Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
I am no more in the world - I have finished my work among men, and am about to leave the world. See John 17:4.
These are in the world - They will be among wicked men and malignant foes. They will be subject to trials and persecutions. They will need the same protection which I could give them if I were with them.
Keep - Preserve, defend, sustain them in trials, and save them from apostasy.
Through thine own name - Our translators seem to have understood this expression as meaning "keep by thy power," but this probably is not its meaning. It is literally "keep in thy name." And if the term name be taken to denote God himself and his perfections (see the note at John 17:6), it means "keep in the knowledge of thyself. Preserve them in obedience to thee and to thy cause. Suffer them not to fall away from thee and to become apostates."
That they may be one - That they may be united.
As we are - This refers not to a union of nature, but of feeling, plan, purpose. Any other union between Christians is impossible; but a union of affection is what the Saviour sought, and this he desired might be so strong as to be an illustration of the unchanging love between the Father and the Son. See John 17:21-23.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Micah 5:4
John 17:12
Philemon 1:16
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