Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
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John 14:9-14 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
Parallel Translations
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Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.
Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
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Iesus sayde vnto him: have I bene so longe tyme with you: and yet hast thou not knowen me? Philip he that hath sene me hath sene the father. And how sayest thou then: shew vs the father?
Belevest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me? The wordes that I speake vnto you I speakee not of my selfe: but the father that dwelleth in me is he that doeth the workes.
Beleve me that I am [in] the father and the father in me. At the leest beleve me for the very workes sake.
Verely verely I saye vnto you: he that beleveth on me the workes that I doo the same shall he do and greater workes then these shall he do because I go vnto my father.
And whatsoever ye axe in my name that will I do that the father might be glorified by the sonne.
Yf ye shall axe eny thige in my name I will do it
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Iesus sayd vnto him, I haue bene so long time with you, and hast thou not knowen mee, Philippe? he that hath seene me, hath seene my Father: how then sayest thou, Shewe vs thy Father?
Beleeuest thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The wordes that I speake vnto you, I speake not of my selfe: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the workes.
Beleeue me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me: at the least, beleeue me for the very workes sake.
Verely, verely I say vnto you, he that beleeueth in me, the workes that I doe, hee shall doe also, and greater then these shall he doe: for I goe vnto my Father.
And whatsoeuer ye aske in my Name, that will I doe, that the Father may be glorified in the Sonne.
If ye shall aske any thing in my Name, I will doe it.
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (103)
- John 15:7 (v13) If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
- Matthew 21:21 (v12) Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree,…
- Mark 16:17 (v12) These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
- Mark 11:24 (v13) Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.
- Colossians 1:15 (v9) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Show all 97 cross-references
- Matthew 7:7 (v13) “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
- John 12:45 (v9) He who sees me sees him who sent me.
- Matthew 21:22 (v13) All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
- Luke 10:17-19 (v12) The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen…
- 1 John 5:14 (v13) This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.
- John 14:7 (v9) If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
- Hebrews 1:3 (v9) His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had…
- John 10:30 (vv9, 10, 13) I and the Father are one.”
- John 16:23 (v13) “In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
- Acts 16:18 (v12) She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus…
- John 14:14 (v13) If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
- John 15:16 (v13) You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that…
- Acts 19:12 (v12) so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits…
- 1 John 3:22 (v13) so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
- Acts 9:34 (v12) Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” Immediately he arose.
- Acts 3:6-8 (v12) But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” He…
- Acts 5:15 (v12) They even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mattresses, so that as Peter came by, at the least his shadow…
- Acts 8:7 (v12) For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame…
- Acts 9:40 (v12) Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw…
- Ephesians 3:20-21 (v13) Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the…
- 1 Corinthians 12:10-11 (v12) and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of…
- John 5:19 (vv10, 13) Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For…
- James 5:16 (v13) Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is…
- John 1:14 (v9) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Philippians 4:13 (v13) I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
- Acts 2:41 (v12) Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
- Philippians 2:6 (v9) who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
- John 10:38 (vv10–11) But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the…
- John 14:20 (vv9–10) In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
- John 16:26 (v13) In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you that I will pray to the Father for you,
- Ephesians 3:12 (v13) In him we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.
- James 1:5 (v13) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
- Acts 2:4-11 (v12) They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there…
- Philippians 2:9-11 (v13) Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,…
- Ephesians 2:18 (v13) For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
- Colossians 3:17 (v13) Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
- John 7:39 (v12) But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus…
- Acts 4:4 (v12) But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
- John 16:7 (vv12–13) Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if…
- Acts 2:33 (v12) Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out…
- Romans 15:19 (v12) in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully…
- John 7:33 (v12) Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me.
- John 7:37 (v13) Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
- Acts 4:16 (v12) saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who…
- Luke 11:9 (v13) “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.
- John 5:36 (v11) But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I…
- John 8:28 (v10) Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as…
- John 10:25 (v11) Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.
- John 12:49 (v10) For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
- John 14:28 (v12) You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my…
- Acts 10:38 (v10) even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were…
- Hebrews 7:25 (v13) Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make…
- John 12:44 (v13) Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me.
- John 14:6 (v13) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- Acts 4:9-12 (v12) if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, may it be known to you all,…
- 1 Peter 2:5 (v13) You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God…
- John 6:38-40 (v10) For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that…
- Acts 4:33 (v12) With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all.
- Colossians 2:9 (v10) For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,
- John 5:17 (v10) But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”
- John 17:8 (v10) for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have…
- Acts 6:7 (v12) The word of God increased and the number of the disciples greatly multiplied in Jerusalem. A great company of the priests were obedient to…
- 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (v13) Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for…
- Hebrews 4:15 (v13) For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like…
- John 4:14 (v13) but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well…
- John 14:10 (v11) Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who…
- John 17:21-23 (v10) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that…
- Ephesians 3:14 (v13) For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Hebrews 13:15 (v13) Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his…
- Mark 11:13 (v12) Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but…
- John 4:10 (v13) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would…
- Acts 10:46 (v12) For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,
- John 1:1-3 (v10) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were…
- John 3:32-34 (v10) What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal to…
- John 7:16 (v10) Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
- John 7:28-29 (v10) Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but…
- John 8:38 (v10) I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”
- John 13:31 (v13) When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.
- John 17:4-5 (v13) I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with…
- Acts 2:22 (v11) “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by…
- 2 Corinthians 5:19 (v10) namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the…
- Hebrews 2:4 (v11) God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own…
- Colossians 1:19 (v10) For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,
- 1 John 5:7 (v10) For there are three who testify:
- Mark 9:19 (v9) He answered him, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”
- John 11:26 (v10) Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
- Matthew 11:4-5 (v11) Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are…
- John 8:40 (v10) But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.
