John 17:11

After the general pleas with which Christ recommended his disciples to his Father's care follow the particular petitions he puts up for them; and, 1. They all relate to spiritual blessings in heavenly things. He does not pray that they might be rich and great in the world, that they might raise estates and get preferments, but that they might be kept from sin, and furnished for their duty, and brought safely to heaven. Note, The prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity; for what relates to this Christ came to purchase and bestow, and so teaches us to seek, in the first place, both for others and for ourselves. 2. They are such blessings as were suited to their present state and case, and their various exigencies and occasions. Note, Christ's intercession is always pertinent. Our advocate with the Father is acquainted with all the particulars of our wants and burdens, our dangers and difficulties, and knows how to accommodate his intercession to each, as to Peter's peril, which he himself was not aware of (Luk 22:32), I have prayed for thee. 3. He is large and full in the petitions, orders them before his Father, and fills his mouth with arguments, to teach us fervency and importunity in prayer, to be large in prayer, and dwell upon our errands at the throne of grace, wrestling as Jacob, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Now the first thing Christ prays for, for his disciples, is their preservation, in these verses, in order to which he commits them all to his Father's custody. Keeping supposes danger, and their danger arose from the world, the world wherein they were, the evil of this he begs they might be kept from. Now observe,

I. The request itself: Keep them from the world. There were two ways of their being delivered from the world: -

1. By taking them out of it; and he does not pray that they might be so delivered: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world; that is,

(1.) "I pray not that they may be speedily removed by death." If the world will be vexatious to them, the readiest way to secure them would be to hasten them out of it to a better world, that will give them better treatment. Send chariots and horses of fire for them, to fetch them to heaven; Job, Elijah, Jonah, Moses, when that occurred which fretted them, prayed that they might be taken out of the world; but Christ would not pray so for his disciples, for two reasons: - [1.] Because he came to conquer, not to countenance, those intemperate heats and passions which make men impatient of life, and importunate for death. It is his will that we should take up our cross, and not outrun it. [2.] Because he had work for them to do in the world; the world, though sick of them (Act 22:22), and therefore not worthy of them (Heb 11:38), yet could ill spare them. In pity therefore to this dark world, Christ would not have these lights removed out of it, but continued in it, especially for the sake of those in the world that were to believe in him through their word. Let not them be taken out of the world when their Master is; they must each in his own order die a martyr, but not till they have finished their testimony. Note, First, The taking of good people out of the world is a thing by no means to be desired, but rather dreaded and laid to heart, Isa 57:1. Secondly, Though Christ loves his disciples, he does not presently send for them to heaven, as soon as they are effectually called, but leaves them for some time in this world, that they may do good and glorify God upon earth, and be ripened for heaven. Many good people are spared to live, because they can ill be spared to die.

(2.) "I pray not that they may be totally freed and exempted from the troubles of this world, and taken out of the toil and terror of it into some place of ease and safety, there to live undisturbed; this is not the preservation I desire for them." Non ut omni molestia liberati otium et delicias colant, sed ut inter media pericula salvi tamen maneant Dei auxilio - Not that, being freed from all trouble, they may bask in luxurious ease, but that by the help of God they may be preserved in a scene of danger; so Calvin. Not that they may be kept from all conflict with the world, but that they may not be overcome by it; not that, as Jeremiah wished, they might leave their people, and go from them (Jer 9:2), but that, like Ezekiel, their faces may be strong against the faces of wicked men, Eze 3:8. It is more the honour of a Christian soldier by faith to overcome the world than by a monastical vow to retreat from it; and more for the honour of Christ to serve him in a city than to serve him in a cell.

2. Another way is by keeping them from the corruption that is in the world; and he prays they may be thus kept, Joh 17:11, Joh 17:15. Here are three branches of this petition: -

(1.) Holy Father, keep those whom thou hast given me.

[1.] Christ was now leaving them; but let them not think that their defence was departed from them; no, he does here, in their hearing, commit them to the custody of his Father and their Father. Note, It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers that Christ himself has committed them to the care of God. Those cannot but be safe whom the almighty God keeps, and he cannot but keep those whom the Son of his love commits to him, in the virtue of which we may by faith commit the keeping of our souls to God, Pe1 4:19; Ti2 1:12. First, He here puts them under the divine protection, that they may not be run down by the malice of their enemies; that they and all their concerns may be the particular care of the divine Providence: "Keep their lives, till they have done their work; keep their comforts, and let them not be broken in upon by the hardships they meet with; keep up their interest in the world, and let it not sink." To this prayer is owing the wonderful preservation of the gospel ministry and gospel church in the world unto this day; if God had not graciously kept both, and kept up both, they had been extinguished and lost long ago. Secondly, He puts them under the divine tuition, that they may not themselves run away from their duty, nor be led aside by the treachery of their own hearts: "Keep them in their integrity, keep them disciples, keep them close to their duty." We need God's power not only to put us into a state of grace, but to keep us in it. See, Joh 10:28, Joh 10:29; Pe1 1:5.

[2.] The titles he gives to him he prays to, and them he prays for, enforce the petition. First, He speaks to God as a holy Father. In committing ourselves and others to the divine care, we may take encouragement, 1. From the attribute of his holiness, for this is engaged for the preservation of his holy ones; he hath sworn by his holiness, Psa 89:35. If he be a holy God and hate sin, he will make those holy that are his, and keep them from sin, which they also hate and dread as the greatest evil. 2. From this relation of a Father, wherein he stands to us through Christ. If he be a Father, he will take care of his own children, will teach them and keep them; who else should? Secondly, He speaks of them as those whom the Father had given him. What we receive as our Father's gifts, we may comfortably remit to our Father's care. "Father, keep the graces and comforts thou hast given me; the children thou hast given me; the ministry I have received."

(2.) Keep them through thine own name. That is, [1.] Keep them for thy name's sake; so some. "Thy name and honour are concerned in their preservation as well as mine, for both will suffer by it if they either revolt or sink." The Old Testament saints often pleaded, for thy name's sake; and those may with comfort plead it that are indeed more concerned for the honour of God's name than for any interest of their own. [2.] Keep them in thy name; so others; the original is so, en tō onomati. "Keep them in the knowledge and fear of thy name; keep them in the profession and service of thy name, whatever it cost them. Keep them in the interest of thy name, and let them ever be faithful to this; keep them in thy truths, in thine ordinances, in the way of thy commandments." [3.] Keep them by or through thy name; so others. "Keep them by thine own power, in thine own hand; keep them thyself, undertake for them, let them be thine own immediate care. Keep them by those means of preservation which thou hast thyself appointed, and by which thou hast made thyself known. Keep them by thy word and ordinances; let thy name be their strong tower, thy tabernacle their pavilion."

(3.) Keep them from the evil, or out of the evil. He had taught them to pray daily, Deliver us from evil, and this would encourage them to pray. [1.] "Keep them from the evil one, the devil and all his instruments; that wicked one and all his children. Keep them from Satan as a tempter, that either he may not have leave to sift them, or that their faith may not fail. Keep them from him as a destroyer, that he may not drive them to despair." [2.] "Keep them from the evil thing, that is sin; from every thing that looks like it, or leads to it. Keep them, that they do no evil," Co2 13:7. Sin is that evil which, above any other, we should dread and deprecate. [3.] "Keep them from the evil of the world, and of their tribulation in it, so that it may have no sting in it, no malignity;" not that they might be kept from affliction, but kept through it, that the property of their afflictions might be so altered as that there might be no evil in them, nothing to them any harm.

II. The reasons with which he enforces these requests for their preservation, which are five: -

1. He pleads that hitherto he had kept them (Joh 17:12): "While I was with them in the world, I have kept them in thy name, in the true faith of the gospel and the service of God; those that thou gavest me for my constant attendants I have kept, they are all safe, and none of them missing, none of them revolted nor ruined, but the son of perdition; he is lost, that the scripture might be fulfilled." Observe,

(1.) Christ's faithful discharge of his undertaking concerning his disciples: While he was with them, he kept them, and his care concerning them was not in vain. He kept them in God's name, preserved them from falling into any dangerous errors or sins, from striking in with the Pharisees, who would have compassed sea and land to make proselytes of them; he kept them from deserting him, and returning to the little all they had left for him; he had them still under his eye and care when he sent them to peach; went not his heart with them? Many that followed him awhile took offence at something or other, and went off; but he kept the twelve that they should not go away. He kept them from falling into the hands of persecuting enemies that sought their lives; kept them when he surrendered himself, Joh 18:9. While he was with them he kept them in a visible manner by instructions till sounding in their ears, miracles still done before their eyes; when he was gone from them, they must be kept in a more spiritual manner. Sensible comforts and supports are sometimes given and sometimes withheld; but, when they are withdrawn, yet they are not left comfortless. What Christ here says of his immediate followers is true of all the saints while they are here in this world; Christ keeps them in God's name. It is implied, [1.] That they are weak, and cannot keep themselves; their own hands are not sufficient for them. [2.] That they are, in God's account, valuable and worth the keeping; precious in his sight and honourable; his treasure, his jewels. [3.] That their salvation is designed, for to this it is that they are kept, Pe1 1:5. As the wicked are reserved for the day of evil, so the righteous are preserved for the day of bliss. [4.] That they are the charge of the Lord Jesus; for as his charge he keeps them, and exposed himself like the good shepherd for the preservation of the sheep.

(2.) The comfortable account he gives of his undertaking: None of them is lost. Note, Jesus Christ will certainly keep all that were given to him, so that none of them shall be totally and finally lost; they may think themselves lost, and may be nearly lost (in imminent peril); but it is the Father's will that he should lose none, and none he will lose (Joh 6:39); so it will appear when they come all together, and none of them shall be wanting.

(3.) A brand put upon Judas, as none of those whom he had undertaken to keep. He was among those that were given to Christ, but not of them. He speaks of Judas as already lost, for he had abandoned the society of his Master and his fellow-disciples, and abandoned himself to the devil's guidance, and in a little time would go to his own place; he is as good as lost. But the apostasy and ruin of Judas were no reproach at all to his Master, or his family; for, [1.] He was the son of perdition, and therefore not one of those that were given to Christ to be kept. He deserved perdition, and God left him to throw himself headlong into it. He was the son of the destroyer, as Cain, who was of that wicked one. That great enemy whom the Lord will consume is called a son of perdition, because he is a man of sin, Th2 2:3. It is an awful consideration that one of the apostles proved a son of perdition. No man's place or name in the church, no man's privileges or opportunities of getting grace, no man's profession or external performances, will secure him from ruin, if his heart be not right with God; nor are any more likely to prove sons of perdition at last, after a plausible course of profession, than those that like Judas love the bag; but Christ's distinguishing Judas from those that were given him (for ei mē is adversative, not exceptive) intimates that the truth and true religion ought not to suffer for the treachery of those that are false to it, Jo1 2:19. [2.] The scripture was fulfilled; the sin of Judas was foreseen of God's counsel and foretold in his word, and the event would certainly follow after the prediction as a consequent, though it cannot be said necessarily to follow from it as an effect. See Psa 41:9; Psa 69:25; Psa 109:8. We should be amazed at the treachery of apostates, were we not told of it before.

2. He pleads that he was now under a necessity of leaving them, and could no longer watch over them in the way that he had hitherto done (Joh 17:11): "Keep them now, that I may not lose the labour I bestowed upon them while I was with them. Keep them, that they may be one with us as we are with each other." We shall have occasion to speak of this, Joh 17:21. But see here,

(1.) With what pleasure he speaks of his own departure. He expresses himself concerning it with an air of triumph and exultation, with reference both to the world he left and the world he removed to. [1.] "Now I am no more in the world. Now farewell to this provoking troublesome world. I have had enough of it, and now the welcome hour is at hand when I shall be no more in it. Now that I have finished the work I had to do in it, I have done with it; nothing remains now but to hasten out of it as fast as I can." Note, It should be a pleasure to those that have their home in the other world to think of being no more in this world; for when we have done what we have to do in this world, and are made meet for that, what is there here that should court our stay? When we receive a sentence of death within ourselves, with what a holy triumph should we say, "Now I am no more in this world, this dark deceitful world, this poor empty world, this tempting defiling world; no more vexed with its thorns and briars, no more endangered by its nets and snares; now I shall wander no more in this howling wilderness, be tossed no more on this stormy sea; now I am no more in this world, but can cheerfully quit it, and give it a final farewell." [2.] Now I come to thee. To get clear of the world is but the one half of the comfort of a dying Christ, of a dying Christian; the far better half is to think of going to the Father, to sit down in the immediate, uninterrupted, and everlasting enjoyment of him. Note, Those who love God cannot but be pleased to think of coming to him, though it be through the valley of the shadow of death. When we go, to be absent from the body, it is to be present with the Lord, like children fetched home from school to their father's house. "Now come I to thee whom I have chosen and served, and whom my soul thirsteth after; to thee the fountain of light and life, the crown and centre of bliss and joy; now my longings shall be satisfied, my hopes accomplished, my happiness completed, for now come I to thee."

