What Does John 17:24 Mean?
Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, that they may gaze upon my weight, which you have given me, for you loved me before the laying down of the world.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Father, I will 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: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.THE KEY
The weight the Son carries is given within a love that is already present before the world begins.
THE MEANING
For you, the center of this prayer is nearness: those given to the Son are with him and behold the weight the Father gives him. The Father’s love for the Son is already present before the world’s foundation; creation does not begin that love.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The Father’s love for the Son is not a response that begins after the world exists; it is already present before the world’s foundation.
THE ROOT
δόξα
doxa
GROWS FROM
δοκ-
dok-
To think, seem, or regard; what is esteemed.
Doxa carries the sense of what is esteemed and recognized; here, the glory the Father gives is weight, the Son’s substantial worth. Those given to him behold more than a surface: they see the weight held within the Father’s love.
ALSO GROWS
doxazō: To honor, glorify.
δοξάζω
This verb from the same word family shows honor being given to the Son.
endoxos: Honored, held in esteem.
ἔνδοξος
This branch describes recognized worth, illuminating the weight that is beheld.
ἀγαπάω
agapaō
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
agap-
To love, to hold dear.
“loved” in this verse is agapaō. The Father’s love for the Son is already present before the world’s foundation; it does not begin with creation. The verse places the Son’s given weight within this love that precedes the world.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: Love.
ἀγάπη
The noun names the love that this verse locates before the world’s beginning.
agapētos: Beloved, dearly loved.
ἀγαπητός
This branch makes the relationship explicit: the Son is the one held dear.
καταβολή
katabolē
GROWS FROM
καταβάλλω
kataballō
To cast or lay down.
The Greek word for foundation carries the sense of a laying down. The Father’s love is present before that founding act, so the world begins within a reality it did not create.
ALSO GROWS
kataballō: To cast down, lay down.
καταβάλλω
The verb reveals the action behind the idea of a foundation: something is laid down.
katabolē: A laying down; a foundation.
καταβολή
This noun names the world’s foundation, the beginning that the Father’s love precedes.
THE PATTERN
What is rooted in God precedes the world and becomes present within it as love and nearness.
From afar the LORD appeared to me, saying, I have loved you with a love of the ages. Therefore with faithful love I have drawn you.Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, so that we might be set apart and unblemished before his eyes in love.Before the mountains are born, and before you bring forth the earth and the inhabited world, from age to age you are God.THE THREAD
And now, O Father, clothe me in weight at your own side, with the weight I had beside you before the world was.John 17:5 uses the same word, doxa, for the weight the Son has with the Father before the world exists. John 17:24 shows those given to him beholding that weight with him.
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