Глава 17

1–26. High Priestly Prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. 37 Christ's farewell conversation with his disciples is over. But before going to meet the enemies who will lead Him to judgment and torment, Christ pronounces a solemn prayer to the Father for Himself, for His disciples and for His future Church, as the great High Priest of humanity. This prayer can be divided into three parts. In the first part (verses 1-8) Christ prays for Himself. He asks for His own glorification or for the granting of divine greatness to Him, as the God-man, since He is the cornerstone of the Church, and the Church can achieve its goal only when its Head, Christ, is glorified. In the second part (verses 9–19) Christ asks for His disciples. He prays to the Father to protect them from the evil that reigns in the world, and to sanctify them with Divine truth, for they represent the continuers of the work of Christ in the world. The world will only receive the word of Christ in purity and in all its heavenly power when the apostles themselves are confirmed in this word and sanctified by its power. In the third part (verses 20–26) Christ prays for those who believe in Him. In order for believers in Christ to fulfill their purpose, to form the Church of Christ, they must maintain unity among themselves, and Christ begs the Father to maintain this unity between believers. But first of all, they must be in unity with the Father and Christ. John 17:1. After these words, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said: Father! the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You, “Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven” - see comments on John 11:41. “Father! the hour has come." For Christ the hour of glorification has come, because the hour of death has come (cf. John 12:23). The victory over death, the devil and the world, one might say, has already been won by Christ - the time has come for the Son to receive the heavenly glory in which He resided before His incarnation (cf. verse 5). “Let Your Son also glorify You.” Christ had previously glorified His Father (cf. Matthew 9:8), just as the Father glorified Christ before (cf. John 12:28). But Christ’s glorification of God the Father has not yet been brought to perfect completeness while Christ is still on earth, in the conditions of existence that limit the full manifestation of His glory. Only when He, with His glorified flesh, again sits on the Divine throne, will it be possible to fully reveal His and the Father’s glory, which consists in drawing all the ends of the earth to Christ. John 17:2. For You have given Him authority over all flesh, so that He may give eternal life to all that You have given Him. “Because You gave Him power” is more correct, “according to the fact that” (καθώσ). Christ here clarifies His right to such glorification. This right gives Him the greatness of the work of saving people entrusted to Him by the Father. "Over all flesh". The entire human race, which is here called “flesh” due to its spiritual weakness, due to its powerlessness in arranging its own salvation (cf. Is. 40:6 et seq.), is given over to the power of the Son. But, of course, only from heaven, from the heavenly throne, can Christ exercise this power, make it valid for countless millions of people scattered throughout the earth (and this power, once it is given, cannot and should not remain unused by Christ for the good of humanity and for the glory of the name of God). Consequently, the Lord has every right and basis to ask the Father to glorify Him with the highest, heavenly glory throughout humanity. “May He give eternal life to all that You have given Him.” Now Christ said that the power given to Him over all humanity must be realized. But He has not yet determined how, in what direction this power will be exercised. It may also mean that Christ will save many people, but, undoubtedly, by virtue of the same power, Christ at the final judgment will condemn many for their unwillingness to accept salvation from His hands. Now He says definitely that salvation or, in other words, “eternal life” (cf. John 3:15), He wants, in accordance with the will of the Father, not to give to everyone, but only to those whom He gave, whom the Father especially attracted to Him as worthy of salvation (cf. John 6:37, 39, 44, 65). John 17:3. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. “This is eternal life...”. Apparently, true eternal life consists, therefore, only in the knowledge of God. But Christ could not express such a thought, because true knowledge of God does not protect a person from the impoverishment of love (1 Cor. 13:2). It would be more correct to say, therefore, that here by “knowledge” we mean not only the theoretical assimilation of the truths of faith, but the attraction of the heart to God and Christ, true love. "The One True God". This is what Christ says about God to point out the contrast between the knowledge of God that He has in mind and the incorrect knowledge that the pagans had about God, transferring the glory of the One to many gods (Rom. 1:23). “And Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Here Christ calls Himself this way for the first time. “Jesus Christ” is His name here, which later in the mouths of the apostles becomes His usual designation (Acts 2:38, 3:6, 4:10, etc.). The Lord thus, in this last prayer of His, spoken aloud before the disciples, gives, so to speak, a well-known formula, which should subsequently be used in Christian society. It is very likely that Christ offers this designation in contrast to the Jewish view of Him, according to which He was simply “Jesus” (cf. John 9:11). According to negative criticism (for example, Beischlag), Christ here clearly says that His Father is God, and He Himself is not God at all. But against such an objection, it must be said that Christ here opposes the Father as the One true God not to Himself, but to the false gods whom the pagans revered. Then, Christ says that the knowledge of God the Father is achievable only through Him, Christ, and that the knowledge of Christ Himself is as necessary to obtain eternal life or salvation as the knowledge of God the Father. Isn’t it clear that in this He testifies to Himself as One with God the Father in essence? As for the fact that He speaks about knowing Him separately from knowing God the Father, this, according to Znamensky’s remark, is explained by the fact that in order to achieve eternal life, faith is necessary not only in God, but also in the redemption of man before God, which was accomplished by the Son of God through the fact that He became the Messiah - the God-man sent from God the Father into the world. John 17:4. I glorified You on earth, I accomplished the work that You entrusted Me with. John 17:5. And now glorify Me, O Father, with You, with the glory that I had with You before the world was. The new motive for fulfilling Christ’s request for glorification is that He has already, on His part, so to speak, objectively fulfilled the task entrusted to Him (see verse 3) - He communicated to people the saving knowledge of the Father and Himself. By this He glorified the Father, although, of course, so far only on earth, in the state of His humiliation. Now let the Father, for His part, glorify Christ in Himself, i.e. will lift Him up into heaven and give Him the greatness in which He abided from eternity (cf. John 1:1 et seq.; John 8:58). Christ possessed divine glory on earth, but this glory was still hidden and only occasionally flared up (for example, in the transfiguration). Soon it will overshadow Christ the God-Man with all its greatness. John 17:6. I have revealed Your name to the people whom You gave Me out of the world; They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. John 17:7. Now they have understood that everything that You have given Me is from You, John 17:8. For the words that You gave Me I delivered to them, and they received and truly understood that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. Speaking about the fulfillment of the task entrusted to Him in a subjective sense, precisely about those results that He achieved in the close circle of the chosen ones given to Him by the Father, achieved through His teaching and deeds (cf. John 14:9 et seq.), Christ indicates that He revealed to these people the “name” of the Father, i.e. He made it known to these chosen ones that God is truly the Father, that He loves all people and therefore from eternity predetermined to redeem them from sin, curse and death. "They were Yours". The apostles belonged to God even before they turned to Christ. Such was, for example, Nathanael - a true Israelite (John 1:48). "They have kept Your word." Christ thus recognizes the Gospel, which He proclaimed, not as His own, but as the word of the Father. The apostles accepted him for this, and kept him in their souls to this day. The Lord, saying that the apostles preserved the word of the Father transmitted to them through Him, here probably means those statements that were made on their behalf by the Apostle Peter (John 6:68) and all of them (John 16:29). “Now they have understood...”. With the understanding that everything Christ told them was given to Him from God, is connected, of course, with entering the path to eternal life (cf. verse 3). “For the words that You gave Me...”. The disciples came to such an understanding because Christ, for His part, did not hide anything from them (of course, excluding what they could not understand, cf. John 16:12) and, on the other hand, because the apostles accepted the words of Christ with faith. Apparently, here the understanding of the divine dignity of Christ (“that I came from You”) precedes the belief in his Messianic dignity (“that You sent Me”). But in fact, both go simultaneously, and faith in the Divinity of Christ is placed in first place only because of its primary importance. John 17:9. I pray for them: I do not pray for the whole world, but for those whom You have given Me, because they are Yours. Christ is the Advocate of the whole world (1 Tim. 2:5–6) and wants to save all people (John 10:16). But at the present moment His thoughts are occupied only with the fate of those who are entrusted to Him and who must continue His work on earth. The world is still holding itself hostile towards Christ, and Christ has no reason yet to tell the Father about how He would like to arrange the affairs of this world so alien to Him. His concern for the time being is entirely directed towards the apostles as those about whom He must give an account to the Father. John 17:10. And all that is mine is yours, and yours is mine; and I was glorified in them. Having noticed that not only the apostles, but also everything He has in common with the Father, Christ, as an incentive to special prayer for them, exposes the fact that He has already been glorified in them. Of course, He speaks of the future activity of the apostles, but due to the confidence in them, He depicts their activity as already past, as part of the heritage of history (“I was glorified in them”). John 17:11. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father! keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one, just as We are. Here appears a seemingly new motive for prayer for the apostles. They are left alone in this hostile world: Christ leaves them. "Holy Father". The holiness of God consists in the fact that God is infinitely elevated above the world, detached from it as the totality of all imperfection and sinfulness, but at the same time can always descend into the world for salvation or for judgment. "Keep them". As he is completely uninvolved in sin and at the same time punishes sinners and saves the righteous, the Father can save the apostles from the influence of worldly vices and from the persecutions of the world. “In Your name”: it is more correct to read “in Your name” (in the Greek text it reads ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου). God's name is, as it were, the central point where the apostles find refuge from the influences of the world. Here, having found shelter, they recognize each other as spiritual brothers, as people different from those who live in the world. In the name of God or, in other words, in God Himself, the apostles will find support for maintaining such unity among themselves as exists between the Father and the Son. And they desperately need this unity in order for all their activities to be successful. Only through united efforts will they be able to defeat the world. John 17:12. When I was at peace with them, I kept them in Thy name; those whom You gave Me I have kept, and none of them perished except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Hitherto, Christ Himself did the work that He now asks the Father to take upon Himself. And Christ did this work successfully: the eleven apostles were preserved, they stand here, near Christ. If one of those entrusted to Him died, then Christ was not to blame for his death. The Holy Scripture itself foretold this fact (Ps. 109:17). The Lord, obviously, wants to say with this reference to the words of the Psalmist what he said in the 13th chapter (John 13:18). John 17:13. Now I come to You, and I say this in the world, so that they may have My complete joy within themselves. Since Christ must now withdraw from the disciples, He deliberately speaks His prayer for them out loud while He still remains with them “in peace.” Let them hear, let them know to whom He entrusts them. This knowledge that the Father Himself has become their patron will save them from discouragement during the impending trials. John 17:14. I have given them Your word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Here the apostles' need for protection from the Father is even more clearly defined (cf. verse 11). On the one hand, the disciples, through the word of the Father communicated to them (verse 8), are separated from communication with the world, on the other, for the same reason as Christ (cf. John 8:23), they became an object of hatred for the world (John 15:18–19). John 17:15. I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from evil. Of course, in order to protect students from the hatred of the world, they could be taken from the world. But the world cannot do without them; through them it must receive the news of Christ’s completed redemption. Therefore, the Lord asks that in the work ahead of the apostles, evil will not defeat them. John 17:16. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. The Lord repeats the thought expressed in verse 14 in order to justify the following request. John 17:17. Sanctify them with Your truth; Your word is truth. "Sanctify them" (ἀγίασον αὐτούς). Here the Lord speaks not only about preserving the apostles from vicious worldly influences: He asked the Father about this earlier, but also about supplying them with holiness in the positive sense of the word, which they need to perform future service. “Thy Truth”: more correctly – “in truth” (ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ). Christ Himself now explains that this truth is “the word of the Father,” which Christ conveyed to the apostles (verses 8, 14). Once the apostles, with the help of the grace of the Father, who will teach them this grace in the Holy Spirit, assimilate this “word,” then they will find themselves completely ready (sanctified) to spread this word in the world. John 17:18. As You sent Me into the world, so I sent them into the world. The apostles need sanctification because of their high calling: they are sent by Christ with great powers, just as Christ Himself was sent into the world by the Father. John 17:19. And for them I consecrate Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth. Previously, Christ asked the Father to sanctify the disciples for their high service. Now Christ adds that He also consecrates Himself to God as a sacrifice, so that the disciples may be completely sanctified. "For them", i.e. to their benefit (ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν). “I dedicate Myself.” According to the interpretation of the holy fathers, here we are talking specifically about Christ sacrificing Himself (see, for example, St. John Chrysostom). Some of the new interpreters object to this explanation, pointing out that Christ sacrificed Himself for all people, while here we are talking only about the apostles. In view of this, the “dedication” that Christ speaks of here is understood, for example, by Tzan not as the offering of an atoning sacrifice, but as the offering of the so-called sacrifice of dedication, which was once offered by Aaron for himself and his sons (Num. 8:11). But even if such an explanation can be accepted, the essence of the matter that Christ is talking about here will not change, but what is important is that He offers a sacrifice, even a dedicatory one, when He enters into the service of the high priest (“Himself”, ἐμαυτόν). Christ points to this self-sacrifice in order to highlight the special importance of the calling of disciples. “So that they too may be sanctified.” Here “sanctification” (the same verb ἀγιάζειν is placed as in the main sentence) is undoubtedly understood as the dedication of the disciples to the property of God, their dedication to serving God without a direct hint of the apostles sacrificing their own lives to God. "By the truth": more precisely, "in truth" (ἐν ἀληθείᾳ), as opposed to the symbolic representative initiation that took place in the Old Testament. John 17:20. I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, The circle of persons for whom Christ considers it necessary to offer His prayer to the Father is now expanding. If earlier He considered it necessary to ask the Father only for the apostles, now He sends out prayer for His entire future Church, which will be formed from those who believe the sermon or word of the apostles. John 