(2.) With what a tender concern he speaks of those whom he left behind: "But these are in the world. I have found what an evil world it is, what will become of these dear little ones that must stay in it? Holy Father, keep them; they will want my presence, let them have thine. They have now more need than ever to be kept, for I am sending them out further into the world than they have yet ventured; they must launch forth into the deep, and have business to do in these great waters, and will be lost if thou do not keep them." Observe here, [1.] That, when our Lord Jesus was going to the Father, he carried with him a tender concern for his own that are in the world; and continued to compassionate them. He bears their names upon his breast-plate, nay, upon his heart, and has graven them with the nails of his cross upon the palms of his hands; and when he is out of their sight they are not out of his, much less out of his mind. We should have such a pity for those that are launching out into the world when we are got almost through it, and for those that are left behind in it when we are leaving it. [2.] That, when Christ would express the utmost need his disciples had of divine preservation, he only says, They are in the world; this bespeaks danger enough to those who are bound for heaven, whom a flattering world would divert and seduce, and a malignant world would hate and persecute.

3. He pleads what a satisfaction it would be to them to know themselves safe, and what a satisfaction it would be to him to see them easy: I speak this, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves, Joh 17:13. Observe,

(1.) Christ earnestly desired the fulness of the joy of his disciples, for it is his will that they should rejoice evermore. He was leaving them in tears and troubles, and yet took effectual care to fulfil their joy. When they thought their joy in him was brought to an end, then was it advanced nearer to perfection than ever it had been, and they were fuller of it. We are here taught, [1.] To found our joy in Christ: "It is my joy, joy of my giving, or rather joy that I am the matter of." Christ is a Christian's joy, his chief joy. Joy in the world is withering with it; joy in Christ is everlasting, like him. [2.] To build up our joy with diligence; for it is the duty as well as privilege of all true believers; no part of the Christian life is pressed upon us more earnestly, Phi 3:1; Phi 4:4. [3.] To aim at the perfection of this joy, that we may have it fulfilled in us, for this Christ would have.

(2.) In order hereunto, he did thus solemnly commit them to his Father's care and keeping and took them for witnesses that he did so: These things I speak in the world, while I am yet with them in the world. His intercession in heaven for their preservation would have been as effectual in itself; but saying this in the world would be a greater satisfaction and encouragement to them, and would enable them to rejoice in tribulation. Note, [1.] Christ has not only treasured up comforts for his people, in providing for their future welfare, but has given out comforts to them, and said that which will be for their present satisfaction. He here condescended in the presence of his disciples to publish his last will and testament, and (which many a testator is shy of) lets them know what legacies he had left them, and how well they were secured, that they might have strong consolation. [2.] Christ's intercession for us is enough to fulfil or joy in him; nothing more effectual to silence all our fears and mistrusts, and to furnish us with strong consolation, than this, that he always appears in the presence of God for us; therefore the apostle puts a yea rather upon this, Rom 8:34. And see Heb 7:25.

4. He pleads the ill usage they were likely to meet with in the world, for his sake (Joh 17:14): "I have given them thy word to be published to the world, and they have received it, have believed it themselves, and accepted the trust of transmitting it to the world; and therefore the world hath hated them, as also because they are not of the world, any more than I." Here we have,

(1.) The world's enmity to Christ's followers. While Christ was with them, though as yet they had given but little opposition to the world, yet it hates them, much more would it do so when by their more extensive preaching of the gospel they would turn the world upside down. "Father, stand their friend," says Christ, "for they are likely to have many enemies; let them have thy love, for the world's hatred is entailed upon them. In the midst of those fiery darts, let them be compassed with thy favour as with a shield." It is God's honour to take part with the weaker side, and to help the helpless. Lord, be merciful to them, for men would swallow them up.

(2.) The reasons of this enmity, which strengthen the plea. [1.] It is implied that one reason is because they had received the word of God as it was sent them by the hand of Christ, when the greatest part of the world rejected it, and set themselves against those who were the preachers and professors of it. Note, Those that receive Christ's good will and good word must expect the world's ill will and ill word. Gospel ministers have been in a particular manner hated by the world, because they call men out of the world, and separate them from it, and teach them not to conform to it, and so condemn the world. "Father, keep them for it is for thy sake that they are exposed; they are sufferers for thee." Thus the psalmist pleads, For thy sake I have borne reproach, Psa 69:7. Note, Those that keep the word of Christ's patience are entitled to special protection in the hour of temptation, Rev 3:10. That cause which makes a martyr may well make a joyful sufferer. [2.] Another reason is more express; the world hates them, because they are not of the world. Those to whom the word of Christ comes in power are not of the world, for it has this effect upon all that receive it in the love of it that it weans them from the wealth of the world, and turns them against the wickedness of the world, and therefore the world bears them a grudge.

5. He pleads their conformity to himself in a holy non-conformity to the world (Joh 17:16): "Father, keep them, for they are of my spirit and mind, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Those may in faith commit themselves to God's custody, (1.) Who are as Christ was in this world, and tread in his steps. God will love those that are like Christ. (2.) Who do not engage themselves in the world's interest, nor devote themselves to its service. Observe, [1.] That Jesus Christ was not of this world; he never had been of it, and least of all now that he was upon the point of leaving it. This intimates, First, His state; he was none of the world's favourites nor darlings, none of its princes nor grandees; worldly possessions he had none, not even where to lay his head; nor worldly power, he was no judge nor divider. Secondly, His Spirit; he was perfectly dead to the world, the prince of this world had nothing in him, the things of this world were nothing to him; not honour, for he made himself of no reputation; not riches, for for our sakes he became poor; not pleasures, for he acquainted himself with grief. See Joh 8:23. [2.] That therefore true Christians are not of this world. The Spirit of Christ in them is opposite to the spirit of the world. First, It is their lot to be despised by the world; they are not in favour with the world any more than their Master before them was. Secondly, It is their privilege to be delivered from the world; as Abraham out of the land of his nativity. Thirdly, It is their duty and character to be dead to the world. Their most pleasing converse is, and should be, with another world, and their prevailing concern about the business of that world, not of this. Christ's disciples were weak, and had many infirmities; yet this he could say for them, They were not of the world, not of the earth, and therefore he recommends them to the care of Heaven.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh_17:11

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world

Christ and His disciples

I.

CHRIST IS NO MORE IN THE WORLD. All the purposes for which He came are accomplished. There is no further employment, therefore, for Him here.

1. His humiliation is past and His glory begun.

2. His work is finished, and now His reward is received.

3. His warfare is accomplished and now He enjoys the spoils of victory.

4. His sacrifice is offered and He departs to plead its merits before the throne.

II. CHRISTIANS ARE IS THE WORLD. Like their Lords, theirs is

1. A state of humiliation.

2. A life of work.

3. A course of conflict.

III. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO. The glorified Christ

1. Waits to receive them into His glory.

2. Imparts to them the benefits of His atonement and intercession.

3. Is their Master and co-worker.

4. Is their Leader to victory.

Christians in the world

1. Full of imperfections and infirmities.

2. Surrounded by temptations and snares.

3. Burdened with cares and afflictions.

4. Witnesses of Christs glory.

5. Labourers for its moral regeneration. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)

Holy Father, keep through Thine own name

The character of the Father

What formula could more thoroughly express the intensity and purity of Divine love. There is more spiritual philosophy and force in the two words, Holy Father, than in the cream of all literature. Jesus alone knew how holy that love is that comes down to save man. In this name there is

I. A GLIMPSE OF A GREAT CHARACTER. We ask, Whats in a name? The man on Change answers, Five per cent.; the expectant might say there is a passport in it; another that there is in it a prophecy of failure, of doom. A name is something, but in what name is there so much that is transcendently glorious as in Holy Father. The disturbed condition of humanity has made us so familiar with unholy paternity, that it is an immense elevation of spirit to have the idea of an absolutely Holy Father. Parentage in man ought thus to be a holy thing.

II. FULNESS OF HELPING POWER. We know what it is for sons to be respected and befriended for their fathers sake. The social position open to many a young man, the manner in which he is treated on the public platform, the safe, yet prosperous circles to which he is admitted is owing to his fathers name. But all this is increased in an infinite degree when we think of the name of the Holy Father. His name is good for any amount of helping power our souls require.

III. A GROUND OF GREATEST CONFIDENCE--that the affairs of the vast family, the interests of the vast home, will have that management which will secure the highest interests of every child. How often are families divided by paternal partialities, fortunes squandered by paternal weaknesses and sins; and children beggared through lack of that in the father that could bind the home in one. But the strong band that binds the childlike hearts together is this father-name.

IV. A GREAT ARGUMENT FOR CHILDLIKE CONDUCT. Blessed is the child who, when he looks at a human father, feels that he knows no more upright man than he. Such a father has a right to expect that his child should be good. Well, the Holy Father, who is conscious of doing everything before His children that is fitted to command their love, has a right to expect that like Himself they shall be holy. We know what it is for the young man going to business, college, public life, to resolve on good behaviour and success if it were only for his fathers sake. Such is the aspiration which the Holy Father expects of His children. (R. Mitchell.)

The Holy Father

The appellation Holy Father is in relation with the petition presented. With man holiness is the consecration of his whole being to the task assigned him by the Divine will. In God holiness is the free, deliberate, calm, and immutable affirmation of Himself, who is goodness, or of goodness, which is Himself. The holiness of God, then, so soon as we are associated therewith, draws a deep line of demarcation between us and those who live under the dominion of their natural instincts, and whom Scripture calls the world. The term Holy Father here characterizes God as Him who has traced this line of separation between the disciples and the world. Keep them has in view the maintenance of this separation. In Thy name makes the revelation of the Divine character the enclosing wall in which the disciples are to be kept. (F. Godet, D. D.)

The preciousness of the Divine name

I. THE CONTEMPLATED CONDITION OF THE DISCIPLES, the peculiar ground of their need. I am no more in the world, &c. The fact of His going to the Father could not but be to Him a satisfaction and joy. But He could not forget His friends. His thoughts went forth to their condition without His bodily presence, on which they had been so much accustomed to lean. His words suggest the thought of

1. Their bereavement (Mat_9:15). It is impossible for us to form an adequate conception of their loss.

2. Their exposure: These are in the ungodly, careless, unbelieving world. Jesus knew well what it was to be in the world; hence His concern Joh_16:33). Christ Jesus, in His bodily and visible presence, is absent from the world still, but His disciples are in it. It is well to know that His prayer and intercession for them are better than His human presence.

II. THE BLESSING REQUESTED FOR THEM--Keep through Thine own name, &c. Here, for the only time recorded, Jesus addresses God as Holy Father. He appealed to the holiness of God; and surely no appeal could be more appropriate and beautiful, when preservation from the world and from evil was asked for. Holiness is the halo of unutterable splendour which surrounds the nature and character of the Almighty. This very designation suggests at once the power and the disposition of the Father to keep these disciples. It was the pledge of the preservation, and the guarantee of the safe keeping of all Gods children now (Psa_30:4; Psa_97:12). Two remarks are here necessary. The Authorised Version says through, but the preposition in the original is in. According to the most ancient manuscripts, the petition reads, Keep them in Thy name, that name which Thou hast given Me. Jesus alone had fully manifested the name of God. And the point is that His disciples might be kept in the name of God, not in a vague indefinite sense, but in that name as personally embodied in Christ. The Saviour prays for His disciples, that they might be kept

1. In the knowledge of this name. Many temptations would assail them from Jewish prejudice and Gentile philosophy, from various forms of worldly wisdom and human speculation. They could only be kept right in their views of God, as they were kept by Him. It is human to err; and on no theme have men, when left to themselves, wandered more widely and disastrously than in their views of God.

