<p>17:8- see on Jn. 16:27; 17:6.</p><p><i>For the words which You gave me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew as a truth that I came forth from You; and they believed that You did send me</i>- The connection with the prologue is in the way that the Jewish world did not receive the Lord as a person, but the disciples did. &quot;He&quot; as a person is hereby paralleled with His words. <br />The Lord told the Father that He had given the disciples His words, &ldquo;and they have received them&rdquo; (Jn. 17:8). This is evident allusion to the editorial comment in Dt. 33:3 about how all Israel received God&rsquo;s words through Moses. Likewise &ldquo;I manifested thy name&hellip; they have kept thy word&rdquo; (Jn. 17:6,26) = &ldquo;I will proclaim the name of the Lord&hellip; they have observed thy word&rdquo; (Dt. 32:3; 33:9). One marvels at the way the Lord&rsquo;s mind linked together so much Scripture in the artless, seamless way in which He did.</p><p>Their 'receiving' of the Lord's words should not be read as meaning that they reviewed all His recorded speech, as it were the 'red letter' sections of the New Testament, and accepted them as true or reasonable. The prologue defines the disciples as those who received &quot;Him&quot; (1:12; 13:20). There is a common parallel between Him personally and His words (5:43; 12:48). His words are put for Him as a person, as noted elsewhere. They received not just His spoken words but all His &quot;fullness&quot;, the &quot;testimony&quot; of His person, His spirit (1:16; 3:33; 14:17). They received 'Him' in the sense of allowing Him into their hearts and lives, allowing Him to fill them and abide in them. This is not quite the same as intellectual acceptance of words spoken as true and reasonable. Hence the same word is used about the receiving of the gift of the Spirit in the innermost being (7:39; 20:22; Acts 1:8; 1 Jn. 2:27).</p>