The Jehovah’s Witnesses often use John 17:6, 26 to argue that Jesus used God’s Name, which they say is “Jehovah”. The verse reads:
In their book Reasoning from the Scriptures they argue:
Thus, since these verses seem to suggest He did, the question is: Did Jesus preach or use the Divine Name when He talked about the Father?
This is not what these verses mean.
Don’t forget that we need to approach the concept of a “name” from the understanding of the culture of Jesus’ day.
To make God’s name manifest or known is different from “pronouncing” the Divine Name. The word for name in Hebrew, “shem,” means “reputation,” “fame,” or the “renown” connected to the person who owns the name. Unlike the way we use names in the modern Western world, the Hebrew concept is one of descriptive character and not a nice-sounding title or handle used to identify a person (especially when given at birth as we do to infants today before they have accomplished anything). Of all the precious things to possess in the ancient Biblical world, one’s name or reputation was the most valued. “A good name is more desirable than great riches,” reads Proverbs 22:1, “and high esteem, than gold and silver.”
To earn a good name was one thing, but to actually give a name to another meant you had a higher station than the one to whom you were giving the name. For example, God gives Adam the privilege of naming the animals and his wife. (Genesis 2:18-23) God renames Abram and his wife. (Genesis 17:5-6; 15-16) The angel who wrestles with Jacob renames him Israel as a final sign to prove that Jacob hasn’t gotten the better of him (the angel also permanently injures him). (Genesis 32:29) Pharaoh of Egypt renames Joseph. (Genesis 41:45) Jesus renames Simon to Peter.–Matthew 16:18.
To speak the name of a heavenly being was equated to having authority over that being. This is why the angel that renames Jacob refuses to give his name after the wrestling match. (Genesis 32:30) And to this day this is why the Jews do not regularly pronounce the Divine Name out of recognition that they are not greater than God. It also has to do with how holy things are treated in Hebrew culture. Like the Holiest of Holies in the Temple which was almost never entered or seen, the Name of God is rarely pronounced by Jews to differentiate it from a mundane name that gets used repeatedly everyday.
It is likely that Jesus did the same thing in regard to the Divine Name that other Jews did, namely use it sparingly. By the time of the Second Temple it became common to use the word “Heaven” as a substitute for the Divine Name, even for the word “God.” This is why Jesus often refers to God’s Kingdom as “the Kingdom of Heaven,” such as at Matthew 10:7.
By making God’s name known Jesus was using language similar to what is found in Exodus 6:3. In that verse God says that the patriarchs did not “know” his Name. Does this mean that Abraham and Issac and Jacob never worshiped God by the name Yahweh? No. It means that they did not know the “reputation” or “fame” connected with that Name, not as Moses and his generation would. After all, that is what a “name” means in Hebrew culture, not a certain noise that comes out of one’s mouth.
Jesus’ saying that he made God’s name known doesn’t mean he made the pronunciation of it more famous. If that is what he meant, then surely the exact pronunciation of the Divine Name would not be considered lost. John 17:6, 26 not only says that Jesus would make God’s name known but ensure that God’s name wouldn’t be forgotten to future generations. If this was about pronouncing or writing God’s name then there would be no arguments about this issue since both the way to say the name and its use in Scripture and in the writings of the Early Church Fathers and secular history would have seen it preserved.
But Jesus obviously wasn’t speaking about a pronunciation or spelling. He was talking about God’s fame. So true were Jesus’ words at John 17 that the God of Abraham, once worshipped by a minority nation, is now the only real God anyone of any nation takes into consideration. All the other gods of all those other nations of yore have faded away and are forgotten while the God of Abraham’s fame is so great that nobody even has to mention or pronounce an actual name to know Who we are talking about.
As to that name being written in the New Testament by those who composed it, there are no extant manuscripts or examples of such things in Scripture quotes of the Church Fathers that prove this. Being that Jesus is as powerful as He is would have prevented the Name from being removed from the original language texts and would have preserved the Divine Name’s pronunciation as well, especially if we are to apply these verses from John 17 the way the JWs do. Not only is this not the case, Jesus also never instructed his disciples to call God by the Divine Name in prayer, but instead to use “Father” as in the directive of Matthew 6:9. Interestingly, this prayer in Matthew is considered some of the rare but direct liturgical instruction from Jesus regarding worship. Surely if it was understood this way by the early Church, it would have included a directive to preserve the precise use of the Divine Name.
Thanks. 
