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Joh_14:19. Ἔτι μικρ .] sc. ἐστι . Comp. Joh_13:33, Joh_16:16; Heb_10:37; Hos_1:4; Psa_37:10.
οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ ] Corporeally. Comp. also Act_10:41.
θεωρεῖτε ] But you, whilst the world no more beholds me, do behold me, although corporeally I am no more present, through the experience of my spiritual presence;[152] you behold me spiritually, in that you experience my presence and my communion with you, in the communication of myself, and in my working upon you by means of the Paraclete. The terminus a quo of the present tenses, which represent the near future as present, is, indeed, not quite the same in θεωρεῖ and θεωρεῖτε , since the ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ already begins with the death of Jesus, but the ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρ . με first after His return to the Father; this distinction, however, disappears before the Johannean view of the death of Jesus as a departure to God.
ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ , κ . ὑμ . ζήσεσθε ] Not: because I live, you also will live (Nonnus, Beza, Godet), but, corresponding to the progress of the discourse (comp. Joh_14:17), a statement of the reason of what precedes: for I live, and you shall live. Note the change from the present to the future, and that ζῶ and ζήσεσθε cannot without arbitrariness be taken as essentially different in idea, but that ζῶ manifestly, since it exists without interruption (present), denotes the higher life of Christ independent of death, of Christ, who, by His departure to the Father, becomes a partaker of the heavenly glory. Christ lives, for He is, indeed, Himself the Possessor and bearer of the true ζωή (comp. Joh_5:26); death, which translates Him into the glory of the Father, by no means breaks off this true and higher life of His (although His life ἐν σαρκί ceases), but is only the medium of the consummation and transfiguration of this His ζῆν into the everlasting heavenly ζωή and δόξα (comp. Col_3:3-4). Out of this consciousness the Lord here utters the words: ἐγὼ ζῶ . And He adds thereto: καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσεσθε : and you shall live, i.e. you shall be partakers (in its temporal development on to its glorious consummation) of the same higher ζωή , liable to no death (Joh_11:26), under the life-giving (Joh_6:33) influence of the Spirit. “Stat enim illud fixum, nullam fore ejus vitam membris mortuis,” Calvin. Thus the life is in both essentially alike, only with this difference, that it is original in Jesus, and with His approaching departure is already at its glorious consummation; but in the case of the disciples, being imparted by Christ in the Holy Spirit, who is the πνεῦμα τῆς ζωῆς (Rom_8:2), it is, in the first instance, to be unfolded within (before the Parousia as the living fellowship with the exalted Christ), in order to become, at the Parousia by means of the resurrection (Rom_8:11) and relative transformation (1Co_15:51-52), the participation in His δόξα . Comp. the idea of the συζῆν τῷ Χριστῷ in Paul, Rom_6:8; 2Co_7:3; 2Ti_2:11. The moment which assigns the reason ( ὅτι ) lies simply in this, that the above two-sided ζῆν is the necessary condition of the promised θεωρεῖτέ με . If the higher ζωή , that is meant, were to be the lot only of Christ, and not also thereafter (through the working of the Spirit) that of the disciples, there could be no mention of a beholding of the Lord on the part of the disciples. The paritas rationis for the mutual relation would be wanting, and thereby the disciples would lose the capacity (the eye, as it were) to see Christ. But thus the living behold the Living One. The reference to the resurrection of Jesus has led to interpretations like that of Grotius (comp. Euth. Zigabenus): you shall see me actually alive (“non spectrum”) and remaining in life amidst the impending dangers; or (so Theophylact, comp. Kuinoel): I shall, as having risen, be alive, and you shall be as newly made alive for joy! or: I rise again, and you shall (at the last day) arise (so Augustine). Again the interpretation of ζήσεσθε in Weiss (Lehrbegr. p. 70) of the new life, which arises in the disciples through the reappearance of the Risen One, who is recognised by them (as in the case of Thomas, Joh_20:28), is a forced expedient, proceeding from an erroneous assumption, and is not appropriate, moreover, to ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ , Joh_14:20, which is definite and valid for all disciples, nor to the intimate reciprocal confidence of Joh_14:20-21; wherefore Weiss again, adding violence to violence, explains Joh_14:21 of the further unfolding of the new communion begun with the appearances of the Risen One (p. 276). Had the resurrection been spoken of, the simplest explanation would be that of Kaeuffer, p. 136: “quae instat fortunae vicissitudo nec me nec vos poterit pessumdare,” according to which, however, a thought of much too small importance would result, and, besides, the change of tense is overlooked. But if, according to the above, both ζῶ and ζήσεσθε must embrace time and eternity, then De Wette has incorrectly limited ζήσεσθε to the life of faith with its joyous victory over death and the fear of death; on the other side again, Luthardt has erroneously understood it only of the life of transfiguration after the Parousia, because ἐγὼ ζῶ can only denote the glorified life,—an assumption, however, which is unsupported, since the expression used is not ἐγὼ ζήσομαι .
[152] Not: through the being caught away to me at the Parousia (Luthardt). The οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ and the θεωρεῖτε must certainly he contemporaneous. Invisible for the world (comp. Joh_7:33-34), Christ is beheld by His own.