Good News Translation rearranges the order of the first three clauses in Greek. And now I am coming to you, which occurs first in Good News Translation, is in third place in the Greek text after the two clauses I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. This rearrangement does not alter the focus of the Greek, and it has the advantage of a more logical thought sequence. Elsewhere in the Gospel Jesus speaks of “going” to the Father, while here he speaks of “coming.” The shift of verbs is natural, both in English and in Greek. When Jesus speaks of “going” to the Father he is addressing others; when he speaks of “coming” he is addressing the Father.
There are two essential problems involved in translating the statement now I am coming to you. The first is the space perspective (coming or going), and the second is the temporal relation. If the spatial perspective shifts from where Jesus is to the location of the Father, then it is possible to say “I am coming to you.” However, in some languages this shift of perspective is impossible, and therefore one may have to translate “I am going to you.”
Since Jesus was not at that moment going from the world to heaven, it may be necessary in some languages to translate “I will soon be coming (or going) to you.” However, one may usually employ an expression which would suggest “I am already on my way to you.”
In verse 13 Jesus affirms that he is still in the world, but here he states I am no longer in the world. In both verses Jesus says I am coming to you. In a sense, Jesus speaks paradoxically when he says I am no longer in the world, for he is at that moment still on earth. The paradox may be marked in some languages by saying “I am, as it were, no longer in the world”; but in other languages it may be necessary to say, “very shortly I will no longer be in the world.” The statement about the disciples may be rendered “but they will continue to be in the world.”
In verses 1 and 5 Jesus addresses God as Father, and here he addresses him as Holy Father (note Righteous Father of verse 25) In the Old Testament and in Jewish prayers, God is frequently spoken of as “the Holy One,” meaning that he is unique and distinct from all others. In the present context to address God as Holy is particularly appropriate, since the verb “to dedicate” (hagiazō) in verses 17 and 19 is made from the same stem in Greek.
Several problems are involved in translating the phrase Holy Father. First, the term Father must often be rendered “my father,” or with a form of “father” never used with the attributive “holy.” In some languages, for example, one could never say “my holy Father,” for it would immediately suggest that the individual had another father who was not holy. In terms of syntactic structure, it may be necessary to say “my Father, you who are holy.” There is a further complication in selecting an appropriate term for holy. It may be difficult to use a word which, in other contexts, is satisfactory to translate holy, since the essential meaning of those terms in phrases such as “holy writings” or “holy mountain” focuses upon a meaning of positive taboo; that is, something so imbued with supernatural power that it must be avoided, or treated with particular respect. For Holy Father, it may be necessary to introduce a concept of “worship” or “reverence” as a way of indicating the underlying concept of “holiness,” for example, “my Father, you who deserve worship” or “… you who should be greatly reverenced.” Some translators use for holy a term which means essentially “separated,” but this type of expression involves difficulties, for it may suggest a separation made by someone else, namely, an agent, as implied by the use of the passive form. Moreover, a word meaning “separated” could imply that God is not interested in the world, and so wishes to be dissociated from mankind.
As the Good News Translation footnote indicates, the reading keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me appears in some manuscripts with the meaning “by the power of your name keep safe those you have given me.” In the Greek text the difference is only in a single pronoun, the object of the verb gave (or “have given”). In some manuscripts it is a dative singular, referring to the name, while in others it is an accusative plural, referring to the disciples. Almost all modern translations (New English Bible is an exception) take it as a reference to the name, as the UBS Greek text recommends. This reading has stronger textual support that the other.
Keep … safe (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; New English Bible; New American Bible “protect”) is translated “keep” in several translations. The verb used here (tēreo) is used elsewhere in the New Testament of keeping persons safe (see verses 12,15; Acts 16.23; 24.23; 25.4,21; and Jude 1). In 8.51 it is used with the sense “to obey.”
Good News Translation (so also Moffatt and New English Bible) makes “in your name” explicit by rendering it by the power of your name. Goodspeed and Phillips simply render “by your power.” Barclay renders the entire phrase “protect them with your personal protection.” There would seem to be no basis for rendering “keep in your name” with the meaning “keep … true to your name” (Jerusalem Bible). See comments at 14.13.
The name is the means by which the Son is identified with the Father. Since the Son bears the divine name (see comments on “I am” at 4.26), it can be said that whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father (14.9). In Greek, the verb translated you gave is in the perfect tense, indicating that Jesus possessed, and continues to possess, the divine name. One may say that by possessing the divine name Jesus possesses the divine character and authority. But what particular aspect is in focus in this context, and how is it best expressed? The power of the divine name seems to be in focus, and a number of translations make this explicit, as noted in the translations cited above. Barclay (see above) understands that the phrase “keep by your name” to mean “protect them with your personal protection,” and interprets “which you gave me” to mean “as you did me” (“protect them with your personal protection, as you did me”). However, no other translations go in this direction, and this exegesis has little support in the commentaries. Goodspeed, which omits mention of the “name,” seems to have the best solution as far as the modern reader is concerned (“keep them by the power which you gave me”). To make this meaning more emphatic, a translator may build in a little redundancy and render “keep them safe by your power, the power you gave me.”
Though it is relatively easy to say in English “keep them safe by your power” or “protect them by your power,” it may be difficult to produce a close equivalent in other languages, since some have no abstract noun for “power.” The closest equivalent may be “by showing how powerful you are, keep them safe,” or even “by your being powerful, keep them safe.” It may be difficult to relate the first part of this statement to what follows, namely, the fact that this same kind of power (or name) has been given to Jesus. However, it may be possible to say “protect them by showing how powerful you are; in the same way you have caused me to be powerful.” With this rendering it is important that the final clause, so that they be one just as you and I are one, express a purpose directly related to the initial request, Keep them safe. One may translate in some languages “Keep them safe, so that they may be one just as you and I are one. Do this by showing how powerful you are—powerful in the same way that you caused me to be powerful.”
The purpose of Jesus’ prayer for the protection of the disciples is that they may be one, just as he and the Father are one. So that they may be one just as you and I are one is omitted in one important Greek manuscript and in several ancient translations. New American Bible therefore places this clause in brackets. Since the theme of unity is more natural in the last part of the prayer (verses 21-23), it may have been omitted by a scribe as redundant and out of place here. All other modern translations evidently include it as an integral part of the text.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .