JOHN 17
Other translations - previous - next - meaning - John - BM Home - Full PageChapter 17 |
THE INTERNAL SENSE. |
|
THAT the lord, perceiving from his divine truth, that his Humanity was in a state capable of being fully united to his Divinity, is led from his divine love to desire that union, vs 1. |
|
That thus he might be the god of heaven and earth, and communicate his divine love and wisdom to all who were prepared to receive, vs 2. |
|
Which divine love and wisdom consist in the heart-felt acknowledgement, that in the lord, god is man, and man god, in One Divine Person, and that by and through the manhood, of humanity, the eternal godhead, or divinity, is made known in the church, and the great work of man's redemption completed, vs 3, 4. |
|
Which work required that the divinity and humanity should be made eternally one, as the divine love and divine wisdom are eternally one, and that thus mankind should become acquainted with the nature of that worship which the divinity requires, and should transfer all worship from the invisible divinity to the visible divine humanity, living according to his precepts, vs 5, 6. |
|
And acknowledging that in the divine humanity are contained all things of the divinity, and that through and by the divine humanity is communicated divine love and divine wisdom to such as can receive it, who are thus taught that the humanity is from the divinity, and that a right faith consists in so believing, vs 7, 8. |
|
Because through the lord's divine humanity they have continual access to the divine good, which otherwise they could not have, and thus are convinced that the union of the divinity and humanity is reciprocal, and that the divine humanity, through that union, is all in all in heaven and in the church, vs 9, 10. |
|
Imparting the good of heavenly love and life to all who desire it, that they also may have reciprocal conjunction with the humanity, as the humanity has reciprocal union with the divinity, and may thus be preserved from evils and falses, according to prediction, vs 11, 12. |
|
And through the eternal truth may attain conjunction with heavenly good, and thus be admitted into spiritual temptations, which are permitted for final purification and deliverance from evil, in like manner as the lord by temptation-combats made his humanity divine, vs 13, 14, 15, 16. |
|
For the eternal truth, or the Word, is the only medium of man's purification, and therefore all, who receive the truth, pass through a similar process of purification and trial with the lord himself, and as he thereby glorified or made divine his humanity, in like manner they become spiritual, and are regenerated, vs 17, 18, 19. |
|
For the divine love is willing to draw all to itself, and therefore the end of the lord's glorification of his humanity was, that he might gift mankind with intelligence and wisdom, and thus lead them to conjunction of life and love with himself in every process of their purification and regeneration, vs 20, 21, 22, 23. |
|
And that thus they might live perpetually in the light of the divine presence, and be made sensible of the divine love, and by the acknowledgement of the reciprocal union of the divinity and humanity, might no longer remain in evil and error, but attain to eternal conjunction with the lord, in love and in truth, vs 24, 25, 26. |
Translation
1. THESE things spoke jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.
2. As you have given him power over all flesh, that [as to] every thing which you have given him, he might give to them eternal life.
3. But this is eternal life, that they might know you the only true god, and whom you have sent, jesus christ.
4. I have glorified you on the earth; I have finished the work that you have given me to do.
5. And now, O father, glorify me with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.
6. I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world; your they were, and you have given them to me, and they have kept your Word.
7. Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are of you.
8. Because the sayings which you have given me, I have given them; and they have received, and have known truly that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you did send me.
9. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them whom you have given me, because they are your.
10. And all mine are your, and your are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I come to you. Holy father, keep them in your name whom you have given me, that they may be one as we.
12. When I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name; those whom you have given me I have guarded, and none of them has perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in them.
14. I have given to them your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
15. I pray not that you would take them out of the world, but that you would keep them from the evil.
16. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
17. Sanctify them in your truth; your Word is truth.
18. As you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20. But I pray not for these alone, but also for them that believe in me by [or through] their word.
21. That they all may be one, as you, father, in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22. And I have given to them the glory, which you have given to me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
23. I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.
24. Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25. O just father, and the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me.
26. And I have made known to them your name, and will make known, that the love with which you have loved me, may be in them, and I in them.
