ACC ~ John 17 v6 - 10

OVERVIEW:

The Son is now the Father’s new name (TERTULLIAN) as he reveals God not only as God but also as Father (CYRIL). Such is the close relationship between Father and Son that the Father chooses not to keep the glory only for himself but also desires belief in his Son (CHRYSOSTOM). Jesus speaks these words not only to the disciples but to all who would believe (AUGUSTINE). But when he speaks of those who “were yours and you gave them to me,” he does not mean there was a time when the Father had something that the Son did not have (AUGUSTINE). The Father gave the Son all things when, having all things, he begat his Son (AUGUSTINE). Christ takes what is ours, such as our infirmities and hunger, and gives us in return the gifts that come from God ([Pseudo]-ATHANASIUS). They have learned from Jesus’ words that he has come from the Father (CHRYSOSTOM). Even though they may not have fully learned this at the time, Jesus anticipates his disciples’ later confident faith (AUGUSTINE).

As our high priest and mediator, Jesus prays for us as man even as he also cooperates in distributing the good gifts of the Father as God (CYRIL). When Jesus says he does not pray for the world, he means those who live according to the lust of the world (AUGUSTINE). And when he again further speaks of those “you have given me,” he emphasizes that everything that he does is according to the Father’s will (CHRYSOSTOM). All that belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son because the Son himself is also God (AUGUSTINE), but he carries out the plan of his Father (BASIL). The Son does not somehow divide his glory with the Father (GREGORY OF NYSSA), nor is there any part of creation that is not the Son’s since he is the one “by whom all things were made” (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). Christ is the “glory of God” in that he is the almighty one for whom every knee shall bow (ORIGEN). Believers will glorify Father and Son equally (CHRYSOSTOM).

17:6 | The Father’s Name

THE SON IS NOW THE FATHER’S NEW NAME

TERTULLIAN: The name “God the Father” had been published to no one. Even Moses, who had interrogated him on that very point, had heard a different name. To us it has been revealed in the Son, for the Son is now the Father’s new name. … That name, therefore, we pray “may be hallowed.” ON PRAYER 3. [1]

“FATHER” MORE ACCURATE THAN “GOD

” CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: When the Savior declares that he has made known the name of God the Father, it is the same as saying that he has shown the whole world his glory. How did he do this? By making himself known through his wonderful works. The Father is glorified in the Son as in an image and type of his own form, for the beauty of the archetype is seen in its image. The only Son then has made himself known, and he is in his essence wisdom and life, the artificer and creator of the universe. He is immortal and incorruptible, pure, blameless, merciful, holy, good. His Father is known to be like him, since he could not be different in nature from his offspring. The Father’s glory is seen, as in an image and type of his own form, in the glory of the Son. …

The Son made known the name of God the Father to teach us and make us fully comprehend not that he is the only God—for inspired Scripture had proclaimed that even before the coming of the Son—but that besides being truly God he is also rightly called “Father.” This is so because in himself and proceeding from himself he has a Son possessed of the same eternal nature as his own: it was not in time that he became the Father of the Creator of the ages!

To call God “Father” is more exact than to call him “God.” The word God signifies his dignity, but the word Father points to the distinctive attribute of his person. If we say “God,” we declare him to be Lord of the universe. If we call him “Father,” we show the way in which he is distinct as a person, for we make known the fact that he has a Son. The Son himself gave God the name of Father, as being in some sense the more appropriate and truer appellation, when he said not “I and God” but “I and the Father are one,” [2] and also, with reference to himself, “On him has God the Father set his seal.” [3] And when he commanded his disciples to baptize all nations, he did not tell them to do this in the name of God but expressly ordained that they were to do it in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.7. [4]

[1] ANF 3:682; CCL 1:258-59. On their shared titles, see also Tertullian Against Praxeas 17.

[2] Jn 10:30.

[3] ESUS IS INFORMED THAT LAZARUS IS SICK | JOHN 11:1-5

[4] LF 48:499-500**.

THE FATHER DESIRES BELIEF IN THE SON

CHRYSOSTOM: His desire here is to teach that he is greatly loved by the Father since it is clear that he did not need to receive the [disciples] since he made them and cares for them continually. How then did he receive them? This, as I said before, shows his oneness with the Father. Now one could interpret this to mean, humanly speaking and according to its literal meaning, that the disciples will no longer belong to the Father. For if when the Father had them, the Son did not have them, it is evident that when he gave them to the Son, he relinquished his dominion over them. An even more unseemly conclusion would be that the disciples were found to have been imperfect while they were yet with the Father but then became perfect when they came to the Son. But it is ridiculous even to say such things. What then does he mean by this? He means that it seemed good to the Father also that they should believe on the Son. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:299**.

