John 17

Supplementary Note: John 17:2, 6, 8–9, 22, 24 — Those Given to the Son

John 17 unquestionably describes a definite people given by the Father to Christ. The prayer also identifies them through receiving the
Father’s words and believing that the Father sent the Son. The question is whether “given” is itself a technical description of an unconditional decree causing faith or whether it describes believers as the Father’s people entrusted to the Son. The chapter clearly establishes their security, unity, sanctification, mission, and final glory; the mechanism of their first faith must be established elsewhere.