John 17:3
Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
Now this is eternal life
This phrase introduces a profound truth about the nature of eternal life. In the Greek, "eternal life" is "zōē aiōnios," which signifies not just an unending duration but a quality of life that is deeply connected to God. Eternal life is not merely about living forever; it is about living in a relationship with God that begins now and continues into eternity. This life is characterized by a deep, personal, and transformative relationship with the Creator.

that they may know You
The word "know" in Greek is "ginōskō," which implies an intimate, experiential knowledge rather than mere intellectual assent. This knowledge is relational and involves a personal encounter with God. It suggests a deep, abiding relationship that transforms the believer's life. In the biblical context, to "know" God is to be in a covenant relationship with Him, marked by love, obedience, and faithfulness.

the only true God
This phrase emphasizes the exclusivity and uniqueness of God. In a world filled with various deities and idols, Jesus affirms that there is only one true God. The Greek word for "true" is "alēthinos," meaning genuine or real. This underscores the authenticity and reliability of God as opposed to false gods. It calls believers to worship and serve the one true God, rejecting all forms of idolatry.

and Jesus Christ
Here, Jesus refers to Himself with the title "Christ," which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Messiah," meaning "Anointed One." This title affirms Jesus' divine mission and His role as the Savior and Redeemer. It highlights the centrality of Jesus in God's plan of salvation and His unique position as the mediator between God and humanity.

whom You have sent
The phrase "whom You have sent" underscores the divine mission and authority of Jesus. The Greek word "apostellō" is used here, which means to send forth with a specific purpose. This indicates that Jesus was sent by God with a clear mission to reveal God's love, provide salvation, and establish His kingdom. It affirms the divine origin and purpose of Jesus' earthly ministry, emphasizing His obedience to the Father's will.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jesus Christ
The speaker of this verse, Jesus is praying to the Father. He is the central figure of the New Testament, the Son of God, and the Savior of humanity.

2. God the Father
Referred to as "the only true God" in this verse, He is the recipient of Jesus' prayer and the one who sent Jesus into the world.

3. Eternal Life
A key concept in Christian theology, eternal life is described here as knowing God and Jesus Christ. It is not just a future promise but a present reality for believers.

4. The Disciples
While not directly mentioned in this verse, they are the immediate audience of Jesus' prayer in John 17, representing all believers.

5. The World
The broader context of Jesus' prayer includes His mission to the world and the disciples' role in it.
Teaching Points
Understanding Eternal Life
Eternal life is not merely a future hope but a present relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It involves an intimate knowledge of God, which transforms our daily lives.

The Exclusivity of Salvation
Jesus identifies the Father as "the only true God," emphasizing the exclusivity of salvation through Christ alone. This challenges believers to hold firm to the truth of the Gospel in a pluralistic world.

The Importance of Knowing God
Knowing God is more than intellectual assent; it is a relational and experiential knowledge that impacts how we live. This calls for a deep, personal relationship with God through prayer, study, and obedience.

Mission and Purpose
As Jesus was sent by the Father, believers are also sent into the world to make God known. This mission is rooted in the knowledge of God and His love.

Prayer as a Means of Knowing God
Jesus' prayer in John 17 models how prayer is a vital means of growing in our knowledge of God and aligning our will with His purposes.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding eternal life as knowing God and Jesus Christ change your perspective on your daily walk with God?

2. In what ways can you deepen your relationship with God to experience eternal life more fully in the present?

3. How does the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ challenge you in your interactions with people of other faiths or beliefs?

4. Reflect on a time when knowing God personally impacted a decision or situation in your life. How did it change the outcome?

5. How can you incorporate prayer and Scripture study into your routine to grow in your knowledge of God and fulfill your mission in the world?
Connections to Other Scriptures
John 3:16
This verse connects to John 17:3 by emphasizing belief in Jesus as the pathway to eternal life, highlighting God's love and the sending of His Son.

1 John 5:20
This passage reinforces the idea that knowing Jesus is knowing the true God, affirming the unity of the Father and the Son in granting eternal life.

Philippians 3:10
Paul expresses a desire to know Christ, which aligns with the concept of eternal life as knowing God and Jesus.

