HEAVEN (THE HEAVENLY HOME) THROWN OPEN AND REVEALED BY THE REVELATION OF THE HEAVENLY CHRIST IN THIS PRESENT WORLD. GLORIFICATION OF THE WORLD BEYOND, RESULTANT UPON HIS GOING AWAY AND HIS UNION WITH THE DISCIPLES IN THE SPIRIT. UNDERNEATH THE STARRY HEAVENS. CHRIST THE WAY TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE. (THE MANIFESTATION OF THE FATHER (AND OF HEAVEN) IN THE VISIBLE WORLD. THE COMMUNION OF THE SPIRIT AS THE ENTRANCE TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE, OR AS THE TABERNACLE AND FORETOKEN OF THE HEAVENLY HOME. THOMAS, PHILIP, JUDAS LEBBÆUS, OR: 1. THE PERSONAL CHRIST, AS OPPOSED TO THE MENACING ACTUALITY OF THINGS, AND TO DOUBT; 2. THE SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION OF GOD, IN OPPOSITION TO A VISIBLE APPEARANCE AND TO SENSUOUS PREJUDICE; 3. THE CHURCH OF THE LORD IN OPPOSITION TO THE WORLD AND TO WORLDLY MESSIANIC IDEALS)
Joh_14:1-31
(Joh_14:1-14, Gospel for St. Philip and St. James’ Day; Joh_14:23-31 for Whit-Sunday.)
1Let not your heart be troubled: ye [omit ye] believe in God, believe also in me 2[Have faith in God, and have faith in me]. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. [For,
ὅôé
] I go to prepare a place for you. [Lange: If it were not so, would I then have said to you, I go to prepare 3a place for you?] And if [Lange: Even though] I go and prepare a place for you, I will [omit will] come [
ἔñ÷ïìáé
] again, and [will] receive [
ðáñáëÞìøïìáé
] you unto myself; that where I am, there [omit there] ye may be also. 4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know [And ye know the way whither I go,
÷áὶ ὅðïõ ἐãὼ ὑðÜãù ïἵäáôå ôὴí ὁäüí
].
5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how Song of Solomon 6[should] we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, [and] the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by [through] me. 7If ye had known me, ye should [would] have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father [visibly], and it sufficeth us [we shall be satisfied] 9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me [dost thou not know me], Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then [omit then], Shew us the Father? 10Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father [is] in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works [the Father, abiding in me, doeth his works].11Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else [but if not] believe me for the very works’ sake. 12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and [even] greater works [omit works] than these shall he do; because [for] I go unto my [the] Father. 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.15, If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will [shall] pray the Father, and he shall [will] give you another Comforter [Paraclete], that he may abide 17[be] with you for ever; Even [omit Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because [for] it seeth [beholdeth] him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for [because] he dwelleth [abideth] with you, and shall be 18[will be] in you. I will [shall] not leave you comfortless [orphans]: I will 19[shall] come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth [beholdeth] me no more; but ye see [behold] me: because [for] I live, [and] ye shall live also.—20At that day ye shall [will] know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21He that hath [possesseth] my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and [but] he that loveth me shall [will] be loved of my Father, and I will [shall] love him, and will [shall] manifest myself to him.
22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man [any one] love me, he will keep my words [word]: and my Father will love him, and we will [shall] come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings [words]: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which [who] sent me.
25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present [while yet abiding, or, tarrying] with you. 26But the Comforter, which is [But the Paraclete, even] the Holy Ghost, whom the [my] Father will send in my name, he shall [will] teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever [which] I have said unto you. 27Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28Ye have heard how [that] I said unto you, I go away, and come again [omit again] unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice [ye would have rejoiced,
ἐ÷Üñçôå
] because [that] I said [omit I said], I go unto the Father: for my [the] Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might [may] believe. 30Hereafter I will [shall] not talk much [add more] with you; for the prince of this [the] world cometh, and hath nothing in me [and of me there belongeth to him nothing at all]. 31But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment [commanded me], even so [thus] I do. Arise, let us go hence.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[These discourses were spoken after the Lord’s Supper, which took place, according to Lange and Tholuck, at Joh_13:34. A pause intervened between the close of the last and the beginning of this chapter. When Peter was “humbled and silent” (Lücke), and the other disciples sadly moved by what they had just heard of the treason of Judas, the denial of Peter and the departure of their beloved Lord and Master, He addressed to them these opening words of cheer which, coming from His lips with all the thrilling solemnities of the night preceding the crucifixion, have an immeasurable power of comfort and consolation in seasons of deepest distress and on the very borders of despair. The parting discourses have already been characterized at the beginning of John 13 and on Joh_13:31; but the beautiful remarks of Olshausen may here be added: “We come, finally,” he says, “to that portion of the evangelical history, which we may with propriety call its Holy of Holies. Our Evangelist, like a consecrated priest, alone opens to us the view into this sanctuary. This is composed of the last moments spent by the Lord in the midst of His disciples before His passion, when words full of heavenly thought flowed from His sacred lips. All that His heart which glowed with love had yet to say to His friends, was compressed into this short season. At first the interview with the disciples took the form of conversation; sitting at table they talked together familiarly. But when (Joh_14:31) the repast was finished, the language of Christ assumed a loftier strain; the disciples assembled around their Master, listened to the words of life and seldom spoke a word (only Joh_16:17; Joh_16:29). At length in the Redeemer’s sublime intercessory prayer, His full soul was poured forth in express petitions to His heavenly Father on behalf of those who were his own. Meanwhile, His discourse retained the form of free communication, in which no marks of designed arrangement are to be discovered, as would be the case with a formal oration.—It is a peculiarity of these last chapters, that they treat almost exclusively of the most profound relations—as that of the Son to the Father, and of both to the Spirit, that of the Christ to the Church, of the Church to the world, and so forth. Moreover, a considerable portion of these sublime communications surpassed the point of view to which the disciples had at that time attained; hence the Redeemer frequently repeats the same sentiments in order to impress them more deeply upon their minds, and, on account of what they still did not understand, He points them to the Holy Spirit, who would remind them of all His sayings, and lead them into the whole truth (Joh_14:26).”—P. S.]
