The New Testament for English Readers: pt.1. The three first gospels

2 Pet. i. 14.

unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go thou canst not follow me now; but k thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37 Peter said unto keh. xxi. 18. him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

ch. 22,

23.

XIV. Let not your heart be troubled: [a ye] believe a ver. 27. in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. bb I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and 38.

b ch. xiii. 33,

the true sign to them of being children of God, 1 John ii. 3-5. 36.] This announcement of Peter's denial is probably the same with that in Luke xxii. 33 ff., where see notes: but distinct from that on the way to Gethsemane, Matt. xxvi. 34: Mark xiv. 30. but thou shalt follow me afterwards] Alluding probably both to the future reception of His Apostle into His glory, and to the particular path by which he should come to that glory;-as in ch. xxi. 18, 19. 37.] Peter understands our Lord's death to be meant as the time of his following;-see Luke, ver. 33. 38.] The question is not answered -but Peter's boast solemnly questioned. See a somewhat similar question, ch. i. 51. There was at the same time a startling inversion of the subsequent facts, in this boast; to which our Lord, I think, alludes in His question,-" wilt thou lay down thy life for Me?" The words, The cock shall not crow, necessarily imply, as it was night, those also which follow in Matthew and Mark, "in this night,”-and bind the whole events of this chapter to ch. xviii. CHAP. XIV. 1-31.] This first division of the great discourse (see above on ch. xiii. 31) is spent in more directly comforting the disciples for their Lord's departure, by the assurance of His going to the Father, and its consequences. 1-10.] HE, in his union with the Father, will take His own to Him. 1.] A pause has intervened; Peter is humbled and silent; the rest are troubled in heart on account of the sad things of which they had been hearing ;-Judas's treachery,-Peter's denial,-the Lord's de

y render, thee.

a omit, most probably: see note. go.

The verb believe

parture from them. both times is imperative. Many (as in A. V. take the first as indic., the second as imper., 'Ye believe in God: believe also in me.' But this is inconsistent with the whole tenour of the discourse, which presupposes a want of belief in God in its full and true sense, as begetting trust in Him. Luther takes both as indicative. The command is intimately connected with ch. xiii. 31, 32-faith in the glorification of Christ in the Father, and of the Father in Him. 2.] This comfort -of being reunited to their Lord-is administered to them as "little children,” in forms of speech simple, and adapted to their powers of apprehension of spiritual things. The house spoken of is Heaven: Ps. xxxiii. 13, 14; Isa. lxiii. 15. In it are many (in number-it may be also in degree of dignity, but no such meaning is here conveyed) abiding-places; room enough for them all. If not,-if they could not follow Him thither, He would not have concealed this from them. This latter assurance is one calculated to beget entire trust and confidence; He would not in any matter hold out vain hopes to them; His word to them would plainly state all difficulties and discouragements,-as indeed He does, ch. xv. 18; xvi. 1, 4. This preparing a place for us is that of which we sing,- When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers:' see note on Luke xxiii. 43. And thus it is a place, not the many mansions that He is preparing :- the place as a whole, not each man's place in it. 3.] In order to understand this,

c ver. 18, 28.

Acts i. 11. d ch. xii. 20: xvii. 24.

17.

e Heb. ix. 8.

f ch. i. 17:

viii. 32.

g ch. i. 4: xi. 25.

h ch. x. 9.

i ch. viii. 19.

prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be
also. 4 And a whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither
thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 i If ye
had known me, ye should have known my Father also:
and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it
sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long

comit not in the original.

d many ancient authorities read, whither I
• render,
would.

we must bear in mind what Stier well calls the perspective' of prophecy. The coming again of the Lord is not one single act,as His resurrection, or the descent of the Spirit, or His second personal advent, or the final coming to judgment; but the great summary of all these, the result of which shall be, His taking His people to Himself to be where He is. This coming of His is begun (ver. 18) in His Resurrection -carried on (ver. 23) in the spiritual life (see also ch. xvi. 22 ff.), the making them ready for the place prepared;-further advanced when each by death is fetched away to be with Him (Phil. i. 23); fully completed at His coming in glory, when they shall for ever be with Him (1 Thess. iv. 17) in the perfected resurrection state. 4.] And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know: or, as in the various reading, whither I go, ye know the way, i. e. "ye know the way to the place to which I am going." They might have known, and doubtless did know in some sense; but, as Lampe remarks, "sometimes we praise a man to put him in mind of his duty." We use thus, you know,'— leaving to be supplied, if you would give the matter thought. whither, viz. to the Father; the way,-(in our Lord's own case, of which this verse treats) His death. 5.] Thomas is slow of belief and apprehension. The answer to "whither goest thou?" ch. xiii. 37, which Peter seems to have apprehended, was not suf ficient for him; see ch. xx. 25: "for he thought," says Euthymius, "that it was some material place to which the Lord was going, and that the road thither was of the same kind." 6.] Our Lord inverts the order of Thomas's question, and in

answering it practically, for them, speaks of the Way' first. He is THE WAY; not merely the Forerunner; which would imply on our part only an outward connexion with Him as His followers: but the way, in and on which we must go, having an inner union with and in Him (see Heb. x. 20). the truth] more is implied in this title, than "that He ever spoke truth, and what He said was sure to come to pass," as Euthymius explains it. It is another side of the same idea of the Way;-God being true, and only approached by and in truth. Christ IS THE TRUTH, in Whom only (Col. ii. 3) that Knowledge of Him is gained, which (ch. xvii. 3) is eternal life. the life] not merely because "not even death shall separate you from Me," Euthymius-but as being THE LIFE (see ver. 19: Gal. ii. 20) of all His in Whom only they who live can come to the living Father (ch. vi. 57). no man cometh unto the Father, but by me...] This plainly states whither He was going, and the way also: He was going to the Father: and the way was, through Himself. 7.] See ch. viii. 19. from henceforth] There is no difficulty, if we bear in mind the now of ch. xiii. 31. The henceforth is the future time, beginning with our Lord's glorification, which was now at hand. Lücke remarks: Henceforth is not entirely future nor entirely present, but the moment of transition, the identification of the present and future. Christ speaks here by anticipation in reference to the hour of His glorification being come' (ii. 598). 8.] Philip misunderstands the words ye have seen him to mean 'seeing in a vision,'-and intimates that one such sight of God would set at rest

Col. i. 15.
Heb. i. 3.

time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? ch. xii, 15.
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how
sayest thou [ff then], Shew us the Father? 10 Believest
thou not that 'I am in the Father, and the Father in me? 1 ver. 20. ch.
the words that I speak unto you m I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 8: xii. 40.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father

x. 38: xvii. 21, 23. m ch. v. 19: vii. 16 viii.

x. 38.

o Matt. xxi. 21. Mark xvi. 17. Luke x. 17.

Matt. vii. 7:

xxi. 22.

in me or else believe me for the very works' sake. n ch. v. 36: 12° Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto Father. 13 P And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the ff omit not in the original. Father, abiding in me, doeth his read, the.

render, dost thou not know. Some ancient authorities read, the works.

all their fears, and give them perfect con-
fidence. 9.] The Son is the only Exponent
of the Father to men: see ch. xii. 44, 45;
Col. i. 15; Heb. i. 3; 1 Tim. vi. 16. This
seeing of the Father in Him, is not only
seeing His bodily presence, but knowing
Him (dost thou not know me?). 10.]
See ch. x. 30, 38, and for the latter clause
ch. viii. 28, where the contrast is, as here,
purposely inexact in diction,-words being
placed in one member and works in the
other; and, as there, works and words
are taken as correlative and co-extensive;
-all the working of the Lord Jesus being
a speaking, a revelation of the Father.
According to the probably genuine reading
in the margin, it will be, doeth his works:
they are not Mine, but His, done in and
by Me: but in Me present and abiding, so
that "he that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father."
11-24.] Jesus will
make proof of His abiding union with the
Father, in His union with His own and
this vv. 12-14, in answering prayer:
vv. 15—17, in the sending of the Spirit:
vv. 18 ff., as a pledge of the completion
of this union in His personal return.
The Lord now unfolds out of these words,
the Father dwelleth in Me, doeth his
works, the great promise of the Paraclete
or Comforter. 11. for the very works'
sake] See ch. x. 38. The object here
seems to be, to fix their attention on the
works as a plain testimony even to such as
could not simply believe so deep a thing on
His assertion, and one which 12.]
should become a matter felt and known in
themselves hereafter,-by virtue of their

Mark xi. 24.

ch. xv. 7. 16:

xvi. 23, 24.

James i. 5.

John iii.

