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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - John 17:17-19

The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good. I. Here is the petition (John 17:17): Sanctify them through thy truth, through thy word, for thy word is truth; it is true?it is truth itself. He desires they may be sanctified, 1. As Christians. Father, make them holy, and this will be their preservation, 1 Thess. 5:23. Observe here, (1.) The grace desired?sanctification. The disciples were sanctified, for they were not of the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - John 17:20-23

Next to their purity he prays for their unity; for the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable; and amity is amiable indeed when it is like the ointment on Aaron's holy head, and the dew on Zion's holy hill. Observe, I. Who are included in this prayer (John 17:20): ?Not these only, not these only that are now my disciples? (the eleven, the seventy, with others, men and women that followed him when he was here on earth), ?but for those also who shall believe on me through their word,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 17:9-19

17:9-19 "It is for them that I pray. It is not for the world that I pray, but for those whom you have given me because they are yours. All that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine. And through them glory has been given to me. I am no longer in the world and they are no longer in the world, and I go to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you gave to me, that they may be one, as we are one. When I was with them I kept them in your name, which you gave to me. I guarded... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 17:9-19

The great interest of this passage is that it tells us of the things for which Jesus prayed for his disciples. (i) The first essential is to note that Jesus did not pray that his disciples should be taken out of this world. He never prayed that they might find escape; he prayed that they might find victory. The kind of Christianity which buries itself in a monastery or a convent would not have seemed Christianity to Jesus at all. The kind of Christianity which finds its essence in prayer and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 17:20-21

17:20-21 "It is not only for these that I pray, but also for those who are going to believe in their word of testimony to me. And my prayer is that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me." Gradually in this section Jesus' prayer has been going out to the ends of the earth. First, he prayed for himself as the Cross faced him. Second, he prayed for his disciples, and for God's keeping... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 17:19

And for their sakes I sanctify myself ,.... Which is to be understood, not of his making himself holy; for he never was a sinner, and so stood in no need of sanctification: he was made like unto us, yet without sin; he looked like a sinner, but was not one; he was traduced, charged, and treated as such, but was perfectly holy, and free from all sin; he was essentially and infinitely holy as God; and as man, he was holy in his conception and birth; he was filled with the Holy Ghost, and was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 17:20

Neither pray I for these alone ,.... Meaning his immediate apostles and disciples, for whose preservation and sanctification he had been particularly praying in John 17:19 ; and now, that it might not be thought that these were his only favourites, and the only persons he had a regard for, and to whom his intercession and sacrifice were confined; he adds, but for them also which shall believe in me through their word : Christ is the object of true faith; which faith is not a mere... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 17:21

That they all may be one ,.... Among themselves. This may regard their unity in faith, and in the knowledge of Christ; for there is but one faith which all truly experienced souls agree in: they are converted by the same Spirit, and have the same work of grace wrought in them; and though they have not the same degree of light, and measure of spiritual knowledge, yet they agree in the main point of the Gospel, salvation alone by the Lord Jesus Christ; and such an agreement in the doctrine of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 17:19

I sanctify myself - I consecrate and devote myself to death - that I may thereby purchase eternal salvation for them. There seems to be here an allusion to the entering of the high priest into the holy of holies, when, having offered the sacrifice, he sprinkled the blood before the ark of the covenant. So Jesus entered into the holiest of all by his own blood, in order to obtain everlasting redemption for men: see Hebrews 9:11-13 . The word, ἁγιαζω , to consecrate or sanctify, is used... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 17:20

III. Our Lord's Prayer for His Church, and for All Who Would Believe on His Name, Through the Preaching of the Apostles and Their Successor. John 17:20-26 . See on John 17:1 ; (note). read more

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