Joh_14:1. Let not your heart be troubled [affrighted,
ìὴ ôáñáóóÝóèù ὑìῶí ἡ êáñäßá
].—The spirit, the soul, may be troubled (see chap.Joh_11:33; Joh_13:21); not so the heart, as the organ and symbol of trust. This encouragement has reference not simply to what He has told them about the approaching denial of Him (Chrysost., etc.), but, in the first place, to the announcement of His departure and to the decree uttered by Him (De Wette and others), to the effect that they could not follow Him. Taking this decree in its concrete sense, however, there comes into consideration as well the saying concerning the denial of Peter,—a saying which revealed a perspective full of danger to all the disciples. The prospect of the denial of faith’s goal in the high and invisible world which lay beyond them, was a prospect calculated to startle them, even when apprehended in the most general sense.
Trust in God, and (then) ye (will) trust in me [or rather: Have faith in God, and have faith in Me,
ðéóôåýå
̅
å
(Imperative)
åἰò ôὸí èåὸí
,
êáὶ åἰò ἐìὲ ðéóôåýåôå
(Imperative). See the Textual Notes.—P. S.]—
Ðéóôåýåéí
does not here mean belief in the general sense of that term (in which sense they had belief), but in its special sense—trust: trust directed to God, and trust directed to Christ. Hence we translate: trust in; namely, in God who is on high; in Me when I ascend on high. This sets aside:
1. The interpretation: ‘ye believe in God, believe also in Me.’ With the first verb in the Indicative, the second in the Imperative (Vulg., Erasm. and others [E. V.]).
2. ‘If ye believe in God (as if it were
åἰ ðéóô
.), ye believe also in Me’ (Luther). With the verb each time in the Indicative.
3. According to Cyril, Lücke, De Wette and others [Meyer, Alford, Godet], both expressions are in the Imperative: ‘Rely on God and rely also on Me.’ We do not think, however, that Christ can thus make two separate trusts. We might, perhaps, more reasonably expect: ‘Rely on Me; in so doing ye rely also on God,’—in analogy with the saying Joh_14:6. But here Christ’s ascension to heaven must be presupposed, as resulting from the fact that the Father in heaven is the goal towards whom that ascension tends. Therefore: Trust in God; in so doing ye do also trust in Me (
åἰò
, expressive of the direction of this trust to heaven and to the One who is about ascending into heaven).
Tholuok: “Even Erasmus observes that Joh_14:1 may be apprehended in four ways, according as
ðéóôåýåôå
is assumed to be both times in the Indicative, the sense of an hypothesis being attached to the word at its first occurrence (Aug., Luth.), or taking the latter as Indicative and as a consequence of the former (Grot., Olsh. and others), or the former as Indicative and the second as Imperative (Vulg.), or, after the example of most of the church fathers, both as in the Imperative.” For the reasons cited above, we agree with Grotius in holding the first
ðéóôåýåôå
to be in the Imperative mood,—attaching to it the sense of trust, however—and the second to be consecutive to the first.
[I prefer to read
ðéóôåýåôå
both times imperatively, as in Joh_14:11, because this agrees best with the preceding imperative,
ìὴ ôáñáóóÝèù
, and with the fresh, direct, hortatory character of the address. The other interpretations introduce a reflective tone. Our Lord exhorts and encourages the disciples to dismiss all trouble from their hearts and to exercise full trust and confidence (
ðéóôåýåô
.e, emphatically first and last) in God, who has in reserve for them many mansions in heaven, and consequently also to trust in Christ, who is one with the Father and is going to prepare a place for them; faith in God and faith in Christ are inseparable (hence
åἰò ἐìÝ
is placed before the second
ðéóôåýåôå
), and the glorification of the Son is a glorification of the Father in the Son; comp. Joh_13:31-32, with which this passage is closely connected. In claiming the same trust and reliance on Himself as on the Father, Christ makes Himself equal with God, as in Joh_5:17; Joh_5:23. Hence there is here no addition of faith in Christ to faith in God (as Olshausen objects), nor a transfer of our trust from its proper object to another, but simply the concentration of our trust in the unseen God—who out of Christ is a mere abstraction—upon the incarnate Son, in whom this trust becomes real and effective.—P. S.]
