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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 17:2 - 17:2
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2. καθὼς ἔδωκας. Even as thou gavest (Joh 3:35) Him authority (Joh 1:12) over all flesh. The authority was given once for all (Joh 5:27), and is the reason for the petition in Joh 17:1. Πᾶσα σάρξ is a Hebraism not used elsewhere in this Gospel. Comp. Mat 24:22; Luk 3:6; Act 2:17; Rom 3:20, &c. Fallen man, man in his frailty, is specially meant; but the Second Adam has dominion also over ‘all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea.’ Psa 8:7-8. In the following texts ‘all flesh’ includes the brute creation; Gen 6:19; Gen 7:15-16; Gen 7:21; Gen 8:17; Gen 9:11; Gen 9:15-17; Psa 136:25; Jer 32:27; Jer 45:5. Once more, therefore, Jewish exclusiveness is condemned. The Messiah is King of ‘all flesh,’ not of the Jews only. For the casus pendens comp. Joh 6:39, Joh 7:38, Joh 15:2. Note the change from neut. sing. to masc. plur. in what follows: in order that all that Thou hast given Him, He should give to them eternal life. Believers are given to Christ as a united whole; they earn eternal life as individuals: comp. Joh 17:24, Joh 1:11, Joh 6:37.