John 14:9-31

14:9 Jesus replied, ¹  “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known ²  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? ³  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ⁴  but the Father residing in me performs ⁵  his miraculous deeds. ⁶  14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, ⁷  believe because of the miraculous deeds ⁸  themselves. 14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁹  the person who believes in me will perform ¹⁰  the miraculous deeds ¹¹  that I am doing, ¹²  and will perform ¹³  greater deeds ¹⁴  than these, because I am going to the Father. 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, ¹⁵  so that the Father may be glorified ¹⁶  in the Son. 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Teaching on the Holy Spirit

14:15 “If you love me, you will obey ¹⁷  my commandments. ¹⁸  14:16 Then ¹⁹  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate ²⁰  to be with you forever – 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, ²¹  because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides ²²  with you and will be ²³  in you.

14:18 “I will not abandon ²⁴  you as orphans, ²⁵  I will come to you. ²⁶  14:19 In a little while ²⁷  the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. 14:20 You will know at that time ²⁸  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys ²⁹  them is the one who loves me. ³⁰  The one ³¹  who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal ³²  myself to him.”

14:22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) ³³  said, ³⁴  “what has happened that you are going to reveal ³⁵  yourself to us and not to the world?” 14:23 Jesus replied, ³⁶  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ³⁷  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ³⁸  14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey ³⁹  my words. And the word ⁴⁰  you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

14:25 “I have spoken these things while staying ⁴¹  with you. 14:26 But the Advocate, ⁴²  the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ⁴³  everything, ⁴⁴  and will cause you to remember everything ⁴⁵  I said to you.

14:27 “Peace I leave with you; ⁴⁶  my peace I give to you; I do not give it ⁴⁷  to you as the world does. ⁴⁸  Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. ⁴⁹  14:28 You heard me say to you, ⁵⁰  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ⁵¹  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ⁵²  14:29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. ⁵³  14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, ⁵⁴  for the ruler of this world is coming. ⁵⁵  He has no power over me, ⁵⁶  14:31 but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know ⁵⁷  that I love the Father. ⁵⁸  Get up, let us go from here.” ⁵⁹ 

[14:9]  ¹ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:9]  ² tn Or “recognized.”

[14:10]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”

[14:10]  ⁵ tn Or “does.”

[14:10]  ⁶ tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”

[14:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Grk “because of the works.”

[14:12]  ⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ¹² tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  ¹³ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “greater works.”

[14:13]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”

[14:13]  ¹⁶ tn Or “may be praised” or “may be honored.”

[14:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:15]  ¹⁸ sn Jesus’ statement If you love me, you will obey my commandments provides the transition between the promises of answered prayer which Jesus makes to his disciples in vv. 13-14 and the promise of the Holy Spirit which is introduced in v. 16. Obedience is the proof of genuine love.

[14:16]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then” to reflect the implied sequence in the discourse.

[14:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). Finding an appropriate English translation for παράκλητος is a very difficult task. No single English word has exactly the same range of meaning as the Greek word. “Comforter,” used by some of the older English versions, appears to be as old as Wycliffe. But today it suggests a quilt or a sympathetic mourner at a funeral. “Counselor” is adequate, but too broad, in contexts like “marriage counselor” or “camp counselor.” “Helper” or “Assistant” could also be used, but could suggest a subordinate rank. “Advocate,” the word chosen for this translation, has more forensic overtones than the Greek word does, although in John 16:5-11 a forensic context is certainly present. Because an “advocate” is someone who “advocates” or supports a position or viewpoint and since this is what the Paraclete will do for the preaching of the disciples, it was selected in spite of the drawbacks.

[14:17]  ²¹ tn Or “cannot receive.”

[14:17]  ²² tn Or “he remains.”

[14:17]  ²³ tc Some early and important witnesses (Ì^66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ἐστιν (estin, “he is”) instead of ἔσται (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses ({Ì^66c,75vid א A D¹ L Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 33^vid Ï as well as several versions and fathers}), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ἐστιν is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both Ì⁶⁶ and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ἐστιν were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.

