Chapter 14:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Lightfoot
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| McGee
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Luke Acts
John 14
14:1 Let
not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me1.
FAREWELL DISCOURSE TO DISCIPLES. (Jerusalem. Evening before the
crucifixion.)
John
14:1-16:33
Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in
me. That one should betray him and one should deny him, that all
should be offended, and that the Lord should depart, raised
anxieties which Jesus here seeks to quiet. That they should go out
as homeless wanderers without the presence of their Lord and be
subjected to persecution, was also in their thoughts. But Jesus
sustains their spirits by appealing to them to trust in the unseen
Father, and his yet present self. As to the two verbs
"believe", both may be indicatives or imperatives.
14:2 In
my Father's house are many mansions1;
if
it were not so, I would have told you2;
for
I go to prepare a place for you3.
In my Father's house are many mansions. Many abiding places
or homes. They were not to be homeless always.
If it were not so, I would have told you. That is to say,
if heaven had been of such limited capacity that there was little or
no hope that you could follow me, I should have dealt plainly with
you, and should have disabused your mind of all vain hopes. But
there is room (
Luke
14:22), and you may follow (
John
13:36).
For I go to prepare a place for you. We are familiar with
the thought that the going, or death, of Jesus prepared a way for us
by providing a fountain for the cleansing of our sin, and by rending
the veil of the temple, "thus signifying that the way into
heaven is now open". But the thought here is different. Jesus
departed to prepare places for his own in the Father's house.
14:3 And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again1,
and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be
also.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again. The
cause for the departure becomes the assurance of the return.
14:4 And
whither I go, ye know the way1.
And whither I go, ye know the way. My manner of life leads
to the Father's house, and as ye know that manner of life, ye know
the way.
14:5 Thomas saith unto him,
Lord,
we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way1?
Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way?
Thomas looked for a way wherein one might walk with his feet.
14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, and the truth, and the life:
no one
cometh unto the Father, but by me1.
No one cometh unto the Father, but by me. God is not
approached by physical motion. Being spirit, we must draw near to
him by spiritual simplicity, and this is revealed to us fully in the
person of Christ, and an energizing power is imparted by Christ to
enable us to attain unto it.
14:7 If
ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also1:
from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him2.
If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also. The
unity of nature and of character is so perfect that to know the Son
is to know the Father also.
From henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. This saying
is the outgrowth of what is said in
John
14:6. Since we can only come to the Father's likeness by the
imitation of Jesus, then the truth here uttered follows; viz.: that
to see Jesus is to see the Father.
14:8 Philip saith unto him,
Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us1.
Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. As Thomas
asked for a physical instead of a spiritual approach to God (
John
14:5), so Philip asked for a physical instead of a spiritual
revelation of him.
14:9 Jesus saith unto him,
Have
I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me1,
Philip?
he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father2; how sayest thou, Show us the Father?
Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me,
Philip? The answer of Jesus tenderly rebukes Philip. The
excellency of God is not physical, but spiritual. Righteousness,
truth, love, holiness, etc. are all spiritual.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. A physical
revelation of God, if such a thing had been practicable or even
possible, would have been of little or no benefit to the apostles.
All the physical demonstrations at Mt. Sinai did not prevent the
manufacture and worship of the golden calf.
14:10 Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me1?
the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father
abiding in me doeth his works.
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me? The question of Jesus is a mild rebuke because Philip had
been so slow to learn and to believe what the Lord had taught; viz.:
his unity with the Father (
John
10:30), and that he did and taught by the will of his Father and
not himself (
John
8:26).
14:11 Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me1:
or else believe me for the very works' sake2.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.
To ask Jesus to reveal the indwelling Father was much the same as to
ask a man to reveal his own soul. Therefore Jesus asks Philip to
take his word for the great fact, or, if that were not deemed
sufficient,
Or else believe me for the very works' sake. To believe it
because of the works which Jesus wrought. Divine works testify to
the presence of a divine spirit and power.
14:12 Verily,
verily1, I say unto you,
he
that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also2;
and greater [works] than these shall he do3;
because I go unto the Father.
Verily, verily. See
John
1:51.
He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.
Jesus while in the world manifested sufficient supernatural power to
give credibility to the statement that the Father worked him through
him. But he here declares that his return to the Father will be
followed by yet fuller tokens and evidences of his union with the
Father.
