Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 17:20
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
20 26. The Prayer for the whole Church
20. Neither pray I for these alone ] More accurately, But not concerning these only do I pray (see on Joh 14:16). The limitation stated in Joh 17:9 is at an end: through the Church He prays for the world ( Joh 17:21).
which shall believe ] The true reading gives, who believe. The future body of believers is regarded by anticipation as already in existence: the Apostles are a guarantee and earnest of the Church that is to be.
on me through their word ] Perhaps through their word on Me would be better. The order of the Greek insists on the fact that those who believe believe through the Apostles’ word.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Neither pray I for these alone … – Not for the apostles only, but for all who shall be converted under the preaching of the gospel. They will all need similar grace and be exposed to similar trials. It is a matter of unspeakable joy that each Christian, however humble or unknown to men however poor, unlearned, or despised, can reflect that he was remembered in prayer by him whom God heareth always. We value the prayers of pious friends. How much more should we value this petition of the Son of God! To that single prayer we who are Christians owe infinitely more real benefits than the world can ever bestow; and in the midst of any trials we may remember that the Son of God prayed for us, and that the prayer was assuredly heard, and will be answered in reference to all who truly believe.
All may be one – May be united as brethren. Christians are all redeemed by the same blood, and are going to the same heaven. They have the same wants, the same enemies, the same joys. Though they are divided into different denominations, yet they will meet at last in the same homes of glory. Hence they should feel that they belong to the same family, and are children of the same God and Father. There are no ties so tender as those which bind us in the gospel. There is no friendship so pure and enduring as that which results from having the same attachment to the Lord Jesus. Hence, Christians, in the New Testament, are represented as being indissolubly united – parts of the same body, and members of the same family, Act 4:32-35; 1Co. 12:4-31; Eph 2:20-22; Rom 12:5. On the ground of this union they are exhorted to love one another, to bear one anothers burdens, and to study the things that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another, Eph 4:3; Rom 12:5-16.
As thou, Father, art in me – See Joh 14:10. This does not affirm that the union between Christians should be in all respects like that between the Father and the Son, but only in the points in which they are capable of being compared. It is not the union of nature which is referred to, but the union of plan, of counsel, of purpose seeking the same objects, and manifesting attachment to the same things, and a desire to promote the same ends.
That they also may be one in us – To be in God and in Christ is to be united to God and Christ. The expression is common in the New Testament. The phrase used here denotes a union among all Christians founded on and resulting from a union to the same God and Saviour.
That the world may believe … – That the world, so full of animosities and fightings, may see the power of Christian principle in overcoming the sources of contention and producing love, and may thus see that a religion that could produce this must be from heaven. See the notes at Joh 13:34. This was done. Such was the attachment of the early Christians to each other, that a pagan was constrained to say, See how these Christians love one another!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 17:20-21
Neither pray I for these alone, but for those also which shall believe on Me through their word
Saving faith through the Word
I.
THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTS MEDIATION ARE LIMITED TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE ON HIM.
1. In the very passage of this prayer, in which He designs expressly to set forth the wide exercise of His mediation, He yet, in most positive terms, confines it within this limitation. Nor was this the first or the only occasion in which He stated and maintained the same truth. To Nicodemus, to Martha, to the Jews, and in the commission which He gave to His apostles He strongly asserted this fundamental principle. In fact this is the universal language of Scripture on this subject.
2. And the same language, which is thus used in respect to salvation in general, is equally used in respect to every blessing of the gospel. Is it pardon? Through His name whosoever believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins. Is it justification? By Him, all that believe are justified from all things. Is it adoption? As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Is it sanctification? Saints are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Is it spiritual support and strength? He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Is it spiritual light and knowledge? I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me, should not abide in darkness. Is it spiritual peace and joy? Now the God of hope fill you with all peace and joy in believing.
II. THE SCRIPTURES ARE THE MEDIUM THROUGH WHICH THIS BELIEF IS PRODUCED (Rom 10:17; Joh 20:31).
1. They are the foundation on which it is built. Faith the substance of things hoped for, &c. But it is evident that such a belief supposes a certain degree of previous information. To believe then in Jesus Christ, and in the efficacy of His mediation, implies that we have a certain degree of previous knowledge on these subjects. And where is this knowledge to be obtained but from the Scriptures? Here only are we taught the way of salvation.
2. They are the instrument by which it is wrought in the heart. Faith is itself the gift and operation of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. But the great instrument by which He works and operates is the written Word, which is, therefore, emphatically styled the Sword of the Spirit.
Conclusion:
1. Has Christ limited the benefits of His mediation to those who believe on Him? How strikingly does this truth show the importance of faith! How clearly does it point out the wide distinction between believers and unbelievers!
2. Do those who believe on Jesus Christ believe through the Word? Then how invaluable are the Scriptures!
(1) Are they the foundation of faith? Then how thankful should we be to God for this inestimable gift, how diligent should we be in the perusal of it, how widely should we disseminate it!
(2) Are they the instrument by which it is wrought? How powerfully should this consideration operate on our minds and conduct! Let us remember, when we read or hear the Word of God, that though we thus attain to a knowledge of the truths to be believed, yet the actual believing of them must be the effect of a Divine operation on our hearts. (E. Cooper.)
Christ in relation to His disciples in all future times
Observe
I. HIS REALIZATION OF THEIR ACTUAL EXISTENCE. The only disciples then living were the eleven, but He prays for them who should hereafter believe, &c. And how many have believed through their word, and will yet–a great multitude which no man can number. And yet all these seem present to Christ. His great soul realized each in His distinctive personality, and for them He prays. To a soul in vital fellowship with God, and inspired with the spirit of omniscience, time and space are of little account. The prophets threw their glance into the distant centuries, but none of them saw the future as the Incarnate Word. A Being who thus knows the future can never be disappointed.
II. HIS METHOD OF CALLING THEM INTO HIS SCHOOL.
1. They must believe on Him, not on what men say about Him and not on priesthoods, but on Him. This is the only way of becoming a disciple.
2. They must believe on Him through their word, i.e., their testimony of Him. It is a witnessing word. How can they believe on Him of whom they have not heard, &c. That is the method. Do not expect, any other.
III. HIS SUPREME DESIRE FOR THEM.
1. That they should be united on earth. Observe
(1) The nature of this unity.
(a) It is very vital. One living in another. I in them, &c. There is nothing uncommon in this idea. The object we love most lives in us as a living force. Friend lives in friend; the parent in the loving child. Love brings the distant object near, and enshrines it in the heart. Thus those who love Christ have Christ in them; and those whom Christ loves are in Him; and as Christ and His disciples both love the infinite Father, He is in them, and He loves them that are in Him.
(b) It is a unity of the Infinite with the finite, of the Creator and the creature. An attraction links the smallest atom to the highest orb of immensity, love links the humblest disciples to the great heart of the Infinite, and He to them.
(2) A reason for this unity–That the world, &c. No argument could be formulated so mighty as the thorough soul union of Christs disciples.
2. That they should dwell with Him in heaven (Joh 17:24).
(1) With Him in person as well as in sympathy.
(2) We behold His glory. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
That they all may be one
Unity in Christ
I. THE UNITY DESIRE. These words of the Saviour have been mischievously perverted. Ecclesiastics have dreamed of a great confederation, presided over by a number of ministers, these again governed by superior officers, and these again by others, and these topped at last by a supreme visible head, who must be either a person or a council: and what is worse, they turned the dream into a reality, and the time was when, from the centre at the Vatican, one united body covered all Europe. And what was the result? Did the world believe that God had sent Christ? The world believed the very opposite, that God had nothing to do with that great crushing, superstitious thing; and thinking men became infidels. Yet people dream that dream still.
1. What were the elements of this unity which Christ so anxiously desired? The unity was to be composed of the people who are here called they. Who are they?
(1) Persons specially given to Jesus by the Father (Joh 17:2). Not then of all men who happen to dwell in any particular district, or city, but a unity of persons who have received, not common life, as all have, but life eternal.
(2) Persons to whom Gods name has been manifested (Joh 17:6)–chosen men, not the mass, not kingdoms.
(3) Persons who have been schooled, and have learned unusual lessons (Joh 17:7), and they have learned their lesson well. They have kept Thy word.
(4) Persons prayed for by Christ, in a sense in which He never prays for the world (Joh 17:9).
(5) People in whom God is glorified (Joh 17:10). The one Church of God, is it composed of the Church of England, the Congregational Union, the Wesleyan Conference, and the Baptist body? No. Is not then the Church of England a part of the Church of Christ, and the Baptist denomination a part? No; but there are believers in all denominations of Christians, aye! and many in no visible Church at all, who are in Christ Jesus, and consequently in the great unity.
2. What is the bond which keeps these united ones together?
(1) They have the same origin. Every person who is a partaker of the life of God, has sprung from the same Divine Father.
(2) They are supported by f he same strength. The life which makes vital the prayer of a believer to-day is the same life which quickened the cry of a believer two thousand years ago.
(3) They have the same aim and object. The inward spirit is forcing its way to the same perfection of holiness, and is meanwhile seeking to glorify God.
(4) Above all, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in every believer, is the true fount of oneness. I meet an Englishman anywhere the wide world over, and I recognize in him some likeness to myself; and so I meet a Christian five hundred years back in the midst of Romanism and darkness, but his speech bewrayeth him; if my soul shall traverse space in one hundred years to come, although Christianity may have assumed another outward garb and fashion, I shall still recognize the Christian. This is a very different bond from that which men try to impose upon each other. They put straps round the outside, they tie us together with many knots, and we feel uneasy; but God puts a Divine life inside of us, and then we wear the sacred bonds of love with ease.
3. There are tokens which evidence this union, and prove that the people of God are one. We hear much moaning over our divisions. There may be some that are to be deplored among ecclesiastical confederacies, but in the spiritual church I am at a loss to discover the divisions which are so loudly proclaimed. There is a union
(1) In judgment upon all vital matters. I converse with a spiritual man, and no matter what he calls himself, when we talk of sin, pardon, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and such like themes, we are agreed.
(2) In experimental points.
(3) In heart. Where the Spirit of God is there must be love. How is it that I cannot help loving George Herbert and George Fox, who are in some things complete opposites? Because they both loved the Master.
(4) In prayer. Well-taught believers address the throne of Greece in the same style, whatever may be the particular form which their Church organization may have assumed.
(5) In praise. Our music goes up with sweet accord to the throne of grace.
(6) In action. True Christians anywhere are all doing the same work.
4. You say, But I cannot see this unity. Why? Perhaps
(1) Because of your want of information. I saw a large building the other day being erected, and puzzled myself to make out how that would make a complete structure; it seemed to me that the gables would come in so very awkwardly. But I dare say if I had seen a plan there might have been some central tower or some combination by which the wings, one of which appeared to be longer than the other, might have been brought into harmony, for the architect doubtless had a unity in his mind which I had not in mine. So you and I have not the necessary information as to what the Church is to be. The plan is not worked out yet. Shall the Master show you His plan? Not so; wait a while and you will find that all these diversities among spiritually-minded men, when the master-plan comes to be wrought out, are different parts of the grand whole. I go into a great factory: there is a wheel spinning away in that way perfectly careless of every ether wheel; there is another going in an opposite direction, and I say, What an extraordinary muddle this all seems! I do not understand the machinery. So when I go into the great visible Church of God, if I look with the eyes of my spirit I can see the inner harmony, but if with these eyes I look upon the great outward Church I cannot see it.
(2) Because of the present roughness of the material? See yonder a number of stones–here, a number of trees; I cannot see the unity. Of course not. When these trees are all cut into planks, when these stones are all squared, then you may begin to see them as a whole.
(3) Because you cannot see anything. Do not suppose that the unity of the Church is a thing that is to be seen by these eyes of ours. Never! Everything spiritual is spiritually discerned. You must get spiritual eyes before you can see it.
II. THE WORK THAT IS TO BE DONE BEFORE THIS UNITY CAN BE COMPLETE. There are many chosen ones who have not yet believed in Christ, and the Church cannot be one till these are saved. These chosen ones are to believe–that is a work of grace, but they are to believe through our word. If youwould promote the unity of Christs Church, look after His lost sheep. If you ask what is to be your word, the answer is in the text–it is to be concerning Christ. They are to believe in Him. Every soul that believes in Christ is built into the great gospel unity in its measure. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
True and false unity
There be two false peaces or unities: the one when the peace is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance; for all colours will agree in the dark; the other when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries in fundamental points. For truth and falsehood in such things are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebu chadnezzars image: they may cleave, but they will not incorporate. (Lord Bacon.)
Church unity
I. WHAT IS THE ONENESS? There is a widespread tendency to confound it with uniformity. But there may be unity without uniformity, and there may be uniformity without unity. In the planks of a timber yard, sawn of equal length, breadth, and thickness, there is uniformity, but it is the uniformity of death without unity. In the trees of the wood or forest there is unity of life and general structure, with great diversity of form, fibre, and foliage. The very absence of uniformity adds to the impressiveness of the unity which responds in every trunk and branch and leaf to the quickening influences of the spring and the calm decay of autumn. The uniformity of a Church or society may be like the uniformity of a graveyard in which all the tombs, monuments, and headstones are of one pattern: but unity can be found only amongst the living. The oneness which the Saviour sought was Divine
1. In its model: As Thou, leather, &c. These words remind us of Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. This is a unity
(1) Of life (Joh 5:26). Believers are begotten through the same wordof truth, born by the grace of the same Spirit, pervaded by the same principle of spiritual life, partakers of the same Divine nature, and adopted into the same family. How diversified soever they may be in age, or station, or attainment, they possess a life in common.
