Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 17:12
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
12. in the world ] These words are omitted by the best authorities.
I kept ] Literally, I was keeping: Christ’s continual watching over His disciples is expressed. ‘I’ is emphatic, implying ‘now that I am leaving them, do Thou keep them.’
I have kept ] Rather, I guarded: both verb and tense are changed. This expresses the protection which is the result of the watching. Moreover the reading must be changed as in Joh 17:11; I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them.
none of them is lost ] Better, not one of them perished.
the son of perdition ] The phrase is used twice only in N.T.; here of Judas, in 2Th 2:3 of the ‘man of sin.’ Comp. ‘children of light,’ ‘children of darkness.’ Such expressions are common in Hebrew (see on Joh 12:36). ‘Children of perdition’ occurs Isa 57:4, ‘people of perdition’ Sir 16:9 , and ‘son of death’ 2Sa 12:5. We cannot here preserve the full force of the original, in which ‘perish’ and ‘perdition’ are represented by cognate words; ‘none perished but the son of perishing.’
that the scripture ] Psa 41:9: see on Joh 10:35 and Joh 13:18 and comp. Joh 12:38.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
While I was with them in the world – While I was engaged with them among other men – surrounded by the people and the temptations of the world. Jesus had now finished his work among the men of the world, and was performing his last offices with his disciples.
I kept them – By my example, instructions, and miracles. I preserved them from apostasy.
In thy name – In the knowledge and worship of thee. See Joh 17:6-11.
Those that thou gavest me … – The word gavest is evidently used by the Saviour to denote not only to give to him to be his real followers, but also as apostles. It is used here, probably, in the sense of giving as apostles. God had so ordered it by his providence that they had been given to him to be his apostles and followers; but the terms thou gavest me do not of necessity prove that they were true believers. Of Judas Jesus knew that he was a deceiver and a devil, Joh 6:70; Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Judas is there represented as having been chosen by the Saviour to the apostleship, and this is equivalent to saying that he was given to him for this work; yet at the same time he knew his character, and understood that he had never been renewed.
None of them – None of those chosen to the apostolic office.
But the son of perdition – See the notes at Mat 1:1. The term son was given by the Hebrews to those who possessed the character described by the word or name following. Thus, sons of Belial – those who possessed his character; children of wisdom those who were wise, Mat 11:19. Thus Judas is called a son of perdition because he had the character of a destroyer. He was a traitor and a murderer. And this shows that he who knew the heart regarded his character as that of a wicked man one whose appropriate name was that of a son of perdition.
That the scripture … – See the notes at Joh 13:18. Compare Psa 12:9.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. I kept them in thy name] In thy doctrine and truth.
But the son of perdition] So we find that Judas, whom all account to have been lost, and whose case at best is extremely dubious, was first given by God to Christ? But why was he lost? Because, says St. Augustin, he would not be saved: and he farther adds, After the commission of his crime, he might have returned to God and have found mercy. Aug. Serm. 125; n. 5; Psa. cxlvi. n. 20; Ser. 352, n. 8; and in Psa. cviii. See Calmet, who remarks: Judas only became the son of perdition because of his wilful malice, his abuse of the grace and instructions of Christ, and was condemned through his own avarice, perfidy, insensibility, and despair. In behalf of the mere possibility of the salvation of Judas, see the observations at the end of Acts 1. See Clarke on Ac 1:26
Perdition or destruction is personified; and Judas is represented as being her son, i.e. one of the worst of men-one whose crime appears to have been an attempt to destroy, not only the Saviour of the world, but also the whole human race. And all this he was capable of through the love of money! How many of those who are termed creditable persons in the world have acted his crime over a thousand times! To Judas and to all his brethren, who sell God and their souls for money, and who frequently go out of this world by a violent voluntary death, we may apply those burning words of Mr. Blair, with very little alteration:
“O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake
The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds,
First hanged in this, then damned in that to come.”