Joh_14:2. In my Father’s house [
ἐí ôῇ ïἰêßᾳ ôïῦ ðáôñüò ìïõ ìïíáὶ ðïëëáß åἰóéí
. Mark the simple, childlike, cheering character of this address to dear children (
ôåêíßá
, Joh_13:33): the touching ideas of Father, house, home, peaceful and durable rest, room enough for all in heaven.—P. S.] The house of the Father is the real temple of God, as opposed to the typical temple or house of the Father (Joh_2:16), which they are now cast out of, having taken their leave of it as Jews. According to Meyer [p. 505], this house is “not heaven in general, but the particular dwelling-place of the divine
äüîá
in heaven, the place of His glorious throne (Psa_2:4; Psa_33:13 ff.; Isa_63:15, etc.), considered as the heavenly sanctuary (Isa_57:15), according to the analogy of the temple at Jerusalem as the
ïῖ
̓
êïò ôïῦ ðáôñüò
on earth (Joh_2:16).” But not in vain is it written: Our Father in the heavens (Mat_6:9); Christ came down from heaven (Joh_3:13); ascended into heaven (Act_1:11); is set on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens (Heb_8:1); the inheritance of Christians is reserved for them in the heavens (1Pe_1:4). Therefore even if the throne of God be denominated the central point in the heavens or the highest point above the heavens, still the heavens themselves are not excluded from being His house, for there is a distinction between the seat or throne in a house and the house itself; and this irrespective of the fact that heaven is also simply called His throne, Isa_66:1. We assume, moreover, that we are not required to make a spiritualistic separation between God’s heaven and the starry universe, and that the aspect of the starry heavens is a figure to us of the heavenly mansions, even though it be true that all stars are not to be regarded as heavenly places. (See my book: The Land of Glory. Kurtz, Bible and Astronomy; also my Leben Jesu, II. p. 1349.) And so it is most probable that Jesus spoke these words to the disciples as they were leaving the Passover room, pointing, as He uttered them, up to the starry sky. [According to Joh_14:31, they seem to have been still in the room, but see Lange’s notes on the passage.—P. S.] Henceforth they, like Him, were strangers on earth, having no abiding place: at this moment He disclosed heaven to their view and gave them a promise of the many dwelling-places in the Father’s house. Hence the significant choice of the expression:
ìïíáß
, a place of rest, a lodging.
[The term
ìïíáß
, which in the N. T. occurs only here and Joh_14:23, is derived from
ìÝíù
, to abide, and hence implies the idea of abode, rest, stability, home (comp.
ìÝíïõóáí ðüëéí
, Heb_13:14; the
óêçíáὶ áἰþíéïé
, Luk_16:9, and the
ïἰêïäïìὴí ἐê èåïῦ
, the
ïἰêßá ἀ÷åéñïðïßçôïò ἀéþíéïò Ýíôïῖò ïὐñáíïῖò
, 2Co_5:1). The E. V. mansion, from mansio, manere,
ìÝíåéí
(introduced by Tyndale), here and in old English means dwelling-house, not, as in modern usage, manor-house, palace. Christ probably alludes to the temple, His Father’s house on earth (Joh_2:16; Rev_3:12; comp. Luk_2:49) with its numerous chambers (1Ki_6:5-6; 1Ki_6:10), perhaps also to the vast oriental palaces with apartments for all the princes and courtiers. Heaven is not only a state, which commences already here on earth with the presence of Christ in the soul and the possession of everlasting life by faith in Him, but also a place, from which Christ descended and to which He ascended, and where He, with the Father and the Spirit, dwells among saints and angels, patriarchs and prophets (Luk_13:28), in the fulness of His majesty and glory. Philosophy and astronomy are unable to define the locality of this spiritual heaven, it is a matter of pure faith, yet most real, even more so than this changing earth; for earth is but the footstool of God and derives its value from the life and light of the supernatural world above, around and within us. The Jewish Rabbis distinguished two heavens (comp. Deu_10:14, the “heaven and the heaven of heavens”), or seven heavens (severally called velum, expansum, nubes, habitaculum, habitatio, sedes fixa, araboth; see Wetstein on 2Co_12:2). St. Paul speaks of the third heaven (2Co_12:2), which by some commentators is placed beyond the atmospheric and the starry heavens; but heaven may be much nearer than is generally supposed. According to the Apocalypse, the many heavenly mansions here spoken of are after all not the final but the intermediate resting-places of the saints till the general resurrection when the heavenly Jerusalem will descend upon the new, glorified earth, and God will dwell with His people for ever, Rev_21:1 ff.; 2Pe_3:13. Then heaven and earth will be one; earth being changed to heaven and heaven to earth, “one kingdom, joy and union without end.”—P. S.]
Many mansions. Tholuck: “In the multiplicity of the
ìïíáß
the fathers discovered a diversity of grades; thus Clemens Alex., etc., also Stier, Lange, etc. The context, however, does not indicate any difference of degrees, but simply the multiplicity of the dwellings.” But if this multiplicity were merely quantitative and not qualitative as well, the expression: there is room enough, would suffice. Of course the words convey this meaning too, in accordance with Luther’s saying: “If the devil with his tyrants hunt you out of the world, ye shall still have room enough.” [Wordsworth agrees with Lange as to different degrees of felicity in the same blessed eternity. But Meyer, Godet and Alford confine
ðïëëáß
to the number: mansions enough for each and all,
ἰêáíáὶ äÝîáóèáé êáὶ ὑìᾶò
(Euthym. Zig.) The idea of degrees of dignity and blessedness in heaven corresponding to the degrees of perfection, though perhaps not implied in the word many here, is certainly scriptural, comp. 1Co_15:41, and has always been admitted in the Church. No envy or jealousy will arise from disparity of glory, for, as Augustine says, the unity of love will reign in all.—P. S.]
