And I do not demand for these only, but also for those who believe on me through their word;
The Lord has been praying for the eleven men in the room with Him. At this verse His prayer widens to take in everyone who would later believe through their word.
Commentators read this verse as a fresh start inside the prayer.
Verse 20 is really the start of a new paragraph. Here the Lord Jesus clearly extends His request from the eleven men before Him to all those down the ages who would believe on Him. What a mercy of God that these words occur in this prayer. We are certainly among those who later believed on Him through the words of these disciples. So — wonder of wonders — you and I clearly find a place in these words from the Son to the Father.
What follows this widening is not vague. One writer traces the shape of the rest of the prayer:
Now the Lord looks down the coming ages and embraces in His prayer all those who would believe in Him through the word of the Apostles. This leads the Lord to unfold in our hearing three further desires of His heart: firstly, that all believers may be "one in us" (v. 21); secondly, that they "may be one" in the coming Kingdom glory (vv. 22-23); thirdly, that they may be with Christ where He is (v. 24).
The Greek verb behind the Lord's request here is worth pausing on, because He never swaps it for the more ordinary word for petitioning.
Erotao, on the other hand, carries with it a certain equality or familiarity between those of whom it is used, as of king with king (Luke 14:32). The Lord uses this word of His own asking of the Father (John 14:16; John 16:26; John 17:9, 15, 20) — never aiteo. Martha uses this last word of Him (John 11:22), and so shows that she does not grasp the dignity of His Person. He never uses it of Himself.
The phrase "not for these only" reaches back over everything He has already asked.
The Lord's words, "I do not ask for these only," show that the desires He has already expressed apply just as much to all believers. And the last requests, by their very nature, must include the disciples.
Faith reaches us through a channel, and that channel now exists in writing.
When we come to John 17:20 we find this blessed Person praying for us in particular. Verses 6-19 were spoken of those who were with Him at that time. Now He adds, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." The testimony the Apostles gave has come down to us in the written word. In accepting it, we have believed in the Son of God through their word.
This request leaves the door open. One writer lists who comes through it:
Those believing on Him through their word are now presented to the Father, "that they may all be one." So room is left for multitudes of believers, for all who confess His Name — Jew or Greek, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. There is room for those who had until then clung tightly to legal forms, whose substance they refused because they would not believe in Him. There is room for those who had been almost as stubborn in holding to the dreams of the pagan world and its degrading immorality, knowing nothing of the only true God, who is truly known through Him whom He sent.
His prayer looked past the work itself to the people it would win.
He prayed, not just that apostolic labour might be successful. There was no doubt about that. He prayed for those who should believe on Him through their word. So now each truly converted soul can say, "He prayed for me." All such were included in His prayer that night. Who can count the numbers that have been saved? Who can say how many more will be brought into the one flock, before Christian testimony reaches its appointed end?
What He asks for this wider company differs from what He asked for the eleven.
This is not exactly "one as we," that is, as the Father and the Son, which verse 11 had said of the disciples… Here the saints at large are in view, those who believe through their word. What is asked for them is that they should "all be one" — not "as we," but "in us," in the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit brings us into this communion. It rests on the Father made known in the Son, and on the Son as the object of the Father's love and delight. With the Father we share the Son; with the Son we share the Father.
- The cause. Faith comes to us through the apostles' word, now written down. Accepting it is how we came to believe in the Son of God.
- The gift. Because He asked, everything He sought earlier in the prayer belongs to all believers, not only to the eleven in the room.
- The reach. His words leave room for multitudes: Jew and Greek, slave and free, and people who knew nothing of the only true God.
- The certainty. He was not praying only that the mission would succeed. He prayed for those who would believe, so every converted person can say, "He prayed for me."
- The result. What He asks for them is not "one as we," but "one in us." The Holy Spirit brings them into the communion of the Father and the Son.
that they may be all one, as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Jesus prays here not only for the disciples with Him, but for everyone who would ever believe through their message. He asks one thing for them all: oneness. But what is this oneness? And how could it move the world to believe?
The Lord names the channel by which later believers would come to Him: the word of the apostles. One writer traces that channel down to the present reader.
When we come to John 17:20 we find this blessed Person praying especially for us. In verses 6-19 He spoke of those who were with Him at that time. Now He adds, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." The testimony the apostles gave has come down to us in the written word. In accepting it, we have believed in the Son of God through their word.
Earlier in the chapter the Lord asked that the apostles be one "even as we are." Here the wording shifts.
