John 14:1-15

Wesley Allen made the distinction that the gospels had been purposed to proclaim the truth but not to narrate the biography of Jesus of Nazareth as a history about him [1] What Wesley Allen is not saying particularly is that the history regarding Jesus is somehow unimportant to the gospel account, but what is being said is that the gospels had not been about setting in place a organized detailed history of events of Jesus Christ like what many biographies today may contain. The point is that the authors of the gospels wrote in such a way as to get their message across to the readers of their contemporaries, and to this goal the biography of Jesus becomes more like a tool to explain the gospel rather than a central focus [2] .

The fact is that the book of John focuses its biography of Jesus Christ much differently than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke may be more detailed in their capturing of events in a historical context, John gives more of a theological message that focuses upon the thoughts of Jesus and the disciples. For this reason one can easily argue that John 14:1-15 gives more of a deeper explanation regarding the message of Jesus about salvation (just prior to the crucifixion) more so than the other gospels [3] .

What is important to note is that the time of the New Testament is much more different than today because with the physical ministry of Jesus Christ, Luke 24:27 makes clear that Christ himself explained the scriptures as a biography about himself. Not only that, but also D. Carson and Douglas Moo make the case that the gospel of John makes a very prevalent distinction between the things that the disciples knew at the time of Jesus ministry and those things that they understood after his ministry [4] . The way however that today's contemporary times have changed is that now (after Jesus physical ministry) people do not have the historical Christ in physical ministry form explaining the scripture in their midst, so what was a mystery to the disciples when Jesus was still 'with' them could be a utterly unintelligible truth to people of similar mentalities today. If not for the Spirit of Truth that Jesus left the disciples [5] , a person could argue that the disciples would have been utterly lost to interpret scripture themselves using hermeneutics without any future guidance from God.

The biggest absence today in our history compared to the time of the disciples is the physical work of Christ to explain the scripture, and such a fundamental historical difference is incredible. John 14:1-3 is often read at funerals for even non-believers that had little interaction with the Christian God, but the historical setting of this same scripture in John 14:1-3 was very different in that Jesus was talking only to the disciples that had walked with him for years in a very close communion of believers. Transplanting the words of John 14:1-3 from Jesus giving eternal promise of security to the disciples suddenly now to a Pastor speaking the same words over the coffin of a wicked man would appear as a stark contrast to the historical setting of the scripture.

Prior to the crucifixion of Christ, Jesus had to instruct the disciples upon what to do without him, give them assurance of their salvation, and give them clarification. The point is that the historical setting of John 14:1-15 shows Jesus doing all these things. Also note that people have noted the gospel of John to have a far greater degree of centering around the person of Christ than what is found in the other four gospels as John is said to be concentrating upon the depth of eternity and the Divine Word of God at the Father's side [6] . Overall, without placing the message in this larger context, then the meaning often becomes lost.

The Message of Jesus Concerning Eternal Assurance to the Disciples

In John 14:1 the verse uses the Ancient Greek term pisteno that means to have faith in or in other words to put trust into [7] . When Jesus thus advocates in the same verse that the disciples are not to let their hearts be troubled, the Greek word kardia is used to refer to thoughts or even feelings [8] . What Jesus is advocating in the verse is for the disciples to put their trust in Jesus in contrast to what they would otherwise be thinking or feeling, and in this regard Christ is calling for the disciples to be completely unified with Christ and the Father. The disciples thus had been commanded to not just observe the teachings of Christ and believe that they are true, but they also had been commanded to have a much deeper unifying experience with Christ.

In John 14:2 the Greek word mone is used to denote a type of dwelling place of residence [9] , and what the passage appears to assume is that an entire family would live in one house with multiple generations together. Jesus gives assurance to the disciples that more than enough room exists in this place in order to house them all. What is important to note about the passage is that the disciples had been roaming the countryside for years prior to Jesus giving this assurance, so in this regard Jesus would appear to be acting in a way similar to Abraham that would have been the patriarch of a few hundred people (at least) that all moved together and lived together as nomads. Some scholars however have correlated the temple in Jerusalem with the Fathers house that Jesus is talking about in this context, and the idea is that Jesus is talking about a heavenly temple as opposed to a 'restless wondering' [10] . Jesus however does without a doubt show a stark contrast to the lifestyle that him and the disciples had been living and that of being with the Father permanently.

In John 14:3 Jesus assures the disciples that he will take the disciples to be with him. The point thus of the disciples being with Jesus in the Father's house is not necessarily just that they have an eternal place to stay, but instead the point is that they would be with Jesus. Some people would envision the kingdom of heaven being like a place that a person could do whatever they want whenever they want to do it, but in John 14:3 the point is that the kingdom of heaven is a permanent dwelling with Jesus Christ in contrast.