That the scripture might be fulfilled.] Or, Thus the scripture is fulfilled: see Ps 41:9; Ps 109:8; compared with Ac 1:20. Thus the traitorous conduct of Judas has been represented and illustrated by that of Ahitophel, and the rebellion of Absalom against his father David. Thus what was spoken concerning them was also fulfilled in Judas: to him therefore these scriptures are properly applied, though they were originally spoken concerning other traitors. Hence we plainly see that the treachery of Judas was not the effect of the prediction, for that related to a different case; but, as his was of the same nature with that of the others, to it the same scriptures were applicable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Christ speaks here of himself as one who had already died, was risen, and ascended, though none of all these things were past, because they were so suddenly to come to pass. I have, (saith our Saviour), for all the time that I have abode in the world, and conversed with them,
kept them in thy name, i.e. in the steady owning and profession of thy truth; or (if we read it, through thy name) it signifieth through thy power, and the influence of thy grace. I have not so kept all that came to hear me, but all
those whom thou gavest me by the act of thy eternal counsel; or whom thou gavest me to be my apostles: and none of them is proved an apostate, but the son of perdition: none of them is lost whom thou gavest me by thy eternal gift, none of them whom thou gavest me to be my apostles, but one who, though he was my apostle, and in that sense given to me, yet was never given me by thy eternal gift, as one to be by me redeemed, and brought to eternal life and salvation; for he was a son of perdition: we have this term applied to antichrist, 2Th 2:3. As the son of death, 2Sa 12:5, signifies one appointed to die, or that deserveth to die; and the child of hell, Mat 23:15, signifieth one who deserveth hell; so the son of perdition may either signify one destined to perdition, or one that walketh in the high and right road to perdition, or rather both; one who being passed over in Gods eternal counsels, as to such as shall be saved, hath by his own wilful apostasy brought himself to eternal perdition, or into such a guilt as I know thou wilt destroy him. And by this the Holy Scripture is fulfilled, Psa 109:8, for that is the portion of Scripture here intended, as is apparent from Act 1:20, where the apostle applies that text to Judas, who is here spoken of. Other scriptures also were thus fulfilled, as Psa 41:9, compared with Joh 13:18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. I keptguarded.
them in thy nameactingas Thy Representative on earth.
none of them is lost, but theson of perditionIt is not implied here that the son ofperdition was one of those whom the Father had given to the Son, butrather the contrary (Joh 13:18)[WEBSTER and WILKINSON].It is just as in Luk 4:26;Luk 4:27, where we are not tosuppose that the woman of Sarepta (in Sidon) was one of thewidows of Israel, nor Naaman the Syrian one of thelepers in Israel, though the languagethe same as heremightseem to express it.
son of perditiondoomedto it (2Th 2:3; Mar 14:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
While I was with them in the world,…. This does not imply that Christ was not in the world now, for he was; but signifies that he was just going out of it; and that his continuance in it was very short: nor that he was, and would be no longer with his disciples; for this is to be understood of his bodily, not of his spiritual presence; in which respect Christ is with his people whilst they are on earth, and they are with him when he is in heaven:
I kept them in thy name; by his Father’s authority and power, in his doctrine:
those that thou gavest me I have kept; that is, those that were given him to be his apostles;
and none of them is lost; these he kept close to himself, and from the evil of the world, and from temporal and eternal ruin:
but the son of perdition; Judas, a child of Satan, whose name is Apollyon the destroyer, who was now about to betray his Lord and master; and was one that was appointed to eternal ruin and destruction, of which he was justly deserving; and which is no instance of the apostasy of saints, since though he was given to Christ as an apostle, yet not in eternal election, to be saved by him:
that the Scripture might be fulfilled; this respects either Christ’s keeping of his people, and their final perseverance, whereby the Scriptures that speak of it are fulfilled; or rather the destruction of Judas, whereby such passages as speak of that, have their accomplishment, particularly Ps 109:8; Some have thought that this only refers to the general sense of the Scriptures, both the law and prophets; that some are chosen to everlasting life, and others are appointed to wrath; that some are saved, and others lost; some sons of God, and others sons of perdition; but it rather seems to regard some particular passage or passages of Scripture relating to Judas, his character, condition and end, and which are very manifestly pointed at, in the psalm referred to;
“As for the servants whom I have given thee, there shall not one of them perish; for I will require them from among thy number.” (2 Esdras 2:26)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I kept (). Imperfect active of , “I continued to keep.”
I guarded (). First aorist (constative) active of . Christ was the sentinel (, Ac 5:23) for them. Is he our sentinel now?
But the son of perdition ( ). The very phrase for antichrist (2Th 2:3). Note play on , perished (second aorist middle indicative of ). It means the son marked by final loss, not annihilation, but meeting one’s destiny (Ac 2:25). A sad and terrible exception (Mr 14:21).
The scripture ( ). It is not clear whether this is John’s own comment or the word of Jesus. Not in 18:9. The Scripture referred to is probably Ps 41:9 quoted in 13:18 with the same formula which see there.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In the world. Omit.
I kept [] . Imperfect tense. I continued to keep. The I is emphatic : I kept them, now do Thou keep them.
I kept [] . Rev., rightly, I guarded. The A. V. overlooks the distinction between the two words for keeping. The former word means, I preserved them; the latter, I guarded them as a means to their preservation. See on reserved, 1Pe 1:4.
Is lost – perdition [ – ] . A play of words : “None of them perished, but the son of perishing” (Westcott).
The scripture [ ] . See close of note on 5 47, and on Mr 12:10.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “While I was with them in the world,” (hoe emen met’ auton) “When I was with and among them,” was preaching, teaching, and laboring among them, as their protector, friend, and guide.
2) “I kept them in thy name:” (ego eteroun autous en to onomati) I kept them (guarded them as a shepherd or sentinel soldier) in your name,” by instruction, encouragement, and guarding them from error, from the beginning of His teaching ministry, begun in the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:1 to Mat 7:29.