2. In the experience of that name. This knowledge was not a barren truth, but mighty, formative, and fertilizing (Joh_1:12). As Jews, they had a knowledge of God as the God of Israel before; but the Divine name never had such power over them as when they came to realize its glory in Christ. It arrested, subdued, melted, purified them; it was in them a power for spiritual renewal and moral transformation. These disciples left in the world would be exposed to manifold malign influences; and only so long as they were kept in the consciousness of the power of Gods name, could they continue true to their mission.

3. In the consolation of that name. The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe--safe from the accusations of conscience and the thunder of law, the perils of life and the fears of death. Just as a child in darkness, trembling for fear, is cheered by the sound of his mothers voice or the certainty of his fathers presence, even though unseen, so does the name of God, as revealed in Christ, sustain and encourage the souls of His people in the dreary and often trying pilgrimage to heaven.

III. THE OBJECT DESIRED. That they may be one, as we are. How much depended on their union, strength, safety, and success. Discord and disunion could not fail to bring disaster and failure at the very beginning of the Christian history.

1. The model of this union: as we are one. Jesus does not ask that He may be one with the Father, but asserts this oneness as a fact. There was a oneness with the Father existing from eternity. But He here prays as the Man Christ Jesus, whose purposes and plans, desires and hopes, were the same as the Fathers.

2. What then would be the manifestation of this oneness? Unity of mind, will, and affection in relation to their Master and His work, a unity resulting from participation in His life and devotion to His glory? Only suppose that these disciples were to go forth with differing views and discordant purposes in their commission. Or, suppose that they were to go forth with clashing opinions about the claims of Christ Himself; one holding His supreme Godhead, another viewing Him as the highest of created beings, and a third regarding Him merely as a man, and so on; the issue in such a case could only be spiritual disaster and failure. There might be, and there were, differences between them in many things, but touching the character and claims of the Christ of God they were as one. And this oneness of view and feeling binding them to the Saviour, and pervading all their work for Him, was to be maintained by their being kept in the Fathers name as revealed in Jesus. (J. Spence, D. D.)

Saints Divinely kept

Our text is all about keeping. Three or four times over we have some tense of the word keep. Greatly do we need keeping. You have been redeemed and regenerated; you are pure in heart and hands; you have aspirations after the holiest things; you are near the gates of glory; hut you must be kept. Here is

I. A CHOICE PROTECTORATE. I kept them. This care

1. Was continuous. He made this the chief employment of His life. In this chapter you have the ruling passion strong in death. He has kept them in life, and now He says, I am no more in the world, &c.; and the one thought of His heart is, What is to become of them? He closes His life by commending them to the keeping of His heavenly Father.

2. Is ever needed. Sheep never outgrow this necessity. If the disciples always required keeping, you and I do.

3. Was ever personal. The Good Shepherd kept the sheep, not by proxy, but by His own hands. What must have been the effect of the personality of Christ upon those eleven? There are some men whose influence upon others has, for want of a better word, been called magical. History tells us of warriors who have inspired their soldiers with boundless loyalty, grappling them to themselves with hooks of steel. The influence of the Christ upon those who actually lived with Him must have been superlative.

4. Was most successful. Of the eleven not one was lost. They were very fickle at first, extremely ignorant, and strongly tempted. Influences which made some go back would naturally have had the same power over them if Jesus had not kept them: yet of those whom the Father gave Him not one of them was lost.

5. Was attended with an awful sorrow. None of them is lost, but the son of perdition. He knew that often people would say, Can this Christianity be true which has such false-hearted traitors in its midst? He allowed that objection to come up at the very first. But the Watcher over the sons of men could not lose even Judas without deep regrets.

II. A TEMPORARY PRIVILEGE. The eleven were not to have Christ with them always. They were to fall back on another mode of living common to all saints.

1. Now, why was Christ with them at all? It was because they were very weak. They wanted fostering and nurturing. You had great joys in your early days. You have not had them lately, it may be; for you have travelled to heaven at a steadier pace. Certain spiritual joys are the privilege and the necessity of our religions babyhood, and we outgrow them. The Lord went away that the disciples might grow to spiritual manhood.

2. Choice as the privilege was of having Jesus Himself to be their Pastor, apart from the grace of God, this special boon had no power in it. The Lord Jesus Christ might preach, but He could not touch the heart of the son of perdition. No ministry of itself can turn a heart of stone into flesh. You must be born from above. Let this be a warning to such as are not profited under the Word when faithfully preached. Beware lest ye perish under the gospel.

III. A BLESSED PRAYER. Holy Father, keep, &c.

1. Father. It is the Father who keeps us! The Lord Jesus was tender to us when He selected that title, and did not say Jehovah or Elohim.

2. Holy Father. The keeping means keep us holy; and who can make us and keep us holy but He who is Himself holy?

3. Keep them. We need keeping

(1) From discord. Keep them that they may be one.

(2) From error.

(3) From sin.

4. Through Gods own name. It requires the very name of God to keep a Christian. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Kept of God

I. WE REQUIRE KEEPING.

1. You have seen a beautiful garden planted and filled with rarest flowers, and all in such beautiful order. The explanation is to be found in the keeper, who moves among the flowers, pulling up a stray weed here, clipping off a branch there, training up a fallen vine, tying up a drooping plant, digging about the roots of that rosebush that seems a little weak, and bestowing a little extra care upon it with such tenderness as though he loved it. And from admiring the flowers, you turn to admire and love the faithful keeper, and ascribe the praise to him.

2. On the other hand, you have seen other gardens just as large, filled with the same precious variety of flowers. But how sad to look at the paths that are filled with grass! The vines have fallen down, and many beautiful plants have succumbed to the rude crowding of the rank weeds and are both dying and dead. How is this sad condition of things to be accounted for? The gardener was called in to plant it, but the owner of the garden dismissed him, thinking he could do it himself. For a while he did very well; but the pressure of business, &c., &c., and a general ignorance of flower culture, all interfered, and so the garden was allowed to run to waste. Occasionally he would rally and go vigorously to work, and things would look better for a while; but, alas I all too soon the same neglect would fall upon it.

3. These two gardens are two lives, one of which is kept and the other unkept. And I am sure there are more than a few Christians who see in the latter garden a picture of their own spiritual life. What is the matter? You need a keeper and to place in his hands your life.

II. WHO IS TO KEEP US? Our Holy Father.

1. The holiness of God, instead of being opposed to the salvation of the sinful, is the very ground of that salvation, and is put forth as the reason above all others why sinners should hope in God.

(1) In general, we find it stated that God saves for His holy names sake Deu_6:8; Psa_106:1-6). Holiness and love are one. This may be inferred also from Gods coming in holiness to Moses to send him on the mission of mercy and salvation. The ground whereon thou standeth is holy (see also Luk_1:47-55). Who was it that remembered mercy? The Holy One (verse 49), who has been the author of salvation in all ages, and the object of His peoples trust (Psa_22:3-4).

(2) The holy name stands for forgiveness (Psa_103:1-3; Psa_130:7-8; Psa_99:8-9).

(3) For pity--restoration (Eze_36:20-22).

(4) Compassion and wrath-restraining love (Isa_57:14-15;Heb_11:8-9).

(5) Sustaining and delivering (Isa_41:10-14).

2. We find this holiness of God active against sin, hating and consuming it, and often afflicting His people for it. But that side of His holiness is only another side of His love (Psa_99:8). He hates sin because it is the destroyer of the people whom He loves.

III. WHAT IS INVOLVED IN BEING KEPT?

1. He will keep us unto the end--unto the salvation ready to be revealed at the last day. Many are deterred from confessing Christ lest they should not hold out. But against all these fears God has left exceeding great and precious promises (1Pe_1:3-5; 2Ti_1:12; 2Ti Jud_1:24).

2. With others it is not so much the fear of being finally lost as the dread of being left alone on the way, of falling into sin and trouble, &c. Listen to the promises (Gen_28:15; Isa_43:2).

3. It is not that I am afraid of being deserted in affliction, but that in the ordinary course of life I shall wander from the right way. God said to those of old, Behold I send an angel before thee, &c. (Exo_23:20). When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will lead, &c. So in this God makes ample promise.

4. So God is pledged to provide for all our wants, and keep us in the world. The Lord God is a sword and a shield, &c. The Lord is my Shepherd. My God shall supply all your need.

5. But the temporal keeping is not what I want so much as to have my own life kept--to be delivered and kept from doubt, and fears, and anxiety, and vexation, and care (read Php_4:7; Isa_26:3).

6. But will He keep from sin? I know He will pardon sin, but will He keep me from it? Yes.

(1) There is a promise to keep from evil, which is a generic term, and covers all sin and harm. The Lords prayer--the prayer in this connection.

(2) To keep from presumptuous sin (Psa_19:13) and secret faults Psa_19:12).

(3) From temptation. I will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world. The Lords prayer.

(4) From sins of speech (Psa_141:3).

IV. THIS KEEPING INVOLVES MANY TRIALS, AND, IT MAY BE, MUCH SUFFERING. To be freed from sin is a painful process. It is crucifixion, it is purging, it is refining. It is having your wills subdued, but it means holiness and godliness, with peace as our portion for ever.

V. HOW ARE WE KEPT? In the holy name of God.

1. As in a tower (Pro_18:20; Psa_18:2).

2. As in a bank (2Ti_1:12).

3. As in a sheep fold (Psa_23:1; Psa_80:1).

4. As behind a shield (Psa_84:11).

VI. TO BE KEPT WE MUST PUT OURSELVES IN GODS HANDS, nor must we draw back. He is a Tower, we must keep ourselves in it. A Shepherd, we must be near Him. A Bank, we must commit ourselves to it as a treasure deposited therein. A Shield, we must keep ourselves behind it. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)

That they may be one, as we are

The pathway to unity

The final state of the Church of God is to be a state of perfect unity; and that being so, their present state should be one of growing unity. Alas! how lamentably far from this are we, who profess the name of Christ at this time and in this country! In the text you have four points respecting it.

I. THE AUTHOR AND MAINTAINER OF UNITY. Holy Father, keep.

1. Unity, wherever it exists, flows from God. If you have union in your families, with your relatives and friends, this is from Him. How much more, then, must the unity of His Church derive itself from Him, as its only head and centre (1Co_11:3). God the Father is the source whence the sacred oil of unity, shed in copious showers on the head of our Aaron, diffuses itself in fragrant streams over His whole body mystical--the

Church--and goes down to the skirts of His garments (Psa_133:2-3).

2. He is also the exclusive maintainer of unity. He not only giveth His people the blessing of peace, but also keeps their hearts and minds in peace through Christ Jesus (Psa_29:11; Php_4:7). Did He for one instant abandon His children, or cease to fold them to His bosom, every soul of them would become an Ishmael; strife and contention would split the holy camp into a thousand factions, and deliver them an easy prey into the hand of the powers of darkness. And it is to His guardianship of the world that we owe the shadows of Divine unity which we find in it. Peace and unity in families, among nations, between contending parties, whether in the State or in the Church.

II. THE METHOD BY WHICH GOD MAINTAINS THIS UNITY.

1. What is meant by the name of God? In olden times the names of persons were very different from what they are now. Most of our modern names have no meaning at all; but, anciently, the name of a person almost always expressed some property or character attaching to the person who bore it. Thus the name of Jacob signifies supplanter, and has reference to his having supplanted his brother. Israel means Prince of God, because as a prince he had power with God in wrestling, and prevailed. So then Name of God stands for the nature, property, and character of the Most High.

