John 17:8, commentary and pictures

Christ passed on to His disciples the very message the Father had entrusted to Him, and they took it to heart, becoming certain from what they had seen and heard that He had come forth from the Father who sent Him. He spoke this in farewell to the eleven alone after Judas withdrew, as a wounded intercessor joining earth to heaven and covenanting to redeem at the cost of His life those the Father had given Him out of the world. Genuine receiving is shown in keeping God's word in obedient, transformed living, which gives sure experimental knowledge of Christ's divine origin and mission, protects under God's care, and helps resist Satan and overcome foes. To know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent in this personal way is life eternal, the foundation every true witness must stand upon, without which teaching is false education ignorant of eternal life. That oneness of believers with Christ and one another as Christ is one with the Father is the great unmistakable proof to the world that God sent His Son, and answering it calls for entire consecration, dying to self, and letting Christ abide within to sanctify through obedience.

Setting of the Prayer

John 17:8 was spoken in the upper chamber alone with the eleven after Judas withdrew, as Christ's farewell instruction before separation, betrayal, Gethsemane, trial and crucifixion. It belongs to His last prayer with His disciples before His humiliation and trial, given to prepare and comfort them for their future work and coming trial before they saw Him suffer. That preparation taught that their ministry had to be built on Christ, with divine power working with human effort, in wholehearted dedication to God's service and freedom from self-centeredness, that they might be one with Christ and through Him united with one another. He had given them the very words the Father had given Him, and they had received those words and known and believed that He came from the Father and that the Father sent Him. Its blessings are spiritual, that followers be kept from sin and remain loyal to God, not that they gain wealth or human honor, and its teachings must be read, studied carefully and followed.

The disciples did not fully understand these words at the time, for they were sacred truths given to faithful disciples alone because the multitude could not understand them. Those words stayed with them through disappointment and trial, and they repeated them again and again to sustain one another and to stay their sinking hearts. They were fully understood and appreciated only after the resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, whose coming opens blinded eyes. Through the testimony of the disciples these truths have spread over all lands, and they live through all ages to comfort the desponding and give peace and hope to thousands who believe.

The prayer is a high-priestly intercession in which Christ as Good Shepherd, Elder Brother and wounded intercessor identifies His interests with fallen humanity, pleads with the Father on humanity's behalf, and receives grace and fresh supplies to give assurance and hope. He joins earth to heaven and people to God, teaching them the way of life by His close concern for them, and covenanting to redeem those given Him at the cost of His life and purchasing them with His blood. His heavenly ministry as Mediator and High Priest continues after His sacrifice, and He intercedes for those who come to Him humbly and trust His power to save, an intercession He is making and will continue to make to the end of the world for those who believe in Him. By His atoning death and redemption price and by His prevailing pleading at His Father's right hand He takes away sin, keeps obedient believers from falling, gives to all who receive Him power to become the sons of God, and because He lives they shall live also. In that prayer presented to the Father on behalf of ministers over the congregations and the churches, who are clothed with filthy garments of sin and are earnestly humbling their hearts, fasting and praying that their sins shall be pardoned through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus pleads as the wounded intercessor, presenting His bruised hands bearing the wounds of cruel spikes, and declares that He has graven His church upon the palms of His hands, meaning the names of those who believe on Him.

Giving and Receiving Words

Jesus handed on to His disciples the very utterances the Father had entrusted to Him, and they took those utterances to heart. In receiving them they came to know with certainty that He had come forth from the Father and to believe that the Father had sent Him. That prayer and its teachings set forth essential principles for the spiritual life and for higher education, to be studied and put into practice so as to shape habits and guard against one-sided development. Studying and living that prayer teaches how to pray and how to make it the daily lesson and rule of life, with His words abiding in the heart as the bread of life to make joy full, to give strength for character that honors God, and to show the fruit of obedience to the truth in perfect fellowship.

The oneness there prayed for leaves personality intact, for Christ and the Father are distinct persons, and so the unity of Christ with His followers does not erase their distinct personalities. That unity calls for giving up one's own way for God's way, in order to show the world that God sent His Son to save sinners. The chapter draws the line between God's people and the world, which serves a different master. As belief that the Father sent the Son grows it ripens into a oneness as close as the union of Father and Son, giving success to God's workers, convincing the world, revealing the power of grace, and imparting Christ's character and Spirit, which requires ceasing criticism and evil speaking, putting away discord over little differences, linking together with one another and with Christ, praying for union, helping the erring, and so living that God can answer the prayer.

