ACC ~ John 17 v22

HE ASKED FOR GLORY BECAUSE OF US

ATHANASIUS: What advantage then was it for the immortal to have assumed the mortal? Or what improvement [1] does the everlasting one get by putting on the temporal? How great can any reward be for the everlasting God and King in the bosom of the Father? Don’t you see that this too was done and written because of us and for us? The Lord became man for us, we who are mortal and temporal, so that he might make us immortal and bring us into the everlasting kingdom of heaven. … It is not the Word then (viewed as the Word) that is improved. For he had all things and has them always. But it is the human race, which has its origin [2] in him and through him, that is the one who receives the improvement. For when he is now said to be anointed according to human terms, it is we who in him are anointed, since also when he is baptized, it is we who in him are baptized. But on all these things the Savior throws significant light when he says to the Father, “And the glory that you gave me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one.” Because of us, then, he asked for glory. And the words “took” and “gave” and “highly exalted” occur so that we might take, and to us might be given and we might be exalted in him. He also sanctifies himself for us so that we might be sanctified in him. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 1.12.48. [3]

[1] Gk beltiōsis.

[2] Gk archē.

[3] NPNF 2 4:334-35**; PG 26:112.

ALL ARE ONE IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER

HILARY OF POITIERS: Now I ask whether glory is identical with will, since will is an emotion of the mind while glory is an ornament or embellishment of nature. So then, it is the glory received from the Father that the Son has given to all who shall believe in him, and certainly not will. Had will been given, faith would carry with it no reward, for a necessity of will attached to us would also impose faith on us. However, he has shown what is effected by the bestowal of the glory received: “that they may be one, even as we are one.” It is then with this object that the received glory was bestowed, that all might be one. So now all are one in glory, because the glory given is none other than that which was received; nor has it been given for any other reason than that all should be one. And since all are one through the glory given to the Son and by the Son bestowed on believers, I ask how the Son can be of a different glory from the Father’s, since the glory of the Son brings all that believe into the unity of the Father’s glory. Now it may be that the utterance of human hope in this case may be somewhat immoderate, yet it will not be contrary to faith. For though to hope for this were presumptuous, yet not to have believed it is sinful, for we have one and the same author both of our hope and of our faith. ON THE TRINITY 8.12. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:140-41**; CCL 62A:324.

THE GLORY THAT UNIFIES IS THE HOLY SPIRIT

GREGORY OF NYSSA: In giving “all power” to his disciples by his blessing, in his prayer here to the Father he grants many other favors to those who are holy. And he adds this, which is the crown of all blessings, that in all the diversity of life’s decisions they should never be divided greatly in their choice of the good. And so he prays that all “may be one,” united in a single good so that linked “in the bond of peace,” [1] as the apostle says, through “the unity of the [Holy] Spirit,” all might become “one body and one spirit,” through the “one hope” to which they have all been called.

But it would be better here if we would quote the actual words of the Gospel. “That they all may be one,” he says, “as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us.” Now the bond of this unity is glory, and no one who would consider seriously the Lord’s words would deny that this glory is the Holy Spirit. For he says, “The glory that you have given me, I have given to them.” He gave his disciples this glory when he said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” [2] And he himself received this glory when he put on human nature, though he had indeed always possessed it since before the beginning of the world. And now that his human nature has been glorified by the Spirit, this participation in the glory of the Spirit is communicated to all who are united with him, beginning with his disciples. HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 15. [3]

[1] Eph 4:3.

[2] Jn 20:22.

[3] FGTG 286-87.

THE GLORY OF IMMORTALITY IS GIVEN

AUGUSTINE: “And the glory that you gave me, I have given them.” And what was that glory but immortality, which human nature was afterward to receive in him? For not even he himself had as yet received it, but in his own customary way, because predestination is so absolutely inflexible, he intimates what is future in verbs of the past tense. He does this because he is now on the point of being glorified, or in other words, raised up again by the Father, knowing that he himself is going to raise us up to the same glory in the end. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 110.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:409**; CCL 36:623-24.