“But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them from the world, but that you should keep them from the evil.”
He points out that all that He is saying, and has said, is so that they may experience the fullness of the joy that is His (compare John 15:11; John 16:24) in the midst of a hostile world. In combating it they will need the awareness of the keeping and protecting power of God (John 17:11; John 17:15), the knowledge that they are Branches of the true Vine (John 15:1-8 with 11), and the awareness of His constant provision of what they need in their ministry (John 16:24), so that they can face the somewhat grim initial future with joy. And that joy is to be the joy of Christ that He constantly experienced because of His Oneness with the Father. It is a joy that He wants them to have to the full.
Now He, their Shepherd, is leaving them, and going to the Father, whilst they must continue living in the world. But they have been given His word and the result is that they no longer live and behave as those who are ‘of the world'. Like Him they are ‘out of' it. They are under the Rule of God, not of the world. They do not follow the world's ways. They are citizens of Heaven living as aliens in the world (Philippians 3:20; Hebrew John 11:9-10; 1 Peter 2:11-12). And the consequence is that the world will hate them.
‘I have given them your word.' Because He has given them the Father's word the world will hold no truck with them, and that is because that word has brought them into a different sphere under the Kingly Rule of God. They thus no longer view things as the world views them. They are citizens of Heaven. The thought also includes the fact that that word has been entrusted to them, to be cherished and passed on. For it is not for them alone but for all whom the Father has given Him. And the result of their having that word and passing it on to others will be the hatred of the world.
‘The world hated them.' The disciples have already experienced something of the world's hatred. Just as the world hates the light (John 3:20) so does it hate those who shine the light on it and its ways. This is inevitable. Christian experience is ever the same. Men like to be associated with ‘goodness' as long as it is not too strictly demanded of them. So for a while the world may sometimes admire Christians and speak well of them, but eventually their refusal to compromise will bring them into hatred. As Jesus said elsewhere, ‘beware when men speak well of you' (Luke 6:26). They did the same to the prophets before they killed them.
‘Keep them from the evil.' The world and its ways are insidious. The evil within it creeps in on men and slowly permeates them. So He prays that they may be kept from that evil.
‘The evil'. This could be either masculine translated ‘the Evil One', or neuter translated ‘the evil'. In view of the fact that the concentration is on ‘the world' which is ‘evil' (John 3:19; John 7:7) it might seem more likely that He is speaking of the evil of the world. On the other hand the Evil One is the prince of this world, so that the evil of the world and the Evil One are closely connected.
Thus in 1 John 5:18-19, we have mention of ‘the Evil One' who cannot touch the man who is born of God followed by ‘we know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in evil'. Compare also ‘deliver us from evil' (Matthew 6:13). There too there is the same ambiguity and we have a choice of translations. So some have argued that in view of the frequent use of the masculine in 1 John 2:13-14; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18-19 it seems much more probable that the masculine is to be understood here, and that Jesus is praying for his disciples to be protected from Satan. This is supported by the constant earlier references to Satan (John 13:2; John 13:27) and ‘the prince of this world' (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11 - another ambiguous phrase) and the idea that an attempt may be made to pluck the sheep whom Jesus is keeping from His hand.
Possibly, as often in John, we can take both meanings. The Evil One uses the evil of the world to fulfil his aims. Consider how Judas is entered into by Satan but it is his greed for money that finally defeats him. So the world's evil creeps up on man through the activity of the Evil One. Evil appears to be our prime enemy but that is because the Evil One prefers to remain hidden.