Yohanes 17:6

Jesus Prays for the Disciples

17:6 “I have revealed ¹  your name to the men ²  you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, ³  and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed ⁴  your word.

Yohanes 17:15-16

17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe ⁵  from the evil one. ⁶  17:16 They do not belong to the world ⁷  just as I do not belong to the world. ⁸ 

Yohanes 17:18

17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. ⁹ 

[17:6]  ¹ tn Or “made known,” “disclosed.”

[17:6]  ² tn Here “men” is retained as a translation for ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") rather than the more generic “people” because in context it specifically refers to the eleven men Jesus had chosen as apostles (Judas had already departed, John 13:30). If one understands the referent here to be the broader group of Jesus’ followers that included both men and women, a translation like “to the people” should be used here instead.

[17:6]  ³ tn Grk “Yours they were.”

[17:6]  ⁴ tn Or “have kept.”

[17:15]  ⁵ tn Or “that you protect them”; Grk “that you keep them.”

[17:15]  ⁶ tn The phrase “the evil one” is a reference to Satan. The genitive noun τοῦ πονηροῦ (tou ponhrou) is ambiguous with regard to gender: It may represent the neuter τὸ πονηρόν (to ponhron), “that which is evil,” or the masculine ὁ πονηρός (Jo ponhro"), “the evil one,” i.e., Satan. In view of the frequent use of the masculine in 1 John 2:13-14, 3:12, and 5:18-19 it seems much more probable that the masculine is to be understood here, and that Jesus is praying for his disciples to be protected from Satan. Cf. BDAG 851 s.v. πονηρός 1.b.β and 1.b.γ.

[17:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “they are not of the world.” This is a repetition of the second half of v. 14. The only difference is in word order: Verse 14 has οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου (ouk eisin ek tou kosmou), while here the prepositional phrase is stated first: ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου οὐκ εἰσίν (ek tou kosmou ouk eisin). This gives additional emphasis to the idea of the prepositional phrase, i.e., origin, source, or affiliation.

[17:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “just as I am not of the world.”

[17:18]  ⁹ sn Jesus now compared the mission on which he was sending the disciples to his own mission into the world, on which he was sent by the Father. As the Father sent Jesus into the world (cf. 3:17), so Jesus now sends the disciples into the world to continue his mission after his departure. The nature of this prayer for the disciples as a consecratory prayer is now emerging: Jesus was setting them apart for the work he had called them to do. They were, in a sense, being commissioned.