John 17:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Indeed, the preaching to the Gentiles greatly scandalized the Jews, and even the disciples. Even afterward, the disciples did not easily permit themselves to enter into communion with the Gentiles until they received instruction from the Spirit.

No small scandal for the Jews arose from this. Therefore, even after so great a manifestation of the Spirit, Peter came to Jerusalem and scarcely escaped reproach after telling them about the sheet (Acts 11:1-19).

What then does "He gave Him authority over all flesh" mean? I ask the heretics: when did He receive this authority? Before the creation of men, or after their creation?

He Himself says that it was after the Crucifixion and Resurrection. For then He said, "All authority has been given to Me. Go, teach all nations" (Mt 28:18-19).

What then? Did He not have authority over His own work? Did He only create men, and after creating them have no authority over them?

But in former times also He is seen doing all things Himself. Some He punishes as sinners. Others, when they turn, He corrects: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" He says (Gen 18:17).

Others He honors as righteous. Or did He have authority then, lose it now, and receive it again? What demon could say this?

If the authority is one and the same then and now, since "as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom He wills" (Jn 5:21), what does the saying mean?

He was about to send the apostles to the Gentiles. Since He had said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24), He shows that this mission is pleasing to the Father.

He does this so that they would not regard it as an innovation. That He speaks of this with great condescension is not surprising.

In this way He was then edifying them, the apostles, and those who would come after. As I have said, by such an excess of condescension He always clearly teaches that He speaks accommodatively.

What does "over all flesh" mean? It is evident that not all believed. So far as depended on Him, all believed. If they did not heed His words, the fault is not with the Teacher, but with those who do not receive the teaching.

"That He should give eternal life to all whom Thou hast given Him." Do not be surprised that here too He speaks in a human manner.

He does this for the reasons already given, and because He always avoided saying anything great about Himself. Such speech was unpleasant to His hearers, who still did not think anything great about Him.

Therefore John, when speaking in his own person, does not speak this way, but raises his word to a lofty height. He says, "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made" (Jn 1:3).

He also says, "In Him was life" (Jn 1:4), "He was the Light" (Jn 1:9), and "He came to His own" (Jn 1:11).

He does not mean that Christ would not have authority unless He had received it. Rather, Christ Himself gave others authority "to become children of God" (Jn 1:12).

In the same way Paul calls Him equal to God. But He Himself asks as an ordinary man, saying, "that He should give eternal life to all whom Thou hast given Him."

But when the evangelist speaks of the Lord in his own person, listen to what he says: “All things came into being through Him,” Jn 1:3. And again, “To those who received Him He gave authority to become children of God,” Jn 1:12. If He gives such authority to others, did He Himself not have it, but receive it from the Father? Then even in these very words, which seem humble, something lofty is inserted. “That to all whom Thou hast given Him” is condescension. “He may give eternal life” is the authority of the Only-begotten and of the Godhead. For only God can give life, and eternal life at that.

For this reason Paul also, wishing us to have this mind, writes in the Epistle: "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things like us, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15).

Therefore, as High Priest, since He appeared as man, and at the same time as the spotless sacrifice, He offered Himself to God the Father as a ransom for the life of all. He did this as a kind of firstfruits of humanity, "that in all things He might have the preeminence," as Paul says (Col 1:18).

Again He offers the earthly race that had fallen away. By His Blood He showed it to be clean, and through the Holy Spirit He transformed it unto newness of life. Since, as we have often said, all things are accomplished from the Father through the Son in the Spirit, He also asks blessings for us as Mediator and High Priest. Yet He is also co-giver and co-distributor of divine and spiritual gifts with His Begetter.

For Christ distributes the Spirit to whom He wills, by His own will and authority (1 Cor 12:11). This is the meaning of these words. But let the saying under interpretation again explain what the very form of the prayer wishes to indicate.

He says, "Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." How, or in what way, He says, will what I have said be fulfilled? I desire, He says, that as "Thou hast given" Me "authority over all flesh," so also "all whom Thou hast given" Me may have "eternal life."

