John Calvin Commentary John 17

These words spoke Jesus. After having preached to the disciples about bearing the cross, the Lord showed them those consolations, by relying on which they would be able to persevere. Having promised the coming of the Spirit, He raised them to a better hope and spoke to them about the splendor and glory of His reign.

Now He most properly turns to prayer, for doctrine has no power if effectiveness is not given to it from above. He, therefore, presents an example to teachers, not to occupy themselves only with sowing the word, but, by mixing their prayers with it, to implore God's assistance, so that His blessing may make their labor fruitful. In short, this passage of the Lord Jesus Christ could be called the seal of the preceding doctrine, both so that it might be confirmed in itself, and so that it might gain full acceptance with the disciples.

And lifted up his eyes to heaven. This detail, related by John, that Christ prayed lifting up his eyes to heaven, was an indication of uncommon passion and intensity. For by this posture Christ testified that, in the affections of His mind, He was in heaven rather than on earth, so that, leaving men behind Him, He conversed intimately with God.

He looked towards heaven, not as if God’s presence were confined to heaven—for He filleth also the earth (Jeremiah 23:24)—but because it is there chiefly that His majesty is displayed. Another reason was that by looking towards heaven, we are reminded that the majesty of God is far exalted above all creatures. It is with the same purpose that hands are lifted up in prayer, for humans, being by nature lazy and slow, and drawn downwards by their earthly disposition, need such motivations, or I should rather say, chariots, to raise them to heaven.

Yet if we desire actually to imitate Christ, we must take care that outward gestures do not express more than is in our mind, but that the inward feeling directs the eyes, the hands, the tongue, and everything about us. We are told, indeed, that the publican, with downcast eyes, prayed rightly to God (Luke 18:13), but that is not inconsistent with what has now been stated. For, though he was confused and humbled on account of his sins, still this self-abasement did not prevent him from seeking pardon with full confidence. But it was proper that Christ should pray in a different manner, for He had nothing about Him of which He ought to be ashamed; and it is certain that David himself prayed sometimes in one posture, and sometimes in another, according to the circumstances in which he was placed.

Father, the hour is come. Christ asks that His kingdom may be glorified, so that He also may advance the glory of the Father. He says that the hour is come, because, though by miracles and by every kind of supernatural event He had been manifested to be the Son of God, yet His spiritual kingdom was still in obscurity, but soon afterwards shone with full brightness.

If it is objected that never was there anything less glorious than the death of Christ, which was then near, I reply that in that death we behold a magnificent triumph which is concealed from wicked men. For there we perceive that, atonement having been made for sins, the world has been reconciled to God, the curse has been blotted out, and Satan has been vanquished.

It is also the object of Christ’s prayer that His death may produce, through the power of the Heavenly Spirit, such fruit as had been decreed by the eternal purpose of God. For He says that the hour is come, not an hour which is determined by the fancy of men, but an hour which God had appointed.

And yet the prayer is not superfluous because, while Christ depends on the good pleasure of God, He knows that He ought to desire what God promised would certainly take place. True, God will do whatever He has decreed, not only though the whole world were asleep, but though it were opposed to Him; but it is our duty to ask from Him whatever He has promised, because the end and use of promises is to stir us to prayer.

That thy Son also may glorify thee. He means that there is a mutual connection between the advancement of His glory and of the glory of His Father. For why is Christ manifested, but that He may lead us to the Father? Hence it follows that all the honor which is bestowed on Christ is so far from diminishing the honor of the Father, that it confirms it all the more. We ought always to remember in what capacity Christ speaks in this passage, for we must not look only at His eternal Divinity, because He speaks as God manifested in the flesh, and according to the office of Mediator.

As you have given him. He again confirms the statement that he asks nothing but what is agreeable to the will of the Father, as it is a constant rule of prayer not to ask more than God would freely bestow. For nothing is more contrary to reason than to bring forward in the presence of God whatever we choose.

Power over all flesh means the authority that was given to Christ when the Father appointed him to be King and Head. But we must observe the end, which is, to give eternal life to all his people. Christ receives authority, not so much for himself as for the sake of our salvation. Therefore, we ought to submit to Christ, not only that we may obey God, but also because nothing is more lovely than that subjection, since it brings to us eternal life.

To all whom you have given me. Christ does not say that he has been made Governor over the whole world, in order to bestow life on all without any distinction; but he limits this grace to those who have been given to him. But how were they given to him? For the Father has subjected to him the reprobate. I reply, it is only the elect who belong to his own particular flock, which he has undertaken to guard as a Shepherd. So then, the kingdom of Christ extends, no doubt, to all men. However, it brings salvation to none but the elect, who with voluntary obedience follow the voice of the Shepherd. For the others are compelled by violence to obey him, until at last he utterly bruises them with his iron scepter.