22: v. 14.

living union with Him who is gone to the
Father, and become the dispenser and
channel of the Spirit. He who believes
Christ speaking concerning Himself, believes
on Christ.' Bengel. greater works than
these shall he do] This word is not to be
evaded (so as to mean greater in number),
but taken in its full strict sense. And the
keys to its meaning will be found ch. i. 51;
v. 20. The works which Jesus did, His
Apostles also did,-viz. raising the dead,
&c.;-greater works than those, they did
-not in degree, but in kind: spiritual
works, under the dispensation of the Spirit,
which had not yet come in. But they did
them not as separate from Him: but in
Him, and by Him; and so (ch. v. 21) He is
said to do them. The work which He did
by Peter's sermon, Acts ii., was one of
these greater works-the firstfruits of the
unspeakable gift. This union of them
with and in Him is expressed here by "the
works that I do, shall he do also." He has
sown, we reap; and the harvest is greater
than the seed-time.' Stier. 13.] I have
retained the period at the end of ver. 12
(many editors place a comma only and
connect this verse with the word because
in the former), because the sense remains
much the same, and the style is better
preserved.
ye shall ask, viz. the
Father: so ch. xv. 16; xvi. 23. But this
does not exclude, but distinctly includes,
prayer to Christ; so blended are these two
(as the seeing ver. 9), that we have not
"that will He do," but, ver. 14, emphati-
cally "that will I do." He who prays to
the Father, prays to the Son. This doing

q ver. 21, 23. ch. xv. 10,

Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 15 9 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And 11 John I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another

v. 3.

r ch. xv. 20:

Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 [i even]

xvi. 7.

Rom. viii.

s the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye for he dwelleth with you, "and m shall be in

k render, beholdeth.

m read, with many ancient authorities, is.

the Son and Spirit both. And therefore
the other meaning,-Comforter, including
as it does in its fulness (see Rom. viii. 26,
where both, the helping and the interceding,
are united) the Advocate also, has been
both here and in Germany (Luther has
the equivalent term) sanctioned by Chris-
tian usage as the most adequate rendering.
Wicliff, from whom we have our word
Comforter, often used comfort' for the La-
tin confortari, which means to strengthen,
as e. g. Luke xxii. 43; Acts ix. 19 &c.
Thus the idea of help and strength is con-
veyed by it, as well as of consolation.
It was this office, of Comforter in this
double sense, which Jesus had filled to His
disciples while with them: - and which
the Holy Spirit was to fill even more
abundantly (and in a higher sense,
because their state would be higher) on
the removal of Jesus from them. 17.]
This Comforter is, not the true Spirit,'-
but 'THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH;'-the Spirit
Who is truth, 1 John v. 6,-of Whom all
truth comes, and who alone leads into the
whole truth, the truth of God, ch. xvi. 13.
the world] equivalent to the "car-
nal" of 1 Cor. ii. 14 (where see note),
those who live according to the desires of
the flesh and the mind, and have no re-
ceptivity of the things of God.
beholdeth] This word behold, when
used in a spiritual sense, is sometimes
equivalent to know: but this cannot be
so here, because it is separated from know-
eth by neither: 'recognizes not in His
operations, nor knows :'--has neither sight
nor knowledge of. ye know him]
present, but spoken of their state as dis-
ciples opposed to the world,-and by anti-
cipation, as before. They were even now
not of the world (ch. xv. 19), and are there-
fore viewed in the completion of their state
as opposed to it. dwelleth (not shall
dwell) is future in signification, as any
present assertion of that which is to be
permanent must necessarily be; abideth,
as in ch. viii. 35. Euthymius understands
dwelleth with you, of the Spirit abiding

15, 6.

s ch. xv. 26: xvi. 13.

1 John iv. 6. because it

t1 Cor. ii. 14.

u 1 John ii.

know him

27.

i not expressed in the original. render, because.

answers to the doing in ver. 12; the reason
why you shall do these greater works, is,
on account of the all-powerful Spirit of
grace and supplication which My going to
the Father shall bring down upon the
Church; in answer to which Spirit, I will
do by you whatever in My Name (i. e. in
union with Me, as being Mine, manifesting
forth Jesus as the Son of God) ye shall
ask. And the end of this is, that by these
greater works, the wonders of grace and
triumphs of the Spirit, the Father may
be glorified (His glory shewn forth) in and
by the Son. 14.] solemnly repeats as
a promise, what was incidentally asserted
before: For this is a truth, that what-
ever' &c. And besides, there is added in
the original an emphatic I: it is I myself
that will do it: shewing that the use of
the first person before was emphatic. "This
I myself already points to the glorification
of Jesus." Bengel. 15.] is a following
out of the condition in the former verse,
"If ye shall ask any thing in my name:"
That way of prayer is the way of loving
obedience, in which the Spirit is ever found,
and which is only trodden by His help :'
and also of the purpose stated there,
"that the Father may be glorified in the
Son:"As the Father is honoured in the
Son, so must the Son be honoured in you;'
-see ch. xv. 10.
16.] And then the
Spirit shall proceed forth upon you. The
word rendered I will pray betokens, pro-
bably, a manner of asking implying actual
presence and nearness,-and is here used
of the mediatorial office in Christ's ascended
state. Comforter-literally Paraclete.
Olshausen remarks that the interpretations
of this word range themselves in two
classes, which again by no means exclude
one another :-those of COMFORTER,' and
those of ADVOCATE.' The etymology
of the word requires the latter as its strict
meaning, and in this strict meaning it
satisfies 1 John ii. 1, "we have an Advocate
(Paraclete, as here) with the Father," but
not so all the places where it is used of
the Holy Spirit,-nor this verse, where of