If it were not so, would I have told you: I go to prepare a place for you? [This is Lange’s construction, which differs from the English V. Comp. Textual Notes and see below.—P. S.] Various constructions:
1. The fathers, Erasm., Luther and others [Maldonatus, Bengel, Ebrard], Hofmann: “If it were not so, I would say to you: I go to prepare a place for you.” [These interpreters refer
åῖ
̓
ðïí ἂí ὑìῖí
to the following
ὅôé ðïñåýïìáé
. Lange does the same, but makes the sentence a question.—P. S.] Meyer thinks that Joh_14:3 is decisive against this supposition; according to that verse Jesus actually goes and prepares a place. But it would not be the only passage in which John presents a relative antithesis in the form of an absolute one. (See Joh_1:11-12.) A more powerful consideration against the view is, that the work of Christ joins on to the work of the Father, re-organizing the creation but not extending it (Leben Jesu, II. p. 1350).
2. Laurent. Valla, Beza, Calvin, Lücke, Tholuck and many others have placed a period after
åὶðïí ἂí ὑìῖí
. “If it were not so, I would have told you.” The expression of Christ’s veracity might recommend this reading, if the idea of the heavenly dwellings had been already diffused among the disciples. But this was not the case: hitherto they had had but the idea of Sheol, with its two grand divisions: Paradise and the place of punishment [Gehenna]. Hence it would have been superfluous for Christ to deny the truth of an idea which as yet they had not entertained.
3. We, therefore, adopt the interrogative apprehension of the words: “would I then, etc.?” (Mosheim, Ernesti, Beck); yet not in the sense of the Present: would I tell you? against which Meyer cites the aorist
åῖ
̓
ðïí
, but: would I have told you? (Ewald). He has really told them this, though not literally, any more than He said to the Jews—Joh_10:14—: Ye are not My sheep (comp. Joh_14:26); for instance Joh_8:22; comp. Joh_13:33; Joh_10:4; Joh_10:11; Joh_14:28-29; Joh_12:26. So, then, He has told them before this, that He is going to another world where He has destined abiding-places for them near Himself. It is His intention now to develop this germ of revelation in the most glorious disclosures concerning heaven. The
ìïíÞ
is there already; by Christ, and above all by His making Himself the centre of it, it shall be converted into a fitting
ôüðïò
for them and all believers. For
ἑôïéìÜóáé ôüðïí
does not mean: to create the place as a place, but: to arrange it as a habitable place. [Comp. 2Pe_1:11 : “An entrance shall be richly ministered unto you into the eternal kingdom of our Lord;” 2Co_5:1, “a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Alford quotes here from the Te Deum: “When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.” Christ prepared a heavenly home for His disciples by His atoning death, resurrection and ascension; but considering that the heavenly mansions are merely intermistic abodes, the term may perhaps also refer to the building up of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is ultimately to descend upon the new earth. On
ðïñåí
́
ïìáé
Augustine and Wordsworth remark: “Christ sets out on a journey, to prepare a place for us. Let Him depart; let Him ascend, and not be visible to the bodily eye; let Him be hidden from it, that thus He may be seen by the eye of faith; and being so seen, may be desired; and being desired, may be possessed for ever; the desire of our love is the preparation of our house in heaven.”—P. S.]
Joh_14:3. And though I go.—Here stress is laid upon the going away. To prepare for them the place in the inheritance of glory, He must, indeed, first leave them. But the going away is to be counterbalanced by His coming again to take them to Himself. [Meyer:
êáὶ ἐÜí
, not
ê
.
ὅôáí
. Jesus does not intend to indicate the time of His return, but the consequence of His departure. The
ðïñåýåóèáé
k.
ἑôïéìÜóáé
are the antecedent facts which, once accomplished, result in the
ðÜëéí
ʼ
ἐñ÷ïìáé
. The nearness or distance of this return is left undecided by
ἐÜí
.—P. S.]
I come again [
ðÜëéí ἔñ÷ïìáé
].—Three different interpretations:
1. As referring to the
ðáñïõóßá
, of Christ on the last day (Origen, Calvin, Lampe, Meyer, Hofmann [also Luthardt, Brückner, Ewald]). On which Meyer: It is the idea of the imminent Parousia, an idea appearing also in John, though with less prominence. [Meyer refers to Joh_5:28 ff; Joh_21:22; 1Jn_2:28.—P. S.] This view is contradicted (a) by the erroneousness of the supposition that the disciples (or Christ Himself) conceived of the Parousia as so imminent, in a chronological sense. (b) By the fact that in the true Parousia there is to take place, not a re-union between Christ and His people in heaven (where Christ is), but a re-union on earth (where the Church is; see Rev. chap. 14 and 20); while here the disclosures made concern the heaven beyond this life, not the earth with its future destiny of glorification, (c) By the circumstance that the Present
ἔñ÷ïìáé
denotes a right speedy return of Christ, thus being adapted to console these disciples at their separation from Christ and in the sufferings inflicted upon them through persecution.
2. Christ’s coming again to His people, through His Spirit, and their reception into the full and holy spiritual fellowship of the glorified Christ, in accordance with Joh_14:18 (Lücke, Neander [Godet], etc.). But that this spiritual re-union is not the precise thing intended by the passage, though con-supposed or pre-supposed, results from the fact that Christ is here speaking of coming to fetch them to a goal whose locality is determined.
