Bible Studies

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We continue this verse-by-verse study of John chapters 13-17 here in Part 8, starting with John 17:6.

(6) I have manifested ["revealed/made known"] Your name [[The NIV translates, "I have revealed you." Compare John 1:18; Psalm 22:22 with Heb. 2:12. For Christ to reveal/make known the name of God the Father was for Him to reveal/make known the Father. God's name (taken in a full sense) includes who He is, what He is like, what He has done, and what He will do, especially dealing with His glorious plan of salvation and His judgment and removal of those who will not repent. God's name includes all that He has revealed about Himself, including His being Creator, Savior, and Judge. In verse 26 Jesus says, "I have made Your name known to them and will make it known...." Also see verses 8, 11, 12, 14.

We could not know God (cf., e.g., John 17:3; 1 John 5:20) if He had not revealed/made Himself known to us. Furthermore, we could not know Him in the full sense spoken of in John 17:3 without the work of the Holy Spirit. For one thing, the Spirit enables us to know God on an experiential level (person to Person) from the time we are born again by the Spirit. We will, of course, know God on a much deeper level after we are glorified (cf. 1 Cor. 13:9-12; 1 John 3:2; and Rev. 22:3-5).

The last words of this verse are, "and they have kept Your word." One primary way that Jesus revealed/made known the Father's name was by revealing/making known the Father's word (cf. John 3:34; 7:16; 12:49, 50; and 14:10, 24). Note that Jesus goes on in verse 8 to speak of the words the Father gave Him, which He had given to the disciples, who had received them, and that He mentions in verse 14 that He had given the Father's word to them. Jesus also revealed/made known the Father through being who He was and doing the things He did.]] to the men whom You gave Me out of the world [[Here "the men" seem to be limited to the apostles (those He was with at the Last Supper), but much that He says here and in the following verses would apply to all those who were faithful disciples at that time. Taken in the fullest sense, the people that the Father has given to the Son include all the elect, all whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, all who will have a place in God's new heaven and new earth with its new Jerusalem (cf., e.g., John 17:2, 20-24; Rev. 21:27).]]; they were Yours [[For one thing, at least most of the eleven apostles had been true believers (people of God) under the old covenant; some of them had been disciples of John the Baptist (see John 1:35-51 [These verses are discussed in my paper on John 1:19-4:54, which is on this Christian article site.]).]] and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word [cf. John 8:51; 17:8]. (7) Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me ["Everything You have given Me" includes the word(s) the Father had given Christ Jesus (cf. 17:6, 8). Most of the Jews rejected Christ; they didn't believe that He had been sent by God (the Father).] is from You [cf. John 16:13-15; 17:10]; (8) for the words which You gave Me I have given to them [cf. John 12:47-50; 15:15; 17:6, 14]; and they received them [They received them (in faith), as being the words of God.] and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me [cf. John 16:27, 30]. (9) 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 [See under "to the men whom You gave Me out of the world" of verse 6. Christians live in the world, but they are not part of the kingdom of the world; they belong to the kingdom of God (cf. John 17:14-16; Phil. 3:20).]; (10) and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine [cf. John 16:15]; and I have been glorified in them. [The disciples had glorified Jesus by accepting Him and the words that He spoke, as being from God the Father.] (11) I am no longer in the world [Jesus was no longer in the world (no longer living in the world) from the time of His crucifixion. As we have discussed, Jesus didn't actually go back to the Father until His ascension, forty days after His resurrection.]; and yet they themselves are in the world [cf., e.g., John 15:18-16:4; 17:15], and I come to You [cf. John 13:1, 33; 14:2, 3, 28; 16:16, 17, 28; and 17:13, 24.]. Holy Father [[The word Holy is significant here. The holiness (set-apartness) of Christians results from their being set apart by God and for God, who is holy/set apart (cf., e.g., 1 Pet. 1:15, 16). They are set apart from everything that is unholy/sinful/unclean. The holiness/set-apartness of Christians in Christ Jesus (and of Christ Jesus Himself [cf. John 17:19]) is a dominant theme that permeates John 17:6-26. ((I had a footnote: I'll quote a paragraph from what D. A. Carson says here ("Gospel According to John" [Eerdmans, 1991], page 561). "Jesus' petitions for his disciples are prefaced by 'Holy Father'.... ... Not only does it preserve a view of God that combines awesome transcendence with familial intimacy...but, more importantly, it prepares the way for vv. 17-19 and the 'sanctification' or 'consecration' (the underlying Greek term means 'to make holy'...) of Jesus and of his disciples. The thought...is that the holiness of the Father establishes what it means for the Son and his followers to 'consecrate' themselves - the Johannine equivalent of 'I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy' (Lev. 11:44; cf. 1 Pet. 1:16; Matt. 5:48; Barrett, p. 507). The root of Jesus' 'holiness' and ours is tied up in our respective relationships with the holy Father." As Leviticus chapter 19, for example, shows, a big part of what it meant for God to say to His (old covenant) people, "You shall be holy [or, better, "Be holy"], for I the LORD [Yahweh] your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2) was that His people must submit to Him and His word and walk in line with His word, in righteousness and holiness - this was a great privilege, not a burden.))]], keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me [The Father gave His name to Jesus to reveal/make known to His disciples, even as He gave His word(s) to Him (cf. John 17:6, 8, 12, and 14).], that they may be one even as We are. [[In John 17:6 Jesus said that He manifested/revealed/made known the Father's name to the men the Father had given Him out of the world, and that they had kept the Father's word. See under 17:6-8. For the Father to keep Christians in His name is for Him to keep them set apart for Himself and faithful to Him and to His name/word(s). Christians cannot be one with God the Father, with God the Son, or with one another (cf. John 17:21-23; 13:34; 15:12, 17) unless they are faithful to God and His name/word(s), which includes believing His word(s) and living in line with His word(s) by His enabling grace through faith. In verse 12 Jesus goes on to say that He kept them faithful to the Father's name while He was with them. He had kept them faithful, but it is very clear that they very much needed to become recipients of new-covenant salvation, which includes the life-giving, sanctifying (making holy), strengthening, new-covenant work of the Spirit.

