John 17:6, commentary and pictures

Spoken in His farewell intercession on the night before the cross, Jesus declares that He has made the Father known as merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, paternal in love. The men given Him out of the world are the disciples whom the Father chose and entrusted to the Son, belonging first to the Father and then becoming Christ's by receiving Him. They have kept God's word by receiving Christ's words from the Father, believing He came out from the Father, and obeying what they received in love. In this He finished the work given Him of glorifying the Father on earth and gathering those who would continue His work. As the Father sent Him to reveal the Father, He sends them to reveal Him and the Father, to be one as He and the Father are one so that the world may believe and God may be glorified.

Setting of the Prayer

John 17:6 belongs to Christ's prayer to the Father offered just before His trial and crucifixion, His last recorded prayer with His disciples, His farewell prayer for His church, spoken just before His betrayal by Judas, His agony in Gethsemane, His humiliation, rejection and crucifixion. It is part of the prayer before His trial and crucifixion which serves as a lesson about His intercession as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary after completing His sacrifice, an intercession for those who come to Him humbly and trust His power to save, asking that His followers be kept from sin and remain loyal to God, and containing important truth profitable to consider. Its teachings call believers to unity, to become one with Christ and through Him one with one another, and to study and follow the prayer, applying its instruction personally and dedicating oneself wholly to God's service.

It was spoken in the upper chamber to His faithful disciples alone after Judas withdrew, because the multitude could not understand these sacred truths, after ending His instruction with strong, hopeful words, lifting His eyes to heaven. It belongs to the burden of His soul poured out in comfort, counsel and prayer recorded in John 15-17, mingling warning of affliction, hatred and temptation with promise of the Comforter and the disciples' work as witnesses who had seen God's works in Jesus and received His teaching, whose testimony was to carry the message of salvation to the world. In that final prayer, offered as He comforted and instructed His followers before leaving them, He brought His church before the Father and joined humanity to God.

The disciples did not fully understand the prayer until after the resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit, and even then its words of comfort, counsel and prayer were not fully understood or appreciated at first. Its words stayed imprinted on their minds and hearts, were repeated by them again and again to stay their sinking hearts in disappointment and trial and to strengthen one another, and have spread through their testimony over all lands to live through all ages. Through that testimony they comfort the desponding and give peace and hope to believers, to thousands who believe.

The prayer is an act of high-priestly intercession that embraces humanity and joins earth to heaven and finite people to the infinite God, in which as consecrated High Priest and faithful Shepherd He commits His elect church into the Father's arms and gathers His flock under the shadow of the Almighty before going forth to meet the last battle with Satan. In it the Good Shepherd identifies His interests with fallen humanity and intercedes for His disciples, caring for them and teaching them the way of life. As their sinless Elder Brother sharing human weakness while remaining without sin, He understands human weakness and temptation, seeks fresh supplies of grace and strength from the Father so He can strengthen His followers and impart assurance and hope, and prays earnestly on humanity's behalf to help them meet danger and remain faithful, pleading for sinful humanity. In that praying He presents His bruised hands bearing the wounds of cruel spikes and pleads that His church, the names of those who believe on Him graven upon the palms of His hands, including ministers and congregations clothed with filthy garments who are humbling their hearts, fasting and praying for pardon through the atoning sacrifice.

The prayer was uttered in the hearing of the disciples, is full of instruction of the highest type, shows the desire that all should be saved through faith in Christ, and expresses His mind toward His Father and His disciples to teach all who follow Him. It is a sample on earth of the intercession carried on in heaven within the veil for all who receive Christ and believe on His name, even unto the ends of the earth, and it belongs to Christ's prayer for His disciples and for all who would believe on Him through their word. It joins Himself with His believing people and joins them with Him in the work of saving a lost world, to carry His light beyond the home and church to the whole world, holding possibilities that strengthen faith and give a higher idea of what a Christian may become by striving to answer it. As discourse for all who claim to be Christians its words are needed in every home as instruction from God about how to receive Christ's grace, whose conditions must be followed lest people be found unworthy to stand among His people when He comes in glory.

