The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 30 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
17:12-18:9
[17:12] While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
[17:13] But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
[17:14] I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[17:15] I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.
[17:16] They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[17:17] Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.
[17:18] As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
[17:19] And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
[17:20] Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word;
[17:21] that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.
[17:22] And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
[17:23] I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.
[17:24] Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
[17:25] O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me;
[17:26] and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them.
[18:1] When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into which he entered, himself and his disciples.
[18:2] Now Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus oft-times resorted thither with his disciples.
[18:3] Judas then, having received the band of soldiers, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
[18:4] Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth, and saith unto them, Whom seek ye?
[18:5] They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
[18:6] When therefore he said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
[18:7] Again therefore he asked them, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
[18:8] Jesus answered, I told you that I am he; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:
[18:9] that the word might be fulfilled which he spake, Of those whom thou hast given me I lost not one.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
'As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world' establishes a structural parallel between the Father's and the Son's mission, reflecting the same pattern at different levels.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
'The world knew thee not, but I knew thee' marks the Father as radically concealed from the world's perception, accessible only through the Son's revelation.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
'I knew thee' and 'these knew that thou didst send me' present direct knowledge of God as the defining mark of the elect, contrasted with the world's ignorance.
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.
'As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world' presupposes the Son's specific descent into the world, and 'I am not of the world' marks the incarnate one as distinct from the realm he entered.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Word is a key mediating concept: 'I have given them thy word,' 'thy word is truth,' 'through their word,' and 'the word might be fulfilled' all point to the Logos as the means of sanctification and transmission.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The prayer's central goal is that believers 'may be in us' and 'be perfected into one' with Father and Son, expressing a merging of the individual with the divine.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The Father's name is given to the Son, used to keep and guard the disciples, and made known to them as the vehicle of divine love and protection, giving it ontological and protective power.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The goal that believers 'may be one, even as we are one' and share in the glory given to the Son implies a progressive participation in the divine nature.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
'That they may all be one' and 'perfected into one' assert that all existence in the divine is ultimately one reality shared among Father, Son, and the elect.