Bible-Center
РУ
EN
FR
Bible
Notes
FAQ
Links
About

Search

Search Search
search in current section [Notes]

NOTES for Joh 17:20-26

Printable version
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide

In today's passage from the Gospel of John, there is a very important idea for a Christian: the idea of unity, one of the foundations of the Church's understanding and experience. Moreover, in the Gospel it appears as what Jesus desired for His disciples almost more than anything else in the world.

The question is what kind of unity is meant by the words: "...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You..." and what follows. They are usually interpreted this way: Jesus called for everyone to hold the same doctrinal formulas and belong to one all-embracing church organization. Yet, as we know, formalism and over-organization kill, while living relationships give life.

Rather, this is not so much about a church structure uniting everyone under its jurisdiction, although such a structure often flows naturally from unity of faith and life in the Christian community; after all, everyone in our world has to take on certain legal obligations in order to coexist fully with other people. Much more plausibly, Jesus was inviting the disciples to seek inner unity, not horizontally but vertically: like His unity with the Father, each person should have unity with the Father and the Son, who come to the one who keeps Their word and "make Their home" in his heart and in his life. In fact, only through a living mystical bond with the Father and with the Word who reveals Him is the inner Kingdom built, spiritualizing human existence at its deepest depths. Then all everyday affairs and church projects receive a firm foundation in the hearts of people attuned to the hearts of the Three: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit...

Everything in this world is mortal: countries, peoples, and church structures, all of which can collapse before the eyes of a single generation, as happened in the tragic 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union. But what remains unchanged is that unity, that personal communion with God, which in any historical conditions and life circumstances remains the eternally flowing spring of Christian prayer and action.

Other notes

 
For Joh 17:20-26
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide
Before us is the Last Supper, the farewell discourse with the disciples. Today the Church offers us what would seem to be only seven verses...  Read more

Before us is the Last Supper, the farewell discourse with the disciples. Today the Church offers us what would seem to be only seven verses from several long chapters in which Jesus speaks one last time with the future apostles. There is so much that must be said before His “departure”—they must be prepared for the principal trial of their lives... That is precisely why these verses are so full—Jesus cannot allow Himself to waste time either on superfluous words or on lengthy explanations. The disciples are in any case unable to understand everything He is saying now, but later the Spirit will come and remind them of everything (see John 14:26). He will remind them of this prayer of the Teacher, of His ardent desire for the unity of His disciples and of all those who will believe through their testimony. And the words “that they may become perfectly one” mean far more than shared ideologies, aspirations, and the like—they concern perfect unity, uniting every sphere of our lives. Jesus also prays that every person may know that the Father has loved them as He has loved the Son (see John 17:23). For it is precisely this knowledge that can transform the world, uniting all people in the unity for which our Lord waits.

Hide
 
For Joh 17:20-26
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide
In today's reading Jesus prays to the Father for His Church. And the main thing He asks for is unity. Today, two thousand years later, we see that those who believed through the word of the apostles, believers in Christ, are not united. How many barriers and partitions there are among us! And it is no accident that Jesus says...  Read more

In today's reading Jesus prays to the Father for His Church. And the main thing He asks for is unity. Today, two thousand years later, we see that those who believed through the word of the apostles, believers in Christ, are not united. How many barriers and partitions there are among us!

And it is no accident that Jesus says: "May they be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." For many unbelievers, the division of Christians is one more testimony against the Church. Indeed, try to figure out who is right and who is wrong... It is easier to say: if Christians cannot sort out their disputes and come to one mind, then what unites them is not so important either...

But we know that the Lord Himself unites us. What can each of us do for the unity of the Church? Nothing - and at the same time very much. Because unity begins today, now: when we recognize brothers and sisters in one another, when we pray together, when we labor together for God... when we seek what unites us, not what divides us.

Hide
 
For Joh 17:18-26
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide
"At every service we pray 'for the union of all' in the Church of the Living God. What unity are we praying for, and why is it necessary...  Read more

"At every service we pray 'for the union of all' in the Church of the Living God. What unity are we praying for, and why is it necessary specifically to pray for it?

We pray because only God can restore the unity that man destroyed: its criteria are too high, its measures are not human but God's. Such unity is a mystery by nature, a miracle in essence. Christian unity cannot be defined in the categories of fellowship or community. It is not merely "togetherness"; it is "unity": "That they may be one, as We are one", the Lord prayed to the Father in His final prayer.