2. What is this name and character? From Exo_33:19-20, cf Exo_34:58, we gather that the moral attributes of God are of two kinds--mercy and justice. Let us illustrate. Light (as seen in a rainbow, resolved into two different classes of colours, four of a bright and three of a grave tint) affords some faint idea of these two classes of perfections. Mercy, love, goodness, forbearance, and so forth, on the one hand--holiness, justice, truth, on the other. The latter are as essential as the former to the surpassing beauty and loveliness of the Divine character. God would be no God if He were not perfectly just and holy, as well as perfectly loving--even as the sunlight would not be that beautiful and delicate thing it is if it were not chastened and subdued by its three graver tints, On the one hand, sin will be visited by Him; on the other, He yearns over all His creatures with the tenderest mercy. And He will be known to each individual soul, and acknowledged by each individual heart, in both these characters. For He has signally glorified both His justice and His love in Jesus Christ, so as to keep the believer wakefully alive to both of them. For what shall keep him more wakefully alive both to the love and justice of God than the reflection that His justice could not consent to our acquittal before it had fastened upon a Divine victim, and that this boundless sacrifice which justice demanded, love was not slow to make? In the Cross of Jesus, behold the name of Jehovah--the goodness and severity of God--portrayed at once. And it is this unfeigned acknowledgment of Divine love on one hand, and Divine justice on the other, in which our Saviour here prays that God would keep His chosen. The effect is obvious. The little bickerings and animosities and party feelings--unclean creatures that hovered about in the darkness--will vanish as we sun ourselves in the light. Truly acknowledging the true God, we shall truly acknowledge our brethren also.

III. THE PERSONS BETWEEN WHOM THIS UNITY MAY BE EXPECTED TO SUBSIST. It is not represented as subsisting in the visible Church, but in the invisible, among Gods elect--those whom Thou hast given Me. How can unity, being a spirit and not a form, subsist in the visible Church, within whose pale there are (and must be) many hypocrites? If, indeed, it were a form, it might then be imposed from without upon a visible body. But it is a living spirit, which might indeed develop itself in a certain similarity of outward worship, if all the persons animated by it were gathered together, as one day they shall be, and not separated from one another by time and space, as now they are. Let us not look for it, then, or expect it where it is not and where it cannot be. Union, real vital union, cannot exist among or with those who are ignorant of God. It is idle for men who walk on still in darkness to talk of, to meddle with, unity. Their ceaseless petition must be, Lord, that I may receive my sight! For those who do thus know Him, they, by growing in that knowledge, will grow in unity. They will have fellowship with one another in exact proportion as they walk more strictly in His fear, more lovingly and enjoyably in His comfort.

IV. HOW CLOSE WILL BE THE BOND OF THAT FELLOWSHIP! That they may be one, as we are. The whole body will be fitly joined together and compacted in an unity, like that subsisting between the Father and the Son. And what mortal shall comprehend the exceeding closeness of that unity--perfect unity of counsels, of will, of ends, of nature. And even such a bond shall clasp the elect together, nay, is now clasping them, and being gradually drawn more closely around them. To this state they will verge continually while they walk more and more in the light, as God is in the light. (Dean Goulburn.)

Kept for Jesus Christ

(Jud_1:1.):--

I. WHO? The saints; those given by the Father to Christ.

II. WHAT? Keep them. As it were, Christ, having obtained them from the Father for safe keeping for Him, replaces them in the Fathers hands for safe keeping for Himself.

III. HOW? In Thy name, i.e., by graciously revealing in them Thy name, which I have outwardly manifested to them.

IV. WHY? Because Christ was returning to the Father (1Pe_1:5).

V. WHEREFORE? That they might be one. Unless the Father keeps the saints they never will be one. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

The preservation of Christians

There is an aged Christian in Dublin with whom I have often spoken who passed through the following eventful experience:--Some years since, he said, I was travelling on horseback in one of the country districts, when the sudden report of a pistol-shot reached me. I was satisfied that I had been aimed at, but nevertheless thankfully conscious that I had escaped. Hastening onwards, I reached my home in safety, and went into the house. It had been my custom for years to carry a small Bible in the breast pocket of my coat. Taking it out on this occasion, judge my surprise at finding a leaden bullet imbedded in the leaves. It had penetrated as far as the Gospel of John. Removing the bullet, and opening the book at the spot where it rested, my eye fell upon the words, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me. (Henry Varley.)

Christian union

I wish all names among the saints of God were swallowed up in that one of Christian. I long for professors to leave off placing religion in saying, I am a Churchman, I am a Dissenter. My language to such is, Are you of Christ? If so, I love you with all my heart. (G. Whitefield.)

Union and Christian life

Christians are like the several flowers in a garden, that have upon each of them the dew of heaven, while, being shaken with the wind, they let fall their dews at each others roots, whereby they are jointly nourished and become nourishers of each other. (John Bunyan.)

Christian union attainable only in Christ

The union of Christians to Christ their common head, and, by means of the influence which they derive from Him, one to another, may be illustrated by the loadstone: it not only attracts the particles of iron to itself by the magnetic virtue, but, by this virtue, it unites them one among another. (R. Cecil, M. A.)

Work aids Christian unity

When I was in the army before Port Hudson I remember that night after night, when our campfires were built, we boys used to sit around them and discuss various matters; and sometimes our discussions became very heated, and sometimes we lost our tempers, and sometimes we said angry words. But one night, right in the midst of a discussion, there broke upon us that awful, startling sound which, once heard, is never forgotten. Away off, on the right of the line, it began; but it rolled in a thundering, awful echo, until it chilled our hearts. It was the long roll, and every man was on his feet, and every man shook hands with his comrade and said, Forgive me. When we were idle we could afford to discuss; but now there is work to do, it finds us brothers. (G. Hepworth.)

Union in the face of foes

On the day before the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson took Collingwood and Rotherham, who were at variance, to a spot where they could see the fleet opposed to them. Yonder, said the Admiral, are your enemies; shake hands and be good friends, like good Englishmen.

Influence of union

Separate the atoms which make the hammer, and each would fall on the stone as a snowflake; but welded into one, and wielded by the firm arm of the quarryman, it will break the massive rocks asunder. Divide the waters of Niagara into distinct and individual drops, and they would be no more than the falling rain; but, in their united body, they would quench the fires of Vesuvius and have some to spare for other volcanoes. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Power of union

Union is power. The most attenuated thread, when sufficiently multiplied, will form the strongest cable. A single drop of water is a weak and powerless thing; but an infinite number of drops united by the force of attraction will form a stream, and many streams combined will form a river; till rivers pour their water into the mighty oceans, whose proud waves, defying the power of man, none can stay but He who formed them. And thus forces, which, acting singly, are utterly impotent, are, when acting in combination, resistless in their energies, mighty in power. (H. G.Salter.)

Union is strength

When it was once demanded of Agesilaus why Lacedaemon had no walls, he replied, The concord of the citizens is its strength. (J. Harris.)

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name

Christs care for His disciples

Our Saviour had just passed through the agony when Judas came upon Him with a band of men and officers Joh_18:1-9). Whatever might be the reason for mustering so large an array, in order to seize one who seemed so little likely to offer resistance, our Lord quickly showed how unavailing would have been the assault, had He not chosen to surrender Himself to the will of His enemies. By merely acknowledging Himself to be the party of whom they were in quest, Christ prostrated the whole host. But, as our Lord had no intention of delivering Himself from His adversaries, why did He give this signal evidence of having them completely in His power? For the sake of His disciples. Let these go their way. The Evangelist still further limits the design of the miracle, that the very saying of the text might be fulfilled. These words must have had respect to more than a mere temporal deliverance. Christ had been praying, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name, &c., and the son of perdition, was not lost in any mere temporal respect. But what was the amount of the keeping which our Lord secured for His disciples on the occasion? Simply that they should not be made prisoners with Himself, and perhaps be condemned with Himself to an ignominious death. Here then is a promise which would contemplate nothing short of everlasting salvation, declared to be fulfilled by a deliverance from present danger and calamity. Had His followers been required at that moment to suffer with Him, we can hardly doubt, knowing what their conduct was on a far less amount of trial, that they would have apostatized in such a way as to have jeopardized their final salvation. Sooner or later these disciples were to die. Christ would not, then, have lost them by their dying at that moment, except St. Augustine says, because they had not then the faith in Himself which was needful to secure them from everlasting death. So that we may believe that our Lord interfered miraculously on behalf of His disciples, because He foresaw that if He now required them to bear the Cross with Him, the trial would be too great for their strength. Let us see what special truths are suggested by this fact.

I. WHAT A COMFORTING THING IT IS TO KNOW THAT CHRIST WOULD SOONER WORK A MIRACLE TO RESTRAIN THE ENEMIES OF HIS SERVANTS, THAN LEAVE THOSE SERVANTS TO AN ENCOUNTER TOO GREAT FOR THEIR

STRENGTH There is often a fear, on the part of the disciple, that such or such a trial would be more than he could bear. And the fear may be altogether just, so far as it arises from comparing the strength then possessed with the danger then supposed. But the fear is altogether unjust, so far as it assumes the possibility of Gods exposing His people to a trial, for which He does not communicate adequate grace. We might not be able always to die for Christ; but we are not always called to die for Christ. If we were called to die for Him, then we may be confident that we should be strengthened to die, even as martyrs died, with a smile upon the cheek, with a song upon the lip. We may not always feel as if we could in a moment resign without a murmur this or that object of devoted affection; but wait till we are actually called upon to resign it, and then, if we be truly of those who acknowledge God in all their ways, we shall find ourselves enabled to exclaim, The Lord gave, &c. Trials are not accidents; they may be often unexpected by us, they are never unprovided for by God. God holds the balances in His hand. In one scale He puts the trials, in the other the strength; but the trial does not come to our share till outweighed by the strength which He sees fit to communicate. And, if anything can, this should encourage us to patient continuance in well doing. So then, whilst there is everything to encourage the meek, there is nothing to warrant the presumptuous. God keeps His people by enabling them to keep themselves. When you read in Jeremiah, I will not turn away from them, to do them good, it might seem to you as though good were secured, be your conduct what it may; but when you-read on, I will put My fear in their hearts, that they should not depart from Me, you should learn that Gods not turning from us is through the withholding us from turning from Him, and that, therefore, he who strives not against sin has no promise of salvation. And when we have thus warned you against expecting to be kept, though you are not diligent to keep yourselves--for whilst it is most true Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain, think ye not that it is also true, that the Lord will not keep the city where the watchman sleeps?--having done this, we may yet by the miracle wrought on behalf of the disciples, encourage you to the building confidently on that most blessed truth, God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.

II. BUT in place of procuring for His followers an opportunity for escape, MIGHT NOT CHRIST HAVE IMPARTED AN ABILITY TO ENDURE? The saying would thus have been only the more evidently fulfilled. Of course, He might had it accorded with His dealings and purposes. But He could not consistently with the laws which prescribe His dealings with accountable creatures. It would have taken more grace than could be bestowed without destroying all freedom of will. Remember that grace is that in which you are bidden to grow; and in spiritual stature no more than in bodily is the infant made the giant with no stage between. You must pass from point to point, improving what you have as the condition of your receiving more. Ye are to present yourselves a living sacrifice, otherwise it will be a compulsory, and not a reasonable service. Thus also with apostles. They have not yet grown into fitness for the honours of martyrdom; they might have been presented in sacrifice--they would not, in the true sense, have presented themselves. They had yet a long discipline to pass through, of taking up the cross daily. So that, though there are some dangers which at one time God turns away from His people, because too great for such a measure of grace as would consist with present spiritual stature, He would have them faced at another time, because the spiritual stature is such as accords with the requisite strength. And the great practical truth to be derived from this is, that you are not to expect to become Christians by any sudden leap, but step by step. The spiritual temple rises stone by stone, as beneath the hands of a builder; it does not soar at once--wall, dome, pinnacle, complete--as beneath the wand of an enchanter.

