John 14 - Introduction

"We come now to the last great discourse (14 17), which constitutes a striking and peculiar element in the Fourth Gospel … we cannot but recognise a change from the compact lucid addresses and exposition of the Synoptists.… This appears not so much in single verses as when we look at the discourse as a whole. In all the Synoptic Gospels, imperfectly as they are put together, there is not a single discourse that could be called involved in structure, and yet I do not see how it is possible to refuse this epithet to the discourse before us as given by S. John. The different subjects are not kept apart, but are continually crossing and entangling one another. The later subjects are anticipated in the course of the earlier; the earlier return in the later." Comp. the spiral movementnoticed in the Prologue, John 1:18.

"For instance, the description of the functions of the Paraclete is broken up … into five fragments (John 14:16-17; John 14:25-26; John 15:26; John 16:8-15; John 16:23-25).… The relation of the Church and the world is intersected just in the same way (John 14:22-24; John 15:18-25; John 16:1-3), besides scattered references in single verses.… We may consider the discourse perhaps under these heads: (1) the departure and the return, (2) the Paraclete, (3) the vine and its branches, (4) the disciples and the world." S. pp. 221 232. On the discourses in this Gospel generally see the introductory note to chapter 3.

CHAPTER 14

Chap. 14. Christ's love in keeping His own