This is a glorious and awe-filled calling and pattern, because within it lies a sovereign command for the whole human race: to attain likeness to the Holy Trinity, to be Its image and Its revelation. This is a promise, but also a responsibility. And we easily forget both. The experience of this glorious and trembling unity is the very being, the essence of the Church, her nature: the Church is this very unity; the Church is one and indivisible, even though the Christian world is broken into pieces by our sins. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the city bound together as one... (see Ps. 121)."

(Anthony, Metropolitan of Sourozh: "...and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord")

Hide
 
For Joh 17:18-26
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide
Right now, in most of the civilized world, people talk constantly about unity. They call this unity by different names: someone...  Read more

Right now, in most of the civilized world, people talk constantly about unity. They call this unity by different names: someone says simply and plainly that "together we are strong," someone fights for or against globalization, someone prays for the unity of the Church, and someone reflects on the deep human longing for life with others and for "communion." Some only reflect on it, while others even try to build something - creating organizations, unions, and councils. In short, the topic matters.

But if you tried to gather all the people involved in this work and ask them to agree on what this desired community should be, a real commotion would begin. And all because, despite the common desire, each person still pulls in his own direction. Each person sees unity in his own way and assigns places according to his own ideas. And it may be that people will never be able to agree on the form.

Because true unity is what Jesus asks the Father to give us. It is a unity that is impossible to reach by human means: the unity of the Trinity. We are not even able to let others come as close to us as the Persons of the Trinity are close and one, let alone remain constantly in such "communion," where we are both different and one. Yet this is exactly what God expects from us. And He is the One who can make it real. We simply have to truly want it.

Hide
 
For Joh 17:1-26
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
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.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide
The prayer Jesus offers for His disciples sums up everything said during the Last Supper. It is usually called the prayer for unity, and one can undoubtedly agree with this. Yet it concerns not only...  Read more

The prayer Jesus offers for His disciples sums up everything said during the Last Supper. It is usually called the prayer for unity, and one can undoubtedly agree with this. Yet it concerns not only outward unity. Jesus again asks the Father to preserve between Him and His disciples the same union that He has with the Father (vv. 21-23). Apparently no testimony is possible without such unity; without it the world will not believe that the apostles truly were sent into the world by the Savior Himself.

Yet bearing witness to the Kingdom and revealing the Kingdom to the world are precisely the chief task of those who are sent. Addressing the Father, Jesus in a sense hands over to the apostles the mission the Father entrusted to Him, while entrusting the apostles themselves to the Father. He says: I have given the life of the Kingdom that You gave Me to everyone who wished to receive it; I have accomplished everything You entrusted to Me (vv. 1-5). I revealed Myself, You, and Your Kingdom to those whom You sent Me, and they accepted everything (vv. 6-8). And now, Jesus says, I am leaving while they remain, and I pray for them, for those who belong to You (vv. 9-11).

Such a request was entirely natural, for the apostles were now becoming witnesses to the Kingdom about which Jesus had previously spoken to the world, and the apostolic community was to become the nucleus of the Church. Previously Jesus Himself had kept His disciples safe in a world hostile to them. Now, as He goes to the Father, He asks the Father to help the apostles preserve the joy of the Kingdom that they knew during the Savior's earthly ministry (vv. 12-13). This does not mean removing the apostles from the world to some other, special reality. The Kingdom had to be revealed here, not somewhere on another planet or in another dimension (vv. 14-16). But to reveal it, the apostolic community had to be sanctified by receiving the fullness of God's living revelation, which the Savior Himself embodied (v. 17). Only then could the apostles become witnesses to the Kingdom and their community the nucleus of the Church, whose very purpose would be to preserve the Kingdom in our still not fully transformed world and bear witness to it. This nucleus would grow, and the Church would expand, including everyone who sought the Kingdom and eternal life (vv. 18-21).

Hide
 
For Joh 17:1-26
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
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.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Hide
The Lord Jesus says several times in John's Gospel that He came so that the people who hear His message...  Read more

The Lord Jesus says several times in John's Gospel that He came so that the people who hear His message, His disciples, might believe and have the life that He brought from the Father. Therefore, in His final prayer before His arrest, He prays for the disciples and their followers, not for the world, not for those who did not receive Him.

At the same time, however, He also prays for the world, indirectly, that the world may believe in Him when it sees the unity of the disciples. In this way, He expects from those who have believed in Him the continuation of His work: to contribute to the salvation and enlivening of the whole world, not by replacing Christ, but by manifesting His presence in their unity, which bears witness that they already live divine life, imitating the inimitable unity of the Father and the Son.

Hide
Bible
Notes
FAQ
Links
About
Site map
Design and development:  © 2001–2026 W-M v:2.0.3.107

After registering, you can subscribe to any Bible reading plan.

Personalized settings and other services for registered users are planned, so we recommend registering now. Registration is free.