(2) Of character. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The oneness of all Christian disciples is after this model. In so far as they are after the pattern of Christ, they see alike, feel alike, act alike on all moral questions. They must all have the Spirit of Christ, hate sin, live by faith.
(3) Of enjoyment. The joy of the Father was the delight of the incarnate Son; in blessedness they are one. So with the happiness of all His disciples. All drink of the water of that river which makes glad the city of God, and their purest joy is centred in things heavenly and Divine.
2. In its sphere–in us. It is obvious that Christ Jesus here claims for Himself equality with God. No mere man, without blasphemy, could use such language as this. The only sphere in which Christian unity can be realized, is in the reconciling Father and the redeeming Son. Very different are the thoughts of men on this great matter.
(1) The world says, Let nations be one in the reciprocities of commerce; let free trade bind human tribes together with the bonds of its golden girdle; let brotherhood be realized in the mysteries of freemasonry; let unity become a fact for mankind through the sceptre and shield of a universal monarchy. But the disruption and discord made by sin defy all such efforts at unification.
(2) Even the Church has said, Let us make oneness by the bonds of the same ecclesiastical polity and by the use of the same liturgical service; let us compel men to oneness of creed and worship by the force of law, or allure them at least to the appearance of it by the power of state patronage and worldly pomp. Christ says to the Father, Let them be one in us. Nowhere else, and in no other way, can this oneness become a spiritual fact.
II. THE GRAND PURPOSE CONTEMPLATED IN THE REALIZATION OF THIS ONENESS: That the world may believe, &c. One of the greatest obstacles to the triumphs of the gospel is in the contentions and separations which have prevailed in the Church of Christ. But when the world sees the Church, in all its sections, drawn and knit together, not to profess the same polity, and in spite of intellectual differences to show its oneness in Christ the living Head, then will the world believe that Jesus Christ has come as the sent of God for the cure of its ills and the relief of all its woes. It is not difficult to see how this spirit would operate in convincing the world. Would it not be a triumph of Christian love? God is love, but where is the evidence of this amidst the jealousy, sectarianism, and contentions of the disciples of Christ? In the first age of the Church the evidence was often impressive, and the heathen around them were led to exclaim, See how these Christians love each other. So it should be still. (J. Spence, D. D.)
The unity of the Church
I. THE INTIMATIONS TO BE FOUND IN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD. Observe
1. That there is a oneness between believers in Christ. The very essence of unity is that it proceeds from within, and is not impressed from without, that there is a common living spirit pervading and inter-penetrating all that mass, which but for it would be a multitude of separate parts. To fulfil, then, the words of our Lords prayer, His people must be all dwelt in by one and the same living Spirit, which so pervades every one of them that it gathers them up into a living body, communicating to them hereby a hidden principle of common life, which makes them one together, how many soever they be, and which, by the deep real separation of a distinct life, separates them from all others, how near soever such may seem to draw to them in outward things.
2. That this one life of the saints is the consequence of their union with 1Co 12:13; Col 3:3; Rom 8:9).
3. That this unity is a thing hidden, as are all the principles of life, but yet outwardly developed, as are all the forms of derived life in a visible body Rom 12:5; Eph 1:23; 1Co 12:13; 1Co 12:20; Col 1:18). From this it follows that the growth and development of this body, its form and shape, its acting and character, are all the putting forth of the powers of this indwelling Spirit of life.
(1) For this is the very first principle of organization as connected with life, even down to the lowest acting. That this will act according to its own laws; shaping to itself its own external development, casting itself forth now in massive branches, or in robust limbs, and then weaving for itself the most delicate tracery of the finest leaf or fibre; or gushing out, as in animal life, into the infinite subdivision of hair and plumage, even to the fine down upon the wing of the insect. And yet being truly in all of these the life from within, in its outward acting, and not any impress from without. So that unity may exist where the eye of man cannot trace even connection. For not apparent outward coherence but community of inner spirit is the formal and constituting essence of unity; and where this exists not, the impress of outward things cannot produce unity. For it is another part of the very law of life that external impressions can but interfere with, and mar the perfectness which it shapes for itself. That external impressions produce what we term monstrous or imperfect shapes. And still further, the interference of these external impressions may cause that life to withdraw itself from the immediate outward part, which is subjected to them, so that it dies and falls off, as some decaying branch or diseased limb, thereby cutting off at the same time its principle of unity, so that in a little while it is evidently severed from the body of which it once, but now no longer, forms a part. And further, we see that such separations from its frame cannot be effected without some injury to the very body itself; the health and soundness of which, even in its centre of being and action, depend in a marvellous way upon the just and equal development of these its remotest extremities.
(2) All which laws apply also to this body, of which Christ is the head.
(a) It is weaving forth for itself its own external increase (Eph 2:22; Eph 4:16; 1Co 12:6). And this it is doing in ten thousand ways; in the great limbs of Church polity and succession; in the hands wherewith at any moment the Church is ready to do her Masters work; in the societies she puts forth; the new combinations she forms; the new phases under which she shows herself; and so also in the details of every Christian mans character and conduct, for there is nothing so great that this life does not take it up into itself, and as it were reproduce it, nothing so small into which it cannot transfuse its own living energy, until it can fill and glorify all the minutest details of daily conduct, social intercourse, and natural affection.
(b) Then again, while outward things cannot perfect the working of this life, they may interfere with it, mar, and even extinguish it. The branch in this vine may wither, the inner life may draw itself back, until that outward part in which it once acted may be cut off from the life and unity of the stock. The spirit may be quenched. The individual Christian may be broken off from the living body of which he was a part. A whole branch of the Church may be withered and die. Nor can this be without grievous injury to all the body; for if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; so that a time of much disunion cannot be a healthful and flourishing time of the Church any more than in a tree loaded with dead boughs there can be a healthful, vigorous vegetation.
II. THE PRACTICAL DUTIES WHICH THIS GREAT TRUTH ENFORCES UPON US.
1. We must strive really to believe it.
(1) Because it is of such importance; for without a real faith in this
(a) We strip the Church of Christ of all its glory. It is in this mystery of the hidden life that the very blessedness of our redeemed state consists. It is this which binds in one the broken links of humanity. In refusing to believe it, we rob of all its lustre the marvellous dispensation in which Gods mercy has placed us. We bring it down again to a mere Jewish level.
(b) And the evil follows us into the furthest details of our own spiritual life. There are blessed secrets of strength which come out daily for Him who, with a purged eye, sees ever round Him this communion of the saints, which must be lost by him who lowers it into an empty form of speech.
(2) Because it is one which we do not readily receive or keep. It is a great mystery; it needs a strong faith to hold it firmly.
(a) To hold that the declaration of the oneness of Christians with each other is but a strong way of saying that we ought to be kind to each other when we can, is far easier than to believe that, from Christ our Head, there has gone forth a true life, holding in its wonderful unity all of His together, which we are to cherish and guard in ten thousand secret instances of self-denial, and faith, and purity, and hard service, borne for each other cheerfully, because we are in very deed members one of another.
(b) Nor is this all. It is difficult to read this mysterious unity under the coarse features of common life; to believe in it, in spite of the worlds mockery, and the unfaithfulness of the better sort, and the multitude of divisions, and the weakness of our own hearts.
(c) But it is not impossible; and therefore we must strive after its attainment. And God does graciously give many aids to those who do so strive. Is it not, for instance, an assistance to us, if we will use it, whenever God withdraws behind the veil those whom in the Lord we have fondly loved here, do we not then feel that there is an inner life binding us to them, which common death cannot part?
2. But specially may our faith in this mystery be increased by diligence in performing the second duty, i.e., beginning to act upon it. God has gifted action with a wonderful power over us; and if we will begin to act sincerely in little things, as if this were true, He will work in us a power of trusting to its truth. And here is, indeed, a wide field before us. We may begin by striving with our own selfish and indolent tempers in our intercourse with those around us. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
The unity of the Church
I. FOR WHOM IT IS DESIRED. 1, Not for men as men, citizens, subjects, persons allied in trade, politics, &c.
2. But for men as believers (Joh 17:20). Christ takes in the grand total, a temple in which each of these shall find a place and bear a part. Cf. Pauls vision of a unified Church (Eph 1:10; Eph 2:21), and Peters picture of a spiritual house (1Pe 2:4-5).
II. IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. Generally in a oneness resembling that between the Father and the Son (Joh 17:21-22), and particularly in a oneness
1. Of life or community of nature (Joh 5:26; Joh 10:30; cf. 1 Corinthians Eph 4:4-6).
2. Of love, or community of affection (Joh 3:35; Joh 5:20; Joh 14:31; cf. Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12; Joh 15:17).
3. Of faith or community of sentiment. As the words of the Son were the Fathers, so the union of the saints should reveal itself in steadfast adherence to the Fathers word given by Christ.
4. Of action or community of labour. As the Son can do nothing but what He seeth the Father do (Joh 5:19), and the Father in Him doeth the Joh 14:10), so should Christians harmoniously co-operate Php 1:27; 2Co 1:24; 3Jn 1:8; Heb 10:24).
III. BY WHAT MEANS IT MAY BE REALIZED? By believers doing three things.
1. Remaining in union with the Father and the Son (verse 21).
2. Participating in the glory Christ has received from the Father (verse 22).
3. Pressing forward towards moral perfection (verse 23).
IV. TO WHAT RESULT IT SHOULD LEAD. It should awaken in the world
1. Faith in the Divine mission of Jesus (verse 21),
2. Knowledge that the Divine mission of Jesus was a fact (verse 23). Lessons:
(1) The mission assigned to the Church–that of gathering a people out of the world and unto Christ by the preaching of the Word.
(2) The aim Christ has in thus collecting a people from the world, that they all may be perfected in one body in Him.
(3) The certainty that this aim will be realized, since Christ has both empowered His Church to do the work, and prayed for its successful execution.
(4) The obstruction offered to the realization of this aim by the disunited condition and imperfect character of the Church.
(5) The means of hastening the worlds conversion to Christ, the Church striving to attain the complete sanctification and unity.
(6) The destiny awaiting the world when the Church shall have reached its proper manhood, that of being brought to a saving knowledge of the truth. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The unity of the Church
The Church is one, not in the monarchial sense, as Romanists believe; not in the sense of historical descent of an external organization as Prelatists teach, but in the sense of a mystical body united to Christ, their common head. The consequences of the union with Christ are
I. OUR JUSTIFICATION. We become partakers of Christs righteousness, because it was wrought out in the name and on the behalf of His people.
II. OUR SANCTIFICATION. We become partakers of the Divine life, and this life is sustained and developed.
1. By the nourishment derived from the Word and ordinances.
2. By fellowship with Christ.
3. By the inter-communion of the saints. As one member of the body is sustained and grows in virtue of the ministration of all the other members, so it is with the mystical body of Christ.
4. This supposes organic unity and diversity of gifts; some apostles, some teachers; some have one gift, some another. With regard to these Paul teaches
(1) That unity is essential.
(2) That the position of each member is assigned by God, and not by himself or by the body. Hence we infer
(a) That each should be content.
(b) That all should sympathize, the one with the others.
(c) That all should cordially co-operate.
It is thus that the work of sanctification is carried on, not in the isolated individual, but in the soul as partaker of a common life and a member of an organic whole. So in regard to the State: What would individual gifts and attainment be to a man isolated in an uninhabited land.
III. OUR SECURITY. No man can pluck them out of the hand of Christ. The gates of hell shall not prevail.
IV. OUR GLORIFICATION. Conclusion: Duties flowing from this union–love, assistance, joy in success, abstaining from envy. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
The unity of the Church
I. WHAT IT IS NOT. Our Lord did not mean
1. A system of perfect equality with no official distinctions–anything like universal identity of endowment and function. This cannot be drawn from As Thou, Father, &c., inasmuch as God the Father and God the Son in the economy of redemption sustain distinct offices. Absolute equality is absurd and impossible and inconsistent with Rom 12:1-21.; 1Co 12:1-31., and Eph 4:1-32., which show that the unity of the Church may consist with the greatest diversity of gifts and offices.
2. The opposite of this–a vast and visible society, its base diffused throughout all nations, its officers innumerable, distinguished by all gradations of authority, and terminating in an infallible head. That our Lord did not mean a unity like this we gather from the fact that His apostles never attempted to realize it. Wherever they went they formed separate churches, not parts of one connected community. They did not join the Church of one country with that of another; they did not make their churches churches of nations and provinces, but of villages and towns. There might be more than one in each place. Each Church–however in faith and feeling connected with others–was a distinct society.