Revealing the Father's Name

To manifest God's name is to make God known, to reveal who God is and what His character is like. That name is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. It is paternal in character and abundant in love. People cannot know it without divine aid.

Jesus revealed the Father by His divine character and teaching, though minds could not readily discern the divine beneath His human nature. He did so by a life of compassionate service, tenderness, patience, humility, holiness, spotless character, unselfish service and unchanging compassion, and by His life and death for the sheep. He gave His whole earthly life to teach how to work as devoted, consecrated missionaries for God. Beneath John's pride, ambition and combativeness He saw a sincere loving heart, and to John He made known God's holiness and transforming love, so that by receiving His influence and practicing His teaching John's harsh and self-seeking character was changed.

The revelation was meant to bring the love with which the Father loved the Son into the disciples, with Christ Himself dwelling in them. By coming to dwell with people as God's thought made audible, He revealed God both to men and to angels. So the little world is the lesson-book of the universe, and redeeming self-sacrificing, self-renouncing love that seeks not its own will be the study and song of both the redeemed and the unfallen beings through endless ages, showing in the face of Jesus and in the light from Calvary that this love is the law of life for earth and heaven, has its source in the heart of God, and reveals the character of Him who dwells in unapproachable light in the meek and lowly One.

The precious things Christ brought from heaven were entrusted by God to His disciples. The knowledge of God's paternal character imparted by Jesus was entrusted to them to share with the world.

Given Men Keeping Word

The men given out of the world are the disciples, whom the Father chose and called out of the world and entrusted to Jesus. They belonged to the Father, were given to the Son, and kept the Father's word. To them Jesus made known the Father's name and character, and that revealing was meant to bring the Father's love for Jesus into them. His prayer and its teachings set forth eternal principles for study and practice, calling His followers to share His self-denial and suffering so that God may be glorified in them, and showing that He received from the Father to give through teaching and unselfish service to save from sin and turn toward righteousness.

They were humble fishermen whom Christ called at once from their occupation to follow Him. He educated and trained them during His ministry for His service. No matter how humble a person's position in this world may be, he may learn of Christ, and God will manifest Himself to him as He does not to the world. Such a one is therefore to work as for life, cooperating intelligently with heavenly intelligences in carrying forward the work of salvation and representing Christ in character formation.

They belonged to God before being given to Christ, by the Father's prior choice and drawing, and they became Christ's by choosing to receive Him. Those given were true and loyal, keeping His word. They are the Father's gift to Him, whom He loves as His children and values as the reward of His work, giving reason to trust Him. He covenanted to redeem them from Satan's power at the cost of His own life. He undertakes to keep them and bring them to eternal life, cleansing from moral defilement and presenting faultless before God those who accept Him as personal Saviour and cooperate rather than resist or refuse salvation.

They have kept His word by receiving the words Christ gave them from the Father. They knew surely that all things given to Christ are of the Father, that Christ came out from the Father, and they believed the Father sent Him. Everyone God has given to Christ keeps His word and keeps the word of the Father, receiving and holding to the words Jesus gave. This keeping is walking in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering, and abiding in Christ by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, for His words are spirit and life, and where the Word is appreciated it is obeyed, which is eternal life to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. As the Father sent Christ into the world to reveal the Father, Christ sends His disciples into the world to reveal Christ and the Father, and the revealed knowledge every true witness carries is that a sinner is accepted by a holy God only through the righteousness of Christ and redemption through His blood, by faith in Christ as the Son of the infinite God becoming one with the Father.

Jesus' words about revealing God's name and their faithfulness are a commendation to them. Their faithfulness in keeping God's word is a blessed commendation, and to have this said would be a great honor, though self often strives for mastery. Keeping God's word is the mark of Christ's faithful followers, whom He expects much from and will commend to the Father. It points to practical Christianity in possessing Christ's mind through the Spirit and showing His sweetness and overcoming grace. In John 17:6-10 their position as those who belonged to God, were given to Christ, and kept God's word stands as an example for every Christian to stand true to principle and profession and hold fast to the Mighty One, and in this they are safe and hidden with Christ in God.

