Well we need to read John 17:5 in context before we read to much into it.
17 These things spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to the heaven, and said -- `Father, the hour hath come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee,
2 according as Thou didst give to him authority over all flesh, that -- all that Thou hast given to him -- he may give to them life age-during;
3 and this is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send -- Jesus Christ;
4 I did glorify Thee on the earth, the work I did finish that Thou hast given me, that I may do [it].
5 `And now, glorify me, Thou Father, with Thyself, with the glory that I had before the world was, with Thee;
First, notice that the context of verse 1-4 does little to support the idea that Jesus was God. Jesus was speaking to God as his Father, and also saying that the authority that he had was given to him by God. If Jesus was God he would have no need for the Father to give him authority. Then he goes on to say that the Father is the only true God and proclaims he was sent by God, implying he wasn't God.
So what does verse 5 really mean then? First the word "world" in that verse is the greek word "Kosmos". In biblical usage "kosmos" refers to the systems of this world, not creation itself. Second the word translated "was" is the greek word "
einai", which means "to be" not "was".
The KJV translates Strong's G1511 in the following manner: to be (33x),
be (28x),
was (15x),
is (14x),
am (7x),
are (6x),
were (4x),
not translated (11x),
miscellaneous (8x).
Outline of Biblical Usage
- to be, to exist, to happen, to be present
the proper tense for "einai" is present or predictive, not past. The KJV translates the word as present or future tense 88 times and as past tense 19 times. This is another case were the KJV translators were reading their own pre-conceived doctrinal bias into the text.
What Jesus is really saying here is that he is asking God to glorify him in the "kosmos" that is about to be initiated (the kingdom of God) the same way he did at that transfiguration (before the world that is about to be).
If Jesus was talking about the Glory of being God that he had before creation even existed, why would he need to ask God to glorify him again (notice he says in the beginning of the verse, "NOW"). The glory he received at the transfiguration is the glory he asking the father to give him.
In the same chapter verse 20-23
20 `And not in regard to these alone do I ask, but also in regard to those who shall be believing, through their word, in me;
21 that they all may be one, as Thou Father [art] in me, and I in Thee; that they also in us may be one, that the world may believe that Thou didst send me.
22 `And I, the glory that thou hast given to me, have given to them, that they may be one as we are one;
23 I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, and that the world may know that Thou didst send me, and didst love them as Thou didst love me.
Here now Jesus is asking that just as he is one with the Father that all believers be one with the Father. So obviously Jesus did not equate being one with the Father as being God. He also states that the Glory being given to him, he will also give to us. So obviously this glory that Jesus is speaking of is not the glory reserved for God alone.
This is a good example of trying to create doctrine from a verse isolated from it's context. In context John 17:5 is a very weak argument for Jesus being God.