Verse 1. Father, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. By the Son is here meant the divine truth, and by the Father the divine good; the reason is, because the union of the divine essence with the human, and of the human with the divine, is the divine marriage of good with truth, and of truth with good, from which comes the heavenly marriage; hence it may be manifest what is the quality of the union of the Divine and Human [principles] in the lord, namely that it is mutual or reciprocal. AC 2803.
That the Human [principle] of the lord was glorified, is manifest from those things which are said of his glorification by the evangelists, as where it is written, Jesus said, Father, the hour is come, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. Doc. Lord, 35. See also AC 10053.
Verse 2. As you have given him power over all flesh. That by giving is here denoted what is from the proprium, may be manifest from the signification of giving, when it is predicated of the lord ; for the lord is divine good and likewise divine truth, and the former is what is called father, and the latter what is called Son; and whereas divine good is his, consequently his proprium, it follows that by giving, when it is predicated of the lord, denotes what is from his proprium; hence it is evident what is signified in the internal sense by what the lord so often said that the Father gave to him, namely that he gave to himself, as in John, "father, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you, as you have given to him power over all flesh, that [as to] all which you have given to him, he may give to them eternal life." AC 3705.
That the lord rules the universe, is manifest from these words, As you have given him power over all flesh, from which it is manifest that the lord from divine good by divine truth rules all and singular things in the universe AC 3704.
That the kingdom in the heavens and in the earths was given to the lord, is evident from the Word throughout, and from this particular passage, You have given him power over all flesh, that [as to] every thing which you have given him, he may give eternal life. AC 1607.
Power, when predicated of the lord, denotes salvation, and the reason is, because all divine power regards salvation as its end; for man by the divine power is reformed, and next is introduced into heaven, and is there withheld from what is evil and false, and held in what is good and true, which cannot be effected but by the lord alone. The lord also has power over all things, because he is the only god, but the salvation of the human race is the principal of power, because for the sake of it the heavens and the worlds were created, and it is the reception of the divine proceeding. That power, when predicated of the lord, principally regards salvation, is evident from this passage, As than have given him power over all flesh, that [as to] every thing that you have given him, he may give to them eternal life. An Exp. 293.
Verse 5. And now, O Father, glorify me with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. The lord passed through two states when he lived in the world, namely a state of humiliation, and a state of glorification; his state of humiliation was when in the Humanity which he derived hereditarily from the mother; his state of glorification when in the Divine [principle] which he had from jehovah, his father : the former state, namely the Humanity from the mother, the lord entirely put off, and put on a Divine Humanity, when he passed out of the world, and returned to the Divine [principle] itself, in which he was from eternity, John 17:5, together with the Humanity made Divine, from both which proceeds the holy [principle] which fills the universal heaven; thus from the Divine [principle] itself, and from the Divine Human by the holy proceeding, he rules the universe. AC 2288.
jehovah himself in the human form, or what is the same thing, in the form of an angel, was the lord. His Divine Human [principle] appeared at that time as an angel, concerning which the lord himself speaks in John, O Father, glorify me with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. AC 9315.
It is said with yourself; and with yourself denotes in yourself, wherefore also it is said, and God was the Word; and in another place, that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in him, also that he and the Father are one. Doc. Lord, 1.
Verse 6. I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. He who does not know that name denotes the quality and state of the thing treated of, may believe that where name is mentioned, it is only a name which is understood, and thus that where the lord speaks of his name, it is only a name, when yet it denotes the quality of worship, namely the all of faith and charity by which he is to be worshiped. From these considerations it is evident that the lord, as to the Divine Humanity, is the name of jehovah, or all his quality; hence from the Divine Humanity is all divine worship, and it is what is to be worshiped, for thus the Divine [principle] itself is worshiped, to which no thought otherwise reaches, and if no thought, neither is there conjunction. AC 6674.
By the name of god is signified all in one complex by which god is worshiped, consequently all of love and of faith. AC 2724.