NOT ONLY TWELVE, BUT ALL WHO WOULD BELIEVE

AUGUSTINE: If he speaks of the disciples only with whom he had eaten supper, this has nothing to do with that glorifying of which he spoke above and whereby the Son glorified the Father. For what glory is it to be known to twelve or eleven mortal creatures? But if by the men who were given to him out of the world, he means all those who should believe in him afterward and populate his great church, which was to be made up of all nations, this is without doubt the glory whereby the Son glorifies the Father. … “I have made known your name” … is similar to what he had said a little earlier, “I have glorified you on the earth,” where the past is used for the future both there and here. … But what follows shows that he is speaking here of those who were already his disciples, not of all who should afterward believe on him. … At the beginning of his prayer then … our Lord is speaking of all believers, all to whom he should make known the Father, and this is how he would glorify him. For after saying, “that your Son also may glorify you,” he immediately showed how that was to be done by adding, “As you have given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 106.1-3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:399-400**; CCL 36:608-10.

HOW THE FATHER GIVES TO THE SON

AUGUSTINE: But what are we to make of the words “whom you have given me out of the world,” for it was said that they were not of the world? But this they were by regeneration, not by generation [i.e., by nature]. And what is meant by “they were yours, and you gave them to me”? Was there a time when they belonged to the Father and not to his only-begotten Son? Did the Father ever have anything without the Son? God forbid. But there was a time when the Son of God possessed something which that same Son as man did not possess. For he had not yet become man when he possessed all things in common with the Father. And so, by saying “they were yours,” the Son of God does not separate himself from the Father but only attributes all his power to him from whom he is and has this power. … In saying, therefore, “and you gave them to me,” he intimated that he had received as man the power to have them, seeing that he who was always omnipotent, was not always man. And so, while he seems rather to have attributed his receiving of them to the Father, since [Christ] is whatever he is because his existence is from [the Father], yet Christ also gave them to himself, that is, Christ, God with the Father, [gave them] to Christ as man who is not with the Father. … Those whom God the Son chose along with the Father out of the world, the very same Son as man received out of the world from the Father. For the Father would not have given them to the Son if he had not chosen them. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 106.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:400-401**; CCL 36:611.

17:7 | All Things Given Are the Father’s

ALL THINGS GIVEN

AUGUSTINE: Whatever God the Father gave to God the Son, he gave in the act of begetting. For the Father gave those things to the Son without which he could not be the Son, in the same way that he gave him being itself. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 106.7. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:402*; CCL 36:613.

CHRIST TAKES WHAT IS OURS AND GIVES WHAT HE RECEIVES

(PSEUDO-)ATHANASIUS: He takes our infirmities without himself being infirm and hungers without hungering. He sends up what is ours that it may be abolished. As he does this, in the same way, the gifts that come from God instead of our infirmities he also receives so that we, being united to him, may be able to partake of them. This is how the Lord says, “All things whatever you have given me, I have given them,” and again, “I pray for them.” For he prayed for us, taking on himself what is ours and giving what he received. Since then, the Word was united to man himself and the Father purposed for us to be exalted and have power, therefore all things that we receive through him [i.e., the Son] are referred to the Word himself. For as he for our sake became man, so we for his sake are exalted. It is no absurdity then, if, as for our sake he humbled himself, so also for our sake he is said to be highly exalted. So “he gave to him” means, in essence, “[he gave] to us for his sake.” And “he highly exalted him” [1] means essentially “[he exalted] us in him.” And the Word himself—when we are exalted and receive and are helped as if he himself were exalted and received and were helped—gives thanks to the Father, referring what is ours to himself and saying, “All things, whatever you have given me, I have given unto them.” FOURTH DISCOURSE AGAINST THE ARIANS 7. [2]

[1] Phil 2:9.

[2] NPNF 2 4:435-36**.

17:8 | They Received the Words You Gave Me

THEY KEPT THE WORDS JESUS TAUGHT

CHRYSOSTOM: And from where have they learned? They have learned from my words, … for I taught them that I came forth from you. For this was what he has been anxious to prove throughout the whole of the Gospel. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:300**.