The gift was made to the men whom the Father gave Him out of the world. To them He manifested the Father's name, they kept God's word, and they knew that all things given to Him are of the Father and come from God. He prayed for them and not for the world, because they are the Father's own and He is glorified in them, and God must work through them for the salvation of others in the world. True receiving of God's Word gives sure knowledge of Christ's divine origin and mission and marks those thus given as keepers of His word.

Where the Word is appreciated it is obeyed, so that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood abide in Christ and Christ in them unto eternal life. These words are to have due weight on hearts at all times and in all places, and to understand the mystery of godliness in them lifts believers onto a higher plane of action. His work in the world was to reveal the Father in this way, and to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent is life eternal, the experimental knowledge every true witness must have and stand upon, that a sinner is accepted by a holy God only through the righteousness of Christ and has redemption through His blood, trusting Him as Son of the infinite God, the mighty Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, apart from whom no one can meet the claims of God's law or satisfy His justice.

It was His farewell prayer as He was about to leave His disciples, laying their burden upon the Father to take charge and keep them while He passed through His trial as Redeemer — betrayal, agony in Gethsemane when the cup trembled in His hand, and crucifixion when He bore the sins of the whole world in all their aggravating character and faced separation from the Father because of sin. It therefore calls every believer who claims to believe to hate sin with perfect hatred, to look not to weak men and women but to One who values purity and salvation, to cast the helpless soul on Christ as the only hope, to receive strength from Him or be a failure, and so to understand eternal life by individual experience. Spoken just before His crucifixion, it is a lesson for all in service, showing that God's servants are to preach His Word as Christ did, giving those same words to others so that others will receive them and come to know God.

Knowing Christ Was Sent

They knew with certainty that he came out from the Father and believed that the Father had sent him, a certainty resting on what they had seen and heard. He had given to them the very words the Father had given him, and they had received those words. The teachings of this prayer present essential principles for spiritual life and higher education. The chapter distinguishes God's people from the world, which serves a different master.

Its lessons are to be studied and practiced, shaping habits and guarding against unbalanced development. Studying and living that prayer teaches how to pray and how to live it as the daily lesson and rule of life. His words abide in the heart as the bread of life, making joy full and giving strength to develop characters that honor God and show the fruit of obedience to the truth in perfect Christian fellowship. That belief that the Father sent the Son grows into perfect oneness as close as the union of Father and Son, giving success to God's workers, convincing the world that God sent his Son to save sinners, revealing the power of grace, and imparting Christ's character and Spirit in their lives, which requires ceasing criticism and evil speaking, putting away discord over little differences, linking with one another and with Christ, praying for union, helping the erring, and living so God can answer the prayer. Father and Son are distinct persons, and the unity asked for between Christ and his followers does not erase their distinct personalities; their unity with him is to show the world that God sent his Son to save sinners, and this unity requires giving up their own way for God's way.

True receiving of God's word brings sure experimental knowledge that all Christ has is of the Father and that Christ is sent of God. They came to know by experience that Jesus came from the Father and was sent by him. This marks the experience of God's true, trusting children as learners who receive Christ's teaching. Receiving Christ is shown by obedience to his words; practicing them shapes the heart and character and guides the whole life. Where the word is appreciated it is obeyed, so that those eating his flesh and drinking his blood abide in Christ and Christ in them unto eternal life. Receiving and obeying Jesus' words gives evidence that they are chosen, deepens their knowledge of him, and, as they conform to the Father's will, helps them resist Satan and overcome the world. This receiving marks those whom the Father gave to Christ out of the world as those who keep his word, and, spoken just before his crucifixion, it is a lesson for all believers in service, showing that God's servants are to preach his word as Christ did so others will receive it and know God.

This knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent is life eternal, and it must become individual experience. It is the experimental knowledge every true witness must have and stand upon, that a sinner is accepted by a holy God only through the righteousness of Christ and has redemption through his blood, trusting Christ as the Son of the infinite God, the mighty Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, apart from whom no member of the human family can meet the claims of God's law or satisfy his justice. Everyone God gives to Christ keeps the Father's word and knows that all things given to Christ are of God and come from God. Every believer who claims to believe in Christ is called to hate sin with perfect hatred, to look not to weak men and women but to one who values purity and salvation, to cast the helpless soul on Christ as the only hope, and to receive strength from him or be a failure. The verse provides the model for Christian teaching: instructors are to receive the words of God recorded in Christ's lessons with honest, teachable hearts and teach them to others, leading people to know God and Jesus Christ. Teachers are to uplift the only true God and give students the words of God in the same way, so students receive them and know Christ came from the Father and believe the Father sent him; without that knowledge that comes from God, teachers give a false education that leaves students ignorant of eternal life and of the message for this time and must be unlearned. Receiving those words forms Christ within, the hope of glory. Receiving the word is partaking of the flesh and blood of the Son of God and becoming a partaker of the divine nature, which is eternal life; as bodily blood is made by food eaten, spiritual life is made by eating the word, and as the body must be renewed daily with food to replace waste and loss, the word must be eaten daily as meat and drink. Its entrance gives light and understanding to the simple, opens the heart to receive the engrafted word, renews the spirit of the mind, and causes growth up into Christ the living head; the branch lives only by staying fiber by fiber and vein by vein united to the vine and drawing nourishment from it, so the soul lives only in vital union with Christ by continually feeding on the word, and reception of the bread from heaven is reception of Christ himself.

Father and Son Revealed

The verse presents the Father and Christ as two distinct persons in relationship with each other, the Son having received words from the Father and given them to the disciples who received them and believed the Father sent Him. Christ is one with the Father, yet God and Christ are two, and the oneness He prayed for between Himself and His disciples is the same as His oneness with the Father. That unity does not destroy the personality of either, for believers though scattered the world over are to be one with Christ while remaining distinct persons. This oneness requires them to give up their own way for God's way and for His way in fulfilling God's purpose in all its height and depth, and so united with Him it becomes the great unmistakable proof to the world that God did indeed send His Son into the world to save sinners.

Christ's work in the world was to reveal the Father by manifesting His name to the men given Him out of the world and giving them the words the Father gave Him. He had left His Father's presence to come into the world to teach the fallen human family the Word entrusted to Him, and He was about to return to Him after telling the eleven alone in the upper chamber after Judas had left of His approaching separation. He kept ever before Him as the great object of His mission His joy that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. They kept God's word, received those words, knew that all things Christ has are of the Father, knew surely that He came out from the Father, and believed the Father sent Him, with their witness resting on what they had seen and heard. This knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent is life eternal, the experimental knowledge every true witness must have and stand upon, that a sinner is accepted by a holy God only through the righteousness of Christ and has redemption through His blood, trusting Christ as the Son of the infinite God, the mighty Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, apart from whom no member of the human family can meet the claims of God's law or satisfy His justice. Those who hear and obey that Word walk in safety under God's protection and, through Christ's power, overcome every foe.

The prayer, spoken aloud in the hearing of His disciples before His trial and crucifixion, is full of instruction of the highest kind and gives on earth a sample of the intercession Christ carries on in heaven within the veil. That intercession is for all to the ends of the earth who receive Him and believe on His name, showing His desire that all be saved through faith in Him, and it is a lesson to guide action containing enduring science which He is making and will continue to make to the end of the world for those who believe in Him. Its blessings are spiritual, for Christ asks that His followers be kept from sin and remain loyal to God, not that they gain wealth or human honor, and His heavenly ministry as Mediator and High Priest continues after His sacrifice as He intercedes for those who come to Him humbly and trust His power to save. Receiving His words and believing in Him stands against the root sin of unbelief in Christ and unwillingness to accept the truths He came to proclaim, which made sinners aliens from God, for belief in Christ as a personal Saviour is the only salvation for the sinner. To all who receive Him He gives power to become the sons of God, and by His atoning death and redemption price and by His prevailing pleading at His Father's right hand He takes away sin and keeps obedient believers from falling, and because He lives they shall live also. It is the help of truly penitent believers in every emergency as they offer earnest petitions for fresh grace, new supplies of strength, and the efficiency and power of the Holy Spirit promised to all who ask in faith.