Verse 8. And have known truly that I came forth from you. For the proper sense and meaning of the expression came forth, see extract at verse 28 of the foregoing chapter.
Verse 10. And all mine are your, and your are mine. This reciprocal union of the lord with the father, and of the father with the lord, though it cannot be compared with, yet it may be illustrated by the case with man; for the soul of man is in him, and inasmuch as it is in him, it is in the most singular things belonging to him, namely in the most singular things of his thought, and in the most singular of his action; whatever has not in it his soul, is not his; the soul of the lord was life itself, or esse itself, which is jehovah, for he was conceived of jehovah, thus it was in the most singular things belonging to him; and since life itself, or esse itself, which is jehovah, was his, as the soul is the property of man, so what appertains to jehovah was his, which is what the lord declares, when he says, that He is in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and that all things which the Father has are his, John 16:15; 17:10. AC 2025.
What can the above words all your are mine, and mine are your, mean, but that the divinity of the father belongs to the humanity of the Son, and the humanity of the Son to the divinity of the father, consequently that in christ god is man, and man god, and thus that they are one, as soul and body are one? Every man may also say the like concerning his own soul and body, namely All mine are your, and your are mine; you are in me, and I in you; he that sees me sees you; we are one both with regard to person, and with regard to life; the reason is, because the soul is in the whole, and in every part of man, for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and there is a mutual connection between them. Hence it is plain, that the divinity of the father is the soul of the Son, and that the humanity of the Son is the body of the father. We speak of the divinity of the father, but we mean thereby the father himself, since he and his divinity are the same thing, the divinity being one and individual. TCR 112.
And I am glorified in them. Glory in the Word, when predicated of the lord, properly signifies the divine truth proceeding from him, by reason that that divine truth is the light of heaven, and from that light angels and men derive, not only all intelligence and wisdom, but likewise all happiness, and besides all magnificence in the heavens, which is ineffable; these therefore are the things which are properly signified by the glory of god ; and since this is glory, it follows that the glory of the lord is to enlighten angels and men, and to gift them with intelligence and wisdom, and to bless them with things happy and delightful, and likewise to magnify all things in the heavens, and that this glory does not arise from the love of glory, but from love towards the human race, wherefore the lord says in John, "the words which you have given me, I have given them, and I am glorified in them." AE 678.
Verse 16. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. The reason why a comparison is made of the men of the church with the lord himself, is, because the life of the lord in the world was an example according to which the men of the church ought to live; hence it is that the lord made a comparison with himself in the above words. AE 254.
Verse 17. Sanctify them in your truth. The conjunction of the lord with man is by his divine truth, and this in man is of the lord, thus is the lord, and not at all of man, thus is not man. This man feels indeed as his own, nevertheless it is not his, for it is not united to him, but adjoined: it is otherwise with the divinity of the father. This is not adjoined, but united to the humanity of the lord, as the soul to its body. He who understands these things, may understand the following words of the lord, " Sanctify them in your truth; your Word is truth; for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth; that they all may be one, as you, father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; I in them, and you in me," John 17:17, 19, 21, 23. AR 222.
Verse 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. From these words it is manifest that the lord alone is holy, and that that alone is holy which proceeds from the lord, thus that which man receives from the lord. To sanctify himself is to make himself divine by virtue of his own proper power; hence they are said to be sanctified in the truth, who receive the divine truth proceeding from him in faith and life. AC 9229.
That the assumption of the humanity, and its unification with the divinity, which was in the lord from nativity, and is called the father, had for an end conjunction with men, is evident from these words, "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth, that they may be one as we are one, I in them, and you in me," John 17:19, 21, 22, 26; from which words it is manifest that conjunction is effected with the Divine Humanity of the lord, and that it is reciprocal, and that thus, and no otherwise, there is conjunction with the Divinity which is called the father. AR 883.