It is not exactly "one as we," that is, as the Father and the Son, which verse 11 had said of the disciples... Here the saints at large, those who believe through their word, are in view; and the thing sought is that they should "all be one," "just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us" — not "as we," but "in us," in the Father and the Son. It is communion that rests on the Father made known in the Son, and on the Son as the object of the Father's love and delight. The Holy Spirit brings us into it. With the Father we share the Son; with the Son we share the Father.
What does this oneness look like? The Father and the Son show it.
Oneness in real fellowship of communion was His desire, and the burden of His petition. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father; so there must be full communion between Them. The thoughts, the wishes, of the Father are the thoughts and wishes of the Son. No difference of view, no conflict of opinion, can possibly exist between Them. ... People once Jews, or Gentiles, or from far-off nations, or slaves, or free, all united in one fellowship, owning and serving the same Lord — what but divine power could do this? And if divine power could do it, what a testimony that would be to the divine mission of the Son!
The stated purpose — the world believing — sets a condition on the kind of unity meant.
Here, then, the special object for which the Lord desires this oneness is that it may be a testimony to the world. No invisible unity can be this. The world can receive no evidence except what it is shown. Unless the oneness of believers is something the world can see, the testimony spoken of here is not given.
How far does that testimony reach?
It is a unity of practical life, oneness of heart and mind, such as exists between the Father and the Son... It is not, of course, that the world as a whole will believe, but it has at all times worked on people of the world... "one in Us" shows it to be a life of fellowship with the Father and the Son.
Religious effort often aims at sameness instead.
The oneness of which our blessed Lord spoke to the Father, recorded in John 17:21, is that all His own might know in present communion oneness in the Father and the Son. In contrast to this, Scripture shows again and again how completely religious-minded people fail when they try to produce uniformity... It is the living communion of persons and not the harsh uniformity of mere religion.
Believers today are divided. That is not the end of the story.
The prayer of our Lord, "that they may all be one" (John 17:21), will yet be answered in glory. Thinking about this with joy would do much to give us a longing of heart now, by God's Spirit, for the unity of God's people. It would also make us long that nothing in our spirit and ways should add to the confusion and weakness of the present.
- Prayed — Jesus prays past the disciples with Him to everyone who believes through their message. That message reaches us in the written word.
- Patterned — the model is the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father: one mind, one wish, no conflict of view.
- Shared — the prayer is not "as we" but "in us": believers drawn into the communion of the Father and the Son.
- Shown — the aim is that the world may believe, so the oneness must be visible. An unseen unity gives no testimony.
- Still coming — God will yet answer this prayer in full. Knowing that should make us long for unity now, not add to the confusion.
And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one;
Just before the cross, Jesus tells the Father that He has already handed on to His own the glory the Father gave Him — and He names its purpose: oneness. That raises two questions: which glory can a person receive, and what oneness does the gift bring?
So which glory is this? One writer begins by ruling out the glory that cannot be shared.
Now the Lord speaks of a glory the Father has given Him. This is not the glory He had with the Father before the world began, for that glory belongs to God alone. It cannot pass to man. But there is what the Father has given Him for His great work as Man — His willing humbling of Himself and His sacrifice. This He is glad to share with those He died for. He gives this glory to believers now, but it will only be seen when we are with Him.
How far does the shared glory reach? One writer connects it to everything Christ owns.
Everything we can share, He shares with us, and there is a "glory" He gives us to share. This connects with the inheritance. We can well understand that the whole vast universe is His by right as Creator. But since it became defiled, He has acquired it all by His death, by right of redemption. All that He has gained He shares with us, and in that way we share His glory.
The tense of the verb matters. He does not promise; He reports.
He has given His disciples, ourselves among them, the glory the Father gave Him. Time does not enter into the fellowship of the Divine Persons, so He does not say, "I will give," but, "I have given." When we look at things from the standpoint of God's counsel and purpose, we find other statements just as absolute — Romans 8:30 and Ephesians 2:6, for instance. It is a wonderful fact that the glory the Father gave Him as Man is now ours by His gift, and it can never be taken back.
The verse does not just ask for unity. It also gives the pattern.
The Lord can say, "The glory that You have given Me I have given to them." The glory given to Christ as Man, He secures for His own and shares with them. This glory He has given to His own that they may be one. This unity is so perfect that nothing less than the unity of the Father and the Son can be its pattern.
The prayer speaks of more than one glory, and of more than one unity.
In our Lord's wonderful prayer in John 17 we read of three glories. There is a glory He had with the Father before the world was, v. 5. There is a glory given to Him which He shares with His own, v. 22. And there is a glory which cannot be shared, but which His own will see, v. 24. There are also three unities in this prayer of our Lord: unity in witness, v. 11; unity in fellowship, v. 21; unity in glory, v. 22.
What will the world make of this glory? One writer looks ahead to a day of display.
