John 17:22

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) And the glory which thou gavest me (better, hast given Me) I have given them.—Comp. John 13:32, and in this chapter John 17:1; John 17:5; John 17:24. Here, as all through this Intercessory Prayer, the future which immediately grows out of the present is regarded as present; the fulness of the glory which awaits Him at His Father’s right hand is thought of as already given to Him; and the believers who have become, and will become, one with Him, to whom He has given eternal life (John 17:2), are thought of as sharers in it. It is the thought which is expanded by St. Paul when he speaks of the children being “heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if we suffer with Him to the end that we may be also glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17); and by St. John when he speaks of “children of God being like Him because we shall see Him as He is” (1John 3:1-2). In the original the pronoun “I” is emphatically expressed. “The glory which Thou hast given Me,” our Lord’s words seem to mean, “I have on My part given to them. I have fulfilled the work which Thou hast given Me to do. I have made and declared an atonement between man and God. My work is done. I pray that Thou wouldst fulfil Thine own.”

That they may be one, even as we are one.—This is here expressed, in addition to the thought of the last verse, as the purpose for which He has given to them the glory which the Father has given Him. It is future in the union of the glory of heaven; it is present in the realisation of heaven now in those who have the one common hope of their calling.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:20-23 Our Lord especially prayed, that all believers might be as one body under one head, animated by one soul, by their union with Christ and the Father in him, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. The more they dispute about lesser things, the more they throw doubts upon Christianity. Let us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, praying that all believers may be more and more united in one mind and one judgment. Thus shall we convince the world of the truth and excellence of our religion, and find more sweet communion with God and his saints.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the glory ... - The honor which thou hast conferred on me by admitting me to union with thee, the same honor I have conferred on them by admitting them to like union with me.

May be one, even as we are one - Not in nature, or in the mode of existence - for this was not the subject of discourse, and would be impossible - but in feeling, in principle, in purpose. Evincing, as the Father and the Son had always done, the same great aim and plan; not pursuing different interests, or counteracting each other's purposes, or forming parties, but seeking the same ends by the same means. This is the union between the Father and the Son. Always, in the creation, preservation, and redemption of the world, the Father and the Son have sought the same object, and this is to be the model on which Christians should act.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. And the glory which thou gavest—hast given.

me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one—The last clause shows the meaning of the first. It is not the future glory of the heavenly state, but the secret of that present unity just before spoken of; the glory, therefore, of the indwelling Spirit of Christ; the glory of an accepted state, of a holy character, of every grace.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By glory here some understand the heavenly glory; but then they must understand the oneness mentioned in the latter part of the verse, of the union which the saints shall have with Christ and his Father in glory, in another world. Others understand the Divine nature, of which the apostle in, 2 Peter 1:4, saith, believers are made partakers: this seemeth to come nearer, for the more men and women are made partakers of that, the more they will study the unity of the Spirit. Others understand the power of working miracles, by which Christ is said to have manifested his glory, John 2:11; and the effect of this power is called the glory of God, John 11:40. Others understand the preaching of the gospel, in which the ministration of the Spirit is glorious, 2 Corinthians 3:8; and the faithful ministers of the gospel are called the glory of Christ, 2 Corinthians 8:23.

That they may be one, even as we are one; our Saviour either again repeats his prayer, that they might be one; or else declareth that he had communicated his power, his glory to them, that they might be one, as be and his Father are one.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the glory which thou gavest me,.... Not the glory of his deity; this is the same with his Father, what he has in right of nature, and not by gift; nor can it be communicated to creatures; this would be to make them one in the Godhead, as the three are one, which is not the design of the expression in the close of the verse: nor his mediatorial glory, which he had with the Father before the world began; this indeed was given him by the Father, but is not given to the saints: nor the glory, of working miracles; which glory Christ had, and which, as man, he had from the Father, and in which his own glory was manifested; this he gave to his disciples; but all that are his have not had it, and some have had it who are none of his: rather the Gospel is meant, which is glorious in its author, matter and subject, in its doctrines, in the blessing: grace it reveals, and promises it contains, and in the efficacy and usefulness of it to the souls of men. This was given to Christ, and he gave it to his disciples:

