Jesus has started by praying for Himself, and then for His disciples, and now for all who will believe through the message of His disciples. This would include those who directly heard the testimony of the disciples and also we who have read it in the New Testament. Notice that Jesus doesn’t use a name for the future group of believers; He just refers to them as individuals who believe the message. He doesn’t call them Catholics or Baptists or by any other name of any denomination. Neither does He call them a congregation or even “the church”. According to Jesus, we are just “a great spiritual community (of individual believers who are) held together by (a) common faith in Him”. (Maclaren)

Jesus has referred to “your word” (that of the Father) three times in His prayer  to this point (17:6, 14, 17) and now He is speaking of the word of His disciples. Their message will lead others to place their faith in Him.

John 17:6  “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

John 17:14  I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

John 17:17  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Notice that the only ones Jesus prays for are those who either believe in Him or are going to believe in Him. Although He loved the world and came to die to give all men an opportunity to be saved, He only intercedes for those who have, or are going to have, a living relationship with Him. This brings up some questions about our own prayer lives. Part of the reason this and the prayer Jesus gave in (Matt 6:9-13) are for our benefit. He was gving us an example of how we should pray. When a believer is in need of help, we should pray that God gives them what they need, but what about an unbeliever? Should we pray that God delivers them from their troubles and supplies their needs, or should we instead pray that God uses their troubles to bring them to Him? What would Jesus do?

Matthew 6:9-13  “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,  your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’