John 17:20
Jesus kept on talking to God. He said, “I am not asking that you only help these followers here with me now. Later they will tell other people about me, and some of those people will believe in me. So I am asking you to help those other people too.
Plain English Version
In The King James Version
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
In Context
Cross References
Acts 2:41Then a lot of people believed the things that Peter said. So Jesus’s special workers baptised them. They baptised about 3,000 people that day, and those people joined Jesus’s other followers.
Romans 15:18But I will not talk about anything else. I just want to talk about whatever Jesus Christ did. He used me, but he is the one that did it. He got me to tell his true message to people that don’t know God, and his Holy Spirit got me to do powerful things too. After they heard my message and saw the things I did, they turned around and believed God. I started to tell people in Jerusalem the good message about Jesus Christ, and I kept on telling people that message everywhere I went, right out to Illyricum.
Ephesians 4:11And Jesus Christ gives these special gifts to his people, so that they can help other people in the church. These gifts are the powers he gives to Christians. He gave some of his people the power to be his special workers, and he sent them out to other people to tell them his good news. And he gave other Christians the power to tell God’s messages to people. And he gave some of them the power to help other people to believe in Jesus. And he gave some Christians the power to be pastors, to look after Christians and teach them God’s way. God gave all these powers to his people to get them ready, so that they can work together for him. God works like that, so that his people get stronger, and so that more people join his family. We are like the body of Jesus Christ here on earth, and he wants that body to get bigger and stronger.
Matthew Henry on John 17:18-20
Christ's Intercessory Prayer. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good. I. Here is the petition ( v. 17 ): Sanctify them through thy truth, through thy word, for thy word is truth; it is true—it is truth itself.… Read the whole commentary →