Jeff Smith
In v.22 of John 17 Jesus says, “And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one.” Notice the connections. Jesus declares that He gives to His people the glory that the Father gave Him and He does so that they may be one just as He and the Father are one. Now the question is what is Jesus talking about here when He refers to this glory? There have been many different interpretations given to this. J.C. Ryle in the notes section of his commentary alone mentions seven and he doesn’t mention all of them.
Several things are clear. This cannot be a reference to the glory of Christ as God, the second person of the Trinity. That glory was never given to Him. It was always His and it’s never given to us. This must have reference to a glory that was given to Him with respect to His human nature.
Also this cannot be a reference to that glory unique to Christ as the God-man Redeemer.
Christ alone, as man, is also God. Christ alone is the Sovereign and Head of the church. And He alone, as the God-man, is the Mediator between God and men. So then what is this glory?
Some argue that this is a reference to the glory given to Christ, the God-man, in His exaltation. Not those elements unique to Him just mentioned in the previous paragraph, but that which He shares with His people. In other words, it’s argued that the glory in v.22 is the same glory Jesus refers to in v.24 when He prays that we might be with Him where He is that we may behold His glory which the Father has given Him. This is the glory that would be His and is now His in heaven; the glory of His glorified and exalted humanity in heaven.
Now that is, indeed, a glory the Father has given to Him now in His exalted state and this is, indeed, a glory which, in some measure, He also gives to all His people. It is a glory we will share with Him in the world to come. So is this what Jesus is referring to here? I don’t think so for four reasons.
First, the verb “I have given” is in the perfect tense which would ordinarily carry the idea that “I have given and am now still giving,” not that I will give at some point in the future. I know that it could be argued that Jesus is speaking prolepticly; that He is speaking of the future as if it were already here. He does do that at times in other places in this prayer. But I don’t think He’s doing that for reasons I’ll explain.
Secondly, though Jesus does at times speak in this prayer proleptically, He never speaks that way with reference to the people He is praying for. He speaks of Himself at times as though He were already in heaven but nowhere in this prayer does He speak of His people as though they were already in heaven or already glorified. The underlying assumption of the whole prayer throughout is that the people He is praying for are still on earth, still in this world; v.11, “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world”; v.18, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world”; v.24, “I desire that they…may be with Me where I am.” The assumption of that last request is that they’re not there yet.
Thirdly, whatever this glory is He gives to His people, it’s intended to have an effect in this present world. He says, “I have given them this glory that they may be one just as We are one” and He goes on to say that this is, “in order that the world may know that you have sent me.” Those who take the view I’m disagreeing with argue, that what Jesus envisions in this prayer when He speaks of of the world believing (v.21) and knowing (v.23) that the Father has sent Him is only a bare conviction or acknowledgement of this on the last day. The lost world will see on that day the glorified church in all her perfected unity and then they will be convinced that the Father really did send Christ into the world. One major problem with that interpretation is that Jesus uses this same language, knowing and believing that You sent Me, in this same prayer to describe the saving faith of His people. See v.11 and v.25. This is not merely a bare knowledge of facts, this language is used elsewhere in this prayer to refer to believing and knowing savingly.
Fourthly, another consideration I think demonstrates that the glory of v.22 is not limited to the final glory of v.24 is that this glory is set forth as a cause or a means of our union with one another and with the Father and the Son. “I have given them this glory, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them, and You in me,” and so on. But the glory of the eternal state is not a means of this union, it is a result of it.
Used with permission.