John 17 with Metaphysical Footnotes (ASV)

^17:1These 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: ^17:2even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. ^17:3And this is life eternal,1 that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.2 ^17:4I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do. ^17:5And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

^17:6I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me3 out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. ^17:7Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: ^17:8for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them;4 and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. ^17:9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: ^17:10and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them.5 ^17:11And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. ^17:12While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition;6 that the scripture might be fulfilled. ^17:13But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. ^17:14I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ^17:15I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. ^17:16They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. ^17:17Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. ^17:18As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. ^17:19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

^17:20Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; ^17:21that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us:7 that the world may believe that thou didst send me. ^17:22And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one;8 ^17:23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me. ^17:24Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me:9 for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

^17:25O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me; ^17:26and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them.

1. And this is life eternal. Eternal life rests in the understanding that Spirit identifies and manifests itself in its idea, perfect man, through which manifest man is educated, empowered, and invested with divinity.
2. that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. Jesus was asking for a full and complete unification of His consciousness with that of the Father. Jesus realized that He had been given all authority over the flesh. He was holding the realization not only for His own glorification but also for that of His disciples.
3. I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me. God's name is I AM. Man's name is I AM. When man thinks about God as omnipresent Spirit, he merges his I AM into spiritual I AM, and this conjunction exalts and glorifies both man and God.
4. for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them. All thoughts and words emanate from the one Logos or living Word. When man opens his consciousness for the inflow of the Logos, in Spirit he receives everything that God has to give.
5. all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them. Jesus made the great renunciation by giving up himself and all his possessions to Spirit. Then he realized that he had made unity with God, that all that God had belonged to him, and that he was exalted, joyous, happy in the possession of the ideas that lay back of and within all things.
6. and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition. The “son of perdition” is the adverse consciousness that man builds through thinking that he has existence apart from God. This thought or adversary or carnal mind must perish before man can be wholly reconciled to God. The Scripture represents the truth, which is fulfilled in man's life, when he destroys all thought of separation from God.
7. even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us. The Holy Spirit is the consciousness of unity or perfect communion with God. As mind, idea, and expression are one, so man is one with God and Christ. Mind is the source of the idea, which becomes manifest in expression.
8. I have given unto them; that they may be one. The following commentary is from an authoritative source within the Orthodox Church: The Greek Fathers took these and similar texts in their literal sense, and dared to speak of man’s "deification" (in Greek, theosis). If man is to share in God’s glory, they argued, he is to be "perfectly one" with God, this means in effect that man must be "deified": he is called to become by grace what God is by nature. Accordingly Saint Athanasius summed up the purpose of the Incarnation by saying: "God became man that we might be made god" (On the Incarnation, 54). [Source: Ware, Timothy, The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 2015), 20. ]
9. that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. The glory of Jesus Christ was His complete unification with the Father, through which He did always the things that were pleasing to God. Divine Mind is well pleased with the perfect idea or son of the Father.