Discovery BoxJohn 17:4-6 
Context17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing 1 the work you gave me to do. 2 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side 3 with the glory I had with you before the world was created. 4
17:6 “I have revealed 5 your name to the men 6 you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, 7 and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed 8 your word.
John 17:21-24
Context17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray 9 that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory 10 you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – 17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, 11 so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, 12 so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world 13 .
1 tn Or “by finishing” or “by accomplishing.” Jesus now states that he has glorified the Father on earth by finishing (τελειώσας [teleiwsas] is best understood as an adverbial participle of means) the work which the Father had given him to do.
sn By completing the work. The idea of Jesus being sent into the world on a mission has been mentioned before, significantly in 3:17. It was even alluded to in the immediately preceding verse here (17:3). The completion of the “work” the Father had sent him to accomplish was mentioned by Jesus in 4:34 and 5:36. What is the nature of the “work” the Father has given the Son to accomplish? It involves the Son’s mission to be the Savior of the world, as 3:17 indicates. But this is accomplished specifically through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross (a thought implied by the reference to the Father “giving” the Son in 3:16). It is not without significance that Jesus’ last word from the cross is “It is completed” (19:30).
2 tn Grk “the work that you gave to me so that I may do it.”
3 tn Or “in your presence”; Grk “with yourself.” The use of παρά (para) twice in this verse looks back to the assertion in John 1:1 that the Word (the Λόγος [Logos], who became Jesus of Nazareth in 1:14) was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pro" ton qeon). Whatever else may be said, the statement in 17:5 strongly asserts the preexistence of Jesus Christ.
4 tn Grk “before the world was.” The word “created” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
sn It is important to note that although Jesus prayed for a return to the glory he had at the Father’s side before the world was created, he was not praying for a “de-incarnation.” His humanity which he took on at the incarnation (John 1:14) remains, though now glorified.
5 tn Or “made known,” “disclosed.”
6 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.
7 tn Grk “Yours they were.”
8 tn Or “have kept.”
9 tn The words “I pray” are repeated from the first part of v. 20 for clarity.
10 tn Grk And the glory.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
11 tn Or “completely unified.”
12 tn Grk “the ones you have given me, I want these to be where I am with me.”
13 tn Grk “before the foundation of the world.”