3. Uniformity in constitution and ceremonies. This is obvious from the facts
(1) That so little is enjoined on these subjects. Here is the distinction between Moses and Christ. With the first, everything is minutely particularized and strictly commanded; with the second, everything is general, and to be learned from facts rather than precepts: for the one dispensation was intended to separate a nation from the rest of the world; the other was meant to unite all nations in a common faith and family, and therefore avoided multiplied ordinances.
(2) That although in every apostolic Church there was a recognition of great common principles, yet there were local peculiarities. There were diffused the two great bodies of the circumcision and the uncircumcision, and a Church consisting exclusively of converted Jews and another of Gentiles would be sure to differ in particulars. St. James advised Paul in Jerusalem to condescend to the ceremonial predilections of the brethren there; but he advised very differently in the case of the Gentile Church at Antioch.
4. Perfect coincidence of opinion. This is evident from what has been said, as a Church may differ from others without forfeiting its character, so a Christian. To aver the reverse would contradict the constitution of nature and the arrangements of providence. In Rom 14:1-23. Paul distinctly refers to two classes there who held opposite opinions, but instead of interposing his own opinion, he approves the conscientiousness with which the two parties were actuated, and only denounces their want of charity. Php 3:1-21., too, is demonstrative of the prevalence of diversity of sentiment.
II. WHAT IT IS.
1. Its foundation must be laid in an agreement in fundamental truth. We cannot do better than take our stand where Paul stood. For the sake of usefulness and peace he could become all things unto all men. He could shave his head, circumcise Timothy, &c., and yet write against beggarly elements. Paul, who in fellowship and affection was the yielding universalist when prejudice was in question, was firm as a rock when principle was assailed. If ever he referred to what was fundamental he did Gal 1:9. Whatever that gospel was, it is obvious that no man or Church that rejects it can properly be a Christian; and the whole tenor of the Epistle shows it to be the doctrine of justification on the exclusive ground of faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. If a society denies this doctrine, whatever it may have or have not, it has abandoned the faith for another gospel. This grand fundamental involves Christs Divinity, and the necessity of renewal and sanctification by the Spirit; but it does not involve either Calvinism or Arminianism, or Church polity, and may be held in connection with great variety of opinion on subordinate points.
2. It ought to be manifested by the recognition of each other, by Christians and Churches thus harmonizing. Every individual who holds the Head ought to be cheerfully recognized as a Christian by every other who does the same, and ought to share in that family affection which is peculiar to the spirit of the gospel. This feeling will produce a readiness to co-operate in all benevolent confederacies. But the text is to be realized not merely by the recognition of Christian by Christian, but of Church by Church. Every Church ought to possess the power of accepting the services of the ministers of every other. Differences of disciples ought not to be a barrier. All who expect to unite in the services of heaven, ought to endeavour to unite in the services of earth. Nothing should be a term of union but a term of salvation.
3. If this union were practised little would be wanting to the fulfilment of the prayer or the accomplishment of the result connected. Separate denominations would soon lose their hold of whatever partakes of the nature of sectarian attachments, would imbibe an enlarged and accommodating, spirit; would mutually cease to contend for trifles, and would come perhaps in the end, fused and melted by the fire of love, to take some new form, as one great consolidated community. In relation to the world, the annihilation of party distinctions, the drying up of the wells of jealousy, &c., and the taking into the garden of the Lord of every enclosure would be such a palpable demonstration of the presence and power of truth and love that the world would gaze, admire, and believe.
III. CONCLUSION.
1. This prayer is fulfilled to a greater extent than would at first sight be supposed. The existence of separate churches, and the want of uniformity between them, do not militate against actual agreement in fundamentals, or fraternal feeling. The great saving truths are urged with equal zeal by ministers of various denominations, and members of different churches work side by side in philanthropic enterprises.
2. The prayer will never be fully accomplished but by the removal of all that interferes with the communion of churches. If Christians wait until every Church is modelled according to any supposed apostolic pattern, till some community has drawn and absorbed all others into itself, they will have to wait far longer than any of them calculate. This consummation is much more likely to follow the practice of universal communion than to precede it; but whether it ever come or not, the obligation remains the some. The one is an unquestionable duty, the other a dream.
3. We learn how to possess our souls in peace amid the alarm and agitation of the present times, It becomes us to keep our eye and heart steadily on the prayer of Christ; to engage in every religious movement which the present position of the Church may demand to promote its accomplishment. This will at once sanctify uncongenial duties, and sustain under the injustice of calumny and insult. (T. Binney.)
Church unity
I. THE LORD IS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH. His name is the only true bond of union.
II. THE COMMON FELLOWSHIP OF ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST.
III. THE HONEST RECOGNITION OF ONE ANOTHER AS BRETHREN IN CHRIST, whether within or without the various churches.
IV. THE DETERMINATION TO BE FORBEARING one toward another, and to maintain the body of Christ, provided the faith be maintained by the members in heart and life. (H. Varley.)
The fact and the means of Church unity
According to the present scientific theory, all of the planets came out of the sun. That central orb sent off ring after ring, and these consolidated into planets, and then, moving within the influence of their common origin, they swing without collision round the grand common centre of the sun itself. So should not the denominational planets also swing without collision around their common origin and centre, Jesus Christ? Plutarch tells us of a golden tripod that was fished from the bottom of the sea. There was a great contention about the possession of it; and, when the conflict waxed quite ferocious, it was settled that neither of the contending parties should have it, but that it should be given to the wisest man. They sent it first of all to Thales. He said, I am not the wisest man; take it to Bias. Bias, on being approached, said, Dont bring it here. I am not the wisest man in Greece. I wont have it. And so they sent it from one to another through a circle of the seven wisest men, with a like reception, until at last it was settled that the fair tripod should be given to Apollo. Now, they all had the modesty of true wisdom; and if all the denominations had only that modesty or real wisdom displayed by these sages never to make any claim of exclusiveness or superiority, there would be unbroken peace among them all. (H. M.Scudder.)
The essential unity of the Church
During a visit of the King of Italy to Naples, the nine Protestant ministers of that city begged the favour of an interview. The young monarch granted their request, and received them with marked courtesy. He was surprised, however, when one was presented to him as a Methodist, and another as a Baptist, the third as a Presbyterian, the fourth as a Waldensian, &c. I do not understand, said the king, how you can all be ministers of the same gospel, and yet have so many distinctions. Perhaps one of you will be good enough to explain this to me. The Waldensian minister promptly replied, In your majestys army there are many regiments wearing different uniforms and called by different names; nevertheless they are under one commanderin-chief, and follow one flag. In like manner we Protestants are divided into various denominations, but we know only one Chief–Jesus Christ; and we follow but one banner, viz., that of the gospel of our crucified and risen Lord. The king listened attentively, and then said, I thank you for this clear explanation. You wish me to understand that while there are differences among you on minor matters, there is unity in essentials. (W. Baxendale.)
Christian unity
I was walking, some weeks since, in a beautiful grove. The trees were some distance apart, and the trunks were straight and rugged. But as they ascended higher the branches came closer together, and still higher the twigs and branches interlaced and formed a beautiful canopy. I said to myself, our Churches resemble these trees. The trunks near the earth stand stiffly and widely apart. The more nearly towards heaven they ascend, the closer and closer they come together, until they form one beautiful canopy, under which the sons of men enjoy both shelter and happiness. Then I thought of that beautiful prayer of the Saviour, That they all may be one, &c. (Bp. M. Simpson.)
Christian unity
I was once permitted to unite in celebrating the Lords Supper in an upper room in Jerusalem. There were fourteen present, the most of whom, I had good reason to believe, knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Several were godly Episcopalians; two were converted Jews–one a Christian from Nazareth, converted under American missionaries. The bread and wine were dispensed in the Episcopal manner, and most were kneeling as they received them. We felt it to be sweet fellowship with Christ, and with the brethren; and, as we left the upper room and looked out upon the Mount of Olives, we remembered with calm joy the prayer from our Lord that ascended from one of the shady ravines after the first Lords Supper–That they all may be one. (R. M. MCheyne.)
Friends mistaken for foes
I recollect, on one occasion, conversing with a marine, who gave me a good deal of his history. He told me that the most terrible engagement he had ever been in was one between the ship to which he belonged and another English vessel, when, on meeting in the night they mistook each other for enemies. Several persons were wounded, and both vessels were much damaged by the firing. When the day broke, great and painful was the surprise to find the English flag hoisted from both ships. They saluted each other, and wept bitterly together over their mistake. Christians, sometimes, commit the same error. One denomination mistakes another for an enemy; it is night, and they do not recognize one another. What will be their surprise when they see each other in heavens light I How will they salute each other when better known and understood! (W. Williams.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
III. Our Lord’s prayer for his Church, and for all who would believe on his name, through the preaching of the apostles and their successors: Joh 17:20-26. See Clarke on Joh 17:1.
Verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone] This prayer extends itself through all ages, and takes in every soul that believes in the Lord Jesus.
And what is it that Christ asks in behalf of his followers? The greatest of blessings: unity, peace, love, and eternal glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Three things are evident from this verse.
1. That Christ did not pray for any reprobates, not for any that were and should die unbelievers: he prayed before for those who actually did believe; he prays here for them that should believe; but we never read that he prayed for any others. Now whether he laid down his life for those for whom he would not pray, lies upon them to consider, who are so confident that he died for all and every man.
2. That by persons given to Christ, cannot be understood believers as such; for Christ here prays for those that were not actual believers, but should believe.
3. That faith cometh by hearing; Christ here prays for those that should believe
through their word, that is, the apostles preaching the gospel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20-23. Neither pray I for thesealoneThis very important explanation, uttered in condescensionto the hearers and readers of this prayer in all time, is meant notmerely of what follows, but of the whole prayer.
them also which shallbelieveThe majority of the best manuscripts read “whichbelieve,” all future time being viewed as present, whilethe present is viewed as past and gone.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Neither pray I for these alone,…. Meaning his immediate apostles and disciples, for whose preservation and sanctification he had been particularly praying in Joh 17:19; and now, that it might not be thought that these were his only favourites, and the only persons he had a regard for, and to whom his intercession and sacrifice were confined; he adds,
but for them also which shall believe in me through their word: Christ is the object of true faith; which faith is not a mere assent of the mind to any truth concerning Christ, as that he is the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour of the world; but it is a spiritual sight of him, of the necessity, fitness, and suitableness of him as a Saviour, a going forth unto him, laying hold on him, and depending upon him for life and salvation; of which the preaching of the Gospel is the instrumental means: it is indeed a gift of God, and a fruit of electing grace, and which is secured by it; hence our Lord knew that there would be a number, in all successive generations, that would believe in him, through the ministry of the word; and for these persons, and their conversion, and the success of the Gospel, to the good of their souls, he prays.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ’s Intercessory Prayer. |
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20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Next to their purity he prays for their unity; for the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable; and amity is amiable indeed when it is like the ointment on Aaron’s holy head, and the dew on Zion’s holy hill. Observe,
I. Who are included in this prayer (v. 20): “Not these only, not these only that are now my disciples” (the eleven, the seventy, with others, men and women that followed him when he was here on earth), “but for those also who shall believe on me through their word, either preached by them in their own day or written by them for the generations to come; I pray for them all, that they all may be one in their interest in this prayer, and may all receive benefit by it.” Note, here, 1. Those, and those only, are interested in the mediation of Christ, that do, or shall, believe in him. This is that by which they are described, and it comprehends all the character and duty of a Christian. They that lived then, saw and believed, but they in after ages have not seen, and yet have believed. 2. It is through the word that souls are brought to believe on Christ, and it is for this end that Christ appointed the scriptures to be written, and a standing ministry to continue in the church, while the church stands, that is, while the world stands, for the raising up of a seed. 3. It is certainly and infallibly known to Christ who shall believe on him. He does not here pray at a venture, upon a contingency depending on the treacherous will of man, which pretends to be free, but by reason of sin is in bondage with its children; no, Christ knew very well whom he prayed for, the matter was reduced to a certainty by the divine prescience and purpose; he knew who were given him, who being ordained to eternal life, were entered in the Lamb’s book, and should undoubtedly believe, Acts xiii. 48. 4. Jesus Christ intercedes not only for great and eminent believers, but for the meanest and weakest; not for those only that are to be employed in the highest post of trust and honour in his kingdom, but for all, even those that in the eye of the world are inconsiderable. As the divine providence extends itself to the meanest creature, so does the divine grace to the meanest Christian. The good Shepherd has an eye even to the poor of the flock. 5. Jesus Christ in his mediation had an actual regard to those of the chosen remnant that were yet unborn, the people that should be created (Ps. xxii. 31), the other sheep which he must yet bring. Before they are formed in the womb he knows them (Jer. i. 5), and prayers are filed in heaven for them beforehand, by him who declareth the end from the beginning, and calleth things that are not as though they were.
II. What is intended in this prayer (v. 21): That they all may be one. The same was said before (v. 11), that they may be one as we are, and again, v. 22. The heart of Christ was much upon this. Some think that the oneness prayed for in v. 11 has special reference to the disciples as ministers and apostles, that they might be one in their testimony to Christ; and that the harmony of the evangelists, and concurrence of the first preachers of the gospel, are owing to this prayer. Let them be not only of one heart, but of one mouth, speaking the same thing. The unity of the gospel ministers is both the beauty and strength of the gospel interest. But it is certain that the oneness prayed for in v. 21 respects all believers. It is the prayer of Christ for all that are his, and we may be sure it is an answered prayer–that they all may be one, one in us (v. 21), one as e are one (v. 22), made perfect in one, v. 23. It includes three things:–
1. That they might all be incorporated in one body. “Father, look upon them all as one, and ratify that great charter by which they are embodied as one church. Though they live in distant places, from one end of heaven to the other, and in several ages, from the beginning to the close of time, and so cannot have any personal acquaintance or correspondence with each other, yet let them be united in me their common head.” As Christ died, so he prayed, to gather them all in one,Joh 11:52; Eph 1:10.
2. That they might all be animated by one Spirit. This is plainly implied in this–that they may be one in us. Union with the Father and Son is obtained and kept up only by the Holy Ghost. He that is joined to the Lord in one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17. Let them all be stamped with the same image and superscription, and influenced by the same power.
3. That they might all be knit together in the bond of love and charity, all of one heart. That they all may be one, (1.) In judgment and sentiment; not in every little thing–this is neither possible nor needful, but in the great things of God, and in them, by the virtue of this prayer, they are all agreed–that God’s favour is better than life–that sin is the worst of evils, Christ the best of friends–that there is another life after this, and the like. (2.) In disposition and inclination. All that are sanctified have the same divine nature and image; they have all a new heart, and it is one heart. (3.) They are all one in their designs and aims. Every true Christian, as far as he is so, eyes the glory of God as his highest end, and the glory of heaven as his chief good. (4.) They are all one in their desires and prayers; though they differ in words and the manner of expressions, yet, having received the same spirit of adoption, and observing the same rule, they pray for the same things in effect. (5.) All one in love and affection. Every true Christian has that in him which inclines him to love all true Christians as such. That which Christ here prays for is that communion of saints which we profess to believe; the fellowship which all believers have with God, and their intimate union with all the saints in heaven and earth, 1 John i. 3. But this prayer of Christ will not have its complete answer till all the saints come to heaven, for then, and not till then, they shall be perfect in one,Joh 17:23; Eph 4:13.
III. What is intimated by way of plea or argument to enforce this petition; three things:–
1. The oneness that is between the Father and the Son, which is mentioned again and again, Joh 17:11; Joh 17:21-23. (1.) It is taken for granted that the Father and Son are one, one in nature and essence, equal in power and glory, one in mutual endearments. The Father loveth the Son, and the Son always pleased the Father. They are one in design, and one in operation. The intimacy of this oneness is expressed in these words, thou in me, and I in thee. This he often mentions for his support under his present sufferings, when his enemies were ready to fall upon him, and his friends to fall off from him; yet he was in the Father, and the Father in him. (2.) This is insisted on in Christ’s prayer for his disciples’ oneness, [1.] As the pattern of that oneness, showing how he desired they might be one. Believers are one in some measure as God and Christ are one; for, First, The union of believers is a strict and close union; they are united by a divine nature, by the power of divine grace, in pursuance of the divine counsels. Secondly, It is a holy union, in the Holy Spirit, for holy ends; not a body politic for any secular purpose. Thirdly, It is, and will be at last, a complete union. Father and Son have the same attributes, properties, and perfections; so have believers now, as far as they are sanctified, and when grace shall be perfected in glory they will be exactly consonant to each other, all changed into the same image. [2.] As the centre of that oneness; that they may be one in us, all meeting here. There is one God and one Mediator; and herein believers are one, that they all agree to depend upon the favour of this one God as their felicity and the merit of this one Mediator as their righteousness. That is a conspiracy, not a union, which doth not centre in God as the end, and Christ as the way. All who are truly united to God and Christ, who are one, will soon be united one to another. [3.] As a plea for that oneness. The Creator and Redeemer are one in interest and design; but to what purpose are they so, if all believers be not one body with Christ, and do not jointly receive grace for grace from him, as he has received it for them? Christ’s design was to reduce revolted mankind to God: “Father,” says he, “let all that believe be one, that in one body they may be reconciled” (Eph 2:15; Eph 2:16), which speaks of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in the church; that great mystery, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body (Eph. iii. 6), to which I think this prayer of Christ principally refers, it being one great thing he aimed at in his dying; and I wonder none of the expositors I have met with should so apply it. “Father, let the Gentiles that believe be incorporated with the believing Jews, and make of twain one new man.” Those words, I in them, and thou in me, show what that union is which is so necessary, not only to the beauty, but to the very being, of his church. First, Union with Christ: I in them. Christ dwelling in the hearts of believers is the life and soul of the new man. Secondly, Union with God through him: Thou in me, so as by me to be in them. Thirdly, Union with each other, resulting from these: that they hereby may be made perfect in one. We are complete in him.
2. The design of Christ in all his communications of light and grace to them (v. 22): “The glory which thou gavest me, as the trustee or channel of conveyance, I have accordingly given them, to this intent, that they may be one, as we are one; so that those gifts will be in vain, if they be not one.” Now these gifts are either, (1.) Those that were conferred upon the apostles, and first planters of the church. The glory of being God’s ambassadors to the world–the glory of working miracles–the glory of gathering a church out of the world, and erecting the throne of God’s kingdom among men–this glory was given to Christ, and some of the honour he put upon them when he sent them to disciple all nations. Or, (2.) Those that are given in common to all believers. The glory of being in covenant with the Father, and accepted of him, of being laid in his bosom, and designed for a place at his right hand, was the glory which the Father gave to the Redeemer, and he has confirmed it to the redeemed. [1.] This honour he says he hath given them, because he hath intended it for them, settled it upon them, and secured it to them upon their believing Christ’s promises to be real gifts. [2.] This was given to him to give to them; it was conveyed to him in trust for them, and he was faithful to him that appointed him. [3.] He gave it to them, that they might be one. First, to entitle them to the privilege of unity, that by virtue of their common relation to one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, they might be truly denominated one. The gift of the Spirit, that great glory which the Father gave to the Son, by him to be given to all believers, makes them one, for he works all in all, 1 Cor. xii. 4, c. Secondly, To engage them to the duty of unity. That in consideration of their agreement and communion in one creed and one covenant, one Spirit and one Bible–in consideration of what they have in one God and one Christ, and of what they hope for in one heaven, they may be of one mind and one mouth. Worldly glory sets men at variance for if some be advanced others are eclipsed, and therefore, while the disciples dreamed of a temporal kingdom, they were ever and anon quarrelling; but spiritual honours being conferred alike upon all Christ’s subjects, they being all made to our God kings and priests, there is no occasion for contest nor emulation. The more Christians are taken up with the glory Christ has given them, the less desirous they will be of vain-glory, and, consequently, the less disposed to quarrel.
3. He pleads the happy influence their oneness would have upon others, and the furtherance it would give to the public good. This is twice urged (v. 21): That the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And again (v. 23): That the world may know it, for without knowledge there can be no true faith. Believers must know what they believe, and why and wherefore they believe it. Those who believe at a venture, venture too far. Now Christ here shows,
(1.) His good-will to the world of mankind in general. Herein he is of his Father’s mind, as we are sure he is in every thing, that he would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth,1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9. Therefore it is his will that all means possible should be used, and no stone left unturned, for the conviction and conversion of the world. We know not who are chosen, but we must in our places do our utmost to further men’s salvation, and take heed of doing any thing to hinder it.
(2.) The good fruit of the church’s oneness; it will be an evidence of the truth of Christianity, and a means of bringing many to embrace it.
[1.] In general, it will recommend Christianity to the world, and to the good opinion of those that are without. First, The embodying of Christians in one society by the gospel charter will greatly promote Christianity. When the world shall see so many of those that were its children called out of its family, distinguished from others, and changed from what they themselves sometimes were,–when they shall see this society raised by the foolishness of preaching, and kept up by miracles of divine providence and grace, and how admirably well it is modelled and constituted, they will be ready to say, We will go with you, for we see that God is with you. Secondly, The uniting of Christians in love and charity is the beauty of their profession, and invites others to join with them, as the love that was among those primo-primitive Christians, Act 2:42; Act 2:43; Act 4:32; Act 4:33. When Christianity, instead of causing quarrels about itself, makes all other strifes to cease,–when it cools the fiery, smooths the rugged, and disposes men to be kind and loving, courteous and beneficent, to all men, studious to preserve and promote peace in all relations and societies, this will recommend it to all that have any thing either of natural religion or natural affection in them.
[2.] In particular, it will beget in men good thoughts, First, Of Christ: They will know and believe that thou hast sent me, By this it will appear that Christ was sent of God, and that his doctrine was divine, in that his religion prevails to join so many of different capacities, tempers, and interests in other things, in one body by faith, with one heart by love. Certainly he was sent by the God of power, who fashions men’s hearts alike, and the God of love and peace; when the worshippers of God are one, he is one, and his name one. Secondly, Of Christians: They will know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Here is, 1. The privilege of believers: the Father himself loveth them with a love resembling his love to his Son, for they are loved in him with an everlasting love. 2. The evidence of their interest in this privilege, and that is their being one. By this it will appear that God loves us, if we love one another with a pure heart; for wherever the love of God is shed abroad in the heart it will change it into the same image. See how much good it would do to the world to know better how dear to God all good Christians are. The Jews had a saying, If the world did but know the worth of good men, they would hedge them about with pearls. Those that have so much of God’s love should have more of ours.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Through their word ( ). Through the agency of conversation and preaching, blessed privilege open to all believers thus to win men to Christ, but an agency sadly limited by the lives of those who speak in Christ’s name.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shall believe [] . The best texts read pisteuontwn, the present participle, that believe. The future body of believers is conceived as actually existing.
On me through their word. The Greek order is, believe through their word on me. “Believe through their word” forms a compound idea.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
JESUS PRAYS FOR THOSE WHO WOULD BELIEVE THROUGH HIS CHURCH V. 20-26
1) “Neither pray I for these alone,” (ou peri touton de eroto monon) “Yet I make not request concerning these only,” Joh 17:11; Joh 17:15; Joh 17:17, these who have already believed, have been chosen as a church body, a fruitbearing vine, Joh 15:1-12; Joh 15:26-27.
2) “But for them also which shall believe on me,” (alla kai pari ton pisteuonton eis eime) “But also concerning the ones who are believing or trusting in me,” and who shall believe in me hereafter; His prayers, earnest petition to the Father, reached forward in time to include you and me, and those who may yet believe.
3) “Through their word;” (dia tou logou auton) “Through the word of them,” through their testimony of the truth-word, (eis eime) “by which they trusted in me,” and have followed me, as my witnesses through my ministry, to this hour; Joh 15:26-27; Act 1:8; Act 10:41. This prayer affirms the future spread of truth, salvation of souls, and growth of the church, under the consecration and empowering on Pentecost, Act 1:8; Act 2:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20. And I ask not for these only. He now gives a wider range to his prayer, which hitherto had included the apostles alone; for he extends it to all the disciples of the Gospel, so long as there shall be any of them to the end of the world. This is assuredly a remarkable ground of confidence; for if we believe in Christ through the doctrine of the Gospel, we ought to entertain no doubt that we are already gathered with the apostles into his faithful protection, so that not one of us shall perish. This prayer of Christ is a safe harbour, and whoever retreats into it is safe from all danger of shipwreck; for it is as if Christ had solemnly sworn that he will devote his care and diligence to our salvation.
He began with his apostles, that their salvation, which we know to be certain, might make us more certain of our own salvation; and, therefore, whenever Satan attacks us, let us learn to meet him with this shield, that it is not to no purpose that the Son of God united us with the apostles, so that the salvation of all was bound up, as it were, in the same bundle. There is nothing, therefore that ought more powerfully to excite us to embrace the Gospel; for as it is an inestimable blessing that we are presented to God by the hand of Chrisb to be preserved from destruction, so we ought justly to love it, and to care for it above all things else. In this respect the madness of the world is monstrous. All desire salvation; Christ instructs us in a way of obtaining it, from which if any one turn aside, there remains for him no good hope; and yet scarcely one person in a hundred deigns to receive what was so graciously offered.
For those who shall believe on me, We must attend to this form of expression. Christ prays for all who shall believe in him. By these words he reminds us of what we have sometimes said already, that our faith ought to be directed to him. The clause which immediately follows, through their word, expresses admirably the power and nature of faith, and at the same time is a familiar confirmation to us who know that our faith is founded on the Gospel taught by the apostles. Let the world then condemn us a thousand times, this alone ought to satisfy us, that Christ acknowledges us to be his heritage and pleads with the Father for us.
But woe to the Papists, whose faith is so far removed from this rule, that they are not ashamed to vomit out this horrid blasphemy, that there is nothing in Scripture but what is ambiguous, and may be turned in a variety of ways. The tradition of the Church is therefore their only authoritative guide to what they shall believe. But let us remember that the Son of God, who alone is competent to judge, does not approve of any other faith (123) than that which is drawn from the doctrine of the apostles, and sure information of that doctrine will be found no where else than in their writings.
