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John 17:6-19

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Jesus Prays for His disciples

 

“I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.  Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.  I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.  While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

 

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

 

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Verse 6a:

 

“I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.”

 

Some translations start off with “I have revealed you” in verse 6.  Although this carries the meaning, it literally says here in the Greek, “I have revealed your name.”  I think it is important to keep the original word here because “the name” is packed with significance and Jesus relates to “the name” further down in the prayer. 

 

By the way, what name is “the name?”

 

          Yahuweh, which means “I was, I am, I will be.”

 

          What does this name reveal about God?

  1. God is Eternal.

  2. God exists outside of time.

  3. God has no beginning and no end.

  4. God has no starting point and no cause.He is the ultimate causality.

 

How did Jesus reveal God’s name?

  1. The word ‘reveal’ here means to cause to appear.So, the sense here is that God’s name was hidden or out of view, but Jesus has made it appear or put it in plain sight.

    • The Jews at this time had a tradition of never saying God’s name Yahuweh out of fear that they would misuse it.Instead, they said, “Hashem” or “the name.”And they still do that.So, in a sense they hid the name, and are still hiding it.

    • The command concerning taking God’s name in vain literally says, “Do not bear (or carry) the name of Yahuweh in vain.” So, this could never apply to some accidental misuse.It is about proclaiming the cause of Yahuweh in vain.In other words, don’t proclaim Yahuweh and come out empty handed.Don’t worship Yahuweh without producing the works that should go along with worshipping him.In other words, “Don’t be a hypocrite.”

    • Jesus clearly said this name out loud and applied it to himself.Jesus gave us results in his works.Jesus revealed God’s name by doing his works.

      • Did the Pharisees produce good works?

    • What is said here is more fully explained in 1 John 1:1-4,

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.  The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make our joy complete.”

  1. Jesus revealed God’s name by claiming “the name” for himself.

    • Remember in John 8:58, Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!”

    • Jesus uses “I am” 9 times emphatically in the gospel of John.15 additional times to say things like, “I am the bread of life.”

  2. Jesus revealed God’s name by teaching about his relationship with God.

  3. Jesus revealed God’s name by teaching about God’s commands.

  4. Jesus revealed God’s name by performing his miracles.

 

Who are “those whom the Father gave Jesus out of the world?”

  1. The disciples.

  2. Jesus revealed God’s name by revealing it to his disciples.

 

Verse 6b,

 

“They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”

 

How were the disciples the Father’s before he gave them to Jesus?

  1. Because they were looking for the Messiah?

  2. Because God knew their hearts and knew that they would follow Jesus.

 

How have the disciples obeyed God’s word?

  1. By following Jesus.

  2. By believing in God’s Son.

  3. By obeying Jesus’ commands.

  4. By preaching the gospel.

  5. By helping the poor.

 

Verse 7,

 

“Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.”

 

We need to read the next sentence to see what this means.

 

Verse 8a,

 

“For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.”

 

Jesus knew that his words came from God, but others did not always accept that they came from God.  Case in point – the Pharisees.  Now the disciples realize that Jesus’ words, his teachings come from God and they have accepted his teachings.

 

Verse 8b,

 

“They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”

 

How did the disciples know for certainty that Jesus came from God?

  1. His miracles.

  2. The testimony of John the Baptist.

  3. His teachings confirmed the Old Testament.

  4. The prophesies of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus.

 

Verse 9,

 

“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”

 

In John 3:16-17, it says that Jesus came to save the world.  However, he is not praying for the whole world here.  He is only praying for those God has given to him.  Why would God only give some to Jesus and not all? 

  1. Because God has also foreordained free will.

 

Verse 10,

 

“All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.”

 

These are given to Jesus because they give glory to Jesus.  Even though the whole world is given the gift of salvation, not everyone receives it.  Only those who receive the gift and only by receiving the gift can glory be given to Jesus for his gift of salvation.  

 

Also, these disciples go beyond just receiving God’s gift of salvation.  They were especially chosen by God from among those that would believe to further the gospel. 

 

Let’s start with the writer of this gospel, John.  John seems to have a very special talent.  He has an audiographic memory.  He listens to this prayer of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and he remembers the whole thing.  Everything from John 12 to John 21 happens in 9 or 10 days from the anointing of Jesus to the reinstatement of Peter.  Jesus gives us very much of Jesus’ Theology in these chapters.  John not only wrote the gospel of John, but he also wrote the 3 epistles bearing his name and the book of Revelation.  John along with his brother James were called “sons of thunder” by Jesus, perhaps because of their zeal.  James, John and Peter served as an inner circle of the disciples.  John was instrumental in accepting the Apostle Paul’s conversion and accepting gentiles into the church.  The fact that he finally settled in Ephesus and died there is testimony to his evangelistic efforts among the gentiles. Tertullian a second century theologian reports that John was persecuted by being thrown into boiling oil from which he miraculously survived. 

