John 17:4

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work . . .—Better, I glorified Thee on earth: I finished the work . . . The former sentence is .explained by the latter. God was glorified in the completion of the Messianic work of Christ. For this conception of the work of life, which includes the whole life as manifesting God to man, comp. Notes on John 5:36; John 9:4; John 10:25 et al.

Benson Commentary

John 17:4-5. I have glorified thee on earth — My doctrine, example, and miracles have manifested thy glory here on earth. I have finished the work thou gavest me to do — I have almost finished the work which I undertook for man’s redemption. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thyself — Or, in thine own presence, as Dr. Campbell translates παρα σεαυτω, observing, that the force of the Greek preposition, παρα, is not rightly expressed by the English with, which, as applied here, is exceedingly vague and indeterminate. With the glory which I had with thee — He does not say received. He always had it till he emptied himself of it in the days of his flesh; before the world was — “The Socinians, who deny, not only our Lord’s divinity, but his existence before he appeared in the world, are at a loss how to explain this passage, in consistency with their opinion. They imagine, that as in the prophetical writings, things to come are spoken of as already existing, to denote the divine decree concerning them, and the certainty of their happening; so, Jesus is here said to possess glory with the Father before the foundation of the world, not because he then existed, but because that glory was appointed him in the divine decree from eternity, and was certainly to be bestowed upon him in the fulness of time. Withal, in confirmation of this observation, they cite Revelation 13:8, where Christ is called a lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and 2 Timothy 1:9, where the apostle, speaking of the favours conferred on Christians, says, Hath saved us, and called us according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But here, without laying the whole stress of the matter on the answer given by Whitby, namely, that these passages are mistranslated, I observe, that though, for the reasons mentioned, the sacred writers, when warmed with the grandeur of their subject, might, in their discourses, represent the great events which were to befall the church under the gospel dispensation, as existing from eternity; yet, no fire of imagination could authorize the figure in the present instance. For it were absurd to fancy that Jesus, in this his last solemn prayer with his disciples, gravely spake of himself as existing from eternity, and as enjoying with God blessings which were to be bestowed upon him only in time. Such figures, how ever proper they may be in prophecy, are not of the style of prayer, far less of our Lord’s prayers, which are remarkable for their simplicity. Besides, it should be remembered that this is not the only passage which speaks of Christ’s pre-existence, for the Evangelist John (John 1:1) represents him as existing from eternity, and making all things. And (John 8:58) Jesus himself tells us that he existed before Abraham. And Paul affirms, (Php 2:6,) that before Jesus took the form of a servant, he was in the form of God.” — Macknight.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:1-5 Our Lord prayed as a man, and as the Mediator of his people; yet he spoke with majesty and authority, as one with and equal to the Father. Eternal life could not be given to believers, unless Christ, their Surety, both glorified the Father, and was glorified of him. This is the sinner's way to eternal life, and when this knowledge shall be made perfect, holiness and happiness will be fully enjoyed. The holiness and happiness of the redeemed, are especially that glory of Christ, and of his Father, which was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame; this glory was the end of the sorrow of his soul, and in obtaining it he was fully satisfied. Thus we are taught that our glorifying God is needed as an evidence of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal life is God's free gift.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Have glorified thee - In my instructions and life. See his discourses everywhere, the whole tendency of which is to put honor on God.

I have finished the work - Compare John 19:30. When he says "I have finished," he probably means to include also his death. All the preparations for that death were made. He had preached to the Jews; he had given them full proof that he was the Messiah; he had collected his disciples; he had taught them the nature of his religion; he had given them his parting counsel, and there was nothing remaining to be done but to return to God. We see here that Jesus was careful that his great and important work should be done before his dying hour. He did not postpone it to be performed just as he was leaving the world. So completely had he done his work, that even before his death he could I say, "I have finished the work." How happy would it be if men would imitate his example, and not leave their great work of life to be done on a dying bed? Christians should have their work accomplished, and when that hour approaches, have nothing to do but to die, and return to their Father in heaven.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. I have glorified thee on the earth—rather, "I glorified" (for the thing is conceived as now past).

I have finished—I finished.

the work which thou gavest me to do—It is very important to preserve in the translation the past tense, used in the original, otherwise it might be thought that the work already "finished" was only what He had done before uttering that prayer; whereas it will be observed that our Lord speaks throughout as already beyond this present scene (Joh 17:12, &c.), and so must be supposed to include in His "finished work" the "decease which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I have glorified thee on the earth; by preaching the gospel, by living up to the rule of thy law, by the miracles which I have wrought. God could not be glorified by Christ, by the addition of any thing to his essential glory; only by manifesting to the world his Father’s goodness, justice, mercy, truth, wisdom, and other of his attributes. One way by which he had glorified his Father, is expressed, viz. by finishing the work which he had given him in commission. But how could Christ say this, who had not yet died for the sins of men, which was the principal piece of his work?

