Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 17:6-11

"I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received [them], and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them. 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 17:6-11 (ASV)

1. Above, our Lord prayed for Himself; here He prays for the company of His apostles.

   First, He states His reasons for praying. Second, He states what He is praying for: holy Father, keep them in your name, whom you have given me.

   Regarding the first part, He does two things: first, He mentions the reasons for praying that were founded on His disciples; second, the reasons founded on Himself: I pray for them; I do not pray for the world.

   From the perspective of His disciples, He mentions three reasons for praying for them: first, because they were taught by Him; second, because they had been given to Him; and third, because of their obedience and devotion.

2. He mentions the first reason when He says, I have manifested your name. We could add here, according to Augustine, that this relates to the prayer, that the Son may glorify you. The Father has already received some of this glory because, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world.

   Chrysostom reads it this way: I say that I have finished the work you gave me to do. He explains what this work was by adding, I have manifested your name to the men. This is the characteristic work of the Son of God, who is the Word, and the characteristic of a word is to reveal the one speaking it: no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matthew 11:27); no one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known (John 1:18).

3. This presents a problem: since God the Father was known to people before Christ came—in Judah God is known (Psalms 76:1)—why does Christ say, I have manifested your name?

   I answer that the name of God the Father can be known in three ways.

   1. As the Creator of all things. In this way, the Gentiles knew Him: His invisible nature... has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made (Romans 1:20); God has shown it to them (Romans 1:19).

   2. As the only one to whom the veneration of latria is to be given. He was not known to the Gentiles in this way, for they gave the veneration of latria to other gods. He was known in this way only to the Jews, for they alone had been commanded in their law to sacrifice only to the Lord: whoever sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD alone, will be utterly destroyed (Exodus 22:20).

   3. As the Father of an only Son, Jesus Christ. He was not known to anyone in this way but became known through His Son when the apostles believed that Christ was the Son of God.

4. He gives the second reason He prays for them when He says, whom you have given me. First, He mentions that they were given to Him, from which we can see the reason or way they were given.

   He says, whom you have given me, that is, it is to these that I have manifested your name.

   But did Christ possess them as the Father possessed them? Yes, He did, insofar as He was God. But He says, whom you have given me, meaning, to Me as man, to listen to Me and obey Me: no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44). Those who come to Christ do so through the gift and grace of God: for by grace you have been saved... it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). You gave them to me out of the world, that is, they were chosen from the world: I have chosen you out of the world (John 15:19). For even though the entire world was given to the Son insofar as He was God, the apostles were given to the Son to obey.

   He mentions the reason for this giving when He says, yours they were. This is like saying: the reason they were given is that yours they were, and mine, and predestined from eternity to attain by grace a future glory: he chose us in him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). And you gave them to me, that is, by making them adhere to Me, you brought to pass what was previously predestined for them with Me and in Me.

5. The third reason for praying for the disciples, based on their devotion, is mentioned when He says, they have kept your word.

   First, He mentions their devotion to the Son. Second, He shows that this devotion gives glory to the Father: they know that all things which you have given to me are from you. Third, we see the reason this gives glory to the Father: because the words which you gave me, I have given to them.

6. Regarding the first point: He had said that you gave them to me, because yours they were. And they were devoted because they have kept your word, in their hearts by faith, and in their actions by fulfilling Your words: keep my commandments and live (Proverbs 7:2); if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love (John 15:10).

7. Father, the fact that they kept Your word in this way gives You glory. For this is my word: everything I have, I have from You. Now they know that all things which you have given me, that is, to Your Son in His human nature, are from you. As it is written, we saw his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father (John 1:14), which is to say, we saw Him as having everything from the Father. And because they know this, the Father receives glory in their minds.

8. The reason this gives glory—that is, that this obedience of the disciples to the Son gives glory to the Father—is stated when He says, because the words which you gave me, I have given them.

   First, He states that knowledge comes from the Father to the disciples. Second, that the minds of the disciples are led back to the Father.

9. It is stated that knowledge is given in two ways. In the first way, the Father gives to the Son. Thus He says: the words which you gave me, in My eternal generation, in which the Father gave words to the Son, although the Son Himself is the Word of the Father. These words are nothing other than the patterns or plans of everything which is to be done. And all these patterns the Father from eternity gave to the Son in generating Him. Alternatively, it could be said that you gave me refers to the humanity of Christ, because from the very instant of His conception the most holy soul of Christ was filled with all knowledge of the truth, full of grace and truth (John 1:14), that is, with the knowledge of every truth: in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

   The other giving of knowledge is from Christ to His disciples, so He says, I have given them, by teaching them, both from without and from within: because all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:15). By saying this, He shows that He is the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), because what He received from the Father He passed on to the disciples: I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD (Deuteronomy 5:5).

