EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
John 14:8-21. The request of Philip and the response of Jesus.—Philip, catching at the word ἑωράκατε (seen), misapprehended its meaning, and thought of some theophany, some manifestation of the glory of God. This would suffice them, would remove their anxiety.
John 14:9. The Lord’s answer is that He is the revelation of the Father, in Him alone is the Father revealed. There is sadness in the words in which He recalls the fact that Philip had been a disciple almost from the beginning, and yet the disciple did not understand Him! Compassionate, pitying love speaks in these words. Seen the Father.—I.e. as the Father can be seen in His wisdom, holiness, goodness, truth, etc. “Not that I am both Father and Son (the error of the Patripassians and Noetians and Sabellians), but because the Son is coequal with the Father” (Augustine in Wordsworth’s Greek Testament).
John 14:10. οὐ πιστεύεις.—Believest thou not from all thou hast heard and seen (John 10:38) that there must be an intimate indwelling of Me in the Father and of the Father in Me? This is, as Luthardt says, “a relation of unconditioned communion.” “The first sign of community of life and action between Jesus and God, to prepared hearts, is His teaching; to those who are not so well disposed, it is His works” (Godet). ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ (א, B, D).—Doeth His own works. This is proof not only of the mutual indwelling of Father and Son, but of the loving willingness of the Son in our redemption to carry out the Father’s will. “There is room for hesitation between the readings λαλῶ and λέγω in the first clause of the sentence. In the second the term λαλῶ is in any case perfectly suitable.… God says; Jesus declares” (Godet).
John 14:11. Or else, etc.—So John 10:37-38. His miracles are an objective proof not only confirming, but, in the case of those whom prejudice, etc., had blinded, going beyond His words. But they are a powerful testimony to all, especially when we include miracles of spiritual healing, etc.
John 14:12. Whilst still answering Philip’s request Jesus now addresses again all the disciples, in His answer leading them back to the interrupted discourse. Verily, etc.—The expression used when He calls attention to some deeper aspect of truth. He that believeth, etc.—These works the disciples were enabled to do (Acts 3:1-10, etc.) “in the name of Jesus.” The greater works refer to the marvellous effects of their activity after the outpouring of the Spirit. Few had been attracted by our Lord’s ministry; but under the ministry of the Pentecostally gifted apostles spiritual and moral miracles abounded. “Every revival of a truly religious spirit has been an instance of (the fulfilment of this prophecy); every mission field has been a witness to it” (Watkins). The works were greater because they were of a higher, a spiritual order. In them are fulfilled such glorious promises as those of Isaiah 60. Because I go unto the Father.—His exaltation will be the signal of an accession of power to the disciples, enabling them to do these greater works. They are still from Him. On earth He began to do and teach (Acts 1:1); in heaven He continues to do so.
John 14:13-14. In My name, etc.—“I think we must hold by the explanation of Hengstenberg, Keil, Westcott (with shades of difference): asking a thing from God as Father on the foundation of the revelation which Jesus has given of Himself and of His work; or, as Keil says, ‘while immersed through faith in the knowledge which we have received from Him as the Son of God humbled and glorified.’ This meaning corresponds with that of the term name in Scripture, for the name sums up the knowledge we have of a being; it is the reflection of Him in our thought” (Godet). I will do it.—A proof of the unity of mind and action between Father and Son.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— John 14:8-14
The revelation of the Father.—The disciples of our Lord, even at the close of His ministry, were still far from understanding fully either Himself or the import of His mission. Their faith rose and fell as now one side, now another, of His purpose and work became known to them. They secretly cherished in their hearts, nay, often showed openly that they entertained the idea, that Jesus would yet manifest Himself in temporal Messianic glory. So that when He spoke of death and departure, the barometer of faith fell, the sky of hope was overclouded. Especially now that He spoke of immediate departure, and that the disciples could not then follow Him, “sorrow filled their hearts”—token of their personal affection for Jesus, but also of the imperfection of their faith. Thus Jesus sought to comfort them, told them of the Father’s house, etc., and, in reply to the pessimistic question of Thomas, pointed to Himself as the way to the Father, and thus to the Father’s house, closing His answer with the memorable words (John 14:7), “If ye had known Me,” etc. Catching at the word “seen,” Philip puts forward his request: “Lord, show us,” etc.
