Berean BlueApp preview

Albert Barnes on John 17:11

Notes on the New Testament. Browse this work.

John17:11

I am no more in the world. I have finished my work among men, and am about to leave the world. See Jn 17:4.

These are in the world. They will be among wicked men and malignant foes. They will be subject to trials and persecutions. They will need the same protection which I could give them if I were with them.

Keep. Preserve, defend, sustain them in trials, and save them from apostasy.

Through thine own name. Our translators seem to have understood this expression as meaning "keep by thy power," but this probably is not its meaning. It is literally "keep in thy name." And if the term name be taken to denote God himself and his perfections (Jn 17:6), it means "keep in the knowledge of thyself. Preserve them in obedience to thee and to thy cause. Suffer them not to fall away from thee and to become apostates."

That they may be one. That they may be united.

As we are. This refers not to a union of nature, but of feeling, plan, purpose. Any other union between Christians is impossible; but a union of affection is what the Saviour sought, and this he desired might be so strong as to be an illustration of the unchanging love between the Father and the Son. See Jn 17:21-23.

(r) "keep through" 1Pet 1:5, Jude 1:24 (s) "thine own name" Prov 18:10

Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, John 17:11. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Read John 17. Compare commentaries on this chapter.

Source and publication rights

Public domain. Public Domain. Source edition.

Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026. Explore this passage in the app preview.