They are distinguished from the world by keeping God's word. Christians and the world serve different masters and cannot unite in fellowship while following opposing ways. Christ is the strength, light, comfort, and joy of His people, who must stand in God's strength and remain faithful to the truth. The verse belongs to Christ's last prayer and points to the church's calling to remain distinct from worldly practices, for conformity to display and fashion weakens the church, while truth put into practice sanctifies the soul.

Finished Work and Mission

Christ had finished the work given Him to do on earth, and in John 17:6 He declares that He glorified God on earth by manifesting the Father's name. That finishing meant doing all the Father commanded Him, fulfilling the conditions of the heavenly plan to redeem fallen humanity, with His own righteous character standing as the example. It included gathering out the men the Father gave Him out of the world, the disciples who were to continue His work among men, and those who believe were given to Him through this completed work. Manifesting God's name in this finished work means making God known and revealing the character of God to the world, which rests on becoming acquainted with God as Governor of heaven and Lawgiver and with Jesus Christ whom He sent as His representative. Jesus did this by giving His whole earthly life to teach how to work as devoted, consecrated missionaries for God, and by giving to those men the words the Father gave Him, which they received, keeping His word, knowing that all things given to Christ are of the Father, knowing surely that He came out from the Father, and believing that the Father sent Him. This finished work is the pattern for those who minister for God in word and doctrine today, who are given a work as Christ was given a work and are expected to do the work He did by preaching God's word, so that when life-work is ended each person may be able to say the same.

Manifesting and glorifying the Father's name was the great object of His mission, the purpose He kept ever before Him. His joy was that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. This is the truth He set before the eleven first after Judas left and before speaking of His approaching separation from them.

As the Father sent Christ into the world to reveal the Father, so Christ sends His disciples into the world to reveal Christ and the Father. The revealed knowledge every true witness carries is that a sinner is accepted by a holy God only through the righteousness of Christ and redemption through His blood, by faith in Christ as the Son of the infinite God becoming one with the Father.

Christ overcame and finished the work the Father gave Him to do and manifested the Father's name to those given Him out of the world who kept His word, through vital connection with God as the source of strength with thoughts centered on God. Only by overcoming as Christ overcame will believers win the crown of life, through earnest effort against the evil tendencies of the natural heart, with self-denial and perseverance proportionate to the infinite value pursued. Self-deception and self-sufficiency separate from God, and unless natural tendencies are corrected by the Holy Spirit they hold the seeds of moral death, leaving no power to resist self-indulgence, self-love, and temptation to sin. Helpless sinners lay hold on Him as the mighty Deliverer for divine power only by realizing their need, gaining true knowledge of themselves as sinners in utter helplessness, renouncing all self-trust and self-sufficiency at the beginning of the Christian life and at every advance step heavenward, and continuing in reaching of heart after God, earnest confession of sin, humbling of soul before Him, and clinging with the grasp of faith while feeling weakness amid surrounding perils.

Unity and Divine Persons

John 17 is Christ's prayer for unity among believers, that they be one with one another as Christ and the Father are one, one with Christ and through Him one with God and with one another, sanctified through the truth. The prayer is to serve as the church's creed and pattern for how to pray and live, and difference, disunion and variance dishonor God and are inconsistent with being branches of the true Vine. It calls followers not to pull apart but to earnestly seek unity in faith and understanding of God's word, to read it often and live it out, for the close relation is that what belongs to the Father belongs to the Son and what belongs to the Son belongs to the Father. Christ and the Father are distinct persons, and the unity Christ asks between Himself and His followers, like His unity with the Father, does not erase individuality or distinct personality but is unity in following God's way and in eternal unselfish principles.

