to interrogate · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular
for
περὶperi
G4012
properly · preposition
these
τούτωνtoútōn
G5130
of (from or concerning) these (persons or things)
alone
μόνονmónon
G3440
merely
but
ἀλλὰalla
G235
properly · conjunction
for
περὶperi
G4012
properly · preposition
them
τῶνtōn
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — genitive plural masculine
also
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
which shall believe
πιστευόντωνpisteuontōn
G4100
to have faith (in · verb — present active participle, genitive plural masculine
on
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
me
ἐμέemé
G1691
me
through
διὰdia
G1223
through (in very wide applications · preposition
their
αὐτῶνautōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
word
λόγουlogou
G3056
something said (including the thought) · noun — genitive singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 17:6-11 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept…
Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 4:4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Romans 15:18-19 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Romans 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nati…
2 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 17:20-23
Next to their purity he prays for their unity; for the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable; and amity is amiable indeed when it is like the ointment on Aaron's holy head, and the dew on Zion's holy hill. Observe,
I. Who are included in this prayer (Joh 17:20): "Not these only, not these only that are now my disciples" (the eleven, the seventy, with others, men and women that followed him when he was here on earth), "but for those also who shall believe on me through their word, either preached by them in their own day or written by them for the generations to come; I pray for them all, that they all may be one in their interest in this prayer, and may all receive benefit by it."…
Neither pray I for these alone--This very important explanation, uttered in condescension to the hearers and readers of this prayer in all time, is meant not merely of what follows, but of the whole prayer.
them also which shall believe--The majority of the best manuscripts read "which believe," all future time being viewed as present, while the present is viewed as past and gone.
Adam Clarke on John 17:20
III. Our Lord's Prayer for His Church, and for All Who Would Believe on His Name, Through the Preaching of the Apostles and Their Successor. Joh 17:20-26. See on Joh 17:1 (note).
Neither pray I for these alone - This prayer extends itself through all ages, and takes in every soul that believes in the Lord Jesus.
And what is it that Christ asks in behalf of his followers? The greatest of blessings: unity, peace, love, and eternal glory.
John Gill on John 17:20
Neither pray I for these alone,.... Meaning his immediate apostles and disciples, for whose preservation and sanctification he had been particularly praying in John 17:19; and now, that it might not be thought that these were his only favourites, and the only persons he had a regard for, and to whom his intercession and sacrifice were confined; he adds,
but for them also which shall believe in me through their word: Christ is the object of true faith; which faith is not a mere assent of the mind to any truth concerning Christ, as that he is the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour of the world; but it is a spiritual sight of him, of the necessity, fitness, and suitableness of him as a Saviou…
The Church Fathers
(Tr. cix) When our Lord had prayed for His disciples, whom He named also Apostles, He added a prayer for all others who should believe on Him; Neither pray I for these alone, but for all others who shall believe on Me through their word.
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe." For since He was dying for them, and said, that "For their sakes I sanctify Myself," lest any one should think that He did this for the Apostles only, He added, "Neither pray I for these only, but for them also who believe on Me through their word." By this again He revived their souls, showing that the disciples should be many. For because He made common what they possessed peculiarly, He comforteth them by showing that they were being made the cause of the salvation of others.
He reminds us that the whole Christian people are one in God, and, as his well-beloved children, are "partakers of the divine nature." We have already said (and the truth must now be inculcated more in detail) that we are not one in the Father and the Son according to nature but according to grace. For the essence of the human soul and the essence of God are not the same, as the Manichaeans constantly assert. But, says our Lord, "You have loved them as you have loved me." You see, then, that we are privileged to partake of his essence, not in the realm of nature but of grace. And the reason why we are beloved of the Father is that he has loved the Son—and the members of the body are loved.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Intercession of Christ — Christ’s priestly office consists of these two parts, (1) the offering up of himself as a sacrifice, and (2) making continual intercession for us. When on earth he made intercession for his people…
Lord’s Prayer — The name given to the only form of prayer Christ taught his disciples (Matt. 6:9-13). The closing doxology of the prayer is omitted by Luke (11:2-4), also in the R.V. of Matt. 6:13. This prayer…
Perseverance of the saints — Their certain continuance in a state of grace. Once justified and regenerated, the believer can neither totally nor finally fall away from grace, but will certainly persevere therein and attain…
Communion · 3:3; — 3:3;
Communion Of Saints · According to the prayer of Christ — According to the prayer of Christ
Faith · Preaching designed to produce — Preaching designed to produce
Prayer, Intercessory · Christ set an example of — Christ set an example of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John 17:20-23
20. And I ask not for these only, but for those also who shall believe on me through their word; 21. That all may be one; as thou, rather, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22. And I have given to them the glory which thou gavest to me; that they may be one, as we are one: 23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, [122] as thou hast loved me.
20. And I ask not for these only. He now gives a wider range to his prayer, which hitherto had included the apostles alone; for he extends it to all the disciples of th…
Jesus was praying for other sheep who were not yet in his flock (10:16). These are the believers through the centuries who have come to faith through the witness of Jesus’ disciples.
