John 14 is the fourteenth chapter of the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. It continues

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

' discussions with his disciples in anticipation of his death and records the promised gift of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

.Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House 1962 Jesus speaks individually with

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

and Judas (not the Iscariot); throughout this chapter, Jesus' purpose is to strengthen the faith of the apostles. Christians traditionally believe that

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

composed this

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

. This chapter is divided into 31 verses. Some early

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 75 (AD 175–225) * Papyrus 66 (~200) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

(330–360) * Codex Bezae (~400) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

(400–440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering of New ...

(~450; extant verses 1–7)

Places

All the events recorded in this chapter and the succeeding chapters up to John 17 took place in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The precise location is not specified, but John 18:1 states that afterwards, "Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley".

Jesus' departure and his return

Chapter 14 continues, without interruption, Jesus' dialogue with his disciples regarding his approaching departure from them. H. W. Watkins describes the chapter break as "unfortunate, as it breaks the close connection between these words and those which have gone immediately before ( John 13)", although Alfred Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, identifies John 14 as the opening of "the last great discourse", continuing to chapter 17. Jesus says, "Do not let your ''heart'' (, ''hymōn hē kardia'' - singular in the Greek, in Wycliffe's Bible and in the

American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...

- be troubled" (John 14:1), words which are repeated in John 14:27. Many English translations have the plural, ''hearts'' (e.g.

Jerusalem Bible ''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical ...

). Codex D and some other versions introduce into the text καὶ εϊπεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ (''and he said to his disciples'') but Bengel's Gnomon says that "the mass of authorities is against

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...

.Bengel's Gnomon
on John 14, accessed 1 July 2016 Verse 1b reads: :''... you believe in God, believe also in Me.'' (

New King James Version The New King James Version (NKJV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English, working as a revision of the King James Version. Published by Thomas Nelson, the complete NKJV was released in 1982. With regard to its textual basis, the ...

)

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

treats the text as "believe in God, believe also in me", and Bengel argues that both clauses are imperatives, whereas the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

's wording, like the New King James Version, treats the first statement as indicative ("you believe ...") and builds the second (" herefore believe also ...") upon it. Heinrich Meyer lists "

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

, Luther (in his ''Exposition''), Castalio,

Beza Theodore Beza (; or ''de Besze''; 24 June 1519 – 13 October 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, Protestant reformer, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a disciple of John Ca ...

, Calvin, Aretius, Maldonatus,

Grotius Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...

, and several others" as writers who utilised the latter approach. The ''purpose'' of Jesus' departure is to "go to prepare a place for is disciples And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). John 14:2 begins, in many English translations, with the statement "There are many rooms in my Father’s house", but the alternative, if it were not so, is presented in various ways: :''if it were not so, I would have told you.'' (e.g.

Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years. It was ...

) :''if that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?'' (e.g. English Standard Version (ESV)) The latter reading is not supported by any previous text where Jesus had said he was going to prepare a place. The (''monai'') is translated as "rooms" in the ESV, "mansions" in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

, "mansions of bliss" in Irish archbishop

John McEvilly John McEvilly (1818–1902) was an Irish Roman Catholic Church clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Tuam from 1881 to 1902. He was born on 15 April 1818 in Louisburgh, a small town near Westport, County Mayo, Ireland., ''The Episcopal Su ...

's comments,McEvilly, J. (1879)
An Exposition Of The Gospels by The Most Rev. John Macevilly D.D.
John 14, accessed 1 February 2024 and "dwelling places" in the

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is a translation of the Bible in American English. It was first published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches, the NRSV was created by an ecumenical committee of scholars "comprising about thirt ...

. The

Textus Receptus The (Latin for 'received text') is the succession of printed Greek New Testament texts starting with Erasmus' ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) and including the editions of Robert Estienne, Stephanus, Theodore Beza, Beza, the House of Elzevir ...

presents Jesus' intention to prepare a place for His disciples as a separate sentence from the point about the availability of many rooms, whereas, in other versions, the promise that a place will be prepared is directly linked to the teaching that there are many rooms in the Father's house. The

Rastafari movement Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

draws its umbrella term " Mansions of Rastafari" from verse 2, referring to the diverse groups within the movement.

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

and

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

argue from the reference to "many mansions" that the mansions vary in type and therefore reflect "different degrees of rewards": :''In every well-ordered city there is a distinction of mansions. Now the heavenly kingdom is compared to a city (). Therefore we should distinguish various mansions there according to the various degrees of beatitude''. Verse 3 builds on this departure and preparation, when Jesus continues: :''I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also''. (New King James Version) The words ''I will come again'' are in the present tense, and should be literally rendered, ''I am coming again''. Watkins notes that "this clause has been variously explained: of the

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

; of the

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

of individual disciples; of the spiritual presence of our Lord in the Church; rof the coming again of the Lord in the Parousia of the last day, when all who believe in Him shall be received unto Himself", but he prefers to read them as referring to Jesus' constant spiritual presence in the midst of His disciples.

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

In the first of three individualised conversations in this chapter, Jesus speaks with

. :''Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"'' Plummer notes that they were in Jerusalem, "the royal city of the conquering

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

", so the disciples may have thought they were in the place where Jesus would be "to restore the kingdom to Israel".Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on John 14, accessed 5 July 2016; cf.

