John 14:1,2

Vv. 1, 2. “ Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2. In my Father's house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you;I go to prepare a place for you. ”

The division of the Chapter s here is very faulty; for the following words are in close relation with the preceding conversation, and particularly with the words of Jesus: Thou shalt follow me afterwards. Extending this same promise to all the disciples (comp. John 13:33), Jesus explains to them in what way they will be able to rejoin Him. He is going away for the moment to prepare for them their place in heaven (John 14:2); then He will return to seek them in order to transport them thither (John 14:3). We must place ourselves at this particular point of view in order to thoroughly understand the exhortation to confidence, which John 14:1 contains. Very far from bringing trouble to their hearts, His departure should fill them with the sweetest hope. They should have confidence in God, who directs this work and does not leave their Master to perish through weakness, and in Jesus Himself, who executes the work on His part, and who, far from being separated from it by death, is going to continue and complete it above. I think, with most, that the two πιστεύετε, believe, are more in harmony with the imperative ταρασσέσθω, let it not be troubled, if they are both taken as imperatives. Others take them both (Luther) as indicatives (you believe), or only the first (Erasmus, Calvin, Grotius), or only the second (Olshausen). Jesus would, in order to dispel their trouble, remind them of the faith which they already have in Him or in God or in both. This would be quite useless. In the second member, the limiting word in me is placed before the verb; this is in order better to set forth the antithesis of the two limiting phrases in God and in me: “Have confidence in God; in me also have confidence.”

A first motive for confidence is given in John 14:2; it refers rather to confidence in God. Jesus points out to them that the house of the Father, to which He returns, is wide enough to receive them all and many others with them. The image is derived from those immense oriental palaces in which there is an apartment, not only for the sovereign and for the heir to the throne, but for all the king's sons, however numerous they may be. The term πολλαί, many, does not by any means refer to a diversity among these mansions (as if Jesus would allude to the different degrees of heavenly felicity), but only to their number: there are as many as there are believers; each one will possess his own in this vast edifice.

This heavenly dwelling is above all the emblem of a spiritual state: that of communion with the Father, the filial position which is accorded to Christ in the divine glory, and in which He will give believers a share. But this state will be realized in a definite place, the place where God most illustriously manifests His presence and His glory heaven. Lange thinks that when uttering these words Jesus pointed His disciples to the starry heaven; but John 14:31 proves that they were still in the room.

According to the Alexandrian reading, ὅτι, that or because, must be read after the words I would have told you: “I would have told you that I go away,” or “ because I go away.” The first of these meanings is incompatible with John 14:3, where Jesus says precisely that He is going away and for the purpose of preparing.

The Fathers who, in general, adopt this meaning, have not been successful in getting rid of the contradiction to that which follows, which it implies. Weiss and Keil, with their systematic preference for the Alexandrian authorities, try the second meaning, because; the former, by making this conjunction bear on the verb I would have told, but without being able to derive from it an intelligible thought; Keil, by referring the because to: there are many mansions, which forces us to make a parenthesis of the intermediate words: “There are many mansions... if not...I would have told you because I am going to prepare a place for you there.” But wherein is the stated proof: I go to prepare, more certain than the fact affirmed: there is room? And this parenthesis, which is not indicated by anything, is unnatural. In this case again it must be acknowledged that the reading of the Alexandrian authorities is indefensible; the ὅτι is an addition arising from the fact that it was desired to make the following words the contents of the verb I would have said. Some, whether rejecting or preserving the ὅτι, take the preceding words in the interrogative sense: “ Would I have said to you (that I am going to prepare a place for you)?” But He had nowhere said anything of this kind.

Others translate: “ Would I say it to you (at this moment)?” But, in this case, the imperfect (ἔλεγον ἄν) would be necessary. We must, therefore, return to the simplest interpretation: “If it were not so, I would have told you.” That is to say: “If our separation were to be eternal, I would have forewarned you; I would not have waited until this last moment to declare it to you;” or, as Grotius says, Ademissem vobis spem inanem.

Their faith in God must make them understand that the Father's house is spacious. But it is also needful that the access to it should be opened to them, and that they should have their dwelling there assured. Here it is that faith in Jesus intervenes, as the complement of faith in the Father. He is their πρόδρομος, their forerunner, to heaven (Hebrews 6:20). Under this image He causes them to view both His death, which, through reconciliation, will open for them the entrance to heaven, and His exaltation, by means of which there will be created in His person a glorious state in which He will afterwards give them a share. And the following is the way in which He will prepare it.