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Joh 14:28. Ἠκούσατε, ye have heard) On other occasions His wont is to say, εἶπον, I have said; but this which He has said, concerning His departure, His disciples eagerly had attended to, and that, too, with sorrow.-ὑπάγω, καὶ ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, I go away, and come unto you) In relation to the world He saith, I came and depart [“I leave the world”], ch. Joh 16:28 : Καὶ, and forthwith.-ἐχάρητε ἂν) ye would rejoice, or rather, ye would have rejoiced. As to the Pluperfect, we have slightly touched upon the subject in Joh 14:2.[353] Ye would have rejoiced for My sake, as I am setting out upon a wished-for journey of departure, and for your own sakes, as love makes you capable of perceiving that My departure is advantageous even to yourselves. Love begets joy, both of itself, and also because it keeps the word of Christ, which opens out all the most joyful prospects to us.-μείζων μου, greater than I) Many and various were the former disputations and treatises on this passage, which Dion. Petavius has collected, Tom. ii. Theol. Dogm. l. 2, de Trin. cap. 2; G. Bullus Def. Fid. Nicæn. Sect. iv.; Jo. Casp. Suicer. Thes. Part ii. coll. 1368, Reinecc. ad N. T., fol. 387. Not a few of the Greeks and Latins have answered the Arians, and laid it down, That the Father, not as God, but as the ἀγέννητος Father (not-begotten), is said to be greater than the Son, not regarded in His character as God, but as the Son, begotten of the Father; and that this fact does not do away with His unity of essence (τὸ ὁμοούσιον) or consubstantiality with the Father. To these is to be added G. Arnold. Evang. Bottschafft, p. 697. Others affirm, that Christ is inferior to the Father in respect of His human nature;[354] which phrase of comparison has in it nothing inept; comp. 1Jn 3:20, “God is greater than our heart.” Jesus both had in His most holy soul, at one time, a greater feeling of His glory, at another time of His humility, and expressed that feeling accordingly in His words. Comp. note on Mar 13:32, “Of that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels, etc., neither the Son, but the Father” [spoken in relation to His human nature, and His humiliation]. In this passage He speaks under the feeling of His ταπεινότης, lowliness: language such as was best adapted both to the capacity of understanding which the disciples had at the time, and to the present (existing) time and circumstances, when He was treating of His departure to the Father. Before His actual departure, He had been lower even than the angels, Heb 2:9; after His departure, He became greater than His own self [i.e. the Worker, through His disciples, of greater miracles than even He Himself had performed in the days of His flesh. “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father”], Joh 14:12, and equal to the Father, ch. Joh 17:5, “O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” Nor yet does He speak of His Humiliation alone, but speaks as the Son of God in the flesh, directing His aspirations (longing to go) to the Father. Greater than I; that is to say, more blessed. Comp. this term as it occurs in ch. Joh 4:12, “Art Thou greater than our father Jacob?” Joh 8:53, “Art Thou greater than our father Abraham?” 1Co 13:13, “The greater of these is charity;” Joh 14:5, “Greater (more useful) is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues;” and as to the thing itself, comp. Mar 10:18.[355] This consideration especially made the departure of Jesus out of the world to the Father a thing to be desired.
[353] See note ch. Joh 4:10. If John had meant ye would rejoice, he would have written the Imperfect, ἐχαίρετε ἂν, rather than the Aorist.-E. and T.
[354] So the Nicene Creed, “Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.”-E. and T.
[355] “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” He rested not in Himself, but referred Himself wholly to God, acting the part of a traveller and pilgrim on earth, “not knowing Himself after the flesh” (Augustine), but aiming towards the eternal good. At the same time His answer to the youth does not ignore His Godhead, but is adapted to his comprehension. He refuses the title of goodness when unaccompanied with the ascription of Godhead.-E. and T.