Commentary - John 17:6-19

Bird's-eye view

Here we are ushered into the Holy of Holies. This is the High Priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus, and in this portion of it, He turns His attention from His relationship with the Father to His relationship with His disciples. This is not a prayer offered in ignorance of the future, but with full knowledge of His impending departure and their impending mission. The central theme is the secure position of the believer in a hostile world. Jesus reports to the Father on the completion of His initial task: revealing the Father's name and delivering His words to the men the Father had given Him. He then intercedes for their preservation, their unity, their joy, and their sanctification. This prayer is a profound look into the doctrines of election, preservation, and sanctification, all grounded in the finished work of Christ and the sovereign will of the Father. He is praying for His men, who are His, given to Him by the Father, and He is praying that they be kept for the Father's glory in a world that is set against them precisely because they belong to God.

This is not a prayer for the world system, the kosmos in rebellion against God. It is a specific, targeted, effectual prayer for the elect. And the goal is not their removal from the battlefield, but their equipment for it. They are to be kept from the evil one, set apart by the truth of God's Word, and then sent back into the world on the same mission that Jesus was on. This passage is the ultimate ground of the believer's security and the ultimate charter for the church's mission. We are kept, sanctified, and sent.

Outline

Context In John

John 17 is the culmination of the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-16). Having washed the disciples' feet, instituted the Lord's Supper, predicted His betrayal and Peter's denial, and given them His final instructions and promises, Jesus now lifts His eyes to heaven. This prayer functions as a divine transition. He has finished His earthly ministry to His disciples and is now preparing to go to the cross. The prayer is structured in three parts: Jesus prays for Himself and the glorification of the Son (17:1-5), He prays for His immediate disciples (17:6-19), and He prays for all future believers (17:20-26). This chapter is the theological heart of the Gospel of John, unpacking the eternal realities that underpin the historical events of the crucifixion and resurrection. It reveals the ultimate purpose of Jesus' mission: to glorify the Father by giving eternal life to those the Father has given Him, and to gather a redeemed people who are united in God and sent into the world.

Key Issues

The Great Intercession

Before the great work of atonement on the cross, the great High Priest performs His work of intercession. This is not a frantic, last-minute plea. This is a majestic, sovereign, and confident prayer offered by the Son to the Father, with whom He is one. He is not asking for anything that is in doubt. He is, in a sense, reporting on a finished work and outlining the necessary consequences of that work for His people. The security of the church does not rest on the strength of our grip on Him, but on the strength of His prayer for us to the Father.

Notice the profound Trinitarian theology woven throughout. The Father gives men to the Son. The Son gives the Father's words to the men. The Son is glorified in them. He prays to the "Holy Father" to keep them in His name. This is a conversation within the Godhead, and we are privileged to overhear it. It establishes that our salvation, from its conception in eternity past to its consummation in eternity future, is entirely a work of God. He chose us, He gave us to the Son, the Son redeemed us and revealed the Father to us, and the Father keeps us by His power. This is the bedrock of Reformed soteriology, and it is laid bare right here.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

Jesus begins His report to the Father. The mission was to manifest the Father's name, which means to reveal His character, His very being. Jesus did this perfectly because He is the exact imprint of God's nature. And to whom did He reveal it? To a specific group of men. Notice the clear teaching on election. These men were first the Father's ("they were Yours"), and then the Father gave them to the Son. They were chosen out of the rebellious world system. Salvation begins with God's sovereign choice. And the result of this divine action is human responsibility fulfilled: "they have kept Your word." God's grace does not produce laxity; it produces obedience.

7-8 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

Jesus elaborates on their obedience. It is a cognitive and fiducial obedience. They have come to know, to receive, to understand, and to believe. This is not a vague mystical experience. It is grounded in the reception of specific content: "the words which You gave Me." Jesus was the conduit of divine revelation. The Father gave the words to the Son, and the Son gave them to the disciples. They received this revelation, understood its central claim (that Jesus came from the Father), and believed the apostolic commission (that the Father sent the Son). This is the anatomy of true, saving faith. It rests on the objective Word of God, delivered by Christ.

9-10 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

Here Jesus makes a crucial distinction. His high priestly intercession at this point is not for the world, the kosmos organized in rebellion against God. It is specifically and particularly for the elect, "those whom You have given Me." This is not to say God has no love or concern for the world in a general sense, but the saving, intercessory work of Christ is targeted. He prays for His own. And why? "For they are Yours." The basis of the prayer is God's ownership of His people. This is followed by a breathtaking statement of equality within the Godhead: "all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine." The Father and Son have a perfect, mutual possession of all things, including the elect. And in these redeemed men, Christ has already "been glorified." Their faith and obedience, imperfect as it was, brought glory to Him.