I have given them; as he did the words that were given to him, John 17:8,

that they may be one, even as we are one; for the Gospel was given to the apostles, and still is to the ministers of it, to bring men to the unity of the faith, for the perfecting of the saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ: or else the fulness both of grace and glory, which is in Christ's hands for his people, is here designed. This is one considerable branch of the glory of Christ, as Mediator, to be full of grace and truth; this was given him by the Father, and is what he communicates to his; even the Spirit, and all sorts of grace, and every supply of it; and which greatly contributes to the union of the saints among themselves: yea, eternal happiness is often signified by glory; and this is given to Christ; he has it in his hands to give to others; and he does give it, a view of it, a right unto it, a meetness for it, a pledge of it, some foretastes of it, and a kind of a possession of it; for the saints have it already, at least in him; and he will give them the actual enjoyment of it, and this in order to their consummate and perfect union together, as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 17:22-23. What He on His part (ἐγώ) has done in order to bring about this unity of His believing ones and its object—a newly introduced and great thought of the power of His kingdom—not still dependent on ὅτι (Ewald).

τὴν δόξαν] The heavenly glory. Comp. 1, 5, 24. This, once already possessed by Him before the incarnation, the Father has given to Him, not yet, indeed, objectively, but as a secure possession of the immediate future; He has obtained it from God, assigned as a property, and the actual taking-possession is now for Him close at hand. In like manner has He given this, His δόξα, in which the eternal ζωή, John 17:2-3, is consummated, to His believing ones (αὐτοῖς), who will enter on the real possession at the Parousia, where they συνδοξάζονται (Romans 8:17), after that they, up to that time, τῇ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθησαν (Romans 8:24) Comp. on Romans 8:30. They are in Christ already His συγκληρονόμοι, and the Spirit to be received will be to them the ἀῤῥαβὼν τῆς κληρονομίας (Ephesians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5), but the actual entrance on the inheritance is first accomplished at the Parousia (John 14:2-3; Romans 8:11; Colossians 3:4). But this relation does not justify us in interpreting διδόναι as destinare (Gabler, B. Crusius), or at least δέδωκα as constitui dare (Grotius), while the explanations also which take δόξα of the glory of the apostolic office in teaching and working miracles (Chrysostom, Theophylact, and, but with intermixture of other elements, Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Vatablus, Grotius, and several others, including Paulus and Klee), or of the inner glory of the Christian life (Olshausen, comp. Gess, p. 244), of the life of Christ in believers, in accordance with Galatians 2:20 (Hengstenberg), of sonship (Bengel, comp. Godet, who refers to Romans 8:29), of love (Calovius, Maldonatus), of grace and truth, John 1:14 (Luthardt, Ebrard, a part also of Tholuck’s and Brückner’s interpretation), are opposed to the context.[199] See immediately, John 17:24.

ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν, κ.τ.λ.] For what a strong bond of unity must lie in the sure warrant of fellowship in eternal δόξα! Comp. Ephesians 4:4.

ἐγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς κ. σὺ ἐν ἐμοι] Not out of connection with the construction (De Wette), since it fits into it; not even beginning a new proposition, and to be completed by εἰμί (Augustine, Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Beda, Beza, Bengel, and several others, including Luthardt), since thus the discourse on the δόξα would be, in opposition to the context (see John 17:24), interrupted; but an appositional separation from ἡμεῖς, from which it is therefore, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, to be divided only by a comma. In ἡμεῖς is contained: ἐγὼ καὶ σύ, and both are pragmatically, i.e. in demonstration of the specific internal relation of the ἓν εἶναι of believers to the oneness of the Father and the Son, thus expounded: I moving in them, and Thou in me. In accordance with this appositional, more minute definition, the ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν is again taken up with liveliness and weight (“see how His mouth overflows with the same words,” Luther), and that in the expression containing the highest degree of intensity: ἵνα ὦσι τετελειωμένοι εἰς ἕν, that they may be completed to one (to one unity), be united in complete degree, εἰς in the sense of the result. Comp. passages like Plato, Phileb. p. 18 B: τελευτᾶν τε ἐκ πάντων εἰς ἓν; Dem. p. 368. 14 : εἰς ἓν ψήφισμα ταῦτα πάντα συνεσκεύασαν.