Answer. It was so nigh, that he speaks of it as already done: so, John 17:11, he saith, I am no more in the world, because he was to be so little a time in the world. Again, he speaks of what he was fully resolved to do, as if it were already done.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have glorified thee on the earth,.... This is made use of as a reason and argument, why the Father should glorify him: Christ glorified his Father personally, as he held forth and expressed the glory of his person; and verbally, by ascribing, on all occasions, praise and glory to him; and really, or by deeds, and that by various ways: as in and by his ministry; by asserting he had his mission, qualifications, and doctrine, from him as a prophet; his principal work was to declare his Father's mind and will, his love and grace; nor did he seek his own, but his Father's glory: and by his miracles: for though these were proofs of his deity and Messiahship, and displays of his own glory; yet the glory of his Father, especially of his power, was eminently seen in them, for he referred them to him; and these were often the means of men's glorifying the God of Israel: and by his whole life and conversation, which was entirely according to the will of God; and every action of it was directed to his glory; particularly he glorified him by his early regard to his will, and the business he sent him about; by his zeal for his Father's house; and by the exercise of the various graces of faith, hope, and love upon him: and as by his life, so at his death, even all the while he was "on the earth"; where God had been dishonoured by the sin of men; where Christ now was debased in human nature, and even that was for the glory of God; and this is said in distinction from heaven, where God is glorified by the angels, and where Christ would shortly be glorified in his human nature:

I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; by "the work" is meant obedience to the will of God; the destruction of all spiritual enemies, as sin, Satan, the world, and death; and the redemption and salvation of his people, which was "given" him to do: he did not take it upon himself, but being called to it he readily accepted of it; it was appointed, and cut out for him, in the council and covenant of grace; he was thoroughly acquainted with it; and though it was difficult, it was pleasant and delightful to him; nor did he leave it till he could say it is "finished"; as it was by himself alone, without the help of man; and is so complete that nothing can be added to it; and so firmly done, that it cannot be unravelled by men and devils: he speaks of it as done, because the time was come to finish it, and he was sure of the accomplishment of it.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 17:4-5. Once more the prayer of John 17:1, δόξασόν σου τὸν υἱόν, but stating a different reason for it (“ostendit, non iniquum se petere,” Grotius), and setting forth the δόξα more definitely.

ἐγώ σε ἐδοξ. ἐπὶ τ. γ.] By what, is expressed by the following parallel proposition, which is subjoined with asyndetic liveliness. The Messianic work glorified God, to whose highest revelation, and therewith to His knowledge, praise, and honour it bore reference. Comp. John 17:6.

The aorists ἐδόξ. and ἐτελεί. are employed, because Jesus stands at the goal of His earthly activity, where He already includes in this account the fact which puts a close to His earthly work, the fact of His death, as already accomplished. Christ is not passive in His sufferings; His obedientia passiva is active, the highest point of His activity.

καὶ νῦν] And now, when I take leave of this my earthly ministry.

In what follows note the correlation of με σύ with ἐγώ σε, in which the thought of recompense (comp. διό, Php 2:9) is expressed. The emphasis lies on ἐγώ and σύ, hence after με no comma should stand.

παρὰ σεαυτῷ] so that I may be united with Thyself in heavenly fellowship (Colossians 3:3), corresponding to ἐπὶ τ. γῆς. Comp. on John 13:32.

The δόξα, which Jesus possessed before the creation of the world, and thus in eternity before time was (εἶχον, which is to be understood realiter, not with the Socinians, Grotius, Wetstein, Nösselt, Löffler, Eckermann, Stolz, Gabler, comp. B. Crusius, Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 286 f., Scholten, ideally of the destinatio divina), was the divine glory, i.e. the essentially glorious manifestation of the entire divine perfection and blessedness, the μορφὴ θεοῦ (Php 2:6) in His pre-existent state (John 1:1), of which He divested Himself when He became man, and the resumption of which, in the consciousness of its once enjoyed possession,[189]He now asks in prayer from God. Had Christ contemplated Himself as the eternal archetype of humanity in His pre-historical unity with the proper personal life of God, and attributed to Himself in this sense the premundane δόξα (Beyschlag, p. 87 f.), His expression ΕἾΧΟΝ ΠΑΡᾺ ΣΟΊ would stand in contradiction therewith, because this latter separates the subject that had been in possession from the divine subject in such a manner that the former was with the latter, and possessed the glory, as then also the glory again prayed for would not be adequate to that already formerly possessed; for the essence of the former is the σύνθρονον εἶναι θεοῦ, which consequently that of the latter must also have been. Comp. on John 6:62.

