17:6 Jesus viewed these disciples as those whom God had given to Him out of the world (cf. 6:37; 15:19), not as those who had chosen to follow Him. This viewpoint accounts for Jesus' confidence as He anticipated their future. They belonged to God, and God would therefore protect them. Jesus had revealed God to them. The name of God summarizes everything about Him (cf. Exod. 3:13-15; Isa. 52:6). Manifesting the name of God to people means revealing His essential nature to them. The Eleven had kept God's word by believing on and following Jesus even though they were not consistently obedient.
17:7-8 There was much that the Eleven did not yet understand, but they did believe that Jesus had come from God and that His utterances (Gr. rhemata) were God's words. Commendably they accepted Jesus' teachings even though they did not understand them fully, and what they understood they believed. Jesus' unusual phrasing stresses His unity with the Father.
"As long as we stay with the figure of the Galilean Jesus (perhaps romanticizing over the beauty of his holiness and lowliness) so long we miss what really matters. What is central is that all that we see in him is of God. It is not so much the Man of Galilee as the eternal God on whom our attention should rest."520
17:9-10 Because the Eleven had believed on Him Jesus made request for them, not for the world, at this point. The basis for that request was that these disciples belonged to God, so their welfare was His special interest. Those who belong to the Father belong equally to the Son. Thus Jesus claimed equal concern for the Eleven with the Father. This is another claim of equality with the Father. Glory had come to Jesus through the faith of the Eleven, as it had not come from the world.
17:11a Jesus also explained that He was praying for these disciples as He was because He was about to depart from them and return to the Father. They needed the Father's added grace because they would no longer have the Son's encouraging presence with them as they lived in the hostile world.
