We face a world system (κοσμος) filled with evil. Often - too often - we wish to escape the evil in this world system, but that is not God's will for us during this age. Jesus intends that we stay in the world so long as the world is not in us. Jesus prays, "I am not asking that you (Father) remove them from the world but that you might keep them from the evil (one)" (John 17:15).
Is it evil or the evil one? The articular adjective in the genitive case (του πονηρου) can be taken as either neuter or masculine in gender. Some take it as neuter indicating generic evil that rules this world system (Godet, John, p.896). The prayer is that we would be kept out of an evil domain. Others understand the adjective as masculine referring to the Evil One - the Devil (Meyer, John, p.467). We are not to be kept out of the evil domain but from the power of the Evil One even as we remain in his domain. This interpretation fits the context better.
We hear an echo from the Lord's Prayer (Mt. 6:13) where Jesus taught us to pray, "deliver us from the Evil One." The verb "deliver" (ρυσαι) is different, and the preposition "from" (απο) is different, but the sentiment is parallel. The distinction between prepositions is not significant in this case, and the better contextual interpretation is that Jesus is talking about the Evil One not evil generically in the Lord's Prayer (Bernard, John, 2:573).
The preposition "from" (εκ) frequently used in John 17 indicates separation from what once had power over us (Robertson, Grammar, p.598). The phrases "from the world" (εκ του κοσμου) and "from the Evil One" (εκ του πονηρου) are parallel in John 17:15. Jesus says that we are not removed (αρης) from the world, but we are separated from the Evil One who controls and dominates the world. John will later write that we have overcome the Evil One (1 John 2:14) who controls the world. "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in (the power of) the Evil One" (εν τω πονηρω, 1 John 5:19).
Jesus prays that the Father might keep (τηρησης) us from the Evil One. The verb can mean to keep as in "not lose" but is probably better understood as to keep as in "protect" (BAGD, p.815). The expression is only found in one other place in the New Testament - Revelation 3:10 (Bernard, John, 2:573). We are kept from "the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole world," John writes in the Apocalypse. Once again the preposition "from" (εκ) is not an expression of motion signifying that we are kept through a period of time. The preposition indicates an absolute keeping - a separation - from the hour of testing coming upon this world. In the same way, we are separated from the power of the Evil One by His protection. The Devil has no power over us!
Jesus asks the Father to protect us from the power of Satan even as He leaves us in the domain of Satan. If Jesus asks the Father for our protection, surely the Father agrees, so we are secure in His keeping that separates us from the power of the Evil One. All who are His are kept by His power!
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