And greater [works] than these shall he do. The first of
these evidences enumerated is the larger sphere of power granted to
the believer. By this the Lord does not mean the disciples shall
perform greater miracles, but that they shall produce moral and
spiritual revolutions which are instinsically more divinely
wonderful than miracles. For instance, at his death Jesus had
converted about five hundred disciples (
1 Corinthians
15:6), but at Pentecost the apostles converted three thousand in
one day (
Acts
2:41). The converts of Paul also greatly outnumbered those of
Christ's own ministry.
14:13 And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do1,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son2.
John
14:13,14
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. The
second token of Christ's union with the Father would be manifested
in the efficacy of prayer made in his name. Hitherto prayer had not
been thus made (
John
16:24).
That the Father may be glorified in the Son. God would
glorify himself through Christ by answering prayer thus made.
14:15 If
ye love me, ye will keep my commandments1.
John
14:15-17
If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. The third
token of Christ's union with the Father would be the sending of the
Holy Spirit (
Acts
2:33). Since, however, the worldly-minded could neither receive
now behold the Spirit, the promise to send him to the disciples is
prefaced by an appeal to them to keep his commandments, and thus
avoid a worldly spirit such as would be compatible with the
reception of the Holy Spirit.
14:16 And
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter1,
that he may be with you for ever2,
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter. The word "Comforter" does not fully
translate the Greek word "Paraklete"; no English word
does. The word "Advocate" may be used, and
"Helper" is as good if not better than
"Comforter". We should observe that by the use of the word
"another" Jesus shows that he himself had been and would
be a "Paraklete".
That he may be with you for ever. But earthly fellowship
with him was about to be cut short, and therefore the Holy Spirit
would come, with whom fellowship would never be interrupted.
14:17 [even]
the Spirit of truth1:
whom
the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him:
ye know him2;
for he
abideth with you3,
and
shall be in you4.
[Even] the Spirit of truth. He is called the Spirit of
truth because of his many relationships to the truth (
John
17:19;
Acts
2:4;
Acts
5:32 1 Corinthians
2:4;
1 Thessalonians
1:5;
Hebrews
2:4.
Whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not,
neither knoweth him: ye know him. That the gift of the Holy
Spirit is conditioned upon belief and obedience is also taught
elsewhere (
John
7:38;
Acts
2:38;
Acts
5:32).
For he abideth with you. The Spirit, being present in the
person of Christ, had been abiding with the apostles who followed
him.
And shall be in you. Hereafter the intimacy of the relation
would be increased, and the Spirit should abide within them.
14:18 I
will not leave you desolate1: I come unto you.
I will not leave you desolate. Literally, orphans. The
expression breathes the spirit of a father, as at
John
13:33.
14:19 Yet
a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more1;
but ye behold me2:
because I live, ye shall live also.
Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more. The
next day the world crucified him and sealed him in the tomb, and
since then has seen him no more.
But ye behold me. The present tense here indicates a
continued vision; it cannot therefore refer to the appearances of
Christ after the resurrection, for the terminated at the end of
forty days.
14:20 In
that day1 ye shall know that I am in my Father,
and ye in me, and I in you.
In that day. We may take this either as the day of
Pentecost, or the period which began on that day.
14:21 He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that
loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him,
and
will manifest myself unto him1.
And will manifest myself unto him. The fourth and
all-convincing token of Jesus' union with the Father would be his
return in the spirit which is here described. It was not his
temporary return after the resurrection, as is shown at
John
14:19, neither was it his final return to judgment, because it
was one in which the world would not behold him, and at his final
return "every eye shall see him" (
Revelation
1:7). Jesus, therefore, speaks of his return in the spirit, and
his inward manifestation of himself to his disciples wherein he
energizes them with his own life. A coming, however, which, like
that of the Holy Spirit, is conditioned upon the loving obedience of
the disciples. The writings of Paul abound with expressions
illustrating the nature of this coming of Christ. It is not to be
confused with the coming of the Holy Spirit, though doubtless wholly
concurrent with it.
14:22 Judas1
(not Iscariot)2 saith
unto him, Lord, what is come to pass that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us, and not unto the world3?
