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Joh_17:12-13. A more definite outflow of heart concerning Joh_17:11.
ὅτε ἤμην , κ . τ . λ .] As in Joh_17:11, οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τ . κόσμῳ , Jesus speaks as though He had already departed out of the world. “Jam in exitu mundi pedem irrevocabilem posuerat,” Ruperti on Joh_17:11.
ἐγώ ] That which Thou mayest now do, Joh_17:11.
οὓς δέδωκ . μοι ἐφύλ ., κ . τ . λ .] Not a parenthesis, but a further expression of the τήρησις just described, in which a sorrowful but telically clear and conscious mention of Judas obtrudes itself.
ἐφύλαξα ] Through the φυλάσσειν (custodire) is the τηρεῖν (conservare) accomplished. Comp. Sap. Joh_10:5; Dem. 317. ult. The disciples were handed over to Him for protection and guardianship, ut eos salvos tueretur. This He has accomplished, and none of them has fallen into destruction (i.e. into eternal destruction through apostasy, which leads to the loss of ζωή ), except him who belongs to destruction (Mat_23:15), i.e. who is destined to destruction. Comp. Joh_6:64; Joh_6:70. Jesus does not like to name Judas, who forms this tragical exception ( εἰ μή is not equivalent to ἀλλά , as Scholten thinks), but his destruction—and therein the purity of the consciousness of Jesus in the matter is expressed—is nothing accidental, capable of being averted, but is prophesied as a divine destiny in the Scripture, and must take place in fulfilment thereof. On account of Joh_13:18, it is without warrant to think of another saying of Scripture than, with Luther, Lücke, and several others, of Psa_41:10 (Kuinoel: the prophecies of the death of Jesus generally are intended; Lange, L. J. II. p. 1412: Isa_57:12-13; Euth. Zigabenus, Calovius, and many, Psa_109:8, which passage, however, has its reference in Act_1:20). The designation of Antichrist by ὁ υἱὸς τ . ἀπωλ ., 2Th_2:3, is parallel in point of form. In the Evang. Nikod. 20 (see Thilo on the passage, p. 708), the devil is so called.
Joh_17:13. But now I come to Thee, and since I can no longer guard them personally as hitherto, I speak this (this prayer for Thy protection, Joh_17:11) in the world (“jam ante discessum meum,” Bengel), that they, as witnesses and objects of this my intercession, knowing themselves assured of Thy protection, may bear my joy (as in Joh_15:11, not Joh_14:27) fulfilled in themselves. On this expression of prayer regarding the influence which the listening to prayer should have upon the listeners, comp. Joh_11:42. Luther well says: “that they, through the word, apprehended by the ears, and retained in the heart, may be consoled, and be able cheerfully to presume thereon, and to say: See, this has my Lord Christ said, so affectionately and cordially has He prayed for me,” etc.