Call to Oneness

The prayer reaches beyond the eleven who first heard it to take in all who would afterward believe through their word in every age, calling them to be one with Christ and with one another as He is one with the Father. It is to be answered by seeking that unity in faith and in understanding of God's word, reflecting the oneness of Christ and the Father as Jesus' love replaces coldness and hardness of heart. The privilege it opens is for everyone who complies with its conditions to be blended in Christ Jesus as His life is one with the Father, with Christ in His people united to God as their great Head. It holds great possibilities for what the Christian may become, and striving to answer it strengthens faith. Kept as the church's creed, it shows the close relation Christ desires between Himself and His people and carries that oneness from this present life through all eternity.

That oneness is a real and enduring union wrought by grace in the heart, joining believers to Christ in God and to one another. In it they become partakers of the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust, and through the Holy Spirit they are changed from sin to holiness and reflect Christ's life. The Father loves fallen human beings thus changed as He loves His Son, and this union opens the source of rich and eternal happiness that outlives all earthly sinful enjoyment. It comes when every barrier between the soul and God and between brethren is taken out of the way by leaving the gift before the altar to right wrongs and by confessing and forsaking sins, so that the blood of Jesus becomes effective in their behalf. Sanctified through the truth by obedience to God's commands, those in living union with God come to hate the sin that separates the soul from God, and the prayer carries on the great process by which they are made one with Him here to be one with Him throughout all eternity as the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world.

Receiving the words Christ gave from the Father, knowing surely that He came out from the Father, and believing that the Father sent Him should unite believers, while difference, disunion and variance dishonor God. Christians at variance with one another cannot rightly be branches of the True Vine, and differences of opinion show that this prayer with its special weight for God's people has not been given its due weight. The call to speak the same thing and to be joined together in the same mind and judgment in 1 Corinthians 1:10 answers this prayer for them to be one in Him, which they must constantly seek to answer by being one.

The gifts are God's appointed means of bringing the church into that unity for which Christ prayed as He and the Father are one. That prayer gives no support to distinguishing the apostles from those who would believe their word so as to claim spiritual gifts for the first Christians alone while denying them to later believers. For Christ's commission declares that signs would accompany believers, and the gifts could be restricted to the first Christians only if believing were required of them alone.

Witness to the World

The oneness of believers with Christ and with one another is the great unmistakable evidence to the world that God sent His Son to save sinners. That unity convinces the world that Christianity is genuine and reveals the power of grace at work upon human hearts. It is joined to the love and power of God flowing into those in living union with Him, imparting Christ's character and Spirit in their lives and giving success to His workers. Such oneness does not erase distinct personality, but requires giving up one's own way for God's way, taking every barrier out of the way between the soul and God and between brethren by righting wrongs, confessing and forsaking sins, so that the blood of Jesus becomes effective in their behalf. It grows as Christ's words abide in the heart as the bread of life, making joy full and developing characters that honor God and show the fruit of obedience in perfect fellowship, with criticism and evil speaking ceased, discord over little differences put away, hearts linked with one another and with Christ, prayer for union offered, the erring helped, and all working together in the church rather than becoming divided; separation, including between ministry and medical missionary work, shows the Spirit is not working on the heart, while those in living union with God hate the sin that separates the soul from Him and reveal the light of the glory of God when conviction of sin comes.

Receiving God's Word and answering the prayer sends believers beyond homes and churches to the whole world, for Christ joins His believing people to Himself in the work of saving a lost world and they are to carry the light they receive from Him to all. As God's servants preach His Word as Christ did, they give to others those same very words the Father gave to Him, which have value both for time and for eternity, so that others receive them and come to know God; this glorifies God and not self. Those who believe and practice that Word answer the prayer and enter the plan of redemption, coming to know surely that all things Christ has are of the Father, that He came out from the Father, and that the Father sent Him. That discourse is needed by all and is to be presented in every home as God's message explaining how to receive the grace of Christ, laying down conditions that must be followed, with refusal leaving a person unready to stand before Christ when He comes in glory.

Christ's words are to be obeyed first in the home, where practicing them shapes conduct and extends its influence to the church. Receiving His words means carrying out His instruction, living the life He lived as the pattern and revealing the tender respectful love that binds heart to heart. That love and unity is the badge of discipleship, making believers on earth a symbol of the family in heaven, and when lived in the home its bright light extends to the church, gives light to those in darkness to recover sinners, and convinces the world. In the testing time this lived obedience proves who is worthy of admittance into God's family.

