Some interpreters link [Verse 1] with the last verse of [John 13] on the assumption that [Verse 1] was initially directed at Peter. Even though he would deny the Lord, there was a comforting word here for him. However, the plural forms in Greek ("you") indicate that the verse was addressed to all the disciples. Therefore, we should pause after chapter 13. The thought in [Verse 1] seems to be: "I am going away, and you will no longer be able to see me. But before that, it says: 'Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,' and yet you do not see Him. Therefore, 'believe' in the same way 'also in me'." Again, here we have a crucial passage where Jesus claims to be equal to God.
 | Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-02-28 Source: Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck |
That people should believe in Christ as they believe in the Father testifies to His equality with the Father and proves His divinity.
 | Author: Shenouda III. Rank: Pope AD: 2012 Source: Title: 12 Die Gottheit Christi Author: Pope Shenouda III, 117th Pope of Alexandria Number of pages: 88 Copyright: Biblical texts are quoted from the 'Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift © 1980 Katholische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart'. Used with the kind permission of the Katholische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart. Print: St.Mina Kloster, Mariut, Ägypten Translation: Pater Tawadros und Marianne Hermann |
He equates faith in Him with faith in the Father.
| Author: Shenouda III. Rank: Pope AD: 2012 Source: Title: 12 Die Gottheit Christi Author: Pope Shenouda III, 117th Pope of Alexandria Number of pages: 88 Copyright: Biblical texts are quoted from the 'Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift © 1980 Katholische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart'. Used with the kind permission of the Katholische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart. Print: St.Mina Kloster, Mariut, Ägypten Translation: Pater Tawadros und Marianne Hermann |
The Lord Jesus Object of Faith.
The contrast between the subject or different subjects of this chapter and the last verses of the previous chapter is considerable. In those last verses the Lord Jesus foretold the denial by Peter. What Peter will do shows the impotence of the flesh to be faithful in any way, no matter how good the intentions.
Opposite to this failure of the flesh, the Lord gives seven consolations in this chapter for the weak faith of impotent disciples:
1. When He is no longer with the disciples, they can turn to Him in faith just as they believe in God [Verse 1].
2. He goes to prepare a place for them in the Father’s house [Verse 2].
3. He Himself will come back to pick them up to be where He is [Verse 3].
4. Until then, they will receive the full revelation of the Father in Him [Verse 4-12].
5. Until then, they will be His representatives in the world, where they may pray with the authority of His Name and therefore be answered [Verse 13-14].
6. In that time the Holy Spirit will come to be with them as Comforter and Teacher [Verse 15-26].
7. He gives them His peace [Verse 27-31].
The Lord himself has been troubled several times by seeing sin in its consequences [John 11:33]; [John 12:27]; [John 13:21]. Now He tells His disciples that their heart needs not be troubled, that is, not moved intensely. He knows what He will do and what the consequences of His work will be and that they will be allowed to share in it. He has said to them that He will depart from them. That will sadden them, but He wants to direct their heart permanently to Himself.
Although He will no longer be physically present with them, He will still be there in the same way as God is. They believe in Him, but they will have to believe in Him in a completely new way. Just as God has always been an object of faith without ever having been seen, He will also become an object of faith when they will no longer see Him. He will go away from them, but still He will be present, just as God is present. They will no longer see Him, but will continue to believe in Him and love Him [1Pet 1:8]. With His going away, the era of faith will begin [Gal 2:20]; [2Cor 5:7].
Opposite to this failure of the flesh, the Lord gives seven consolations in this chapter for the weak faith of impotent disciples:
1. When He is no longer with the disciples, they can turn to Him in faith just as they believe in God [Verse 1].
2. He goes to prepare a place for them in the Father’s house [Verse 2].
3. He Himself will come back to pick them up to be where He is [Verse 3].
4. Until then, they will receive the full revelation of the Father in Him [Verse 4-12].
5. Until then, they will be His representatives in the world, where they may pray with the authority of His Name and therefore be answered [Verse 13-14].
6. In that time the Holy Spirit will come to be with them as Comforter and Teacher [Verse 15-26].
7. He gives them His peace [Verse 27-31].
The Lord himself has been troubled several times by seeing sin in its consequences [John 11:33]; [John 12:27]; [John 13:21]. Now He tells His disciples that their heart needs not be troubled, that is, not moved intensely. He knows what He will do and what the consequences of His work will be and that they will be allowed to share in it. He has said to them that He will depart from them. That will sadden them, but He wants to direct their heart permanently to Himself.