Verse 20. I pray not for these alone, &c. The case with the church is this, that it by turns undergoes new states; for as man is confirmed in the truth of faith and the good of charity, he is thus introduced into other states; the former state in this case serves as a plane for a following state, and so continually; thus man, who is the church, or who is regenerating, is perpetually led towards things interior, thus interiorly into heaven; the reason is, because the lord from love, which is infinite because divine, is willing to draw man even to himself, and thus to bless him with all glory and happiness, as is manifest from the lord's words in John 17:20-26; that these words are the words of divine love towards all who receive them, is very evident. AC 6645.
When the lord speaks of his union with the father, he instantly and connectedly speaks of his conjunction with the human race, because this was the cause of union, as is manifest in John 17:21, 22, 26; from which passages it is evident, that the lord, in the union of himself with his father, had respect to the conjunction of himself with the human race, and that this was at his heart, because it was his love, for all conjunction is effected by love, love being essential conjunction. AC 2034.
The reason why the lord spoke of the conjunction of himself with men, as of the conjunction of himself with the father, that is, of his humanity with the divinity which was in him, is, because the lord is not conjoined with the proprium of man, but with his own in man; the lord removes the proprium of man, and gives him of his own, and dwells in it. AE 254. See also AC 9338.
Love to the lord makes man one with the lord, that is, a likeness; charity also, or love towards the neighbour, makes man one with the lord, but an image; an image is not a likeness, but it is for a likeness. This one, resulting from love, is thus described by the lord himself in John, "I pray that they all may be one, as you, father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us. I have given them the glory which you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one, I in them, and you in me." This one is that mystical union, which some have thought of, and which is effected solely by love. AC 1013.
Verse 24. Father, I will that they also may be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, &c. That light is the lord as to divine truth, and likewise the glory which is of light, is evident from the words of the lord himself, "They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God; I am come a light into the world, that every one who believes in me may not abide in darkness," John 12:43, 46; and again, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with god, and god was the Word. This was the true light which illuminates every man that Comes into the world. And the Word was made fleshy and dwelt amongst us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Only begotten of the father" John 1:1, 9, 14: the Word is divine truth and likewise light; and glory is all that appears of the lord in that light. These passages are adduced from the Word, because in them glory and light are named together, and they are adduced to the end that it may be known, that light is divine truth from the lord, thus the lord himself as to divine truth, and that glory is all that is of light, consequently all that is from the divine truth, which makes intelligence and wisdom with the angels, and with men who receive the lord in faith and love. The like is signified by glory in these words, "I will that they may be with me where I am, that they may see my glory." AC 10574.
Verse 26. And I have made known to them your name, &c. That the name of jehovah denotes to know what is his quality, namely that it is all the good of love and all the truth of faith, is very manifest from these words of the lord, " O just father, I have known you, and these also have known that you have sent me, for I have made known to them your name, and will make known, that the love with which you have loved me, may be in them." AC 2009.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS.
Verse 12. When I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name; those whom you have given me I have guarded. In the common version of the New Testament, no distinction is made in this passage between what is here rendered kept and guarded, but both terms are expressed by the verb kept, when yet in the original two distinct terms are used, namely eteran and ephulaxia, the former denoting the protection resulting from the reception of the divine good, and the latter the protection resulting from the reception of divine truth, and its conjunction with the divine good.
Verse 26. That the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. The intelligent reader will not fail to discover in these words another instance of that heavenly marriage of the good and the true, which is so repeatedly pointed out in the Holy Word. For when the lord prays, that the love, with which the Father has loved him, maybe in his disciples or church, it is manifest that he adverts to their reception of the divine good, or love, and when he prays further, that he himself may be in them, it is equally manifest that he adverts to their reception of the divine truth in union with that good, which he himself was become at that time. From the above words too the intelligent reader will be enabled to collect another additional and strong proof, if any be yet wanting, of the divinity of the lord's humanity, thus of its Oneness with the eternal father, for if this was not the case, why, or to what end, should the lord pray that he might be in his disciples, or in the church, and in what possible manner could his prayer be granted?
JOHN 17 Other translations - previous - next - meaning - John - BM Home - Full Page