Living the Prayer

John 17 is to be read, studied carefully and prayerfully, repeated over and over, carried into practical life and obeyed as the daily lesson and rule of life. Its every word is to be diligently studied and even memorized as a storehouse of consolation, understood with new enlightenment by the Spirit, and lived as the bread of life abiding in the heart that makes joy full and develops character honoring God and showing the fruit of obedience in perfect fellowship. Receiving Christ's words and recognizing His divine mission as set forth in John 17:8 is the model for the church, uniting believers, raising fallen humanity, and preserving unity, love, peace and oneness in work to the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus doing His works even as He did the works of His Father, studying His ways and obeying His will, believers travel the one way to heaven with no different path assigned to anyone.

Answering the prayer means hearing and obeying Christ from His Word, dying to self, letting Christ abide within, and practicing the words received from the Father so that heart, character and whole life are shaped and guided. It calls for entire consecration to God, which gives fitness for heaven in this world, makes certain work for eternity, and is the only hope. Each one is to do his best in the work the Lord has appointed to him without self-centeredness, patterning Christ's works, beginning with obeying His words in the home and living the life He lived. Believers are to seek sanctification through the truth and use their talents so their lives help fulfil Christ's prayer for unity, rising up to live it so as to enter through the gates into the city.

So lived, the prayer puts away suspicion, envy, jealousy, evil thinking and speaking, spiritual pride and love of supremacy, dissension, criticism, accusation, backbiting, discord over little differences, and becoming as little children preserves unity, love and peace. With hearts emptied of all selfishness, Christ revealed in spirit and words and acts, and baptism with the Holy Spirit and the transforming influence of His grace, believers let Jesus' love replace coldness and hardness of heart and reflect the oneness of Christ and the Father. They esteem others better than self, show appreciation for one another, help and strengthen one another and speak words of hope and cheer that make hearts glad, cherish love for one another as Christ loved them, link with one another and with Christ hand in hand with no one walking alone, pray for union, help the erring, and cease weakening one another's hands so the Lord is glorified. Meek and lowly in heart, coming close to Christ and close to one another in Christlike sympathy and love, giving confidence to the weak by a tender spirit and living in Christlike fellowship as loyalty to Christ in whom all are united, they send forth a decided influence for good demonstrating the sanctifying power of truth upon heart and character, showing forbearance instead of wounding brethren whom Christ purchased.

Thus lived, the truth sanctifies through obedience and brings believers into unity with Christ, who is one with God, as one with God as Jesus is one with the Father and one with Christ in God. Living it out in practical life brings unity with one another and with Christ, and its love and unity strengthen them against the enemy and his attacks. It shows the full and broad mercy and love Christ is ready to give to those who walk before Him in obedience and humility, keeping the soul in God's love hidden with Christ in God. Those seeking salvation in the last days are to study the prayer carefully, cling to Christ for power to become God's children and overcome sin, live with purity and holiness, cast away sinful appetites and passions, overcome the world, and show that truth has sanctified their lives with sanctified zeal for God's glory rather than human exaltation.

John 17:8 provides the model for Christian teaching: instructors with honest teachable hearts receive the words of God recorded in Christ's lessons and teach them to others by precept and example, leading people to know God and Jesus Christ and to believe. God's will is plainly outlined in John 13-17 for those who minister in word and doctrine, showing the philosophy of genuine missionary work, and ministers need reconversion to watch unto prayer, to believe every verse in these chapters, and to live them out before their fellow ministers in perfect unity and love. That prayer is to serve as the church's creed, since difference and disunion dishonor God. Its oneness removes barriers of selfishness, color and caste so believers may live in unity, and separation among Christians, including between the ministry and medical missionary work, shows the Holy Spirit is not working on their hearts.

The prayer teaches the obligation to acknowledge God in all ways and to seek more and more to obtain a knowledge of God by obedient humble walking and by understanding its spiritual truths, especially that Christ's followers are sent into the world but are not of the world and are sanctified through God's truth. Its discourse lays down conditions that must be followed and is to be presented in every home as a message from God explaining how to receive the grace of Christ, and refusing them leaves a person unready to stand before Christ when He comes in glory. Answering it in unity with Him and one another makes believers the light of the world. The commendation given to the disciples shows the position every Christian should seek, to stand true to principle and profession and hold fast to God, and those who do are safe, hidden with Christ in God.