3) “Those that thou gavest me I have kept,” (sou ho dedokas moi kai ephulaksa) “Those which you gave to me I also have guarded, kept, or shielded,” against the malicious charges of the Pharisees and Sadducees, for plucking grain and eating it on the Sabbath, and for their eating with unwashed hands, etc., Mat 7:5-23; Mar 2:23-28.
4) “And none of them is lost,” (kai oudeis eks auton apoleto) “And not even one of them perished or exists as a lost one,” or ever will be, Joh 5:24; Joh 10:27-29; 1Jn 5:13. Would that every shepherd could turn in such a report at the end of his life, 2Ti 4:7-8; 1Pe 5:1-4.
5) “But the son of perdition,” (ei me ho huios tes apoleias) “Except the heir-son of perdition,” a term meaning “devoted to perdition,” that one Jesus identified as “a devil,” Judas Iscariot, Joh 6:70-71; Joh 13:2; Joh 13:27.
6) “That the scriptures might be fulfilled.” (hina he graphe plerothe) “In order that the scriptures might be fulfilled,” as foretold concerning the treachery of the traitor, Judas Iscariot, Psa 41:9; Joh 13:18. But the prophetic Scripture would not have been written, had it not been truly foreseen and disclosed to the prophet, by the Holy Spirit, 2Pe 1:21; Psa 119:160.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. While I was with them in the world. Christ says that he hath kept them in the name of his Father; for he represents himself to be only a servant, who did nothing but by the power, and under the protection, of God. He means, therefore, that it were most unreasonable to suppose that they would now perish, as if by his departure the power of God had been extinguished or dead. But it may be thought very absurd that Christ surrenders to God the office of keeping them, as if, after having finished the course of his life, he ceased to be the guardian of his people. The reply is obvious. He speaks here of visible guardianship only which ended at the death of Christ; for, while he dwelt on earth, he needed not to borrow power from another, in order to keep his disciples; but all this relates to the person of the Mediator, who appeared, for a time, under the form of a servant. But now he bids the disciples, as soon as they have begun to be deprived of the external aid, to raise their eyes direct towards heaven. Hence we infer that Christ keeps believers in the present day not less than he formerly did, but in a different manner, because Divine majesty is openly displayed in him.
Whom thou hast given me. He again employs the same argument, that it would be highly unbecoming that the Father should reject those whom his Son, by his command, has kept to the very close of his ministry; as if he had said, “What thou didst commit to me I have faithfully executed, and I took care that nothing was lost in my hands; and when thou now receivest what thou hadst intrusted to me, it belongs to thee to see that it continue to be safe and sound.”
But the son of perdition. Judas is excepted, and not without reason; for, though he was not one of the elect and of the true flock of God, yet the dignity of his office gave him the appearance of it; and, indeed, no one would have formed a different opinion of him, so long as he held that exalted rank. Tried by the rules of grammar, (118) the exception is incorrect; but if we examine the matter narrowly, it was necessary that Christ should speak thus, in accommodation to the ordinary opinion of men. But, that no one might think that the eternal election of God was overturned by the damnation of Judas, he immediately added, that he was the son of perdition By these words Christ means that his ruin, which took place suddenly before the eyes of men, had been known to God long before; for the son of perdition, according to the Hebrew idiom, denotes a man who is ruined, or devoted to destruction.
That the Scripture might be fulfilled. This relates to the former clause. Judas fell, that the Scripture might be fulfilled But it would be a most unfounded argument, if any one were to infer from this, that the revolt of Judas ought to be ascribed to God rather than to himself; because the prediction laid him under a nccesslty. For the course of events ought not to be ascribed to prophecies, because it was predicted in them; and, indeed, the prophets threaten nothing but what would have happened, though they had not spoken of it. It is not in the prophecies, therefore, that we must go to seek the cause of events. I acknowledge, indeed, that nothing happens but what has been appointed by God; but the only question now is, Do those things which it has foretold, or predicted, lay men under a necessity? which I have already demonstrated to be false.
Nor was it the design of Christ to transfer to Scripture the cause of the ruin of Judas, but he only intended to take away the occasion of stumbling, which might shake weak minds. (119) Now the method of removing it is, by showing that the Spirit of God had long ago testified that such an event would happen; for we commonly startle at what is new and sudden. This is a highly useful admonition, and admits of extensive application. For how comes it that in our own day, the greater part of men give way on account of offences, but because they do not remember the testimonies of Scripture, by which God has abundantly fortified his people, having foretold early all the evils and distresses which would come before their eyes?
(118) “ Selon la reigle tie grammaire.”
(119) “ Les consciences infirmes;” — “weak consciences.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) While I was with them in the world.Comp. the opening words of Joh. 17:11. During His presence with them there was not this special need for commending them to the Fathers care. His relation to them now is as that of a parent blessing and praying for His children before He is taken away from them. (Comp. Joh. 13:33.)