JESUS ANTICIPATES THE DISCIPLES’ CONFIDENT FAITH

AUGUSTINE: He says, “They have received them,” that is, they have understood and remembered his words. For a word is received when the mind perceives it. Then he adds, “And they have known truly that I came out from you, and they have believed that you sent me.”… What they truly believed was what they truly knew, just as “I came out from you” is the same as “You sent me.” And, so that no one might imagine that that knowledge was one of sight and not of faith, he adds, “And they have [truly] [1] believed that you did send me.” They truly believed, that is, not as he said they believed when he spoke earlier … when they were afraid of being scattered and would desert him, [2] but truly, that is, how they would soon believe [in the future]—firmly, steadily, unwaveringly, never again to be scattered to their own people while leaving Christ behind. The disciples as yet were not the way he describes them to be here in the past tense, but it was how they would be when they had received the Holy Spirit, who would teach them all things. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 106.6. [3]

[1] “Truly” is understood, Augustine says.

[2] Jn 16:31-32.

[3] NPNF 1 7:401**; CCL 36:612-13.

HOW THE FATHER GAVE HIS WORDS

AUGUSTINE: The question of how the Father gave those words to the Son is easier to solve if we suppose him to have received them from the Father as Son of man. … But if we understand it to be as the Begotten of the Father that he received them, let there be no time supposed previous to his having them, as if he once existed without those words. For whatever God the Father gave God the Son, he gave in the act of begetting. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 106.7. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:402**; CCL 36:612-13.

17:9 | I Pray for Them, Not the World

OUR HIGH PRIEST PRAYS AS GOD AND MAN

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Christ, who manifested himself in the last times above the types and figures of the Law, at once our high priest and mediator, prays for us as man. And at the same time he is ever ready to cooperate with God the Father, who distributes good gifts to those who are worthy. Paul showed us this most plainly in the words “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” [1] Christ, then, prays for us as man and also unites in distributing good gifts to us as God. For he, being a holy high priest, blameless and undefiled, offered himself—not for his own weakness, as was the custom of those to whom was allotted the duty of sacrificing according to the Law, but rather for the salvation of our souls. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.8. [2]

“WORLD” EVIDENCES NOT BEING CHOSEN

AUGUSTINE: When the Lord was speaking to the Father of those whom he already had as disciples, he said this also among other things: “I pray for them. I pray not for the world but for those whom you have given me.” By the world, he now wishes to be understood those who live according to the lust of the world and who do not stand in the gracious lot of those who were to be chosen by him out of the world. And so he says he prays not for the world but for those whom the Father has given him. For by the very fact of their having already been given to him by the Father, they have ceased belonging to that world for which he refrains from praying. And then he adds, “For they are yours.” The Father did not lose those whom he gave when he gave them to the Son. After all, the Son still goes on to say, “And all mine are yours, and yours are mine.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 107.1-2. [3]

[1] 2 Cor 1:2.

[2] LF 48:506-7*.

[3] NPNF 1 7:402**; CCL 36:613.

CHRIST ACTS ACCORDING TO THE FATHER’S WILL

CHRYSOSTOM: He often repeats “you have given me” to impress on them that it was all according to the Father’s will. Then … to show them that this authority was not recent or that he had just now received them, he adds, “All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine.” … Do you see the equality of honor? By speaking this way, he removes any suspicion that they are either separated from the Father’s power or that, before this, they had been separate from the power of the Son. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:300**; PG 59 438-39.

17:10a | Yours and Mine

CHRIST EQUAL TO THE FATHER

AUGUSTINE: It is sufficiently apparent how it is that all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son because the Son himself is also God and, born of the Father, is the Father’s equal. It is not in the sense in which the elder son is told, “You are always with me, and all that I have is yours.” [1] For that was said of all those creatures that are inferior to the holy rational creature [2] and are certainly subordinate to the church. … But here it means that even the rational creature itself is included, which is subject only to God, so that all beneath the rational heavenly creature are also subject to him. Since then such a creature belongs to God the Father, it would not at the same time be the Son’s unless he were equal to the Father. … For it is impossible that the saints, of whom this is said, should belong to anyone except the one who created and sanctified them. And for the same reason, everything also that is theirs must of necessity be the Son’s also to whom they themselves belong. Since, then, they belong both to the Father and to the Son, they demonstrate the equality of those to whom they equally belong. But when he says, speaking of the Holy Spirit, “All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you,” [3] he referred to those things that pertain to the divinity of the Father and in which he is equal to him in having all that he has because he adds, “he [the Holy Spirit] shall receive of mine.” And the Holy Spirit would never receive from a creature what was subject to the Father and the Son. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 107.2. [4]

[1] Lk 15:31.

[2] The holy angels, for example.