Judas. For this Judas, or Thaddeus, see
Matthew
10:2 for a table of apostles and also see
Mark
3:18.
(Not Iscariot). Who had gone out.
Saith unto him, Lord, what is come to pass that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? The form of
his question betrays the apostle's bewilderment. Expecting that
Jesus would soon be an earthly king, he could not imagine how Jesus
could so have changed his plans as to thus withdraw himself utterly
from the world. The answer of Jesus gave Judas but little present
light.
14:23 Jesus answered and said
unto him,
If a man love me, he will keep my
word1: and my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John
14:23,24
If a man love me, he will keep my word. Jesus contents
himself by pointing out to Judas the fact that loving obedience is
the means by which the blessed indwelling is obtained. It was better
that Judas should busy his heart and will about the
"means" of blessing rather than his head about the
mysterious and incomprehensible "manner" of it.
14:25 These things have I spoken
unto you, while [yet] abiding with you.
John
14:25,26
These things have I spoken unto you, being [yet] abiding with
you. The word "spoken" stands in contrast with the
word "teach" in plan of salvation through the death,
burial, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord was yet incomplete,
all the words which he had spoken were but dimly understood, since
they were related to and founded upon this incomplete plan.
14:26 But the Comforter, [even]
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.
But the Comforter . . . shall teach you all things, and bring
to your remembrance all that I said unto you. When the plan was
completed the Holy Spirit would reveal or teach the meaning of the
words by bringing them to remembrance after full comprehension of
the plan to which they related.
14:27 Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give unto you1: not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be fearful.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you. This
legacy of peace is by no means to be confined to the period of doubt
and fear which accompanied the crucifixion; in fact, it seems to
overstep that period, and to begin after it, and continue throughout
all the trouble ministry of the apostles. The breadth of the legacy
also to be noted: (1) The quality of it; it was not the absolute
unshaken peace of God, but the peace which Jesus himself possessed
while upon the earth--peace with all things save the devil and his
powers. (2) The nature of it; it was not peace from without, but
from within. It was not such as promised to pacify and quell the
persecutors, but a promise of inner calm amidst the storm. (3) The
manner of it; it was no stinted, measured store such as the world
bestows, but a full, free gift from the overflowing bounty of God.
14:28 Ye heard how I said to you,
I go away, and I come unto you.
If ye loved me,
ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father1:
for the Father is greater than I2.
If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the
Father. The departure of Jesus was not wholly a humiliation, as
it might appear to them, but a real exaltation at which they might
well rejoice, and that the more readily and freely since it would
not mean to them the total separation which they anticipated,
because he would return in the spirit.
For the Father is greater than I. The word
"greater" as here used does not refer to any difference in
the nature or essence of the Son as related to the Father. It may
well be true that there has been a certain subordination of the will
of the Son to the will of the Father from all eternity, but even
that, if it exists, is not referred to here. Jesus has in mind the
utter humiliation to which his mediatorial office had brought him,
and to even lower depths to which it was about to bring him. From
all this his departure to the Father would in a large measure free
him, restoring him in some degree to that state of equilibrium in
glory, power, and authority from which he had descended (
Philippians
2:6).
14:29 And
now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to
pass, ye may believe1.
And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it
is come to pass, ye may believe. Jesus had told them fully of
his return to the Father, that when they received the subsequent
manifestation of it they might firmly believe it.
14:30 I
will no more speak much with you1,
for
the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me2;
I will no more speak much with you. In a few hours the
earthly teaching of Jesus would be interrupted by the coming of
Satan and would never be resumed save in occasional fragments.
For the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me.
Satan would come in the persons of his servants and emissaries, but
he would find nothing in Christ which would give him either right or
reason to exercise power over him.
14:31 but
that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave
me commandment, even so I do1.
Arise,
let us go hence2.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the
Father gave me commandment, even so I do. The sorrows and
sufferings of Christ would be entered upon of his own free will
because by enduring them for our sakes he would please the Father
and carry out his commandments, and thus manifest to the world the
love which he bore the Father.
Arise, let us go hence. Some think that Jesus then left the
room, and that the next three chapters were spoken in the upper room
after they had risen from the table and prepared to depart, and that
of the Kidron.
Chapter 14:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Lightfoot
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| McGee
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Luke Acts
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
