john 17:1 commentary

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: For the general character of this portion of the Fourth Gospel, see the opening remarks on John 14:1-31. 1891. Glorify thy Son - Cause him to be acknowledged as the promised Messiah by the Jewish people, and as the universal Savior by the Gentile world; and let such proofs of his Godhead be given as shall serve to convince and instruct mankind. Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament. Jesus does not therefore have to refer to the Spirit when speaking with His Father. Having promised the coming of the Spirit, he raised them to a better hope, and discoursed to them about the splendor and glory of his reign. That thy Son also may glorify thee. John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible, Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, glorify thy Son, that the son may glorify thee, Glorify thy Son, that the son may glorify thee, Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament. That goes clean beyond all creaturely degrees.". This is how some believers respond in similar situations. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/john-17.html. These things ... refers to the discourse just finished. On this account he more than ever needed a testimony on his behalf; and God, in answer to this request, gave ample testimony to his Messiahship [Note: He caused both him that betrayed, and him that condemned, our Lord, to attest his innocence; and made even the inanimate creation to bear witness to him.]. All of this was ultimately for the glory of the Father. ‘Abba, Father’ in Mark 14:36, and see Lightfoot on Galatians 4:6. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/heg/john-17.html. John 17:1. ταῦτα, these things) He prays respecting Himself, John 17:1-2; respecting the apostles, John 17:6-7; and again, John 17:24-25; respecting those about to believe, John 17:20-23; and in this prayer comprises all things which He spake from ch. Ver. BibliographyCalvin, John. The smallest failure on his part would defeat the end of his mission: nor could any thing less than the most miraculous testimonies counterbalance the offence of the cross. The conversion of a single sinner honors God; a revival of religion is an eminent means of promoting his honor; and the spread of the gospel among all nations shall yet do more than all other things to promote the honor of God among men. ‘Lifting up his eyes to heaven’. It is not a bestowal of personal glory for which Jesus prays, for such a thought would both be out of keeping with the mind of Him who never sought His own glory, and would compel us to understand the word ‘glorify’ in the first clause in a sense wholly different from any that can be given it in the second. Proud member John 1:12). But men's knowledge and acknowledgment of His glory required Christ's glorification as its condition. let him save us from the wrath to come! It points forward by its very mysteriousness, left to conjecture, to a closer definition of its meaning. But it is evident from what follows, that the Lord here contemplates the highest gradation of it—the perfected knowledge of the glory of God in eternal blessedness. The lectionary places Jesus’ prayer concerning glory at the end of the Easter season, but in John’s gospel the prayer occurs at the end of the last supper, so that it leads into the passion. 4. of R. Tanchuma, that הגביה פניו לשמים, "he lift up his face to heaven", and said before the holy blessed God, Lord of the world, &c. and this is expressive of the ardency and affection of the mind of Christ, and of his confidence of the divine favour: it shows that his mind was filled with devotion and faith, and was devoid of shame and fear, and was possessed of great freedom, boldness, and intrepidity: and said, Father; or "my Father", as the Syriac, Arabic and Persic versions read; and no doubt but he used the word Abba, which signifies "my Father", thereby claiming his interest in him, and relation to him: the hour is come; to depart out of the world, to suffer and die for his people, which was agreed upon between him and his Father from all eternity; and it was welcome to him, on account of the salvation of his people, and therefore he spoke with an air of pleasure and satisfaction; and it would be quickly over, was but an hour, as it were, though a time of great trouble, distress and darkness, and so a fit time for prayer: glorify thy Son; as man and Mediator; for as God, he needed no glory, nor could any be added to him: but it designs some breakings forth of glory upon him at his death; by supporting him under all the sorrows and sufferings of it; and in carrying him through it; so that he conquered all his people's enemies, and his own, sin, Satan, the world, and death, and obtained eternal redemption for them: and at his resurrection; by not suffering him to remain so long in the grave, as to see corruption; and by raising him at the exact time that was foretold by the prophets and himself; and by sending an angel to roll away the stone; and by raising some of the saints along with him; and by putting such a glory on his body, as that it is the pattern and exemplar of the saints' resurrection: and at his ascension to heaven, when he led captivity captive; and at his session at the right hand of God, above all principalities and powers; and through the effusion of the Spirit upon his disciples, and the divine power that attended his Gospel, to make it effectual to great multitudes, both to Jews and Gentiles; by all which he was glorified, pursuant to this petition of his; in which his end is. Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. “The eye of one who prays is on all occasions raised toward heaven.” Meyer. It is with the same view that the hands are lifted up in prayer; for men, being by nature indolent and slow, and drawn downwards by their earthly disposition, need such excitements, or I should rather say, chariots, to raise them to heaven. BibliographyBullinger, Ethelbert William. ch. New York, USA. The glory of the Father could not of itself know any addition: His being glorified, therefore, can only refer to men's recognition of that glory. Washed himself, and put on clean linen garments. To glorify in this context means to clothe in splendor (cf. 1859. words = things; i.e. "E.W. McGarvey says this is still in the upstairs room. Such simplicity in His mode of address was above all becoming in the Son of God: and accordingly as each believer has his soul in the best state of readiness for confidence in prayer, so he can most fully follow in the steps of His Master’s simplicity,— ἡ ὥρα) the hour of glorification.— δόξασον, glorify) This verb and the noun δόξα, glory, throughout the whole of this prayer, have the same force, and that the highest degree of force.