John 17:1 · Bible study
John 17:1 Commentary: The Hour of Mutual Glorification
Greek · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why Jesus prays for glory at the cross, and how his suffering reveals the Father's glory. Study the High Priestly Prayer verse by verse.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Jesus greets the appointed hour of suffering and asks the Father to glorify him through it, so that the Father may be glorified in return.
- Key words: hōra (hour, the divinely fixed time), doxazō (to glorify, to honor, to clothe with splendor).
- Main debate: Whether 'glorify' refers primarily to the cross or to the resurrection/ascent, most hold both are in view.
- Theological theme: Mutual glorification within the Trinity, the cross is the supreme revelation of the love and justice of God.
- Best use: A model of facing the hardest moment with prayer, confidence, and a focus on God's glory rather than personal safety.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
WEB World English Bible 2000
Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
KJV King James Version 1769
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
ASV American Standard Version 1901
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:
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
These things spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to the heaven, and said--`Father, the hour hath come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee,
Darby Darby Bible 1890
These things Jesus spoke, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee;
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
These things Jesus spoke: and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
ESTAS cosas habló Jesús, y levantados los ojos al|strong="G1519, G3588" cielo, dijo: Padre, la hora es llegada; glorifica á tu Hijo, para que también tu Hijo te glorifique á ti;
Jesus falou estas coisas, levantou seus olhos ao céu, e disse: Pai, chegada é a hora; glorifica a teu Filho, para que também teu Filho glorifique a ti.
Après avoir ainsi parlé, Jésus leva les yeux au ciel, et dit: Père, l’ heure est venue! Glorifie ton Fils, afin que ton Fils te glorifie,
Solches redete Jesus, und hob seine Augen auf gen Himmel und sprach: Vater, die Stunde ist da, daß du deinen Sohn verklärest, auf daß dich dein Sohn auch verkläre;
Dit heeft Jezus gesproken, en Hij hief Zijn ogen op naar den hemel, en zeide: Vader, de ure is gekomen, verheerlijk Uw Zoon, opdat ook Uw Zoon U verheerlijke.
Queste cose disse Gesù; poi levati gli occhi al cielo, disse: Padre, l’ora è venuta; glorifica il tuo Figliuolo, affinché il Figliuolo glorifichi te,
To powiedziawszy Jezus, podniósł oczy swoje w niebo i rzekł: Ojcze! przyszła godzina, uwielbij Syna twego, aby też i Syn twój uwielbił ciebie.
После сих слов Иисус возвел очи Свои на небо и сказал: Отче! пришел час, прославь Сына Твоего, да и Сын Твой прославит Тебя,
耶穌 說了 這話， 就舉 目 望 天，說：「父啊，時候 到了，願你榮耀 你的 兒子，使 兒子 也榮耀 你；
Jesus said these things; then, lifting his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the time has now come; give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you:
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · John 17:1
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that John 17:1 opens the 'High Priestly Prayer,' Jesus' longest recorded prayer, offered just before his arrest. The 'hour' refers to the appointed time of his suffering, death, and exaltation, a theme John has built since chapter 2. As Vincent's Word Studies notes, John never elsewhere says Jesus 'prayed' in the Synoptic sense; here the prayer is a direct, deliberate act. The petition 'glorify your Son' asks the Father to sustain and honor him through the coming ordeal, so that the Son's obedience on the cross may in turn magnify the Father's love, justice, and mercy. Barnes and Gill emphasize that the glory comes not despite the cross but through it, the death itself becomes the means of glorification. Calvin adds that the upward look shows 'uncommon ardor,' as Jesus fixes his mind on heaven while facing earth's darkest hour. This mutual glorification is the heart of the prayer: the cross reveals both who the Son is (obedient Savior) and who the Father is (self-giving love).
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Glorification through the cross: Barnes and Gill argue that the 'hour' is the suffering itself, and Jesus' prayer is for sustaining grace to endure, turning the shame of the cross into a demonstration of divine power and love (cf. John 12:23-24).
- Glorification through resurrection and return: Calvin and the Cambridge Bible emphasize Jesus' pre-existent glory (v.5) and see this petition as asking that the Father restore that glory after the humiliation of death — the resurrection is the vindication.
- Both suffering and exaltation: Lange, JFB, and many modern commentators hold that the request covers the entire paschal mystery: the cross, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit — all are aspects of one glorifying event.
