John 17:18 - Exposition

As thou didst send me into the world from the glory which I had with thee before the world was—a primal fact in the earthly consciousness of the Lord Christ, and one on which he repeatedly laid emphasis ( John 10:36 ; John 17:8 )— even so I sent £ them into the world ; i.e. from that higher sphere of thought above the world to which I had called them. "They are not of the world," but I sent them from the unworldly home and from the high place of my intimate friendship, from the ground of elevated sympathy with myself, into the world, with my message and the power to claim obedience. Christ gave this apostolic commission near the commencement of his ministry, and that first act, the type of the whole apostolic commission, which was finally confirmed ( Matthew 28:19 , Matthew 28:20 ; John 20:21 , John 20:22 ), is here described in the timeless force of the aorist, so that the word embraces the entire ministerial function of all who believe in the mission of the Son.