I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept.Better (comp. previous verse), I kept them in Thy name which Thou gavest Me, and guarded them. The pronoun is emphatic. While I was in the world I kept them. I am now praying that Thou wouldest keep them. The words kept and guarded differ slightly in meaning, the former pointing to the preservation in the truth revealed to them, and the latter to the watchfulness by means of which this result was obtained. The former may be compared to the feeding of the flock, the latter to the care which protects from the wild beasts around. (Comp. Joh. 10:28-30.)
And none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.Better, None of them perished, except the son of perdition. The tense is the same as that of the word guarded. The Good Shepherd watched His flock, and such was His care that none perished but the son of perdition. Of him the words carefully state that he perished. He, then, was included in them which Thou gavest Me. For him there was the same preservation and the same guardianship as for those who remained in the fold. The sheep wandered from the flock, and was lost by his own act. (Comp. especially Notes on Joh. 6:37-39; Joh. 6:71. See also Joh. 18:9.)
The term, son of perdition, is a well-known Hebrew idiom, by which the lack of qualitative adjectives is supplied by the use of the abstract substantives, which express that quality. A disobedient child is, e.g., a son of disobedience; other common instances are children of light, children of darkness. A son of perdition is one in whose nature there is the quality expressed by perdition. The phrase is used in Isa. 57:4 to express the apostacy of the Israelites (in English version, children of transgression). It occurs once again in 2Th. 2:3, of the man of sin. (Comp. Notes there.) It is used, in the Gospel of Nicodemus, of the devil. In the present passage it is difficult to express the meaning in English, because we have no verb of the same root as the abstract substantive perdition, and no abstract substantive of the same root as the verb perish. No exact translation can therefore give in English the point of our Lords words, And none of them perished except him whose nature it was to perish. Here, as often (comp. Note on Joh. 10:16), the reader who can consult Luthers German will find that he exactly hits the sense: Und ist keiner von ihnen verloren ohne das verlorne Kind.
That the scripture might be fulfilled.Comp. Note on Joh. 13:18, and Act. 1:20.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. While In the five ensuing verses Jesus contemplates his apostles in relation to their earthly dangers, as by him faithfully kept, (albeit that one is lost,) in the midst of a hated world, from which they must not be withdrawn, though while in it they are not of it. While in the world Here, as throughout this intercession, his standpoint is beyond this world.
I kept them Kept them, not like a purse of coin, locked in an iron safe, as a mere thing; nor as a prisoner, locked in a bolted cell, as an unfree agent, but as a child is kept in a loved home, from which he is able to escape by a power of his own. Such keeping of a true free agent is intended to be sure only when the kept one prefers to be kept. No divine guardianship throughout the Bible engages to secure a Christian from voluntary apostacy.
The son of perdition Stier well remarks that wherever in the Holy Scriptures the figurative phrase child of an evil thing is used, it indicates the wilful, guilty, and fixed tendency of the being. So child of hell, Mat 23:15; children of disobedience, Eph 2:2; so also man of sin, 2Th 2:3. Son of perdition, therefore, indicates one who by his own wilful, guilty, personal tending, lands in final destruction. But it is plain, from the previous part of the verse, that this son of perdition was one of those whom thou gavest me, and was kept in thy name; and yet, in spite of that keeping, he was lost; and he became a final heir of perdition. Hence we have on this sacred record, presented in the very primal twelve, a type of genuine final apostacy in the Christian Church.
Scripture might be fulfilled This is the final good educed by God from the darkest evil: that therein his foreknowledge is verified, and God’s plans for his own conduct, which are conditioned upon the foreknowledge, are left underanged. The dark human side was for pure evil; the divine side is, that the unneeded and condemned sin does of itself fit in to the production of God’s best results.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“While I was with them I kept those whom you have given me, and I guarded them and not one of them perished except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
Jesus has faithfully and successfully fulfilled His task with regard to those whom the Father has given Him. He has watched over them and protected them, and all are safe apart from the one who was ‘the son of perdition (or destruction)’. He was never given by the Father to Jesus, for he was marked for destruction. He was never a ‘son of God’ but always ‘a son of perdition’, one bound for and deserving destruction because he follows its ways.
‘The son of perdition’ par excellence is the one who above all personifies Satan (2Th 2:3), the ‘man of sin’, the Antichrist. But Judas has sided with him, and revealed his true nature as one with him. John makes clear that Jesus knew the truth about him from the beginning (Joh 6:70). Just as at the end there will be one who will reveal Satanic control, a son of perdition, so also there was at the beginning. He was the beginning of the attempts of Satan to thwart the purposes of God.