 

Peter was the disciple that gave the bold confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  His life is exemplified with boldness.  Peter is the first person to enter Jesus’ empty tomb.  Peter is accredited with the powerful speech on the day of Pentecost.  He was a man of action and he did not waste any time putting into action Jesus’ promise that anything he asks in Jesus’ name will be given.  He commanded the crippled to stand up and they were healed.  His dream in the book of Acts justified preaching to the gentiles and not burdening them with all the dietary restrictions in the Old Testament.  He was put in prison by King Herod and led out of prison by an angel.  He planted the church in Antioch, and the one in Rome.  The writer of the gospel of Mark was Peter’s translator and we can see Peter’s influence in the gospel.  He wrote 2 epistles in the New Testament.  Peter was martyred by being crucified upside down in Rome.

 

James was the first disciple to be martyred by King Herod in 44 A.D.  There are some traditions that James started a church in Spain, but there is insufficient confirmation of this. We know for sure that James was bold enough that King Herod went ahead and executed him without a trial.

 

Andrew went to the "land of the man eaters," in what was formally known as the Soviet Union. Christians claim him as the first to bring the gospel to their land. He also preached in modern-day Turkey, and in Greece, where he is said to have been crucified.

 

Thomas was most active in the area east of Syria. Tradition has him preaching as far east as India where the ancient Marthoma Christians revere him as their founder. They claim that he died there when he was pierced through with the spears of four soldiers.

 

Philip had a powerful ministry in Carthage in North Africa and then in Asia Minor, where he converted the wife of a Roman proconsul. In retaliation the proconsul had Philip arrested and cruelly put to death.

 

Matthew the tax collector and writer of a gospel, ministered in Persia and Ethiopia. Reports say that he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.

 

Bartholomew had widespread missionary travels attributed to him by tradition: to India with Thomas, back to Armenia, and also to Ethiopia and Southern Arabia. There are various accounts of how he met his death as a martyr for the gospel.

 

James the son of Alpheus is one of at least three Jameses referred to in the New Testament. There is some confusion as to which, but this James is reckoned to have ministered in Syria. The Jewish historian Josephus reported that he was stoned and then clubbed to death.

 

Simon the Zealot, ministered in Persia and was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.

 

Matthias was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. Tradition sends him to Syria with Andrew and was put to death by burning.

         

The apostle Paul wrote 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament.  Paul was perhaps the most traveled apostle, covering Turkey, Greece, and Italy.  Some traditions even have him preaching in Spain, Portugal and as far as England.  Paul was whipped at least five times, beaten countless times (2 Corinthians 11:23), imprisoned at least twice for years (2 Corinthians 6:4), left for dead after being stoned (Acts 14:19), and finally beheaded during the persecution under Emperor Nero.

 

This is the glory that these men gave to Jesus.  They proved his resurrection and gospel was true by spreading its message and by dying for it.

 

Verse 11a,

 

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.”

 

Remember that Jesus is praying out loud for the benefit of the disciples.  Jesus is making it clear here that the message of the gospel is going to rely on the disciples.  Jesus is going to the Father.  The disciples will remain. 

 

Verse 11b,

 

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

 

The New International version tries too hard here to translate meaning, and thus loses the significance.  The way this should be translates is as follows:

 

“Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

 

The idea here is not so much about protecting them from harm, as it is about keeping them in the faith.  Keep them in the name, the name “Yahuweh.”  Keeping them in the faith will keep them as one. 

 

Notice here that the Father’s name is also Jesus’ name.  Remember back in verse 10, Jesus said, “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.”  You cannot separate the two.  If someone has everything that God has, what does that make him?

 

Verse 12,

 

“While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

 

Once again, the NIV tries too hard.  The translation here should be:

 

“While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name, the name you gave me. I guarded them, and none have been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

 

This is the third time that Jesus mentions the name of God and either claims to have revealed that name or claims that name to be his name. 

 

People don’t repeat things three times unless they want to emphasize it.  What do you think that Jesus is emphasizing here?

  1. That he is emphatically 100% God.

  2. That faith in God is centered on the belief that Jesus is God.

  3. That unity for his followers comes when the belief that Jesus and the Father are one is kept.

    • Throughout history, the belief that Jesus and the Father are one is the one thing that not only unites Christians, but also keep Christians from falling away from the faith.

    • Sects that fail to believe that Jesus and the Father are one, typically will also follow other errant beliefs.

 

Verse 13,

 

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”

 

Jesus doesn’t need to pray out loud to God.  His thoughts are God’s thoughts.  He says these things that his disciples may have the full measure of Jesus’ joy within them.  Do you think that Jesus knew that the disciple John would be listening carefully to this prayer and remembering every word?