When the Son was down here, the Father was in the Son, and all that the Father said and did was through the Son. But the world refused this testimony. So it is no surprise that the world refuses our testimony today. In the display of the coming day, the Father will be seen in the Son, and the Son will be seen in the saints. The purpose of this is, "That the world may know that You have sent Me." What the world refused in testimony, it will have to accept in the display of that day.
Commentators differ over where the weight falls. Some read the verse as future display, like the writer above. Others press it on the church today.
So the special glory given to believers — indeed the very glory given to Christ Himself — is tied, as far as outward display goes, to the visible unity of His disciples. How it grieves His spirit, then, and how it dishonours His name, that those He trusted with this great charge are now divided!
- Withheld. The glory that belongs to God alone was His before the world began. It cannot pass to us — we will see it, not wear it.
- Given. What He received as Man, through humbling Himself and dying, He shares with those He died for — including all He won back by His death.
- Already. He says "I have given," not "I will give" — the gift is settled and can never be taken back, though its display waits.
- One. The purpose of the gift is oneness, and nothing less than the oneness of the Father and the Son is its pattern.
- Known. The world refused His testimony. One day it will see the Father in the Son and the Son in the saints — and it will know.
I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one [and] that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and [that] thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.
Jesus is praying aloud to His Father on the last night before the cross. He asks for a oneness among His people so complete that the world will one day know two things: that the Father sent Him, and that the Father loves His people just as He loves His Son.
This verse is not repeating what came before it. Writers on this chapter count three separate unities in the prayer. This one stands apart: it belongs to the day when the world sees believers in glory.
This is not the simple, perfect oneness of verse 11, nor the two-way communion of verse 21. It is Christ in all believers, and the Father in Christ — a unity put on display in glory, not just an inward communion — a oneness in which everything is perfectly linked to its source. And Christ, whom alone they were to show, is in them; and the Father, whom Christ had perfectly shown, is in Him.
Much hangs on the word translated "perfectly one." Its Greek root decides the sense.
The Greek word teleioo (from teleios, 'perfect') means 'to make perfect, complete,' not just to bring to an end. See John 17:23; Heb. 2:10; Heb. 5:9; Heb. 10:1; Heb. 11:40; James 2:22.
That raises an honest question about the divisions among Christians today. One writer names the cause, and then says how much it will take before this unity appears.
What has spoiled the unity, and scattered and divided God's people on earth? Is it not that we allow so much in our lives that is not of Christ? Yet even so, suppose every believer on earth expressed Christ alone at any given moment. That would still fall short of the unity the Lord speaks of in these closing verses. It will take nothing less than the whole company of God's people in glory to set out the full greatness of Christ.
Christ living in His people is a present fact, but the phrase points forward to something the eye will see.
If Christ is in us now the hope of glory, He will be in us then the display of glory. He will be glorified in His saints, and admired in all who believe. This is not mutual communion here, but display. The display comes through the fullness and excellence of the One shown living in the one who shows Him: the Father in Christ, and Christ in us.
Two verses earlier, the aim was that the world would believe. Here the word changes to "know."
So only then will they be "perfected into one," and only then will the world "know" that the Father sent the Son. For how else could people who were once sinners stand in heavenly glory, except by the Son He sent to save them? And how else could the world learn that the Father loved them even as He loved the Son, except by seeing them shown with Him in glory? Today the question is whether the world will "believe." In that day the world will "know," because it will see the glory in which Christ and the church shine together.
That same sight overturns the world's old verdict on Christ and on His people.
When the world sees Christ displayed in glory in His people, they will know that the One they despised and hated really was the One the Father sent. They will also realise that the Father loves the people of Christ, whom they threw out and persecuted, with the same love He has for Christ.
The world's discovery is future. The believer's is not; the last clause is something faith can rest in today.
Yes, the Lord Jesus wants the world to know our wonderful link with Him. It reaches even into the deepest thing of all — His place in the Father's love. We do not wait till then to know it. We know it now, "to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." (Eph. 1:6)
That love has a stated measure.
We are told that the Father loves us as He has loved Jesus… The Father's love for the Son is infinite, eternal and unchanging. That love is the measure of His love for us, His children.
- Distinct — this is a third kind of oneness, unlike verse 11 and verse 21: a unity the world will see when believers appear in glory.
- Indwelt — "I in them and you in me" is the order of display: the Father shown in Christ, Christ shown in us.
- Perfected — the word means completed, not just stopped. Everything in us that is not Christ spoils the unity now; in glory it will be whole.
- Known — today Christ asks the world to believe. On that day it will know, because it will see the glory.
- Loved — the Father's love for His Son is the measure of His love for His children. We can enjoy it now, long before the world sees it.