Gospel of John 17:20-26: The High Priestly Prayer

John 17:20–26 is the climax of what theologians call the High Priestly Prayer—Jesus’s extended prayer to the Father spoken on the night before his crucifixion, after the Last Supper and before the arrest in Gethsemane. In the preceding verses, Jesus has prayed for himself (17:1–5) and for his disciples (17:6–19). Now he extends the prayer to all future believers: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word.” What follows is the most explicit statement of mutual indwelling in the New Testament: “that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

This passage extends the union between Father and Son to all believers. The prayer does not say that believers will be like the divine unity—it says they will be in it. The Greek is unambiguous: hina kai autoi en hemin osin (ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν), “that they also may be in us.” For the theosis tradition, this is the moment where Christ prays that the divine-human unity he embodies will extend to every person who believes. The Gnostics read this as confirmation that divine unity is available to all who attain knowledge. The Church Fathers—particularly Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria, and Maximus the Confessor—read it as the scriptural basis for the doctrine that God became man so that man might become God. Either way, the prayer makes theosis universal in scope.

The text presented here is from Codex Sinaiticus. The passage is remarkably well-preserved, with no major textual variants between Sinaiticus and later manuscripts. The prayer’s theological weight was recognized from the earliest period: it is one of the most frequently cited New Testament passages in patristic literature on deification.

§17:20–21 · Codex Sinaiticus, Quire 76, John folio

Greek

οὐ περὶ τούτων δὲ ἐρωτῶ μόνον · ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν πιστευόντων διὰ τοῦ λόγου αὐτῶν εἰς ἐμέ · ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν · καθὼς σύ πάτερ ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν σοί · ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν · ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύῃ ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας ·

English

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

§17:22–23 · Codex Sinaiticus, Quire 76, John folio

Greek

κἀγὼ τὴν δόξαν ἣν δέδωκάς μοι δέδωκα αὐτοῖς · ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν · ἐγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοί · ἵνα ὦσιν τετελειωμένοι εἰς ἕν · ἵνα γινώσκῃ ὁ κόσμος ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας · καὶ ἠγάπησας αὐτοὺς καθὼς ἐμὲ ἠγάπησας ·

English

And the glory (doxa, δόξα) which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one—I in them and you in me—that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them just as you loved me.

§17:24–26 · Codex Sinaiticus, Quire 76, John folio

Greek

πάτερ · ὃ δέδωκάς μοι · θέλω ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ κἀκεῖνοι ὦσιν μετ’ ἐμοῦ · ἵνα θεωρῶσιν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἐμὴν ἣν δέδωκάς μοι · ὅτι ἠγάπησάς με πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου · πάτερ δίκαιε · καὶ ὁ κόσμος σε οὐκ ἔγνω · ἐγὼ δέ σε ἔγνων · καὶ οὗτοι ἔγνωσαν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας · καὶ ἐγνώρισα αὐτοῖς τὸ ὄνομά σου · καὶ γνωρίσω · ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη ἣν ἠγάπησάς με ἐν αὐτοῖς ᾖ · κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς ·

English

Father, I desire that those also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world did not know you, but I knew you, and these knew that you sent me. And I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Translator's Notes

§17:21: The phrase “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you” (ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν · καθὼς σύ πάτερ ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν σοί) became the scriptural anchor for the doctrine of perichoresis (περιχώρησις)—the mutual indwelling or interpenetration of the persons of the Trinity. The term was developed by the Cappadocian Fathers and refined by John of Damascus, but the concept originates here. What is extraordinary about this verse is that perichoresis is not reserved for the Godhead: the prayer explicitly extends it to believers. “That they also may be in us” (ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν) places human persons inside the divine mutual indwelling. This is not analogy. It is participation.

§17:22: The word doxa (δόξα), rendered here as “glory,” carries far more than its English equivalent suggests. In the Septuagint, doxa translates the Hebrew kavod (כָּבוֹד), which denotes the visible radiance of God’s presence—the glory cloud that filled the tabernacle, the fire on Sinai, the light that Moses’s face reflected. In Greek philosophical usage, doxa can mean reputation or opinion, but in the Johannine context it recovers its full Septuagintal weight: divine radiance, the visible manifestation of God’s nature. When Jesus says “the glory which you have given me I have given to them,” he is not speaking of honour or status. He is saying that the divine radiance that belongs to the Father and was given to the Son has now been given to believers. This is a direct claim that the communicable attributes of God—his light, his presence, his glory—are transmitted through Christ to humanity.

§17:26: The prayer’s final words are “that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them” (ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη ἣν ἠγάπησάς με ἐν αὐτοῖς ᾖ · κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς). This is the last thing Jesus says before the arrest. It is also the completion of a theological argument that has been building since the Prologue: the Word was with God and was God (1:1), the Word became flesh (1:14), and now the love that flows between Father and Son is placed inside believers, with Christ himself dwelling in them. The final phrase—kago en autois (κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς), “and I in them”—is not a metaphor. It is the endpoint of the Gospel’s entire theology of indwelling. Everything that follows in John—the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection—is the working out of this prayer. The last word of the High Priestly Prayer is “them” (αὐτοῖς): the believers, the ones in whom Christ will dwell.