‘That the Scripture might be fulfilled’. The main Scripture in mind is Psa 41:9, ‘yes, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me’ as Jesus tells us in Joh 13:18. It is not claiming that this is a specific prophecy of Judas’ failure, but that Judas’ failure follows the pattern of Scripture. What Scripture reveals that men are like in their attitude to those beloved by God here proves true.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Keeping the believers in God’s name:
v. 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name; those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
v. 13. and now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. As long as Jesus was present in the world, in the flesh, so long He personally tended to the keeping of His disciples in the faith. He taught, He admonished them day by day; He always revealed anew to them the name of the Father, in the Gospel which He proclaimed. And His Gospel-work had been most successful. He had kept all of the disciples whom the Father had given Him, His watchful guiding and warning had not been in vain but only in one single case, that of the son of perdition, of the traitor. In his case the Scripture had to be fulfilled. See Psa 69:4; Act 1:20. But now the sojourn of Christ on earth was drawing to a close; no more would He be present with His disciples in the terms of personal, visible contact to which they had become accustomed. Jesus was going to the Father, and therefore He was making this prayer in their presence, while He was yet in the world, that they might be convinced of His personal interest in them, of His unchanging solicitude for them. His urgent prayer for their preservation in the faith should give them the assurance, as it should to the believers of all times, that nothing is left undone which will assist them in the midst of all the perils of the world and their own flesh. That is a source of wonderful comfort to the believers, that gives them the fullness of joy. Theirs, then, is a joy in Christ; they are happy over the fact that they are Christians, that they are intimates of the Father. This joy must drive out every bit of doubt as to a person’s remaining in faith to the end, just as this entire section of Christ’s prayer contains nothing but comfort for every Christian. Where there is such intimacy as between God and Christ, on the one hand, and the believers, on the other, all fear and doubts must vanish. “Now if someone wants to know whether he is elected or in what relation he stands to God, let him but look upon the mouth of Jesus, that is, upon these and similar verses. For though a person cannot say of a certainty who will be elected in the future and remain to the end, yet this is certainly true, that whosoever is called and comes thereto, namely, to hear this revelation, that is, the Word of Christ, provided he accept it in all sincerity, that is, fully hold and believe that it is true, they are the ones that are given to Christ by the Father. But those that are given to Him He will surely keep, and insist that they do not perish.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 17:12. While I was with them “During my personal abode with them, I kept them in the firm faith, and in thesteadfast practice of the precepts of my holy religion, so far as I revealed those unto them. I say the twelve men whom thou gavest me for apostles I have thus kept, insomuch that none of them have apostatized, but Judas Iscariot, that wicked person, who deserves perdition; and therefore it was long ago predicted in the scriptures, particularly in Psa 109:8.” See on ch. Joh 13:19. As the phrase, son of death, 1Sa 26:16. [Margin,] signifies one who deserves death; and a child of hell, Mat 23:15 signifies one who deserves hell; so here son of perdition, signifies a person who deserves perdition.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 17:12-13 . A more definite outflow of heart concerning Joh 17:11 .
, . . .] As in Joh 17:11 , . , Jesus speaks as though He had already departed out of the world. “Jam in exitu mundi pedem irrevocabilem posuerat,” Ruperti on Joh 17:11 .
] That which Thou mayest now do, Joh 17:11 .
. ., . . .] Not a parenthesis, but a further expression of the just described, in which a sorrowful but telically clear and conscious mention of Judas obtrudes itself.
] Through the ( custodire ) is the ( conservare ) accomplished. Comp. Sap. Joh 10:5 ; Dem. 317. ult. The disciples were handed over to Him for protection and guardianship, ut eos salvos tueretur . This He has accomplished, and none of them has fallen into destruction ( i.e . into eternal destruction through apostasy, which leads to the loss of ), except him who belongs to destruction (Mat 23:15 ), i.e . who is destined to destruction. Comp. Joh 6:64 ; Joh 6:70 . Jesus does not like to name Judas, who forms this tragical exception ( is not equivalent to , as Scholten thinks), but his destruction and therein the purity of the consciousness of Jesus in the matter is expressed is nothing accidental , capable of being averted, but is prophesied as a divine destiny in the Scripture, and must take place in fulfilment thereof . On account of Joh 13:18 , it is without warrant to think of another saying of Scripture than, with Luther, Lcke, and several others, of Psa 41:10 (Kuinoel: the prophecies of the death of Jesus generally are intended; Lange, L. J . II. p. 1412: Isa 57:12-13 ; Euth. Zigabenus, Calovius, and many, Psa 109:8 , which passage, however, has its reference in Act 1:20 ). The designation of Antichrist by . ., 2Th 2:3 , is parallel in point of form . In the Evang. Nikod . 20 (see Thilo on the passage, p. 708), the devil is so called.