What is clear: Jesus acknowledges that the divinely appointed hour of his passion has arrived, and he prays for mutual glorification between Father and Son — a request grounded in their eternal relationship and focused on the accomplishment of salvation.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| The meaning of 'the hour' | All major traditions agree that 'the hour' refers to the appointed time of Jesus' suffering, death, and exaltation, a divine timetable that culminates in his passion. | Some place the emphasis on the cross itself as the moment of glory (Barnes, Gill), while others stress the resurrection and ascension as the true glorification (Calvin, Cambridge). Most see both as inseparable aspects of one event. |
| Mutual glorification, how the Son glorifies the Father | Christians agree that Jesus' obedience and sacrifice reveal the Father's character, his love, holiness, and saving purpose. | Catholic and Orthodox traditions often highlight the ongoing glorification through the Eucharist and the Church's worship; many Protestant traditions focus on the once-for-all atoning death as the means by which the Father is glorified in the proclamation of the gospel. |
| The scope of Jesus' prayer in John 17 | All traditions see this prayer as a model of intercession and as revealing Jesus' role as High Priest. | Some Christians interpret 'all flesh' (v.2) as all humanity, implying a universal offer of salvation; others read it as 'all whom you have given him,' emphasizing a definite atonement for the elect. The verse itself does not resolve this debate. |
| Jesus' posture of prayer | Lifting up the eyes to heaven is understood as a confident, faith-filled gesture, the opposite of the tax collector's shame (Luke 18:13). | The exact meaning of the upward look: Calvin sees it as a reminder of God's majesty; Lange and Gill view it as evidence of Jesus' open-air location and his intimate communion with the Father. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse stands at the hinge of John's Gospel. Jesus has finished the farewell discourses (chapters 13, 16) and is moving toward the Kidron Valley and Gethsemane. The prayer is offered while still in the upper room or on the way, John does not specify the location, but the solemn 'lifting up of the eyes' fits the open air of Jerusalem at night. Gestures of prayer in Judaism included standing, kneeling, or lifting hands; lifting the eyes specifically expressed confident trust (Psalm 123:1) and stood in stark contrast to the tax collector who 'wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven' (Luke 18:13).
Adam Clarke draws a major parallel to the Jewish Day of Atonement. The high priest would first pray for himself, then for the sons of Aaron, then for all the people, a threefold pattern Clarke sees directly in John 17: Jesus prays for himself (vv. 1-5), for his disciples (vv. 9-19), and for all believers (vv. 20-26). This frames the cross as the ultimate atonement, with Jesus acting as both priest and sacrifice. The hour (hōra) in John's Gospel is a technical term: it is the divinely set time for Jesus to be 'lifted up' and thereby draw all people to himself (John 12:23, 27). Unlike the earlier instances where 'his hour had not yet come' (John 7:30), now the appointed moment has arrived. Jesus does not shrink from it; he greets it with a prayer for glory.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note two minor textual variants in John 17:1. First, the conjunction kai ('and') before eparas ('having lifted up') is present in the Textus Receptus but omitted in several early manuscripts (e.g., P66, Sinaiticus). Second, the second occurrence of 'your Son' reads ho huios ('the Son') without the possessive pronoun in some witnesses (e.g., Vaticanus), though most manuscripts include sou ('your'). Neither variant affects the meaning of the verse: in both cases the Son is identified as Jesus, and the request for mutual glorification remains unchanged.
Reception History
Throughout church history, John 17 has been treasured as the 'High Priestly Prayer.' Early church fathers such as Cyril of Alexandria saw it as a revelation of the inner life of the Trinity, the Father and Son glorifying each other in a circle of love. During the Arian controversies, this verse was used to defend the full deity of Christ: if the Son can pray to 'glorify' the Father and receive glory from him, he must share the divine nature. Medieval commentators, including Thomas Aquinas, focused on Christ's role as intercessor, offering this prayer as the pattern for all priestly prayer. In the Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin emphasized that the cross itself is the place of glory, not a detour but the very path to honor. Eastern Orthodox tradition reads the prayer liturgically, especially on Holy Thursday, connecting Jesus' 'hour' to the institution of the Eucharist. Across traditions, believers have found comfort in knowing that Jesus prayed for them personally (v.20), making this chapter a source of assurance and unity.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The hour has come. Jesus acknowledges that the appointed time of suffering is here. He does not resist it but welcomes it as the Father's plan.
- Glorify your Son. Jesus asks the Father to uphold him through the ordeal, so that his identity as God's Son is unmistakably confirmed, even in death.
- That your Son may glorify you. The cross is not an end in itself. Through Jesus' obedience, the Father's character, his justice, mercy, and love, is displayed to the world.
Five-point outline
- Setting the scene: After teaching, Jesus models prayer as the fitting response to preaching. He turns from speaking about his disciples to speaking for them.
- The lifted eyes: His posture shows confidence, not despair. He fixes his gaze on the Father, even as the shadow of the cross falls.
- The decisive hour: This is the culmination of all the 'not yet' moments in John. God's clock has struck the final hour.
- Mutual glorification: The Son's glory is the Father's glory, and vice versa. Their honor is bound together in the cross.
- Pastoral implication: Hard moments can reveal God's glory when we ask for strength to trust and obey, not for an easy escape.
Illustration hooks
- A surgeon preparing for a high-risk operation knows the 'hour' for which she has trained. She asks the team to support her so that the patient's recovery brings honor to the whole hospital. The request for help serves a larger purpose.