3. The words are indicative of a coming of Jesus for the purpose of receiving the disciples into heaven by means of a blissful death (Grotius, Knapp, Baumg.-Crusius, Nitzsch [Reuss, Tholuck, Hengstenberg] and others). Against this view Meyer remarks: “It is in opposition to these words (comp. Joh_14:21-22) and to the manner in which other portions of the New Testament speak of the coming of Christ; death truly transports the apostles and martyrs to Christ (2Co_5:8; Php_1:23; Act_7:59), but nowhere is it said of Christ that He comes and takes them to Himself. Except in the Paraclete of whom John treats, Christ comes only in His glory at the Parousia.” Against this we would remind our readers that the parable of Lazarus mentions a calling for and carrying away of pious souls (Luk_16:22). There, indeed, the coming of angels is still the temporary substitute for Christ’s coming Himself. But when dying Stephen prays: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Act_7:58), he takes it for granted that the Lord is coming to meet his parting spirit; for this cause he saw Jesus beforehand, already standing, i.e. having arisen from His throne, on the point of receiving or fetching him (Act_7:55). Further, unless we are willing to affirm that the saying of Christ, Joh_21:22, has not been fulfilled, there is no way in which we can understand it except as referring to His coming to John in death, to take him away with Him. Dying believers also (not “Apostles and Martyrs” only) are in Jesus’ hand (Joh_10:28). But, without doubt, this coming of Jesus to believers in death is connected with His spiritual and yet personal coming to them in life, in Word and Sacrament, and in the Holy Ghost (Joh_17:23; Rev_1:8; Joh_3:20) and, similarly, it points to the last coming of Christ (Stier, and my Leben Jesu,
ÉÉ
. p. 1351). Tholuck: “It only remains to
explain
ἐñ÷ïìáé
agreeably to Biblical usage, according to which the word to come, to visit,
ô÷ã
, is employed to express every revelation of the Lord, every manifestation of His power, whether for good or evil, comp. Joh_14:18; Joh_14:23; Joh_14:30; Mat_10:23; Mat_26:64, and in Revelation whose whole theme is the
ἔñ÷åóèáé
of the Lord.”
[Alford in loc., with Stier and Lange, takes a comprehensive ‘perspective’ view of the coming again of our Lord from the resurrection of Christ to the final judgment. “This
ἔñ÷ïìáé
is begun (Joh_14:18) in His resurrection—carried on (Joh_14:23) in the spiritual life (Joh_16:22 ff.), the making them ready for the place prepared;—further advanced when each by death is fetched away to be with Him (Php_1:23); fully completed at His coming in glory, when they shall for ever be with Him (1Th_4:17) in the perfected resurrection state.”—P. S.]
Joh_14:4. And whither I go.—See the Text. note. According to the Recepta Christ says to them: “Ye know the goal whither I go, and so ye also know the way.” This reading seems to be confirmed by Joh_14:5, since Thomas too distinguishes between the goal and the way. But the connection rests upon the contrast of Christ’s spiritual view to the sensual view which Thomas takes of the matter. Christ means to say: because ye know the way to the place to which I am going, ye also know the goal. Thomas, on the other hand, says: because we know not the goal, neither do we know the way. For here the subject of discourse is not simply the Father’s house, or the Father generally, as the goal of Christ (Joh_14:2, to which Tholuck refers), but that place in the hereafter, the place of Christ’s glory. The way should be their guide to an inference concerning the goal. Interpretation of the way: 1. The Passion and death of Christ (Luther, Grotius and others, Luthardt. Tholuck “the way of denial,” Joh_13:36; Joh_12:24; Joh_12:26). 2. Christ Himself, in accordance with Joh_14:6 (De Wette, Meyer). Christ most undoubtedly; Christ, however, in His motion; consequently the view presented in No. 1 is equally to be held here, in accordance with Joh_14:3 (Tittmann, Knapp). The expression is not anacoluthical; it is a specimen of breviloquence. And whither I (
ἐãþ
, emphatic) go, thither ye know the way. Christ is the living way for Himself and His people to
äüîá
with the Father.
Joh_14:5. Thomas saith unto Him: Lord, we know not.—This was perfectly correct, supposing the goal to be inwardly and outwardly determined. Here the way or direction is known only by the goal. Grotius: Quodsi ignoretur, quæ sit meta, non potest via sub ratione viæ concipi. But this reflection is an accessory consideration merely; the main point is the oppressive sense of obscurity, of uncertainty with regard to the goal—uncertainty arising from their imperfect apprehension of their Lord and Master.
