Church Fathers Commentary John 17:20-23

"Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we [are] one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me." — John 17:20-23 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: When our Lord had prayed for His disciples, whom He also named Apostles, He added a prayer for all others who would believe in Him: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.

St. John Chrysostom: This was another source of consolation for them: that they were to be the cause of the salvation of others.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He prays for all—that is, not only for those who were then alive, but also for those who were yet to be born. He prays not only for those who heard the Apostles themselves, but for us who were born long after their death. We have all believed in Christ through their word, for they first heard that word from Christ and then preached it to others. In this way, it has come down to us and will continue to go down to all posterity.

Yet we may see that in this prayer there are some disciples for whom He does not pray: namely, those who were not with Him at the time and were not going to believe through the Apostles’ word later, because they already believed. Was Nathanael with Him then, or Joseph of Arimathea, and the many others who, John says, believed in Him? I do not mention old Simeon, or Anna the prophetess, Zechariah, Elizabeth, or John the Baptist, for one might answer that it was not necessary to pray for those who were deceased, as they had departed with such rich merits.

Regarding the former group, then, we must understand that they did not yet believe in Him in the way He wished. It was only after His resurrection, when the Apostles were taught and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that they attained a right faith. The case of Paul, however, still remains—an Apostle not of men, neither by man—as does the case of the thief on the cross, who believed when even the teachers of the faith were falling away. We must therefore understand “their word” to mean the word of faith itself, which they preached to the world. It is called “their word” because it was preached first and foremost by them. For it was being preached by them when Paul received it by revelation from Jesus Christ Himself, and in this sense, the thief also believed their word.

For this reason, in this prayer the Redeemer prays for all whom He redeemed, both present and future. Then follows the very thing for which He prays: That they all may be one. He asks for all people the same thing He asked for the disciples above: that all of us—both we and they—may be one.

St. John Chrysostom: He concludes His prayer with this request for unanimity and then begins a discourse on the same subject: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: This unity is commended by the great example of unity: As you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us. This means that just as the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, so after the likeness of this unity, all may be one in the Father and in the Son.

St. John Chrysostom: Here again, the word “as” does not express a perfect likeness, but only a likeness as far as is possible for human beings. It is similar to when He says, Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

St. Augustine of Hippo: We must particularly observe here that our Lord did not say, “that we may be all one,” but that they may be all one, as you, Father, in Me, and I in You, are one. The Father is in the Son in such a way that They are one because They are of one substance. We, however, can be one in Them, but not with Them, because we and They are not of one substance. They are in us and we are in Them in such a way that They are one in Their nature, while we are one in our nature. They are in us as God is in the temple; we are in Them as a creature is in its Creator. Therefore, He adds the words in Us to show that our being made one through love must be attributed to the grace of God, not to ourselves.

Alternatively, it shows that in ourselves we cannot be one, as we are severed from each other by various pleasures, sinful desires, and the pollution of sin. We must be cleansed from these by a Mediator in order to be one in Him.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Heretics try to explain away the words, I and my Father are one, which prove a unity of nature. They attempt to reduce them to mean merely a unity of natural love and agreement of will. To do this, they bring forward these words of our Lord as an example of their kind of unity: That they may be all one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You.

But though impiety can deceive its own understanding, it cannot alter the meaning of the words themselves. For those who are born again into a nature that gives unity in eternal life cease to be one merely in will; through their regeneration, they acquire the same nature. The Father and Son alone, however, are properly one, because God, the only-begotten of God, can exist only in that nature from which He is derived.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But why does He say, That the world may believe that you have sent me? Will the world believe when we are all one in the Father and the Son? Is not this unity the eternal peace that is the reward of faith, rather than faith itself? Even though in this life all of us who hold to the same common faith are one, this unity is not the means to belief, but the consequence of it.

What, then, is the meaning of, That all may be one, that the world may believe? He prays for the world when He says, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. From this, it appears that He does not make this unity the cause of the world believing. Rather, He prays that the world may believe, just as He prays that they all may be one. The meaning will be clearer if we mentally insert the word “ask” into each clause: I ask that they all may be one; I ask that they may be one in Us; I ask that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Alternatively, the world will believe that the Son is sent from the Father for this very reason: namely, because all who believe in Him are one in the Father and the Son.

St. John Chrysostom: For there is no scandal as great as division, whereas unity among believers is a powerful argument for belief. As He said at the beginning of His discourse, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. For if they quarrel, they will not be seen as the disciples of a peacemaking Master. And if I am not a peacemaker, He implies, they will not acknowledge Me as sent from God.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Then our Savior, who showed Himself to be man by praying to the Father, now shows that, as God with the Father, He Himself does what He prays for: And the glory which you gave me I have given them. What is this glory but immortality, which human nature was about to receive in Him? He expresses this as a past event, even though it was still future, because it was established by unchangeable predestination.

We must understand that the glory of immortality, which He says was given to Him by the Father, He also gave to Himself. For when the Son is silent about His own cooperation in the Father’s work, He shows His humility; when He is silent about the Father’s cooperation in His work, He shows His equality. Thus, He does not disconnect Himself from the Father’s work when He says, The glory which you gave me, nor does He disconnect the Father from His work when He says, I have given them.

But just as He was pleased to obtain the unity of all people by praying to the Father, so now He is pleased to bring about the same result by His own gift, for He continues, That they may be one, even as we are one.

St. John Chrysostom: By “glory,” He means miracles, doctrines, and unity—and this unity is the greater glory. For all who believed through the Apostles are one. If any separated, it was due to their own carelessness, though our Lord certainly anticipated this would happen.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Through this giving and receiving of honor, then, all are one. But I do not yet grasp how this makes all one. Our Lord, however, explains the progression and order for consummating this unity when He adds, I in them, and you in me. Therefore, inasmuch as He was in the Father by His divine nature, we are in Him by His incarnation, and He is in us by the mystery of the sacrament, a perfect union by means of a Mediator was established.

St. John Chrysostom: Elsewhere He says of Himself and the Father, We will come unto him, and make our abode with him, thereby, by mentioning two persons, stopping the mouths of the Sabellians. Here, by saying that the Father comes to the disciples through Him, He refutes the notion of the Arians.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This is not said, however, as if to mean that the Father is not in us, or that we are not in the Father. He says this only to show that He is the Mediator between God and humanity. What He adds, That they may be made perfect in one, shows that the reconciliation made by this Mediator extends even to the enjoyment of everlasting blessedness.

Consequently, what follows, That the world may know that you have sent me, must not be taken to mean the same as the words just before, That the world may believe. For as long as we believe what we do not see, we are not yet made perfect, as we will be when we have merited to see what we believe. So when He speaks of their being made perfect, we are to understand a knowledge that comes by sight, not one that comes by faith. Those who believe are the world—not a permanent enemy, but a world changed from an enemy to a friend.

This is shown by what follows: And have loved them as you have loved me. The Father loves us in the Son because He elected us in Him. These words do not prove that we are equal to the Only-Begotten Son, for this mode of expression—“as one thing, so another”—does not always signify equality. It sometimes only means that because of one thing, another thing happens.

And that is its meaning here: You have loved them as you have loved me, means, “You have loved them because You have loved Me.” There is no reason for God to love His members, except that He loves the Head. But since He hates nothing that He has made, who can adequately express how much He loves the members of His Only-Begotten Son, and how much more the Only-Begotten Himself?