John 17:20-26

PRAYER FOR ALL BELIEVERS

Text: John 17:20-26

20

Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word;

21

that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.

22

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

23

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.

24

Father, I desire 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 knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me;

26

and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them. and I in them.

Queries

a.

Which religious bodies may qualify as the believers for whom Jesus prayed in John 17:20?

b.

What is the glory which Christ gives to believers?

c.

How is Christ to be in the believer (John 17:26)?

Paraphrase

Nor am I praying these things only for these eleven men. I am also praying for all men who shall come to faith and obedience in Me through simply responding to the divinely inspired Word which these apostles shall preach and write. My prayer for all believers is that they also may all be one in doctrine, practice, love and purpose. I am praying that even as You are in Me and I am in You in an organic and essential oneness, all believers may come to this same essential oneness in Us, in order that their oneness will lend impact to the saving efficacy of the Word and the world will believe that I was sent from God the Father. And the glory of the Spirit and the divine nature which You gave Me while I dwelt in the flesh I have given unto all who believe on Me through the Word in order that by possessing this glorious nature all believers may be one even as We are One. My very nature abides in them just as Your divine nature abides in Me in order that they may all be brought to a mature and perfected oneness so that the world of unbelievers may know that I came into the world with a commission from You and that their oneness is a product of Your love for them even as Our oneness testifies to divine love. Father, My desire is that all those whom You have given Me shall ultimately be with Me in Heaven and know the ineffable joy of beholding My glory. They shall see then the divine love with which You have loved Me through all eternity in all its gloriousness. O, Righteous Father, the divine knowledge of You which I possess I manifested to the world but the world rejected Me and did not come to know You. But all My disciples, the ones who receive Me, know that You sent Me for I make Your name and nature known unto them and will continue to make it known to them in the ultimate sense in order that the love with which You loved Me may be in them and that I may be in them also.

Summary

Jesus looks down the corridors of time and His heart is turned in prayer to all who shall believe on Him through the word of the apostles. The oneness of all believers on earth and their ultimate glory and joy is the concern of His heart.

Comment

John 17:20 is one of those verses of the New Testament which is a veritable treasurehouse. Its simplicity leaves no question as to the agency for making men Christiansit is the word of the apostles, Jesus knows no other method but the preaching of the apostolic doctrine in order to bring men to faith. Neither are there any other doctrines or philosophies approved by Christ to bring about unity of all who believe on Him. This same apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:1-6 that only those who hear and heed the unadulterated apostolic doctrine are those of the spirit of truth. All who add to or take away from the teachings of the apostles and practice these perversions are of the spirit of error. The apostle Paul said that belief comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). The apostolic doctrine was completed when the New Testament as we have it today was completed in about 95-100 A.D. There are no other divinely approved or authorized writings. Paul wrote that even though an angel from heaven should proclaim any message other than the apostles he should be anathematized (Galatians 1:8-9). Jude wrote that the only body of apostolic doctrine authorized to be delivered to Christians was delivered once for all time in the New Testament (Jude 1:3). We like what Lenski has to say here, The Word communicated by the apostles is the means for producing faith and making believers. Apart from the Word there is no church, because there is no faith apart from the Word; and the church is constituted out of those and those alone who have faith. The Word is the vital means and the root of faith. At once it appears how dangerous it is to be ignorant of the Word or to alter and to falsify it in any way. It is the preaching and proclaiming and teaching of the message of the apostles in the same way as the apostles proclaimed it that brings men to faith. It must be preached as historically true and accurate; as factually credible; as supernaturally delivered and verified; as demanding a moral response; as being of itself experientially known once it is practiced. It must be preached as absolutely and exclusively authoritative in all realms of life.