III. IN COVENANTING TO KEEP US TO ETERNAL LIFE, CHRIST HATH ALSO COVENANTED THAT WE MAY BE KEPT FROM ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY. And it is delightful to think of the one covenant as including the other; so that we have the same reason for believing that nothing really hurtful shall be suffered to happen to us of a temporal kind, as that nothing shall finally separate the believer from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

IV. The saving of the disciples from bodily danger might be taken as AN ASSURANCE THAT CHRIST WOULD NOT FAIL TO CONDUCT THEM SAFELY TO HEAVEN; and therefore was it a sort of primary accomplishment of the gracious purpose that none of them should be lost. And what a brightness would it shed over present deliverances, what a sweetness would it give to present mercies, were all in the habit of regarding them as so many earnests of a rich inheritance above! Then might every day of life be to us a sort of herald of eternity. We should not receive blessings as merely to he enjoyed and then forgotten; for they would serve to us for even more than the Ebenezer of old, a stone on which to inscribe, Hitherto the Lord bath helped us, but on which also to engrave afresh the most comforting declaration, Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost. Truly a most comforting declaration, forasmuch as it shows that our safety is in better keeping than our own. The Christian will be disquieted and harassed, a prey to frequent doubts and fears, till he come to regard the Redeemer as having taken upon Himself the work of his salvation, and bound up His own glory with the carrying him through. I know whom I have believed, &c. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The nature of the Divine keeping

Have guarded, not the same word as that rendered kept in the first clause. This is an intensified expression of His vigilant care. Kept as with a military guard. The first kept points to their preservation in the truth revealed to them; the second to the watchfulness by means of which the result was obtained. The former may be compared to the feeding of a flock, the latter to the care which protects from the wild beasts around. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

The Divine guardianship

I. THE SAVOURS GRACIOUS CARE FOR HIS DISCIPLES. While He was with them, He had done all that was needful to keep them in the name of God. The second word, translated kept, is not the same as the first, and expresses more fully the idea of guardianship, the result of which was successful preservation. Thus we have suggested to us that the disciples were in danger even while their Master was with them, from their weakness, Jewish prejudices, and spiritual pride.

1. He kept them by

(l) His teaching. The whole bearing of His instructions was that they might discern the perfection of the Fathers character, and apprehend the saving power of His love.

(2) His example. They saw Him ever true to the name and character of God. They often beheld Him wearied and faint, yet ever finding His meat and drink in doing His Fathers will.

(3) His influence. The influence of a parent over a child, of a teacher over a pupil, of a friend over his fellow, is often powerful. How great and sacred must the influence of Jesus have been over His disciples!

(4) He graciously kept them. Their dulness, waywardness, and forgetfulness were often provoking; but He was ever patient and gentle with them.

(5) He tenderly kept them, with a heart ever overflowing with kindness and love.

(6) His keeping of them, moreover, involved some anxiety. In the relation which they sustained to Him, and in the work which was before them as the heralds of His truth and the champions of His cause, His thoughts were much with them.

(7) Earnestly did He care for them, that they might be faithful to their position, and fitted for His service.

2. But was there not a painful, an awful exception to the success of His guardianship? We must regard the giving here as applicable to Judas as well as to the others. They were all given to Jesus as disciples, and He taught and guarded them all; but Judas did not respond to His teaching and care. But Jesus did not lose him; he lost or rather destroyed himself, and in his perdition the Scripture was fulfilled. The quotation cannot imply that he perished for the sake of fulfilling the word of God, but to show that all things are foreknown to the omniscient God.

3. Does Christ not with equal zeal and care preserve His followers now? Are not His instruction, example, and influence available for us? True, we do not hear His voice, nor see His face, but His advocacy, with the promised presence of the Comforter, is mightier and better for our preservation than if we could actually gaze upon Him.

II. A PROOF OF THE SAVIOURS LOVING THOUGHTFULNESS FOR HIS DISCIPLES (Joh_17:13).

1. The object which He sought was that His joy might be fulfilled in themselves; not that His joy in them, as His disciples, might be fulfilled; but that they might realize something of His own personal and perfect joy. How great and blessed and pure must have been His joy, as the incarnate Son of God! It was the joy

(1) Of the complete consciousness in Him of God.

(2) Of perfect duty.

(3) Of the assurance of victory.

(4) Of the consciousness of pure benevolence.

This joy, then, Christ wishes His disciples to realize in themselves, that it might be their strength and protection. The world gives sorrow, anxiety, disappointment, bitterness, and trouble; but to share in Christs own joy must ever be sunshine in the soul: for the human heart it is a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Participation in this joy, then, comes down to us, and we must rejoice in the Lord, not only as a privilege, but as a duty.

2. The means adopted to produce this joy. These things I speak in the world. Jesus might have presented His petitions for them silently. How was this audible prayer calculated to minister to their joy? We feel how important it is in daily life to have feeling made known. Sometimes you may have gone in doubt, in heaviness of spirit and sadness of heart, when a word spoken in love would have relieved your gloom, lifted your load, and cheered your path. The Saviour was more lovingly thoughtful for His disciples. It would have made no real difference to their safety if His prayer had been unheard by them; but it would have made a great difference to the cheerfulness of their hearts. Christian thoughtfulness therefore should ever prompt us to let those whom we love hear or know of our interest in them and our affection for them. This audible prayer would minister to their joy

(1) By strengthening their faith. Although He was about to leave them, they would see that He cared for them as much as ever.

(2) By promoting their love. They could not but love a Master who in such manifold ways proved His deep affection for them.

(3) By inspiring their hope. Christ had told them that in the world they would have tribulation, but when they heard their gracious Master thus praying they knew that, whatsoever might await them, they would be safe. (J. Spence, D. D.)

The Divine keeping

Concerning all saints it is implied

I. THAT THEY ARE WEAK AND CANNOT KEEP THEMSELVES.

II. THAT THEY ARE IN GODS SIGHT VALUABLE AND WORTH KEEPING.

III. THAT THEIR SALVATION IS DESIGNED, for it is that to which they are 1Pe_1:5).

IV. THAT THEY ARE IN THE CHARGE OF THE LORD JESUS.

V. THAT THEY ARE KEPT IN HARMONY WITH THEM MORAL FREEDOM, kept by the power of God through faith. (M. Henry.)

None of them is lost but the son of perdition.

A son of perdition implies the quality expressed by perdition--None of them perished but him whose nature it was to perish. The term is a well-known Hebrew idiom by which the lack of qualitative adjectives is supplied by abstract substantives which express that quality. Thus a disobedient child is a son of disobedience, and so children of light and of darkness. Judas lost himself. Even after the betrayal he might have been saved had he fled to the cross. There is no keeping in Gods name independently of keeping Gods word. This Judas did not do. (W. H. Fan Doren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 17:11-12. And now I am no more in the world — Having finished the work thou gavest me to do in it; but these — My apostles; are in the world — Exposed to various hardships and dangers; and I come to thee — Whom I have chosen and served, and whom my soul thirsteth after; to thee, the Fountain of light and life, the Crown and Centre of bliss and joy; now my longing shall be satisfied, my hopes accomplished, my happiness completed. Holy Father, keep through thine own name — Thy mercy, wisdom, and power; those whom thou hast given me — To be my messengers to mankind; that they may be one — One with us, and with each other; one body, separate from the world; as we are — By resemblance to us, though not equality. While I was with them, &c., I kept them in thy name — In the firm faith and steadfast practice of my religion, so far as I revealed it unto them. Or, as the clause may be read, through thy name, as in the preceding verse, through thy power and grace; those that thou gavest me — I say, the twelve persons whom thou gavest me for apostles: I have thus kept, and none of them is lost — None of them has apostatized; but the son of perdition — That wicked person who deserves perdition; that the Scriptures might be fulfilled — That is, whereby the Scripture is fulfilled. See note on Joh 12:40. As if he had said, His apostacy, has happened, not through any defect in my care, but in consequence of its being permitted, for the wisest reasons; and therefore long ago predicted in the Scriptures, particularly Psa 109:8. The son of perdition, signifies one that deservedly perishes: as, a son of death, 2Sa 12:5; children of hell, Mat 23:15; and children of wrath, Eph 2:3; signify persons justly obnoxious to death, hell, wrath.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:11 Jesus’ first concern for his disciples was that they . . . be united with an intimacy similar to the oneness shared by Jesus and the Father.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 17:11. Εἰσί, are) and that too, attended with danger. Therefore there follows τήρησον, keep.—τρός σε ἔρχομαι, I come to Thee) with the access that belongs to “the great High Priest” Joh 17:19, “I sanctify (consecrate) Myself” [Heb 4:14].—Πάτερ ἅγιε, Holy Father) A most apposite appellation, Jude Joh 17:1. note.[371] God’s sanctity as the Father, and His holy Paternity, made the approach to Him both delightful to Christ and sure to believers, Joh 17:17; Joh 17:19, and closed against the world, whilst it remains in its evil state. He addresses the Father by the title, Righteous Father, Joh 17:25.—ἐν τῷ ὁνόματί σου, through or in Thine own name) that they may still continue Thine, and still answer to the name of those given by Thee to Me.—οὓς, whom) The Cantabr. MS. with others reads ὃ.[372] Ὃ yields a most admirable sense: αὐτοὺς ὃ is said in the same way as πᾶν—αὐτοῖς, Joh 17:2, where see the note, and the ἓν, “one body,” or ‘thing, a unity, presently after accords with this. Owing to their not understanding this phrase, some have changed ὃ into οὓς, the sense not being much different; others have changed it into ᾧ, as if ὃ or ᾧ were to be referred to ὀνόματι as the antecedent. In like manner in Joh 17:24, ὃ, not οὓς, is found in the Cantabr. MS. ([373]) and the Copt. (Memp[374]). and Goth. Versions: and in Joh 17:12, ᾧ, not οὓς, is the reading of some, unless it too crept in instead of ὅ.[375]—ἛΝ,) Jesus does not ask, that He Himself may be ‘one’ with the Father; what He asks is that believers may be ‘one.’ The former unity is so by nature; the latter by grace: Therefore the latter is like the former, not equal to it. Comp. the ΚΑΘῶς, even as, Joh 17:16; Joh 17:18, and with respect to the same thing, Joh 17:21 [in all which passages the even as expresses similarity, not identity or equality].—ἡμεῖς, we) So also He speaks in Joh 17:21-22. The Son is ὁμοούσιος, of the same essence with the Father. Moses could not have said, in speaking of God and of himself either to God or to the people, we. Yet it does not appear that on account of this very ὁμοουσία, consubstantiality, it is fitting, that believers should say, in praying to the Father and the Son, Ye: a mode of expression however, which some practical theologians use.

[371] Beng. here seems to refer to a note which is not to be found in the Gnomon, on Jud 1:1, but which he had intended to write on the reading of the Rec. Text there. “to them that are sanctified by God the Father.” But in the note on Jud 1:1, he reads with AB Vulg. Syr. Memph. Theb. ἠγαπημένοις, instead of the received ἡγιασμένοις, which has no very old authority for it.—E. and T.

[372] ABCLΔ read ᾦ, referring to ὀνόματι as its antecedent. D corrected and X have ὅ: so also d and Cod. Fuld. of Vulg. But the other MSS., including the oldest, Amiatinus have quos, thus supporting the οὓς of the Rec. Text, which is not favoured by any other of the oldest authorities.—E. and T.

[373] Bezæ, or Cantabrig.: Univ. libr., Cambridge: fifth cent.: publ. by Kipling, 1793: Gospels, Acts, and some Epp. def.

[374] emph the Memphitic, or Coptic Version from Egypt: third cent.: publ. by Wilkins at Oxford, 1716.

[375] In ver. 24, οὓς is the reading of Aabc, Cypr. 235, 321, Hilar. 164, 1017, 1033, and several MSS. of Vulg.; and so Rec. Text and Lachm. But ὃ in BDd Memph. and some MSS. of Vulg: so Tisch. In ver. 12, οὓς is the reading of ADabcd, Hil. 1062, Vulg.: and so Lachm. and Rec. Text. But ᾧ in BC corrected, L, Memph.; and so Tisch. Lachm. quotes C as reading ὅ.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_17:11. Before He now gives expression to the special supplication itself (πάτερ ἅγιε, τήρησον, κ.τ.λ.), He first brings forward the peculiar ground of need, connecting in profound emotion its individual members unperiodically by καί.

οὐκέτι εἰμὶ, κ.τ.λ.] Thus He speaks, nunc quasi provincia sua defunctus, Calvin.

καὶ οὗτοι, κ.τ.λ.] hos relinquam in tantis fluctibus, Grotius.