I. Philip’s request echoes the longing of humanity.
1. To know God, to see Him, some manifestation of His glory, visible, palpable, unmistakable, that is what even the noblest of the race have longed for (Exodus 33:18). And if not some visual manifestation, then at least some audible voice speaking from heaven. Is not this desire and craving at the base of the world-idolatry? of the ecstatic dreams of mystic contemplation? And it has been well said, “The desire would be well founded if the essence of God consisted of power; the true theophany might then be found in some splendid appearance.”
2. But would this at once, even were it granted, disperse the mist and darkness of error and unbelief? It may be doubted. There are glorious manifestations of God in nature: “The heavens declare His glory,” etc. His glory was manifested in an especial fashion to Israel (Psalms 68; Psalms 107, etc.). But even these manifestations did not suffice to banish unbelief, etc. Men in such a way alone could not come to the true vision of God. But this longing is a true and heavenly longing; it is the Godlike in man’s heart seeking to find its source and end. Therefore such a desire is not to be repressed as wrong, but rightly directed.
II. In Jesus is the full revelation of the Father.
1. Our Lord did not chide Philip for his request, but for his slowness of heart in not realising that it had already been granted. It showed the depth of Philip’s love; for it was in view of Jesus’ departure that he desired this vision, so that their faith in Jesus and the divinity of His mission might be fully established. Such a manifestation as he asked would at once set their doubts at rest. But it was a melancholy proof also of the weakness and uninstructedness of Philip’s faith.
2. And it was in view of this that Jesus said in sadness, “Have I been so long time?” etc. So long! Since the beginning of My ministry, when in the ardour of new-born faith you brought Nathanael to Me as the Messiah! Thou, who hast accompanied Me throughout these years, who hast seen My life unfolded in the world, and hast heard My repeated declarations of My heavenly origin (John 10:30; John 8:19; John 6:27-40, etc.),—hast thou not known Me sufficiently to know that “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father? How sayest thou then?” etc. God can only be seen aright when we recognise in Him the loving Father of the incarnate Son. “Believest thou not?” etc. Is it not evident from all you have seen and heard that “I am in the Father,” etc., that each dwells in each, that the Son is the expression and object of the Father’s eternal love (John 17:24), and that the same eternal life is in the Son that is in the Father? Surely none but the eternal Son would use such language as this!
III. That Jesus is the revelation of the Father is confirmed by His teaching and works, and the works which those who believe in Him shall do.
1. He reminds Philip and his fellows of His teaching in confirmation of His claim—not merely His teaching on this special subject, but the whole scope and tenor of it, as showing His divine origin (John 7:16-17; John 12:49) and His oneness with the Father.
2. Yes, more than that, “The Father which dwelleth in Me doeth His own works” (John 14:10, etc.). These works confirm My teaching; these words and works are surely the Father’s, such as God alone can utter and perform. They are all actions of divine love, pity, mercy, benevolence, attributes of the divine character, and thus testify to their origin.
3. More than this also, I solemnly say to you that a further proof will be forthcoming of My oneness with the Father. I go to the Father, but it will be as “the Son of God with power,” etc. (Romans 1:4-6), a power that will be manifested in My communicating to you power to do these works that I do—yes, greater works than these. In answer to believing prayer in My name shall this power be given you from Me, “that the Father may be glorified,” etc. “Those works which after My ascension I shall enable others to do, thus showing My divine power and co-equality with the Father” (Augustine). “Greater works”—those moral miracles of redeeming grace, wrought through the instrumentality of believing men, in answer to the prayer of faith, in which the sinful are led to peace, etc. True, they were also wrought by Jesus: “Thy faith hath made thee whole,” etc. (Matthew 9:22, etc.). But not to the extent in which they would be manifested when Jesus was exalted, and under the dispensation of the Spirit. For then the old prophecies, so glorious and far-reaching, would be fulfilled (Isaiah 66:8, etc.).
IV. “Believest thou not?” etc.—This is a question for the present day. The thoughts of the whole world to-day, as well as of the followers of Jesus, are directed to Him. “What think ye of Christ?” is daily becoming ever more a universal inquiry. And as Jesus asked Philip in sadness, “Have I been so long?” etc., so might He say to many in the Christian Church, in whom the spirit of rationalism has dimmed their vision of the true unity and equality of Christ and the Father. Would statements such as these, teaching such as Christ’s, come from one who was not one with the Father? Is not the Father manifestly revealed in Him? And are not those greater works still manifest in answer to believing prayer in the name of Jesus? The whole course of the Church’s history, the power of the gospel to convert the individual and elevate the race, the triumphs of modern missions—all these testify to the living power of the living, loving Christ, and His oneness with the Father.