Perfect oneness as close as the union between Father and Son gives success to God's workers, convinces the world that God sent His Son to save sinners and loves believers as He loved Christ, brings God's love, saves the sinner and glorifies God, and is witnessed by Christlike kindness, tenderness and love. Preserving this unity by cultivating love, pressing together, working as one, being at peace, uprooting suspicion, envy, jealousy and evil thinking and speaking, and putting away spiritual pride and love of supremacy raises fallen man and glorifies God eternally. That unity allows God's love and power to flow among believers, strengthens them against the enemy and demonstrates sanctifying power on heart and character. It comes when believers are meek and lowly, come close to Christ and one another in sympathy and love, put every wrong between person and God and between persons out of the way, confess and forsake sins so Christ's blood is efficacious, hate the separating sin, give confidence to the weak, live in loyal fellowship, and avoid stirring prejudice or strife.

Those given to Christ become partakers of the divine nature escaping the corruption in the world through lust, one with Christ in God, loved by the Father as He loves His Son and changed from sin to holiness. It is the privilege of men and women to have this enduring union opening rich eternal happiness outliving all earthly sinful enjoyment, reflecting Christ's light under the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work to help save others, as His chosen children and heirs redeemed by the Lamb's blood with God's law in their hearts. In the prayer Jesus presents His bruised hands bearing wounds of cruel spikes and pleads that His church, the names of those who believe on Him, are graven upon the palms of His hands, praying for ministers and congregations in filthy garments humbling their hearts, fasting and praying for pardon through the atoning sacrifice. The attempt to use the chapter to distinguish the apostles from later believers to deny later spiritual gifts is false, for the original commission promises signs to believers.

Studying and Living Prayer

The words belong to the prayer Christ spoke just before His trial and crucifixion, His last recorded prayer with His disciples before betrayal, and they contain important truth profitable to consider and are to be studied. They are to be committed to memory, learned as how to pray and how to live, made the rule of life, read over and over and carried into practical life, believed verse by verse with watchful prayer. The teachings are essential instruction and present eternal principles for study and practice, essential spiritual education in which Christ received from the Father so He could give through teaching and unselfish service, saving people from sin and turning them toward righteousness. The lessons in John 13-17 hold richest promises and teach duties that honor God, and believers are to study the prayer for His disciples and put it into practice, for its lessons shape Christian character and guard against one-sided development. So studied and lived, they sustain courage, strengthen faith and keep souls in God's love, developing characters that honor God with perfect Christian fellowship and the fruit of obedience to the truth.

The instruction was given before Christ was separated from them and prepared the disciples for their appointed work, teaching that their ministry could succeed only through divine power joined with human effort. He refused to leave His followers in blindness and ignorance by making them acquainted with His purposes and plans, as special evidence of His love to be brought to mind in all their work and councils. It was given because He knew the trials and temptations they would meet, as instruction to strengthen them for the difficulties before them, and its study helps in gospel work. Those who believe the Word are to put it into practice, rising right up, giving themselves to it, and making an honest effort to live it, so that they may enter in with Him through the gates into the city.

Answering the prayer requires entire consecration, and its lessons God's family on earth must learn by applying its instruction personally and dedicating oneself wholly to God's service. It must be read and answered by an entire consecration to God, which is the only hope and is how fitness for heaven is obtained in this world. That requires seeking God as never before, making certain work for eternity, and being purified, refined, and sanctified onto a higher platform, which then leads to feeling the worth of souls for whom Christ died and the peril of those doing nothing to bring souls to Christ. The prayer gives help in every emergency to the truly penitent who ask in faith for fresh grace, new supplies of strength, and the efficiency and power of the Holy Spirit promised to all who ask.

Living the prayer means ceasing criticism and evil speaking, praying earnestly, linking with one another and with Christ, and praying for union and then living so God can answer. It calls for cultivating love, pressing together as one, working as one man, and being at peace among yourselves, while uprooting suspicion, envy, jealousy, and evil thinking and speaking, and putting away spiritual pride and love of supremacy, and becoming as little children in order to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King when the warfare is ended. God's people are to work for harmony, avoid stirring prejudice or strife, and help one another, acting with Christ's meekness and love, making peace and avoiding obstacles that could trouble or tempt others. This leaves no place for finding fault with others; instead, each person should examine and humble their own heart before God. It means emptying the heart of all selfishness and self-centeredness, receiving the transforming grace of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and cherishing love for one another shown by appreciating one another, esteeming others better than self, helping and strengthening one another, speaking words of hope and cheer that make hearts glad, and each doing his own appointed work with his best, so that accusing, backbiting, criticizing, and weakening one another's hands cease.

