John

Chapter 17

26 verses — switch translations with the toolbar below.

Scripture

KJV

1These 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:

2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

6I 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.

7Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

8For 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.

9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

10And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

11And 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.

12While 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.

13And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

14I 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.

15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

18As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

20Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21That 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.

22And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23I 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.

24Father, 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.

25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

26And 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.

Key VerseJohn 17:17

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Overview

In what is known as Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, He lifts His eyes to heaven and prays first for Himself — that He would be glorified through the coming cross — then for His disciples, asking the Father to keep them, sanctify them in truth, and protect them from the evil one. Finally, He prays for all future believers, asking that they would be unified as He and the Father are one, so that the world might believe.

Key Themes

1

The Glory of the Cross

Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him through the cross — revealing that the crucifixion is not a defeat but the supreme display of divine glory.

2

Sanctification through Truth

Jesus prays that His followers would be set apart by the truth of God's Word — holy living flows from immersion in divine truth.

3

The Unity of All Believers

Jesus prays that all who believe in Him would share the same oneness that exists between Father and Son — a supernatural unity that testifies to the world.

Study Questions

1.

What does it mean that eternal life is to 'know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent' (v. 3)?

2.

Jesus prays for His disciples to be kept 'from the evil' (v. 15) but not taken out of the world. Why does Jesus want believers to remain in the world?

3.

How does Jesus' prayer 'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth' (v. 17) shape our view of Scripture's role in Christian growth?

4.

What kind of unity is Jesus praying for in verses 20-23, and how is it different from organizational uniformity?

5.

Jesus says He has given believers the glory the Father gave Him (v. 22). What is this glory, and how do believers experience it?

Connection to Christ

This prayer reveals Jesus as our great High Priest who intercedes for His people before the Father. He has finished the work the Father gave Him, and now He commits His followers into the Father's care. The prayer's vision of unity — believers sharing in the love between Father and Son — reveals Christ as the one through whom humanity is brought into the life of God Himself.

Personal Reflection

Take time to journal or meditate on what God is teaching you through John 17. How can these truths transform your thinking and actions today?

John

17 of 21