Joh 17:13 . But now I come to Thee, and since I can no longer guard them personally as hitherto, I speak this (this prayer for Thy protection, Joh 17:11 ) in the world (“jam ante discessum meum,” Bengel), that they , as witnesses and objects of this my intercession, knowing themselves assured of Thy protection, may bear my joy (as in Joh 15:11 , not Joh 14:27 ) fulfilled in themselves . On this expression of prayer regarding the influence which the listening to prayer should have upon the listeners , comp. Joh 11:42 . Luther well says: “that they, through the word, apprehended by the ears, and retained in the heart, may be consoled, and be able cheerfully to presume thereon, and to say: See, this has my Lord Christ said, so affectionately and cordially has He prayed for me,” etc.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Ver. 12. But the son of perdition ] This exception shows that Judas was never of Christ’s body, for can he be a Saviour of a son of perdition? But why is he then excepted? First, by reason of his office he seemed to be of his body. Secondly, our Saviour speaketh here in particular of the twelve; and to be an apostle was in itself but an outward calling.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] See ch. Joh 10:28-30 . The aor. should be adhered to again: I kept them. The Lord here, as Cyril remarks, compares His keeping of His own, to that by the Father , in a way only accountable by both Persons being of equal Power and Dignity.
] So that Judas was of the number of Joh 17:9 , shewing us (1) the sense in which those words must be understood (see above); and (2) that of such persons it is true that there is for them no ‘gratia irresistibilis,’ no ‘keeping in God’s Name’ independently of their ‘keeping God’s word,’ Joh 17:6 , which Judas did not do.
. . . ] See ref. 2 Thess. As the other disciples by true of the divine given to them, rose from being natural men to be the children of God, so Judas, through want of the same, sunk from the state of the natural man to that of the lost the children of the devil (Olsh. nearly).
Remark, it is not , .: Christ did not lost him (compare ch. Joh 18:9 , where there is no exception), but he lost himself .
in which this was indicated, viz. the passages alleged by Peter, Act 1:20 ; see ch. Joh 13:18 . Beware again of any evasion of the full telic sense of .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 17:12 . The protection now asked had been afforded by Christ so long as He was with the disciples. , “when I was with them, I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled”. On the detail of educative care spent on the disciples, and covered by , see Bernard, Central Teaching , p. 370. , cf. 2Th 2:3 , in accordance with the usual Hebrew usage, the person identified with perdition, closely associated with it. Cf. Isa 57:4 ; Isa 33:2 ; Mat 23:15 . Raphel quotes from Herodotus, viii., , with the remark, “nee Graecis plane ignotus est hic loquendi modus”. The Scripture referred to is Psa 41:10 , as in Joh 18:18 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
While = When. with. Greek. meta. App-104.
in the world. All the texts omit.
those that. As in Joh 17:11, all the texts put the relative in the singular, and read “in Thy name that Thou gayest Me, and I kept them”.
have kept = kept (Greek. phulasso), i.e. guarded. Compare Luk 2:8 (keep watch). 1Jn 5:21. Not the same word as in former clause and Joh 17:6.
of = out of. Greek. ek. App-104.
lost. Greek apollumi. Occurs twelve times in John: Joh 6:12, Joh 6:39; Joh 12:25; Joh 17:12; Joh 18:9 (lose); Joh 3:15, Joh 3:16; Joh 6:27; Joh 10:28; Joh 11:50 (perish); Joh 10:10 (destroy); Joh 18:14 (die). Used of the doom of the sinner. One of the strongest words in the Greek language to express final and irretrievable destruction.
but = except. Greek. ei me.
the son, &c. This expression occurs here and 2Th 2:3 (the Antichrist). Used in the Septuagint in Isa 57:4, “children of transgression”. Compare Mat 9:16; Mat 13:38; Mat 23:15. Luk 16:8. Act 13:10. Eph 2:2, in all which passages “child “should be “son”.
perdition. Greek. apoleia, a kindred word to apollumi. Occurs twenty times. Only here in John. First occurance. Mat 7:13.
the scripture, &c. This expression occurs five times in John, here, Joh 13:18; Joh 19:24, Joh 19:28, Joh 19:36.
might be = may be, expressing certainty.
fulfilled. See on Joh 15:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12. ] See ch. Joh 10:28-30. The aor. should be adhered to again: I kept them. The Lord here, as Cyril remarks, compares His keeping of His own, to that by the Father,-in a way only accountable by both Persons being of equal Power and Dignity.
] So that Judas was of the number of Joh 17:9,-shewing us (1) the sense in which those words must be understood (see above); and (2) that of such persons it is true that there is for them no gratia irresistibilis, no keeping in Gods Name independently of their keeping Gods word, Joh 17:6, which Judas did not do.
. . .] See ref. 2 Thess. As the other disciples by true of the divine given to them, rose from being natural men to be the children of God, so Judas, through want of the same, sunk from the state of the natural man to that of the lost-the children of the devil (Olsh. nearly).
Remark, it is not , .: Christ did not lost him (compare ch. Joh 18:9, where there is no exception), but he lost himself.
