ACC ~ John 17 v9

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.