Joh_14:6. Jesus saith unto him: I am the way.—The answer of Jesus is not intended to divert the over-forward curiosity of Thomas, as Calvin supposes. (“In re magis necessaria insistit.”) Thomas has declared that he does not know the way to that goal of Christ, because he is ignorant of the goal itself. Jesus answers, very pertinently: I am the way; only for Him the way means something different from the idea which it conveys to the mind of Thomas. The contrast is, however, not that which exists between an exterior way and a spiritual one; it is a contrast between a local, dead, external way and a dynamical, living way, with which latter, incontrovertibly, the attribute of spirituality is bound up. Since the way is the main idea, it follows: 1. that the words: the truth and the life [
êáὶ ἡ ἀëÞèåéá êáὶ ἡ æùÞ
], are explicative (the truth as well as the life), primarily of this way, i.e. for this reason: because He is absolutely truth and life; 2. that, on the other hand, the words: No one cometh unto the Father but by Me, are an applicative circumscription. The significative summing up of Augustine: vera via vitæ [the true way of life], is inadmissible, for it fuses into one the three definitions. Neither may they be apprehended as three co-ordinate definitions as (1) in respect of time; Luther: the beginning, the middle and the end on the ladder to heaven; (2) in respect of effects, Grotius: exemplum, doctor, dator vitæ æternæ. On the contrary, the way is the whole idea, metaphorically presented (De Wette, my Leben Jesu, p. 1353, Tholuck). We must further guard against conceiving of the way as the bare, objective means of salvation (Meyer, Tholuck); it is the objective and effectual means of coming to
äüîá
with the Father through salvation (redemption and glorification comprehended together in the predominant idea of glorification). But He is the way in an absolute sense because, in His own coming from the Father and going to the Father, He is absolute motion (the pioneer) and in His going first and bringing to the Father, He is the absolute motor. (A warranted double reference in Augustine, Lampe and others, misconstrued by Tholuck as an irrelevancy; Heb_9:12.)
But now, to enter into particulars, Christ is the truth of this way, the clear manifestation of it, because He is, in general, the truth or manifestation of God; and He is the life of this way, the animating motive power by which we come to the Father, because He is, in general, life. This life is, indeed,
æùὴ áἰþíéïò
; it is, however, in part conceived of more generally, in part differently applied. The difficult conception of life presents for observation these items: the powers of development, appearance and action. If we turn truth into the metaphorical expression: light, then light and life appear side by side as exponents of the way,—that being identical with love, and, similarly, our transport past hate and its exponents, darkness and death.
No man cometh unto the Father.—“ ‘And so, when a man is saved, the Lord Christ must have a hand in the work,’ says Luther, rightly citing these words against Zwingli, who makes a Theseus, a Socrates, to be saved even without Christ.” Thus Tholuck; inexactly, however; proof should have been adduced that Zwingli expressly taught the possibility of being saved in the other world without Christ, and that Luther, on the other hand, advanced the doctrine of salvation in the other world through Christ. De Wette observes: “the exclusive principle, to the effect, namely, that no man cometh unto the Father but by Christ, is mitigated in reference to those who are ignorant of Him as the historical Messiah, by the fact that He is also the eternal, ideal Logos.” More definitely stated: that He is also the eternal Christ and High-priest. (See 1Pe_3:19; 1Pe_4:6.)
Joh_14:7. If ye had known Me.—In accordance with the antithesis: known the Father, the emphasis falls thus: known Me, not upon
ἐãíþê
. It is not His intention utterly to deny their knowledge of His personality; what grieves Him, is that they have as yet not recognized in Him the absolute way to the absolute goal, i.e. the living, heavenly image of the heavenly Father,—an image coming from heaven and going to heaven. In a knowledge of the eternal, divine-human personality of Christ they would also have obtained a view of the personal Father and His love-kingdom in heaven—a kingdom elevated above all transitory things.—And from henceforth.—The sharp contrast: ye have not known the Father, and from henceforth ye know Him, is somewhat striking; hence it has been the subject of various interpretations: 1. The terminus a quo is imminent in the future; it is the time of the communication of the Spirit (Chrysost., Lücke and others; the explanation of Kuinoel and others, who apprehend the verbs as though they were in the Future tense, is but another phase of the above). 2. The statement is hypothetical: from henceforth, I hope (De Wette). 3. The from henceforth is indicative of the beginning of appropriation, comp. Joh_15:3 (Tholuck). 4. From henceforth, “after My having told you, Joh_14:6, what I am” (Meyer).—The from henceforth denotes that method just now to be disclosed by Him, and which He desired sharply to define, by which they were to arrive at a knowledge of the Father and the Father’s House—the method of faith, namely. Doubtless, however, the
ἄñôé
at the same time embraces the confirmation of this method by the whole grand period of Christ’s death and resurrection, whereby, according to Rom_1:4, He was demonstrated to be the Son of God and thus at once made the Surety and the Heir of the Father in heaven. The
êáß
is expressive of both contrast and connection.—Ye have seen Him.—Said of the intuitive glance of faith.
Joh_14:8. Philip saith unto Him: Lord, show us, etc.—As the seeming contradictions of reality darken the glimpse which Thomas’ faith might have of things spiritual, so Philip, in like manner, looks for the confirmation of faith by sight; comp. Joh_1:46; Joh_6:5. According to De Wette, Tholuck, Meyer: he demands that Jesus effect a theophany, in accordance with Mal_3:1; as Exo_33:18. The main point is this: accepting Christ’s words: ye have seen Him, in their literal sense, he requires that Jesus should occasion an appearing of the Father outside of Christ; a sign in the heaven, perhaps, rather than a theophany. Luther: “he flutters up into the clouds.” He declares his faith by assuming Jesus to be capable of producing such a vision; his failing to perceive the manifestation of the Father in Christ, however, proves that faith to be but small.—And it sufficeth us.—I. e. in accordance with the context: it suffices to render us certain of the goal above us or beyond us, and to make us journey towards it with a brave heart; or, to cause us to abandon the expectations we have hitherto entertained and to embrace the new hope.
