I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil.
Read Chapter 17
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. From the evil (1.) first of guilt, which alone is real evil. (2.) Of punishment, i.e, to preserve them from every adversity, or strengthen them to bear it. (3.) From the evil one, his snares and temptations. In Greek του̃ πονηζου̃.
What, then, is His prayer, after that He has shown that the disciples are hated by those who are fast bound by the evil things of the world? I pray not, He saith, that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. For Christ does not wish them to be quit of human affairs, or to be rid of life in the body, when they have not yet finished the course of their apostleship, or distinguished themselves by the virtues of a godly life; but he wishes them, after they have lived their lives in the company of men in the world, and have guided the footsteps of those who are His to a state of life well pleasing to God, then at last, with the glory they have achieved, to be carried into the heavenly city, and to dwell with the company of the holy angels. We find, moreover, one of the Saints approaching the God Who loves virtue with the cry: Take me not away in the midst of my days; for pious souls cannot, without a pang, put off the garment of the fles...
Again He simplifies His language; again He renders it more clear; which is the act of one showing, by making entreaty for them with exactness, nothing else but this, that He has a very tender care for them. Yet He Himself had told them, that the Father would do all things whatsoever they should ask. How then does He here pray for them? As I said, for no other purpose than to show His love.
