ON THE CONVERSATIONS IN CHAP. 14. The subject on which this chapter turns is indeed that which the situation calls for: the approaching separation. Jesus calms His disciples, who are profoundly troubled by this prospect, by promising them a twofold meeting again, the one more remote in the Father's... [ Continue Reading ]
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 rel... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 1-11. 1. The discourse which occupies the fourteenth chapter is apparently suggested by the thought expressed in John 13:36: “Thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.” The announcement of His approaching death, which Jesus had g... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 3. “ _And if I shall have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also._ ” The place being once assured and prepared for them, they must be brought to reach it. It is He who will also charge Himself with this office. The re... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 4. “ _And whither I go you know, and the way you know._ ” We translate according to the received reading, which has in its favor 14 Mjj., the _Peschito_ and most of the manuscripts of the _Itala._ According to it, Jesus attributes to the disciples the knowledge both of the _end_ and of the _way... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Thomas says to him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how do we know the way?_ 6. _Jesus says to him, I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me._ ” Peter desired to follow Jesus immediately; this request having been rejected, Thomas wishes at least to u... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 7. “ _If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; and from henceforth you know him and have seen him._ ” This verse reproduces the idea of the last clause of the preceding verse, that of coming to the Father through Jesus. If Jesus is really the manifestation of God (John 14:6), t... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Philip says to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us._ 9. _Jesus says to him, So long a time am I with you, and thou hast not known me! Philip, he who has seen me, has seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Show us the Father?_ ” On occasion of these interruptions which the disciples a... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; and the Father, who dwells in me, he does the works._ 11. _Believe me when I say to you that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me; and, if not, believe me... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that believes on me, he also shall do the works which I do, and he shall do still greater things than these, because I go to the Father_, 13. _and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son._ 14. _If... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 14 is a reaffirmation of that astonishing promise; this is indicated already by the asyndeton: “Yes, it will indeed be so!” By the words: ὅτι ἄν, _whatsoever_, Jesus opens an immeasurable field to the Christian ambition of His disciples. The received reading ἐγὼ ποιήσω, “ _I_ will do it,” is cer... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 15-24. 1. The meaning of the word παράκλητος has been much discussed. It is evidently founded upon the verb παρακαλεῖν as a verbal adjective, and the fundamental sense of the word is _called to one's side_, or _aid._ That it has, in the classical usage,... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _If you love me, keep my commandments._ 16. _And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another support, that he may abide with you eternally_, 17. _the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not neither knows him;but you know him, because he abides with you; an... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I will not leave you orphans: I come again to you._ 19. _Yet a little while, and the world shall see me no more; but you shall see me; because I live, you shall live also._ ” The term _orphans_ is in harmony with the address _my little children_ (John 13:33); it is the language of the dying fathe... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _In that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you._ 21. _He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him._ ” The absence of a particle between these w... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 22. “ _Judas, not Iscariot, says to him, Lord, and what is come to pass, that thou art to show thyself to us, and not to the world?_ ” The mode of the revelation of which Jesus had just spoken entirely perplexed the minds of the disciples, which were ever directed towards the outward manifestat... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 23 justified the _to us_ in the question of Judas; John 14:24 answers to: _and not to the world._ Between the two clauses of John 14:24, this idea must be understood: “It is not a small thing to reject my teaching; and indeed (καί) it is the teaching of God Himself” (John 12:49, etc.). Conclusio... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus answered and said to him, If any one loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him and we will come to him, and make our abode with him._ 24. _He who does not love me, does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me._ ” Jesus conti... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I have spoken these things to you while I am yet with you._ 26. _But the support, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance which I have said to you._ ” We might endeavor to connect these words with the preceding... [ Continue Reading ]
1. The phrase ταῦτα λελάληκα is repeated several times in these Chapter s, and evidently refers, in each case, to the entire section which precedes. Here, the reference is to the whole discourse of this chapter. After presenting the three grounds of consolation and encouragement, Jesus closes with a... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give it to you; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid._ 28. _You have heard how I said to you, I go away, and come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father; for my Fa... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 29. This disappearance of Jesus, so contrary to their thoughts, might in itself shake their faith; but Jesus applies to this trial what He had said of the treachery of Judas: through the fact that He has foretold it to them, it will, on the contrary, turn to the strengthening of their faith. An... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I will no more speak much with you; for the prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me._ 31. _But that the world may know that I love my Father and that I act according as the Father has commanded me_, _arise, let us go hence._ ” Jesus feels the approach of His invisible enemy. The... [ Continue Reading ]