John 17


John 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It portrays a prayer of Jesus Christ addressed to his Father, placed in context immediately before his betrayal and crucifixion, the events which the gospel often refers to as his glorification. Lutheran writer David Chytraeus entitled Jesus' words "the prayer of the high priest". Methodist theologian Joseph Benson calls this prayer "Our Lord’s Intercessory Prayer", because "it is considered as a pattern of the intercession he is now making in heaven for his people". The New King James Version divides this chapter into three sections:
  • : Jesus Prays for Himself
  • : Jesus Prays for His Disciples
  • : Jesus Prays for All Believers.
The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 26 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
  • Papyrus 108
  • Papyrus 66
  • Papyrus 107
  • Codex Vaticanus
  • Codex Sinaiticus
  • Codex Bezae
  • Codex Alexandrinus
  • Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
  • Papyrus 84
  • Papyrus 60
  • Papyrus 59.

    Old Testament references

  • :

    Jesus' Prayer

Jesus refers to his Father six times in this chapter, calling God "Father", "Holy Father" and "Righteous Father". These are the only occurrences in the New Testament of the vocative forms αγιε and δικαιε, used in direct address to God.

Verse 1

Alternatively, "After Jesus had spoken these words...", namely:
Benson suggested that "these words" refers to "the words recorded in the three preceding chapters".

Verse 2

"Over all flesh", from the noun σὰρξ, becomes "all people" in the New International Version and the Good News Translation. Alfred Plummer argues that "fallen man, man in his frailty, is specially meant".

Verse 4

This is the first of six summaries given in this chapter of the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth. The others are to be found in verses 6-8, 12, 14, 22-23, 25-26.

Verse 10

Jesus explains parenthetically, how they belong to the Father, although given by him to the Son. Irish Archbishop John McEvilly comments that

Verse 11

Swedish-based commentator René Kieffer distinguishes chapter 17 from the rest of Jesus' farewell discourse, referring to "a kind of timeless aspect" denoted by the words "I am no longer in the world".
In verse 11b, the holiness of God, whom Jesus calls "Father", can be contrasted with "the unholiness of the world", or the "unholy atmosphere" in which Jesus' disciples remain. The Jerusalem Bible and Richard Francis Weymouth's version of the New Testament both suggest the reading "keep true to your/thy name".

Verse 12

The words "in the world" are omitted by the most reliable early texts. Judas' actions fulfill the words of :

Verse 20

McEvilly divides Jesus' prayer into four parts: his prayers for himself, for his disciples, specifically for those who will come to faith through the teaching of the apostles and finally for the whole church.

Verse 21