Verse 6

:''Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."'' The phrase "The Way" is also found in and as a term to describe the

early church Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

. The pronoun is emphatic: it implies "I and no other". The Greek text also includes καὶ (''kai'', "and") before ἡ ἀλήθεια, (''hē alētheia'', "the truth"), a preference noted by Plummer and the

Revised Standard Version The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation is a revision of the American St ...

Verse 7

: esus said to Thomas:''"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him"''. The words translated as "know" or "known" in verse 7 are ἐγνώκειτέ (''egnōkate'') and γινώσκετε (''ginōskete'') in the first and third occurrences, coming from the verb , (''ginóskó'', to come to know, recognize, perceive) whereas the second occurrence translates the (''ēdeite''), coming from the (''eidó'': be aware, behold, consider, perceive), although the Textus Receptus has words derived from γινώσκω in all three instances. Ellicott explains that the words "are not identical in meaning. The former means, ''to know by observation'', the latter ''to know by reflection''. It is the difference between ''connaître'' and ''savoir'' n French between ''kennen'' ("ken, k(e)now"), and ''wissen'' ("wit, wisdom") n German. The meaning may be expressed more exactly as, 'If ye had recognised Me, ye would have known My Father also'.Watkins, H. W.
Ellicott's Commentary for Modern Readers
on John 14, accessed 1 July 2016 Philip, who had said to

Nathaniel Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Hebrew name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. ...

in , "Come and see", takes over the dialogue from Thomas: :''Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.'' (John 14:8). He still wants to see a further revelation, thinking that Jesus still has to show them a vision of God which has not yet been made visible. Jesus comments that He has been with His disciples (, ''hymōn'' - plural) for "such a long time" () - Philip was one of the first disciples to follow Jesus - "and yet you (''singular'') have not known Me". Jesus speaks first to Philip, alone, "Do you not believe ..." (οὐ πιστεύεις, ''ou pisteueis'' - singular) and then to the eleven as a group, "Believe me ..." (πιστεύετέ, ''pisteuete'' - plural). Plummer explains that "the English obliterates the fact that Christ now turns from S. Philip and addresses all the eleven":Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on John 14, accessed 5 July 2016 :''Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake'' (John 14:11). John has previously referred to Jesus' works as His witness and a sign of His authority ( and ) but Jesus adds here: :''He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father'' (John 14:12).

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

theologian Harold Buls suggests that the "greater works" involve "send ngout the message of eternal life in great streams" to the

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

s, being the message which Jesus had only given to the Jews.

Prayer (14:12-14)

Jesus holds out "great promises in favour of prayer. Verse 13 states, :''Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son'' and verse 14 partially repeats this: :''If you ask eanything in My name, I will do it''. The

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

monk and biblical commentator

Euthymios Zigabenos Euthymius Zigabenus or Zigadenus or Zygadenus ( or Ζυγαδηνός; died after 1118) was a 12th-century monk and commentator on the Bible. He was a friend of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, Alexius I Comnenus, for whom he wrote a len ...

states that "the promise is repeated ... for confirmation". Buls notes that both verses (13 and 14) "clearly imply that believers will have many needs", and that Jesus' commitment to doing what is asked of him and is asked in his name "results in - and has as its purpose - the clothing of the Father in splendour".

Verses 15-27: the Paraclete

:''And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.'' Jesus is the first advocate or

paraclete ''Paraclete'' (; ) is a Christian biblical term occurring five times in the Johannine texts of the New Testament. In Christian theology, the word commonly refers to the Holy Spirit and is translated as 'advocate', 'counsellor', or 'helper'. E ...

. The text in Greek refers to αλλον παρακλητον (''allon parakleton'', another advocate). The

Amplified Bible ''The Amplified Bible'' (AMP) is an English language translation of the Bible produced jointly by Zondervan and The Lockman Foundation. The first edition as a complete volume was published in 1965. "Amplifications" are words or phrases intende ...

lists Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor-Counselor, Strengthener, and Standby as possible translations. The Common English Bible offers "companion". The

opts for "advocate" but notes that "it is difficult to choose between the possible meanings". Buls suggests that "I will ask" denotes a request being made by one equal of another equal. :''But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.''

The end of the chapter (14:28–31)

As the chapter draws to a close (verses 28–31), Jesus repeats that he is going away, but he will return. This passage finalises Jesus' discourse with his closest disciples: :''I will no longer talk much with you'' (John 14:30a) as his life now is solely directed to the task of obedience to his Father (John 14:31a-c). Preparing to leave the upper room, he says to his disciples: :''Arise, let us go from here'' (John 14:31d).Bevan, H. B. H.
"Does 'Arise, let us go hence' (John 14:31d) make sense where it stands?"
''Journal of Theological Studies'', New Series, Vol. 54, No. 2 (October 2003), pp. 576-584 Their departure links logically with the opening words of chapter 18, ''When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered''. This connection has led some commentators to suppose that chapters 15- 17 represent Jesus' discourse "as they went along in the way to Mount Olives",Matthew Poole's Commentary
on John 14, accessed 11 July 2016, cf

on John 14, accessed 7 July 2016 or "that they rise from table and prepare to depart, but that the contents of the next three chapters are spoken before they leave the room". In and , the same words "arise, let us go" () appear within the Gethsemane narrative set later within those gospels' portrayal of Jesus' passion.

Old Testament references

* :

References

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate

''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Gospel of John John 14