We must also observe that form of expression, to believe through the word, which means that faith springs from hearing, because the outward preaching of men is the instrument by which God draws us to faith. It follows, that God is, strictly speaking, the Author of faith, and men are the ministers by whom we believe, as Paul teaches (1Co 3:5.)
(123) “ Qui seul en peut et doit prononcer, n’approve point d’autre foy.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
PRAYER FOR ALL BELIEVERS
Text: Joh. 17:20-26
20
Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word;
21
that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.
22
And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
23
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.
24
Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25
O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me;
26
and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them. and I in them.
Queries
a.
Which religious bodies may qualify as the believers for whom Jesus prayed in Joh. 17:20?
b.
What is the glory which Christ gives to believers?
c.
How is Christ to be in the believer (Joh. 17:26)?
Paraphrase
Nor am I praying these things only for these eleven men. I am also praying for all men who shall come to faith and obedience in Me through simply responding to the divinely inspired Word which these apostles shall preach and write. My prayer for all believers is that they also may all be one in doctrine, practice, love and purpose. I am praying that even as You are in Me and I am in You in an organic and essential oneness, all believers may come to this same essential oneness in Us, in order that their oneness will lend impact to the saving efficacy of the Word and the world will believe that I was sent from God the Father. And the glory of the Spirit and the divine nature which You gave Me while I dwelt in the flesh I have given unto all who believe on Me through the Word in order that by possessing this glorious nature all believers may be one even as We are One. My very nature abides in them just as Your divine nature abides in Me in order that they may all be brought to a mature and perfected oneness so that the world of unbelievers may know that I came into the world with a commission from You and that their oneness is a product of Your love for them even as Our oneness testifies to divine love. Father, My desire is that all those whom You have given Me shall ultimately be with Me in Heaven and know the ineffable joy of beholding My glory. They shall see then the divine love with which You have loved Me through all eternity in all its gloriousness. O, Righteous Father, the divine knowledge of You which I possess I manifested to the world but the world rejected Me and did not come to know You. But all My disciples, the ones who receive Me, know that You sent Me for I make Your name and nature known unto them and will continue to make it known to them in the ultimate sense in order that the love with which You loved Me may be in them and that I may be in them also.
Summary
Jesus looks down the corridors of time and His heart is turned in prayer to all who shall believe on Him through the word of the apostles. The oneness of all believers on earth and their ultimate glory and joy is the concern of His heart.
Comment
Joh. 17:20 is one of those verses of the New Testament which is a veritable treasurehouse. Its simplicity leaves no question as to the agency for making men Christiansit is the word of the apostles, Jesus knows no other method but the preaching of the apostolic doctrine in order to bring men to faith. Neither are there any other doctrines or philosophies approved by Christ to bring about unity of all who believe on Him. This same apostle John wrote in 1Jn. 4:1-6 that only those who hear and heed the unadulterated apostolic doctrine are those of the spirit of truth. All who add to or take away from the teachings of the apostles and practice these perversions are of the spirit of error. The apostle Paul said that belief comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). The apostolic doctrine was completed when the New Testament as we have it today was completed in about 95100 A.D. There are no other divinely approved or authorized writings. Paul wrote that even though an angel from heaven should proclaim any message other than the apostles he should be anathematized (Gal. 1:8-9). Jude wrote that the only body of apostolic doctrine authorized to be delivered to Christians was delivered once for all time in the New Testament (Jud. 1:3). We like what Lenski has to say here, The Word communicated by the apostles is the means for producing faith and making believers . . . Apart from the Word there is no church, because there is no faith apart from the Word; and the church is constituted out of those and those alone who have faith. The Word is the vital means and the root of faith. At once it appears how dangerous it is to be ignorant of the Word or to alter and to falsify it in any way. It is the preaching and proclaiming and teaching of the message of the apostles in the same way as the apostles proclaimed it that brings men to faith. It must be preached as historically true and accurate; as factually credible; as supernaturally delivered and verified; as demanding a moral response; as being of itself experientially known once it is practiced. It must be preached as absolutely and exclusively authoritative in all realms of life.
It is by this same word of the apostles that individual believers are to be in Christ and have Christ in them and thus grow into the same oneness which Father and Son know. Paul makes it very plain indeed in Eph. 4:11-16 that we must speak the truth in love in order to grow up into a mature oneness in Christ. And this growing up is laid down as necessarily a cooperative effort. First, apostles and other teachers are set apart in the church to instruct in the Lords Word. Second, all members of the body of Christ are to so learn the word of Christ that they be no longer tossed about with every slight wind of new and fanciful doctrine like children. Third, every member of the body is to supply maturity and sustenance to the body, according to the working in due measure of each several part. And so in Joh. 17:21; Joh. 17:23 Jesus makes the oneness of believers as a unified body of individual members solely dependent upon the union of the individual with Him. Christ in the individual and God in Christ and all perfected or made complete in one body. See our special sermon at the end of chapter 16, Christ in You the Hope of Glory, concerning the way Christ is in the individual and the individual knows he is in Christ. The all important focal point is the Living Word of the Living God. By submission to the Will of the Personality (Christ) living in The Word, this Personality (Christ) comes supernaturally to dwell in us and we in Him and all believers in union with one another. The reader is directed to a careful and prayerful study of the Special Study at the end of this chapter on Unity.
In Joh. 17:22; Joh. 17:24 Christ informs us that He has given His glory to all believers and that there is also a glory of His which He desires we behold in the future where He shall be seen with the Father. Christ is speaking here in Joh. 17:22 as if He had already won the victory over the Cross and the Tomb and had ascended to the Father and had sent the Spirit. We feel that the glory which He says He has given to all believers is none other than His divine nature in the indwelling Spirit in all believers. Speaking of the Spirit in Rom. 8:1-30 Paul concludes by saying . . . whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. The same apostle, speaking of the ministration of the Spirit, says, But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit, (2Co. 3:18). Again, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians concerning being chosen in the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth by which God called them though our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, as in the others, the Spirit and the Word and the believers Glory are all connected. And so it is that in Eph. 3:17-19 that Paul tells us we may know experientially, feelingly, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us by faith the breadth and length and depth and height and the love of Christ which passes knowledge and may be filled with all the fullness of God!! Yes, my friend, we can know the glory which God gave to Christ. Christ offers it to us in the Spirit by faith. The measure to which we may know and feel this glory is dependent upon the measure of our faith and submission to the will of Christ. Of course we must remember that the essence of the glory of Christ is that of selflessness and service. His glory consisted in giving Himself totally to Gods will and mans salvation. When we are guided by and indwelt by the Spirit this will be our glory also.
There is a glory Christ desires for the Christian yet to be revealed. We are now recipients of this glory in a measure hindered only by our corruptible bodies. But when Jesus comes the Second time we shall receive the consummation of this glory in all its excellence (cf. 1Jn. 3:2; Php. 3:20-21). When by His grace I shall look on His face, that will be glory for me. Moses and Elijah appeared in glory (Luk. 9:30-31). We shall appear with Him in glory when He appears (Col. 3:4). We even now partake of the glory to be revealed (1Pe. 5:1). Our light affliction works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2Co. 4:17; cf. also Rom. 8:17-18; 2Ti. 2:10), Jesus regained for man the glory which man forfeited when he sinned and Christ brought many sons to glory by His death and resurrection (Heb. 2:5-18).
Joh. 17:24 through 26 form the climactic crescendo of the whole nights discourse (chapters 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17). He has already expressed His will that all disciples shall one day be with Him in glory (Joh. 14:1-6). He has already explained how and why the world did not know or receive Him, (chapter 16). He has already explained the coming of the Spirit (14, 15 and 16). He has already explained the glory of giving self (chapter 13). And now He sums it all up. He made known the name and nature of the Righteous Father so that the boundless, filling, glorious love with which the Father loved Him may be in the disciples and that He Himself may also be in them. Christ dwelling in our hearts by knowledge and acceptance of the Word is more than a mere intellectual assent to the verities of the Scripture. Christ cannot dwell in us until love of the Father dwells in us, but of course love for the Father comes when we apprehend the love of the Father for us as it is expressed only in the written record, the Bible. It is a reciprocating, circular, triangular affair, with the Father, Son, and believers and the Bible the hub.
We have desisted from making extended comments of our own on unity and have offered a Special Study with comments from three Christian brethren (Bro. Beam now having gone to be with Jesus) who have spent years laboring in this field. We have much we would like to say but these men say it so well in so brief a manner we feel our readers would be the more profited than by our lengthy comments.
Rather than an expository sermon on Chapter Seventeen we have chosen to conclude this chapter with excerpts from essays by respected Christian men of long experience in dealing with the problems of Christian unity, Seth Wilson, Dean, Ozark Bible College; Carl Ketcherside, Editor and Lecturer; Earnest Beam, former Minister and Lecturer on the Pacific Coast, now deceased.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(20) Neither pray I for these alone.Comp. Note on Joh. 17:9. The thought of the work to which the Apostles are to be consecrated and sent leads on to the wider thought of the Church which shall believe through their word, and the prayer is enlarged to include them.
But for them also which shall believe on me through their word.All the best MSS. read, but for them also which believe; but the sense is not affected by the change. As we have again and again found in these chapters, the future of the Church is so immediately in our Lords thoughts that it is spoken of as actually present. Their word is their witness concerning Him through which men should believe (Joh. 15:27). He had manifested the nature of God to them; and they who had received His word and witnessed His work would become, by the indwelling of the Spirit in them, the means of extending this revelation of God to others. They would do this by means of the word which, in His name, they would preach. (Comp. Rom. 10:14 et seq.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Christ’s representation of future believers and the world, Joh 17:20-26.
Our Intercessor now broadens his scope so widely that every man may enrol himself in the limits of the prayer. Directly, he prays for the perfecting of all believers and their reception into glory. Indirectly, he prays that all may become believers.
Christ cannot, of course, pray that the world, as the world, should be taken to heaven. He cannot pray that the sinner should be glorified in his sins; any more than he can pray that the unchanged Satan should be reinstalled in the highest heaven. He can only pray that the world may, through appointed agencies, be so won as to come into the range of his prayers for his Church. None are excluded from his churchly prayer who do not exclude themselves.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20. For these alone Most merciful as is the interior of the Saviour’s intercession, there is a stern exclusiveness, a terrible outside to it, expressed not so much in words as in silence. Cold and dreary is the condition of those who stand without the boundary of the Christly supplication.
Shall believe Foreknown future voluntary receivers of the apostolic Gospel. The shall here is a mere future, equivalent to will. Faith is either a power or an act; as a power it is a gift of God, and may be prayed for; as an act it must be from ourselves, and cannot be a gift from any other.
Their word No traditions of an interior Christian doctrine are to be received by us which are uncorroborated in the written word. This, the written testament alone, can assure us that the tradition is apostolic and binding; for unwritten traditions are unstable, easily forged, and unreliable. But as it appears from Joh 17:18 that the apostles were commissioned by Christ, as Christ by God, so the true written tradition of the apostles, whether it be John, or Paul, or Peter, are the authorized word both of Christ and God. Those, therefore, who endeavor to separate the apostles’ doctrine as contrary to Christ’s, are enemies of the truth, sacrilegiously endeavouring to cut the Gospel in two, that they may murder both parts.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Neither for these only do I pray, but for those also who are believing on me through their word.”
‘I pray’. Literally, the verb means ‘make request’. This encompasses the many believers who had already responded to Jesus and His Apostles and all those who would do so in their future. As the later ‘early church’ emphasised, true faith must be a response to Apostolic truth. The Apostles were unique. They were chosen to lay the foundation for the church of God by their understanding and revealing of the truth, and it is by that truth that true believers must be tested. It is not transferred to anyone, whether church or individual. Church tradition has no intrinsic guarantee within it. Each church, each tradition, each individual, must be tested against the truth revealed through the Apostles, in other words by the New Testament.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Dedicates All Who Will Respond to Him through His Apostles ( Joh 17:20-26 ).
Jesus was now looking far ahead, beyond His own group of disciples, as He began to pray for all who would become believers through their ministry, and through the ministry of others who would proclaim the same truths in His Name. And His foremost prayer was that they might be one in Spirit and truth. In so far as we fail in that inner spiritual unity, we fail to fulfil His purposes, whatever our boasts of ‘soundness’ may be. We should aim to feel ourselves at one with all who love the LORD Jesus Christ in sincerity, even though we may differ on secondary things.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Christ prays for the future believers:
v. 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word,
v. 21. that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.
v. 22. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as We are one:
v. 23. I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.
v. 24. Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. Jesus Himself had gained believers, disciples, through the preaching of the Word. In their interest He had addressed a large section of His prayer to His heavenly Father. But before His mind’s eye there arose the picture of the future, when the purpose of His work in the world would be fully realized, when the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, would be gathered from all nations. Through the testimony of the disciples, whom He is commissioning as His messengers to the world, there will be others, many others, that would believe on Him through the Word as proclaimed by the servants of the Lord. And all these believing Christians of all times shall be one. All those that have faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, and actually put all their trust in Him alone, are thereby united most closely and inseparably. Even though they know nothing of each other, even though they belong to various Christian denominations: if they but have faith in the Word and in the Savior in their hearts, they are all truly, internally one (communion or saints. This unity of the Church of all places and of all times is in God, in the Father and Son. It is as real and intimate as the union obtaining between these two persons of the Godhead. And the influence of this great united body, though invisible in itself, will be such as to compel the acknowledgment of the world as to Christ’s having been sent into the world by the Father to work salvation for all men. There are so many manifestations of the power of God in the work of the Church that at all times some, at least, in the world are convinced and gained for Christ. The Christian Church does a great deal of missionary work by its very existence. Add to that the confession and the testimony of the believers, and much may be accomplished for the Savior and His glory. To this end the Lord has given to His disciples the glory which He has received from the Father. The Christians, by the call of Christ, have a certain amount of divine nature, of divine power, by virtue of their regeneration and sanctification. They exhibit this divine life in their whole being and manner. Their every word and act serves to impress men with the power of the Word of God in them. But it serves especially to make that communion of their hearts and minds before the Lord perfect, since it places them in contrast to the world. And thus again the unbelieving world gets some idea of the truth of the Christian religion and of its superhuman power. Some of them will always, by the grace of God, form the right conclusions as to the mission of Christ and as to the certainty of God’s love toward them, equal in sincerity and power to that wherewith He loves the Son. Jesus, therefore, in His omniscience beholding the assembly of the Church as it will be gathered until the end of time, makes a bold request: Father, those that Thou hast given Me, I will that where I am, they also be with Me. Here is the confidence of the Redeemer, whose vicarious work is sufficient for all men. The elect of God are Christ’s own, and He holds them safe against all enemies, to be with Him in all eternity. And all the greater is His boldness for this request, since they were given to Him, because the Father loved His Son from eternity, before the foundation of the world was laid. And the consummation of Christian blessedness will be the share of the believers, according to this prayer of the Lord, since they will see the glory of their Redeemer; they will behold the head which was once crowned with thorns adorned with everlasting honor as the eternal Son of God with power. That is the final goal of. faith, the final purpose of the election of grace-eternal life, eternal glory in and with Christ.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 17:20-21. Neither pray I for these alone, “I do not make my apostles the only subjects of this my last prayer; but I pray also for all those who shall be converted by my apostles; intreating for them the gracious influences of thy Spirit, that they may maintain the unity of the faith, and all agree in one doctrine; that, as in this great design ofinstructing,converting,andsavingtheworld,a most perfect union subsists between thee and me, they also may be taken into the union, and agree as perfectly with us, and among themselves, as thou with me, and I with thee; the effect whereof will be, that the world, discerning their agreement among themselves and with us, will believe that I their Master have been sent into the world by thee, and am one with thee in essence, perfections, and unity of counsels.” The importance of this request will appear to all who consider, that many of those who were converted by the apostles, applied themselves to preach and propagate the gospel; and the expression, that the world may believe, &c. plainly intimates, that dissensions among Christian professors would not only be most uncomfortable to themselves, and a hindrance to their own salvation, but would be a means of bringing the truth and excellency of cur most holy religion into question. And he must be a stranger to what has passed, and is daily passing in the world, who does not see what fatal advantages those divisions have given to infidels to represent it as a calamity, rather than to regard it as a blessing to mankind.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 17:20-21 . In His prayer for the disciples for their preservation and sanctification (Joh 17:11-19 ), Jesus now also includes all who (comp. Rom 10:14 ) shall believe on Him ( , regarding the future as present) through the apostles’ word ( , Euth. Zigabenus). The purpose for which He also includes these: that all (all my believing ones, the apostles and the others) may be one (ethically, in likeness of disposition, of endeavour, of love, etc., on the ground of faith, comp. Eph 4:3 ff.; Rom 15:5-6 ; Act 4:32 ).
This ethical unity of all believers, to be specifically Christian, [198] must correspond as to its original type ( ) to the reciprocal fellowship between the Father and the Son (according to which the Father lives and moves in the Son, and the Son in the Father, comp. Joh 10:38 , Joh 14:10-11 , Joh 15:5 ), the object of which, in reference to believers collectively, is, that in them also the Father and the, Son may be the element in which they (in virtue of the unio mystica brought about through the Spirit, 1Jn 1:3 ; 1Jn 4:13 ; 1Pe 1:4 ) live and move ( . ).
This ethical unity of all believers in the fellowship with the Father and the Son, however (comp. Joh 13:35 ), shall serve to the unbelieving world as an actual proof and ground of conviction that Christ , the grand central point and support of this unity, is none other than the sent of God . “That is the fruit which must follow through and from such unity, namely, that Christ’s word shall further break forth and be received in the world as God’s word, wherein stands an almighty, divine, unconquerable power and eternal treasure of all grace and blessedness,” Luther, in opposition to which, Calvin gets into confusion by introducing the doctrine of predestination, making of a reluctant agnoscere; so also Scholten. Thus the third is subordinated to the first, as introducing its further aim; the second , however, because containing the definition of the aim of , . . ., is related to the first explicatively .
[198] “Non vult concordiam coetus humani, ut est concors civitas Spartana contra Athenienses,” Melanchthon.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1714
THE IMPORTANCE OF UNION AMONG CHRISTIANS
Joh 17:20-21. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
IN the former part of this chapter our Lord has been interceding principally for his own immediate Disciples: but here he intercedes for all his people to the end of time. Who the particular persons were, is known only when the word of God reaches their hearts, and they are made obedient to the faith of Christ. But the substance of the petition is evidently most important; because our Lord had before made the same request in behalf of his own Disciples; and because he repeats it again more strongly in the two verses following our text.
We will endeavour to shew,
I.
What is that union which Christ prayed for in our behalf
If we should interpret the union spoken of in ver. 11, as relating only to the testimony which the Apostles were to bear concerning Christ, still we cannot possibly limit the import of the text to that sense: the terms are too varied and too strong to admit of such a limitation. The comparison instituted between Christs union with the Father, and ours with each other in him, leads our thoughts into a far different channel; a channel mysterious indeed, but deeply fraught with the richest instruction. Christ is one with the Father, in essence and in operation; being the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his person, and at the same time acting in every thing in perfect concert with the Father, having no will but his, speaking nothing but according to his commands, doing nothing but by his direction, and seeking only the glory of his name.
This fitly illustrates the union which his people have with each other in and through him:
1.
They are formed into one body
[Sometimes they are represented as a temple, composed of living stones, and having a living stone for its foundation, even Jesus Christ himself; and built up as an habitation for God himself [Note: 1Pe 2:4-5. Eph 2:20-22.]. At other times they are spoken of as a body, of which Christ is the Head, and all the different individuals are members [Note: 1Co 12:12-13; 1Co 12:27.]. Thus whilst they are united with each other, they are united also with the Father and the Son: the Father is in Christ, and Christ is in them; and thus they are made perfect in one, ever growing up into Christ as their Head, and contributing to each others perfection, till they arrive at the full measure of the stature of Christ [Note: Eph 4:13; Eph 4:15-16.].
How earnestly the Lord Jesus Christ desired this, may be gathered from the frequent repetition of it before noticed: and well he might plead for it in this manner, since the accomplishment of it was the principal design of his death [Note: Joh 11:51-52.], and the great end of God the Father in the whole economy of redemption [Note: Eph 1:9-10.].]
2.
They are all animated by one Spirit
[He that is joined to the Lord, says the Apostle, is one Spirit [Note: 1Co 6:17.]. This is true of every individual, and of the whole collective body of believers. Christ dwells in all of them; and as Christ himself lived by the Father, so do they live by him [Note: Eph 3:17. Col 3:4. Joh 6:56-57.]. Hence, as there is no distraction in the body, but, in consequence of its being under the controul of one living and governing principle, its powers are all harmoniously exerted for the attainment of the same object; so the members of Christs mystical body are one in sentiment, in affection, and in the scope and tenour of their lives.
In sentiment they are one: for though, in matters of inferior moment, there may be a wide difference between them, yet in the fundamental points, such as our fall in Adam, our recovery by Christ, our renovation by the Spirit, the evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, the security of believers, and many other points connected with the spiritual life, there is no difference: all that are taught of God agree in these things; or, if they differ a little in modes of expression, when disputing for opinions, they agree perfectly when they come upon their knees before God; which shews that their differences are rather imaginary than real. There is an unity of faith to which they all come [Note: Eph 4:13.]; and which the untutored Indian attains as easily as the most learned philosopher; for it is learned by the heart rather than the head; and it is God alone that can guide us to the knowledge of it [Note: 1Co 2:14.].
In affection also they are one, being kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, and loving one another with a pure heart fervently. They are all taught of God to do so [Note: 1Th 4:9.]. What the real tendency of Christianity is may be seen in the effects produced on the first Christians [Note: Act 2:44-45; Act 4:32.]: and if there is not the same measure of love among Christians of the present day, it is not owing to any want of efficacy in the grace of God, but to the slender measure in which it is possessed: for, in proportion as the grace of Christ abounds in, the soul, will ever be the measure of our faith and love [Note: 1Ti 1:14. Eph 4:3-4; Eph 4:7.].
Moreover, in the scope and tenour of their lives also they are one. They all acknowledge the Scriptures as the one directory which they are to follow; and, according to their several attainments, they walk by the same rule [Note: Php 3:16. Gal 6:16.] Without this, all other unity, whether in the faith, or in the Spirit, is of no avail.
This holding of the Head by faith, this ministering to each other by love, and this progressive increase of the whole body in the ways of holiness, constitutes that true union which the Gospel produces, and which our Lord so earnestly desired in our behalf [Note: Col 2:19.].]
Let us now consider,
II.
The unspeakable importance of it
Truly it is of the utmost importance: for on it depends,
I.
The honour of Christ
[In the days of the Apostles, the Messiahship of Christ was abundantly proved by the most stupendous miracles wrought in confirmation of it. But it was the design of God, that, when Christianity was once established, it should carry its own evidence along with it, and convince men by producing such effects in the world as would demonstrate to all its Divine origin. The perfect consistency which there was in the testimony of all the Apostles and of the first teachers of Christianity shewed, that they must have been inspired by the same Spirit; who kept them all from error, and guided them into all truth. In the whole apostolic age we read of but one point of difference that arose, namely, Whether the believing Gentiles should be required to submit to circumcision or not; and even that was discussed, not for the satisfaction of any of the Apostles, but only of some of the less-enlightened converts. And the agreement which there was in doctrine, was rendered still more manifest by the wonderful unity which was displayed in the life and conversation of the whole Church. There were indeed spots and blemishes in many; but these were reproved by the authorised teachers of religion, and served to illustrate more clearly the proper efficacy of the Gospel [Note: 1Co 11:19.]. Twice does our Lord suggest, that this union of his people would confirm the truth of his mission [Note: Compare ver. 23. with the text.]. And certain it is that the same effects are produced by it at this time. Where shall we look for such an union of sentiment, of affection, and of conduct, as is to be found in the Church of Christ? Hence believers are marked as a peculiar people; and the very peculiarity which pervades the Church of God, makes an impression on the hearts of thousands, who, if they could in an instant attain to the measure of peace and holiness which they see in the true believer, would willingly sacrifice all that they have in the world for it: and though, from the inveteracy of their corruptions, they are determined to go on in sin, they are constrained to acknowledge, that the Gospel of Christ is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.]
2.
The credit of the Church
[God the Father loveth his people, even as he loveth his only dear Son [Note: See ver. 23.]. But how is it to be known that he loves them? Who can look into their hearts, and see those manifestations which he makes of himself there, as he does not unto the world? When he sheddeth abroad his love there, who can discern it, but the persons themselves? or, as Solomon expresses it, who can intermeddle with their joy? But it is to be discerned by the effects it produces on their lives, just as the irradiated countenance of Moses attested the intercourse he had held with God. Accordingly, where the piety of any person is of an exalted kind, it carries with it a conviction to the minds of others; it makes religion itself appear honourable, and induces many to say, We will go with you; for we perceive that God is with you of a truth.]
3.
The welfare of the world at large
[The world in general hate the light, and will not come to it, lest their deeds should be reproved. But Christians, when truly exemplary, are living witnesses for God: they are epistles of Christ, known and read of all men; and their whole spirit and conduct is a sermon to all around them. St. Peter tells us, that many unbelieving people, who utterly despise the word of God, are won by the good conversation and conduct of their pious friends. On the other hand, we know that divisions or scandals in the Church are the means of casting before many a stumbling-block, over which they fall, to their eternal ruin. What can more strongly manifest the importance of union in the Church, than such considerations as these? Surely, if the welfare of the world so much depends upon it, we cannot wonder that our Lord offered such repeated supplications for it in our behalf; nor should there be any intermission to our exertions for the advancement of it in the Church of God.]
From this subject we may see,
1.
The duty of the world to unite themselves to the Church
[The Church is represented as one fold under one Shepherd. To that fold we must be gathered: nor must we decline that open profession that shall distinguish us for his sheep. If we are ashamed of Christ and his people, Christ will be ashamed of us. We must not only believe with our hearts unto righteousness, but make confession with our mouths unto salvation. As Judah and Israel are to become one at the latter day, like the two sticks in the prophets hand [Note: Eze 37:16-22.], so are Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, to be all one in Christ Jesus [Note: Gal 3:28.]. I call on all therefore to give themselves unto us, as St. Paul expresses it, but first to give up their whole selves to the Lord [Note: 2Co 8:5.].]
