Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Father, I will, [ theloo (G2309 )] that they also whom thou hast given me. [The reading ho (G3588) here, instead of hous (G3739) of the received text-`that that also which Thou hast given Me'-which Tischendorf and Tregelles have adopted, but not Lachmann-is insufficiently supported, as we judge, and to be rejected.]
Be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, х edookas (G1325)] - 'gavest Me;' but the true reading clearly is, 'which Thou hast given Me;' х dedookas (G1325)]:
For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. Here our Lord, having exhausted all His desires for His people which could be fulfilled here below, stretches them, in this His last petition, onwards to the eternal state. Let us attend, first, to the style of petition here only employed by our Lord: "I will." The majesty of this style of speaking is the first thing that strikes the reverential reader. Some good expositors, indeed (as Beza, who, instead of the Volo of the Vulgate, renders it Velim), conceive that nothing more is meant by this word than a simple wish, desire, request; and they refer us in proof of this to such passages as Mark 10:35; John 12:21, (Gr.) But such a word from the mouth of a creature cannot determine its sense, when taken up into the lips of the Son of God. Thus, when He said to the leper (Matthew 8:3), "I will х theloo (G2309)], be thou clean!" something more, surely, was meant than a mere wish for his recovery.
And such a will, we cannot doubt, was meant in this prayer of the Son to the Father, which breathes throughout the spirit of loftiest unity with the glorious Object addressed, and of highest claim to be heard, more particularly occurring as it does in the final petition, a petition manifestly designed to exhaust all that He had to ask in His people's behalf. 'In John 17:9; John 17:15; John 17:20,' says Bengel, 'He had said, "I pray" х erootoo (G2065), rogo]; now the language rises, and the word is to be rendered "I will;" not by the weak "I desire." Jesus asks in the exercise of a right, and demands with confidence; as Son, not as servant (compare Psalms 2:8).' To the same effect DeWette, Meyer, Stier, Alford, Luthardt, Webster and Wilkinson, Lange. But observe now the two things thus majestically asked. First, "that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am." He had before assured His faithful Eleven, as representing all believers, that they should be so; using the same form of expression as here, "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am х hopou (G3699) eimi (G1510) Egoo (G1473)], there ye may be also" (see the note at John 14:3).
In now asking what He had before explicitly promised, the majestic authority of that "I will" is further revealed. But next, when they have arrived where I am, it is but in order "that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." The glory here intended has been already explained. It is not His essential glory, the glory of His Divine Personality, but His glory as the Incarnate Head of His people, the Second Adam of a redeemed humanity, in which glory the Father beheld Him with ineffable complacency from everlasting. Jesus regards it as glory enough for us to be admitted to see and gaze forever upon this His glory! This is 'the beatific vision;' but it shall be no mere vision - "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
Here end the petitions of this wonderful chapter. In the two concluding verses He just breathes forth His reflections into His Father's ear, but doubtless for the benefit of those mortal ears that were privileged to listen to Him, and of all who should read it in this priceless Gospel.