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!