2.
The duty of the Church to be united among themselves
[Who that hears our blessed Lord pleading so earnestly for this object, can doubt what his duty is in relation to it? If a doubt remain, let the Apostle Paul determine it: so desirable was this object in his eyes, that he seemed as if he could never be sufficiently urgent with his converts to cultivate it with all their hearts [Note: 1Co 1:10. Php 2:1-4.]. Let us then beg of God to give us one heart and one way: thus shall the sweetest fellowship be produced, not only with each other, but with the Father and with Christ; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son shall cleanse us from all sin [Note: 1Jn 1:3; 1Jn 1:7.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (21) That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (22) And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (24) Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (25) O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. (26) And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
In this part of the Lord’s prayer, his whole Church is included, yea, expressly prayed for. And I have often found cause to bless the Lord Jesus, for the very sweet and gracious manner of expression which he was pleased to use, in the introduction of it, when he said, by way of distinction, from what he had before said for the Apostles: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me, through their word. It is in my view, as if the Lord Jesus had said: The blessings I am procuring for those my redeemed, which are now around me, and within the hearing of what I say, I mean not to limit to them, but that the whole may be extended to all my Church; in the thousands, and ten thousands of my children, which are yet unborn. And while I desire some more special effects of my great salvation may be communicated to those my Apostles, to qualify them for the ministry of the word; my will is, that the whole body of the Church may partake together, in all the blessed consequences of my mission. That oneness and union, that perfection and glory in me, and that everlasting presence with me, to which the whole Church shall finally be brought; may be the privilege and blessedness of all. I humbly conceive, that our Lord’s words, in the opening of this concluding clause of his prayer, may, without violence to the several expressions contained in it, be supposed as conveying those things. And I beg the Reader to remark with me, the manner in which the Lord Jesus enforceth the several blessings he enumerates, Father! I will. Here is no petition, nor request; but what Jesus saith, is expressed in the nature of a right, or demand. And the reason is obvious. In the several transactions of the Holy Three in One, the glorious Almighty Covenanters have mutually engaged to each other. They are all alike equal in Godhead. And they are alike equal in Covenant Offices. They have therefore guaranteed to each other. So that in the Intercession of Christ; though by virtue of his human nature, this office leads to the exercise of prayer: yet not by a way of petition, but of right. Jesus demands the fulfilment of Covenant stipulations; and as such saith, for all he pleads: Father! I will!
I must not indulge here again, no more than upon the former occasion, to enlarge on the several subjects, which are contained in those concluding verses of our Lord’s prayer: But I crave the favor of the Reader, that I may be permitted to glance at one or two of the more prominent points, Jesus hath so sweetly dwelt upon.
And first: that union and oneness which Jesus here insists upon; and which, the Lord speaks of so frequently, in this Chapter. We shall do well to notice it at least, though to enter into the full apprehension of it is impossible. That Jesus himself took much delight in it is very certain, for he makes mention of it continually in his prayer. And if it was dear to Christ, how very dear ought it to be to his people? Indeed it forms the basis of all communicable grace and glory. For without union, there can be no communion. Unless married to Christ, we have no claim to maintenance or dower? Unless grafted into this holy Vine, how shall we derive sap or fruitfulness from the Vine? It is by virtue of this oneness with Christ, in the eternal purpose of Jehovah, being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that the Church derives all her blessedness from Christ. This union is the foundation of all the after blessings, which arise out of it. All the blessings and mercies we derive from Christ, in this time-state of the Church, are the result of the Church’s being considered as one with Christ, from all eternity. So that our redemption by Christ, is among the blessed effects of this union: and our union with Christ is the cause. Christ came to redeem his Church, from the ruins of the Adam-fall. But this was, because Jesus hath betrothed himself to this Church, before the foundation of the world. Eph 1:4 ; Hos 2:18 .
But while we esteem so very highly this union, on account of the blessings flowing from it: (and never can it be too highly prized, or too often meditated upon,) I would desire the Reader to observe, that the union itself is as far superior, as any cause is to the effect. An union with Christ, makes a child of God one with Christ. It forms a personal union: for the whole Person of Christ, God-Man is one with his Church, in every individual member of it: body, soul, and spirit. He that is joined to the Lord is One Spirit, 1Co 6:17 . Hence Christ is precious: not only for his gifts, or for his graces, or for his benefits; but for himself. He is not only the source of happiness, but is himself our happiness. Not only gives his people life, but is himself their life, and their portion forever. So sweet and precious therefore, is this conscious union, with Christ.
Secondly, Jesus saith, that the glory which thou gavest me I have given them. Here also we discover a blessedness, which merits our highest regard, and our unceasing thankfulness. There is a glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in his divine nature as God, one with the Father over all blessed forever. But then this is not communicable, neither was it ever given to him, And there is a glory, even a Personal glory, as God-Man, which is his, and incapable also of communication. And there is a glory of dignity and merit, as God – Man, which he hath acquired by virtue of his sufferings, and death. Phi 2:6-11 . Neither is this capable of being communicated. But his glory as Head of his body the Church, as the head of influence, and the head of communication; this glory, given to him by Jehovah, is purposely given, to be communicated to all the members of his mystical body; and Jesus here saith, he hath given it to his people. And it is most blessed to observe, how the Lord is forever doing it, here in grace, and above in glory! And the oneness of the Church of Christ with Christ, is such, that while the Church is made everlastingly blessed and happy in her Head and Husband, Jesus is made glorious in his Church, and becomes as the Prophet described her, a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of her God. Isa 62:3 .
Thirdly, It is not the smallest part of Christ’s regard, which he hath shewn to his Church in this prayer, in the striking discrimination which he hath made, between his Church and the world; and the knowledge his people have of him, compared to the world. O righteous Father, (said Jesus) the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee: and these have known that thou hast sent me. There is somewhat very particular and striking, in Christ calling the Father, in this place, and upon this account, O righteous Father! Was it not (for I only ask the question, without deciding upon it,) to shew the righteousness and strict equity of God, in leaving the world shut up in the unbelief of their own minds by the fall, and revealing himself in Christ, to all the Church; chosen in Christ, and called? Rom 11:7-8 . Reader! do not fail to mark this as you pass over the several parts, of this most precious Chapter. And while you mark it, look to God the Spirit, to cause the sweet savor of it, to rest with suitable affection, to call forth praise and love in the mind.
I will only detain the Reader just to observe, with what tenderness and love the Lord closeth the whole of his prayer, with an intimation of continuing to declare unto his people the Name of his Father; that the love of God to Christ, as God-Man Mediator: and the love of God to the Church in Christ, might be unceasingly known and enjoyed, by his whole household. It is impossible that anything could be said more expressive, in token of the Lord’s love. He was now in the moment of separation from them. When he had finished his prayer, he was going into the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew what would then follow. This was, the last, the farewell interview, of Christ and his eleven Apostles alone. And what were his last words in this sweet season. That the Father’s love wherewith he had loved him, might be in them; and (said Jesus) in them. Here was an assurance then, of the everlasting love of Jesus, and the sameness of love in Jesus to his Church, to the end of the world. That love could not increase, neither could it diminish. Jesus leaves his heart with them therefore, and not only them, but ; all the Church, of which they were then the: representatives. That his love shall be with them; and constant, fresh manifestations, and discoveries of it, shall be forever. So the Lord Jesus declared. And so his people in the present hour of the Church, can bear witness; and set to their seal in having received this testimony, that God is true. Joh 3:33 . Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Ver. 20. Neither pray I for these alone ] Lo here a sure and sweet haven for all believers to have recourse to, where they may sit and sing away care of miscarrying; for here Christ doth as much as if he should solemnly swear to secure and set them safe from danger, since the Father denies him nothing, Joh 11:42 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20. ] The connexion is the . , Joh 17:18 . The present part. expresses the state of faith in which all believers are found: the future (of the re [238] .) would refer more to the act of belief by which that state is begun. But perhaps it is best to take the pres. as proleptic.
[238] The Textus Receptus or received text of the Greek Testament. Used in this Edition when elz and Steph agree
It is strikingly set forth here that all subsequent belief on Christ would take place through the apostolic word: see Rom 10:16-17 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 17:20-26 . Prayer for future believers .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 17:20 . The consecration of the disciples and His sending them forth naturally suggests the enlargement of the Church and of His care.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
THE HIGH PRIEST’S PRAYER
Joh 17:20 – Joh 17:26
The remainder of this prayer reaches out to all generations of believers to the end. We may incidentally note that it shows that Jesus did not anticipate a speedy end of the history of the world or the Church; and also that it breathes but one desire, that for the Church’s unity, as though He saw what would be its greatest peril. Characteristic, too, of the idealism of this Gospel is it that there is no name for that future community. It is not called ‘church,’ or ‘congregation,’ or the like-it is ‘them also that believe on Me through their word,’ a great spiritual community, held together by common faith in Him whom the Apostles preached. Is not that still the best definition of Christians, and does not such a conception of it correspond better to its true nature than the formal abstraction, ‘the Church’?
We can but touch in the most inadequate fashion the profound words of this section of the prayer which would take volumes to expound fitly. We note that it contains four periods, in each of which something is asked or stated, and then a purpose to be attained by the petition or statement is set forth.
First comes the prayer for unity and what the answer to it will effect Joh 17:21. Now in this verse the unity of believers is principally regarded as resulting from the inclusion, if we may so say, of them all in the ineffable union of the Father and the Son. Jesus prays that ‘they may all be one,’ and also ‘that they also may be in us’ Rev. Ver.. And their unity is no mere matter of formal external organisation nor of unanimity of creed, or the like, but it is a deep, vital unity. The pattern of it is the unity of the Father and the Son, and the power that brings it about is the abiding of all believers ‘in us.’ The result of such a manifestation in the world of a multitude of men, in all of whom one life evidently moves, fusing their individualities while retaining their personalities, will be the world’s conviction of the divine mission of Jesus. The world was beginning to feel its convictions moving slowly in that direction, when it exclaimed: ‘Behold how these Christians love one another!’ The alienation of Christians has given barbs and feathers to its arrows of scorn. But it is ‘the unity of the Spirit,’ not that of a, great corporation, that Christ’s prayer desires.
The petitions for what would be given to believers passes for a moment into a statement of what Jesus had already given to them. He had begun the unifying gift, and that made a plea for its perfecting. The ‘glory’ which He had given to these poor bewildered Galilaeans was but in a rudimentary stage; but still, wherever there is faith in Him, there is some communication of His life and Spirit, and some of that veiled and yet radiant glory, ‘full of grace and truth,’ which shone through the covering when the Incarnate Word ‘became flesh.’ It is the Christ-given Christ-likeness in each which knits believers into one. It is Christ in us and we in Christ that fuses us into one, and thereby makes each perfect. And such flashing back of the light of Jesus from a million separate crystals, all glowing with one light and made one in the light, would flash on darkest eyes the lustre of the conviction that God sent Christ, and that God’s love enfolded those Christlike souls even as it enfolded Him.
Again Joh 17:24 comes a petition with its result. And here there is no mention of the effect of the answer on the world. For the moment the thoughts of isolation in, and a message to, the world fade away. The partially-possessed ‘glory’ seems to have led on Christ’s thoughts to the calm home of perfection waiting for Him who was ‘not of the world’ and was sent into it, and for the humble ones who had taken Him for Lord. ‘I will that’-that is a strange tone for a prayer. What consciousness on Christ’s part does it involve? The disciples are not now called ‘them that should believe on Me,’ but ‘that which Thou hast given Me,’ the individuals melt into the great whole. They are Christ’s, not merely by their faith or man’s preaching, but by the Father’s gift. And the fact of that gift is used as a plea with Him, to ‘perfect that which concerneth’ them, and to complete the unity of believers with Jesus by bringing them to be ‘with Him’ in His triumphant session at the right hand. To ‘behold’ will be the same as to share His glory, not only that which we beheld when He tabernacled among us, but that which He had in the pouring out on Him of God’s love ‘before the foundation of the world.’ Our dim eyes cannot follow the happy souls as they are lost in the blaze, but we know that they walk in light and are like Him, for they ‘see Him as He is.’
The last statement Joh 17:25 – Joh 17:26 is not petition but vow, and, to our ears, promise. The contrast of the world and believers appears for the last time. What made the world a ‘world’ was its not knowing God; what made believers isolated in, and having an errand to, the world, was that they ‘knew’ not merely ‘believed,’ but knew by experience that Jesus had been sent from God to make known His name. All our knowledge of God comes through Him; it is for us to recognise His divine mission, and then He will unveil, more and more, with blessed continuity of increasing knowledge, the Name, and with growing knowledge of it growing measures of God’s love will be in us, and Jesus Himself will ‘dwell in our hearts by faith’ more completely and more blessedly through an eternity of wider knowledge and more fervent love.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 17:20-24
20″I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
Joh 17:20 “but for those also who believe in Me” This is a present tense functioning as a future tense. This refers to all subsequent believers and in Joh 10:16, even to Gentiles. See Special Topic at Joh 2:23.