Being with Jesus in John 14:3, would thus mean that Jesus is the moderator of a person's eternal lifestyle. William Klein makes a special point to describe the differences of lifestyle found in biblical passages, "Biblical passages not only express a writer's train of thought but also reflect a way of life- one that in most ways differs radically from that of present-day readers" [11] , and what is even most notable is that the eternal lifestyle that Jesus would be advocating was even more radically different from that of his time and perhaps even more so of ours. Just like adults would live in their parents home and thus live under their parents rules, so too the disciples would be under the eternal governance of Jesus Christ. Theologically speaking, the difference between living today in the world and living under the governance of Jesus Christ in the Father's house for all eternity would be different in that glorification would take away sin such that the governance of Christ would not be considered a hindrance at all as both Christ and the disciples would share the same will. The main point however to be made in the passage is that Jesus is not saying that the kingdom of heaven will be the satisfaction of all of a person's carnal desires (that are often sinful) that many people envision the kingdom of heaven being like, but instead the kingdom of heaven is bound together through social structure.

The Way to Jesus

In John 14:4 Jesus is seen instructing the disciples that they in fact know the way to the place that Jesus is going to. The implication is that either the disciples had been previously shown the way, they had been to the place themselves, or they had a previous understanding of the way to get to the kingdom of heaven that was given to them prior to the physical ministry of Jesus Christ. Since the physical ministry of Jesus Christ is commonly understood by Christians (as a matter of faith) to be about Jesus showing the kingdom of God to the masses as a first time happening, one could thus assume that the disciples did not know the way to Jesus prior to his physical ministry. The point is that the assumption that scripture makes in contrast is that Jesus had in fact previously shown the disciples the place that Jesus is going to or at least how to get to the place.

In John 14:5 Thomas questions Jesus about how the disciples are supposed to know the way to get to Jesus since they do not know even what location that he is going onto. Thomas has historically shown disbelief or doubtfulness regarding the message and work of Jesus even to the extent that Jesus had to appear special to Thomas after his resurrection because none of the other disciples could convince him that Jesus arose from the dead [12] . A point to be made is that what the questioning of Thomas regarding the destination of Jesus likely means is that Thomas knew the way to get to the destination of Jesus, but Thomas was in fact full of doubtfulness and needed conformation.

In John 14:6 Jesus identifies himself as the only way to the Father, and at the same time Jesus identifies himself as being the life. In this way Jesus is the link between man and God, the fullness of the truth, the demonstrator that God is faithful to his promises, and a person that shares divine life with God the Father [13] . The point to be made however is that ultimately a person would go to the Father through Jesus Christ, and this idea of Christ acting as the passageway to get to the Father suggests not only that Jesus was going to the Father (as this was the location that he was going to) but also that a grasp of the Father could only occur through what Jesus had to offer. What Jesus thus had to offer in this regard was life whereas otherwise in contrast a person would only have death.

How People Know Jesus and the Father as Distinctly Different

The idea of the Father and Jesus being distinctly different makes the doctrine of the Trinity what it is today, and this teaching is generally understood to describe God as being in three persons. In John 14:7 Jesus makes clear that by knowing him a person knows the Father as well, and Jesus identifies the moment of time in the passage as being the time that from then on the disciples would know and have seen the Father. A point to be made is that Christ in his external appearance and personality was not enough given to know the Father, but the way that a person would come to know to Father was through internalizing what Jesus had to offer. The Douay-Rheims translation of the Vulgate for example capitalizes on Christ being the instrument of removing doubt by the verse reading, "If you had known me, you would without a doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him." [14] Overall, what is most notable to consider in this thinking is that Christ is the person that gives revelation of the Father.

In John 14:8 Philip made the request that Jesus show the disciples the Father, and Philip said that such would be enough for the disciples. What is unique about the request of Philip is that he tried to represent all of the disciples before Christ as if they had all been in agreement under him to make such a request of Jesus. Philip presented himself as like the head of the disciples, and his question implies that Philip and the disciples had a stronger collective collision than what Christ had with the disciples. Overall, not only that but Philip gives Christ the test of showing the Father as if Philip is in greater control of leadership of the disciples than what Jesus had been.