For Christians to be one with one another through being one with the Father and the Son by the Spirit (cf., e.g., John 14:21, 23; Gal. 3:28) even as the Father and Son are one is for them to be united in the highest possible sense. ((I had a footnote: It is important to see that Jesus was speaking here of a oneness/unity He had with God the Father at a time after He had become a man (the God-man). After He became a man (the God-man), we could identify with Him. We become united with Him through new-covenant salvation. We die (we die to sin, the old man, and to Satan) and we are buried with Him (cf. Rom. 6:2-4; Col. 2:12); we are raised with Him when we are born again (cf. Rom. 6:4-8; Eph. 2:5, 6; and Col. 2:12, 13); and we will be glorified with Him (cf. Rom. 8:17, 18, 29, 30). Essentially everything we receive in new-covenant salvation is something that the Lord Jesus Christ shares with us, including His relationship with the Father and holiness/sanctification. See John 17:19 ("For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth"); 1 Cor. 1:30, "... Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification [holiness], and redemption.")) Jesus goes on to speak of this spectacular, supernatural oneness/unity in verses 20-23, 26. In verses 15-19 He goes on to request the Father to keep His disciples from the evil one and all evil/sin and to sanctify them in the truth/in His word.

I'll quote part of a paragraph that D. A. Carson has under this verse ("Gospel According to John," pages 562, 563). "...Jesus prays that God will keep his followers in firm fidelity [faithful] to the revelation Jesus himself has mediated to them. The purpose of such faithful allegiance, Jesus avers, is that they may be one as we are one. ... They cannot be one as Jesus and the Father are one unless they are kept in God's name, i.e. in loyal allegiance to his gracious self-disclosure in the person of his Son. A similar pattern prevails in vv. 17-19: persistence in the truth is a prerequisite to participation in Jesus' sanctification [holiness]. ...."]] (12) While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me [See John 17:6, 8, 11.]; and I guarded them and not one of them perished [cf. John 6:39; 18:9] but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. [[See John 6:64, 70, 71; 13:10, 11, 18, 19, 21-31. Judas Iscariot was the "son of perdition" spoken of here. I'll quote John 13:18, "I do not speak of all of you. [Jesus was speaking of the twelve apostles, excluding Judas.] I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME' [quoting from Psalm 41:9]."

Acts 1:15-26 speak of the betrayal of Judas, of the fact that his betrayal was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and of the need to choose a person to replace his ministry as one of the twelve apostles. I'll quote Acts 1:16-20 (the apostle Peter is speaking): "Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. (17) For he was counted among us [the twelve apostles] and received his share in this ministry. (18) (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. (19) And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood. [See Matt. 27:3-10 with Zech. 11:12, 13.]) (20) For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE, AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT' [Psalm 69:25]; and 'LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE' [Psalm 109:8]."

The words "son of perdition" are explained by the translation of the NIV, "the one doomed to destruction." The same Greek words are used of Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2:3.]] (13) But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. [["These things" probably include all that Jesus said to His apostles that last evening before His crucifixion. Compare John 15:11 (see under that verse); 16:22, 24. The apostles (and all Christians) will have the same joy that Christ had (through their union with Him by the indwelling Holy Spirit), abiding in the Father's love, if they, like Him, know the truth and walk in the truth, always living in the center of the will of God, which includes doing the things He calls and enables them to do and appropriating all the grace and blessings He makes available to them.]] (14) I have given them Your word [The disciples had submitted to God's word and kept His word (cf. John 17:6, 8, 12, 14).]; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world [cf. John 8:23; 17:16]. (15) I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. [[The KJV has, "from the evil

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