“through their word” This is the term logos. Because of its use in Joh 17:14 and its synonym rhma in Joh 17:8, this must refer to the disciples’ passing on the revelatory message of Jesus.
Joh 17:21 “that they may all be one” This unity is nothing else than the unity of the Trinity (cf. Joh 17:11; Joh 17:22-23; Eph 4:1-6). This is one aspect of Jesus’ teaching that His followers have not followed.
“so that the world may believe that You sent Me” This is a present active subjunctive. The purpose of unity is evangelism. Joh 17:23 is almost the exact same structure and emphasis!
There is a tension in Jesus’ prayer. He does not pray for the world (cf. Joh 17:9), yet He sends His followers into the world with His message which will cause their persecution because God loves the world (cf. Joh 17:21; Joh 17:23; Joh 3:16). God wants the whole world to believe (cf. 1Ti 2:4; Tit 2:11; 2Pe 3:9). God loves all those made in His image and likeness. Jesus died for the sins of the entire world. See Special Topic: Send (Apostell) at Joh 5:24.
Joh 17:22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them” These are both perfect active indicatives. Glory must refer to the revelatory message. They will bear His word to the world as Jesus bore the Father’s word. This will result in them bearing His reproach also! A. T. Robertson in his Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. V, says “It is the glory of the Incarnate Word (cf. Joh 1:14; Joh 2:11) not the glory of the Eternal Word mentioned in Joh 17:24” (p. 280). See full note on “glory” at Joh 1:14.
Joh 17:23 “that they may be perfected in unity” This is hina clause with a periphrastic perfect passive, like Joh 17:19. In Joh 17:19, there is an element of contingency based on (1) Christ’s upcoming work or (2) their continuing faith. The implication is that they have already been united by the agency of Jesus and that it will remain! The purpose of unity is evangelism.
“and loved them, even as You have loved Me” This is a promise (cf. Joh 16:27; Joh 14:21; Joh 14:23), but it has a condition. God deals with humans by means of covenants (“if. . .then”).
Love (agape) occurs eight times in John 1-12, but 31 times in John 13-17. The upper room dialogues emphasized the revealed character of God the Father through the words and actions of the Son and soon after, the resurrection, and especially Pentecost, through the disciples. God is love (cf. 1Jn 4:7-21).
Joh 17:24 “be with Me where I am” Jesus is returning to glory to prepare a place for His followers (cf. Joh 14:1-3). This world is not our home as it was not His either! It is His creation (Genesis 1-2) and it will be restored (Revelation 21-22).
“so that they may see My glory which You have given Me” Obviously the term “glory” in this verse cannot mean what it does in Joh 17:22. Here it seems to include the majesty of Jesus’ pre-existent deity.
“before the foundation of the world” The Triune God was active in redemption even before creation. This phrase is used several times in the NT (cf. Mat 25:34; Luk 11:50; Eph 1:4; Heb 4:3; Heb 9:26; 1Pe 1:20; Rev 13:8; Rev 17:8).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Neither = Not, (Greek. ou. App-105).
shall believe. All the texts read “believe”.
believe on. App-150.
through. Greek. dia. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20.] The connexion is the . , Joh 17:18. The present part. expresses the state of faith in which all believers are found: the future (of the re[238].) would refer more to the act of belief by which that state is begun. But perhaps it is best to take the pres. as proleptic.
[238] The Textus Receptus or received text of the Greek Testament. Used in this Edition when elz and Steph agree
It is strikingly set forth here that all subsequent belief on Christ would take place through the apostolic word: see Rom 10:16-17.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 17:20. , but also) Christ, the Wisdom, is , the Preacher in the congregations (Ecclesiastes; Psa 40:9; Psa 22:25).-[ , for them who shall believe) Those about to believe, in this passage, come under the name of believers. In a similar manner, it is said in Joh 17:22, I have given them glory; with which comp. ch. Joh 11:52, Not for that nation only, but that He should gather in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 17:20
Joh 17:20
Neither for these only do I pray,-The apostles were the chosen witnesses to testify the things done and taught by Christ. They were guided by the Holy Spirit in this work. Their testimonies or words were the foundation of faith in Christ.
but for them also that believe on me through their word;-When he had prayed for the witnesses, he extends the prayer in behalf of those who would believe on him through their words. All faith in Jesus in the years since his death came through the words of the apostles.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
pray: Joh 17:6-11, Eph 4:11
for them: Act 2:41, Act 4:4, Rom 15:18, Rom 15:19, Rom 16:26, 2Ti 1:2
Reciprocal: 1Ki 8:59 – nigh 2Ch 6:19 – to hearken Psa 86:11 – unite Zec 6:15 – and ye Mat 12:49 – his disciples Joh 14:16 – I will Joh 19:35 – that ye Act 10:22 – and to Rom 8:34 – who also Gal 3:28 – for Phi 1:27 – in one 1Jo 5:20 – and we
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0
Up to this point the prayer of Jesus has been on behalf of his apostles. Of course he was desirous that they should be saved, and also he wished their work for him to be effective. They were to take the words of truth concerning Christ to the people of the earth, and hence he now includes them in his prayer along with the apostles.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 17:20. But not concerning these only do I ask, but also concerning them which believe in me through their word. From the thought of the disciples whom He was sending forth to carry on His work, Jesus now turns, in the third and last section of His prayer, to the thought of all who through their word shall be brought to faith, to the thought of believers in every country and in every age. They are spoken of as those which believe,not indeed in actual fact, for none had as yet believed through the instrumentality of the disciples; but in idea they rise before the mind of Jesus,His Church down to the very end of time. The word spoken of is that of Joh 17:14, the special word which is the revelation of the Father, and which brings man to recognise the love of the Father as it appears in the Son, and in the Son to them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Hitherto our Saviour had been praying for himself and his apostles; now he prays for all persons, both Jews and Gentiles, that should believe on him, throughout the world, by the preaching of the gospel.
Hence learn, 1. That all believers have a special interest in Christ’s prayer.
2. That in the sense of the gospel they are believers who are wrought upon to believe in Christ through the word.
3. That such is Christ’s care of, and love to his own, that they were remembered by him in his prayer, even before they had a being: I pray not for these alone, but for all that shall believe in me.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 17:20-23. Neither pray I for these alone I do not make my apostles the only subjects of this my last prayer; I pray likewise for all such as shall by their word, whether preached or written, be brought to believe on me, in whatever age or nation; that they also, being influenced by the same Spirit, and possessed of the same love; may be one Truly and intimately; (see on Joh 17:11;) as thou, Father, art in me Dwelling in me by thy Spirit; and I in thee By a constant, indissoluble union; that they also may be one in us Closely and vitally united to us, and deriving from us the richest supplies of divine wisdom and grace, power, purity, and consolation. This also is to be understood in a way of similitude, and not of sameness or equality. That the world may believe That, seeing their benevolence, charity, and holy joy, the people of the world, the carnal part of mankind, may believe that a religion productive of such amiable fruits is indeed of divine original. It is plainly intimated here by our Lord, that dissensions among Christians would not only be uncomfortable to themselves, but would be a means of bringing the truth and excellence of Christianity into question: and he must be a stranger to what hath passed, and is daily passing, in the world, who does not see what fatal advantage these divisions have given to infidels, to misrepresent it as a calamity, rather than to regard it as a blessing to mankind. Doddridge. Here we see Christ prays for the world, and may observe that the sum of his whole prayer Isaiah , 1 st, Receive me into thy own and my glory; 2d, Let my apostles share therein; 3d, And all other believers; 4th, And let all the world believe. And the glory which thou gavest me With respect to my human nature, namely, to be a habitation of thyself by the Spirit; I have given them Have bestowed on them the honour and happiness of having a measure of the same Spirit dwelling in them, enriching them with various gifts and graces, stamping them with thine image, and communicating unto them thy divine nature, 2Pe 1:4. That they may be one, even as we are one May possess the closest union, and enjoy a most holy and happy fellowship with us and with each other here, and in consequence thereof may dwell together with us in eternal felicity hereafter. I in them Dwelling in their hearts by faith; (Eph 3:17;) and thou in me By thine indwelling presence; that they may be made perfect in one May possess the most perfect and uninterrupted union of love and purity, without any jarring affection or disposition, and through that union may grow up into me their living head in all things, till they arrive at the measure of the stature of my fulness, and are perfected in that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. That the world may know that thou hast sent me That the clearest demonstration may thus be given of the efficacy of thy grace in creating men anew, and constituting them saints indeed, visibly and justly the favourites of Heaven; and that it may be manifest to all that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me And hast conferred this grace upon them for my sake.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 20-26. Jesus prays for the union of believers with Himself and among themselves.
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
Vv. 20-26.
1. Joh 17:20-24. The prayer now turns to the great company of believers in all coming time. These will become believers through the word, spoken or written, of the apostles. The prayer for them is, that they may be one. This was presented in Joh 17:11 with reference to the apostles themselves, as the end for which Jesus asked that the Father would keep them. The unity here referred to is set forth more fully in the following words and verses. It is evidently such a unity as would, by its natural influence, lead the world to believe in the divine mission of Christ (Joh 17:21); it was one which was in correspondence, in some sense, with that which exists between the Father and the Son (Joh 17:20 b, 22); it was one which was founded upon an indwelling of Christ in them, answering, in some sense, to the indwelling of the Father in Christ (Joh 17:23 a); it was a perfected unity, which should, by its very existence, prove that the Father loved them after a similar manner to that in which He loved Christ (Joh 17:23 b). These points, taken together, show that the unity is something more than the unity of love mentioned in Joh 13:34-35. In addition to the principle of love to one another which makes the company of believers one, there is here a common life-principle which they gain from the revelation and teaching, and also from the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ dwells in them and makes their spirits life (Rom 8:10). As Christ lives on account of and in the Father, so they live on account of and in Christ.
2. In Joh 17:24 there is a further request for these believers, which reaches out into their future life in heaven. There is no determination in this verse as to the time when this future union will begin, but, if Joh 14:3 can be interpreted as in Note 35.3, above, it will begin immediately after the death of each believer; and, whether this interpretation be given to that particular verse or not, a union with Christ from that time onward is indicated in other passages in the New Testament. The full blessedness of the believer, however, and the most perfect beholding of the glory of Christ, may perhaps not be enjoyed until after the Parousia. The perfection of unity in and among themselves on earth, and the union with Himself in a dwelling together in heaven, are the two gifts which Jesus asks for all His followers in all ages.
3. The glory spoken of in Joh 17:24 is apparently that which is referred to in Joh 17:1; Joh 17:5the glory which is bestowed upon Christ as the reward of His earthly work, and which involves a restoration to that glory which He had with the Father even before the creation of the world. It is spoken of as given to Him, because it is viewed as the reward of His work. As it is, however, the glory mentioned in Joh 17:5, there can be no reason for doubting that the words thou didst love me before the foundation of the world involve the idea of Christ’s pre-existence, which is clearly set forth in Joh 17:5.
4. Joh 17:25-26. These verses form a kind of conclusion of the whole prayer, and the thought seems to turn back to Himself and the apostles, with a declaration that they stand apart from the world, and an appeal to the righteousness of God to grant the requests because of this fact. There is evidently a contrast in these verses, not merely between the world and the apostles, but between the world, on the one side, and Himself and the apostles on the other. Jesus, however, places Himself here, as elsewhere in the chapter, not in precisely the same position in which He places them. He has the knowledge of the Father in and of Himself; they reach the possession of it through Him. The following is quite difficult of explanation. It seems to the writer of this note that Meyer’s view is probably correctthe words being uttered with a pause after , and the suggested thought being: Yes, Thou art righteous; (the thus meaning and yet;) and yet the world has not known Thee, but I have known thee, and these who are here with me on this last evening of my life have known Thee. Decide between the two parties according to Thy righteousness, and grant the petitions which I have offered. The objection which Meyer and Weiss make to the view of those who, with Bengel and Ebrard, regard the two as equivalent to the Latin et…et, seems decisivenamely, that it is inconsistent with the antithetic character of the conceptions and with the manifest reference of the second to .
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
17:20 {6} Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
(6) Secondly, he offers to God the Father all of his, that is, all those who will believe in him by the doctrine of the apostles: that as he cleaves unto the Father, receiving from him all fulness, so they being joined with him may receive life from him, and being loved together in him, may also with him eventually enjoy everlasting glory.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Jesus’ requests for future believers 17:20-26
As Jesus thought about the disciples that would believe on Him through the witness of the Eleven, He requested two things for them from His Father: unity and glorification.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The request for unity 17:20-23
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus now identified future believers as the objects of His intercession, as well as the Eleven. He described them as those who would believe through the witness of the Eleven. All Christians have come to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly through one or another of the original disciples or apostles. As we have seen, John had a special interest in stressing the importance and effectiveness of the witness of believers. This witness is the concrete expression of the mission to which Jesus had been referring (Joh 17:18-19). Even though the Eleven would fail Jesus soon, they would return to follow Him and would carry on the mission that He gave them.