I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
I pray for them - not here as apostles, but as the following words show, as the representatives of those "chosen out of the world."
I pray not for the world - for the things sought for them were totally inapplicable to the world. Not that the individuals composing the world were shut out from Christ's compassions (see the last clause of John 17:21), or ought to be shut out from ours; but they come within the sphere of this prayer only by "being chosen out of the world."
But for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. He had just said that the Father "gave them to Him;" but here He says they were the Father's still, for the Father did not give them out of His own hands in committing them to the Son's. See the notes at John 10:28-30. Accordingly He adds,