Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to John · About this commentary
That They May All Be One
John 17:20-26
20 “Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, · WEB
The prayer widens to include everyone who will ever believe, and asks for a unity the world can see.
"Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word" John 17:20.
The prayer widens past the room, and every reader of this book is inside the sentence. The mechanism named is their word — the testimony of the eleven, which is what this Gospel is.
So the last thing he prays for before the garden is people who do not exist yet.
"That they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me" John 17:21.
The central petition is unity, and three things about it are stated exactly.
Its measure is the union of Father and Son — which puts it beyond organization or agreement, since what is being asked for is a participation rather than an arrangement.
Its location is in us. The unity is not manufactured between believers; it is a consequence of both being in the same place.
And its purpose is evangelistic: that the world may believe. The visible oneness of his people is given as evidence for the sending, which means division is not merely a shame but an obscuring of the argument.
"The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one" John 17:22.
The glory has already been handed over — perfect tense — before the cross. Whatever it is, it has been given to men who will run away tonight.
"I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me" John 17:23.
The purpose is repeated with an addition. The world is to know two things: that the Father sent him, and that he loved them — the believers — even as you loved me.
That last comparison is the most astonishing clause in the prayer. The love the Father has for the Son is the standard by which he loves them, and it is said to be observable from outside.
"Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory" John 17:24.
The verb changes from asking to desiring, which is a stronger word — closer to willing. And what he wants is company: with me where I am, the same promise made two chapters earlier about the Father's house John 14:3.
The hope of this book, stated twice in one evening, is not a place or a condition. It is proximity.
"For you loved me before the foundation of the world." The prayer that opened by asking for a glory held before the world existed closes by naming a love that is older still.
"I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them" John 17:26.
The last words of the prayer, and the last words before he crosses the Kidron. The petition is that the love between Father and Son should be in them — not extended toward them from outside but relocated inside, which is the vine's sap again.
And will make it known is future. The revealing is not finished; the chapters that follow are the rest of it, and so is everything since.
settled What this mark means