The Father is the source of life. This is indicated by the Lord’s word in 5:26, which says, “The Father has life in Himself.” In the entire Scripture, especially in the Gospel of John, the Father denotes the source of life. Even in a human family, the father is the source of the life of that family. As the father of a family is the very source and origin of life, so the name Father reveals the Father as the source of life.
The Father, the source of life, is for the propagation and multiplication of life. The father of a human family, who is the source of the life of that family, is for the propagation of life. Although a man may be quite young, as long as he becomes a father with a source of life, he has some propagation. Originally, a man might have been alone, but later he has four little ones. After getting married, this man’s life, which is the father’s life as the source of a family, begins to be propagated. As the propagation of life goes on, there is also the multiplication of life. The Father’s life is for propagation and multiplication.
Of the Father, who is the source of life and who is for the propagation and multiplication of life, many sons are born to express Him (1:12-13). Therefore, we have propagation, multiplication, and expression. We have seen that this concluding prayer is the confirmation and strengthening of the foregoing message in chapters fourteen through sixteen. In that message we saw the propagation of life and the multiplication of life for the expression of the Triune God. Now we have the same points in this concluding prayer: the Father is propagating, bringing forth, many sons for His expression.
The name Father is very much related to the divine life. Without having the divine life, God could never be the Father. How is it possible for a man to be a father? Only by his life. If you do not have life, you cannot be a father. A father is a producer. A father does not produce by manufacturing but by begetting. A father has a begetting life. Without that life, a man has no reality of being a father. Remembering that the Father has the divine life for begetting, propagating, multiplying, and bringing forth many sons will help us to understand the Gospel of John much better. If a man is unable to beget children, he is not a father. The qualification of your being a father rests with your children. The more children you have, the greater you are as a father. Suppose a man could have a hundred children. He would certainly be the greatest father on earth, for he would have such a rich life in begetting. Consider how many children our Father has. He not only has hundreds of children but millions of them. What a great Father He is! What propagation of life there is with Him.
Whenever we call Him Father, we must understand that this title is realized by His divine life. Without His divine life, the name Father is merely an empty term without content or reality. Since the reality of the title Father is the divine life, to say that we are one in the name of the Father means that we are one in the divine life.
In verse 6 the Lord said to the Father, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.” The name referred to here is the very name Father. The names God and Jehovah were adequately revealed to man in the Old Testament, but not the name Father. In Old Testament times, God’s people mainly knew that God was Elohim, that is, God, and Jehovah, that is, the ever-existing One, but they did not know much about the title Father. God is His name for creation, and Jehovah is His name for the relationship between Himself and man. The first chapter of Genesis reveals the name God, but it does not disclose the name Jehovah. It was not until the second chapter of Genesis, when God was about to establish a relationship with man, that He revealed the name Jehovah.