ACC ~ John 17 v15b

PRAY TO BE KEPT FROM EVIL

DIDACHE: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one; [1] for yours is the power and the glory forever.” [2] Pray like this three times a day. DIDACHE 8.2-3. [3]

[1] Or, possibly, “evil.”

[2] See Mt 6:13, textual variant.

[3] AF 259.

SANCTIFICATION KEEPS THEM FROM EVIL

AUGUSTINE: “I pray not,” he adds, “that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil.” For they still thought it was necessary to be in the world, although they were no longer of it. Then he repeats the same statement: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.” For they are kept from the evil, as he had previously prayed that they might be. But it may be inquired how they were no longer of the world if they were not yet sanctified in the truth. Or, if they already were, why does he request that they should be sanctified? Isn’t it because even those who are sanctified still continue to make progress in the same sanctification and grow in holiness? And they do not do so without the aid of God’s grace but by his sanctifying of their progress, even as he sanctified them at the outset [of their sanctification]. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 108.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:404-5**; CCL 36:616-17.

PREPARATION FOR WORTHY PARTICIPATION IN HEAVEN

CHRYSOSTOM: Christ came not to put us to death and deliver us from the present life in that sense but to leave us in the world and prepare us for a worthy participation in our heavenly home. This is why he said to the Father, “And these are in the world, and I come to you. I pray not that you should take them from the world but that you should keep them from the evil,” that is, from sin. Further, those who insist that the present life is evil … would have to agree that murderers would deserve a crown for rescuing us from evil. … Miserable, wretched person! What are you saying? Is this life evil, a life where we have learned to know God, and meditate on things to come, and have become angels instead of humans and take part in the choirs of the heavenly powers? … In calling the present world evil, he [1] has accommodated himself to our usage. COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS 1.4. [2]

[1] Paul, commenting on Gal 1:4, makes the same point as Christ in Jn 17:15.

[2] NPNF 1 13:5-6**.