John 17:3 — Community Reflections

JOHN 17:3 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent — The definition of eternal life as knowledge (ginōskō) of God represents the heart of Johannine theology: not intellectual assent but intimate relational knowing, echoing OT covenantal knowledge (Exodus 33:12-13, Isaiah 53:11). The phrase "the only true God" (ton monon alēthinon theon) asserts radical monotheism while Jesus himself is identified as "whom you sent" (hon apesteilas), affirming his essential equality and the Son's divine mission. This is not knowledge about God but knowledge of God that transforms.

Church Fathers on John 17:3

After having said, In the world you shall have tribulation, our Lord turns from admonition to prayer; thus teaching us in our tribulations to abandon all other things, and flee to God.
Chrysostom · 4th century

These things spoke Jesus, those things that He had said at the supper, partly sitting as far as the words, Arise, let us go hence; and thence standing, up to the end of the hymn which now commences, And lifted up His eyes and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son.
Bede · 8th century

Our Lord, in the form of a servant, could have prayed in silence had He pleased; but He remembered that He had not only to pray, but to teach. For not only His discourse, but His prayer also, was for His disciples’ edification, yes and for ours who read the same. Father, the hour is come, shows that all time, and every thing that He did or suffered to be done, was at His disposing, Who is not subject to time. Not that we must suppose that this hour came by any fatal…
Augustine · 4th century

Read all 28 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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