You’d do well to answer questions put to you. A pre-requisite to understanding my answer is to understand that Jesus’ glory varies with time.
If one holds to him possessing invariable glory nothing about this makes sense. You cannot look at 17:5 as a stand alone verse but in the context of Jesus own words of returning in full glory on the clouds, etc.
W: It's a shame that you have to deal simpletons, and this person is just one of the vast garden variety.
The naive or ignorant person would robotically and thoughtlessly just look at this verse (John 17:5) at face value and simply deduce and say that Jesus now wanted to regain his previous state of immortality and even his divine nature he supposedly had before the world came to be, as his previous glory he held with his Father, and somehow shelved it and became mortal for a spell, for us.
This kind of ridiculous reasoning is what some SC-FI movies are made of....
as a short quick go-over......
What should be read is not just this one verse (5); the other contextual verses need to be captured to grasp the clearer understanding of Jesus' prayer to his father.
In fact all of the 26 verses of John 17 requires reading and analyzing first...
(Joh 17:1) Jesus’ Prayer to God as a high priest....
These things spoke Jesus, and lifting up his eyes to Heaven, he said: Father,
the hour comes.
Glorify Your son, that the son may glorify you,
(Joh 17:2) even as You
gave him authority over all flesh, so that
he should give eternal life to all whom You have given him.
(Joh 17:3) And this is everlasting life, that they should know
You, the only true God, and him whom You sent, Jesus Christ.
(Joh 17:4) I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You gave me to do.
(Joh 17:5) And now Father, glorify me with Your own self with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
(Joh 17:6) I manifested Your Name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word.
(Joh 17:7) Now they know that all things, whatever You have given me, are from You.
(Joh 17:8) For the words which You gave me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew as a truth that I came forth from You; and they believed that You did send me.
(Joh 17:9) I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but
for those whom You have given me; for they are Yours.
(Joh 17:10) All things that are mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
(Joh 17:11)
I am no more in the world (meaning he already considers himself already dead to it and already risen to/with his Father); but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them whom You have given me in Your Name,
that they may be one, even as we are one.
(Joh 17:12) While I was with them, I kept them in Your Name which You have given me, and I guarded them; and not one of them perished except the son of perdition, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
(Joh 17:13) Now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world, that
they may have my joy made full in themselves.
(Joh 17:14) I have given them Your word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
(Joh 17:15) I do not pray that You should take them out from the world, but that You should keep them from the evil.
(Joh 17:16) They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
(Joh 17:17) Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.
(Joh 17:18) As You sent me into the world, even so I send them into the world.
(Joh 17:19) And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may also be sanctified in truth.
(Joh 17:20) Neither for these only do I pray, but for those also that believe in me through their word;
(Joh 17:21) that
they may all be one, even as You, Father, are in me and I in You, that they may
also be one in us; that the world may believe You did send me.
(Joh 17:22)
And the glory which You have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one.
(Joh 17:23) I in them and You in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know You did send me and that You have loved them just as You loved me.
(Joh 17:24) Father, I desire that they also whom You have given me,
be with me where I am;
that they may behold my glory,
which You have given me. For
You loved me from before the foundation of the world.
(Joh 17:25) O righteous Father, the world did not know You; but I knew You, and these knew that You sent me.
(Joh 17:26) And I declared to them Your Name, and will declare it, so that the love with which You loved me may be in them, and I in them.
And what did God, his Father give his Son as his glory then......and when....it's obvious that the Father before the world became, already knew his Son would be glorified as his savior in an immortal state after his death on the Cross and those the Father gave to him, who would also be glorified in the same manner, eventually, in his presence...
be with me where I am;
Jesus (verse 5) is not saying he pre-existed or was immortal before his human life at all, before human kind,....he knew all his works and words of truth and spreading the word of God would give him glorification, that was planned for him (verse 5, 22 and 24), and he now as a human being was desperately appealing to his Father for it, and later for others as well. Can you blame him to ask of his Father for this imminent glory of immortality?
Verses 22 and 24 kills off any idea of a preexistent Jesus of immortality and divine nature as it appears to read in verse 5.
If Jesus previously had this glorification of immortality ages ago, then why in verse 22 does the Son speak of already been given immortality, along with others. Did others also have immortality in ages past as well as Jesus?. Not in the literal sense. Well yes, in the form of future planning and in the mind of God the Father, as his Son was also chosen to be the special person to lead the captives out of prison?
Now in verse 24 Jesus did acknowledge that the Father always loved him, before humankind began. That does not mean Jesus actually existed at all. It is reinforcement for God's wisdom and planning for future events...
And verse 4 began the circle of glory...first on earth and then in verse 24 the glory is perfected and completed in heaven by his Father
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Hope you are doing well these days and have, with love ones, a peaceful 2025!
