The big picture
After preparing his followers for grief and danger, Jesus turns to prayer. Jesus is their teacher, who has spoken of returning to God his Father. His prayer gathers together the work he has done, the people he is leaving, and those who will later believe. He asks for protection without removal from the world. He also asks for a shared life shaped by his union with the Father. The coming separation does not end his care for them.
In this chapter
- The Son Asks for Glory John 17:1-5
Looking toward heaven, Jesus tells the Father that the appointed hour has arrived.
- Keep Those Given to Me John 17:6-12
Jesus says he has made the Father known to the followers entrusted to him.
- Set Apart Within the World John 17:13-19
Jesus speaks this prayer where his followers can hear, so his joy will fill them.
- A Prayer for Future Believers John 17:20-26
The prayer now reaches people who will believe through the followers' words.
Central truth
Praying to the Father, Jesus asks him to keep his followers in truth, love, and unity, including those who will believe through their witness.
Scripture beside the summary
John · King James Version · 26John 17:1-5
The Son Asks for Glory
Looking toward heaven, Jesus tells the Father that the appointed hour has arrived. He asks for the Son's glory so that the Son will honour the Father. The Father has granted him authority over all people, with eternal life for those given to him. Jesus describes that life as knowing the true God and the one he sent, Jesus Christ. He has honoured the Father by completing his assigned work on earth. Now he asks to share again the glory he had with the Father before the world existed.
In everyday life
An orchestra leader returns and lays the finished score before the composer who entrusted it to her. The completed work honours its source as well as the person who brought it to the stage. She asks to take her place beside him at the performance. Jesus' shared glory with the Father reaches before the world's existence.
Notice
John 17:3 Eternal life is described through knowing God and Jesus Christ. The promise concerns a relationship, not merely an endless extension of ordinary human years.
John 17:1-5
King James Version1These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:6-12
Keep Those Given to Me
Jesus says he has made the Father known to the followers entrusted to him. They have received his words and believed that the Father sent him. His prayer now concerns these people, who belong to both Father and Son. He is returning to the Father while they remain in the world. He asks the holy Father to keep them in his name and unite them. Jesus has guarded them during his presence. The exception is the betrayer, described as headed for destruction, whose loss fulfils Scripture.
In everyday life
A placement coordinator walks through a shared house with the permanent carers before ending her placement there. She names each young adult, explains the bonds already formed, and asks that the group stay connected through the change. Her departure brings their continuing care into sharper focus. Jesus entrusts his followers to the Father's own name and power.
Notice
John 17:11 The request for unity comes within the request for protection. Jesus asks for a shared life patterned on the oneness he has with the Father.
John 17:6-12
King James Version6I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
John 17:13-19
Set Apart Within the World
Jesus speaks this prayer where his followers can hear, so his joy will fill them. They have received the Father's word, and the world hates them for no longer sharing its loyalties. Jesus does not ask for their removal from that world. He asks that they be kept from evil. The Father's truth is to set them apart for his work. As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sends them. He dedicates himself for their sake, so that they too will be set apart through truth.
In everyday life
A wildlife rehabilitator opens a release pen while a colleague watches the tagged birds. Their care has prepared the birds for life outside, not for permanent shelter in the enclosure. The colleague keeps the tracking equipment ready as they leave. Protection now serves a life that reaches beyond the pen. Jesus sends people with God's truth, not animals into habitat.
Notice
John 17:15 Protection does not mean removal from the world. The prayer holds safety from evil together with a task that still takes the followers into danger.
John 17:13-19
King James Version13And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
John 17:20-26
A Prayer for Future Believers
The prayer now reaches people who will believe through the followers' words. Jesus asks that all share a unity rooted in Father and Son. Their oneness will bear witness that the Father sent him and loves them. He has shared the glory given to him so they can be brought into complete unity. He wants them with him, seeing the glory grounded in the Father's love before creation. Though the world has not known the Father, Jesus has. He will keep making the Father known so that divine love and his own presence remain in them.
In everyday life
A choir founder writes a welcome for singers who will join after her departure. She asks the present members to teach them the same songs and make room among the old voices. Their shared sound will carry a purpose none of them owns alone. Jesus prays for unity within God's own love, not merely agreement in performance.
Notice
John 17:20 Future believers enter the prayer through the current followers' witness. Jesus' concern extends beyond the people physically present without leaving that first testimony behind.
John 17:20-26
King James Version20Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
John 17:1 begins with “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:”
Where the chapter turns
John 17:7 forms a natural hinge: “Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.”
The final note
John 17:26 leaves the reader with “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words world, Father, gavest, known, name, pray help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- perdition
- Ruin or destruction, here describing the betrayer's end.
- Sanctify
- Set apart for God and his holy purpose.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