John 14:12. Greater works.—The works Christ did on earth were a proof and evidence of the truth of His claims. They were works worthy of the Son of God, not only because they were works of mercy and love, but also of superhuman power. They did contribute to manifest forth His glory. They were, at the founding of His Church, a necessary link in the chain of testimony which pointed to Him as the promised Messiah and the Son of God. The remembrance of those mighty works, therefore, would make His words to the disciples, “If it were not so I would have told you,” more convincing and comforting. But here our Lord says that not only shall His disciples do His works, but greater works. What does this mean?
I. Christ’s disciples were to do the same works that He did.—
1. At the founding of the Christian faith the ambassadors for Christ needed to be unmistakably authenticated. It must be clearly evident that they came with the authority of the King of kings.
2. Hence they did the same works as Christ did; they healed the sick, etc., and raised the dead, in His name. And without doubt those works of power in Christ’s name drew the attention of those who saw them wrought to the gospel, and were a testimony that the apostles were armed with divine authority.
3. And yet another wonderful work done by Christ was carried out by the apostles. The gospel was preached to the poor (Luke 17:22).
II. But the disciples were also to do greater works than the Master.—
1. Was this possible? Could any works possibly be greater than those typical miracles related by John, culminating in the raising up of Lazarus? Yet these were not the Saviour’s greatest works. Christ might have cured humanity at large and for ever from physical disease, etc., and yet the world might have been brought no nearer God and eternal life.
2. Christ recognised the spiritual works He did to be the most important. It was higher to lead men to spiritual healing, and for this end He came to earth (Luke 4:18).
3. But His sphere on earth, so far as those works went, was limited. He was sent to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Whereas the disciples, after being enlightened and strengthened by the Spirit at Pentecost, had no limit set to their working: “Jerusalem, Judæa, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.” Indeed, the continued history of the “acts” of these apostles and other ministers and teachers of the Church shows how grandly this promise was fulfilled. With power they preached to Jew and Gentile, and multitudes through their instrumentality became “new creatures.”
III. This promise was not confined to the early Church.—
1. The Christian civilisation in which we live is the outcome of that promise. How has the face of the moral world changed since those words were spoken! The “sweeter manners, purer laws” of Christian countries are the results of the working of Christ’s true disciples from that hour to this. These are the greater works given them to do.
2. And as great or greater works remain to be done by the Church, the disciples of to-day. Higher reaches of faith and attainment lie still before us. Vast tracts of heathendom still await the gospel. To our own or some future age will be given a crowning and glorious work, when “a nation shall be born in a day.”
3. But to this end we need the same spiritual power. Therefore should faithful prayer ascend for Pentecostal blessing.
John 14:13-14. Praying in order to working.—Ora et Labora. This is the divine order. Prayer and work must go together, or our work in the end will be in vain. And those “greater works” especially, which Christ’s disciples are to do, must be begun and continued in believing prayer. And it has been the experience of the Church in all ages that where faithful prayer has abounded there the works of God have been manifest. In regard to the prayer here enjoined there is a condition attached.
I. It is prayer in the name of Jesus.—
1. These prayers are the prayers of workers in the vineyard, of those therefore who are fellow-labourers in promoting Christ’s kingdom. They are in close and intimate fellowship with Christ, are indeed members of His body; they are of the household of God.
2. They must therefore come in the name of their living Head. For not only has He opened up a new and living way of access to the throne of grace, but they would not desire to approach that throne unless they could take Him with them and feel that He would present their feeble petitions to the Father.
3. And this implies asking in accordance with the will of Jesus. No Christian would care to ask the Father for anything out of harmony with the mind and will of the Saviour. And thus our Christian prayers are in this view conditioned. But within this limit—
II. It is in reality unconditioned prayer.—
1. “Whatsoever ye shall ask,” etc. “If ye shall ask anything,” etc. He who speaks these words is the King of kings and Lord of lords, by and for whom all things in heaven and earth were created. The boundless riches and resources of the universe are His. And out of this fulness whatever is for our good, and that by which we can be strengthened and aided for His work, will be given. For “prayer is a key which, turned by the hand of faith, unlocks all the treasuries of God.”