Indeed, the Father glorified His Son by subjecting the whole earth to His authority. He Himself is also glorified through Him. The Son is glorified by the Father, having received the faith of all that He is the birth and fruit of Him who can do all things and without hindrance subjects all to the yoke of His kingdom.

In turn, the Father is likewise glorified by His Son. For as soon as the Son is acknowledged to be able to accomplish all things easily, the grace of this glory passes also to His Begetter.

Therefore He says: Just as Thou hast both glorified and been glorified by giving Him authority and lordship over all, that is, in the manner described, so I desire that nothing of what has been given should perish. For this glory too must pass from the Father to the Son, and from the Son again to the Father.

Truly, what had been wholly brought under the authority and obedience of the almighty God the Word, once saved, ought to remain in endless blessings. It should no longer be subject to the dominion of death, nor be under the power of corruption and sin, nor suffer again the ancient evil.

Since the saying, "Thou hast given Him authority over all flesh," may, we think, trouble some of the simple, we shall again try to say a little about it. We do not shrink from the need, even though every word is powerless to explain such matters.

The Lord says this chiefly according to the form He assumed, that is, the form of humiliation and the limitation of humanity. You should receive this explanation. If we are ashamed when we hear that He called Himself a servant for our sake, though He remains with the Father the Lord of all, and that He is appointed "king over Zion. His holy mountain" (Ps 2:6), though in His own nature He has unacquired power of authority over all, then one should also be ashamed if He says that He receives anything as man.

If in the former case we marvel at His voluntary submission, knowing the dignity naturally and essentially His, why should this not also be worthy of wonder? Possessing all things as God, He receives, He says, as man, to whom kingship is not essential but given. "For what do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7). This principle belongs to the limitation of creatures.

Christ too is created insofar as He became man, though by nature He is uncreated, since He appeared from God. All good things are thought and truly exist in God naturally and properly, but in us they are acquired and communicated through divine grace.

Therefore, when as man He says that authority "over all flesh" has been given Him by the Father, because He has received lordship over us, we must not be scandalized. We must understand the meaning of the divine economy of the Incarnation.

If you wish to understand the saying also with reference to the Savior's Godhead, then consider again what the Lord once said to the Jews: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (Jn 6:44). Those whom the Father wills to give life He brings to His Son, as to His own life-giving Power. Through Him He also strengthens and makes them wise.

If He also desires to subject anyone to the yoke of His lordship, He calls him to this in no other way than through His living and almighty Power, by whom He rules over all, that is, through His own Son.

Men, being unable by themselves to do anything beyond themselves, receive from God the power to rule over others. Through Him kings reign, as it is written (Prov 8:15-16), and rulers through Him exercise dominion over the earth.

But the God of all, receiving power from no one else, subjects to Himself the race that has turned away from love for Him and withdrawn from the yoke of His kingdom. He gives, as it were, authority over all to His own Power, and through that Power receives into His right hand all that He wills to take.

God the Father subjects to His Son, as to His own Power, all who freely desire to come under Him. Yet He does this through Him, of course, and in no other way. As He makes all wise and gives all life through Him, so He also rules over all through Him.

Still, it must be noted that the grace of the love for mankind from above was no longer concentrated on Israel alone. It extended "to all flesh." For all that has submitted to the Savior's authority will surely share in the life and grace that proceed from Him.

Therefore, that authority was given by the Father to Christ over every flesh must be understood with respect to His human nature. For with respect to His divine nature, all things were created through Him, cf. Jn 1:3. By Him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, Col 1:16. And so He said: “As Thou hast given Him authority over every flesh, so Thy Son also will glorify Thee.” That is, He will make Thee known to every flesh that Thou hast given Him. For Thou hast given all in such a way that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life.

