Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 17:9

"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine:" — John 17:9 (ASV)

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me; for they are thine.

There is an intercession of Christ which is for all the world, but his choicest intercession – his effectual prayer – is for his own.

Nothing, perhaps, makes men so angry as this statement. They cannot endure that God should dispense his gifts according to his own will; but so it stands true. There is an intercession in which none have a part but his own. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

In this, our Lord's last great intercessory prayer, he was especially engaged in petitions for his own people. There is a sense in which he intercedes for all mankind; but in the higher and more special sense referred to in this verse, Christ's own chosen ones occupied all his thoughts: I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

And have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world,

That is, not in the same special sense as he prays for his people, not with that personal pleading which he offers on behalf of his own chosen ones: I pray not for the world,

But for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine

In the 6th verse, Jesus had said to his Father, Thine they were; and here, in this 9th verse, he says, They are thine. They still belonged to the Father, the transference of them mediatorially to the Son having made no change in the Father's relation to them.

I pray for them:

Blessed word! Christ prays for his own people: "I pray for them:"

I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me,

In that last hour, just before his Passion, his thoughts were separating the precious from the vile; and his prayer ascended for his own people: I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;

I pray for them:

Oh! How emphatically true this is! Christ always prays for them – for them, one by one – with most effectual success. It is because He prays that any of us are preserved. I pray for them.

I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me:

There is a specialty in intercession, as well as in redemption. I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me.