John 17:6 - Meaning and Application

Christ has already prayed for himself, and now he turns to pray for those who belong to him. He knew them by name, even though he did not name them here. We should first notice whom he did not pray for. In John 17:9 he says, “I pray not for the world.” This does not mean all mankind as such, because he does pray for the world in another sense, that the world may believe that the Father sent him (John 17:21).

Here, “the world” means the people who are outside the elect, those given to Christ out of the world. If we think of the world as a heap of grain on the threshing floor, God loves it, Christ prays for it, and Christ dies for it, because there is blessing in it. But God knows perfectly who belong to him. He gathers out those given to Christ, and then the remaining heap is like worthless chaff. Christ does not pray for that world, nor does he die for it. He leaves it, and the wind carries it away.

They are called “the world” because they live under the spirit of this world and take their share in it. Still, Christ may ask God for some things on their behalf, as a gardener pleads for a barren tree to be spared a little longer. But in this prayer he does not ask for them, because they have no share in the blessings he is asking for here. He does not say, “I pray against the world,” as Elijah prayed against Israel. He says, “I pray not for them.” He passes them by and leaves them to themselves. Their names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life, and so they are not in the breastplate of the great high priest.

That is a terrible condition, like those people for whom the prophet was forbidden to pray, and even worse (Jeremiah 7:16). Since we do not know who are chosen and who are passed by, we must pray for all people (1 Timothy 2:1, 1 Timothy 2:4). As long as there is life, there is hope, and there is room for prayer (1 Samuel 12:23).

Now we come to whom he did pray for. He did not pray for angels, but for human beings. He prayed for those the Father had given him, especially the disciples who had been with him in this new life of the gospel. But this surely reaches farther, to all who have the same mark, those who receive and believe the words of Christ (John 17:6, John 17:8). He also prays for all who would believe in him later (John 17:20). So the requests that follow, and even those that come before, must be understood as reaching all believers, in every place and every age. He cares for them all, and he speaks of future believers as if they already were there.

We should also notice the strong reason he gives for praying for them. One main plea is this: the Father had given them to him. “They were yours, and you gave them to me” (John 17:6), and again, “Those you have given me” (John 17:9). In other words, “Father, the ones I am praying for are the ones you have entrusted to me. What I say for them follows the charge I received about them.”

This first applies to the disciples then with him. They were given to Christ as learners, to be taught by him while he was on earth, and as workers to serve him after he returned to heaven. They were given to hear his teaching, see his life and miracles, and become living proof of his grace and favor. Then they would go out to preach his gospel and plant his church. When they left everything to follow him, that courage came from this hidden truth, they had been given to him, or they would not have given themselves to him.

This also shows the honor of gospel ministry. The apostles and ministers are Christ’s gift to the church, but before that they were the Father’s gift to Jesus Christ. Under the law, the Levites, the priestly tribe, were given to Aaron (Numbers 3:9). In the same way, the Father gave the apostles first, and then ministers in every age, to keep Christ’s charge and care for the whole church. Compare Ephesians 4:8, Ephesians 4:11, and Psalm 68:18. Christ received this gift for people, so that he might give it to people. That lifts up gospel ministry and also lays a serious duty on ministers, to give themselves fully to Christ’s service, since they were given to him.

But this reaches beyond the apostles to all the elect, the ones chosen by God. Christ says elsewhere that they are given to him (John 6:37, John 6:39). He often stresses that those he came to save were put into his charge. They were entrusted to him, they were expected back from his hand, and he had commands about them.

He shows first that the Father had the right to give them: “They were yours.” The Father did not give away what was not already his. The elect were his in three ways. First, they were creatures, and their very life and being came from him. When they were given to Christ to become vessels of honor, they were in God’s hand like clay in the potter’s hand, to be shaped as his wisdom saw best for his glory. Second, they were guilty people, and their lives had been forfeited to him. They were a remnant of fallen humanity given to Christ to be redeemed. They could justly have been handed over to punishment, but instead they were given to the Savior. Third, they were chosen and set apart for him. They were marked off for God and entrusted to Christ as his appointed servant.

Christ repeats this in John 17:7: “All things you have given me are from you.” This may include everything that belongs to his work as Mediator, a go-between who brings God and people together, but it seems to point especially to those given to him. “They are from you,” he says. “Their being comes from you as Creator, and their well-being comes from you as the God of grace. They are all from you, and so, Father, I bring them all back to you, that they may all be for you.”