17:21. that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so may they also be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. Here are indicated three objects or three goals to which the attention of the praying Christ is directed (the particle ἵνα is used three times - so that). The first goal is contained in the request: “that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You.” The unity of believers is understood here, obviously, as agreement in the motives and goals of their spiritual aspirations. Of course, such exact unity as exists between the Father and Christ cannot exist between people. But, in any case, this highest unity between the persons of the Divine must always be presented to the believing consciousness as an ideal. The second goal is defined by the words “and they may be one in Us.” Believers will only be able to maintain mutual unity when they abide in the Father and the Son: the unity that exists between the Father and the Son will also contribute to strengthening the unity between believers. The third goal is special: “that the world may believe that You sent Me.” A world tormented by selfish aspirations could never dream of achieving true unity in thoughts and feelings. Therefore, the unanimity that he sees in Christian society will strike him with surprise, and from such surprise the transition to faith in Christ as the Savior sent to people by God Himself will not be far away. The history of the Church indeed shows that such cases have occurred. Thus, the unity of all believers, in turn, should itself serve the cause of divine economy. Unbelievers, seeing the close unity of believers among themselves and with the Father and Son, will come to faith in Christ, who established such a wonderful unity (cf. Rom. 11:14). John 17:22. And the glory that You gave Me, I have given them: that they may be one, even as We are one. John 17:23. I am in them, and You are in Me; that they may be perfected in one, and that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me. In order for the unity of believers to be stronger, Christ has already made His first disciples partakers of His glory, which He had on earth as the Only Begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14). Here one can see an allusion to the power given to the apostles when they were first sent to preach - a power that was not taken back by Christ (cf. Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:54). And now He does not leave them: being in communion with Christ, they are through this in communion with the Father, and in this way they achieve perfect communion with each other. As a result, the whole world again benefits spiritually. John 17:24. Father! whom You have given Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:25. Righteous Father! and the world did not know You; but I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me. John 17:26. And I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. Here is the conclusion of the prayer. As the one whom the Father loved before the creation of the world, the Son now expresses not a request, but a desire ("I want") that believers - not only the apostles - would be with Him and contemplate His glory. It is very likely that Christ is speaking here about His second coming to earth, coming in glory (Matthew 24:30). Christ is quite confident in the fulfillment of His desire: “righteous”, i.e. just, the Father cannot fail to fulfill His desires. A world that does not know the Father can still be denied glorification with Christ, but believers, whom Christ has already taught to know the Father and will teach this in the future (through the Comforter Spirit), cannot be refused. From Christ, the Father will transfer His love to believers (John 16:27). And since the eternal and closest object of the Father’s love is Christ Himself, in whom the Father’s love rested entirely, it means that Christ Himself descends together with the Father’s love into the souls of believers. This prayer of Christ has long been given such a name. But interpreters of the Holy Scriptures have so far explained the meaning of this name differently and not thoroughly enough. Some say that Christ prays here to the Father, like a high priest, preparing to make a great sacrifice for the sins of all mankind - to give His own life to atone for people. But such an explanation cannot be accepted, because this prayer does not contain clear references to the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Others, remembering that the main duty of the high priest was to intercede for the people, see in this prayer a model of those intercessory prayers with which our eternal Intercessor, Christ, turns to His Father (1 John 2:1). But we cannot agree with this opinion either, because here Christ does not appear as an intercessor, as He became after the completion of the atonement, when He entered His glory, but only as a supplicant, who in a short time will enter His glory and will intercede for people there, in heaven. It is not in vain that Christ here uses the expression Τρωτχν about His prayer, and not ἐντυγχάνειν. The first denotes a request, the fulfillment of which depends on the free decision of the person to whom the request is made, and the second denotes the intercession of a legally intermediary, whose voice cannot but be taken into account. Moreover, everywhere in this prayer the verb ἐρωτᾶν is used with the preposition περὶ, not with ὑπέρ. This indicates that Christ here acts not as an intercessor for people, but as asking for people who are especially close to Him. Therefore, Bengel correctly translates the preposition περί throughout the entire chapter with the preposition δε and nowhere - προ. The most correct explanation seems to be given by Steinmeyer, according to which Christ prays here as soon as he still enters into the service of the high priest - the high priest sacrificing Himself as a cleansing sacrifice for the sins of the people. You might be interested in: