What Does John 17:9 Mean?

(9) **I pray for them: I pray not for the world.**—Better, *I am praying for them: I am not praying for the world.* Both pronouns are emphatic. “I who have during my work on earth taught them;” “they who have received the truth” (John 17:8). “I who am about to leave the world;” “they who will remain in the world” (John 17:11). The tense is the strict present, referring to the prayer which He is at this moment uttering, and not to His general practice, which the Authorised version may be taken to express. Against any limitation of the prayer of our Lord, see John 17:21, and His own prayer for His enemies, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Comp. also His command to His disciples to pray for “them which despitefully used them” (Matthew 5:44). The present prayer was like that which pious Rabbis were accustomed to offer for their pupils. (Comp. Schöttgen’s Note here.) It is from its very nature applicable only to disciples. He is leaving them, and commends them to His Father’s care. **But for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.**—This is the special claim on which He commends them to the Father. They were the Father’s before they were given to the Son. By that gift they have become the Father’s more fully (John 17:6-8). They are the Father’s, for all things which are the Son’s are the Father’s, and all things which are the Father’s are the Son’s (John 17:10).