John 14 - Introduction
CHAPTER 14.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 14.... [ Continue Reading ]
But as they sat astounded and perplexed, He continues, Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία. Let not your heart be tossed and agitated like water driven by winds; _cf._ Liddell and S. and Thayer. He not only commands them to dismiss their agitation, but gives them reason: πιστεύετε … πιστεύετε. “Trust God, y... [ Continue Reading ]
to John 14:31 comprise one continuous conversation, introduced by Jesus' announcement (John 13:31-35) of His speedy departure.... [ Continue Reading ]
As an encouragement to this trust, He adds, ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ … ὑμῖν. He is going home to His Father's house, but had there been room in it only for Himself He would necessarily have told them that this was the case, because the very reason of His going was to prepare a place for them, ὅτι assigns the rea... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither will He prepare a place and leave them to find their own way to it. καὶ ἐὰν πορευθῶ … ἦτε. “ _If_ I go”; that is, the commencement of this work as their forerunner was the pledge of its completion. And its completion is effected by His coming again and receiving them to Himself, or “to His o... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω οἴδατε τὴν ὁδόν. The ἐγώ is emphatic: the disciples knew the direction in which He was going.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A second interruption occasioned by Thomas_.... [ Continue Reading ]
But this statement bewilders the despondent Thomas, who gloomily interjects: Κύριε … εἰδέναι; Thomas' difficulty is that not knowing the goal they cannot know the way. In the reply of Jesus both the goal and the way are disclosed.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγώ εἰμι … ἐμοῦ. “I am the way and the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father save through me.” I do not merely point out the way and teach the truth and bestow life, but I am the way and the truth and the life, so that by attachment to me one necessarily is in the way and possesses the trut... [ Continue Reading ]
He is the essential knowledge, εἰ ἐγνώκειτέ με … Some press the distinction between ἐγνώκειτε and ἤδειτε, “the first representing a knowledge acquired and progressive; the second a knowledge perceptive and immediate”. But this discrimination is here inappropriate. The clause explains the foregoing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Λέγει … ἡμῖν. Philip, seizing upon the ἑωράκατε αὐτόν of John 14:7, utters the universal human craving to see God, to have the same indubitable direct knowledge of Him as we have of one another. Perhaps Philip supposed some appearance visible to the eye would be granted. Always there persists the fe... [ Continue Reading ]
_A third interruption by Philip; to which Jesus replies, appending to His answer a promise which springs out of what He had said to Philip_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus corrects the error, and guides the craving to its true satisfaction. Τοσοῦτον χρόνον … πατέρα [τοσοῦτον χρόνον may be a gloss for the dative which is found in [85] [86] [87]. The manifestation which Philip craves had been made, and made continuously for some considerable time; for so long that... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ πιστεύεις … ἐστι; This unbelief was involved in Philip's question, but when the question of the mutual indwelling of the Father and Jesus was thus directly put to him, he would have no doubt as to the answer. _Cf._ John 10:38. The _fact_ of the union is indisputable; the _mode_ is inexplicable; s... [ Continue Reading ]
πιστεύετέ μοι … πιστεύετε. “Believe me,” _i.e._, my assertion, not my manifestation, “or if you find that difficult, believe on account of the works themselves”. The mention of His works and the evidence they afford that He is in the Father suggests to Him a ground of comfort for His disciples in vi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀμὴν … ποιήσει. The first encouragement is the assurance that through Christ's absence the disciples would be enabled to do greater works than Jesus Himself had done. These “greater” works were the spiritual effects accomplished by the disciples, especially the great novel fact of conversion. See th... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦτο ποιήσω, so what they do is still His doing; one condition being attached to their prayers, that they ask ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου. The name of a person can only be used when we seek to enforce his will and further his interests. This gives the condition of successful prayer: it must be for the furthe... [ Continue Reading ]
In John 14:14 the promise is repeated, as Euthymius says, for confirmation: τὸ αὐτὸ λέγει βεβαιῶν μάλιστα τὸν λόγον. Perhaps, too, additional significance is given to His agency by introducing ἐγώ. _Cf._ Bengel and Meyer.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐὰν … τηρήσατε. The fulfilment of the promise He is about to give depends upon their condition of heart and life. This therefore He announces as the preamble to the promise. On their side there would be a constant endeavour to carry out His instructions: on His side κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω … During His ministr... [ Continue Reading ]
