John 17:5

John 17:5. And now glorify thou me, O Father, with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. The glory prayed for is distinguished by two particulars: (1) It is ‘with Thine own Self' (comp. chap, John 13:31-32), in contrast with the words ‘on earth' of John 17:4. (2) It is a glory that Jesus had possessed ‘before the world was;' that is, from eternity. Thus the prayer is that the clouds which during His earthly life had obscured the glory of His Divine Sonship may be rolled back, and that as Son of man (as well as Son of God) it may now appear that He possesses that glory in all the brightness with which it encompassed Him before He came into the world (comp. on chap, John 13:32). The word ‘glory,' in short, is to be understood in the sense of glory to be manifested as well as in a sense expressing the contents of the glory; and the petition is for a bestowal of the manifested glory rather than of the original real glory considered in itself. Thus the unity of thought in the whole passage is preserved. Not the Son's personal exaltation, but the Father's glory through the Son's, is still the keynote; for, when the glory of the Son is seen the glory of the Father is seen also, and the less the obscurity resting on the former the less also that resting on the latter. With this petition the first section of the prayer closes.