Jeremiah 9:23-24
These verses emphasize boasting in understanding and knowing God, which parallels the definition of eternal life in John 17:3.
Death of FisherW. Baxendale.John 17:3
Eternal Life in the Knowledge of God and ChristPhillips Brooks, D. D.John 17:3
Knowledge -- Power in ReligionW. VeenschotenJohn 17:3
Knowledge and Life: a Sermon for the YoungJ.R. Thomson John 17:3
On Knowing GodI. S. Spencer, D. D.John 17:3
Saving KnowledgeB. Wilkinson, F. G. S.John 17:3
The Everlasting LifeJ. Spence, D. D.John 17:3
The Knowledge of GodJ. Hannah, D. D.John 17:3
The Knowledge of God is Eternal LifeW. Landels.John 17:3
What Eternal Life is Given forD. Young John 17:3
A Petition Urged by a Threefold ArgumentW. Harris.John 17:1-5
Christ's AuthorityR. H. Story.John 17:1-5
Christ's Prayer for HimselfT. Whitelaw, D. D.John 17:1-5
God has no Son Without PrayerC. H. Spurgeon.John 17:1-5
Supreme Things in Man's Spiritual HistoryD. Thomas, D. D.John 17:1-5
The Divine GlorificationJ. Spence, D. D.John 17:1-5
The Final Hour of the Son of GodR. Watson.John 17:1-5
The Mediatorial Glory of ChristT. Alexander, M. A.John 17:1-5
The Momentous HourHomiletic MagazineJohn 17:1-5
The Prayer of ChristB. Wilkinson, F. G. S.John 17:1-5
The Royal PrerogativeT. Alexander, M. A.John 17:1-5
The Supreme HourW. Braden.John 17:1-5
The Supreme HourT. Alexander, M. A.John 17:1-5
People
Jesus, Disciples
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
TRUE, Ages, Christ, Consists, Eternal, Hast
Dictionary of Bible Themes
John 17:3

     1150   God, truth of
     1205   God, titles of
     1436   reality
     1441   revelation, necessity
     1462   truth, in NT
     4018   life, spiritual
     5030   knowledge, of Christ
     5734   relationships
     5895   intimacy
     6645   eternal life, nature of
     6710   privileges
     8135   knowing God, nature of
     8136   knowing God, effects
     9122   eternity, and God

John 17:1-4

     6512   salvation, necessity and basis

John 17:1-26

     2360   Christ, prayers of
     8603   prayer, relationship with God

John 17:2-3

     6647   eternal life, experience
     7950   mission, of Christ

John 17:2-4

     2057   Christ, obedience

John 17:3-4

     8441   goals

Library
October 10 Evening
After this manner . . . pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven.--MATT. 6:9. Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father.--My Father, and your Father. Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.--Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

August 10 Morning
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil.--JOHN 17:15. Blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.--Ye are the salt of the earth, . . . the light of the world.--Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is heaven. I also withheld thee from sinning against me. The Lord is faithful,
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 20 Morning
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.--JOHN 17:16. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.--In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.--That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Jesus of Nazareth . . . went about doing good, and
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 21 Morning
I am the Lord which sanctify you.--LEV. 20:8. I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people. And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. Sanctified by God the Father.--Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.--The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus . . . that he might
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 16 Morning
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.--JOHN 17:17. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.--Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul: discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 27 Morning
The glory which thou gavest me I have given them.--JOHN 17:22. I saw . . . the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.--These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.--Upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness . . . of a man above upon it. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 13 Evening
Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.--EPH. 2:18. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 1 Morning
This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,. . . I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.--PHI. 3:13,14. Father, I will that they . . . whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.--I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.--He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 4 Evening
I have glorified thee on the earth.--JOHN 17:4. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.--I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.--This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 25 Evening
The spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.--ROM. 8:15. Jesus . . . lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, . . . Holy Father, . . . O righteous Father.--He said, Abba, Father.--Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.--For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints and of the household of God. Doubtless thou
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 12 Morning
They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.--MAL. 3:17. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 31. "I Pray not that Thou Shouldst Take them Out of the World, but that Thou Shouldst Keep them from the Evil" (John xvii. 15).
"I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil" (John xvii. 15). He wants us here for some higher purpose than mere existence. That purpose is nothing else than to represent Him to the world, to be the messengers of His Gospel and His will to men, and by our lives to exhibit to them the true life, and teach them how to live it themselves. He is representing us yonder, and our one business is to represent Him here. We are just as truly sent
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 5. "I in Them, and Thou in Me" (John xvii. 23).
"I in them, and Thou in Me" (John xvii. 23). If we would be enlarged to the full measure of God's purpose, let us endeavor to realize something of our own capacities for His filling. We little know the size of a human soul and spirit. Never, until He renews, cleanses and enters the heart can we have any adequate conception of the possibilities of the being whom God made in His very image, and whom He now renews after the pattern of the Lord Jesus Himself. We know, however, that God has made the human
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

