TRANSLATION OF JOHN 17:6-11 FROM THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE (GREEK)
6I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours and you have given them to me and they have kept your word. 7Now they have known that all the things you have given to me are from you, 8because the sayings that you have given to me, I have given to them and they received them and truly knew that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I am requesting about them, I am not requesting about the world but those you have given me, because they are yours, 10and all of mine is yours and yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given to me, in order that they may be one just as we are one.
EXEGESIS
A close study of the background passages of the above text reveals Jesus’ comment on the hour of glorification. This prayer is one of the finest in Scripture. O how blissful that moment will be when like Jesus (or Paul), the Christian can proudly stand and boldly say that s/he has glorified the Father in this world.
The use of the word ‘manifest’ in translating verse six is deliberate since it embraces in a larger context other related meanings like making know, showing or revealing. Christianity is more about giving than receiving. It is about relationship. Here, and elsewhere in Scripture, one sees the Father, Son and Holy Spirit glorifying each other. It is the researcher’s prayer that all Christians will join the hymn writer to always say, “this alone shall be my prayer, ‘glorify Thy name’”.
Theologically, some Christian denominations will hate this text under consideration. Although they try to distort John’s Gospel as early as John 1:1, countless Scriptures even in their own translations are not in consonance with their error. How can one deny the deity of Jesus when the verse before the translated passage (verse five) discusses Jesus’ glory before the world came into being. Jesus wants the Holy Father to keep disciples in the name he has given. Why? - So that they may be one just as the Father and himself are one.
I also see Jesus praying for me also in the passage. This means that he knew me before the foundation of the world. The significance of the passage cannot be overemphasized. Christians should not be divided. Jesus wants us to be one. The church is one foundation. We have divided it. The final words of a parting or dying man are important. Jesus prayed this prayer shortly before he died. He wants us to be one. Are we ready to evangelize this world? We can do it better if (and only if) Christians are one. We can be one if we love one another. We should not only quote John 3:16 but also I John 3:16.
AUTHOR SIGNATURE
Oliver L.T. Harding, who obtained his GCE O & A Levels from the Sierra Leone Grammar School and the Albert Academy respectively, is currently Senior & Acting Librarian of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is a part time lecturer at the Institute of Library, Information & Communication Studies (INSLICS), Fourah Bay College and the Extension Programme at the Evangelical College of Theology (T.E.C.T) at Hall Street, Brookfields; Vice President of the Sierra Leone Association of Archivists, Librarians & Information Scientists (SLAALIS); a member of the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) and an associate of the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP). His certificates, secular and sacred, include: a certificate and diploma from the Freetown Bible Training Centre; an upper second class B.A. Hons. Degree in Modern History (F.B.C.); a post-graduate diploma from the Institute of Library Studies (INSLIBS, F.B.C) a masters degree from the Institute of Library, Information & Communication Studies (INSLICS, F.B.C.) and a masters degree in Biblical Studies from West Africa Theological Seminary, affiliate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he won the prize for academic excellence as the Best Graduating Student in 2005. Oliver, a writer, musician and theologian, is married (to Francess) with two children (Olivia & Francis).
Email: oltharding@yahoo.com
Mobile: 232-2233-460-330
Tags: Disciples, Father, Prayer
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