—

18 x I will not leave you a comfortless: I will come x Matt.xxviii. 19 Yet a little while, and the world 0° seeth me no y ver. 3, 28.

20.

you. to you.

more; but ye Z P see me : a because I live, ye shall also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22d Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, 4 how is it a Luke vi. 16.

render, orphans. 00 render, beholdeth.

9 Some ancient authorities read, and how is it.

in Jesus, who was among them: but wrongly. is in you] This was perhaps corrected to the future, "shall be," because, though their knowledge of the Spirit proper to their complete state, and His dwelling, remaining, among them, had in some inferior sense begun,-His dwelling in them had not. With the verb in the present, the speaking by anticipation is still stronger. 18.] The original word should be literally rendered, orphans, as indeed it is in the margin of the A. V. The office of the Comforter is to connect the disciples with the Father: if therefore they had Him not, they would be fatherless. The expression is closely connected with "little children" ch. xiii. 33, and, as Euthymius says, springs from paternal compassion. This makes our Lord's declaration, that He was coming to them, plain, as applying to the coming by the Spirit, who is one with Christ;-not only to the ultimate personal coming, which is but the last step of the Advent, nor only the bodily coming again to them and not to the world at the Resurrection, which was but a pledge of His lasting presence in the Spirit: see on ver. 3. The coming is (as there) the summary of these -the great Revisitation, in all its blessed progress. The absence of any connecting particle, as "for," with this clause, arises from the depth of affection in the Lord's 19-21.] This coming is explained to consist in His presence among them by the life of His Resurrection, which is theirs; by (ver. 20) the witness of the Spirit in their hearts; and (ver. 21) their sanctification by the Spirit in love, and the consequent manifestation of Jesus to them.

heart.

Luthardt attempts to confine this coming (and the whole passage) to the last great Advent, in spite of the plain sense of vv. 19, 20, relying on the analogy of

live z ch. xvi. 16.

a 1 Cor. xv 20.

• literally, am going. Prender, behold.

bver. 10. ch.

x. 38: xvii.

21, 23, 26.

c ver. 15, 23. 1 John ii. 5:

v.3.

•

Rev. xxii. 17, and saying that, on the common interpretation, the Church would have no cause to long for her Lord and so Augustine and others. But manifestly the context is against them: and they must thus explain away many other passages (e. g. Matt. xviii. 20). The presence of Christ by the Spirit is none the less real, for being incomplete. 19.] The immediate reference of this, ye behold me, is to the forty days (see Acts x. 41)-but only as leading on to its wider and deeper reference to the spiritual life. I live, not "I shall live"-the principle of Life being immanent in Him. ye shall live, live in all fulness, including the most blessed sense of life,-the Life of the Spirit,-here and hereafter. 20.] At that day, no particular day but each of these periods, as its continually increasing light breaks upon you, shall bring increased knowledge of your unity in Me with the Father, and my dwelling in you by the Spirit.' If any particular day is to be thought of, it would naturally be the Pentecost. 21.] hath ... and keepeth,-"that is," says Augustine, "hath, in memory, and keepeth, in life" or perhaps more accurately, He who has my commandments, as being my disciple by outward profession (not thus only: but holds them, by the inner possession of a living faith), and keeps them :' see Luke xi. 28. And this keeping is more of the inner will to keep them, than the absolute observance, which can only follow on high degrees of spiritual advancement. I will manifest myself to him] by the Holy Spirit: see ch. xvi. 14. This (as Stier observes) is the highest promise which can be made to man (see ver. 23), and yet it is made to every man who has and keeps the commandments of the Lord Jesus.

Compare EXOD. xxxiii. 13. 22.] Judas, not Iscariot is the same person as "Judas

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