John Chapter 17 - Commentary

1-5 Jesus Prays for Himself

[1] The Time Has Come…

Fulfillment of a prophecy stretching back to Genesis 3:15 It happened exactly as planned.

[2] Authority

He has dominion over all things created in heaven and Earth – the same man who just washed the disciples’ feet. Jesus has the power to judge (John 5:27), and to give eternal life to those who have been given to Him. Do we take this seriously? Who has been given to Him? By Whom?

[3] The Only Way to Eternal Life

How can you read John and not understand this? Since all mankind is immortal, this could be the most important statement made in the history of the universe.

[4] Christ’s Work is Completed

Speaking referentially to His work about to be performed on the cross, this destroys a number of heresies and works based salvation is one sentence. The things Jesus was sent to “do” are (John 4:34) were “finished” tetelestai in John 19:30

6-19 Jesus Prays for His Disciples

[10] We are a gift from the Father

Those given to Christ are for His glory! Every believer was a gift from the Father to Jesus Christ, to be adopted as sons of the Father through Christ’s redemptive work. Paul reminds the Ephesians in Chapter 1:

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Peter describes the same thing in his first Epistle: that believers have been chosen (are elected) for an incorruptible inheritance with Christ. I Peter 1:

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

[13] To have His Joy…

A miserable Christian is an oxymoron. (jumbo shrimp, honest politician, found missing, country music, compassionate conservative, efficient government, saved atheist, ) Our joy is the result of being released from the bondage of sin and given a new life. Romans 4:

¹⁰For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord

Our joy becomes a testimony to the world, the light and salt, a reflection of the Holy Spirit.

20-26 Jesus Prays for Us

[20] For all believers

The previous 14 verses not only apply to the disciples, but all believers – all who hear the words given by Christ, that accept that He is sent from the Father (verse 8),

[21] Be “One” with the Son and Father

While this could be interpreted as a call for denominational union, it is more properly to be taken as the prayer that each believer becomes “one” with the Father as Christ is one with the Father. This is what brings the joy, peace, righteousness and fruit of the spirit – not whether a body of believers happens to be in accord on all issues of doctrine.

Does God listen to Christ? Does He answer His prayer?

We now are standing with Christ – not Adam

We have a new nature, born of the spirit – not the flesh

We have a different master, not the god of this world

We have a different aim, to glorify God and not self

We have a different citizenship, in heaven and a different destiny

That is why we cannot be “one” with the world and “one” with God.


Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.