Although He will no longer be physically present with them, He will still be there in the same way as God is. They believe in Him, but they will have to believe in Him in a completely new way. Just as God has always been an object of faith without ever having been seen, He will also become an object of faith when they will no longer see Him. He will go away from them, but still He will be present, just as God is present. They will no longer see Him, but will continue to believe in Him and love Him [1Pet 1:8]. With His going away, the era of faith will begin [Gal 2:20]; [2Cor 5:7].
 | Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-01-07 Source: Title: John Author: Ger de Koning |
Here are three words, upon any of which stress may be laid. Upon the word troubled. Be not cast down and disquieted. The word heart. Let your heart be kept with full trust in God. The word your. However others are overwhelmed with the sorrows of this present time, be not you so. Christ’s disciples, more than others, should keep their minds quiet, when everything else is unquiet. Here is the remedy against this trouble of mind, “Believe.” By believing in Christ as the Mediator between God and man, we gain comfort. The happiness of heaven is spoken of as in a father’s house. There are many mansions, for there are many sons to be brought to glory. Mansions are lasting dwellings. Christ will be the Finisher of that of which he is the Author or Beginner; if he has prepared the place for us, he will prepare us for it. Christ is the sinner’s Way to the Father and to heaven, in his person as God manifest in the flesh, in his atoning sacrifice, and as our Advocate. He is the Truth, as fulfilling all the prophecies of a Savior; believing which, sinners come by him the Way. He is the Life, by whose life-giving Spirit the dead in sin are quickened. Nor can any man draw nigh God as a Father, who is not quickened by Him as the Life, and taught by Him as the Truth, to come by Him as the Way. By Christ, as the Way, our prayers go to God, and his blessings come to us; this is the Way that leads to rest, the good old Way. He is the Resurrection and the Life. All that saw Christ by faith, saw the Father in Him. In the light of Christ’s doctrine, they saw God as the Father of lights; and in Christ’s miracles, they saw God as the God of power. The holiness of God shone in the spotless purity of Christ’s life. We are to believe the revelation of God to man in Christ; for the works of the Redeemer show forth his own glory, and God in him.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-11
1 ‹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe 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. I go to prepare a place for you.› 3 ‹And if I go and 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 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 ‹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 time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou› [then], ‹Shew us the Father?› 10 ‹Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.› 11 ‹Believe me that I› [am] ‹in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.›
 | Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source: Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry |
And if not, I would have told you: I go to prepare As if He said; Either way you should not be troubled, whether places are prepared for you, or not. For, if they are not prepared, I will very quickly prepare them.
 | Author: Theophilus of Antioch AD: 184 |
This He says, because it was probable that when they heard they would be troubled. For if the leader of their band, one so entirely fervent, was told that before the cock crew he should thrice deny his Master, it was likely that they would expect to have to undergo some great reverse, sufficient to bend even souls of adamant. Since then it was probable that they considering these things would be astounded, see how He comforts them, saying, Let not your heart be troubled. By this first word showing the power of His Godhead, because, what they had in their hearts He knew and brought to light. You believe in God, believe also in Me. That is, All dangers shall pass you by, for faith in Me and in My Father is more powerful than the things which come upon you, and will permit no evil thing to prevail against you. Then He adds,
 | Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
Faith, too, in Me, and in the Father that begat Me, is more powerful than anything that shall come upon you; and will prevail in spite of all difficulties. He shows His divinity at the same time by discerning their inward feelings: Let not your heart be troubled.
Or thus: Our Lord having said above to Peter, Where I go, you can not follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterwards, that they might not think that this promise was made to Peter only, He says, In My Father’s house are many mansions; i.e. You shall be admitted into that place, as well as Peter, for it contains abundance of mansions, which are ever ready to receive you: If it were not so, I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you.
Having said, you can not follow Me now, that they might not think that they were cut off for ever, He adds: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again area receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also: a recommendation to them to place the strongest trust in Him.
