This is the beginning of a section about the keeping of the disciples. They are those who are kept: ‘I pray for them’ – the intercessory praying of Christ for his people.
The world itself is a doomed world. There are teachings about today even in evangelicalism that talk about incarnational restoration of the world. They say the purpose of the Christian faith is to make to the world a better place, and revolutionise it, and Christianise it and make it happy, perfect, and equitable. No, it is not the teaching of the word. The teaching of the word is that there are two kingdoms – the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the world, and the world is a doomed world. This is what Christ says here: ‘I pray for them,’ – my people, including those who will be my people. ‘I pray for them, I pray not for the world.’ Of course, we pray for the world in a sense, that people will be saved out of the world, that people will be blessed. But our mission is not for the happiness of the world, though yes, we do good wherever we can and Christian people must be full of good works, but it is not our mission as a church to improve the world.