 

Absolutely!

 

How are the disciples going to get this full measure of Jesus’ joy?

  1. First, they are going to go through some grief since Jesus will be crucified and lying in a tomb.

  2. Then they are going to get surprised with the news of his resurrection.

  3. Then they are going to see and touch Jesus in his resurrected body.

  4. Then Jesus will teach them everything that the law and the prophets spoke about him.

  5. Then they will see Jesus rising to be seated at the right hand of God.

  6. Then they are going to spread the gospel.

  7. Then they are going to be martyrs themselves.

  8. Then what?

  9. Then they will get their glorified body with Christ.

  10. Then, when Jesus comes again, they will get their earthly body united with their glorified body.

  11. Then they will rule with Jesus on earth for a thousand years.

  12. Then they will sit with Jesus on the throne of God.

 

Verse 14,

 

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.”

 

There is a great dichotomy here.  A dichotomy is something that branches into two parts and stands in contrast.  The disciples are in the world, but they are not of the world. 

 

What is “the world” according to Jesus?

 

  1. The world is worth saving according to John 3:17.Jesus came to save the world.

  2. Something ruled by Satan according to John 12:31

  3. Something that will give his disciples trouble in John 16:33.

  4. The works of the world are evil according to John 7:7.

  5. The world hates Jesus and the disciples according to John 15:18.

  6. The world does not recognize Jesus according to John 1:10.

  7. Jesus is the savior of the world according to John 4:42.

 

John further defines the world in 1 John 2:15-17,

 

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

 

Now does this mean that a Christian is never going to sin? 

 

We know that John does not think that Christians will never sin because of what he already said in verses 1-2 of the same chapter:

 

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

 

What is an advocate?

          An advocate is someone who speaks on behalf of another. 

 

So, even when we sin, Jesus is praying to the Father on our behalf. 

 

Now, this prayer in John 17 is not for the world.  It is a specific prayer for Jesus’ disciples and those that will believe in him.  Jesus is praying for us that we will stay on the straight path with our faith and not waver from the doctrine that Jesus and the Father are one.  Why does he pray for this?

 

          Because he knows that some will stray from that path. 

 

What was that all important verse again?

 

Jesus said in John 10:30,

 

“I and the Father ONE ARE.”

 

Jesus and the Father are one in existence.

 

Verse 15,

 

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”

 

Jesus is not praying for Christians to escape the world.  If that were to happen, there would be no one here to preach the gospel to the unsaved.  He does pray that God protects us from the evil one, Satan, and the evil ways of the world. 

 

Verse 16,

 

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” 

 

Jesus and his disciples are not of the world, that is, we are not of the sinful ways of the world. 

 

Verse 17,

 

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

 

We have to go back to the Greek on this one.  The NIV does a good job at translating meaning, but it loses some significance in the process.  A more accurate translation is:

 

“Sanctify them in the truth; the word your truth is.”

 

Jesus is doing a little Yoda speak here again.  First, notice that he says to sanctify the disciples in the truth.  Sanctify means to make separate, make holy, make godly.  Jesus says to make them such in the truth.  There is nothing false about Jesus.  There is nothing made up.  Jesus did not tell his followers what to write down for his religious texts in the gospel.  His disciples saw it, felt it, and experienced it.  The gospels are the result of their experience.  It is a firm foundation that can never be taken away. 

 

Then Jesus says, “The word your truth is.” 

 

The word – ho logos.  Sound familiar?  That is how the gospel of John begins. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  The word was God.  Who is the word?  The word is Jesus.  Was Jesus God only in the past tense? 

 

No.  Jesus bears the name Yahuweh, which means “I was, I am, I will be.”  The emphasis here is on the word IS.  Jesus IS God’s truth.  We are sanctified in this truth. 

 

Verse 18,

 

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”

 

Now the furtherance of the gospel will rest upon the disciples.  The message of truth now belongs to those that follow Jesus. 

 

Verse 19,

 

“For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

 

Jesus was unwavering in the truth.  He gave the same message from the beginning to the end.  He abided in what God gave him to do. 

 

We also need to be unwavering in the message we bear and with what God wants us to do. 

 

Jesus is the truth.  Jesus came from heaven, from the very bosom of the Father.  Only Jesus can tell us all about the Father.  He healed the multitudes.  He raised the dead.  He walked on the water.  He transported the boat through space and time.  He fed the multitudes.  He changed water into wine.  He laid down his life for us.  He resurrected to a glorified body for us.  He left his image etched on his burial cloth from the light of his cells.  Even his enemies affirmed his miracles.  There is nothing made up about Jesus.  He is absolutely 100% truth. 

 

The following video is “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns.

 

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