Joh_14:9. And thou hast not known Me.—For so long time I have appeared among you and hast thou not known the nature of My appearing? Not alone from the “words and works,” but from the whole personality of Christ he should have recognized His heavenly origin, which did, indeed, display itself in word and work.
Joh_14:10. I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.—See Joh_10:38. There the order is inverted, and with reason. The Father is in Christ in virtue of His Father-revelation in the works of Christ. Christ is in the Father in virtue of His Son-revelation in His words. The Jews were to ascend from a belief in His works and mission to a belief in His words and individual personality. But the disciples began with a belief in His word and they have not to ascend to a belief in His works, but to advance to a discrimination between the manifestation of the Father in Him through His works and His being in the Father with His word. Though Christ even speaks His word according to the Father’s commission (Joh_12:50), there is still this distinction: that the words are His most individual, personal life-revelation, while in the works the most special concurrence of the Father’s government is, consciously to Christ, manifested in the creation and the human world. We may not wipe out this contrast with De Wette: “The words that I speak to you, I speak not of Myself, and the works that I do, I do not of Myself, but the Father who is in Me teacheth Me the words and doeth the works.” Neither does there occur a climactic progression (as Theoph. and Lücke pretend): not only are the words God’s words, but the works also are God’s works. As little are the works here intended as a proof that Christ does not speak the words of Himself (Grot., Fritzsche, Meyer). Least of all are the works to be apprehended as effects of the word as “the office of teaching” (Aug., Nösselt); nor are we to assume with Tholuck the existence of an “incongruence of contrasts peculiar to the Johannean style.” Even the words Christ speaks not of Himself; as the Son He utters them from the depths of the Father; as it respects them, however, the initiative lies within Himself, while for the works the initiative is in the Father who permanently dwells in Him (
ìÝíùí
). Words and works are the property of both Father and Son; the words, however, are preëminently and primarily the Son’s, the works preëminently and primarily the Father’s.
Joh_14:11. Believe me for the very works’ sake [
äéὰ ôὰ ἔñãá áὐôὰ ðéóôåýåôÝ ìïé
].—Jesus here turns to the disciples as a body. For as Thomas’ doubt was, more or less, the doubt of all, so the like was the case with the scruple of Philip. The explanation of the verse results from the foregoing. As disciples of Jesus, they ought first to believe that He was in the Father and then to know that the Father was in Him. If ye are not able to do this,—it is His intention to say to them in a few sharp words,—why then go to work the other way: begin with the works (in the way pointed out to the Jews, Joh_10:38) and, through a belief in the divinity of My works, arrive at a belief in the divinity of My person.
Joh_14:12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do he shall do also, etc.—Now follows, undoubtedly, a new series of consolations. Not only shall they be united to Him, but also He to them (Tholuck). The further progress of the discourse, however, must correspond with the principal thought, according to which His earthly appearance shall cease to veil from them the heavenly house of the Father. The disclosure of which we speak, consists in the revelation of that personal, heavenly life which issues from His person as its centre. Verily, verily, therefore it is written, he that believeth on Me, i.e. on the divine personality of Christ Himself, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these. I. e.: Through this faith there shall be developed in that man likewise such a mighty, personal spirit-life that works shall be the necessary outflowings of the life-spring of personality, which, originating in Christ, wells up within his breast;. the heavenly state shall be unfolded to him on earth and become his surety for the heavenly home, which last should be regarded as the perfect revelation and realization of the personal kingdom of love founded by Christ in this world.—He that believeth on Me.—Not simply applicable “to the disciples of Jesus” in the strictest sense (Meyer). Still the “believeth on Me,” is emphatic. Bengel: qui Christo de se loquenti credit, i.e. he that believes on Himself, His personality (see Joh_14:11).—The works that I do he shall also do himself.—Expressive of the essential relationship or homogeneousness existing between the works of believers and the works of Christ; of the eternal progress of Christ’s wonder-works through the world by means of Christianity.
And (even) greater than these shall he do [
êáé ìåßæïíá ôïýôùí ðïéÞóåé
].—The
êáß
is climactic: And even. Tholuck: “Ancient writers believe this greaterness [
ìåéæïíüôçò
] of the
ἔñãá
to consist: 1. In their numerical superiority; 2. in their local extension beyond Judea; 3. in the more striking signs, such as the healing by the shadow of Peter, Acts 5 (Theod., Herakl.). Origen: In the victories which believers obtain, through faith, over the world, the flesh and the devil. Augustine: In the results of the preached word in the heathen world. Joh_4:38 He had, with prophetic glance, declared that others would reap what He had sowed; Joh_15:26-27, and, indirectly, Joh_8:28; Joh_12:32 are likewise indicative of the greater efficacy of the Messiah through the medium of the apostolic testimony.” Be it observed in this connection that even here, Joh_14:14, it is Christ that will do these greater works; the disciples, through their prayers in His name, in fellowship with Him, are to be but the instruments through which He acts, Joh_15:16; Joh_16:28; comp. Act_3:6; Act_16:18. Luther: “For He took but a little corner for Himself, to preach and to work miracles in, and but a little time; whereas the apostles and their followers have spread themselves through the whole world.” Manifestly, Christ has in view the greatness of the development of His wondrous works throughout the Christian ages until the glorification of the world. [Alford: “This word
ìåßæïíá ôïýôùí
is not to be evaded (so as to=
ðëåßïíá
, Lampe), but taken in its full strict sense. And the key to its meaning will be found Joh_1:51; Joh_5:20. The works which Jesus did, His Apostles also did,—scil., raising the dead, etc.;—greater works than those they did,—not in degree, but in kind: spiritual works, under the dispensation of the Spirit, which had not yet come in. But they did them, not as separate from Him: but in Him, and by Him; and so (Joh_5:21) He is said so to do them. The work which He did by Peter’s sermon, Acts 2, was one of these
ìåßæïíá ôïýôùí
,—the first-fruits of the unspeakable gift. This union of them with and in Him is expressed here by
ôὰ ἔñãá ἃ ἐãὼ ðïéῶ
,
êἀêåῖíïò ðïéÞóåé
.” “He has sown, we reap; and the harvest is greater than the seed-time.” Stier. Godet (ii. 472) refers the
ìåßæïíá
to the communication of spiritual life which is superior to the healing of the body. “Le terme plus grand ne désigne pas des miracles plus prodigieux, mais des miracles d’une nature plus excellente.”—P. S.]
