John 14 - CSB Disciple’s Study Bible

14:1,11-14,28 SALVATION, Belief—See Mt 21:21-22. Faith in God the Father and in God the Son cannot be separated. Faith leads us to prayer. Prayer gives power to do God’s works for his glory. Faith also relieves our anxieties.

14:1-3 LAST THINGS, Heaven—Without using the word “heaven,” Jesus nonetheless captured the essence of heaven as a prepared place called his Father’s house. He ascended to the Father to prepare for his followers to join him. The hope of heaven is a cure for troubled hearts. That hope is founded on trust in Christ. The essential joy of heaven will be its abode with the Father and its fellowship with the Son.

14:2 JESUS CHRIST, Ascension—Jesus looked beyond his death to his mission in heaven preparing for his followers an eternal home. He will return to take us home.

14:6 JESUS CHRIST, I Am—Jesus made several strong claims for himself and his ministry. Many of the terms he used to describe his work are metaphors that give rise to titles applied to him and to artistic images related to Christ. He used the forceful “I am” (egō eimi). This could be understood as referring to the personal name of God as it appeared in the Greek translation of the OT (Ex 3:14) or to a claim to be Messiah. See note on Mk 14:53–15:15. This often aroused great opposition to his ministry because his opponents understood this veiled messianic reference. See 6:20; 9:24,28,58; 13:19; 18:5. Three key terms that describe Jesus’s work appear in this passage. They are “the Way,” “the Truth,” “the Life.” Jesus is the road to God, the accurate understanding of God, and our very existence come from God. Other terms occurring in John that give us provocative messianic titles for Jesus are: “water” (4:14); “bread” (6:35); “light” (8:12); “the door” (10:7); “the good shepherd” (10:11); “the resurrection and the life” (11:25); “the vine” (15:5).

14:6-7 REVELATION, Divine Presence—Jesus is the eternal life God has for us. No one has access to the way of life, the truth about life, or life’s meaning outside of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. He leads to eternal life in God’s presence. He is preparing our eternal home and will return to lead believers to his eternal home.

14:6-14 SALVATION, Knowledge of God—Those who truly know the Son know the Father also, because Jesus is the way to the Father.

14:6-31 GOD, Trinity—To know, to see, or to hear Jesus the Son is to know, to see, or to hear God the Father. We are able to understand the unity of the two and the difference between the two only in the light of the doctrine of the Trinity, one God known to us in three Persons.

14:9 JESUS CHRIST, God—Jesus claimed that to see him was to see the Father. See note on 12:44-45.

14:9-11 JESUS CHRIST, Son of God—Jesus claimed identity with the Father in the unique Trinitarian relationship. See note on 12:44-50.

14:9-12 REVELATION, Jesus Christ—Jesus’s words and deeds are one with the Father. To see Jesus at work and to hear him teach is to experience God. See note on 12:44-46. Intellectual knowledge alone does not come to this conclusion. God reveals it to people with faith. Jesus promised to let his followers be agents of revelation through the works of the Spirit.

14:11-12 MIRACLE, Instruments—Jesus expected his followers to come to faith through his words and works. Then they would do greater miracles than he had done because he would empower them from his heavenly home with the Father. Miraculous works by his followers have the same purpose as Jesus’s signs—to bring glory to God. See note on 2:1-11. Such miraculous work is closely linked to prayer in Jesus’s name, in uniting ourselves with Jesus and his will (15:7,16; 16:23-24; Mt 7:7-8; 18:19; 21:22; 1Jn 3:21-22; 5:14-15). Such teaching gives modern believers reason to believe in God’s miracle-working power today when we unite ourselves to God’s will, obey him, and seek to bring glory to him and not to ourselves.

14:11-12 MISSIONS, Source—The presence of the living Christ in the believer is the source of missionary motivation. Paul pointed out that Christ’s love impels or compels us (2Co 5:14). Jesus made a staggering promise: the one with faith in him will do what he has been doing—preaching the kingdom, teaching, healing, and expressing his compassionate ministry—and more. See Mt 9:35-38; Lk 4:18-21. Incredible, but true! How is it possible? Because Jesus ascended to the Father. He lives in believers everywhere, working through us. Jesus fed the five thousand. His caring children feed multiplied thousands each year in hunger relief. Limited by space and time, he drew followers to him in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. Each year, through the power of the Holy Spirit and in response to the message of his disciples, millions have pledged and continue to pledge allegiance to him. The source of these works is Jesus himself.

14:12,15,21 DISCIPLESHIP, Lordship of Christ—Faith does not exist without loving obedience. Faith and love prompt the true disciple of Christ to follow Christ’s example and obey his commands. The result is the blessing of a loving relationship with God. Where faith does not produce obedient acts of love, the relationship with God does not exist. We have no right to lessen Christ’s definition of discipleship. Letting people meet our standards and feel security as members of our group is not being a disciple under Christ’s lordship.

14:13-14 PRAYER, In Jesus’s Name—Jesus’s name is the legal warrant for the prayers of Christians. The use of the name presupposes that the person praying is manifesting the character of Jesus in his or her request and that the request will represent a continuation of the work of Christ. See notes on 15:7,16; Mk 9:19-29.

14:14-16 JESUS CHRIST, Intercession—The ascended Christ is ready to answer the faithful prayers of his people. He will send the Spirit as God’s comforting presence with us.

14:15,21,23-24,28 SALVATION, Love of God—Those who love Christ will obey his commands and experience the Father’s love and presence.