11 And I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.

The immediate occasion for the prayer is laid out. Jesus is departing; they are staying. They are remaining as sheep in the midst of wolves. So what is the request? "Holy Father, keep them." The preservation of the saints is not an automatic process; it is the direct work of the Father in answer to the prayer of the Son. He asks the Father to keep them "in Your name," which means to protect them by His power and preserve them in the truth of His character which Jesus revealed. The purpose of this keeping is unity: "that they may be one even as We are." The unity of the church is to reflect the very unity of the Godhead. This is not a mushy, organizational unity, but a deep, organic, theological unity based on shared life and shared truth.

12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

Jesus reports on His past success as their guardian. While physically present, He Himself kept them. He guarded them like a shepherd. And His record was perfect: "not one of them perished." He then qualifies this with the exception of Judas, the "son of perdition." But even this was not a failure of His guardianship. Judas's betrayal was not a surprise; it was the fulfillment of Scripture, part of God's sovereign plan. Judas was never truly one of them (1 John 2:19). His apostasy did not thwart God's purpose but rather fulfilled it, demonstrating that God's decree encompasses even the most wicked acts of men.

13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

Jesus is speaking this prayer aloud, in their hearing. Why? So that they might overhear His confidence in the Father's care for them, and as a result, have His joy fulfilled in them. Christian joy is not based on circumstances. It is a deep, abiding reality that comes from knowing you are eternally secure in the hands of a sovereign Father, prayed for by His victorious Son. Jesus wants His own joy, the joy of a mission accomplished and a people secured, to be their joy as well.

14-16 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Here we have the central tension of the Christian life. The disciples have received God's word, and this act immediately puts them at odds with the world. The world's hatred is not arbitrary; it is a necessary reaction to the truth. Because they have been born from above, their essential nature has changed. They are no longer "of the world." Their citizenship, their values, their ultimate allegiance, is elsewhere. Given this hostility, what is the solution? It is not, as some might think, a spiritual escapism. Jesus explicitly does not pray for their removal from the world. The church is not meant to be raptured out of trouble, but to be a garrison in enemy territory. The prayer is for preservation within the conflict: "keep them from the evil one." We are to be engaged in the world, but protected from its ultimate ruler.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

The prayer now moves from preservation to sanctification. How are these disciples, living in a hostile world, to be made holy? Not through mystical experiences or monastic withdrawal, but "by the truth." And in case there is any ambiguity, Jesus defines His terms: "Your word is truth." The Word of God, the Scriptures, is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to set believers apart, to make them more like Christ. Sanctification is a process of having our minds and hearts renewed and reshaped by biblical truth. There is no holiness apart from sound doctrine.

18 As You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world.

Here is the apostolic commission in its essence. The disciples are not just saved from the world; they are sent back into it. And their mission is modeled directly on Christ's. Just as the Father sent the Son with a message and a mission, so the Son sends His disciples. We are not here by accident. We are here under orders. We have a purpose, and that purpose is to carry on the work that Jesus began.

19 For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

This is a profound statement. How does Jesus "sanctify" Himself, given that He is already perfectly holy? In this context, it means He is setting Himself apart for the specific task of sacrifice. He is consecrating Himself to the work of the cross. And He does this "for their sake." His atoning death is the objective basis for our subjective sanctification. He set Himself apart unto death so that we might be truly set apart by the truth that His death secured. His work on the cross is what makes the Word of God effective in our lives. Our holiness is purchased and empowered by His.

Application

This passage ought to be a source of immense comfort and steely resolve for every believer. Your standing before God does not depend on your fickle feelings or your spotty performance. It depends on the finished work and effectual prayer of Jesus Christ. He has prayed for you to be kept, and the Father always hears the Son. You are secure.

But this security is not for our comfort alone. It is the foundation for our mission. We have been left in this world for a reason. Like our Lord, we are here as aliens and strangers, sent with a message. That message is the Word of God, and it is the only instrument of salvation and sanctification. We must therefore be people of the Book. We must read it, study it, believe it, and proclaim it. As we do, we should expect the world's hatred. The world hated Him, and it will hate us. But we are not to retreat into a holy huddle. Jesus prayed that we would be kept from the evil one, not insulated from unbelievers. Our calling is to be sanctified by the truth and then to take that truth into every corner of a dark and dying world, confident that the One who prayed for us on the night of His betrayal is even now at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.