GLORY

GLORY

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, 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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” John 17:20-22

Glory speaks of a work completed. See all things accomplished in 1 Cor. 15:24-28 to see where all things are headed.. In 2 Thess. 3:1 with John 17:4 a meaning of accomplishing a work. Implies expectation denoting good standing or reputation although modifying adjective could change all this. The great consummation in which God's purposes are perfectly fulfilled.

 "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." is it the glory of the, Eternal Sonship, His essential glory, for which He prays? But this He had not renounced, nor could the Father give it. It belonged to Him His one of the Persons of the Godhead, eternal, unchangeable. The glory for which he prayed could be only the glory which was His due as the Father's visible Image, the Redeemer, the Administrator of His government, the appointed Lord over all His works. This glory could not, be manifested till He had finished the work the Father had given Him to do. Not till His resurrection could He appear in the glory which was His when, anterior to Creation, He stood before the Father as the predestined Heir of all, and His Representative to all creatures. He could not enter into this His glory till made immortal. Then could He sit at the Father's right hand (Luke 24:26). It was this glory which the Father gave Him that He could give to His disciples John 17:22. Of this He could make them partakers, but not of His essential glory.

In their eagerness to maintain the Deity of the Son against the assaults of the Arians and the Socinians, many of the early Fathers and reformers cited some of the texts we have been considering, as proofs of the Son's eternal preexistence, and were, therefore, compelled to affirm a subordination of the Son to the Father in the constitution of the Godhead itself, a subordination not consistent with their co-equality. But if we consider these terms not as spoken of the Eternal Son so far as regards His Person, but of Him as standing to the Father in the relation of His Revealer, the Word, the difficulties are removed. The Father could make the worlds through Him, could appoint Him the Heir of all, could glorify Him, could give Him all authority and power in heaven and earth, and this without denying or disparaging His eternal Sonship and coequality. The subordination is not so much in the Divine constitution as in the Divine economy, a relation taken by the three Persons with reference to certain ends predetermined. How far subordination was involved in the relation of Father an d Son before the worlds were made, we need not inquire here.

"As We are one." First of all, that is vital and essential oneness. He was one with the Father vitally and essentially. Now He prayed that these, kept in His name, may be one in that way; having a vital relationship. Not the oneness of sentiment or intellectual opinion, but the oneness that is living. One in life, therefore one in light, and therefore one in love. He and the Father were one in essential life. He and the Father were one intellectually in all light and understanding. He and the Father were one in love. Keep them there; keep them in the name I have revealed, and manifested to them. Keep them there, that they may be one as We; one in life, one in light, one in love. What a prayer!