ἅγιε] As in Joh_17:25, δίκαιε, so here ἅγιε is added significantly; for to guarantee that which Jesus would now pray (τήρησον, κ.τ.λ.) is in harmony with the holiness of His Father, which has been revealed to Him in entire fulness, a holiness which is the absolute antithesis of the ungodly nature of the profane world.[192] Placed by their calling in this unholy κόσμος, they shall be guarded by the holy God so as to abide faithfully in His name. In harmony with this antithesis of the holiness of God to the nature of the world, stands the petition, hallowed be Thy name, at the head of the Lords Prayer. Comp. also 1Jn_2:20; Heb_12:10; 1Pe_1:16; Rev_6:10. Thus the Father discharges the obligation lying on Himself, if He keeps the disciples of the Son in His name.

ἐν τῷ ὀνόμ. σ.] Specific sphere, in which they are to remain through being so kept; the name of the Father is made known to them (Joh_17:6; Joh_17:26), and with a happy result (Joh_17:6-8); thus are they to persevere in His living acquaintance and believing confession, not to depart out of this holy element of their life.

ᾧ δέδωκ. μοι] ᾧ by attraction, instead of ὅ, which, however, does not stand instead of οὕς (Bengel, comp. Ewald and Godet, who would read ὅ, see the critical notes), but: God has given His name to Christ, and that not in the sense of the divine nature entering into manifestation, as Hengstenberg here drags in from Exo_23:21, but rather in the sense of Joh_17:6, for revelation to the disciples; He has for such a purpose delivered His name to Him as the object of a holy commission. In conformity with this, the Lord prays that God would keep them in this His name, in order that they, in virtue of the one common faith and confession resting on the name of God, may be one (in the spiritual fellowship, of like mind and love, comp. Joh_17:22-23), in conformity with the archetype[193] of the ethical unity of the Father and the Son (comp. the Pauline εἷς θεὸς κ. πατὴρ πάντων, κ.τ.λ., Eph_4:6). Hence ἵνα expresses the object of τήρησον, κ.τ.λ., not of δέδωκ. μοι.

[192] According to Diestel in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1859, p. 45, God is here conceived of as ἅγιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, which is the completion of the N. T. ἅγιος τοῦ ʼΙσραήλ. But of this there is neither any indication in the context, nor do we find generally the idea of God as of the ἅγιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ expressed. Hengstenberg refers too exclusively to the power of the holy God.

[193] Bengel: Illa unitas est ex natura, haec ex gratia; igitur illi haec similis est, non aequalis.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 17:11 . καὶ οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ . The circumstances necessitating the prayer are now stated. Jesus is no longer in the world, already He has bid farewell to it, but the disciples remain in it, exposed without His accustomed counsel and defence, πάτερ ἅγιε , “Holy Father”; this unique designation is suggested by the Divine attribute which would naturally assert itself in defending from the world’s corruptions those who were exposed to them. τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σον ῷ δέδωκάς μοι , “preserve them in [the knowledge of] Thy name, which Thou gavest me”. ᾧ is attracted into dative by ὀνόματι . This was the fundamental petition. The retention of the knowledge which Christ had imparted to them of the Father would effect ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν καθὼς ἡμεῖς . Without harmony among themselves, so that they should exist as a manifest unity differentiated from the world, their witness would fail; Joh 15:8 ; Joh 15:12 . καθὼς ἡμεῖς is explained by Joh 15:9-10 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. The occasion and ground of the prayer are now more distinctly stated. He is going away from the disciples whom He had trained and guarded; henceforth the relations between Him and them will be different from those of the days of His ministry in the flesh. He had told them about this, but they had hardly understood it (13:33, 36; cf. 16:10, 16). They will need a special measure of the Father’s care. Swinburne has finely paraphrased some of the thoughts behind vv. 11, 12:

“Who shall keep Thy sheep,

Lord, and lose not one?

Who save one shall keep,

Lest the shepherd sleep?

Who beside the Son?”

οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. Cf. v. 14. His visible ministry in the world of men is over. Meyer cites Calvin’s comment: “nunc quasi provincia sua defunctus.”

The rec. text has οὗτοι, but אB have αὐτοί.

αὐτοὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰσίν: the disciples are still in the world and have their service and ministry to fulfil.

κἀγὼ πρὸς σὲ ἔρχομαι, repeated v. 13; cf. 13:3, 14:12.

After ἔρχομαι D adds οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰμί, a Western gloss, which has some support from a c e, and which evidently was added because the scribe stumbled at the words, “I am no longer in the world.”

πάτερ. B reads πατήρ (with N), as it also does at v. 21 (with D), at vv. 24, 25 (with A), and (teste Abbott, Diat. 2053) at 12:28. But, although the nom. with the article sometimes takes the place of the voc. (e.g. Mat 11:26, Luk 10:21), πατήρ without the article is not easy to defend. At v. 5 D, in like manner, has πατήρ for πάτερ.

πάτερ ἅγιε. The holiness of God is fundamental in the Hebrew religion. This is a characteristically Jewish mode of address in prayer; cf. 2 Macc. 14:36, ἅγιε παντὸς ἁγιασμοῦ Κύριε, and 3 Macc. 2:2, ἅγιε ἐν ἁγίοις, μόναρχε, παντοκράτωρ. The conception goes back to Lev 11:44 (quoted 1Pe 1:16); cf. Isa 6:3, Psa 71:22, and esp. Luk 1:49, ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ (Psa 111:9). See also 6:69, ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ, as used of Christ, and 20:22, λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον, of the Spirit. We find πάτερ δίκαιε in v. 25, but πάτερ ἅγιε does not appear again in the N.T. A remarkable parallel, which may be a reminiscence of the language of this verse, occurs in the Post-Communion Thanks-giving in the Didache (§ 10), εὐχαριστοῦμέν σοι, πάτερ ἅγιε, ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἁγίου ὀνόματός σου, οὗ κατεσκήνωσας ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς γνώσεως καὶ πίστεως καὶ ἀθανασίας, ἧς ἐγνώρισας (cf. v. 26) ἡμῖν διὰ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ παιδός σου.

τήρησον αὐτούς, “keep them,” as now specially needing care. For τηρεῖν, of keeping persons safe, cf. vv. 12, 15, Act 16:23, Act 16:24:23, Act 16:25:4, Act 16:21, and esp. Jud 1:1, “kept for Jesus Christ,” Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ τετηρημένοις. For τηρεῖν, of keeping or observing commandments, see on 8:51.

ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου, “in Thy Name,” i.e. under Thy Fatherly protection. The Name of God expresses (see on 5:43) the revelation of His Being, especially as exhibited in His help in time of need. Cf. Psa 44:6, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ἐξουθενώσομεν τοὺς ἐπανιστανομένους ἡμῖν, Psa 54:1, ὁ θεός, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου σῶσόν με, and Psa 124:8, ἡ βοήθεια ἡμῶν ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου. In such contexts the “Name” of God is equivalent to what a modern writer would call His “Providence”; and this, in the N.T. and especially in Jn., is associated with the doctrine of God as Father.

ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι. The reading here and in v. 12 presents difficulty, and the variants are important.

(1) The rec. text has οὓς δέδωκάς μοι, but this is poorly attested (D2, 69 f g q vg. cop.), and οὕς may have come from 18:9, or from v. 6. It gives an excellent sense; that His disciples were “given” to Jesus by the Father is said five times elsewhere in this chapter (vv. 2, 6, 9, 12, 24; see on 6:37 for other references).

(2) ὃ δέδωκάς μοι is read by D2 ful. This might have the same meaning as οὕς, and ὃ δέδωκας is the right reading at vv. 2, 24. For this collective use of the neuter sing., see on 6:37. Field, whose opinion is always weighty, prefers ὅ.

(3) But the harder reading, ᾧ, has such strong attestation that it must be accepted. It is supported by the great bulk of MSS and vss., including אABCLWΘ. ᾧ must refer to ὀνόματι, so that “in Thy Name, which Thou hast given me” is the only possible rendering. This is accepted by most modern editors, including Westcott and Abbott (Diat. 2408 f). Burney (Aramaic Origin, etc., p. 103), while recognising that ᾧ is the reading best attested, holds that οὕς must have been intended by the evangelist, and he traces the variants to the ambiguity of the relative particle דְּ, which might stand for either οὕς, ὅ, or ᾧ. But this does not explain the superior attestation of ᾧ, even if an Aramaic origin for the Fourth Gospel were accepted.

We have seen (on 3:35) that it is a favourite thought with Jn. that the Father gave all things to the Incarnate Son; but it is only here and at v. 12 that the idea is expressed that the Father has given His “Name” to Christ, and that it is in this “Name” that Jesus guarded His disciples. This does not mean only that the Son was “sent” by the Father (see on 3:17), and that therefore His ministry was accomplished “in the Name of the Father” (see on 5:43, 10:25) as His delegate and representative; but that in Christ God was revealed in His providential love and care, His “Name,” that is, His essential nature as Father, being exhibited in the Incarnate Son. Thus that “the Name” of the Father was “given” to Christ is yet another way of expressing the essential unity of the Father and the Son (see on 10:30). This transcends any such idea as that of Num 6:27, where the “Name” of Yahweh is “put” upon Israel by the priestly blessing; or of Exo 23:21, where it is said of the guardian angel of the people, “My Name is in him”; or of Jer 23:6, where the “Name” of the Messianic King is “Yahweh our Righteousness.” The nearest parallel is Php 2:9, ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα (cf. Rev 19:12); but in no N.T. passage except Joh 17:11, Joh 17:12 is found the conception of the Father giving His “Name,” in the sense of His revealed character as Fatherly Providence, to Christ. See on v. 22 for the δόξα which the Father had given to the Son.

This interpretation (demanded by the reading, ᾧ δέδωκας), viz. that the Father gave His “Name” to the Son, is in consonance with the thanksgiving quoted above from the Didache, according to which the Father causes His “Name” to tabernacle in the hearts of believers, i.e. His Fatherly protection rests upon them.

ἔδωκας is read by אLNW, but the true reading is δέδωκας (see on v. 4), the perfect indicating not merely one act of giving at a definite moment in time, but a continuous “giving” of the Father to the Son, throughout His earthly ministry.

ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς, sc. that the apostles might be united in will and purpose and spiritual fellowship even as the Father and the Son are united (see on 10:30). They had been given a “new” commandment, enjoining all disciples to love one another (see on 13:34), and the Fatherly protection of God is now invoked for them, that they may be kept of one mind in their sacred fellowship. At v. 21 the thought is no longer of the apostles only, but of all future generations of Christian disciples, for whom again the prayer is ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν.

The petition ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν, as applied to the apostles, was fulfilled in their case, for otherwise the earliest apostolic preaching could not have achieved its wonderful success; but it was not fulfilled in such fashion that no differences of opinion as to method were observed among the apostolic body, or that they were always right, as compared, e.g., with Paul (cf. Act 11:2, Gal 2:11, etc.) See further on v. 21.

It is probably due to its difficulty that the whole clause, ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς, is omitted in the O.L. texts a b c e ff2 and by the Coptic Q.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 11. “And I am no more in the world; but they are in the world; and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, them whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”

At the moment of asking God more specially for His protection for His disciples, the thought of Jesus naturally turns towards the dangers to which they will be exposed in the state of desertion in which His departure is about to leave them: “Keep them, these precious vessels (Joh 17:6-10), which are from this moment so exposed (Joh 17:11-15).” Jesus is no longer with them, in the world, to keep them, and He is not yet with God so as to be able to protect them from the midst of His heavenly glory. There is a sorrowful interval, during which His Father must charge Himself with this care. This reason would be absolutely incomprehensible, if the Fourth Gospel really taught, as Reuss thinks, that the Logos is susceptible neither of humiliation nor of exaltation, or, as Baur affirms, that death is for Him only the divesting of bodily appearances. Joh 17:5 has proved that, when once His divine state is abandoned, there remains for Him, as a mode of existence, only His earthly presence with His own, and Joh 17:11-12 prove that, when this presence comes to an end, there is nothing else to do for them except to lay them in the arms of the Father. Weiss thinks that even in His state of exaltation He will do nothing except through asking it of the Father. The passages which he alleges do not seem to me to prove this (Joh 14:13; Joh 14:16); and this idea is in direct contradiction to Mat 28:20.

