John 17

The Farewell Discourse that Jesus delivered at the Last Supper, beginning in chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, concludes in John 16. In this chapter Jesus turns to prayer, and in the very next chapter, John 18, he is arrested. This prayer is commonly called the "High Priestly Prayer."

Outline

• Verses 1–5: Declaring that the hour has come, Jesus asks the Father to glorify the Son. He states that eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, and he asks for the glory he had before the world was.
• Verses 6–12: Jesus tells the Father that he has manifested the Father's name to those the Father gave him. He prays not for the world but for them, asking that they be kept in the Father's name so that they may be one. He says that while he was with them he lost none of them except the son of perdition.
• Verses 13–19: Jesus says that the world hates the disciples because they are not of the world. He asks not that they be taken out of the world but that they be kept from evil and sanctified through the truth. He says that as the Father sent him into the world, so he has sent the disciples into the world.
• Verses 20–26: Jesus prays for those who will believe through the disciples' word. He asks that they may be one so that the world may believe that the Father sent him, and that they may be with him where he is and behold his glory.

Key Verses

• John 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This verse shows how the Gospel of John defines eternal life.
• John 17:17 "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." This verse is frequently cited in discussions of the relationship between sanctification and the Word.
• John 17:21 "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." This is one of the verses most often invoked in discussions of church unity (John 17:20–23).

People and Places

• Jesus: The one who prays, addressing God as "Father."
• The disciples: Referred to as "the men which thou gavest me," they are the Twelve who heard the Farewell Discourse.
• The son of perdition (v. 12): The text does not name him. In light of the surrounding narrative, he is commonly identified as Judas Iscariot.
• The text does not state where the prayer was offered. Because Jesus says "Arise, let us go hence" in 14:31, and in 18:1 he goes forth over the brook Cedron, interpreters differ on whether the prayer was offered in the upper room or along the way.

Interpretive Considerations

• "Those whom thou hast given me" (vv. 2, 6, 9, 24): The Reformed tradition reads this expression, together with verse 12, as grounds for God's election and for the perseverance of the saints (the teaching that those who truly believe will remain in salvation to the end). The Arminian and Wesleyan traditions understand it to refer to those who have responded in faith, and they explain the case of Judas in terms of human responsibility (predestination and free will).
• Unity (vv. 21–23): The ecumenical movement has long treated these verses as a basis for visible church unity. Pope John Paul II's 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint ("That They May Be One") takes its title from verse 21. Evangelicals often read these verses as referring to spiritual union in the truth rather than as a call for institutional union.
• The language of the Father and the Son being in one another, along with the glory the Son had before the foundation of the world (vv. 5, 24), is cited in Trinitarian doctrine in support of the preexistence of the Son (his existence before the world came to be).

In the Korean Church

Verse 21 is frequently used as the sermon text at interdenominational events and joint worship services. Verse 3 is commonly cited in evangelism materials and sermons that explain eternal life.