He also shows that the Father did in fact give them to the Son. “You gave them to me,” as sheep to a shepherd to be kept, as patients to a doctor to be healed, as children to a teacher to be trained. This is how Christ will hand back his charge (Hebrews 2:13): “The children you have given me.” They were given to Christ, first, so that the choosing grace of God would not fail, and not one of them, even the little ones, would be lost. That great purpose had to rest in safe hands, hands strong enough to make sure God’s plan of choosing would stand. Second, they were given to him so that Christ’s own work would not be wasted. They were given as his offspring, in whom he would see the fruit of his suffering and be satisfied (Isaiah 53:10, Isaiah 53:11). He would not spend his strength and shed his blood for nothing, and in vain (Isaiah 49:4).

We may plead, as Christ does, "Lord, keep the graces and comforts you gave me, for they were yours before you gave them to me."

2. Christ also cared for them by teaching them: "I have shown your name to them" (John 17:6). "I have given them the words you gave me" (John 17:8). The main purpose of Christ’s teaching was to make God known. He came to explain the Father, correct false ideas about God, and teach a blind and foolish world to love and worship him better (John 1:18).

Christ carried out this work faithfully. First, his teaching was true. It matched exactly the instruction he had received from the Father. He gave not only the message, but the very words given to him. Ministers, when they shape their message, should pay attention to the words taught by the Holy Spirit. Second, his teaching aimed to make God’s name known. He did not seek his own honor. Everything he said and did was meant to glorify his Father.

This is Christ’s special right: to make God known to human hearts. No one knows the Father except the one the Son chooses to reveal him to (Matthew 11:27). Christ alone knows the Father fully, so he can open the truth clearly. He also has direct access to human spirits, so he can open our understanding. Ministers can speak the Lord’s name, as Moses did (Deuteronomy 32:3), but only Christ can truly reveal that name.

Through Christ’s word, God is revealed to us. Through Christ’s Spirit, God is revealed in us. Ministers may speak God’s words to us, but Christ can give us his words and put them within us, like food or treasure. In time, Christ will make God’s name known to all who were given to him. He will give them his word as the seed of new birth, the support of spiritual life, and the promise of everlasting joy.

3. Christ also points to the good effect of his care and teaching: "They have kept your word" (John 17:7), "They have known that all things come from you" (John 17:8). They received the Father’s words, welcomed them, and gave full agreement to them. They knew for certain that Christ came from the Father and believed that the Father sent him.

This success appears in several ways. First, they received the words Christ gave them, like good ground receives seed and dry earth drinks in rain. They listened to Christ, grasped his meaning in some measure, and were moved by what he said. The word became, for them, an implanted word, one that took root in them.

Second, they kept God’s word by continuing in it and living according to it. Christ’s command is truly kept only when it is obeyed. Those who teach Christ’s commands must first keep them themselves. These disciples had to hold fast what was committed to them, because they would pass it on to every place and every generation.

Third, they understood the word and knew the basis on which they received and kept it. They understood that the holy religion Christ came to establish came from the Father. "All things you gave me are from you" (John 17:8). All Christ’s offices and authority, all the gifts of the Spirit, and all his grace and comforts were given to him by God without measure. They came from God’s wisdom, were appointed by his will, and were designed by his grace for his own glory in saving people.

This gives us great comfort as we trust Christ. He, and all he is and has, and all he said, did, is doing, and will do, come from God (Colossians 1:30). So we may safely trust our souls to Christ’s mediation, his work as the go-between between God and people. If the righteousness is of God’s choosing, we shall be justified, that is, counted right with God. If the grace is of his giving, we shall be sanctified, that is, made holy.

Fourth, they “set their seal” to this truth: "They have known for sure that I came from God" (John 17:8). To believe is to know with certainty that something is true. The disciples were still weak and incomplete in their understanding, yet Christ, who knew them better than they knew themselves, says they did believe. We may know with certainty what we cannot fully understand. We can know the truth of unseen things, even if we cannot describe their nature in full. We walk by faith, which knows surely, though not yet by sight, which knows clearly.

