ONE IN HIS NAME

Jesus' departure from this world is the grounds for His prayer. He said, "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father" (John 17:11). The verbs, "I am" (ειμι), "they are" (εισιν), and "I come" (ερχομαι), are all in the present tense. Jesus prays as if His pending departure has already happened. He prays from the vantage point of heaven.

God's holiness in contrast with the world's unholiness is the grounds for guarding us. "Holy Father, keep them in Your name," Jesus prays. The vocative, "Holy Father" (πατερ αγιε) is important. Jesus' prayer request to the Father to guard His followers is in perfect harmony with God's holiness and because of the world's unholiness. We remain in this unholy world, so we need a Holy Father to keep us in His name. We can pray, "Hallowed be your name" (Mt. 6:9) only as the Holy Father keeps us in His name (Meyer, John, p. 466).

"Keep" (τηρησον) is an imperative of request. It carries the force of urgency and intensity without carrying the force of command (Dana and Mantey, Grammar, p. 176). The verb (τηρεω) means "to keep watch over, guard" or even "hold" and "preserve" someone (BAGD, p.814). Jude later addresses his letter to those who are "beloved in God the Father, and have been kept (perfect tense of τηρεω) for Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:1). Here is the answer to Jesus' request in John 17!

Jesus asks the Father to "keep them in Your name, which You have given Me" (John 17:11). The textual problem illustrates the dilemma for interpreters. Is Jesus talking about the disciples being given to Him - some manuscripts use the pronoun ους - or is He talking about the name being given to Him - other manuscripts read ω. The disciples are certainly given to Jesus (John 17:9), but the more difficult reading is preferred in this verse. The gift in this verse (and verse 12) is the name. The antecedent of "which" (ω) is "the name" (τω ονοματι). The Father gives the Son His name thereby indicating that God's essential nature is seen in the Son (Bernard, John, 2:559).

The purpose of keeping them in His name is unity - oneness - "that (ινα) they may be (ωσιν) one (εν) even as we are." We are one as the Father and Son are one (see John 10:30). Jesus extends His prayer for unity to all His followers including us in verse 21. The verb (ωσιν) is a present active subjunctive from ειμι. It is the verb of existence - to be not to become. Jesus does not pray that we become one. He prays that we continue to be one. The number one (εν) is neuter in gender suggesting an essential oneness - a unit. We exist as one just as the Father and Son exist as one (Morris, John, p. 727).

Our oneness is not organizational but organic, not ecumenical but spiritual. We are a unit in the name of Jesus. Jesus speaks of an ontological unity here. We do not create unity. We participate in a unity He created. All who genuinely name His name share His life, so we participate in His oneness no matter what human name we use to describe ourselves. We are kept in His name because we share in His nature. God will never fail to keep us one although we may fail to live as one.

SECURED BY HIS PRAYERS

Jesus asks the Father to protect us. Can we be any more secure than that?! Twice Jesus will use the term "keep" (τηρεω) in His prayer for us. He asks the Father to guard us in God's name (John 17:11), and He asks the Father to protect us from the Evil One (John 17:15). Jesus establishes the keeping work of the Father by the intercessory prayer of the Son making us eternally secure in God.

Jesus prays for us, not the world. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours (John 17:9). Jesus certainly loves the whole world. Why does He not pray for the whole world? Because He prays here as our High Priest seeking the protection of those He is leaving in this world. Such a prayer can only be prayed for believers, not the world.

Jesus uses the verb "ask" (ερωτω) twice in this verse. It is a present tense verb best understood as a progressive present indicating action in progress at the time (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.7). The verb (ερωτω) can mean either to ask a question or make a request on behalf of another (BAGD, pp. 311-312). Here Jesus is requesting the Father's help on our behalf. Jesus uses another verb (αιτεω) for the prayers of men but always uses ερωταω for His prayers because it implies equality with the Father (Morris, John, p. 549, fn 48).

The preposition περι with a genitive object usually means "about or concerning" (BAGD, p. 644). However, περι can be used, as it is here, as a substitute for υπερ meaning "on behalf of" (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p. 121). The second use of περι connects the relative pronoun "whom" (ων) with its antecedent "their" (αυτων) making both prayer requests for the same group - His followers (Robertson, Grammar, p. 721).

The Father has given (δεδωκας) us to Jesus. The perfect tense expresses past action with a current result (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p. 37). Even before the cross, the Father had already given the disciples to the Son. They were His even as they abandoned Him! We too, are His, the love gift of the Father to the Son, even though we don't always live as if are His.

We had belonged to the Father before the Father gave us (εδωκας) to the Son (John 17:6). The gift is not a handoff as we no longer belong to the Father because Jesus says to the Father "they are yours" now (σοι εισιν). The verb (εισιν) is a present progressive tense. "They continue to be yours, Father, even as they are mine," Jesus asserts (John 17:10).