December 11. "I Pray not for the World, but for Them" (John xvii. 9).
"I pray not for the world, but for them" (John xvii. 9). How often we say we would like to get some strong spirit to pray for us, and feel so helped when we think they are carrying us in their faith. But there is One whose prayers never fail to be fulfilled and who is more willing to give them to us than any human friend. His one business at God's right hand is to make intercession for His people, and we are simply coming in the line of His own appointment and His own definite promise and provision,
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Folded Flock
I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory.'--JOHN xvii. 24. This wonderful prayer is (a) for Jesus Himself, (b) for the Apostles, (c) for the whole Church on earth and in heaven. I. The prayer. 'I will' has a strange ring of authority. It is the expression of His love to men, and of His longing for their presence with Him in His glory. Not till they are with Him there, shall He 'see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.' We
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Christ's Summary of his Work
'I have declared onto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.'--JOHN xvii. 26. This is the solemn and calm close of Christ's great High-priestly prayer; the very last words that He spoke before Gethsemane and His passion. In it He sums up both the purpose of His life and the petitions of His prayer, and presents the perfect fulfilment of the former as the ground on which He asks the fulfilment of the latter. There is a singular
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

The Intercessor
'These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

'The Lord Thee Keeps'
...They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.'--JOHN xvii. 14-16. We have here a petition imbedded in a reiterated statement of the disciples' isolated position when left in a hostile world without Christ's sheltering presence. We cannot fathom the depth of the mystery of the praying Christ, but we may be sure of this,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

The High Priest's Prayer
'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou givest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Sixteenth Day. Holiness and Truth.
Make them holy in the Truth: Thy word is Truth.'--John xvii. 17. 'God chose you unto salvation in sanctification and belief of the Truth.'--2 Thess. ii. 12. The chief means of sanctification that God uses is His word. And yet how much there is of reading and studying, of teaching and preaching the word, that has almost no effect in making men holy. It is not the word that sanctifies; it is God Himself who alone can sanctify. Nor is it simply through the word that God does it, but through
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

Seventeenth Day. Holiness and Crucifixion.
For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.'--John xvii. 19. 'He said, Lo, I am come to do Thy will. In which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'--Heb. x. 9, 10, 14. It was in His High-priestly prayer, on His way to Gethsemane and Calvary, that Jesus thus spake to the Father: 'I sanctify myself.' He had not long before spoken
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

The Plenary Inspiration of Every Part of the Bible, vindicated and Explained. --Nature of Inspiration. --The Text of Scripture.
Thy Word is Truth. I THANKFULLY avail myself of the opportunity which, unexpected and unsolicited, so soon presents itself, to proceed with the subject which was engaging our attention when I last occupied this place. Let me remind you of the nature of the present inquiry, and of the progress which we have already made. Taking Holy Scripture for our subject, and urging, as best we knew how, its paramount claims on the daily attention of the younger men,--who at present are our hope and ornament;
John William Burgon—Inspiration and Interpretation

August the Twenty-Fourth the Lord's Body
"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." --JOHN xvii. 1-11. This quiet confession is in itself a token of our Lord's divinity. The serenity in which He makes His claims is as stupendous as the claims themselves. "Finished," perfected in the utmost refinement, to the last, remotest detail! Nothing scamped, nothing overlooked, nothing forgotten! Everything which concerns thy redemption and my redemption has been accomplished. "It is finished!" "And now ... I come to Thee." The visible
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Cure of Evil-Speaking
"If thy brother shall sin against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he will not hear them, tell it to the Church. But if he does not hear the church, let him be to thee as an heathen man and a publican." Matt. 18:15-17 1. "Speak evil of no man," says the great Apostle: -- As plain a
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

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