The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus

John 17:1-5 describes interaction between the Father and the Son such that the desire is for the son to be glorified in order that the Father may also be glorified, and Christ shows himself asking the Father for the glory that he had before the world was created. Deffinbaugh remarks about John 17:1-5 as he references Clement of Alexandria as Jesus acting as "high priest on behalf of his people," and Deffinbaugh also describes the prayer of John 17:1-5 as having a impact like what a wave of silence would have in an athletic event (Deffinbaugh). A problem that could be raised with Deffinbaugh's writing is that one understanding of the scripture would advocate irresistible grace such that when Jesus says, "Peace be with you" in John 20:19. What is actually happening is that Christ is transforming a person by the creative force of his words to be at peace the same way that he would speak a word and calm a storm, but the wave of silence at an athletic event may not operate entirely in this way.

Deffinbaugh makes the case that Jesus prays conversationally to the Father such that Jesus is talking to the Father in informal ways such as the way that a person would talk to a friend (Bob Deffinbaugh). One of the problems with such a case is that Jesus and the Father are two of three persons of the same God, so Jesus and the Father are actually talking to themselves when they pray. The point is that conversational prayer for the Father and the Son may be more like internal dialog as opposed to exterior communication between two people.

Deffinbaugh writes that "In the Bible, prayer is closely related to teaching and preaching." (Deffinbaugh) One could however argue that the reason for such usage of prayer in the Bible is because often the person conducting the prayer is being used as an instrument to direct other people. In this regard, prayer does not become a matter of talking to God about problems but instead prayer becomes a matter of God addressing people regarding problems.

Deffinbaugh points out the contrast between the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ and the prayer of personal agony that Christ prayed in Luke (See Deffinbaugh). A point to be made is that when Christ is praying in agony, then he is directing his feelings toward the Father, but when Christ is shown in his high priestly prayer he is perhaps acting more as an instrument of his Father. The point is that much support could me made for the case that prayer is in a "static state of duplex" between the Father and the Son, such that they do not communicate to one another at the very exact same time, but instead they would take turns talking.

Deffinbaugh makes the case that people need to be careful not to act as through Christ is dependent on others (Deffinbaugh). Such a safeguard that Deffinbaugh would make appears to arise out of the belief that people are choosing of the reaction that they will experience from the Lord and choosing of the investment that people will give to the Lord to produce the good works of the body of Christ. If, however, people are not in the position to choose their activity in the Lord, then such issues do not arise.

In support of Deffinbaugh, however, he does state that, "...since God is sovereign, there is no occasion when God's purposes will not be accomplished." (Deffinbaugh) The point to thus be made is that Deffinbaugh believes that God will do whatever God chooses to do, but the views of Deffinbaugh likely take the form of fatalism instead of complete determinism. If God was determined to do what he chooses to do at all times, then God does not adjust history in a reactionary basis to compensate for the actions of people to cause them to arrive at a fate.

Bibliography:

Deffinbaugh, Bob. The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus: Part I (John 17:1-5). http://www.bible.org/page.php? page_id=2384 (accessed, January 20, 2011).