For the fulfilment of this prayer: Php 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:8; Hebrews 1:13; Acts 2:34; 1 Peter 3:22, et al. The δόξα, however, which His believing ones beheld in Him in His earthly working (John 1:14), was not the heavenly majesty in its Godlike, absolute existence and manifestation,—that He had as λόγος ἄσαρκος, and obtained it again in divine-human completeness after His ascension,—but His temporally divine-human glory, the glory of God present in earthly and bodily limitation, which He had in the state of ΚΈΝΩΣΙς, and made known through grace and truth, as well as through His entire activity. Comp. on John 1:14; see also Liebner, Christol. I. p. 323 f.

[189] Not merely in a momentary anticipation, in which it appeared before the eye of His spirit (Weizsäcker). Comp. on John 8:58. It is a perversion of the exegetically clear and certain relation when Weizsäcker finds in such passages, instead of the self-consciousness of Jesus reaching back into His pre-human state, only “the culminating point of an advancing self-knowledge.” That here, however, and in ver. 25, different modes of apprehending the person of Christ are intimated (Weizsäcker in the Jahrb. f. D. Th. 1862, p. 645 ff.), cannot be established on exegetical grounds. See on ver. 25.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 17:4. ἐγώ σε … ποιήσω. This is a fresh ground for the petition of John 17:1 renewed in John 17:5 : “glorify Thou me”. The ground is “I have glorified Thee on the earth; having finished perfectly accomplished, cf. τετέλεσται of the cross] the work which Thou gavest me to do”. But it is not the idea of reward that is prominent here, although that idea is found in Php 2:6-11; Hebrews 2:9-11; Hebrews 5:4-10; the immediate thought here is of the necessary progress which the hour demanded. There remained no longer any reason for His continuance on earth. He did not desire, and did not need, any prolongation of life below. Beyschlag’s objection (N.T. Theol., i. 254) is therefore baseless, as also is Grotius’ “ostendit, non iniquum se petere”.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. I have glorified] Better, I glorified. In confident anticipation Christ looks backs from the point when all shall be accomplished, and speaks of the whole work of redemption as one act. Our translators have been very capricious throughout this chapter, rendering aorists as perfects and perfects as aorists. Comp. John 17:6; John 17:8; John 17:18; John 17:21-23; John 17:25-26.

I have finished] According to the right reading, having finished or perfected. This is the way in which God is glorified, the completion of the work of revelation.

gavest me] Better, hast given Me. Christ did not choose for Himself.

to do] Literally, in order that I may do it: this was God’s purpose in giving it. It is S. John’s favourite particle; comp. John 5:36 and see on John 17:3.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 17:4. Ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, upon earth) In antithesis to παρὰ σεαυτῷ, with Thine own self, viz., in heaven, John 17:5. The earth had revolted from God.—ἐτελείωσα, I have consummated [finished]) Hereby is explained the expression, I have glorified Thee.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - He continues the prayer which he is offering for himself: I glorified thee on the earth, having finished the work which thou hast given me to do. Many expositors urge a proleptical or anticipatory assertion of the completion of his earthly work, as though the Passion were already over, and he were now uttering the consummatum est of the cross. This is, however, included in the next clause. The night has come when the earthly ministry is at an end. The Jesus Christ, whom the Father has sent, has completed his task. The whole work of the earthly manifestation of the Word was at an. end. Suffering remains, the issues of the conflict with evil have to be encountered; but the die is cast - the thing is done. The godly life, as well as the atoning death, are correlative parts of the merits and work of Christ, and have glorified the Father. But what a self-consciousness beams forth in these simple words! St. Paul, on the verge of his martyrdom, in the midst of the horrors of the Neronian persecution, exclaimed, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course." But our Lord is unconscious of any coming short of the glory of God; and he even counts on higher power to glorify God by returning to a position which he had for a while vacated. John 17:4

Vincent's Word Studies

I have glorified - I have finished (ἐδόξασα - ἐτελείωσα)

The best texts read, τελειώσας, having finished; the participle defining the manner in which He had glorified the Father upon earth. So Rev.

To do (ἵνα ποιήσω)

Literally, in order that I should do (it).