Keeping God's word is the standard for everyone who desires to walk with the heavenly Father. It is the mark of faithful followers whom He expects much from and will commend to the Father. It is a duty requiring receiving and following Christ's instruction and speaking the words God has given, rather than inventing theories without a scriptural foundation. Those who belong to Him are called to full and willing obedience to His commandments, not obedience limited to commands that suit human wishes or inclination. Their unity with Christ is witnessed by receiving the revealed doctrines, doing the duties taught in God's word, overcoming through the Lamb's blood and their testimony, loving their Redeemer, and growing in knowledge of Christ by reflecting His character.

The same work of manifesting the Father's name rests upon every believer to do as far as possible following Christ's example, with ministers manifesting God's name in giving the Word. Revealing God and teaching His word is work that teachers are to carry out as they uplift the only true God with knowledge from God to a world dead in sin. The finished work in which He glorified the Father by doing all the Father commanded is the pattern for those who minister for God in word and doctrine today, who are given a work as Christ was given a work and are expected to do the work He did by preaching God's Word. It means just what it says and must be believed verse by verse with watchful prayer and lived out before fellow ministers, calling for reconversion and for understanding the philosophy of genuine missionary work by those acquainted with present truth. This work is the pattern believers must copy by patterning His works, which keeps them from missing the way and brings them to heaven. Manifesting God's name and glorifying Him on earth are expressed through Christlike conduct, in which those who honor others as God's property, act with integrity and mercy, and work unselfishly for their present and eternal good make God known and glorify Him.

The prayer is linked with Christ's call for His followers to share His self-denial and suffering, so that God may be glorified in them. Through it He speaks from His Word, calling for people to hear and obey Christ, work with Him, die to self, and let Him abide in them, with love for Christ making them love one another as He has loved them. Believers are to seek sanctification through the truth and use their talents so that their lives answer Christ's prayer for unity among His followers. Its answer requires believers to follow God's truth and obey Him and be sanctified through the truth. Christ abides in the heart as the Comforter making joy full, and His words become the bread of life giving strength for fellowship and obedience.

The instruction is to be practiced first in the home, for obeying Christ's words there shapes the home's influence and extends that influence to the church. God measures church members by what they are in the home, and the practice must begin there by working the works of Christ and refusing an unchristlike course that grieves the Spirit, so the influence shines as a bright lamp giving light to those in darkness. Unity is the badge of discipleship, calling God's people to be united heart to heart in one great work with combined consecrated effort, tender respectful regard, love, and righteous principles that recover sinners and make them on earth a symbol of the family in heaven. Its words are needed in every home as instruction from God about how to receive Christ's grace, and the conditions Christ gives must be followed, otherwise people will be found unworthy to stand among His people when He comes in glory.

God has given believers the privilege of being united in Christian love, brethren with brethren all bound together by the golden chain of love let down from heaven to unite believers. He wants believers to be like Himself, to keep them unspotted from the world, to forgive their sins, and to draw them to Himself, that they may enter the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is part of the individual experience of God's true, believing, trusting children: they learn from God and receive life and healing from the tree of life. They are safe and hidden with Christ in God as they stand true to principle and profession and hold fast to the Mighty One. The breadth of Jesus' mercy and love He is ready to give to all who walk before Him in obedience and humility.

The prayer shows the high estimate Christ has placed on human beings by purchasing them at the sacrifice of His life. It requires men to be careful how they treat the purchase of the blood of Christ, not to wound and bruise the hearts of their brethren, but to follow His example with forbearance, patience, and love for one another. It calls for zeal directed toward God's glory, not human exaltation. Truly converted believers value this prayer for His disciples more highly than any favor the world can offer.