers to eschatological damnation (cf. Matt. 7:13; Acts 8:20; Rom. 9:22; Phil. 1:28; 3:19; 1 Tim. 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:1; 3:7; Rev. 17:8, 11).
The only other occurrence of the title "son of perdition"occurs concerning the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3). This fact has led some interpreters to conclude that the Antichrist will be the resurrected Judas Iscariot. However, God will not resurrect unbelievers until the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15), but the Antichrist will appear and carry out his work during the Tribulation that will precede the millennium (cf. Rev. 13:1-10; 19:19-21).
17:13 Jesus had protected the Eleven while He was with them in the world, but now He was about to leave them and return to the Father. Therefore He gave these teachings and offered these petitions that they might share the fullness of His joy after He had departed (cf. 15:11; 16:22, 24).
17:14 The revelations and teachings that Jesus had given the Eleven would be the basis for their remaining loyal, safe, and joyful. Nevertheless the world would hate them because they were no longer of the world even as the world hated Jesus because He was not of the world. The idea is not so much that the disciples' outlook was different than the world's but that their origin and character were since they had believed in Jesus.524Jesus spoke of the Father and the world as opposing loyalties (cf. 1 John 2:15).
Jesus was apparently saying some of these things in prayer for the disciples' benefit, as He had earlier prayed with the onlookers at Lazarus' tomb in view (cf. 11:42).
17:15-16 Jesus' was not asking the Father to remove the Eleven from the hostile world as He was about to leave it. He was petitioning Him to keep them loyal to Himself while they continued to live in it. Jesus repeated the thought of verse 14b in verse 16 to stress the disciples' essential distinction from the world. It was, therefore, protection from "the evil"(Gr. ek tou ponerou) in the world that they needed. This phrase could mean evil generally, or it could be a reference to the evil one, namely Satan. Other occurrences of the phrase elsewhere encourage us to interpret it as referring to the devil here (cf. Matt. 6:13; 1 John 2:13-14; 3:12; 5:18-19). Even though Satan now stands condemned, He still controls the world (1 John 5:19).
Throughout church history Christians have sought relief from the world's hatred by withdrawing from it socially, and in other ways, or by compromising with it. Some individuals tend to withdraw from a disagreeable and dangerous environment while others prefer to blend into it. Jesus' will, however, was that His disciples should do neither of these things. He wanted them to remain loyal to God while continuing to participate in the amoral aspects of its life. Our sense of mission and our sense of identity should control our desire for comfort.
"Christians must not take themselves out of the world but remain in meaningful contact with it, trusting in God's protection while they witness for Jesus."525
17:17 "To sanctify"(Gr. hagiazo) means to set apart for God's service (cf. Exod. 28:41; Jer. 1:5). Jesus is the perfect example of a sanctified person. He devoted Himself completely and consistently to God's will for Him. Sanctification in John's Gospel is always for a mission.526The means of the disciples' sanctification was the truth, which Jesus explained was God's Word. Jesus came to reveal God's word to humankind (1:1, 14; 14:6), and the Spirit would help His disciples understand it (15:13). It is both personal and propositional. It comes to us through the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the written Word of God, Scripture.
The way Jesus asked the Father to sanctify the disciples was by using His word. This means that it is essential for disciples to know, understand, believe, and obey the revelation that God has given us. The words of God that Jesus revealed and that stand recorded in the Bible are the key to believers' practical sanctification. Practical sanctification involves separation unto God from the world, the evil one who controls it, and the lies that He promotes that the world believes.
"With the mind, we learnGod's truth through the Word. With the heart, we loveGod's truth, His Son [cf. 14:6]. With the will, we yield to the Spirit [of truth, cf. 14:17; 16:13] and liveGod's truth day by day. It takes all three for a balanced experience of sanctification."527
17:18 Jesus next explained the purpose of the sanctification that He requested for His disciples. He had sent them into the world with a mission (cf. 13:20; 15:26-27; 20:21). Similarly the Father had sent the Son into the world with a mission (10:36). In both cases sanctification was essential for the success of the mission.
Comparison with verse 20 shows that in verses 6-19 Jesus was praying specifically for the Eleven. However, we should not regard what He requested for the Eleven as restricted to them exclusively. The change that takes place in verse 20 is not from one group of believers to another as though they were in separate containers. It is rather a broadening of the field from the Eleven to those that would follow them. Thus it is understandable that when Jesus prayed for the Eleven He would pray for some things that not only they but their successors would need. Clearly all subsequent believers would need sanctifying by God's Word so they could achieve their mission, as the Eleven did.
17:19 Jesus did not mean that He intended to make Himself more holy than He already was since this would have been impossible. He set Himself apart to do God's will partially for the sake of His disciples. He is our example of perfect sanctification, and His sanctification makes ours possible. Without the sacrificial death of Jesus there would be no salvation and no mission for us. There would be no sanctification for us either. One of the purposes of Jesus' death was to set believers apart to God and His mission for them to function as priests in the world.
