Jesus uses the verb "to give" (διδωμι) 3 times with respect to 3 distinct groups of people in the opening words of His great prayer (John 17:2). The order of the groups is significant despite the fact that some English translations reverse the order of the final 2 groups. Each group is a subset of the previous group in the sequence (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p. 77).
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, since you gave to Him authority over all flesh, in order that the ones you have given to Him, He may give to them eternal life.
The first group is "all flesh" (πασης σαρκος). The Father gave (εδωκας) to Jesus authority over all flesh. The genitive is best understood as an objective genitive so "all flesh" is the object of authority (Robertson, Grammar, p. 500). The noun "flesh" (σαρκος) is used to stress the weakness of humanity. All (πασης) humans in fleshly weakness are given to the Son to be under His authority.
The second group of people is the Father's gift to the Son.This group is a subset of all flesh. "You have given" (δεδωκας) them to Me, Jesus prays. The verb is from the same root (διδωμι), but it is a perfect active indicative. The Father gave these people to the Son in the past with ongoing results. The disciples were already given to the Son by the Father. The group is identified by the neuter, singular construction "the ones whom" (παν ο). The neuter singular construction is used for a group of people characterized by some defining quality (Turner, Grammar, 3:21). The quality that defines this group is that they are a gift from the Father to the Son.
The same construction is used by Jesus in John 6:37 where He says: All that (πας ο) the Father gives (διδωσιν) Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. Everyone given by the Father will come to the Son. It is sufficient for anyone coming to Christ that they be given by the Father.
The Son gives (δωση) eternal life to the ones (αυτοις) who have been given to Him by the Father. The pronoun (αυτοις) views the collective group (πας ο) individually. Jesus gives eternal life individually to each one who has been given to Him as part of the collective group. Eternal life is our personal gift from Jesus.
Jesus' words are, perhaps, the strongest statement about sovereign election in Scripture. There is no way to escape the grammatical argument of the passage. All who have been given at some time in the past to the Son receive the gift of eternal life from the Son.
Thank you, Jesus, that I am doubly gifted! I am the Father's gift to you, as incomprehensible as that may be, and I receive your gift of eternal life with joy. Secure forever as the Father's gift to you, I appreciate with joy your gift to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment