Charles Ellicott Commentary John 17:11

"And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we [are]." — John 17:11 (ASV)

And now I am no more in the world. The immediate future is still regarded as present. These words have a special reference to the interval between His death and the Day of Pentecost, which would be for the disciples a time of darkness and danger, when they would have special need of the Father’s care.

Holy Father. (John 17:24–25). There is a special fitness in the word “Holy” here, as in opposition to the world. The disciples were left in the world, but they were not of the world (John 17:14). These were spiritually God’s children, separated from the world (John 17:6), and He commits them to the Holy Father, that He may keep them from the evil of the world.

Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. The reading is slightly doubtful. However, if we take what would certainly seem to be the true text, the rendering should be, Keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me . The Authorized Version renders the same words as through Thy name in this verse, and as in Thy name in John 17:12.

The thought appears to be that the revelation of the nature of God by Christ to the world (John 17:6) was that which He Himself received from the Father. As He said, I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak .

That they may be one, as we are. This clause depends upon the words, Keep them in Thy name. They had so far realized the revelation of God that they had known Christ’s whole life to be the utterance of God to their spirits (John 17:6–8). He prays that they may be kept in this knowledge so that, by knowing the Father through Him, they may themselves become one with the Father.