-in which this was indicated, viz. the passages alleged by Peter, Act 1:20; see ch. Joh 13:18. Beware again of any evasion of the full telic sense of .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 17:12. , I kept them all the time: I guarded them) Jesus settles accounts (as it were) with the Father: has respect to , Joh 17:11, Keep through Thine own name. What I have heretofore done, saith He, do thou hereafter: , I was keeping, I kept the whole time, viz. by My power: , I guarded, viz. by My watchfulness [The Engl. Vers. loses the distinction by translating both verbs, kept]. The same verbs occur in 1Jn 5:18; 1Jn 5:21, He who is begotten of God keepeth () himself: Little children, guard () yourselves from (be on your guard against) idols.-, none) This too has reference to the future; ch. Joh 18:9, [Jesus to those apprehending Him saith, I am He, if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled, Of them which Thou gavest Me, have I lost none. ]- , except) A sad exception.- ) The article is strongly demonstrative, that son of perdition; he of whom the prediction has been given; who has destroyed himself. Act 1:25, Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place; for whom it would have been good that he had not been born. He does not name Judas. Comp. Psa 16:4, I will not take up their names into my lips. We indeed shall have to render an account of the individuals whom we have suffered to be lost by our neglect.-[ , the Scripture) Of such moment is the Scripture, that Christ Himself, even in His address to the Father, appeals to it.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 17:12
Joh 17:12
While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.-When he was in the world he acted in the name of the Father. By the power and for the service of God he kept his disciples, and only the son of perdition was lost, as the scriptures foretold. [Judas had the same care bestowed on him that was bestowed on the others, and was lost because he would not be saved. What scripture is referred to here is somewhat doubtful. Some say Psa 109:8; others Psa 41:9.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I kept: Joh 6:37, Joh 6:39, Joh 6:40, Joh 10:27, Joh 10:28, Heb 2:13
and: Joh 13:18, Joh 18:9, Luk 4:26, Luk 4:27, 1Jo 2:19
the son: Joh 6:70, Joh 6:71, Joh 13:18, 2Th 2:3
that: Psa 109:6-19, Act 1:16-20, Act 1:25
Reciprocal: Exo 39:15 – chains at the ends 1Sa 22:23 – but with me Psa 89:22 – son Jer 23:4 – neither Mat 1:22 – that Mat 18:7 – but Mat 18:14 – it is Mat 26:24 – but Luk 22:22 – but Luk 22:51 – Suffer Luk 22:52 – captains Joh 12:38 – That Joh 13:11 – General Joh 15:2 – branch Joh 16:4 – because Joh 17:11 – keep Act 1:17 – he Act 9:39 – while 2Ti 1:12 – keep Heb 10:39 – unto 1Pe 1:5 – kept
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
While I was with them refers to the personal association of Jesus with his apostles. Such direct contact would be a strong preventive against being corrupted by the evils of the world. Jesus offered his good influence to all of his apostles alike, and it was not his fault that one man among them failed to profit by it. But such an event was to be expected because it had been predicted that one of the chosen apostles would betray his Lord. Son of perdition means that Judas went to perdition because of his deed of suicide. The first word is from Hums and is used figuratively. Thayer’s explanation of this Greek word for son when used figuratively is, “One who is worthy of a thing.” By destroying himself, Judas put it out of his reach to be saved, for there is no provision made for salvation that can be embraced after one has passed from this life. That the scripture might be fulfilled means as if it said, “and in so doing, the scripture was fulfilled.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 17:12. When I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me, and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. It is out of the fulness of His heart that Jesus continues to speak. The sad change that is to take place in the condition of His disciples after He has gone away presses on His mind; He recalls tenderly the care with which He had hitherto watched over them in an evil world; and now that He can no longer show that care, He commends them with longing earnestness to the Father. He does this all the more because it was in the Fathers name given to Himself that He had kept them,in the revelation of the Father, in the unity of His own relation to the Father, in the consciousness that God was their Father as well as His; so that the Father as well as He shall keep them, and, in keeping them, shall only continue the work that He had Himself begun. The word I is very emphatic,I kept them: now do Thou. The distinction between kept and guarded is not to be found in the thought of different spheres, such as inward and outward, to which it may be supposed that the words apply; but in the fact that the latter word points to the watchfulness by which the former is attained (comp. on chap. Joh 12:47). At the same time the difference of tense in the original is worthy of notice, the first verb expressing continued care, the second the completeness of the security afforded. Yet one dark cloud rested on the bright past, and the eyes of the disciples might at that moment be directed to it. Judas had not been kept: how was that? To this Jesus gives an answer in these words. The wonderful fact itself, when rightly viewed, affords evidence that He has fulfilled His promise that He will keep His own. It was in carrying out the Fathers will that not one of the Eleven had been lost: it was in carrying out the same will that Judas had met his fate. He was the son of perdition, one who had freely chosen to move in that sphere of perishing, and therefore he perished. A scripture, too, or word of God (Psa 41:9, already quoted in chap. Joh 13:18), had declared Gods will, and that will could not fail to be accomplished. To suppose that Judas is now brought before us as one originally doomed to perdition, and that his character was but the evolving of his doom, would contradict not only the meaning of the Hebraic expression son of (which always takes for granted moral choice), but the whole teaching of this Gospel. In no book of the New Testament is the idea of will, of choice on the part of man, brought forward so repeatedly and with so great an emphasis. The history of man is taken up at that point when Gods previous dealings with him have prepared him for the exercise of a choice in which his responsibility shall appear. How far this previous discipline is the result of absolute decree is not said; but the very fact that it is discipline implies that the result might have been other than it is. They in whom the Fathers object is attained are those given to the Son, and Judas, therefore, was not one so given. (On the construction here compare what was said on chap. Joh 3:13.)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe, here, 1. That those which shall be saved, are given unto Christ, and committed to his care and trust.
