Study on the Gospel of John Chapter 14

Jesus’ teaching to His disciples (the upper room discourse) continues. In chapter 13, He teaches “love” and in chapter 14, He promises the Holy Spirit.

Outline and Exposition

I Am the Way, the Truth, the Life (1-14)

(1) Let not your hearts be troubled. : the disciples were uneasy because

(a) Jesus would leave:

• (7:34) You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come
• (12:8) but you do not always have me
• (13:33) Where I am going you cannot come.

(b) He would die:

• (12:32) when I am lifted up from the earth

(c) And disciples:

• (13:21) one of you will betray me
• (13:38) you have denied me three times

Jesus’ antidote for a troubled heart is Believe in God

• (Ps 56:3-4) When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
• (Isa 26:3-4) You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

(2) Father's house: heaven

rooms: dwelling places; implying permanence

(3) prepare a place for you: Christ will be the Finisher of that of which he is the Author or Beginner

I will come again: His second advent

• (Rev 22:7) “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

(5) we do not know where you are going: they wasn’t sure till they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2)

(7) From now on you do know him and have seen him.

(8) show us: all human being’s desire which may lead to Idolatry

• (Ex 33:18) Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

(10) I am in the Father and the Father is in me: they are one yet are different personal as in Trinity

the Father who dwells in me does his works.: so glory is Father’s

(14) If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.in his name, authority, and will

• (Mt 18:5) Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,
• (Mk 16:17) in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues
• (Lk 10:17) The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

Promise of the Holy Spirit (15-31)

(18) I will come to you.: His resurrection

(19) Because I live, you also will live.: The life of the Christina always depends on the life of Christ

• (1:4) In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 
• (3:15) that whoever believes in him may have eternal life
• (10:10)  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 
• (Php 1:21)  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

(20) In that day: His resurrection (v18)

(28) the Father is greater than I: revealing the subordinate role Jesus accepted as a necessary part of the incarnation. The statement must be understood in the light of the unity between the Father and the Son.

• (10:30) I and the Father are one.

Jesus was not admitting inferiority to the Father (see 7-11), but was saying that if the disciples loved him, they would not be reluctant to let him go to the Father because he was returning to the realm where he belonged and to the full glory he save up.

• (17:5) And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

He was going back to share equal glory with the Father, which would be greater than what he had experienced in his incarnation. He will in no way be interior in that glory, because his humiliation was over.

(30) the ruler of this world: satan

He has no claim on me: Satan has a hold on people because of their fallen state. Since Christ was sinless, Satan could have no hold on him. Christ would triumph and destroy Satan

• (Heb 2:14) Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil

His death was no sign that Satan won, but that God’s will was being done.

Topical

I Am

(6) 6th “I am” in John’s Gospel - see chapter 6 (Study on the Gospel of John Chapter 6) for the list

the way: to God. Jesus is not one way among many, but the only way

• (Ac 4:12) And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

(Hey 10:19-20) Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh

In the early church, Christianity was sometimes called “the Way”,

• (Ac 9:2) if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem

the truth: a key emphasis in the Gospel

• (1:14) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

the life:

• (1:4) In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

“I am the way (to the Father) in that I am the truth and the life.”

Love & Obedience

Love for Christ and keeping his commands cannot be separated.

• (15) If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
• (21) Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.
• (23) If anyone loves me, he will keep my word
• (24) Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

Disciples’ Faith

Look at their questions;

• (5) Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?
• (8) Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
• (22) Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

Even they were with Jesus for 3 years, day and night, they didn’t understand; as Jesus said (9) “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me.” However they were following Jesus. So faith is not about your understanding (performance) which is self love but your “willingness” to obey which is love to God. As Jesus teaches,

• (15) If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 
• (21) Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

Holy Spirit

(16) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever : the first of a series of important passages about the Holy Spirit.

• (26) 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 that I have said to you.
• (15:26) “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
• (16:7) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

The gift of Father will give another, beside Jesus, Helper. Helper (NIV, advocate) is a legal term, but with a broader meaning than “counsel” for the defense. It is referred to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law. The Spirit will always stand by Christ’s people.

• (1 Jn 2:1) My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

(17) the Spirit of truth: in essence and in action the Spirit is characterized by truth. He brings people to the truth of God. All three persons of the Trinity are linked with truth.

• (4:24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
• (14:6) I am the way, and the truth, and the life

(26) remembrance all that I have said to you: crucial function of the Spirit for the life of the church and for the writing of the NT

• (2 Tm 3:16) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

My Peace

(27) my peace: “peace (Shalom)” is a common Hebrew greeting, which Jesus uses here in an unusual way. The term speaks, in effect, of the salvation the Christ’s redemptive work will achieve for this disciples - total well-being and inner rest of spirit, in fellowship with God. All true peace is his gift, which the repetition emphasize. The world can only express a longing or wish. But Jesus’ peace is real and present.

• (16:33) I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

References

• 2002 NIV Study Bible (Zondervan)
• John MacArthur Study Bible
• http://kcm.co.kr/bible/kor/Joh14.html
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14&version=ESV
• Matthew Henry Commentary
• https://biblehub.com/john/14-7.htm