The Son's Prayer: Unity in Divine Love and Eternal Glory
The unity and future glory of believers flow from Christ’s redemptive work.
John 17:20–26 (BSB)
20 I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one—
23 I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.
24 Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me.
26 And I have made Your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”
What is the big idea of John 17:20–26?
The unity and future glory of believers flow from Christ’s redemptive work.
How does John 17:20–26 point to Christ?
Through His death and resurrection, Jesus unites believers across generations, fills them with divine love, and promises that they will one day behold and share in His eternal glory.
How does John 17:20–26 relate to the life and ministry of Jesus?
The prayer is spoken on the final night before the crucifixion, just before Jesus goes out to be arrested. As the cross approaches, Jesus looks beyond the immediate crisis to the worldwide future of His people. He prays for those who will believe after His death, resurrection, and return to the Father. John presents Jesus as the Son who goes to the cross with sovereign love, interceding for the church that will be gathered through apostolic witness.
Authorial Intent
To reveal Christ’s intercession for future believers and their unity, mission, and ultimate glorification.
Literary Context
John 17:20-26 is the final movement of Jesus’ prayer before His arrest. John 17:1-5 focused on the Son’s glorification; John 17:6-19 focused on the preservation and sanctification of the immediate disciples; this closing unit looks ahead to later believers who will come to faith through the disciples’ word. It concludes the Farewell Discourse by gathering John’s themes of sending, believing, glory, love, revelation, and final presence with Christ into one climactic intercession.
Historical Context
Jesus prays on the night before His crucifixion after preparing the disciples for His departure, the Spirit’s coming, the world’s hatred, and their future witness. The immediate disciples will soon be scattered, but their message will become the means by which later believers come to faith. In an ancient setting where group identity, public reputation, and communal witness mattered deeply, Jesus’ prayer for unity has social and missionary weight. Yet the unity He requests is grounded in the Father-Son relationship and in the Father’s love before creation, not in social pressure or political solidarity.
Chapter: John 17
The Son’s High Priestly Prayer: Glory, Preservation, Sanctification, Unity, Mission, and Love
Jesus, having completed the Father’s work, prays that the Father would glorify him through the cross, preserve and sanctify his disciples in the truth, unite all believers in divine love, and bring them to behold his glory forever.