John 14:8-13

14:8 Philip said, ¹  “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.” ²  14:9 Jesus replied, ³  “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known ⁴  me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? ⁵  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ⁶  but the Father residing in me performs ⁷  his miraculous deeds. ⁸  14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, ⁹  believe because of the miraculous deeds ¹⁰  themselves. 14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹¹  the person who believes in me will perform ¹²  the miraculous deeds ¹³  that I am doing, ¹⁴  and will perform ¹⁵  greater deeds ¹⁶  than these, because I am going to the Father. 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, ¹⁷  so that the Father may be glorified ¹⁸  in the Son.

[14:8]  ¹ tn Grk “said to him.”

[14:8]  ² tn Or “and that is enough for us.”

[14:9]  ³ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:9]  ⁴ tn Or “recognized.”

[14:10]  ⁵ tn The mutual interrelationship of the Father and the Son (ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν, egw en tw patri kai Jo pathr en emoi estin) is something that Jesus expected even his opponents to recognize (cf. John 10:38). The question Jesus asks of Philip (οὐ πιστεύεις, ou pisteuei") expects the answer “yes.” Note that the following statement is addressed to all the disciples, however, because the plural pronoun (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is used. Jesus says that his teaching (the words he spoke to them all) did not originate from himself, but the Father, who permanently remains (μένων, menwn) in relationship with Jesus, performs his works. One would have expected “speaks his words” here rather than “performs his works”; many of the church fathers (e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom) identified the two by saying that Jesus’ words were works. But there is an implicit contrast in the next verse between words and works, and v. 12 seems to demand that the works are real works, not just words. It is probably best to see the two terms as related but not identical; there is a progression in the idea here. Both Jesus’ words (recall the Samaritans’ response in John 4:42) and Jesus’ works are revelatory of who he is, but as the next verse indicates, works have greater confirmatory power than words.

[14:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”

[14:10]  ⁷ tn Or “does.”

[14:10]  ⁸ tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”

[14:11]  ⁹ tn The phrase “but if you do not believe me” contains an ellipsis; the Greek text reads Grk “but if not.” The ellipsis has been filled out (“but if [you do] not [believe me]…”) for the benefit of the modern English reader.

[14:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “because of the works.”

[14:12]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ¹² tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “greater works.”

[14:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”

[14:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “may be praised” or “may be honored.”