He show them that He is aware of their curiosity to know His meaning, and thus excites them to pelt questions to Him.
| Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. He is making an able soldier out of one who but now was a coward, and while the disciples were smarting with the anxieties of fear He bids them take to themselves the terrible power of faith. For thus are we safe, and not otherwise, according surely to the song of the Psalmist: The Lord is my illumination and my saviour; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the shield of my life; of tvhom shall I be afraid? For if the all-powerful God fights for us and shields us, who could ever have power to harm us? And who will by any chance advance to such a height of power as to keep the elect in subjection to him, and to force them to submit to the evil designs of his perverse imagination? Or who could take by his spear and lead captive those that wear the panoply of God? Faith therefore is a weapon whose blade is stout and broad, that drives away all cowardice that may spring from expectation of coming suffering, and that renders the darts of evil-doers utterly void of effect and utterly profitless of success in their temptations. And this being the nature of faith, we must further notice another point: Christ bade them believe not in God alone, but also on Himself, not implying thereby that He is at all different from the One Who is in His nature God, I mean as regards identity of essence; but that to believe in God and to suppose that the province of faith must be wholly bound up in this one phrase, is rather a peculiar characteristic of the Jewish imagination, whereas the inclusion of the name of the Son within the compass of faith in God indicates the acceptance of an injunction of evangelic preaching. For those at least who are rightly minded must believe in God the Father, and not merely in the Son, but also in the fact of His Incarnation, and in the Holy Ghost. For the Persons of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity are distinguished both by difference of names and by the peculiar qualities and special offices of each: for the Father is Father and not Son, the Son again is Son and not Father, and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit peculiar to the Godhead. And yet the Trinity is summed up into a common Unity of Essence, so that our Creed gives us not three Gods, but one God. Still, I maintain that we must preserve accurately the definitions of our faith, not content with saying "We believe in God," but fully explaining our confession, and attaching to each Person the same measure of glory. For in our minds there should be no difference as to the intensity of our faith: our faith in the Father is not to be greater than our faith in the Son, or even than our faith in the Holy Ghost. But one and the same is the extent and the manner of our confession, uttered in regard to each of the three Persons with the same measure of faith; in such a way that herein again the Holy Trinity may appear in Unity of nature, so that the glory that encircles It may be seen in unchallenged perfection, and our souls may display our faith in the Father and in the Son, even in His Incarnation, and in the Holy Ghost. And I believe no man, if he were wise, would make any distinction between the Word of God and the Temple formed from the virgin, at least as regards the question of sonship; for there is One Lord, Jesus Christ, according to the saying of Paul. But let him who would sever into two sons Him Who is One and One alone, know surely that he is denying the faith. The inspired Paul, for instance, in working out very excellently and accurately the doctrine on this point, would have us confess our belief not simply in Christ as the Only-begotten, but also in Him as made like unto us, that is, made man, and as having both died and risen again from the dead. For what does he say? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if thou shalt say with thy mouth, Jesus is Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now if we believe on the Son as having risen again, who was He that died so that He might rise again? But it is evident that He is reckoned to have died according to the flesh. For His own body was imprisoned in the bonds of death, and restored to life again: for it was a body that shared in our natural life, though containing in itself in full perfection that peculiar indwelling power so mysteriously united to it, namely an energy capable of bestowing life. Whensoever therefore any one shall sever these two natures, and in separating the flesh from Him Who corporeally dwelt therein shall dare to speak of two sons, let him know that he is believing on the flesh alone. For the Divine Scriptures teach us to believe on Him Who was crucified and died and rose again from the dead, as being no other than the Word of God Himself; not so much in regard to identity of essence, for the body of Christ is body and not Word, though it be the body of the Word; but rather in respect of veritable sonship. And if any one were to think that herein we are not speaking with all possible accuracy, he would have to come forward and show us the Word Who is from God dead as regards His Divine nature, a thing which it is impossible or rather impious even to conceive.
