John 14:21

Vv. 21 states with preciseness the manner of this illumination. Jesus had said summarily, John 14:15: “ Keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father. ” Here he enumerates in detail all the links of the chain of graces which will be connected with this practical fidelity of His followers: It is necessary to hold inwardly (ἔχειν) His word, and to observe it practically (τηρεῖν); this is not done by the world, which has heard it, but rejected it; for this reason it is not fitted to receive these higher graces.

By means of this moral fidelity,

1. Such an individual (ἐκεῖνος, that exceptional man) assumes the character of a being who truly loves Jesus (ὁ ἀγαπῶν με).

2. Hence he becomes the beloved of the Father, who, loving the Son, also loves whoever makes Him the object of his love. This love of the Father is not that which is spoken of in John 3:16: “ God so loved the world. ” These two loves differ as the compassion of a man for his guilty and wretched neighbor and the tender affection of a father for his child, or a husband for his wife, differ.

3. The Son, seeing the eye of the Father turning with tenderness towards the disciple who loves Him, feels Himself united with the latter by a new bond (“ and I will love him ”); He loves him still more tenderly in proportion as He sees the love of the Father enveloping him.

4. Finally, from all this follows the supreme miracle of the love of the Father and the Son: the perfect revelation which Jesus gives to the disciple of Himself: I will manifest myself to him.

This is the condition of the you shall know, John 14:20. This altogether extraordinary term ἐμφανίζειν refers to the inward manifestation of the Messiah. It will not by any means suit the external and passing appearances of the Risen One, to which even Weiss gives up referring it; but to substitute what? Certain manifestations of the nearness of Jesus granted to His disciples in the course of their life, like that of the Lord to Moses (Exodus 33:13; Exo 33:18); “but in any case not by means of the Spirit,” adds this interpreter. And yet the asyndeta after John 14:17 prove, by themselves alone, that Jesus is here developing the promise of the gift of the Spirit; and John 14:23 shows clearly enough what Jesus means to speak of in John 14:21. It is precisely this wholly inward character of the manifestation described in John 14:21 which calls forth the question of Judas in John 14:22.

In the face of these interruptions of the disciples, Gess compares Jesus to a skilful pilot who does not suffer himself to be turned aside by the rushing waves, but by a prompt stroke of the helm gives each time to the ship the desired direction.