“That to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life.” If some did not believe and did not receive eternal life, this is their own fault. God the Father was well pleased that the Son should subject all through faith in Himself, and that all should come under the yoke of His commandments. The Son of God also gave His Gospel to all men through the apostles. This Gospel would impart to all men the knowledge of God, or, what is the same, eternal life. If some did not submit to the faith and did not accept the law, they themselves are certainly guilty of their destruction. For the Savior does not force anyone by compulsion. Virtue is the work of free will.

God the unbegotten gave a perfect divine and blessed birth to God the Only-begotten. To be the author of birth is the mystery of the Father. Yet for the Son it is no diminution to become, in true birth, the perfect image of His Begetter. To give authority over every flesh, with the purpose that eternal life be given to every flesh, is testimony to the Fatherhood of the Giver and the divinity of the Receiver. For the giving means that the Giver is Father. The receiving of authority to give eternal life means that the Son remains God. Thus all the authority of God the Son is natural and born with Him. Though it is given, this does not separate Him from the Begetter. For what is given is the property of its Possessor: the authority to give eternal life and to turn the corruptible into the incorruptible. The Father gave all things; the Son received all things.

For what else is the Son’s full authority over all, if not His glory? That the Father also was glorified by the authority given by the Father to the Son is likewise evident. For by this authority the Son worked great and most astonishing miracles, and granted eternal life to believers. That is, He persuaded them to believe that He is the Only-begotten Son of God, sent by God the Father and having received authority from Him. This is the Father’s glory, that He has a Son who is almighty, just as He Himself is. This is also the eternal life that He has given to those who believe in Him, as the following words show: “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”

He also prays that they may receive a share in the glory of Jesus Christ their Redeemer, verses 20-26. Judging by Jn 18:1, one must think that, after finishing the farewell discourse with the disciples, Jesus Christ approached the brook Kidron. This brook was the boundary beyond which the Lord’s redemptive sufferings were to follow. To cross this boundary meant for Him to deliver Himself into the hands of His enemies. And so Christ contemplates this moment as the beginning of His redemptive sufferings and death. He also contemplates it as the beginning of His glorification through the Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. Therefore in His prayer He contemplates His work as already finished and accomplished. Verses 1-5. The Savior begins with a prayer for His glorification. The hour for this glorification has now come, foreordained in the counsel of God: “Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son.” He entreats the Father by the fact that the glorification of the Son is joined with the glorification of the Father: “that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” The glorification of the Father and the Son will be accomplished when the Son fulfills the final purpose for which He came to earth. Namely, having risen from the dead and become the Author of life, He will give eternal life to all whom God the Father has given Him, cf. Jn 6:37, 39, 44. The eternal life of men consists in this: that, having partaken in Christ and through Christ of the divine life, they begin a fully true religious life. This life is in true, alethinos, knowledge and worship of God. Then, confessing before the Father that He has accomplished everything He had to accomplish on earth as Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ declares that the time of His glorification has now come. This will happen through His ascent to the enjoyment of the divine glory that belongs to Him from eternity as the Son of God. For this He entreats the Father.

For no sinful man can ever experience what filled the soul of the God-man, who gave His human life for the sins of others, for the sins of the whole world. Let us therefore bow before the majesty and holiness of this sacrifice. Let us lay aside every boldness in conveying to readers, in other words, the content of this prayer. Let us read it in the very words recorded by the Evangelist, who wrote not only from memory, but also by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It was given for the redemption of all mankind from sin, or for granting eternal life to the world in its spiritual union with the reconciled God, cf. Jn 6:51 and the notes on Jn 5:24 and parallels. But since not all mankind, not every flesh, will make use of the fruits of the redemptive death of the God-man, not all will appropriate them by faith in Him. These fruits will be only in those whom the Father has given to the Son, or, according to another saying of the Lord, whom the heavenly Father will draw to Him. That is, they will be in those who believe in Him; see the notes on Jn 6:37, 39, 44. To such He will give eternal life in union with the reconciled God; see the notes on Jn 3:15-16 and parallels. In Scripture, “every flesh” means all mankind, cf. Lk 3:6; Acts 2:17, and elsewhere.

