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John 17

Jesus entrusts his people to the Father, praying for their holiness and unity, and for them to share his presence.

Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays to the Father as he prepares to leave his disciples and return to him. He asks for the glory he shared with the Father before the world existed. His prayer then turns to the disciples who have received his words and will remain in a hostile world. He asks for their protection and holiness, then includes those who will believe through their message.

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1Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6“I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
7Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
8for the words which you have given me I have given to them; and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
9I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
14I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
18As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
19For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20“Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
21that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
22The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one,
23I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
24Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
26I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
John 17:3Jesus defines eternal life through knowing the Father and the Son whom the Father sent.
John 17:21Jesus connects believers’ unity with his union with the Father and with the world believing that the Father sent him.
John 17:24The prayer reaches toward believers being with Jesus, seeing his glory rooted in the Father’s love before creation.
Where this chapter reaches

John 17 shares with 1 John the themes of eternal life, knowing God, and God’s love dwelling in believers; Ephesians also connects believers’ unity with their life in God. Hebrews shares the themes of Jesus interceding for his people and their sanctification.

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What do Jesus’ requests reveal about what he wants for those who belong to him?

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How does Jesus’ prayer for unity shape your thoughts about relationships with other believers?

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Questions people ask about John 17

Does Jesus pray for future believers in John 17?

Yes. In verse 20, Jesus extends his prayer to those who will believe in him through his disciples’ word. He asks that they share in the unity of the Father and Son, so the world may believe that the Father sent him. His prayer reaches beyond the disciples present.

What does “Sanctify them in your truth” mean in John 17:17?

Sanctify means to set apart as holy for God. Jesus links this request to the Father’s word and to sending his disciples into the world. In verse 19, his sanctifying himself describes his dedication to the work given him. The disciples’ holiness serves their calling within a hostile world.

What does Jesus mean by “that they may all be one”?

Jesus asks for a unity grounded in the Father and Son’s own union, expressed through his presence in believers and the Father’s love for them. He connects this unity with the world recognizing that the Father sent him. The passage does not specify a church structure or organizational arrangement.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).