John 14:9 shows Jesus identifying himself with the Father, and some may even argue with this verse that Jesus is saying that he is the Father himself. The point that Jesus makes is that anyone that has seen him has already seen the Father. If Jesus was just simply saying that anyone that has already seen his outward appearance is someone that has seen the Father, then everyone that looked upon Jesus would have seen the Father. The fact however that Jesus identified himself as being able to give revelation of the Father and being the passage way to the Father suggests something much deeper than just what could be seen on the surface. The point that Jesus is making is that to truly see the Father a person must have truly seen Christ for who he was because the Father is within or through Christ.

John 14:10 shows that the Father is in Christ, that the Father does his work through Christ, and that the Father lives in Christ. The point to be made is that Jesus is sort of describing himself as being like the outer shell that inside contains the Father. The problem with identifying Christ as just being the outer shell in a superficial way without a personality is that the scripture makes clear that Jesus was tempted by the devil [15] , and this would not have been possible if Christ was just the outer shell that the Father inhabited without a personality or will. The point is that John 14:10 contributes to an understanding of Christ by showing that the Father lives through Jesus Christ as a different person.

John 14:11 shows Jesus urging the disciples to believe in him because of what he says about himself regarding his relationship with the Father, but if the disciples did not believe this message by what Jesus said, then according to Jesus they should at least believe based upon the evidence found in the miracles that Jesus performed. The idea in the passage is that God the Father was performing the miracles through Jesus, and that Jesus was not performing the miracles himself. On the other hand, Jesus was performing the miracles himself in that the Father was working through Jesus to perform the miracles, and Christ was the person visibly doing the miracles. The point to be made is that Christ performing the miracles pointed to the inner reality of God the Father working inside of Christ. Believing in the relationship between Christ and God the Father involves being able to see inside of Christ to recognize the Father.

The Meaning of Doing Grater Things Than Jesus

John 14:12 shows Jesus instructing the disciples that any person that has faith in Christ will do the very same things that Christ did, and such a person would even do much greater things than what Christ did since Jesus was going to be going to the Father. A point to be made is that although the Father had lived in Jesus prior to the crucifixion, Christ had not yet ascended to the greater presence of God the Father since his incarnation. Once Jesus would have ascended to the Father, then the disciples would be able to do much greater things than Christ did because Christ would be in them through the Holy Ghost. The point is that Jesus is basically saying that his glorified form dwelling in the disciples is much greater than his non glorified form working miracles in his physical ministry.

John 14:13 shows Jesus instructing the disciples that Christ will do anything the disciples ask in Christ's name in order that Jesus may bring the Father glory. The benefit to the disciples is that if they would align their wills to match that of Christ, then they would be granted anything that they asked for. The benefit of Christ giving the promise is that he is able to bring glory to the Father through the work that the disciples would do through Christ. The fact that the disciples must ask for things to be done in Christ's name before they become accomplished teaches that Christ wants the disciples to be involved in bringing the glory to God the Father.

John 14:14 shows that Christ even promises to do anything that is in his name to do if the disciples ask. The fact that Jesus made that promise suggests that it is a guarantee that if the disciples would ask for something in Christ's name that he would deliver or be found false. The question thus is a question of determining what Christ stands for in his name, and also a person must determine how they themselves would relate to Christ (for example not everyone is a disciple). Such a passage thus stresses both the relationship that the disciples had with Christ and the benefit of them understanding what is in Christ's name to do.

The Meaning of Obeying Jesus

According to John 14:15, in order to love Jesus the disciples would obey what Jesus had commanded. For Duvall and Hays a person cannot grasp what the scripture says without applying what the scripture says to do because the things that are required of God are foolishness to the person who is without the Holy Ghost [16] . Keeping this in mind, when Jesus had summarized the law [17] to show that what the law teaches is to love God with practically everything and to secondly love everyone else in proximity, he demonstrated that the fulfillment of the law came through love. John 14:15 however shows Jesus giving a new test in that he is indicating that he can measure the love of the disciples by their obedience to his instruction. Overall, what Jesus thus has to say about loving him teaches that the actions of the disciples are like expressions that demonstrate how the disciples feel about Jesus.

Conclusion

The message that Jesus preaches in John 14:1-15 is that salvation is a complicated process of social interaction. The social interaction involves God the Father interacting with Jesus, the disciples interacting with Jesus, and even the disciples interacting with each other. The message that is being proclaimed is that salvation occurs through a complicated social network that God is at the very top of and permeates all the way through.

The hope that John 14:1-15 gives is that God will always restructure the social network of people such that clarification and future instruction will always be given for continued life in Christ. Such can especially be seen in Christ's rebuke of Philip and in Christ's answer to Thomas. Christ would not allow the disciples to continue to be in error as long as the disciples had been interacting with him, and this is evident by the clarifications that Christ gave and the social restructuring of the disciples.