2. But at the basis of this asking there must ever be faith. “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).
3. How faithful did the apostolic band and the early Church find this promise to be when, after the Ascension, they “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14). As they waited “with one accord” on the day of Pentecost, how gloriously were they answered! Christian history and biography can bring forward manifold proof that this promise has been “yea and amen.”
III. This promise is sure for every time and for the humblest of Christ’s saints.—
1. Christ Himself fulfils this promise, and He is the same yesterday, etc., and His infinite fulness may be drawn upon by the poorest and feeblest of His disciples.
2. And He encourages us to ask, and to ask frequently, for it will all tend to one great purpose, the highest in the universe, “that the Father may be glorified,” for He will thus be glorified in the Son. How marvellously the consciousness of His divine dignity is seen with Gethsemane and the cross in view!
3. Is not the secret of much of the Church’s weakness want of waiting on God in unity of supplication in the name of Jesus? Why are her spiritual gifts often so low and so few? Why might not her power be a thousandfold increased, since there is the “infinite fulness” of Jesus to draw from through believing prayer? Perhaps we labour and scheme and plan too much, guided only by our own ideas, illumined by our own wisdom. Might there not be more of believing, earnest, united prayer, and thus more blessing?
John 14:13-14. A gracious promise.—What a marvellous spectacle it is when we look abroad on the world to see, amid all diversities of race and occupation, men, whether in highly civilised nations or amid savage tribes, all acknowledging in prayer their dependence on the Unseen! Whether it be in Christian temples and at Christian family altars, or in mosque or home at the call of the Muezzin, or at the prayer-mills and flags of the Buddhist, or in the idolater’s temple, or by the fetich stone of the dark and ignorant savage, there is this sense of dependence and the going forth of the thoughts and desires of men to powers invisible, which seem at once to point to man’s high origin and to tell of his fall from his original high position. Very superstitious and very childish, very routine and perfunctory, are the prayers of men oftentimes. But even the most superstitious and perfunctory prayer is a witness to the universal human sense of need, and the equally universal conviction that there is a Power unseen which controls our destinies, and which alone can satisfy our deepest needs. Scepticism and infidelity may for a time turn some away from faith in the Christian creed; they have never been able to obliterate the need which drives men to prayer. In hours of deep distress and trial even the sceptic and infidel have been known to bow the knee and utter a cry, though wild and despairing, for help. The necessity of prayer is one of the grandest proofs of the original dignity of our nature; and our Lord, recognising the fact, lays down for His disciples in all ages rule and direction to guide them in prayer. Those who cannot command anything or claim it as a right must ask for it. Those who will not comply with this requirement must not complain if they do not attain.
I. It is they that ask that shall receive.—
1. In warning His disciples against formal prayers with vain repetitions our Lord said to them, “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). What need then of asking? it may be said, as it often has been said.
2. It is true that God does not need that we should come to Him with our petitions “as if He must first learn through us what we lack” But we need to pray. “It is only through prayer that we can come into the right position toward God, in which we can alone receive the fulness of His goodness to our true blessedness” (Dr. J. Stockmeyer).
3. When a man does not ask for any special gift that others are anxiously seeking, it means that he does not see his need of that gift, that there is no place in his nature for the reception of it. And thus it is in prayer. God knows men’s needs; but for the heavenly gifts He is so willing to bestow there may be no room in the lives of many. Their hearts and lives may be so filled with the things of earth that they are conscious of no desire for better things. The heart may be so filled with Mammon, or some other earthly idol, that there may be no room in it for God.
4. Therefore the first requisite in prayer is the sense of need—knowledge of the lack of those gifts which God can bestow, driving us to Him with the feeling of dependence on Him, and thus leading us to ask so “that it may be given unto us.” Then this asking that we may receive shows further that we have attained to a just conception of—
II. The true spirit of prayer.—
1. The true suppliant comes to the throne of grace in deep humility. And why? Because those who come to ask confess that they have not what they ask, that they cannot obtain it for themselves, and that He whom they ask can alone bestow the blessing.
2. And not only so: the true suppliants approach also conscious of unworthiness in themselves, and that they must rely alone on the grace and mercy of Him to whose throne they come with their entreaties. It is not to demand reward for labour done, or gifts to be conferred because of merit, that servants of God approach His throne. Not even as beggars do they come; for the indigent man who seeks alms at my door may never have done me harm. They come rather as rebels to the throne of their offended Sovereign, realising that every gift they ask and receive is of the grace and free favour of their offended, but now reconciled, King.
