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The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 29 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)

16:23-17:11

[16:23] And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. [16:24] Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full. [16:25] These things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. [16:26] In that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; [16:27] for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father. [16:28] I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father. [16:29] His disciples say, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no dark saying. [16:30] Now know we that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. [16:31] Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? [16:32] Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. [16:33] These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. [17:1] These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee: [17:2] even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. [17:3] And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. [17:4] I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do. [17:5] And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. [17:6] I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. [17:7] Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: [17:8] for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. [17:9] I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: [17:10] and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them. [17:11] And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
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Themes
Emanation Hierarchycosmology

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

The passage presents a clear cascade: the Father sends the Son into the world, the Son gives eternal life to those the Father gave him, forming a chain of divine being descending from a single source (16:28, 17:2, 17:10).

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

Eternal life is defined as knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ (17:3), and the disciples' salvation is grounded in their direct knowledge of the Father's truth as revealed through the Son (17:7-8, 16:30).

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

Jesus explicitly states he has been speaking in 'dark sayings' and that the hour comes when he will tell them plainly of the Father (16:25), framing his prior teaching as concealed meaning awaiting revelation.

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Incarnationtheology

The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.

The Son's descent from the Father into the world and his return to the Father (16:28, 17:11) describes a discrete act of divine descent into bounded material existence and its reversal.

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Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

Jesus is explicitly the one sent from the Father who mediates between the transcendent God and the disciples, through whom eternal life is given and the Father's name is manifested (17:3, 17:6).

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The prayer that the disciples 'may be one, even as we are' (17:11) and the declaration that 'all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine' (17:10) express a deep merging of the human community into the divine unity of Father and Son.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The entire section 17:1-11 is the High Priestly Prayer, a sustained direct address to the Father, making prayer the structural and thematic center of the passage.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The Son's explicit return to the Father ('I leave the world, and go unto the Father,' 16:28; 'I come to thee,' 17:11) models the reversal of descent, though the focus is on the Son rather than the individual soul's journey.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The Father's name is manifested to the disciples (17:6), they are to be kept 'in thy name which thou hast given me' (17:11), and prayers are to be asked 'in my name' (16:23), attributing ontological and protective power to divine names.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The disciples are 'in the world' while the Son is 'no more in the world' (17:11) and will 'leave me alone' (16:32), expressing a felt condition of separation from the divine source that the prayer seeks to overcome.

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Related passages · 1 parallel
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 11 (part 1)
“p. 224 CHAPTER XI. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, or, to express it in other words, of the awakening of the germ of divine self-knowledge in man, is so grand, that it is impossible to form a…”
Shared concept: Incarnation — The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. (derived)