Passage

John 17.24

Book: John · NASB95

Verse

"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:24, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

NASB95 (NASB95)

"22. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23. I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me."

"24. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

"25. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26. and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:22-26, NASB95)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, in the High Priestly Prayer (the longest recorded prayer of Christ, immediately preceding His arrest in Gethsemane).
Audience: the prayer is addressed to the Father; the disciples (the eleven, post-Judas-departure) are present and listening (Jn 14-17 is the Upper Room Discourse + High Priestly Prayer addressed to the Father IN the disciples' presence).
Location: the Upper Room or en route to Gethsemane (cf. Jn 14:31 "Get up, let us go from here"; the prayer of John 17 may be on the walk).
Time period: Thursday evening of Passion Week, c. AD 30, just before the betrayal + arrest. Structurally, John 17 is the prayer-bridge between the farewell discourse (chs. 14-16) and the passion narrative (chs. 18-19).

Theological reading

1. Trinitarian pre-existence claim, load-bearing for Christ's deity

One of the most explicit pre-existence claims in the NT: "You loved Me before the foundation of the world" (ēgapēsas me pro katabolēs kosmou). Pro katabolēs kosmou is a fixed eschatological-anchor phrase used 3× in the NT for divine pre-creation realities (Jn 17:24 + Eph 1:4 + 1 Pet 1:20). The construction predicates inter-personal Father-Son love existing before creation, entailing the Son's pre-existence in eternal personal-distinct existence. Structurally incompatible with Arianism (Christ-as-creature can't have been loved before any creation), Modalism (modes-of-one-Person can't have love-relation without two-persons), Adoptionism (became-divine-at-baptism can't have pre-cosmic Father-love). Pairs with John 1.1's pre-existent Logos; together foundational proof-texts for Nicene-Trinitarian Christology.

2. The shared glory, "My glory which You have given Me"

Jesus explicitly claims "My glory" (tēn doxan tēn emēn); pairs with Jn 17:5 ("glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was"), the v. 5 / v. 24 pair bookends the prayer's Christological core. The doxa-language is charged: Isa 42:8 + 48:11 ("I will not give My glory to another"), YHWH explicitly refuses to share His glory with any creature. Jesus claims this doxa AS HIS OWN + given by the Father + received in pre-creational eternity, predicates divine-glory on Christ in a way that would be blasphemy if Christ were creaturely. Christological reading: Jesus shares the Father's doxa because He shares the Father's nature; glory-shared-in-Trinitarian-mutuality, not glory-given-to-creature.

3. The eschatological union promise, "where I am, they may also be"

Jesus's volitional petition (thelō) that those given Him by the Father be with Me where I am (hopou eimi egō). Anchors the eschatological hope of bodily-presence-with-Christ (1 Thess 4:17; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23; Rev 21:3). The with-Christ eschatology is the Christian hope's telos (cf. Biblical Hope); the seeing the glory is the visio Dei tradition (1 Jn 3:2; Heb 12:14; Mt 5:8); the given-Me-by-the-Father phrase recalls Jn 6:37, 39, 44, election + preservation of those given to the Son.

4. The volitional thelō, Jesus's divine prerogative-prayer

Thelō ("I desire / will") is striking. Standard Christian intercession petitions God's will (Mt 6:10; Mt 26:39 "not as I will, but as You will"); here, Jesus speaks of HIS OWN will as petition: "Father, I desire (thelō) that they also be with Me." This is not creature-requesting-from-Creator; it is Trinitarian-personal will articulated within the Father-Son relation. The verse's thelō presupposes the Son's authority-to-will toward the Father, consistent with v. 5 + v. 24's pre-existence anchor.

5. Patristic and Reformation reception

Origen Comm. on John book 32 (climactic prayer for ecclesial-eschatological union). Athanasius Contra Arianos III + De Decretis, primary anti-Arian proof-text: the interpersonal Father-Son love before any creation existed is structurally incompatible with creature-Christology; foundational to Nicene reading. Augustine Tract. on John 110-111 + De Trinitate (eternal-Trinitarian-love + ecclesial-eschatological telos). Cyril of Alexandria Comm. on John (proof-text against Nestorian alternatives). Aquinas Lectura super Joh. on 17:24, threefold: Christ desires disciples' eternal beatitude + beatitude consists in visio Dei + the basis is eternal Father-Son love. Calvin Comm. on John 17:24: "the love wherewith the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world is the foundation of our salvation, for it is in Him that we are loved." Modern: Carson Pillar 1991 pp. 569-573, Köstenberger BECNT 2004 pp. 500-503, Keener 2003 pp. 1059-1061, Bauckham Jesus and the God of Israel 2008 (divine-identity Christology pre-existence + glory-sharing).

Key words (Greek)

thelō (G2309, "to will, desire, intend"), Jesus's volitional petition; the Trinitarian-personal will articulated within the Father-Son relation. The first-person-singular present-active thelō signals the Son's authority-to-will toward the Father, presupposing the divine prerogative claim of v. 5 + v. 24's pre-existence anchor.
G1391 - doxa, doxa (glory), tēn doxan tēn emēn ("My glory"). Jesus explicitly claims the doxa the Father has given Him; Isa 42:8 + 48:11's "I will not give My glory to another" creates the Christological-deity inference: Christ shares the Father's doxa because He shares the Father's nature.
G0026 - agape, agapē (love), ēgapēsas me ("You loved Me"); the eternal-Trinitarian love between Father and Son before creation. The same agapē-love that flows to the believer through Christ's mediation (Rom 8:38-39; Eph 1:4-6).
pro katabolēs kosmou (G2602, "before the foundation of the world"), the fixed eschatological-anchor phrase used 3× in the NT (Jn 17:24; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20). Predicates pre-creation realities; in Jn 17:24 anchors Trinitarian Father-Son love before any creation existed.

Cross-references

John 17:5, "glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was", paired pre-existence + glory claim; bookends the prayer with v. 24
John 1:1-14, Logos prologue; the pre-existent Word who was God + became flesh; foundational pre-existence anchor (cf. John 1.1)
John 8:58, "before Abraham was born, I am", companion egō eimi pre-existence claim
Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world", same pro katabolēs kosmou phrase; Pauline echo of Trinitarian pre-creation realities
1 Peter 1:20, "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world", Petrine echo of the same construction
Isaiah 42:8, "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another", divine-glory-exclusivism; Christological tension Jn 17:24 resolves
Romans 8:38-39, "nothing… will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord", the eternal Father-Son love extended to the believer through Christ's mediation
1 John 3:2, "we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is", paired visio Dei eschatological promise