John 17:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Son of God is called the Angel of Great Counsel both because of other truths which He revealed, and especially because He announced the Father to men. He speaks of this now: 'I have manifested Thy name to men.'

Having said, 'I have completed Thy work,' He again speaks of the same thing in greater detail, explaining what this work is.

But was the name not already known? Isaiah, for example, says, 'They shall swear by the true God' (Is 65:16). To this I will now give the same answer I have often given.

It was known, but only to the Jews, and even then not to all. Now He is speaking of the Gentiles.

Moreover, He shows not only this, but also that they came to know God as Father. It is not the same thing to know that God is Creator and to know that He has a Son.

'I have manifested Thy name to men.' He now explains what the words mean: 'I have glorified Thee on earth.' They mean: I have proclaimed Thy name.

How did the Son proclaim it? Isaiah had already said, 'Swear by the true God' (Is 48:1). But we have often said that even if the name of God was then known, it was known only to the Jews, and not even to all of them.

Now the Gentiles are being spoken of, because the name of God will be known to them. Christ had already given the seeds of the knowledge of God by overthrowing the devil, who had introduced idol worship.

There is also another meaning. Even if they knew God, they knew Him not as Father, but only as Creator.

In the reflections just set forth, I have already shown sufficiently, as it seems to me, that Christ addressed the heavenly Father both according to His Godhead and according to His humanity, as God and also as man. He frames His speech in relation to both natures. He does not confine it within the limits of humanity alone, nor refer it wholly to divine glory. Here again the same character is preserved.

As God by nature and the impress of the Ineffable Nature, He says to His Father: "I have manifested Your name to men." He uses "name" in place of glory, as also commonly happens in our speech. Thus the all-wise Solomon wrote: "A good name is better than much wealth" (Prov 22:1). That is, a good opinion and glory are better than the nobility and splendor that wealth supplies.

So also God Himself says in one place through Isaiah to those who "made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 19:12): "Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep My commandments and do what I will: I will give them in My house and within My walls a renowned place, a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name" (Isa 56:3-5).

No prudent person will think that the reward from God's generosity consists merely in names being given to pious and virtuous people. These have overcome every pleasure in the world, put to death "the members which are on the earth" (Col 3:5), and honored only what accords with the divine laws. Again, He uses name in place of glory, for those who reign with Christ will be glorious.

Therefore the Savior clearly affirms that He "manifested the name" of God and the Father. That is, He made His glory manifest throughout the whole inhabited world. How, or in what manner? Clearly by presenting Himself as the proof in His deeds, which surpass speech. For the Father is glorified in the Son, as in the image and reflection of His own image, since in the impress the beauty of the archetype is always made manifest.

Thus the Only-begotten appears as wisdom and life in His very essence, the Maker of all and Creator. He appears as the One who conquered death and corruption, righteous, guileless, merciful, holy, and good. Such also was the One who begot Him known to be. For by nature He cannot be other than, or different from, the One who is from Him by nature.

Therefore He shone forth in the glory of His Son, as in the image and reflection of His own image. Such was the word concerning Him among the ancients, and now He appears so to our very eyes. For in matters of faith, what is seen with the eyes always seems stronger than what is expressed in words. I think that what we have already said about this saying is not without meaning.

Yet we must also proceed by another path of reasoning in explaining the words under interpretation. The Son "manifested the name" of the Father, clearly by bringing us to understanding and clear perception not only that God exists. This had been proclaimed through the God-inspired Scripture even before Christ's coming. He also brought us to know that, besides being true God, He is Father not falsely so called. He has in Himself and from His own Self His own Son, coeternally coexisting with His own nature. For He did not beget the Creator of the ages in time.

But Father, one might say, is a name more fitting to God than God. The latter denotes dignity, while the former contains an indication of an essential property. Whoever says "God" points to the Lord of all. But whoever names the Father expresses particularity or personal property, ἰδιότητος, for he shows that He has begotten. The Son Himself assigned to God the name Father as more proper and true, so to speak, when He said not, "I and God," but, "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30). Again, in another place He said of Himself: "For on Him God the Father has set His seal" (Jn 6:27).

And when He commanded His disciples to baptize all nations, He clearly commanded them to do this not in the name of God, but "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19). For the divine Moses also, when recounting the creation of this world, did not assign the formation of the world to one person. He wrote: "And God said, Let Us make man according to Our image and likeness" (Gen 1:26). In the words "Let Us make" and "according to Our likeness," the Holy Trinity is indicated. For the Father created all things and called them into being through the Son in the Spirit.

Yet this was not altogether easy for the ancients to understand. Rather, the saying was wholly unclear, since neither the Father was named separately nor the person of the Son set forth clearly. But our Lord Jesus Christ, without any veil and with great boldness, clearly called God His Father. Naming Himself Son and showing Himself to be the true fruit of the Nature that rules over all, He thereby manifested the Father's name and raised us to perfect knowledge.

For the fullest knowledge of God and of the beginning of all things consists not only in knowing that God exists. It also consists in knowing that He is Father, and whose Father He is, including here, evidently, the Holy Spirit. Indeed, to know of God only that He exists belongs to us in no greater measure than to those under the law. This did not go beyond Jewish understanding.

And as the law brought nothing to perfection (Heb 7:19), providing instruction as a tutor (Gal 3:24) and not sufficient for attaining most perfect piety, so also it gave imperfect knowledge of God. It only turned people away from devotion to falsely named gods and compelled them to worship the One and True God: "You shall have no other gods besides Me" (Ex 20:3), and, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve" (Mt 4:10; Deut 6:13).

But our Lord Jesus Christ added something better to the ordinances of Moses and offered teaching more excellent than the commandment under the law. He gave knowledge higher and more glorious than that ancient knowledge. He made manifest to us that the Creator of all is not only God and Lord, but also Father. The proof is at hand: He declared Himself to be the image of God in the words, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9), and, "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30).

This is rightly so, since, being God and from God by nature, He speaks to His Father in an exalted manner proper to God. Yet immediately He adds, speaking in a manner more proper to man: "Those whom You gave Me out of the world were Yours, and You gave them to Me." Still. We must not think that the Lord said this because anything in the dominion of God the Father was specially and separately set apart, or distinct, which the Son Himself did not possess.

For He is King before the ages, according to the voice of the Psalmist (Ps 73:12; Ps 54:20), and the eternal sharer of the Father's dominion. So also the wise Evangelist John teaches that all belongs to Him and is subject to Him, clearly with the Father reigning together with Him, when he writes: "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (Jn 1:11). He calls even those His own who did not yet know Him and who, as it were, rejected the yoke of His Kingdom.

He said this now to bring before His hearers that there were some in this world who had no notion at all of the one true God and served the creature and the devices of the devil. But although they did not know the Creator of all, wandering outside the truth, they were still God's property, since He is Master of all as Creator. Everything is God's property. In general, there is nothing among created things that does not have the One as Master, even if the creature itself does not know it.

Certainly no one will say that the error of some can deprive the Creator of all of His authority over all. Rather, he will subject to His authority everything that was made and brought into being through Him. If this is true, then those held by diabolical delusions and given over to worldly abominations also belonged to the true God.

But how were they given to the Son? God the Father was well pleased that Emmanuel should reign over them, not as though He had only now begun to reign over them. He was always Lord and King as God by nature. Rather, having become man and given Himself for the life of all, He redeemed all for Himself and through Himself brought them to God the Father.

Thus, while reigning from eternity and from the beginning as God together with His Begetter, He is appointed King as man, to whom kingship is given along with other things, according to the measure of human nature. For a king is not the same as a man considered as a rational animal endowed with mind and knowledge, possessing these as natural properties. These belong to the definition of human essence. Royal dignity, however, is external and additional, and does not belong to the inseparably innate properties. It comes and goes without altering the subject at all, so far as essence is concerned.

Thus royal dignity is something given, coming to man from without, from God. "For by Me," He says, "kings reign, and rulers by Me govern the earth" (Prov 8:15-16). Therefore, while reigning over all with the Father, since He was and is and will be God by nature, He receives dominion over those who live in the world in a manner and measure fitting to man. Therefore He says, "All that You have given Me is Yours."

In the proper and exact sense, everything is God's property, while to us, His creatures, it is only given. If it belongs to the divine nature to possess and rule all things, then it belongs to us, in turn, only to receive. Indeed, He testified that sincere servitude and zealous obedience undoubtedly belong to those who believe in Him. For He says: "The words which You gave Me I have given them, and they received them and truly knew that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me."

He clearly calls His own sayings the "words" of God the Father because of the identity of essence, and because God the Word reveals the Father's desires. So also, beyond doubt, the word that proceeds from our mouths and enters the neighbor's hearing through outward utterance reveals the secrets lying in the depth of the heart. For this reason the prophetic word said of Him that "His name is called Angel of Great Counsel" (Isa 9:6).

The truly wondrous, supernatural, and great counsel of the Begetter is revealed by the Word who is in Him and from Him. He revealed it through uttered words as man, when He became like us. After His ascent into heaven, He reveals it through spiritual knowledge and illumination. For He reveals His mysteries to the worthy, as Paul also will testify in the words: "Do you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me?" (2 Cor 13:3). Therefore He testified concerning those who love Him that they received and kept the words given to Him by God the Father.

What name of the Father, then, does the Savior speak of, which He affirms that He made manifest to men? Is it the same as saying, "I proclaimed You as God before men"? What, then, are the words of the prophets? Did they call the Master of all God or not God so many years before the Incarnation? What greater thing was revealed through Christ? For He likewise calls the Father the Fashioner, Creator, and Maker of the whole world. Yet blessed Moses, who composed the book about the creation of the world, is the first to proclaim Him both God and Creator, saying: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth" (Gen 1:1).

What name, then, does He say He manifested? Is it not obvious that it is Father? For since the Apostles believed in Him as Son, they certainly confessed at the same time that there is a Father. They came to know who the Father is and what He is like. From the natural beauty, ώραιότητος, of the Son they were led up to the beauty, κάλλος, of Him who begot Him. From the exact Image they turned the eye of the mind toward the Archetype, άπό τής ακριβούς είκόνος τό άρχέτυπον βλέποντες.

If He is speaking only of the disciples with whom He ate supper, then this has no relation to the glorification by which the Son glorifies the Father, of which He spoke above. What glory is it to be known by twelve, or eleven, mortal creatures? But if those given to Him from the world means all who will later believe in Him and become inhabitants of His Church, which is to be gathered from the Gentiles, then this is beyond doubt the glory by which the Son glorifies the Father.

"I manifested Your name to men" is the same as what He said a little earlier: "I glorified You on earth," though in both cases the past tense is used for the future. Yet the text that follows shows that He is speaking of those who were already His disciples, and not of all who will later believe in Him.

Therefore, at the beginning of His prayer, our Lord speaks of all believers, of all to whom He will manifest the Father's name and so glorify the Father. For after saying, "that Your Son also may glorify You," He immediately showed how this would be done, adding: "since You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to all whom You have given Him."

What do the words mean: "whom You gave Me out of the world," if it is said of them that they are not of the world? Regeneration, not generation, made them such. And what do the following words mean: "They were Yours, and You gave them to Me"? Were they ever the Father's and not the Only-begotten Son's? Did the Father ever possess anything without the Son? God forbid.

Yet there was a time when the Son of God possessed something which the same Son did not possess as man. For when He possessed all things together with the Father, He had not yet become man. Therefore, when the Son of God says, "They were Yours," He does not separate Himself from the Father, but attributes all authority to Him from whom He Himself is, and from whom He has authority.

But when He says, "and You gave them to Me," He shows that as man He has now received authority to possess them, because He who is always almighty was not always man. And although Christ seems to connect His receiving of the disciples with the Father, since Christ is what He is by His existence from the Father, Christ also gave them to Himself. That is, Christ, God with the Father, gave them to Christ the man, who is not what He is with the Father. The very men whom God the Son chose from the world together with the Father, the same Son, now man, received from the world from the Father. For the Father would not have given them to the Son if He had not chosen them.

In the course of this discourse we shall discuss, so far as He Himself permits, the words of the Lord which sound as follows: "I manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world." If He said this only about the disciples with whom He was holding supper. And to whom He had already said so much before beginning His prayer, then this has no relation to that manifestation or, as some translate it, glorification, of which we spoke above. By it the Son makes the Father known and glorifies Him. For what glory, and how great a glory, is it to become known to twelve, or rather eleven, mortal men?

But if He wanted the words, "I manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world," to be understood of all. Even of those who will only later believe in Him and belong to His great Church, which will consist of all nations and of which the psalm sings, "I will confess You in the great Church" (cf. Ps 34:18), then it is clear that this is the glorification by which the Son glorifies the Father, making His name known to all nations and many generations of men. And His saying, "I manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world," is like what He said a little earlier: "I glorified You on earth" (Jn 17:4). In both places He uses the past tense for the future, as One who knows what has been predestined to happen. Therefore He said that He had done what, beyond all doubt, He will do.

But what follows shows that it is more certain that He spoke the words, "I manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world," about those who were already His disciples, not about all who will yet believe in Him. For after saying this He added: "They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have understood that all things You have given Me are from You. For the words which You gave Me I have given them, and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me" (Jn 17:6-8).

All this could indeed have been said of future believers, since it had already been fulfilled in hope, although it still belonged to the future. Yet what moves us to understand these words as spoken only of those who were already His disciples then is what He says a little later: "While I was with them, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept, and none of them perished except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled" (Jn 17:12). He meant Judas, who betrayed Him, and who alone of the twelve Apostles perished.

Then He added: "But now I come to You" (Jn 17:13). Through this it became clear that He was speaking of His bodily presence: "While I was with them, I kept them," as if that presence would no longer be with them. In this way He wished to indicate His approaching ascension, concerning which He said, "But now I come to You." He was, of course, about to come to the Father and remain at His right hand. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead in the same body, according to the rule of faith and saving doctrine.

Spiritually, of course, He would remain with them after His ascension, and with His whole Church in this world until the end of the age (cf. Mt 28:20). Therefore it is wrong to see in those of whom He said, "While I was with them, I kept them," anyone other than those whom He had already begun to keep as believers in Him when He was present in the body. He was about to leave them by withdrawing His bodily presence, so that together with the Father He might keep them through spiritual presence.

Afterward He joined the rest of His own to them when He said: "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their word" (Jn 17:20). Here He revealed still more plainly that above He had not been speaking of all who belong to Him, when He said, "I manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me," but only of those who heard Him when He said this.

And so He wished that in His prayer, from its very beginning, where He lifted His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You," down to the place where He said shortly after, "And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory which I had with You before the world was," all His own should be understood. Before them, by giving them knowledge of the Father, He glorified Him. For when He said, "that Your Son also may glorify You," He immediately showed how this would happen, saying: "since You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to all whom You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (cf. Jn 17:2-3).

For the Father cannot be glorified in human knowledge unless He is revealed by Him through whom He is glorified, that is, through whom He becomes known to the nations. This is the glorification of the Father, which was accomplished not only with respect to the Apostles, but also with respect to all people for whom Christ is the Head, as for His members. For the words, "since You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to all whom You have given Him," can be understood not only of the Apostles alone, but also of all to whom eternal life is given because they believe in Him.

Let us now see what He says about those disciples of His who were then listening to Him. "I manifested," He said, "Your name to the men whom You gave Me." What then? Did they not know the name of God, although they were Jews? And where is what we have read: "God is known in Judah. His name is great in Israel" (Ps 75:2)? Thus He says: "I manifested Your name to those men whom You gave Me out of the world, who hear Me saying this. Not Your name by which You are called God, but the name by which You are called My Father. This name cannot be manifested without the manifestation of the Son Himself."

For His name as God of all creation could in no way have remained unknown to the nations, even before they believed in Christ. Such is the power of true Godhead that it cannot be wholly and completely hidden from a rational creature that already uses its reason. Indeed, except for a few in whom nature is greatly corrupted, the whole human race acknowledges God as the Maker of this world.

Thus, with respect to His having made this world visible in heaven and on earth, God was known to all nations even before they were instructed in the faith of Christ. But with respect to the fact that He must not be worshiped together with false gods, God was known in Judah. With respect, however, to His being the Father of that Christ through whom He took away the sin of the world, this name of His, formerly hidden from all, Christ has now manifested to those whom the Father Himself gave Him out of the world.

Yet how did He manifest it, if the hour had not yet come of which He said above that it would come, when, as He said, He would no longer speak to them in parables, but would tell them plainly of His Father (cf. Jn 16:25)? Or perhaps speaking in parables should be regarded as plain proclamation? Why then was it said, "I will tell you plainly," except because it was not told plainly in parables? For what is not hidden in parables, but is revealed through direct words, is undoubtedly spoken plainly.