The title: Holy Father, must be used in connection with the petition presented. Holiness, in man, is the consecration of his whole being to the task which the divine will assigns to him. Holiness, in God, is the free, deliberate, calm, immutable affirmation of Himself who is the good, or of the good which is Himself. The holiness of God, therefore, as soon as we are associated therewith, draws a deep line of demarcation between us and the men who live under the sway of their natural instincts, and whom the Scriptures call the world. The term: Holy Father, here characterizes God as the one who has drawn this line of separation between the disciples and the world.

And the petition: keep them, has in view the maintenance of this separation. Jesus supplicates His Father to keep the disciples in this sphere of consecration, which is foreign to the life of the world, and of which God is Himself the centre and the author. The words: in thy name, make the relation of the divine character which is granted to the apostles as it were the inclosing wall of this sacred domain in which they are to be kept.

The reading which nearly all the Mjj. present would signify: “in thy name which thou hast given me.” But where in the Scriptures is the name of God spoken of as given to the Son? The expression: “My name is in him” (Exo 23:21), is very different. I do not accept this reading even though it is so strongly supported; comp. Joh 17:12, where it is even far more improbable. Since the received reading: those whom (οὕς) thou hast given me, has in its favor only Mnn., I think that the readingὃ δέδωκας, “that which thou hast given me,” must be preferred, which is preserved in the Cambridge MS., but that we must make these words the explanatory apposition of αὐτούς, them, which precedes; it is the reverse construction of that in Joh 17:2, where the plural αὐτοῖς is the explanatory apposition of the singular πᾶν.

Comp. also Joh 17:24 (in case the reading ὅ for οὕς must be adopted in that verse): “Keep them in my name, them, that which thou hast given me.” This reading gives the same sense as that of the T. R. (οὕς); and it easily explains the origin of the Alexandrian reading (ᾧ substituted for ὅ which was referred to ὀνόματι). The conjunction that may depend either on δέδωκας, or, what is the only possible meaning with the reading which we prefer, on keep them: “Keep them in the sphere of thy knowledge (those whom thou hast given to me to introduce into it), that they may remain one as we are, and that no one of them may be lost in isolation by means of the rupture of the bundle which my care had formed.” What indeed would have become of Thomas if, after the resurrection, he had persisted in keeping himself separated from his brethren?

The words as we are signify that, as it is by the common possession of the divine nature that the Father and the Son are one, it is by the common knowledge of this nature (the name), that the disciples may remain closely united among themselves and may each one of them be individually kept.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He prayeth that his people may peaceably agree and be joined together in one, that as the Godhead is one, so they may be of one mind and one consent together.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I am no more in the world--(See on Joh 17:4).

but these are in the world--that is, Though My struggles are at an end, theirs are not; though I have gotten beyond the scene of strife, I cannot sever Myself in spirit from them, left behind and only just entering on their great conflict.

Holy Father--an expression He nowhere else uses. "Father" is His wonted appellation, but "Holy" is here prefixed, because His appeal was to that perfection of the Father's nature, to "keep" or preserve them from being tainted by the unholy atmosphere of "the world" they were still in.

keep through thine own name--rather, "in thy name"; in the exercise of that gracious and holy character for which He was known.

that they may be one--(See on Joh 17:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. I am no more in the world] I am just going to leave the world, and therefore they shall stand in need of peculiar assistance and support. They have need of all the influence of my intercession, that they may be preserved in thy truth.

Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me] Instead of ους δεδωκας μοι, THOSE whom thou hast given me, ABCEHLMS, Mt. BHV, and nearly one hundred others, read ω, which refers to the τω ονοματι σου, thy name, immediately preceding. The whole passage should be read thus: Holy Father, keep them through thy own name WHICH thou hast given me, that they may be one, c. By the name, here, it is evident that the doctrine or knowledge of the true God is intended as if our Lord had said, Keep them in that doctrine WHICH thou hast given me, that they may be one, &c. This reading is supported by the most ample evidence and indisputable authority. Griesbach has admitted it into the text, and Professor White in his CRISEΩS says of it, Lectio indubie genuina, "It is, without doubt, the genuine reading."

That they may be ONE] That they, and all that believe through their word, (the doctrine which I have given them,) may be one body, united by one Spirit to me their living head. The union which Christ recommends here, and prays for, is so complete and glorious as to be fitly represented by that union which subsists between the Father and the Son.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. And I am no longer in the world. He assigns another reason why he prays so earnestly for the disciples, namely, because they will very soon be deprived of his bodily presence, under which they had reposed till now. So long as he dwelt with them, he cherished them,

as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, (Matthew 23:37;)

but now that he is about to depart, he asks that the Father will guard them by his protection. And he does so on their account; for he provides a remedy for their trembling, that they may rely on God himself, to whose hands, as it were, he now commits them. It yields no small consolation to us, when we learn that the Son of God becomes so much the more earnest about the salvation of his people, when he leaves them as to his bodily presence; for we ought to conclude from it, that, while we are labouring under difficulties in the world, he keeps his eye on us, to send down, from his heavenly glory, relief from our distresses.

Holy Father. The whole prayer is directed to this object, that the disciples may not lose courage, as if their condition were made worse on account of the bodily absence of their Master. For Christ, having been appointed by the Father to be their guardian for a time, and having now discharged the duties of that office gives them back again, as it were, into the hands of the Father, that henceforth they may enjoy his protection, and may be upheld by his power. It amounts therefore to this, that, when the disciples are deprived of Christ’s bodily presence they suffer no loss, because God receives them under his guardianship, the efficacy of which shall never cease.

That they may be one. This points out the way in which they shall be kept; for those whom the Heavenly Father has decreed to keep, he brings together in a holy unity of faith and of the Spirit. But as it is not enough that men be agreed in some manner, he adds, As we are. Then will our unity be truly happy, when it shall bear the image of God the Father and of Christ, as the wax takes the form of the seal which is impressed upon it. But in what manner the Father, and Jesus Christ his Son, are one, I shall shortly afterwards explain.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(11) And now I am no more in the world.—The immediate future is still regarded as present. The words have a special reference to the interval between His death and the day of Pentecost, which would be for the disciples a time of darkness and danger, when they would have special need of the Father’s care.

Holy Father.—Comp. Joh_17:1; Joh_17:24-25. There is a special fitness in the word “Holy” here, as in opposition to the world. The disciples were left in the world, but they were not of the world (Joh_17:14). These were spiritually God’s children, separated from the world (Joh_17:6), and He commits them to the Holy Father, that He may keep them from the evil of the world.

Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me.—The reading is slightly doubtful, but if we take what would certainly seem to be the true text, the rendering should be, Keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me. (Comp. Joh_17:12.) The Authorised version renders the same words by “through Thy name” in this verse, and by “in Thy name” in Joh_17:12. The thought appears to be that the revelation of the nature of God by Christ to the world (Joh_17:6), was that which He Himself received from the Father. “I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak.” (Comp. Note on Joh_12:49.)

That they may be one, as we are.—This clause depends upon the words, “Keep them in Thy name.” They had so far realised the revelation of God that they had known Christ’s whole life to be the utterance of God to their spirits (Joh_17:6-8). He prays that they may be kept in this knowledge in order that they may so know the Father through Him, as to become themselves one with the Father.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. but these] Rather, and these. The coupling of the sentences is solemnly simple; ‘And now … and these … and I.’

Holy Father] The expression occurs nowhere else; but comp. Rev_6:10; 1Jn_2:20; and ‘Righteous Father,’ Joh_17:25. The epithet agrees with the prayer that God would preserve the disciples from the unholiness of the world (Joh_17:15) in the holiness which Christ had revealed to them and prays the Father to give them (Joh_17:17).

keep … given] The true reading gives us, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me. In any case the Greek here rendered ‘through Thy name,’ and in Joh_17:12 ‘in Thy name,’ is the same, and should be translated in the same manner in both verses. Comp. Rev_2:17; Rev_19:12; Rev_22:4. God has given His name to Christ to reveal to the disciples; and Christ prays that they may be kept true to that revelation. On the meaning of ‘name’ see on Joh_1:12.

may be one] They had just received a new bond of union. For long there had been oneness of belief. Now they had been made one by union with Jesus; they were one bread and one body, for they had all partaken of the one Bread (1Co_10:17).

as we are] Or, even as we are (comp. Joh_17:2): in perfect spiritual union conforming to the essential union between the Father and the Son.

11–16. In Joh_17:6-8 the disciples’ acceptance of Christ is given as the basis of intercession for them: here another reason is added,—their need of help during Christ’s absence. This plea is first stated in all simplicity, and then repeated at intervals in the petition.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And now I am no more in the world,.... In the earth; which is no contradiction to his resurrection from the dead, and stay with his disciples for a while; nor to his return to judge the world at the last day; nor to his reigning on earth with his saints a thousand years; since it will not be the world as it now is, but it will be a new earth, renewed, purified and refined, and clear of the wicked inhabitants of it; and in which will only dwell righteous persons: besides, Christ was to be, and will be no more in the world, in such circumstances, and doing such work as he then was: the meaning is, that whereas he had been in the world, and had done, or as good as done the work he came about, he was now just going out of it; it was but a very little while he had to stay in it; nor should he continue long with his disciples when he rose from the dead; and whereas his bodily presence had been a guard unto them, a protection of them, and he had bore the heat and burden of the day for them, and had took all reproaches and persecutions upon himself, now he was going from them:

but these are in the world; and will continue for some time, they having much work to do, and be exposed to the evils, snares and temptations of it; where they were hated, and were liable to great hardships, afflictions and persecutions; which shows that Christ was not so intent on his own glory, as to neglect the good of his people, and to be unconcerned for them:

and I come to thee; signifying his death; the deposition of his soul into his Father's hands; his ascension in soul and body to him; his entrance into heaven, and session at the right hand of God; and therefore had nothing to ask for on his own account: but his disciples he was parting with lay near his heart, and therefore he prays;

holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me: the person prayed unto is God the Father, the Father of Christ, and of his people; a very proper relation to consider God in and under in prayer to him: since it must give freedom, boldness, and hope of success: the epithet "holy" is exceeding suitable, as it perfectly agrees with him who is essentially so; and since it was holiness and an increase of it Christ prays for; and that there his disciples might be kept from the evil of sin: the persons prayed for are those that were given to Christ in election, and in the covenant, to be kept by him, and therefore he is the more solicitous for their preservation: his request is, that his Father would keep them from the evil of the world; from sinking under temptations and afflictions; faithful to him and to his Gospel, and in unity among themselves; and that "through" or "in" his own name; in it, in the doctrine of the Gospel, and in the worship of God, and profession of him; "through" it, through himself, as a wall of fire about them, and by his power through faith unto salvation:

that they may be one as we are; in nature, will, affection and understanding; which must be understood not of equality, but of likeness; and designs not their union to Christ, but to one another; abiding together, cleaving to each other, standing fast in one Spirit, having the same designs, and the interest of a Redeemer in view, and at heart.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 And 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.

Ver. 11. Keep through thine own name] "The name of the Lord is a strong tower," Pro 18:10; "A munition of rocks," Isa 33:16. Hither the saints run for the securing of their comforts and safe guarding of their persons, as conies do to their burrows, all creatures to their refuges, as the Shechemites fled to their tower, when their city was beaten down to the ground, Jdg 9:51. The lame and blind, the most shiftless creatures, when they had gotten the stronghold of Sion over their heads, thought then they might securely scorn David and his host, and yet their hold failed them, 2Sa 5:6-7. So doth not God those that fly to his name. Pray to be kept by it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I am no more in the world - I have finished my work among men, and am about to leave the world. See Joh 17:4.

These are in the world - They will be among wicked men and malignant foes. They will be subject to trials and persecutions. They will need the same protection which I could give them if I were with them.

Keep - Preserve, defend, sustain them in trials, and save them from apostasy.

Through thine own name - Our translators seem to have understood this expression as meaning “keep by thy power,” but this probably is not its meaning. It is literally “keep in thy name.” And if the term name be taken to denote God himself and his perfections (see the note at Joh 17:6), it means “keep in the knowledge of thyself. Preserve them in obedience to thee and to thy cause. Suffer them not to fall away from thee and to become apostates.”

That they may be one - That they may be united.

