Albert Barnes Commentary John 17

These words. The words addressed to them in the preceding chapters. They were proceeding to the garden of Gethsemane. It adds much to the interest of this prayer that it was offered in the stillness of the night, in the open air, and in the particularly tender circumstances in which Jesus and His apostles were. It is the longest prayer recorded in the New Testament. It was offered on the most tender and solemn occasion that has ever occurred in our world, and it is perhaps the most sublime composition to be found anywhere.

Jesus was about to die. Having expressed His love to His disciples and made known to them His last desires, He now commends them to the protection and blessing of the God of grace. This prayer, moreover, is a sample of the manner of His intercession and shows the interest He felt on behalf of all who would become His followers in all ages of the world.

Lifted up His eyes. This was the common posture for prayer. .

The hour has come. That is, the appointed time for His sufferings and death. .

Glorify Your Son. Honor Your Son. . Give the world demonstration that I am Your Son. So sustain Me, and so manifest Your power in My death, resurrection, and ascension, as to offer undeniable evidence that I am the Son of God.

That Your Son also may glorify You. This refers clearly to the manifestation of the honor of God that would be made by the spread of the gospel among people (John 17:2). Jesus prayed that God would so honor Him in His death that striking proof might be provided that He was the Messiah, and people thus be brought to honor God.

By His death the law, the truth, and the mercy of God were honored. By the spread of His gospel and the conversion of sinners, by all that Christ will do now that He is glorified to spread His gospel, God will be honored. The conversion of a single sinner honors God; a revival of religion is an eminent means of promoting His honor; and the spread of the gospel among all nations will yet do more than all other things to promote the honor of God among people. Whatever honors the Savior honors God. Just as He is exalted in the mind's view, so will God be honored and obeyed.

As you have given him power. It was on the ground of this power given to Christ that the apostles were commanded to go and teach all nations (see Barnes, Matthew 28:18–19).

All flesh. This means all people (Matthew 24:22; Luke 3:6).

That he should give eternal life (see Barnes, John 5:24).

To as many as you have given him (see Barnes, John 10:16; John 6:37).

This refers to all on whom the Father has purposed to bestow the blessings of redemption through his Son. God has a plan in all he does, extending to people as well as to other objects. One part of his plan was that the atonement of Christ should not be in vain.

Hence God promised him that he should see of the travail of his soul and should be satisfied (Isaiah 53:11); and hence the Saviour had the assurance that the Father had given him a portion of the human family and would apply this great work to them.

It should be observed here that the Saviour in this prayer makes an important distinction between "all flesh" and those who were "given him." He has power over all.

He can control, direct, and restrain them. Wicked people are so far under his universal dominion, and so far restrained by his power, that they will not be able to prevent his bestowing redemption on those who were given him—that is, all who will believe on him.

Long ago, if they had been able, they would have banished religion from the world; but they are under the power of Christ, and it is his purpose that there shall be a seed to serve him, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church.

People who oppose the gospel should therefore feel that they cannot prevent the salvation of Christians and should be alarmed lest they be found fighting against God.

This is life eternal. This is the source of eternal life, or it is in this manner that it is to be obtained. The knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ is itself a source of unspeakable and eternal joy. (John 6:63; John 12:50).

Might know thee. The word know here, as in other places, expresses more than a mere speculative acquaintance with the character and perfections of God. It includes all the impressions on the mind and life which a just view of God and of the Savior is fitted to produce. It includes, of course, love, reverence, obedience, honor, gratitude, and supreme affection. To know God as He is, is to know and regard Him as a lawgiver, a sovereign, a parent, and a friend. It is to yield the whole soul to Him and strive to obey His law.

The only true God. The only God, in opposition to all false gods. What is said here is in opposition to idols, not to Jesus Himself, who, in 1 John 5:20, is called the true God and eternal life.

And Jesus Christ. To know Jesus Christ is to have a practical impression of Him as He is; that is, to allow His character and work to make their due impression on the heart and life. Simply to have heard that there is a Savior is not to know it. To have been taught in childhood and trained up in the belief of it is not to know it. To know Him is to have a just, practical view of Him in all His perfections—as God and man; as a mediator; as a prophet, a priest, and a king. It is to feel our need of such a Savior, to see that we are sinners, and to yield the whole soul to Him, knowing that He is a Savior fitted to our wants, and that in His hands our souls are safe. (Titus 1:16; Philippians 3:10; 1 John 5:20).

In this verse is contained the sum and essence of the Christian religion, as it is distinguished from all the schemes of idolatry and philosophy, and all the false plans on which people have sought to obtain eternal life.

The Gentiles worshipped many gods; the Christian worships one—the living and the true God. In contrast, the Jew, the Deist, the Muslim, and the Socinian profess to acknowledge one God, but they do so without any atoning sacrifice and Mediator.

The true Christian, however, approaches Him through the great Mediator, equal with the Father, who for us became incarnate and died that He might reconcile us to God.

Have glorified you. In my instructions and life. See His discourses everywhere, the whole tendency of which is to put honour on God.

I have finished the work . When He says, "I have finished," He probably means to include His death also.

All the preparations for that death were made. He had preached to the Jews; He had given them full proof that He was the Messiah; He had collected His disciples; He had taught them the nature of His religion; He had given them His parting counsel, and there was nothing remaining to be done but to return to God.

We see here that Jesus was careful that His great and important work should be done before His dying hour. He did not postpone it to be performed just as He was leaving the world. So completely had He done His work, that even before His death He could say, "I have finished the work."

How happy would it be if men would imitate His example, and not leave their great work of life to be done on a dying bed! Christians should have their work accomplished, and when that hour approaches, have nothing to do but to die, and return to their Father in heaven.

With your own self. In heaven, granting me participation in the same honor which the Father has. He had just said that he had glorified God on the earth; he now prays that God would glorify him in heaven.

With the glory. With the honor. This word also includes the notion of happiness, or everything which could render the condition blessed.

Before the world was. There could not be a more distinct and clear declaration of the pre-existence of Christ than this. It means before the creation of the world, before there was any world.

Of course, the speaker here must have existed then, and this is equivalent to saying that he existed from eternity (John 6:62; John 3:13).

John 16:28. The glory which he had then was that which was proper to the Son of God, represented by the expression being in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18), denoting intimacy, friendship, and united felicity.

The Son of God, by becoming incarnate, is represented as humbling himself (Greek, he "emptied himself,"Philippians 2:8). He laid aside for a time the external aspect of honor and consented to become despised and to assume the form of a servant.

He now prays that God would raise him up to the dignity and honor which he had before his incarnation.

This is the state to which he is now exalted, with the additional honor of having made atonement for sin and having opened the way to save a race of rebels from eternal death.

The lowest condition on earth is frequently connected with the highest honors of heaven. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks to him that is humble and of a contrite spirit.