“Through their word” he expected others to believe in him ( John 17:20), and these in turn to pass the word along to others, until in time the world might know who he was and what he came to do ( John 17:21, 23). His whole evangelistic strategy—indeed, the fulfillment of his very purpose in coming into the world, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave—depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task.