2. That none of those that are given unto Christ, as his charge, and committed to his care and trust, shall be finally lost: Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost: it follows, but the Son of perdition.
A person may be said to be the son of perdition two ways; actively and passively.
Actively, he is so who makes it his work and business to destroy others.
Passively, he is a son of perdition, who for his wickedness in destroying others, is destroyed himself.
Judas was a son of perdition in both these senses; his heart was maliciously set upon destroying Christ, and willfully set upon his own destruction: his coveteousness and hypocrisy prompted him to betray our Saviour, his despair provoked him to destroy himself.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 12, 13. When I was with them, I kept them in thy name; those whom thou hast given me, I have watched over; and none of them is lost, except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13. But now, I come to thee; and I say these things while I am in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:12-15 justify the petition: Keep them, by developing the ground of it, as it had been briefly indicated in Joh 17:11 a: They have need of thy protection.When I was with them, resumes the idea of: I am no more …(Joh 17:11). The words of the T. R.: in the world, are probably a gloss.
The , I, contrasts Him who has kept them hitherto with Him who is to do it for the future. The , I kept them, indicates the result obtained (conservabam); the , I have guarded, relates to the action put forth for this end (custodivi).
The reading is still more inadmissible in this verse than in the preceding. It has only three Mjj. in its favor, instead of sixteen in Joh 17:11. The reading is also abandoned by the three Mjj. which supported it, and has here in its favor only the Egyptian Versions. It only remains to read (those whom), with the T. R. and the majority of the Mjj., which suits the meaning of Joh 17:11.
By the word son of perdition and the citation of the prophecy, Jesus discharges Himself from responsibility, without lessening that of Judas. As to the latter, he has freely yielded himself to play the part traced out beforehand by the prophecy.
We may compare here what is foretold concerning Antichrist. We know through prophecy that this person will exist, and yet this fact will not prevent the man who shall accept this part from freely doing so. Comp. p. 235, the remarks on the relation between the divine foreknowledge and human freedom. In the Hebraistic phrase son of the abstract complement indicates the moral principle which determines the tendency of the individual thus designated. The passage of which Jesus is thinking is Psa 41:10, cited in Joh 13:18. Must we conclude from the expression , if it is not, that Jesus counted Judas also in the number of those whom the Father had previously given Him? I do not think that this form of expression obliges us to draw this conclusion; comp. Mat 12:4, Luk 4:26-27, etc.
This remark was a parenthesis intended to justify, with regard to the loss of Judas, the watchfulness of the Lord. After this Jesus returns (Joh 17:13) to the idea of His approaching departure; this is the fact which gives the ground for His petition. And He adds that, if He utters aloud (this is the meaning of ) these words in presence of His disciples, before leaving them, it is that He may associate them in the joy which He Himself enjoys. This joy is that which is inspired in Him by the certainty of the protection with which the Father shelters Him at all times, a certainty which is also to become theirs.
The need which they have of being kept is set forth in the following words in a still more pressing way than before. They are not only going to remain alone in the world, but as objects of itshatred.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Jesus had kept these disciples loyal to God and had protected them from external attacks while He was with them. The only exception was Judas Iscariot who was always the traitor that the Old Testament had predicted would betray the Messiah (Psa 41:9; Psa 69:25; Psa 109:6-8; cf. Joh 13:18). His defection did not prove Jesus a failure but Scripture trustworthy. Jesus did not include Judas in His requests for the Eleven.
The term "son of perdition" (Gr. ho huios tes apoleias, NIV "the one doomed to destruction") could describe Judas’ character (cf. Isa 57:4) or his destiny (Psa 35:4-8). He had a damnable character and would end in perdition, but the second idea seems to be stronger in the context. Perdition in the New Testament usually refers to eschatological damnation (cf. Mat 7:13; Act 8:20; Rom 9:22; Php 1:28; Php 3:19; 1Ti 6:9; 2Pe 2:1; 2Pe 3:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 17:11).
The only other occurrence of the title "son of perdition" occurs concerning the Antichrist (2Th 2:3). This fact has led some interpreters to conclude that the Antichrist will be the resurrected Judas Iscariot. However, God will not resurrect unbelievers until the end of the millennium (Rev 20:11-15), but the Antichrist will appear and carry out his work during the Tribulation that will precede the millennium (cf. Rev 13:1-10; Rev 19:19-21).