2.\tJesus\u2019 intercession for the apostles (17:6-19).
\nJesus 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). This prayer of intercession reveals Jesus\u2019 concern and love for His apostles.
\n17:6-8. The little flock of disciples was given by the Father to the Son (cf. vv. 2, 9, 24). They had been separated out of the world (\u201cworld\u201d occurs 18 times in this chap.: vv. 5-6, 9, 11 [twice], 13, 14 [thrice], 15, 16 [twice in the Gr.], 18 [twice], 21, 23-25). This separation was by the electing work of the Father, in which the apostles had been given as a gift to Jesus Christ (cf. 6:37). With the words, They have obeyed Your Word, Jesus praised His disciples for responding to the message of God in Jesus Christ. The disciples were not perfect, but they had the right commitment. Their faith in Jesus was a trust in His union with the Father (17:8). This faith in Jesus was manifested in their obedience to His words because they believed in His divine mission (cf. 16:27).
\n17:9-10. Christ\u2019s prayer (in vv. 6-19) was particularly for the Eleven, though it applies to all believers (cf. v. 20). At this point He was not praying for the world in its hostility and unbelief. This prayer is for two things: (a) the disciples\u2019 preservation (\u201cprotect them,\u201d v. 11) and (b) their sanctification (\u201csanctify them,\u201d v. 17). The world is not to be preserved in its rebellion or sanctified in its unbelief. Jesus prayed this request because of God\u2019s ownership of them by creation and election (they are Yours). Jesus\u2019 words, All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine, reveal His claim to unity, intimacy, and equality with the Father.
\nIn the old economy, God dwelt among people and showed His glory. In Jesus, God\u2019s glory was displayed (cf. 1:14). Then Christ\u2019s disciples glorified Him: Glory has come to Me through them. And now in the Church Age the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (16:14) and believers are also to glorify the Son (Eph. 1:12).
\n17:11. Jesus would soon depart to the Father and leave His disciples in the world. They had to stay in the world to carry out God\u2019s plan in spreading the good news of redemption and in planting the church. With the formation of the church, the history of the world has become, in a sense, \u201ca tale of two cities\u201d: the city of God and the city of man.
\nSince the disciples would be in the world, Jesus prayed for their protection. The hostility against God which fell on Jesus would now fall on the tiny band of apostles, and subsequently on many of Jesus\u2019 followers. Jesus, in calling on His Holy Father, pointed up God\u2019s distinction from sinful creatures. This holiness is the basis for believers\u2019 separation from the world. He would protect them from the sin and enmity of the world by the power of His name (cf. Prov. 18:10). In Bible times a person\u2019s name stood for the person. (In John 17:6, 26 the niv translates the Gr. \u201cYour name\u201d by the word \u201cYou.\u201d)
\nWhy did Jesus pray for their preservation? It was to promote the unity of the believers, patterned after the unity of the Father and the Son: so that they may be one as We are One (cf. vv. 21-22). The unity here seems to be that of will and purpose. By being protected from the world they would be unified in their desires to serve and glorify the Son.
\n17:12. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus took care of the flock entrusted to Him by the Father. But Judas was an exception. He is here called the one doomed to destruction (lit., \u201cthe son of perdition\u201d). Judas was never a sheep and his true character was finally manifested (cf. 13:11; 1 John 2:19). He was a \u201cdead branch\u201d (cf. comments on John 15:2, 6). Judas did what he wanted (he sold Jesus). Yet he was an unwitting tool of Satan (13:2, 27). Even people\u2019s volitionally free acts fit into God\u2019s sovereign plan (cf. Acts 2:23; 4:28). Thus Judas\u2019 betrayal of Jesus fulfilled (i.e., filled up in a larger sense) the words in Psalm 41:9 about David\u2019s betrayal by his friend.
\n17:13. The words of comfort spoken by Jesus (I say these things) to His disciples were of great benefit to them. Following His Passion, they would recall His words and experience the full measure of His joy. Joy came to them because they knew from His words that He had conquered the evil one and brought eternal life to them.
\n17:14. Jesus\u2019 intercession for the disciples continued with a reminder of (a) their value and (b) their coming danger. They were valuable because they had received the Word of God: I have given them Your Word (cf. \u201cI gave them the words You gave Me,\u201d v. 8). They were in danger because the satanic world system hated them. It hated them because they are not a part of it. As believers share Jesus Christ, \u201cEverything in the world\u2013the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does\u201d (1 John 2:16) loses its attractiveness. A believer\u2019s commitment shows the world\u2019s values to be trash or dung (cf. Phil. 3:8). Therefore the world hates the exposure of its sham values (cf. John 3:20).
\n17:15. God\u2019s plan was not to remove the disciples from danger and opposition (take them out of the world) but to preserve them in the midst of conflict. Though Jesus would soon be taken out of the world (v. 11), His followers are to remain in it. Like Daniel in Babylon (Dan. 1-2; 4-6) and the saints in Caesar\u2019s household (Phil. 4:22), God intends for His followers to be witnesses to truth in the midst of satanic falsehood. Satan, the evil one (cf. Matt. 5:37; 1 John 5:19), as head of the world system, seeks to do everything possible to destroy believers (cf. Rev. 2:10; 12:10) but God\u2019s plan will prevail. Christians must not take themselves out of the world but remain in meaningful contact with it, trusting in God\u2019s protection while they witness for Jesus.
\n17:16-17. Just as Jesus did not belong to the satanic world system (I am not of it; cf. v. 14), so believers do not. They belong to the heavenly kingdom (Col. 1:13) because of their new births (cf. John 3:3). Jesus had prayed for protection for His disciples (17:11). Now His second petition for them was for their sanctification. Sanctify means \u201cset apart for special use.\u201d A believer is to be distinct from the world\u2019s sin, its values, and its goals.
\nThe means of this sanctifying work is God\u2019s truth. The truth is communicated in the Word, which is both personal and propositional. As the message about Jesus was heard, believed, and understood, the disciples\u2019 hearts and minds were captured. This change in their thinking resulted in changes in their living. The same is true of believers today. As they appropriate God\u2019s Word to their lives, they are sanctified\u2013set apart for God and changed in their living in order to honor God (cf. 15:3). God\u2019s message set the apostles apart from the world so that they would do His will, not Satan\u2019s.
\n17:18. Jesus is the model for every believer. He was in the world but He was not of the world (vv. 14b, 16b). He was sent \u2026 into the world on a mission by His Father. So believers are sent \u2026 into the world on a mission by the Son, to make the Father known (cf. 20:21). Inasmuch as Jesus\u2019 prayer for the disciples was not limited to the immediate apostles (cf. 17:20), this passage is similar to the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Each Christian should view himself as a missionary whose task is to communicate God\u2019s truth to others.
\n17:19. For the benefit of the disciples, Jesus sanctified Himself. In what sense did Jesus need to sanctify Himself? Was He not already set apart to God and distinct from the world? Yes, but this sanctification refers to His being separated and dedicated to His death. And the purpose of His death was that they too may be truly sanctified. The words \u201ctruly sanctified\u201d are literally \u201csanctified in truth.\u201d This probably means that God\u2019s truth is the means of sanctification (cf. comments on v. 17). The purpose of the death of Christ is to dedicate or separate believers to God and His program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2. Jesus\u2019 intercession for the apostles (17:6-19). 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). This prayer of intercession reveals Jesus\u2019 concern and love for His apostles. 17:6-8….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}