[14:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “leave.”

[14:18]  ²⁵ tn The entire phrase “abandon you as orphans” could be understood as an idiom meaning, “leave you helpless.”

[14:18]  ²⁶ sn I will come to you. Jesus had spoken in 14:3 of going away and coming again to his disciples. There the reference was both to the parousia (the second coming of Christ) and to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples. Here the postresurrection appearances are primarily in view, since Jesus speaks of the disciples “seeing” him after the world can “see” him no longer in the following verse. But many commentators have taken v. 18 as a reference to the coming of the Spirit, since this has been the topic of the preceding verses. Still, vv. 19-20 appear to contain references to Jesus’ appearances to the disciples after his resurrection. It may well be that another Johannine double meaning is found here, so that Jesus ‘returns’ to his disciples in one sense in his appearances to them after his resurrection, but in another sense he ‘returns’ in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell them.

[14:19]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Yet a little while, and.”

[14:20]  ²⁸ tn Grk “will know in that day.”

[14:21]  ²⁹ tn Or “keeps.”

[14:21]  ³⁰ tn Grk “obeys them, that one is the one who loves me.”

[14:21]  ³¹ tn Grk “And the one.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated to improve the English style.

[14:21]  ³² tn Or “will disclose.”

[14:22]  ³³ tn Grk “(not Iscariot).” The proper noun (Judas) has been repeated for clarity and smoothness in English style.

[14:22]  ³⁴ tn Grk “said to him.”

[14:22]  ³⁵ tn Or “disclose.”

[14:23]  ³⁶ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[14:23]  ³⁷ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:23]  ³⁸ tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.

[14:24]  ³⁹ tn Or “does not keep.”

[14:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the message.”

[14:25]  ⁴¹ tn Or “while remaining” or “while residing.”

[14:26]  ⁴² tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in v. 16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[14:26]  ⁴³ tn Grk “that one will teach you.” The words “that one” have been omitted from the translation since they are redundant in English.

[14:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “all things.”

[14:26]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “all things.”

[14:27]  ⁴⁶ sn Peace I leave with you. In spite of appearances, this verse does not introduce a new subject (peace). Jesus will use the phrase as a greeting to his disciples after his resurrection (20:19, 21, 26). It is here a reflection of the Hebrew shalom as a farewell. But Jesus says he leaves peace with his disciples. This should probably be understood ultimately in terms of the indwelling of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who has been the topic of the preceding verses. It is his presence, after Jesus has left the disciples and finally returned to the Father, which will remain with them and comfort them.

[14:27]  ⁴⁷ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:27]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “not as the world gives do I give to you.”

[14:27]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “distressed or fearful and cowardly.”

[14:28]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ⁵¹ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ⁵² sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[14:29]  ⁵³ sn Jesus tells the disciples that he has told them all these things before they happen, so that when they do happen the disciples may believe. This does not mean they had not believed prior to this time; over and over the author has affirmed that they have (cf. 2:11). But when they see these things happen, their level of trust in Jesus will increase and their concept of who he is will expand. The confession of Thomas in 20:28 is representative of this increased understanding of who Jesus is. Cf. John 13:19.

[14:30]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “I will no longer speak many things with you.”

[14:30]  ⁵⁵ sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[14:30]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “in me he has nothing.”

[14:31]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “may learn.”

[14:31]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, thus I do.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to conform to contemporary English style.

[14:31]  ⁵⁹ sn Some have understood Jesus’ statement Get up, let us go from here to mean that at this point Jesus and the disciples got up and left the room where the meal was served and began the journey to the garden of Gethsemane. If so, the rest of the Farewell Discourse took place en route. Others have pointed to this statement as one of the “seams” in the discourse, indicating that the author used preexisting sources. Both explanations are possible, but not really necessary. Jesus could simply have stood up at this point (the disciples may or may not have stood with him) to finish the discourse before finally departing (in 18:1). In any case it may be argued that Jesus refers not to a literal departure at this point, but to preparing to meet the enemy who is on the way already in the person of Judas and the soldiers with him.