It is by this same word of the apostles that individual believers are to be in Christ and have Christ in them and thus grow into the same oneness which Father and Son know. Paul makes it very plain indeed in Ephesians 4:11-16 that we must speak the truth in love in order to grow up into a mature oneness in Christ. And this growing up is laid down as necessarily a cooperative effort. First, apostles and other teachers are set apart in the church to instruct in the Lord's Word. Second, all members of the body of Christ are to so learn the word of Christ that they be no longer tossed about with every slight wind of new and fanciful doctrine like children. Third, every member of the body is to supply maturity and sustenance to the body, according to the working in due measure of each several part. And so in John 17:21; John 17:23 Jesus makes the oneness of believers as a unified body of individual members solely dependent upon the union of the individual with Him. Christ in the individual and God in Christ and all perfected or made complete in one body. See our special sermon at the end of chapter 16, Christ in You the Hope of Glory, concerning the way Christ is in the individual and the individual knows he is in Christ. The all important focal point is the Living Word of the Living God. By submission to the Will of the Personality (Christ) living in The Word, this Personality (Christ) comes supernaturally to dwell in us and we in Him and all believers in union with one another. The reader is directed to a careful and prayerful study of the Special Study at the end of this chapter on Unity.

In John 17:22; John 17:24 Christ informs us that He has given His glory to all believers and that there is also a glory of His which He desires we behold in the future where He shall be seen with the Father. Christ is speaking here in John 17:22 as if He had already won the victory over the Cross and the Tomb and had ascended to the Father and had sent the Spirit. We feel that the glory which He says He has given to all believers is none other than His divine nature in the indwelling Spirit in all believers. Speaking of the Spirit in Romans 8:1-30 Paul concludes by saying ... whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. The same apostle, speaking of the ministration of the Spirit, says, But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit, (2 Corinthians 3:18). Again, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians concerning being chosen in the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth by which God called them though our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, as in the others, the Spirit and the Word and the believer's Glory are all connected. And so it is that in Ephesians 3:17-19 that Paul tells us we may know experientially, feelingly, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us by faith the breadth and length and depth and height and the love of Christ which passes knowledge and may be filled with all the fullness of God!! Yes, my friend, we can know the glory which God gave to Christ. Christ offers it to us in the Spirit by faith. The measure to which we may know and feel this glory is dependent upon the measure of our faith and submission to the will of Christ. Of course we must remember that the essence of the glory of Christ is that of selflessness and service. His glory consisted in giving Himself totally to God's will and man's salvation. When we are guided by and indwelt by the Spirit this will be our glory also.

There is a glory Christ desires for the Christian yet to be revealed. We are now recipients of this glory in a measure hindered only by our corruptible bodies. But when Jesus comes the Second time we shall receive the consummation of this glory in all its excellence (cf. 1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20-21). When by His grace I shall look on His face, that will be glory for me. Moses and Elijah appeared in glory (Luke 9:30-31). We shall appear with Him in glory when He appears (Colossians 3:4). We even now partake of the glory to be revealed (1 Peter 5:1). Our light affliction works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17; cf. also Romans 8:17-18; 2 Timothy 2:10), Jesus regained for man the glory which man forfeited when he sinned and Christ brought many sons to glory by His death and resurrection (Hebrews 2:5-18).

John 17:24 through 26 form the climactic crescendo of the whole night's discourse (Chapter s 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17). He has already expressed His will that all disciples shall one day be with Him in glory (John 14:1-6). He has already explained how and why the world did not know or receive Him, (chapter 16). He has already explained the coming of the Spirit (14, 15 and 16). He has already explained the glory of giving self (chapter 13). And now He sums it all up. He made known the name and nature of the Righteous Father so that the boundless, filling, glorious love with which the Father loved Him may be in the disciples and that He Himself may also be in them. Christ dwelling in our hearts by knowledge and acceptance of the Word is more than a mere intellectual assent to the verities of the Scripture. Christ cannot dwell in us until love of the Father dwells in us, but of course love for the Father comes when we apprehend the love of the Father for us as it is expressed only in the written record, the Bible. It is a reciprocating, circular, triangular affair, with the Father, Son, and believers and the Bible the hub.

We have desisted from making extended comments of our own on unity and have offered a Special Study with comments from three Christian brethren (Bro. Beam now having gone to be with Jesus) who have spent years laboring in this field. We have much we would like to say but these men say it so well in so brief a manner we feel our readers would be the more profited than by our lengthy comments.
Rather than an expository sermon on Chapter Seventeen we have chosen to conclude this chapter with excerpts from essays by respected Christian men of long experience in dealing with the problems of Christian unity, Seth Wilson, Dean, Ozark Bible College; Carl Ketcherside, Editor and Lecturer; Earnest Beam, former Minister and Lecturer on the Pacific Coast, now deceased.