14:15-17 REVELATION, Divine Presence—The disciples feared Jesus’s death would make them spiritual orphans with no one to turn to for help. Jesus revealed a new Presence would be available. God’s Spirit fulfills Christ’s promise by living in believers and guiding our lives.

14:15-21 HOLY SPIRIT, Personal—The Holy Spirit is the personal God present with his people. John 14–16 is part of Jesus’s Farewell Discourse. He spoke four times of the Holy Spirit. See 14:15-21,25-26; 16:2-16; note on 15:26-27. He said more about the Spirit than is recorded in all the other Gospels together. Jesus referred to the Spirit as paraclete, a Greek word referring to any person who helps another. A lawyer may be referred to as a paraclete. Part of the Spirit’s work resembles that of a defense lawyer (16:5-16). A person who gives comfort, good advice, wise instruction, or moral support of any kind is a paraclete. Jesus spoke of the Spirit as another Paraclete “Counselor” (14:16), which means Jesus had been a paraclete for his disciples. After he returned to his Father, the help and guidance Jesus provided for his disciples was and is provided by the Spirit until Christ returns. Jesus’s earthly ministry was brief. The Spirit’s ministry is eternal. Since Christ sent the Spirit from the Father, Christ and the Father will be present with the disciples, too (vv. 20,23; compare Mt 28:19-20; 1Jn 2:24). The Spirit’s work is to teach. He is the Spirit of truth (v. 17). He helps disciples remember, understand, and live by Jesus’s commands to love (vv. 15,21). The Spirit is given as Paraclete only to disciples. The world neither knows nor accepts him (v. 17). The divine Counselor lives in disciples. The Spirit also works in unbelievers. See notes on 16:7-11 and 16:8-11.

14:16 PRAYER, Holy Spirit Guides—We have the Spirit to guide us in prayer as a direct result of Jesus’s prayer.

14:17,20 DISCIPLESHIP, Holy Spirit—When we commit ourselves to God in Christ by faith, God enters into our heart in the person of the Holy Spirit and transforms our nature and disposition. We become new creatures in Christ. The Spirit makes such a radical change in us that our whole personality is set on doing the will of God. The Spirit’s daily leadership is the defining characteristic of every disciple. See notes on 16:13-14; 1Co 6:19-20.

14:19 LAST THINGS, Believers’ Resurrection—Jesus spoke of the day of his own resurrection. At that day his disciples would understand his life of oneness and fellowship with the Father. Believers’ present experience of eternal (5:24) and abundant (10:10) life, as well as the hope of future resurrection to life, are based on the resurrection of Jesus.

14:23 SALVATION, Obedience—See 15:10. Love of Christ leads us to obey his teaching. Love and obedience are two sides of the same reality. They cannot be separated.

14:26 HOLY SPIRIT, Teaches—The Spirit came to the disciples in power only after Jesus had gone. This is one clear way by which the Spirit is distinguished from the Son. The Spirit teaches disciples about Jesus and helps us recall his teaching. He does not take disciples away from Christ but reminds us of Christ. This vital truth is expressed in several ways in the NT. At Pentecost the Spirit guided Peter to preach about Christ (Ac 2:22). The NT refers to the Spirit as “the Spirit of Jesus” (Ac 16:7), “the Spirit of Christ” (Rm 8:9), “the Spirit of his Son” (see note on Gl 4:6), and “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:19). When disciples need a way to test whether the Spirit is at work in someone’s life, we are not to use criteria such as enthusiasm or success. The only criterion is faithfulness to Jesus Christ. See 1Jn 4:2-3 and note on 1Co 12:1-3. The Spirit is always closely related to Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus, the Spirit is not working, however much power or emotion is displayed. Whenever anyone is committed to Jesus, the Spirit is at work. All Christians have the Spirit, whether they are outwardly powerful or weak people, whether they are emotional or quiet (Rm 8:9).

14:27 EVIL AND SUFFERING, God’s Present Help—Jesus promised peace for his disciples, despite the activity of Satan. Peace is not the absence of external conflict. It is the power of internal security. By going to the Father by way of the cross and resurrection, Jesus established salvation from sin and all its consequences. He sent the Holy Spirit to bring comfort and peace in our lives. If your life is fragmented and insecure, God is not at fault. He offers peace even for the sufferer.

14:27 CHRISTIAN ETHICS, War and Peace—Jesus faced the cross with concern for his disciples’ needs. Their greatest need—and ours—is for peace, a life of wholeness, security, meaning, and hope. Through the power of the Spirit, Jesus’s followers can have that peace. The world can offer only grandiose dreams that never materialize. See note on Php 4:4-7.

14:28-31 JESUS CHRIST, Son of God—Even while outlining his own divine functions, Jesus acknowledge his subordination to the Father. Jesus was absolutely obedient to the Father.

14:30 JESUS CHRIST, Death—See note on 13:18-30.

14:30 JESUS CHRIST, Sinless—Only Jesus could say that the “ruler” of this world had no hold on him. All others of the sons and daughters of mankind have bowed the knee to Satan.

14:30 EVIL AND SUFFERING, Satan—Satan has power as the one who dominates this world’s activities. He used human leaders and systems to condemn Jesus to death. It appeared the forces of evil had won victory over the crucified Jesus. Before it happened, Jesus informed his disciples that his death would not demonstrate Satan’s power. Rather the events leading to the tomb witnessed God’s eternal love for us and Jesus’s total obedience to the Father. Satan is powerless against the Father.