What they believed was this: Jesus Christ came from God, as the Son of God, bearing the image of the invisible God in his person, and sent by God in his mission. So the Christian faith stands with the same authority as the religion known from creation and conscience, and Christ’s teachings must be received as divine truth, his commands obeyed as divine law, and his promises trusted as divine security.

Christ speaks of this with pleasure. The disciples had often shown weakness and dullness, which had grieved him. Yet their steady attachment to him, their growth over time, and their later maturity brought him joy. Christ is a Teacher who delights in his students’ progress. He accepts the sincerity of their faith and kindly overlooks its weakness. He is willing to think and speak the best of us, which encourages our faith in him and teaches us to be charitable toward one another.

He also brings this before the Father in prayer. He prays for those given to him, and he pleads that they had given themselves to him. The good use of grace already received is a strong reason, according to the new covenant, for more grace. God’s promise is, "To the one who has, more will be given." Those who keep Christ’s word and believe in him may leave it to Christ to commend them, and even more, to present them to his Father.

4. Christ also pleads the Father’s own interest in them: "I pray for them, because they are yours" (John 17:9). This rests on the shared and mutual ownership the Father and Son have in all that belongs to each. "All mine are yours, and yours are mine." There is no dispute between Father and Son about what is mine and yours, as there often is among people, because this was settled from eternity.

The plea is especially about the disciples: "They are yours." Giving the elect to Christ did not make them less the Father’s. It was meant to make them more clearly his. All who receive Christ’s word and believe in him are brought into covenant relationship with the Father and are counted as his. Christ presents them to the Father, and through Christ they present themselves to him.

Christ has redeemed us, not for himself only, but for God by his blood (Revelation 5:9, Revelation 5:10). The redeemed are firstfruits to God, the first part of the harvest set apart for him (Revelation 14:4). This is a strong plea in prayer. Christ uses it here, “They are yours.” We may use it for ourselves: “I am yours, save me,” and for others, as Moses did, “They are your people” (Exodus 32:11).

“They are yours.” That means, “Own them as your own.” It also means, “Will you not care for what belongs to you? Will you not protect them from the devil and the world? Will you not keep hold of your own people so they do not drift away from you?” Christ asks the Father to preserve his own interest in his people, so they remain faithful to him.

This plea rests on a deep truth: “All mine are yours, and yours are mine.” This shows that the Father and the Son are one in being and one in purpose. Every creature can say to God, “All mine are yours.” But only one who shares the same nature, power, and glory as God can also say, “All yours are mine.”

They are also one in interest, with no divided purpose between them. What the Father has as Creator is given to the Son to use in carrying out his great work. All things have been given into his hands (Matthew 11:27), except the Father who put all things under him. What the Son has as Redeemer is for the Father’s honor, and soon the kingdom will be given back to the Father. All the blessings Christ won by redemption are meant to bring praise to the Father, and everything Christ does centers on that glory.

So the Son claims none as his who are not devoted to the Father’s service. And nothing should be counted as true service to the Christian faith if it goes against the clear teaching of natural religion, meaning the truth about God that people can know from creation and conscience. In a limited sense, every true believer can say, “All yours are mine.” If God is ours in covenant, then all that he is and has is ours for our good. In a full and proper sense, every true believer also says, “Lord, all mine are yours.” Everything is laid at his feet to serve him.

Whatever we have can be safely trusted to God’s care and blessing when we gladly place it under his rule. We can say, “Lord, take care of what I have, for it all belongs to you.”

Christ also pleads his own honor in his people: “I am glorified in them.” He had already been glorified in them. Any honor Christ received in this world came mainly through his disciples. They honored him by following and obeying him, by preaching, and by working miracles in his name. For that reason, he prays for them. Those who glorify Christ will have a share in his intercession, his prayer on their behalf.

He is also to be glorified in them after he goes to heaven. They are to carry his name forward. The apostles preached and worked miracles in Christ’s name, and the Spirit in them glorified Christ (John 16:14). Christ says, “I am glorified in them,” and therefore he is concerned for them. Whatever little place Christ still has in this fallen world is found in his church, so his church and all that concerns it are very close to his heart, even now in heaven.

Because he is glorified in them, he commits them to the Father, who has promised to glorify the Son. The Father will look with kindness on those in whom the Son is honored. Whatever brings glory to God and Christ may be safely placed under God’s special care.