 | Author: Cyril of Alexandria Rank: Pope AD: 444 |
Let not your heart be troubled. By saying that Peter's courage will fail him so utterly that he will deny his Master thrice, and will suffer so sad a downfall in one single night, He almost seems by the overwhelming weight of His words to arouse in the disciples the extremity of terror at the dangers before them. Whence it may very well have happened that the other disciples began at once to reason with one another, saying: "What can be the nature, the extent, or the exceeding heaviness of that dread of coming troubles, and of that temptation so irresistible as to attack the chief among us and overcome him, not once only, but many times by the same assault, and that within so brief a space of time? Surely, who among us will escape a yet worse plight, or how can any other among us withstand such an attack, when Peter wavers and yields as of necessity to the grievous weight of the trials that beset him? Vainly it seems have we endured toils for the sake of our duty in following Him: our efforts are ending only in the exhaustion of our vital powers, though they seemed to hold out to us a prospect of life with God." There is surely nothing improbable in supposing that the disciples were thus reasoning in their inmost thoughts: and since it was needful to restore again their drooping spirits, He introduces as it were the necessary antidote to the reasonings and fears that His words had aroused, and bids them arm themselves with a calm and untroubled spirit, saying to them: Let not your heart be troubled. Notice, however, in how guarded a manner He promises them the forgiveness of |232 their coming feebleness of spirit. He does not say plainly: "I will forgive you even in spite of your weakness," or. "I will be present with you none the less, although you deny Me and forsake Me;" His object therein being, not to completely remove their fears of shame, or completely take away their suspicions of failure, lest He should seem to make out their error to be a light matter and teach them to regard as of no account the blame they would incur in their denial of Him. But in bidding them not be troubled, He placed them as it were on the borderland betwixt hope and fear: so that, if they fell into weakness and suffering in their human frailty, the hope of His clemency might help them to recovery; while the fear of stumbling might urge them to fall but seldom, since they had not yet been endowed with the power never to fail at all, not having as yet been clothed with the power from above, from on high, I mean the grace that comes through the Spirit. He bids them therefore not to be troubled, teaching them at once that it was fitting that those who were prepared for the conflict, and ready to enter on the struggles for the sake of the glory that is on high, should be altogether superior to feelings of cowardice: for an untroubled mind is a great help towards a courageous temper: at the same time, with somewhat obscure and not very distinct intimations, yet certainly, sowing the seed of a germinant hope of forgiveness, if ever it should really happen to them in their human weakness to fall away into cowardice. For a mind that is not yet stablished by the grace that comes from above is timid and easily upset, and very apt to be disturbed. For this reason also surely the very wise Paul prays for certain to whom he is writing, in the words: And the peace of Christ, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts. For this is in reality to be untroubled in heart.
| Author: Cyril of Alexandria Rank: Pope AD: 444 |
1. Our special attention, brethren, must be earnestly turned to God, in order that we may be able to obtain some intelligent apprehension of the words of the holy Gospel, which have just been ringing in our ears. For the Lord Jesus says: Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, and believe [or, believe also] in me. That they might not as men be afraid of death, and so be troubled, He comforts them by affirming Himself also to be God. Believe, He says, in God, believe also in me. For it follows as a consequence, that if you believe in God, you ought to believe also in me: which were no consequence if Christ were not God. Believe in God, and believe in Him, who, by nature and not by robbery, is equal with God; for He emptied Himself; not, however, by losing the form of God, but by taking the form of a servant. Philippians 2:6-7 You are afraid of death as regards this servant form, let not your heart be troubled, the form of God will raise it again. 2. But why have we this that follows, In my Father's house are many mansions, but that they were also in fear about themselves? And therein they might have heard the words, Let not your heart be troubled. For, was there any of them that could be free from fear, when Peter, the most confident and forward of them all, was told, The cock shall not crow till you have denied me thrice? Considering themselves, therefore, beginning with Peter, as destined to perish, they had cause to be troubled: but when they now hear, In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you, they are revived from their trouble, made certain and confident that after all the perils of temptations they shall dwell with Christ in the presence of God. For, albeit one is stronger than another, one wiser than another, one more righteous than another, in the Father's house there are many mansions; none of them shall remain outside that house, where every one, according to his deserts, is to receive a mansion. All alike have that penny, which the householder orders to be given to all that have wrought in the vineyard, making no distinction therein between those who have labored less and those who have labored more: Matthew 20:9 by which penny, of course, is signified eternal life, whereto no one any longer lives to a different length than others, since in eternity life has no diversity in its measure. But the many mansions point to the different grades of merit in that one eternal life. For there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory; and so also the resurrection of the dead. The saints, like the stars in the sky, obtain in the kingdom different mansions of diverse degrees of brightness; but on account of that one penny no one is cut off from the kingdom; and God will be all in all in such a way, that, as God is love, 1 John 4:8 love will bring it about that what is possessed by each will be common to all. For in this way every one really possesses it, when he loves to see in another what he has not himself. There