And this is eternal life. He now describes the manner of bestowing life, namely, when He enlightens the elect in the true knowledge of God. For He does not now speak of the enjoyment of life which we hope for, but only of the manner in which people obtain life.

So that this verse may be fully understood, we should first know that we are all in death until we are enlightened by God, who alone is life. When He has shone, we possess Him by faith, and therefore, we also enter into the possession of life. This is the reason why the knowledge of Him is truly and justly called saving, or bringing salvation.

Almost every one of the words has its weight, for it is not every kind of knowledge that is described here. Instead, it is that knowledge which forms us anew into the image of God from faith to faith—or rather, which is the same as faith—by which, having been grafted into the body of Christ, we are made partakers of the divine adoption and heirs of heaven.

To know thee, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The reason why He says this is that there is no other way in which God is known except in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the bright and living image of Him. As for His placing the Father first, this does not refer to the order of faith, as if our minds, after having known God, afterwards descend to Christ. Instead, the meaning is that it is by the intervention of a Mediator that God is known.

The only true God. Two epithets are added, true and only. Because, in the first place, faith must distinguish God from the vain inventions of human beings and, embracing Him with firm conviction, must never change or hesitate. Secondly, believing that there is nothing defective or imperfect in God, faith must be satisfied with Him alone. Some explain it, That they may know thee, who alone art God; but this is a poor interpretation. The meaning therefore is, That they may know thee alone to be the true God.

But it may be thought that Christ disclaims for Himself the right and title of Divinity. If it were replied that the name of God is quite as applicable to Christ as to the Father, the same question might be raised about the Holy Spirit. For if only the Father and the Son are God, the Holy Spirit is excluded from that rank, which is as absurd as the former.

The answer is easy, if we pay attention to that manner of speaking which Christ uniformly employs throughout the Gospel of John, of which I have already reminded my readers so frequently that they must have become quite accustomed to it. Christ, appearing in the form of a man, describes, under the person of the Father, the power, essence, and majesty of God.

So then the Father of Christ is the only true God. That is, He is the one God, who formerly promised a Redeemer to the world. But in Christ the oneness and truth of Godhead will be found, because Christ was humbled in order that He might raise us on high.

When we have arrived at this point, then His divine majesty displays itself. Then we perceive that He is wholly in the Father, and that the Father is wholly in Him.

In short, whoever separates Christ from the Divinity of the Father does not yet acknowledge Him who is the only true God, but rather invents for himself a strange god. This is the reason why we are instructed to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, by whom, as it were, with outstretched hand, He invites us to Himself.

As for the opinion entertained by some that it would be unjust if people were to perish solely on account of their ignorance of God, it arises from their not considering that there is no fountain of life except in God alone, and that all who are alienated from Him are deprived of life.

Now, if there is no approach to God except by faith, we are forced to conclude that unbelief keeps us in a state of death. If it is objected that persons otherwise righteous and innocent are unjustly treated if they are condemned, the answer is obvious: nothing right or sincere is found in human beings as long as they remain in their natural state. Now, Paul informs us that:

we are renewed in the image of God by the knowledge of him,
(Colossians 3:10).

It will be of importance for us now to bring into one view these three articles of faith:

1. That the kingdom of Christ brings life and salvation.
2. That all do not receive life from Him, and it is not the office of Christ to give life to all, but only to the elect whom the Father has committed to His protection.
3. That this life consists in faith, and Christ bestows it on those whom He enlightens in the faith of the Gospel.

Hence we infer that the gift of illumination and heavenly wisdom is not common to all, but peculiar to the elect. It is unquestionably true that the Gospel is offered to all, but Christ speaks here of that secret and efficacious manner of teaching by which the children of God only are drawn to faith.

The glory which I had with thee. He desires to be glorified with the Father, not that the Father may glorify him secretly, without any witnesses, but that, having been received into heaven, he may give a magnificent display of his greatness and power, that every knee may bow to him (Philippians 2:10). Consequently, that phrase in the former clause, with the Father, is contrasted with earthly and fading glory, as Paul describes the blessed immortality of Christ, by saying that

he died to sin once, but now he liveth to God (Romans 6:10).

The glory which I had with thee before the world was. He now declares that he desires nothing that does not strictly belong to him, but only that he may appear in the flesh, such as he was before the creation of the world; or, to speak more plainly, that the Divine majesty, which he had always possessed, may now be illustriously displayed in the person of the Mediator and in the human flesh with which he was clothed.

This is a remarkable passage, which teaches us that Christ is not a God who has been newly contrived or who has existed only for a time; for if his glory was eternal, he himself has also always been. Besides, a manifest distinction between the person of Christ and the person of the Father is here expressed, from which we infer that he is not only the eternal God but also that he is the eternal Word of God, begotten by the Father before all ages.