How then did He manifest what He had not yet said plainly? This must be understood as the past tense being used for the future, as also here: "I have told you all that I heard from My Father" (Jn 15:15). There He spoke of what He had not yet done, but said it as though He had already done it, because He knew that according to predestination He would certainly do it.

What, then, means the phrase, "whom You gave Me out of the world"? For it was said of them that they are no longer of the world. But they attained this through regeneration, not through generation. And what means what follows: "They were Yours, and You gave them to Me"? Was there ever a time when they belonged to the Father and did not belong to His Only-begotten Son? Did the Father ever have anything without the Son? By no means.

Nevertheless, once the Son as God possessed what the same Son did not have as man. For He had not yet become man from His Mother when, nevertheless, He possessed all things together with the Father. Therefore, when He says, "They were Yours," God the Son, without whom the Father never possessed anything, did not separate Himself from Him. Rather, He was accustomed to ascribe all His power to the Father, from whom He Himself possesses it. For He has His being from Him from whom He also has His power, and He eternally possesses both together with Him. He was never without being and without power.

'I have manifested Thy name to men.' Having said, 'I have completed the work,' Jesus Christ now explains these words.

Since the name of God had already been revealed to the Jews, and they knew that God exists, Jesus Christ is speaking here of the other nations, to whom this name was unknown.

Or else by 'name' He means the name Father, that is, that God is the Father of the true Son. Even the Jews did not know this name. It was revealed to them by Jesus Christ.

'Whom Thou hast given Me out of the world.' They were Thine, as belonging to God. 'And Thou hast given them to Me,' as to one equal with Thee.

He is speaking of the apostles. By these words Jesus Christ shows that He is not opposed to God, and that only by the will of the Father did the apostles believe in the Son.

'I have manifested Thy name to men.' God was known throughout the whole Jewish race: 'God is known in Judah' (Ps 75:2). Why, then, does the God-man say, 'I have manifested Thy name to men'?

Does He mean the Gentiles, who worship the creature rather than the Creator and do not know the true Creator of creation? Truly, He means the Gentiles. Yet He also means the Israelites themselves.

Although they knew God, they knew Him only as Creator, and not as Father and Son. Therefore our Savior did not say, 'I have manifested Thee,' but, 'I have manifested Thy name.'

What name? The paternal name. Moses obscurely indicated the three Persons of the Godhead when he said, 'Let Us make man according to Our image and likeness' (Gen 1:26).

The Prayer of Jesus.

After speaking His last farewell instructions to those who were to carry His teaching into the world, Jesus was ready to go to the Cross. He ended His earthly course with a solemn prayer, not constrained by the presence of the Apostles.

Besides the petition to support and sanctify the Apostles and all who would believe through their word, this prayer contains a brief survey of how Jesus fulfilled the charge given Him by the Father who sent Him.

The words of this prayer portray the inner state of the divine Sufferer so clearly to anyone acquainted with His life that any commentary on it seems unnecessary.

The prayer of the Lord concerning Himself is finished. He then prays for His disciples, to whom, after His departure into heavenly glory, He will entrust the work of spreading and establishing His new Kingdom on earth.

There are two chief subjects of His prayer for them: 'keep' (Jn 17:11) and 'sanctify' (Jn 17:17). All the remaining features relate to the unfolding and clarification of these two.

'I have manifested Thy name.' Here 'name' stands for the person, his properties, and his actions. To manifest the name of God is the same as to reveal God Himself, according to the saying, 'that they may know Thee, the only true God' (Jn 17:3).

When the Son of God prayed to the heavenly Father for His glorification on earth and in heaven, He was at the same time praying for poor humanity, which He wishes to restore to the state that once belonged to it.

He prayed briefly for Himself. But now follows His special prayer for men, a lengthy prayer, first for the Apostles (Jn 17:6-19), and then for all believers (Jn 17:20-26).

In the prayer for the Apostles, He first presents their faith in Him before the gaze of the heavenly Father (Jn 17:6-10).

"I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world. They were Thine, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word."

The name “God the Father” had been communicated to no one. Even the one who asked about it, Moses, heard another name, cf. Ex 3:14; Ex 6:3.

But to us it has been revealed in the Son. For the Son is now the new name of the Father. We pray that this name may be hallowed, cf. Mt 6:9; Lk 11:2.