will not, therefore, be any envying amid this diversity of brightness, since in all of them will be reigning the unity of love. 3. Every Christian heart, therefore, must utterly reject the idea of those who imagine that there are many mansions spoken of, because there will be some place outside the kingdom of heaven, which shall be the abode of those blessed innocents who have departed this life without baptism, because without it they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Faith like this is not faith, inasmuch as it is not the true and catholic faith. Are you not so foolish and blinded with carnal imaginations as to be worthy of reprobation, if you should thus separate the mansion, I say not of Peter and Paul, or any of the apostles, but even of any baptized infant from the kingdom of heaven; do you not think yourselves deserving of reprobation in thus putting a separation between these and the house of God the Father? For the Lord's words are not, In the whole world, or, In all creation, or, In everlasting life and blessedness, there are many mansions; but He says, In my Father's house are many mansions. Is not that the house where we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens? 2 Corinthians 5:1 Is not that the house whereof we sing to the Lord, Blessed are they that dwell in Your house; they shall praise You for ever and ever? Will you then venture to separate from the kingdom of heaven the house, not of every baptized brother, but of God the Father Himself, to whom all we who are brethren say, Our Father, who art in heaven, Matthew 6:9 or divide it in such a way as to make some of its mansions inside, and some outside, the kingdom of heaven? Far, far be it from those who desire to dwell in the kingdom of heaven, to be willing to dwell in such folly with you: far be it, I say, that since every house of sons that are reigning can be nowhere else but in the kingdom, any part of the royal house itself should be outside the kingdom. 4. And if I go, He says, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. O Lord Jesus, how can You go to prepare a place, if there are already many mansions in Your Father's house, where Your people shall dwell with Yourself? Or if Thou receive them unto Yourself, how will You come again, who never withdrawest Your presence? Such subjects as these, beloved, were we to attempt to explain them with such brevity as seems within the proper bounds of our discourse today, would certainly suffer in clearness from compression, and the very brevity would become itself a second obscurity; we shall therefore defer this debt, which the bounty of our Family-head will enable us to repay at a more suitable opportunity.
 | Author: Augustine of Hippo Rank: Bishop AD: 430 |
Our Lord consoles His disciples, who, as men, would be naturally alarmed and troubled at the idea of His death, by assuring them of His divinity: Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me; as if they must believe in Him, if they believed in God; which would not follow, unless Christ were God. you are in fear for this form of a servant; let not your heart be troubled; the form of God shall raise it up.
And as the disciples were afraid for themselves, when Peter, the boldest and most zealous of them, had been told, The cock shall not crow, till you have denied Me thrice, He adds, In My Father's house are many mansions, by way of an assurance to them in their trouble, that they might with confidence and certainty look forward, after all their trials, to dwelling together with Christ in the presence of God. For though one man is bolder, wiser, juster, holier than another, yet no one shall be removed from that house of God, but each receive a mansion suited to his deserts. The penny indeed which the householder paid to the laborers who worked in his vineyard, was the same to all; for life eternal, which this penny signifies, is of the same duration to all. But there may be many mansions, many degrees of dignity, in that life, corresponding to people’s deserts.
And thus God will be all in all; that is, since God is love, love will bring it to pass, that what each has, will be common to all. That which one loves in another is one’s own, though one have it not one’s self. And then there will be no envy et superior grace, for in all hearts will reign the unity of love.
But they are rejected by the Christians, who infer from there being many mansions that there is a place outside the kingdom of heaven, where innocent souls, that have departed this life without baptism, and could not there enter into the kingdom of heaven, remain happy. But God forbid, that when every house of every heir of the kingdom is in the kingdom, there should be a part of the regal house itself not in the kingdom. Our Lord does not say, In eternal bliss are many mansions, but they are in My Father’s house.
He means evidently that there are already many mansions, and that there is no need of His preparing one.
But why does He go and prepare a place, if there are many mansions already? Because these are not as yet so prepared as they will be. The same mansions that He has prepared by predestination, He prepares by operation. They are prepared already in respect of predestination; if they were not, He would have said, I will goand prepare, i.e. predestine, a place for you; but inasmuch as they are not yet prepared in respect of operation, He says, And if I go and prepare a place for you. And now He is preparing mansions, by preparing occupants for them. Indeed, when He says, In My Father's house are many mansions, what think we the house of God to be but the temple of God, of which the Apostle said, The temple of God is holy, which temple you are (1 Cor 3:17). This house of God then is now being built, now being prepared. But why has He gone away to prepare it, if it is ourselves that He prepares: if He leaves us, how can He prepare us? The meaning is, that, in order that those mansions may be prepared, the just must live by faith and if you see, there is no faith. Let Him go away then, that He be not seen; let Him be hid, that He be believed. Then a place is prepared, if you live by faith: let faith desire, that desire may enjoy. If you rightly understands Him, He never leaves either the place He came from, or that He goes from. He goes, when He withdraws from sight, He comes, when He appears. But except He remain in power, that we may grow in goodness, no place of happiness will be prepared for us.
| Author: Augustine of Hippo Rank: Bishop AD: 430 |
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