- A student who practiced for months steps onto a stage for a final recital. The 'hour' of performance has come. The musician's success, being enabled to play well, brings glory to the teacher who taught her. Mutual honor.
- A parent facing a difficult conversation with a teenager takes a deep breath and looks upward for a moment before speaking. That small gesture of trust changes the tone from confrontation to love.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If Jesus needed to pray for strength, what does that say about my own need for prayer in hard times?
- How can my suffering or difficult seasons possibly 'glorify God'? Doesn't it seem like the opposite?
- Jesus prays for himself first, is it selfish to pray for my own needs before others'?
Leading a Discussion
This verse opens a prayer that shows us how Jesus faced the cross. He did not go silently into suffering; he prayed, aloud, with his eyes toward heaven, asking for glory. As you study this passage together, notice how Jesus' request for his own glorification is immediately linked to the Father's glory. He is not asking for an escape but for the strength to finish the work. Keep this tension in mind: glory and suffering are not opposites in John's Gospel; they belong together.
Discussion questions
- Read John 17:1. What do the words 'the hour has come' tell us about Jesus' awareness of his mission? How does John use 'hour' earlier in the Gospel?
- Why does Jesus lift up his eyes to heaven? Compare this gesture with the tax collector in Luke 18:13. What does each posture communicate?
- Jesus asks to be glorified so that he may glorify the Father. What does this mutual glorification reveal about the relationship between Father and Son?
- How does the idea of 'glory through suffering' challenge the way our culture thinks about success and honor?
- In your own life, when has a hard situation unexpectedly revealed something good about God or about you?
- Jesus prays for himself before he prays for his disciples. Does this surprise you? What does it suggest about the place of personal prayer for strength?
- If you knew you had only a few hours before a great trial, what would you pray for? What does Jesus' prayer teach you about priorities at the end of life?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 121:1 | A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? |
| Psalms 121:2 | My help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. |
| Psalms 123:1 | A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens. |
| Isaiah 38:14 | I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.” |
| Mark 14:41 | He came the third time and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. |
| Luke 18:13 | But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ |
| Luke 22:53 | When I was with you in the temple daily, you didn’t stretch out your hands against me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” |
| John 7:30 | They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
11 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke sees Jesus acting as high priest for the whole human race, deliberately imitating the Jewish high priest on the Day of Atonement. That priest washed, then prayed for himself, the priestly family, and all the people. Jesus follows the same pattern: prayer for himself, his disciples, and all future believers.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes highlights the setting of Jesus' prayer: the stillness of the night in Gethsemane, just before his death. He sees Jesus' request for glory as a plea for God to honor him in the cross, so that through the spread of the gospel both the Son and the Father are honored.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin sees Christ's prayer as the seal that confirms and gives power to the preceding teaching about the cross and the Spirit. For Calvin, this is a model for teachers: doctrine alone is dead unless mingled with prayer that asks God's blessing to make it fruitful.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator highlights the striking contrast between Jesus lifting His eyes in calm confidence here and falling on His face in Gethsemane. He also notes the mutual glorification: the Son glorifies the Father by making Him known, and the Father glorifies the Son through suffering and return to glory.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
These things spake Iesus, and lift vp his eyes to heauen, and saide, Father, that houre is come: glorifie thy Sonne, that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee,
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill highlights that Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven as a confident, unhurried prayer gesture, citing a Jewish rabbi who did the same. The hour of suffering was welcome because it was the eternal plan. Glorification meant the Father supporting the Son through death, raising him, exalting him, and pouring out the Spirit, all so that the Son could glorify the Father in return.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB marvels that this prayer was preserved at all, calling it the transition from Christ's public ministry into the suffering that followed. They also highlight John's rare detail of Jesus lifting His eyes upward, an indelible gesture that makes the reader feel as if hearing the prayer directly from the Lord Himself.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees Christ's prayer as a concentrated, dynamic act, not a scattered pleading for individuals. Christ intercedes only for those given Him, because through them the world will be transformed and cease to be worldly. This is the gospel's vital law: central power, not diffuse sparks.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry focuses on the timing and setting of this prayer: it came after Jesus had finished teaching his disciples, after the Last Supper, and as a family prayer with his closest followers. For Henry this makes it a model for preachers to pray over their sermons, for families to worship together, and for closing any solemn occasion with prayer.
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent observes that John never describes Jesus as praying in the way the other Gospel writers do. He also notes a subtle shift in wording from "thy Son" to "the Son," which moves the focus from personal relationship to the role Jesus fulfills in revealing the Father's glory.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley highlights the simplicity of Christ addressing God as "Father," a title that befits the only-begotten Son and one believers draw near to only when filled with love and humble confidence. He notes that when Jesus speaks to the Father, he does not call himself the Son of man.