"20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”"
John 17:20-26
We have already in earlier verses discussed the meaning of 'declaring God's name' (26a). But what does Jesus mean when He adds, 'will declare it'? He can only mean that He will continue to declare the name of God to His disciples through the Holy Spirit, because He was about to go to the Father. Any further revelation, therefore, must necessarily be through the Spirit, Who would lead them more and more into all truth. We should notice also the association of ideas between 26a and 26b. The Spirit will reveal the name of God to the disciples, leading them into truth, and that will be transformed into love. This is the great safeguard. It is not simply a question of the acquisition of truth as such, but an acquisition of truth and knowledge that will bring the love of the Father ever more deeply into our hearts. Is this the effect that Bible study has upon us? We must beware of tackling the business of Bible study in a technical or intellectual way, merely amassing knowledge. There are many people well versed in the Scriptures, who are nevertheless spiritual pygmies. The man who grows in grace is the man who, receiving the truths of God, finds them somehow transformed into a deepening love in his heart for the Father and the Son.