10. He mentions that the minds of the disciples were led back to the Father when He says, and they have received them. Two kinds of receiving are mentioned, corresponding to the two kinds of giving previously stated. One kind of receiving corresponds to the second kind of giving, and regarding this He says, and they have received them, from Me, without resisting: the Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious (Isaiah 50:5); everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to me (John 6:45). And receiving them, they... have known that You have given Me all things, and this corresponds to the first kind of giving.

11. According to Augustine, the words that follow, and they have believed that you sent me, are added to explain the previous sentence. Knowledge of God is of two kinds: one is perfect, by the clear vision of glory; the other is imperfect, through faith. As the Apostle says, for now we see in a mirror dimly, in the second way, but then face to face, in the first way (1 Corinthians 13:12).

    He says, they... have known indeed that I came out from you. But what kind of knowledge was this? The knowledge of our homeland, heaven? No, it was the knowledge of faith. And so He adds, and they have believed, indicating that to know this is to believe it. They have believed, I say, indeed, that is, firmly and strongly: Do you now believe? (John 16:31). That is, firmly. The hour is coming when you will believe completely (John 16:32). He uses the past tense in place of the future tense because of His certainty about the future and because of the infallibility of divine predestination.

    Or, according to Chrysostom, He uses the past tense to indicate that these things have already happened, because they had already begun. We can harmonize both of these interpretations because all these things had already begun, but they still remained to be completed. Thus, in reference to what has already begun, He speaks in the past tense, but in reference to their completion, He speaks in the future, because they would be accomplished by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

12. But what did they believe? That you sent me: God sent his Son (Galatians 4:4). According to Augustine, this is the same as I came out from you.

    This does not agree with Hilary, for whom, as was said, to "come forth" refers to the eternal generation, and "to be sent" refers to the incarnation. But I say that we can speak of Christ in two ways. In one way, from the point of view of His divinity; and then, insofar as He is the Son of God, "to come forth" and "to be sent" are not the same, as Hilary says. Or, we can speak of Christ from the point of view of His humanity; and then, insofar as He is the Son of man, "to come forth" and "to be sent" are the same, as Augustine says.

13. Now we see the reasons, founded on Himself, why Christ prayed for His disciples. He mentions three reasons.

14. One is based on the authority He had received over them. In reference to this He says, I pray for them, that is, the disciples. First we see the reason; second, its explanation: because they are yours.

    The reason a person’s prayer should be heard and why he should pray for others is that they belong to him in a special way, for general prayers are less assured of being heard. Accordingly, He says, I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, especially as obedient disciples, although all things are mine, under My authority: ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage (Psalms 2:8).

15. On the contrary, it seems that He prayed for all: we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1); God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

    We should say to this that Christ did pray for all, because His prayer is powerful enough to benefit the entire world. Yet it does not produce its effect in all, but only in the elect and saints of God. This is because of the obstacles present in the worldly.

16. He gives a reason for why He prays for them when He says, because they are yours, that is, by eternal predestination. But they were not Yours in such a way that the Son could not have them; nor were they given to the Son in such a way that they were taken from the Father. Thus He says, all that is mine is yours, and yours is mine. This indicates the equality of the Son with the Father, for the Son, insofar as He is God, has from all eternity everything that the Father has.

17. Note that the Father has certain things that belong to His essence, like wisdom, goodness, and things of that kind; and these things are nothing other than His essence. The Son asserts that He Himself has this when, speaking of the procession of the Holy Spirit, He says: he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:14). This is because all that the Father has is mine (John 16:15). He says all, because while all these things are one in reality, we apprehend them with many ideas.

    Second, the Father has certain things that relate to those who possess holiness or sanctity, who are set apart for Him through faith, such as all the saints and the elect, of whom it was said, yours they were. All these things, too, the Son asserts that He has when He says here, speaking of them, and yours are mine, because they have been predestined to enjoy the Son as well as the Father.

    Third, the Father has some things in a general way because of their origin, for example, all created things: The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof (Psalms 24:1). All these too belong to the Son. Thus in the parable of the prodigal son, the father says to his older son: Son... all that is mine is yours (Luke 15:31).

18. The second reason why Christ prayed for His disciples is based on the glory He had in them, for they already knew something of His glory and would know it more fully: For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty (2 Peter 1:16).

19. The third reason He prays for them is His impending physical absence; so He says, And now I am no longer in the world. Note that one is said to be in the world in two senses. First, by clinging to the world by one’s affections: for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). This is not the sense in which Christ was no longer in the world, since He never clung to it with His affections. He is no longer in the world in another way, that is, by His physical presence, for while He had been in the world physically, He would soon physically leave it. But these, the disciples, are in the world, physically present. And I am coming to you, regarding My humanity, to share Your glory and to be seated at Your right hand. So it is fitting that I pray for those whom I will soon physically leave.