3. This spirit of humility will also be shown in the condition observed in all true supplication. At first sight it would appear as if our asking were unconditioned. “Whatsoever ye shall ask.” “Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 14:13; John 15:7); or simply, “Ask, and it shall be given you” (Matthew 7:7-8). But there is, and must be, this condition in true prayer by God’s children, “If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us”; or, as Christ said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name” (Matthew 18:20). True suppliants will have the humble consciousness of their own limitations, of their unwisdom, their want of true foresight, the limitations of their knowledge. Therefore they will come to God convinced of His unerring wisdom, His absolute knowledge, as well as of His power to bestow the gifts they seek. And they will realise that He is not only to be asked for material gifts, as being the Governor of the material universe, holding in His almighty hand all the powers and forces that control and move it; but as the bestower also of spiritual gifts, that men cannot acquire these for themselves, any more than they can command the sunshine or rain, health or sickness. But asking, etc., implies also—
III. Loving and trustful confidence in prayer.—
1. “Asking that we may receive” is the child’s attitude in prayer. It is the son who looks up with loving confidence to the Father that alone can come in this attitude to God.
2. Here then another reason meets us why God requires His children to come to Him in prayer. As the divine Father, it is well pleasing to Him that His children should draw near to ask Him for such things as they need, even though there is not a word still unuttered that He does not know it altogether (Psalms 139:4). It is true He bestows many things which we do not ask for specially, just as a father on earth provides many things for his children for which they simply rely on his love. But even an earthly father does not like that those gifts should be received merely as a matter of course and without thankful gratitude. And more especially when a son embarks in some enterprise, or meditates some course of action, will a father delight to be asked for counsel and guidance. And do not the attributes of a father’s heart hide behind, or rather manifest themselves in, this endearing name assumed by God?
3. In order that we may so ask as to receive we must come to God in the spirit of loving confidence, with unwavering trust.
HOMILETIC NOTES
John 14:10-12. The miracles acts of the humility of Christ.—The miracles of Jesus appear, indeed, as very great events, extraordinary, unheard of, and almost incredible if we compare them with the course of the old dispensation of the world (Alten Weltäon); and this is the common view. But if we measure them according to their number, appearance, and importance, by the infinite fulness of the power of Christ’s life, a saving power which restores the whole sinful world even to the resurrection, we must regard them as indeed small beginnings of the revelation of this living power, in which it comes forth as secretly, modestly, and noiselessly as His doctrine in His parables; and we learn the meaning of Christ’s saying, by which He led His disciples to estimate this misunderstood phase of His miracles, “Ye shall do greater works than these” (John 14:12). But Christ’s miracles served in manifold ways to reveal His life-power to the world in subdued forms of operation. Often has it been attempted to find in the miracles of Jesus an ostentatious display of Christianity. But a time must come when men will learn to regard them as acts of the humility of Christ. Still, much of the wonderful that is from beneath must be set aside, before the wonderful from above is entirely acknowledged as the first interposition of Christ’s eternal life-power for the world. For this power is holy even as the spiritual light of Christ, as His title of Messiah, and as His blessedness in the vision of God; therefore, it veils itself to the captious, while it unveils itself to the susceptible, and even that measure of it which has become manifest in miracle appears to them as too much. But we must not misapprehend either the one side or the other of the miracles in which this power finds its medium of communication to men.—J. P. Lange.
ILLUSTRATIONS
John 14:13. The naturalness of prayer.—There is something in the very act of prayer that for a time stills the violence of passion, and elevates and purifies the affections. When affliction presses bard, and the weakness of human nature looks around in vain for support, how natural is the impulse that throws us on our knees before Him who has laid His chastening hand upon us! and how encouraging the hope that accompanies our supplications for His pity! We believe that He who made us cannot be unmoved by the sufferings of His children; and in sincerely asking His compassion, we almost feel that we receive it.—Jeremy Taylor.
John 14:13. Continual readiness for prayer.
If we with earnest effort could succeed
To make our life one long connected prayer,
As lives of some perhaps have been and are;
If never leaving Thee, we had no need
Our wandering spirits back again to lead
Into Thy presence, but continued there,
Like angels standing on the highest stair
Of the sapphire throne,—this were to pray indeed.
But if distractions manifold prevail.
And if in this we must confess we fail,
Grant us to keep at least a prompt desire,
Continual readiness for prayer and praise,
An altar heaped and waiting to take fire
With the least spark, and leap into a blaze.
R. Ch. Trench