For I am going to the Father, and whatever ye shall ask, etc. [
ὄôéἐãὼðñὸòôὸíðáôÝñá
(
ìïõ
)
ðïñåýïìá é
,
êáὶ ὅ
,
ôé ἄí áἰôÞóçôå
].—Rationale of the preceding and, in the abstract, astonishing clause. Various interpretations: 1. The
ðïñåýïìáé
forms the foundation for the idea that they are to do the miracles in His stead, because of His retirement from the scene (Chrysostom, Theophylact and many others [A. V.]); 2. because He goes to the Father, i.e. to glory with the Father and will thence work in them in His might (Luther, Baumg.-Crusius, Luthardt and others). In the first case a period follows
ðïñåýïìáé
; in the second a comma. 3. The two considerations are not to be sundered. His going to the Father (
ἐãþ
is emphasized), as well as His being with the Father, is the reason for their doing greater miracles (Grotius, Lücke and others). When this view of the matter is taken,
ðïñåýïìáé
is connected with the following sentence by a colon (Knapp, Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf). Both items are more directly emphasized in Joh_16:7, in accordance with which our passage is to be explained.
Joh_14:13. Shall ask in My name.—Exposition of the import of His going to the Father, in reference to their destiny to work miracles. Invocation of God in the name of Jesus, in order to any
ôὶ
in the way of works of redemption or glorification; that is, in order to the working of miracles. Their power of prayer is to have no other limit than His name. A name is objectively the revelation of any subject,—subjectively, experience of it; the signature of its consciousness stamped upon the consciousness of others. The name of the heavenward ascending Jesus is the Elijah-mantle left by Him to His people on the earth: the sign of the living revelation and knowledge of His essence, in which His essence, fully concentrated, works. His name, viewed by faith, is the continual working of His essence, or, rather, of His personality: the element of His personal self-revelation in the experience of His people; hence a. His word or cognizance, b. His Spirit or mind, c. His works, His institutions and instigations, d. His aim. In a word: the communion of His Spirit. There are various interpretations which form different parts of the one just given: I. Bearing upon the principle. Chrysostom: Amidst the invocation of the name of Christ (formal); Augustine; In the name of Him who is called Salvator (non contra salutem nostram); 2. Bearing upon the medium. Melanchthon: Me agnito; Luther: With faith in Me; Calov: Per meritum meum. 3. Bearing upon the end. Erasmus: In gloriam Christi. Or upon the furtherance of the end; De Wette: In accordance with My mind, and in My cause. If we desire to sum up all in one, No. 2, setting forth the medium, seems best fitted for our purpose: in faith, knowing and confessing Christ; hence, briefly,
ἐí ÷ñéóôῷ
,
ἐí êõñßῳ
(Lücke), only with a more objective and teleological modification. Manifestly, the prevailing thought is the end purposed; hence the predominance of the idea: as ambassadors of Christ, the Son of God, by virtue of His
äüîá
. See Joh_15:16; Joh_16:23. Tholuck: “When even finite good things are prayed for in accordance with the mind of Christ, they are desired only as means to the final end, Mat_6:33. As, however, this may be attained by other means, the cardo desiderii is fulfilled even when specific requests are denied” (Augustine). Nevertheless, the ideal side of prayer, its perfect, prophetic nature, is here assumed, and, such being the case, the
ὃ
,
ôé
is fulfilled in the
ôïῦôï
.
That will I do [
ôïῦôï ðïéÞóù
].—Stress falls upon
ôïῦôï
; the
ἐãþ
, expressed in conjunction with
ðïñåýïìáé
, is absent here. He will do precisely that for which they pray, and in such a manner, besides, that their doing in the matter shall be vindicated,—their believing, individual personality.
That the Father may be glorified.—The end is the
äüîá
; modified, the
äüîá
of the Father; still more explicitly defined, the
äüîá
of the Father in the Son. Hence results, also, the modification of prayer in the name of Jesus as prayer in the
äüîá
of the name of the Son of God, in the name of the glorified Christ.
Joh_14:14. If ye shall ask anything [
ôé
] in My name, I will do it [
ἐãþ
—emphatic—
ðïéÞóù
].
Joh_14:14 appears, at first sight, to be a recapitulative repetition of the foregoing (Euthymius); Bengel, however, very justly gives prominence to the
ἐãþ
. Here the definite
ὃ