In the context of John 14:1-15, the kingdom of heaven works by an interactive process. Jesus did not for example, according to evidence, preach an hour long sermon and then expect the disciples to go forth into the world while applying what they had learned about righteousness. The climax of what Jesus has to say in John 14:1-15 has everything to do with the way that the disciples knew and related to God, but the verses do not focus upon teaching people a bunch of 'righteous' works to go out into the world and do. Many scholars at this point would connect the idea of fatherhood with discipline in the person of God the Father [18] as he would be the person responsible for causing obedience to occur. Overall, the point is that the disciples already knew what Jesus wanted done before he showed them how salvation worked in John 14:1-15.

Faith is shown to be something that Jesus gives to the disciples through a process of revelation as it develops in them as a result of the things that Jesus shows them. Works in terms of keeping the commandments of Christ are described as a response to the feelings that the disciples would have toward Christ, and many of these works could be given just simply through the disciples asking for them in Jesus name. Most importantly is that the love that the disciples felt toward Jesus Christ is seen as like the governing agent that controls the works that the disciples did. Overall, a good question to thus ask of the text is if works, faith, and love are all the results of God's choice to express unmerited favor to the disciples, and this is especially notable to ask because if our ability to love originates in God's having loved us first [19] , then the governing agent that controls the works that the disciples did had ultimately been the result of what God started in them (not anything that they did).

Bibliography:

Allen, Wesley, JR. Reading the Synoptic Gospels: Basic Methods for Interpreting Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Saint Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2000.

Black, David. Why Four Gospels?: The Historical Origins of the Gospels. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2001.

Bruce, F. The Gospel of John. Cambridge, England: Pickering and Inglis Ltd, 1983

Carson, D and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005.

Challoner, Richard and Michael Tweedale. The Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version: Biblia Sacra Juxta Vulgatam Clementinam, second impression. London, United Kingdom: Baronius Press Ltd, 2009.

Duvall, J. Scott, and Daniel Hays. Grasping God's Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible, Second Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005.

Fee, Gordon and Douglas Stuart. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3^rd Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2003.

Green, Jay P, Sr. The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008.

Klein, William, Blomberg, Craig, and Hubbard, Robert. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Revised and Updated. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993.

Lea, Thomas, and David Alan Black. The New Testament: Its Background and Message, 2^nd ed. Nashville, Tennessee: H&B Academic, 2003.

Ponessa, Joseph. The Gospel of John: Come and See Catholic Bible Study. Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2004.

Scott, Julius. Jewish Background of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 1995.

Strong, James. "A Concise Dictionary of the Words in The Greek Testament with Their Renderings in the Authorized English Version" in Zodhiates, Spiros, Warren Baker, George Hadjiantonios, Mark Oshman, and Symeon Ioannidis. The Complete Word Study New Testament With Parallel Greek: King James Version. Chattanooga, Tennessee: AMG Publishers, 1992.

Thompson, Marianne. The God of the Gospel of John. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001

[1] Wesley Allen, JR. Reading the Synoptic Gospels: Basic Methods for Interpreting Matthew, Mark, and Luke. (Saint Louis: Chalice Press, 2000)p 32.

[2] Note that John 21:25 describes the gospel author's concern that if everything that Jesus did was put into biography, then it would be never-ending.

[3] Note John 3:16 as an example.

[4] D Carson and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) p 269.

[5] John 14:16-17

[6] David Black. Why Four Gospels?: The Historical Origins of the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001) p 86

[7] James Strong. "A Concise Dictionary of the Words in The Greek Testament with Their Renderings in the Authorized English Version" in The Complete Word Study New Testament With Parallel Greek: King James Version (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 1992) p58

[8] Ibid p39.

[9] Ibid p49.

[10] F.F. Bruce. The Gospel of John (Cambridge: Pickering and Inglis Ltd, 1983) p297

[11] William Klein, Craig Blomberg, and Robert Hubbard. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation: Revised and Updated (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993) p229

[12] See John 20:26

[13] Joseph Ponessa. The Gospel of John: Come and See Catholic Bible Study (Steubenville: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2004) p 122

[14] Richard Challoner and Michael Tweedale. The Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version: Biblia Sacra Juxta Vulgatam Clementinam, second impression(London: Baronius Press Ltd, 2009) p 125

[15] Matthew 4:1

[16] Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays. Grasping God's Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) p206-207.

[17] Mark 12:29-31

[18] Marianne Thompson. The God of the Gospel of John (Cambridge: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001) p 69

[19] 1 John 4:19