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(16)They are not of the world.—These words are repeated fromJohn 17:14. The thought of their being still in the world leads on to their mission in the world, and the prayer passes from the thought of preservation to that of their sanctification for their work. Their fitness for this is prominent in this verse. Already they are not of the world, even as He is not of the world.

17:11-16 Christ does not pray that they might be rich and great in the world, but that they might be kept from sin, strengthened for their duty, and brought safe to heaven. The prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity. He pleaded with his holy Father, that he would keep them by his power and for his glory, that they might be united in affection and labours, even according to the union of the Father and the Son. He did not pray that his disciples should be removed out of the world, that they might escape the rage of men, for they had a great work to do for the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. But he prayed that the Father would keep them from the evil, from being corrupted by the world, the remains of sin in their hearts, and from the power and craft of Satan. So that they might pass through the world as through an enemy's country, as he had done. They are not left here to pursue the same objects as the men around them, but to glorify God, and to serve their generation. The Spirit of God in true Christians is opposed to the spirit of the world.SeeJohn 15:19.16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world—(See Joh 15:18, 19). This is reiterated here, to pave the way for the prayer which follows. This is the same thing which he had said before,John 17:14, which he again repeateth, either to fix it in their memories, that they, calling it to their minds, might direct their lives accordingly, or be thereby fortified against the hatred and malice of the world; for which purpose he told them so before,John 15:19, and again in this chapter,John 17:14:See Poole on "John 17:14".

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. These words are repeated fromJohn 17:14, where they are given as a reason of the world's hatred to them; and here, as showing that they are exposed to the evil of it; and in both are used as an argument with his Father, that he would take notice of them, and preserve them.They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

John 17:16-17. From theτηρεῖν which has been hitherto prayed for, the intercession now advances to the positiveἁγιάζειν,John 17:17; and this part of it also is firstintroduced inJohn 17:16, and that by an emphatic resumption of what was said inJohn 17:14 on the side of thecondition fitted for theἁγιάζειν.

ἁγίασον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθ.] The disciples werein the truth, for since they had believingly accepted the word of God given to them by Christ, and had kept it (John 17:6;John 17:12), the divine truth, the expression of which that word is, was theelement of life, in which they, taken from the world and given to Christ, were found. Now He prays that God would not merely keep them (that He has previously prayed for), but yet further: He wouldprovide them with a holy consecration (comp. onJohn 10:36) in this their sphere of life, whereby is meant not indeed the translation into “the true position of being” (Luthardt), but the equipment with divine illumination, power, courage, joyfulness, love, inspiration, etc., for their official activity (John 17:18) which should ensue, and did ensue, through means of the Holy Spirit,John 14:17,John 15:26,John 16:7 ff. Comp. onἐν,Sir 45:4. Ordinarily it is takeninstrumentally, in virtue of, by means of (Chrysostom, Nonnus, Theophylact, Calvin, and many others, including Lücke, Tholuck, Godet), but in arbitrary neglect of the analogy of the correlateτηρεῖν ἐν,John 17:11-12; whilst De Wette, B. Crusius, Baeumlein, just as arbitrarily here again mix up also the notion ofτηρεῖν; “so that theyremain in the truth,” whereby theclimactic relation ofτηρεῖν andἁγιάζειν is misapprehended. When, with Luther, (“make truly holy”),ἐν τ.ἀληθ. has been taken as equivalent toἀληθῶς, ofcomplete sanctification in opposition to their hithertodefective condition (Hengstenberg), against the view is decisive, not indeed the article (comp. Xen.Anab. vi. 2. 10), but rather the followingὁ λόγος,κ.τ.λ. The readingἐν τ.ἀλ.σου is acorrect, more precise definition arising from a gloss.

ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς ἀλήθ,ἐστι] a supporting of the prayer, in whichὁ σός has peculiar weight;Thy word (John 14:24,John 12:49,John 7:16), the word of no other,is truth. How shouldst Thou, then, not grant theἁγιάζειν prayed for? Thatἀλήθ. iswithout the article, does not rest upon the fact that it is a predicate, but upon the conception that theessence of theλόγος is truth, so thatἀλήθ. isabstract, not a noun appellative. Comp.John 4:24,1 John 4:16.

John 17:16. Forτηρεῖν ἐκ seeRevelation 3:10. The reason of the world’s hatred and persecution is given here, as inJohn 15:19,ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου … “They do not belong to the world, as I am out of the world.”

16.They are not … world] What was stated inJohn 17:14 as the reason for the world’s hatred is repeated here as the introduction to a new and more definite petition; not merely protection, but sanctification. There is a slight change from the order of the words inJohn 17:14; ‘Of the world they are not, even as I am not of the world.’ In both verses ‘I’ is emphatic.

John 17:16.Ἐκ,of) This sentiment is expressed also inJohn 17:14, but in a different order of the words (inJohn 17:14,ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου comesafterοὐκ εἰσὶν, inJohn 17:16,before); which order (viz. that inJohn 17:14) simply shows the cause of the world’s hatred, and accords with the following verse, 15. But here inJohn 17:16, theἐκ τοῦ κόσμου,of the world, being put twice in the first place, bears the emphasis of the sentence, in antithesis toἁγίασον,sanctify,John 17:17. FromJohn 17:16,John 17:17 is deduced; and fromJohn 17:18,John 17:19.

Verse 16. -They are not of the world, even as of the world I am not. This verse simply repeats, with alteration of order, the clause of Ver. 14 as the basis of the next great petition. Ver. 14 draws the comparison between Christ and the disciples; Ver. 16 lays, by a transposition of words, the greater emphasis on "the world." Alas that this great utterance should so often be utterly ignored! How often in our own days, is other-worldliness and unworldliness derided as a pestilent heresy, and "a man of the world," instinct with its purpose and saturated with its spirit, lauded as the true man and ideal leader of a Christian state! John 17:16John 17:16 Interlinear
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