By the very Incarnation, the incarnate Word of God is the Head of infirm humanity. For this Head, all people of all times and all lands, Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and barbarians, are the object of care and love. His care extends to all of them, seeking their salvation: “Teach all nations,” He says, Mt 28:19. The Jews thought that all the promises of heavenly goodness belonged to them alone. They thought the Messiah would appear for them alone, with His teaching and His other gifts. Even the apostles, after the Lord’s Ascension into heaven, were troubled that the Gentiles wished to enter Christ’s Church, Dan 10:9-17. Such was not the counsel of God revealed in the Son of God, the Savior of the whole world. “That all whom Thou hast given Me, I may give them eternal life.” By the words, “whom Thou hast given Me,” He shows the same thing He showed when He said to the Jews: “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him to Me. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me,” Jn 6:44-45. This means that the will of the heavenly Father is that men should believe in the Son. It also means that no one can believe in the Son with worthy faith except by the life-giving action of the heavenly Father. Thus the Son of God is the Redeemer of the whole world. But eternal life will be given only to those who, having been drawn by the Father, believe in the Son of God with a living and fruitful faith, Jn 6:40-44. Do not marvel, my friends, that not all will receive eternal life. The Lord Jesus desires salvation for all. The treasures of His grace are open to all. But in our own narrow circle, in the circle of this local church, do all make use of the gifts of His love? Do all sincerely desire to be saved? And on whom does it depend that some among us are so careless about their salvation? Could the Son of the Almighty not arrange everything needed for the salvation of each and all? Ah, with what love and generosity He has opened to us every means of salvation. “This is the will of the Father who sent Me,” He says, “that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing,” Jn 6:39. The elect come to the Son of God by the path of contrition and humility. They come, drawn by an awakened thirst for heavenly grace, and they receive eternal life according to His merits. They receive far more than they had hoped for in a spirit of contrition. The rest do not come, and they will not receive. The rest go to drink, and they drink corrupted and poisonous water from the wells of the world, and they perish.

For this reason every authority over flesh belongs to this Hypostasis who manifests God. For this reason this Hypostasis also gives eternal life to human flesh with its soul.

Christ Jesus glorified and raised this human flesh in Himself, "who gave Himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:4).

The expression "all flesh," set over against the majesty and holiness of the Godhead, appears in the Old Testament at Gen 6:12, Ps 64:2-3, and Joel 2:28. In the New Testament it appears at Mt 24:22, Acts 2:17, 1 Cor 1:29, Gal 2:16, and many other places.

"Authority over all flesh," according to St. John Chrysostom, also indicates that the preaching of the Gospel about the Lord will not be limited to the Jews alone, but will extend to the whole universe: "Go and teach all nations" (Mt 28:19).

To this human flesh, by which we understand man with his soul, the Lord gives eternal life. What is eternal life? Verse 3 answers this: "That they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

"I am the resurrection and the life," the Lord said (Jn 11:25). "Where I go you know, and the way you know" (Jn 14:4).

The one way to eternal life is the knowledge of the one true God and the knowledge of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, sent to manifest God.

Thus the knowledge of the Godhead and of the means of man's salvation has been opened to man. Not only God's existence in His invisible majesty has been revealed, as in the Old Testament.

He has also been revealed in His merciful disclosure in the person of the incarnate God on earth. Without His manifestation, the providence concerning the salvation of souls and the mercy of the Invisible and Incomprehensible One's sacrifice would have remained unclear to man, as it was in the Old Testament.

"Let him who wishes to honor God piously worship the Son," says St. Cyril of Jerusalem. "The name of the Father gives us to understand the Son also."

He also says, "As soon as we conceive in thought that there is God, we also conceive that He has a Son."

For this reason eternal life is given only to the one who has known "the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

"Jesus Christ," says Cyril of Jerusalem, "has two names: Jesus, because He saves, and Christ, because He serves as priest."

Without knowing the second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, incarnate for our salvation, one cannot know God the Father, nor be saved. Revelation alone has given man that knowledge of the Almighty and of His love for man which leads to salvation.

"This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."