ἵνα γινώσκῃ ὁ κόσμος, κ.τ.λ.] Parallel to ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύσῃ, John 17:21, adding to faith the knowledge connected therewith (conversely, John 17:8), and then completing the expression of the happy result to be attained by the designation of the highest divine love, of which the believer is conscious in that knowledge. We are not even remotely to think of the “forced conviction of rebels” (Godet); against this John 17:2-3 already declare, and here the entire context. Note rather how the glance of the praying Jesus, John 17:21-23, rises up to the highest goal of His work on earth, when, namely, the κόσμος shall have come to believe, and Christ Himself shall have become in fact ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου (John 4:42, comp. John 10:16). This at the same time against the supposition of metaphysical dualism in Hilgenfeld.

κ. ἠγάπησας, κ.τ.λ.] and hast loved them (as a matter of fact, through this sending of me) as Thou hast loved me, therefore with the same Fatherly love which I have experienced from Thee. Comp. John 3:16; Ephesians 1:6; Romans 5:5; Romans 8:32.

[199] The δόξα is explained away also by Weizsäcker in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1857, p. 181. It is said to be substantially the same as the λόγος, ver. 14.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 17:22. That the unity of believers in the Father and the Son might be perfect, it was needful that even the glory which Christ possessed by the Father’s gift (John 17:5) should be given to His people. The perfect tense is used, because the gift had already been determined. The nature of the glory spoken of is interpreted both by John 17:5 and by John 17:24. It could not be completely and actually bestowed until the point indicated in John 17:24 was reached.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. Having prayed for them with a view to their unity, He states what He Himself has done for them with the same end in view.

gavest] Better, hast given (see on John 17:4). The meaning of this gift of ‘glory’ seems evident from John 17:24; the glory of the ascended and glorified Christ in which believers are ‘joint-heirs’ with Him (see on Romans 8:17). Looking forward with confidence to the issue of the conflict, Christ speaks of this glory as already given back to him (John 17:5) and shared with His followers. Comp. John 16:33.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 17:22. Δόξαν, the glory) The glory of the Only-begotten shines forth through the believing sons of God.—δέδωκα, I have given) Oh! how great is the majesty of Christians! I have given, already although secretly.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Our Lord now proceeds to record how he has already contributed to produce this result. I also - very emphatic - have given to them - that is, to my disciples - the glory which thou gavest me. Numerous interpretations of this "glory" have been suggested, as e.g., the glory into which he is about to enter in his glorified body; but the emphatic perfect δέδωκα, in connection with the ἐδωκάς, viz.: "I have given and am now and still giving," renders this improbable. Meyer, who does not accept Baumgarten-Crusius's view that διδόναι here means "to destine," yet comes very much to the same thought, and regards it as the heavenly glory of which he had eternal experience, and would ultimately share with his people. But the view variously set forth by Oldhausen, Hengstenberg, Maldonatus, Bengel, Tholuck, Moulton, and Godet appears to be in full harmony with the context, viz. the glory of the supernatural life of Divine Sonship and self-sacrificing love as of the very essence of God. This glory that he should taste death for every man, this glory of nature and character as the incarnate Head of a new humanity, I have given to them, in order that they may be one, living in and for each other, even as we are one. The contrast between his own relation to the Father and theirs is most wonderfully maintained. The union between the Father and Son is once more made the type, in his own unique consciousness, of the union among men who have received as his gift the eternal life and glory of a supernatural love. This is more evident from what follows. John 17:22