[3] Jn 16:15.

[4] CCL 36:613-14; NPNF 1 7:402-3**.

CHRIST CARRIES OUT HIS FATHER’S PLAN

BASIL THE GREAT: The Lord says “all mine are yours,” as if he were submitting his lordship over creation to the Father, but he also adds “yours are mine,” to show that the creating command came from the Father to him. The Son did not need help to accomplish his work, nor are we to believe that he received a separate commandment for each portion of his work. Such extreme inferiority would be entirely inadequate to his divine glory. Rather, the Word was full of his Father’s grace. He shines forth from the Father and accomplishes everything according to his parent’s plan. He is not different in essence, nor is he different in power from his Father, and if their power is equal, then their works are the same. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. [1] All things were made through him, [2] and all things were created through him and for him, [3] not as if he were discharging the service of a slave, but instead he creatively fulfills the will of his Father. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 8.19. [4]

[1] 1 Cor 1:24.

[2] Jn 1:3.

[3] Col 1:16.

[4] OHS 39-40*.

THE SON DOES NOT DIVIDE GLORY WITH THE FATHER

GREGORY OF NYSSA: For if the Son were not of the same nature as the Father, how could he have had in himself that which was different? Or how could he have shown in himself what was dissimilar if the foreign and alien nature did not receive the stamp of what was of a different kind from itself? But [Eunomius] [1] says, “Neither does he have a divider of his glory.” Here he speaks truly even though he does not know what he is saying. For the Son does not divide the glory with the Father but has the glory of the Father in its entirety, even as the Father has all the glory of the Son. For this is what he said to the Father, “All mine are yours and yours are mine.” Notice how Christ also says that he will appear on the judgment day “in the glory of the Father,” [2] when he will render to every one according to his works. And by this phrase he shows the unity of nature that subsists between them. For as “there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon,” [3] because of the difference between the natures of those luminaries (since if both had the same glory we would think there was any difference in their nature), so he who foretold of himself that he would appear in the glory of the Father indicated by the identity of glory their community of nature. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.6. [4]

[1] An Arian opponent of orthodoxy

[2] Mk 8:38.

[3] 1 Cor 15:41.

[4] NPNF 2 5:107**.

ALL OF CREATION IS THE SON’S

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Angels did not create the world, but the only-begotten Son, begotten, as I have said, before all ages, by whom all things were made, [1] nothing having been excepted from his creation. … “For all mine are yours and yours are mine,” the Lord says in the Gospels. And this we may certainly know from the Old and New Testaments. For he who said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness” [2] was certainly speaking to someone present. But clearest of all are the psalmist’s words, “He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created,” [3] as if the Father commanded and spoke and the Son made all things at the Father’s bidding. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 11.22-23. [4]

[1] See the Nicene Creed.

[2] Gen 1:26.

[3] Ps 148:5.

[4] NPNF 2 7:70**.

17:10b | I Am Glorified in Them

GLORY OF OMNIPOTENCE OF FATHER AND SON

ORIGEN: Now, if all things that are the Father’s are also Christ’s, certainly among those things that exist is the Father’s omnipotence. Of course, the only-begotten Son ought to be omnipotent, that the Son also may have all things that the Father possesses. “And I am glorified in them,” he declares. For “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.” [1] … Therefore he is the effluence of the glory of God in this respect, that he is Almighty—the pure and vivid Wisdom itself—glorified as the effluence of omnipotence or glory.

So that it may be more clearly understood what the glory of omnipotence is, we shall add the following: God the Father is omnipotent because he has power over all things, namely, over heaven and earth, sun, moon and stars and all things in them. And he exercises his power by means of his Word. … Now if every knee is bent to Jesus, then, without doubt, it is Jesus to whom all things are subject, and he it is who exercises power over all things and through whom all things are subject to the Father. For through wisdom, that is, by word and reason, not by force and necessity, all things are subject. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.2.10. [2]

[1] Phil 2:10-11; Origen quotes both verses.

[2] ANF 4:250**; GCS 22(5):43-44.

BELIEVERS WILL GLORIFY FATHER AND SON

CHRYSOSTOM: “And I am glorified in them,” that is, either that “I have power over them” or that “they shall glorify me, believing in you and me. And they shall glorify us alike.” But if he is not glorified equally in them, what the Father has is no longer his. For no one is glorified in those over whom he has no authority. Yet how is the Son glorified equally? All die for him equally as they do for the Father. They preach him as they do the Father. And as they say that all things are done in his name, so also are they done in the name of the Son. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:300*.