Our eternal security is secured by the gift of the Father and the prayers of the Son so that we need never worry about our eternal destiny.

GIVEN FOR KEEPS

We are the Father's love gift to His Son.  Jesus says of the disciples - we are included by extension - that the Father gave (εδωκας) them to Jesus out of (εκ) the world (John 17:6). The disciples were separated out of the unbelieving world to be the Father's love gift to Jesus (Meyer, John, p. 463).

Jesus goes on to say, "they were yours" (σοι ησαν) and "to me" (καμοι) "them" (αυτους) "you gave" (εδωκας). The disciples were the Father's possession first. They belonged to the Father before they belonged to the Son. The word translated "yours" (σοι) is a possessive use of the dative case (Moule, Idiom Book, p. 120).

Jesus had said earlier that those who do not hear God's words are not from God (John 8:47). God separated the disciples from those who do not hear His words so that they become God's possession. The Father chooses us for Himself and gives us to His Son so we are secure in His love! We are His before we even come to Christ.

"They have kept your word," Jesus says. The "word" is singular (λογον) because Jesus is not talking about specific words but His essential message as a whole. The disciples have failed to keep His words at times, just as we do, but they have kept His word, His essential message, and not left the faith. Jesus had said earlier, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word (singular, λογον); and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). We fail in specific areas, but we are secure in His sovereign love so we keep His essential message.

The disciples have kept (τετηρηκαν) His word. The verb is in the perfect tense. Robertson calls it a "durative - punctiliar" act (Grammar, p. 895) in that a process preceded a complete state. The disciples have lived through a process of keeping that has led to a culmination of that process in their current state. The verb "to keep" (τηρεω) means to hold or preserve. It can also mean to observe or obey (BAGD, pp. 814-815).

Spiritual testing leads the disciples to hold on to His word. Jesus makes this affirmation in advance of their abandonment at the cross the next day. Jesus is absolutely certain that the consummation of their testing will be the keeping of His word. How can Jesus be so certain about the end result given the obvious fickleness of their faith? Jesus can be certain because they are the Father's possession - a love gift to the son.

The fickleness of our faith never negates the faithfulness of His love! We are given for keeps!

MY GLORY!

Glory, His and His Father's, dominated the mind of the Savior on His last night on earth. Twice Jesus requests the Father to glorify Him as He faces death on the cross (John 17:1&5). The verb "glorify" (δοξασον) is the imperative of request (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p. 80) stressing the seriousness, even demand, of His petition to the Father. Prayer can be demand when Father and Son are one!

The second request (17:5) is different than the first in two ways. Jesus said, "glorify me" (v.5) rather than "glorify the Son" (v.1) stressing the personal relationship rather than His role as Savior. Jesus focused on His past glory (v.5) versus His future purpose to glorify the Father (v.1).

And you, Father, glorify me now, alongside yourself, with the glory which I used to have alongside you before the world was.

"I want back what I gave up," Jesus cries out. He wants to be glorified "with the glory" (τη δοξη), an instrumental use of the dative case (Moule, Idiom Book, p. 44). The glory is the instrument for glorification. "Glory" means magnificence, radiance or splendor (BAGD p. 204). He is asking to be honored with the magnificence or splendor He once had with the Father.

"I want back what I had with you," Jesus pleads. "The splendor I had alongside yourself" (παρα σεαυτω) is the glory Jesus seeks. The preposition (παρα) with the dative (σεαυτω) means "by the side of, beside or near" (BAGD, p. 610). This is the glory Jesus experienced alongside the Father on the throne of Heaven in eternity past.

"I want back what I used to have," Jesus demands. The verb (ειχον) is in the imperfect tense. It is best understood as a customary imperfect indicating repeated, ongoing action in the past (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p. 12). Jesus possessed the majestic radiance of Almighty God in His pre-incarnate life. Now He looks forward to a return to that state of splendor He once enjoyed.

"I want back what I once enjoyed before creation," Jesus requests. The present articular infinitive (του ειναι) is a temporal use indicating the time of the glory that He seeks again (Robertson, Grammar, p. 978). The prepositional phrase "before the world" (προ τον κοσμον) further defines the time. The preposition (προ) combined with the articular infinitive (του ειναι)  often substitutes for another preposition (πριν) meaning "before" (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1074). He wants His glory from before the cosmos existed when the angels worshiped Him in all His splendor.

Jesus gave it all up to save us, but He got it all back when His cross work was completed. Paul gives us a divine commentary on the prayer of Jesus in Philippians 2:5-11 which was likely an early confessional hymn. Jesus laid aside His glory and humbled Himself to die on the cross. God, then, exalted Jesus giving Him a name above all names so that at the name of Jesus every knee will one day bow and every tongue will one day confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The circle of John 17:1 and 17:5 is complete in that glorious day.

Lord, be glorified in me today!