_The second encouragement: the promise of another Paraclete_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Great as was the promise of this other helper, this spirit of truth, it did not seem to compensate for the departure of Jesus. “Another,” any other, was unable to fill the blank; it was Himself they craved. Therefore He goes on, οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς · ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, “I will not abandon you as... [ Continue Reading ]
_The third encouragement: that Jesus Himself will come to them and make Himself known to them_.... [ Continue Reading ]
In a short time, ἔτι μικρόν, the world would no longer see Him, but His disciples would be conscious of His presence, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ με, present for immediate future. His presence would be manifested in their new life which they would trace to Him, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσεσθε. This is confirmed... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, “in that day,” which does not mean Pentecost, but the new Christian era which was to be characterised by these experiences. _Cf._ Holtzmann. The sense of a new life produced by Christ would compel the conviction ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί … “that I am in the Father” in vital union with... [ Continue Reading ]
The conditions on which depended the manifestation of the departed Christ are then exhibited, ὁ ἔχων … ἐμαυτόν. The love to which Christ promises a manifestation of Himself is not an idle sentiment or shallow fancy, but a principle prompting obedience, ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου, _cf._ 1 John 2:7; 1Jn 4... [ Continue Reading ]
All that Jesus has said has borne more and more clearly in upon the mind of the disciples the disappointing conviction that the manifestation referred to is not to be on the expected Messianic lines. Accordingly Judas, not Iscariot, but Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3; Luke 6:16), says: τί γέγον... [ Continue Reading ]
_A fourth interruption, by Judas_.... [ Continue Reading ]
To this Jesus replies ἐάν τις … ποιήσομεν. The answer explains that the manifestation, being spiritual, must be individual and to those spiritually prepared. “It contemplates not a public discovery of power, but a sort of domestic visitation of love.” Bernard, πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα, “to him we will... [ Continue Reading ]
The necessity of love as a condition of this manifested presence is further emphasised by stating the converse, ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν με … πατρός. The κόσμος of John 14:22 is here more closely defined by ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν με. See Holtzmann.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ταῦτα λελάληκα … μένων, implying that this abiding and teaching were now at an end.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The conversation closed by bequest of peace_. The genuineness of this report of the last words of Jesus is guaranteed by the frequency with which He seems to be on the point of breaking off. The constant resumption, the adding of things that occur on the moment, these are the inimitable touch of na... [ Continue Reading ]
But His teaching would be continued and completed by the Paraclete: ὁ δὲ παράκλητος … ὑμῖν. The Paraclete is now identified with τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, and His connection with Christ is further guaranteed by the clause ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, “which the Father will send in my name,” that is... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰρήνην ἀφίημι ὑμῖν, “peace I bequeath to you”. The usual farewell was given with the word “peace”. And Jesus uses the familiar word, but instead of uttering a mere wish He turns it into a bequest, intimating His power not only to wish but to give peace in the further description εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δί... [ Continue Reading ]
On the contrary quite other feelings should possess them: joy in sympathy with Him in His glorification and in expectation of the results of His going to the Father: ἠκούσατε … πατέρα. “If ye loved me,” an almost playful way of reproaching their sadness. There was no doubt of their love, but it was... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ νῦν … πιστεύσητε. “I have told you now before it came to pass,” _i.e._, He has told them of His departure, that they might not be terrified or depressed by its occurrence, but might recognise it as foretold by Him as the consummation of His work and so might have their faith increased. _Cf._ Joh... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἔτι … ὑμῶν. “I will no longer speak much with you”; “temporis angustiae abripiunt verba,” Grotius. ἔρχεται … οὐδέν. “The ruler of this world” is Satan, see John 12:31. He “comes” in the treachery of Judas (John 13:27) and all that followed. But this coming was without avail, because ἐν ἐμοὶ οὐκ... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus goes to death not crushed by the machinations of Satan, “but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father has commanded me,” οὕτω ποιῶ, “thus I do,” applies to His whole life, which was throughout ruled by regard to the Father's commandment, but in the foreground of His tho... [ Continue Reading ]