As we are - This refers not to a union of nature, but of feeling, plan, purpose. Any other union between Christians is impossible; but a union of affection is what the Saviour sought, and this he desired might be so strong as to be an illustration of the unchanging love between the Father and the Son. See Joh 17:21-23.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And now I am no more in the world: that is, I am now leaving the world, as to a corporeal and visible presence: yet St. Augustine takes notice, that Christ saith afterwards, (ver. 13.) these things I speak in the world: therefore he was still for some short time in the world. And as to his true invisible presence with his Church, he gave us this promise, (Matthew xxviii. 20.) Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world. --- Keep them in thy name, whom thou hast given me.[4] Christ, as man, says St. Augustine, asks of his Father, to preserve those disciples whom he had given him, who were to preach the gospel to the world. --- That they may be one, as we also are. These words cannot signify an equality, nor to be one in nature and substance, as the divine persons are one, but only that they may imitate, as much as they are able, that union of love and affection. See St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril, and St. Augustine on these word. (Witham) --- Here Jesus Christ prays especially, that the apostles and his Church may be kept in unity of religion, and free from schism.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Serva eos in nomine tuo, quos dedisti mihi. Some Greek manuscripts have in nomine tuo, quod dedisti mihi, Greek: o dedokas moi. Or, as St. Cyril reads, Greek: en onomati sou o dedokas moi. which is the same by a Grecism, as Greek: o dedokas. --- Ut sint unum sicut & nos. St. John Chrysostom says, non æqualitate, sed pro homana facultate, or quantum hominibus fas est, Greek: os anthropois dunaton. (hom. Greek: pb. p. 484.) nov. Ed. Ben.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The term world in this verse signifies not the men of the world, nor any particular party of them, (as it often signifies), but the habitable part of the earth. Our Saviour saith he is

no more in the world, because he was to continue on the earth but a very small time; but (saith he) these any disciples are like to abide in the world when I have left it; they will stand in need of this help, to be armed against all the temptations they will meet with from the world. I am coming to thee, therefore I commend them to thee, beseeching thee, that thou through thy power wouldst keep those, who, in giving themselves up to me, have also given themselves up to thee; let their owning thy name (which is as a strong tower, Pro 18:10) keep them from all the temptations and dangers to which they will be exposed in the world, wherein they are to live and converse; that they may be one, one body, and in one Spirit: that they may own one Lord, one faith, one baptism, &c.; that they may be one in love and affection,

as we are; in some proportion to that union which is between thee and me, though not in an equality. This prayer of our Saviour’s doth both oblige all those who in any sincerity own Christ, to study union both in opinion and affection; and also give us ground of hopes, that there is a time coming, when there shall be greater measure of it than we have seen in those miserably divided times wherein we have lived, and do yet live.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. I am no more in the world—As above noted, his standpoint is after his ascension.

Holy Father—The first petition for his apostles. The opening address, the first, is to Father simply; here, where holy preservation is petitioned, the address is Holy Father; in Joh_17:25, where retribution in the world is indicated, it is Righteous Father. Stier elaborately argues that God’s holiness is identical with his absolute love. It may be, indeed, admitted that of God’s primary love, pure and absolute righteousness, mercy, and purity are the perfect forms. Yet that love is rather holy than holiness itself. That love is holy because it is absolutely right; and holiness consists in rightness, with all the intensity of infinite emotion, and all the firmness of an infinite Will eternally determining.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I am no more (no longer) in the world. (cf. Joh_16:28) The earthly ministry is over; for a while he must leave them in the pitiless storm, bereft of his care and counsel, exposed to infinite peril and temptation. Headless, scattered, tempted to believe that all he had said to them was one huge delusion. And these are in the world, without me, without visible sight of the mirror in which thy glory has been reflected, and I come I returnto thee. These are the conditions on their part and on mine, which justify this prayer for them; and my prayer is, Holy Father, keep or, guard them. This grand title stands here in solitary grandeur (though let Ver. 25, pater dikaie , be noticed, and the fact that Rev_6:10 speaks of "the Holy and True," and 1Jn_2:20 of "the Holy One"). The very holiness of the Father is appealed to as the surest basis of the petition. They have already been taught to pray, "Hallowed made holy be thy Name." The eternal holiness and righteousness of God is involved in the saving and sanctification of the believer in Jesus. Keep them, holy Father" (says our Lord), in and by thy Name, those whom thou hast given me. Ouv dedwkav moi is the reading of the T.R., on the very feeble authority from the codices, simply D2, 69, and some versions. It is also thus quoted by Epiphanius twice; but the reading of all the best uncial manuscripts, a, A, B, C, L, Y, G, D, P, etc., numerous versions and quotations, is w dedwkav koi . Some very unimportant manuscripts read o , which Godet prefers as practically equivalent to ouv , regarded as a unity, "that which," and as calculated to explain the w of the uncials, and the reading ouv . Lachmann, Tischendorf (8th edit.), Tregelles, Meyer, Westcott and Herr, and R.T. all read w , which is thrown by attraction to onomati into the dative, and requires the translation, Keep them (in or by) in the power of thy Name which thou hast given me. And since o is a resolution of the attraction, it is quite as likely that it is a correction of w as that the reverse process should have taken place. The expression is very peculiar, but not inexplicable. Php_2:9 is the best illustration of the clause. It reads, according to the true text, He hath bestowed on him the Name (to onoma) which is above every name," i.e. the eternal Name, the incommunicable Name (cf. Rev_2:17 Rev_19:12) of Jehovah. Meyer objects to this that the Father"s Name was simply given him as an ambassador or for purposes of revelation and manifestation. This may be a partial limitation of the thought. He has already said, I have manifested thy Name, thy fatherhood to the men," etc. And now he adds, Keep them in the power and grace of this glorious Name, of which my Person and message have been the full expression." That they may be one, united, formed into a unity of being, even as we are, not losing their personality, but blending and interchanging their interests and their affections after the Divine pattern of the Father and Son. The relations between Christians, which constitute the essential unity of their corporate being, are of the same kind as those which pertain to Christ and God, and prevail between them, therefore lying far behind the shifting phases of organization and human order, in the essence and substance of spiritual life. Some writers have found in this analogy between the union of believers and the hypostatic union of the Persons of the Godhead, either a species of tritheism in the Godhead, or a minimizing of the entire conception to what is called moral union between the Father-God and his Son Jesus Christ. But the effect of the utterance is rather to lift the idea of the unity of the body of Christ to a superlative height, and to interpret still further the nature of its oneness with the Father and Son (see Ver. 23).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Keep them through thy name - Thy power, mercy, wisdom, that they may be one - with us and with each other; one body, separate from the world: as we are - By resemblance to us, though not equality.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Here observe, 1. Our Saviour’s present condition: I am no more in the world: that is, I shall continue on earth but a small time longer, and then ascend to my Father in heaven.

Learn thence, that Jesus Christ, as he is man, he is gone out of this lower world into the immediate presence of his Father; he had been abased before, he must be exalted now; he had no more work to do on earth, but much to do in heaven, therefore he left this earth to go to heaven.

Observe, 2. Our Saviour’s prayer to his Father for his apostles, before he left the world: Holy Father, keep them; that is, preserve them by thy divine power and goodness, for the glory of thy holy name.

Here note, 1. The title and appellation given to God, Holy Father.

Thence learn, that when we go to God in pryaer, especially for grace and sanctification, we must look upon him as an holy Father, as essentially and originally holy, as infinitely and independently holy.

Note, 2. The supplication requested of God: Keep through thy name those whom thou hast given me.

Thence learn, that the perseverance of the saints in a state of grace, is the sweet effect and fruit of Christ’s prayer: Christ has begged it, and it cannot be denied; there being such an harmony and sweet consent betwixt the will of the Father the will of the Son.

Three things concur to the believer’s perseverance.

On the Father’s part there is everlasting love, and all sufficient power.

On the Son’s part, there is everlasting merit, and constant intercession.

On the Spirit’s part, there is a perpetual inhabitation, and continued influence.

Observe, 3. The end of Christ’s supplication on behalf of his people: That they may be one, as we are one.

Here note, 1. That the heart of Christ is exceedingly set upon the unity and oneness of his members. The believers’ union with Christ their head, and one with another, has some resemblance to that unity that is betwixt the Father and the Son. For it is an holy and Spiritual union, a close and intimate union, an indissoluble and inseparable union.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. He now goes to the Father; these are left behind to preach the gospel, establish his kingdom, manifest his glory. Hence, he pleads that he may “keep them through his name,” or power and love. He especially pleads that they may be kept “one,” united as the Father and the Son.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11–16. In Joh 17:6-8 the disciples’ acceptance of Christ is given as the basis of intercession for them: here another reason is added,—their need of help during Christ’s absence. This plea is first stated in all simplicity, and then repeated at intervals in the petition. Note the simple and solemn coupling of the clauses.

11, 12. ᾦ for οὕς: οὕς in Joh 17:12 caused the omission of καί before ἐφύλαξα, a colon being placed at σου.

11. πάτερ ἅγιε. The expression occurs here only; but comp. Rev 6:10; 1Jn 2:20 and Joh 17:25. The epithet agrees with the prayer ἁγίασον αὐτούς (Joh 17:17), ἵνα ὦσιν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἡγιασμένοι (Joh 17:19). God has given His name (see on Joh 1:12) to Christ to reveal to His disciples; and Christ here prays that they may be kept true to that revelation of the Divine character. And even as (καθώς) the Father and Son are one in the possession of the Divine nature, so the disciples are to be kept one by the knowledge of it. Comp. Rev 2:17; Rev 22:4.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] The occasion, and substance of His prayer for them.

οὐκ ἔτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῷ κ.] This shews us that ὁ κόσμ. is not said of place alone, for the Lord Jesus is still here; but of state, the state of men in the flesh; sometimes viewed on its darker side, as overcoming men and bringing in spiritual death,—sometimes, as here, used in the most general sense.

καί, not but; it expresses the simultaneous state of the Lord and His, see ch. 16:32, and note.

ἅγιε] Holy, as applied to God, peculiarly expresses that penetration of all His attributes by Love, which He only who here uttered it sees through in its length, breadth, and height:—which angels (Isa 6:3: Rev 4:8) feel and express:—which men are privileged to utter, but can never worthily feel:—but which devils can neither feel nor worthily utter (see Mar 1:24). They know His Power and His Justice only. But His Holiness is especially employed in this work of τηρεῖν now spoken of.

ἐν τῷ ὀν. σου, not ‘through Thine own Name,’ as E. V. which yet renders ‘in Thy Name’ ver. 12 (so Chrys., Theophyl., ),—but in the ὄνομα of vv. 6 and 12: see below.

ᾧ] Not only the best supported, but the best reading, though Stier maintains that it can bear no meaning χριστοπρεπῶς.

The Name of God is that which was to be in the Angel of the Covenant, Exo 23:21, see also Isa 9:6: Jer 23:6.

This Name,—not the essential God-head, but the covenant name, Jehovah our Righteousness,—the Father hath given to Christ, see Php 2:9; and it is the being kept in this, the truth and confession of this, for which He here prays. “That which the Son has given to His disciples is no other than that which He himself has received from the Father, viz. the essential revelation of the Father.” Luthardt. Cf. Mat 10:27.

ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθ. ἡμεῖς] The oneness here is not merely harmony of will or of love,—as some have interpreted it, and then tried to weaken the Oneness of the Godhead by the καθώς,—but oneness by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, the gift of the covenant (1Co 6:17), and ultimately [as the close union implied by καθώς requires] oneness of nature, 2Pe 1:4, where the ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηται answers to the ὄνομα ὃ δέδωκάς μοι here. “Non ait, ut nobiscum sint unum,—aut simus unum ipsi et nos, sicut unum sumus nos,—sed ait, ut sint unum sicut et nos.” Aug. Tract, cvii. 5.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I come [ερχομαι] . I am coming. Spoken of His departure to the Father.

Holy [αγιε] . See on saints, Act 26:10; also on 1Pe 1:15. Compare 1Jo 2:20, and righteous Father [δικαιε] , ver. 25. This epithet, now first applied to the Father, contemplates God, the holy One, as the agent of that which Christ desires for His disciples - holiness of heart and life; being kept from this evil world.

Those whom [ους] . The correct reading is w=, referring to name. Thy name which Thou hast given me. So in ver. 12. Compare Phi 2:9, 10; Rev 2:17; Rev 19:12; Rev 22:4.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.