- John 10:32 (v11) Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
- Psalms 68:16-18 (v10) Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever. The…
- Luke 7:21-23 (v11) In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight. Jesus answered them, “Go and…
- John 12:38-40 (v11) that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, “Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord…
97 distinct cross-references across this passage (103 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13, 14 9. Have I been so long time with you?…
9. Have I been so long time with you? Christ justly reproves Philip for not having the eyes of his faith pure. He had God present in Christ, and yet he did not behold him. What prevented him but his own ingratitude? Thus, in the present day, they who, in consequence of not being satisfied with Christ alone, are hurried into foolish speculations, in order to seek God in them, make little progress in the Gospel. This foolish desire springs from the meanness of Christ’s low condition; and this is very unreasonable, for by that humiliation he exhibits the infinite goodness of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10, 12 The majesty of God showeth itself most evidently, both…
The majesty of God showeth itself most evidently, both in Christ’s doctrine and deeds.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–14 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so…
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?
Ver. 9. Have I been so long, &c.] May not Christ justly shame and shent us all for knowing no more of him all this while? Ignorance under means of knowledge is a blushful sin, 1Co 15:34.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9–14 Our Saviour still insists upon the oneness of himself…
Our Saviour still insists upon the oneness of himself with his Father, and the personal union of the Divine and human nature in him; for otherwise the apostles might have been with Christ a long time, and known him, and yet not have seen nor known the Father. But that supposed, none that had seen Christ, but must have seen the Father also, there being but one God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv12–13 Here Christ gives his disciples a promise of enduing…
Here Christ gives his disciples a promise of enduing them with power after his departure to work miracles in some respects greater than what he wrought himself; not greater in regard of the manner, for he wrought by his own power, and they wrought all in his name, but greater in regard of the matter of them; particularly, their speaking with strange tongues, their giving the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands, their healing diseases by the very shadow of their bodies, but especially by their wonderful conversion of the Gentiles from idolatry to serve the living God.
When St. Peter converted three thousand at one sermon, then Christ made good his promise; the disciple at that time appeared to be above his Master: Christ all this time was angling for a few fishes, and catched but an hundred and twenty, Act 1:15 whilst Peter comes with his drag net, and catches three thousand at one cast; the reason might be, because Christ was not properly to be the builder, but the foundation itself. He subjoins the reason of all this: Because I go unto my Father: that is, to send down, and pour forth upon you my apostles, the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost which was the great cause of the apostles miraculous operations.
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Hence learn, That it pleased the wisdom of Christ to do greater things by the hands of his weak servants here in the world, than he was pleased to do himself, who was God over all, blessed for evermore.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v12 The disciples, as they were full of grief to…
The disciples, as they were full of grief to think of parting with their Master, so they were full of care what would become of themselves when he was gone; while he was with them, he was a support to them, kept them in countenance, kept them in heart; but, if he leave them, they will be as sheep having no shepherd, an easy prey to those who seek to run them down. Now, to silence these fears, Christ here assures them that they should be clothed with powers sufficient to bear them out. As Christ has all power, they, in his name, should have great power, both in heaven and in earth.
I. Great power on earth (Joh 14:12): He that believeth on me (as I know you do), the works that I do shall he do also. This does not weaken the argument Christ had taken from his works, to prove himself one with the Father (that others should do as great works), but rather strengthens it; for the miracles which the apostles wrought were wrought in his name, and by faith in him; and this magnifies his power more than any thing, that he not only wrought miracles himself, but gave power to others to do so too.
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1. Two things he assures them of: -
(1.) That they should be enabled to do such works as he had done, and that they should have a more ample power for the doing of them than they had had when he first sent them forth, Mat 10:8. Did Christ heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead? So should they. Did he convince and convert sinners, and draw multitudes to him? So should they. Though he should depart, the work should not cease, nor fall to the ground, but should be carried on as vigorously and successfully as ever; and it is still in the doing.
(2.) That they should do greater works than these. [1.] In the kingdom of nature they should work greater miracles. No miracle is little, but some to our apprehension seem greater than others. Christ had healed with the hem of his garment, but Peter with his shadow (Act 5:15), Paul by the handkerchief that had touched him, Act 19:12. Christ wrought miracles for two or three years in one country, but his followers wrought miracles in his name for many ages in divers countries. You shall do greater works, if there be occasion, for the glory of God. The prayer of faith, if at any time it had been necessary, would have removed mountains. [2.] In the kingdom of grace. They should obtain greater victories by the gospel than had been obtained while Christ was upon earth. The truth is, the captivating of so great a part of the world to Christ, under such outward disadvantages, was the miracle of all. I think this refers especially to the gift of tongues; this was the immediate effect of the pouring out of the Spirit, which was a constant miracle upon the mind, in which words are framed, and which was made to serve so glorious an intention as that of spreading the gospel to all nations in their own language. This was a greater sign to them that believed not (Co1 14:22), and more powerful for their conviction, than any other miracle whatever.
2. The reason Christ gives for this is, Because I go unto my Father, (1.) "Because I go, it will be requisite that you should have such a power, lest the work suffer damage by my absence." (2.) "Because I go to the Father, I shall be in a capacity to furnish you with such a power, for I go to the Father, to send the Comforter, from whom you shall receive power," Act 1:8. The wonderful works which they did in Christ's name were part of the glories of his exalted state, when he ascended on high, Eph 4:8.
II. Great power in heaven: "Whatsoever you shall ask, that will I do (Joh 14:13, Joh 14:14), as Israel, who was a prince with God. Therefore you shall do such mighty works, because you have such an interest in me, and I in my Father." Observe,
1. In what way they were to keep up communion with him, and derive power from him, when he was gone to the Father - by prayer. When dear friends are to be removed to a distance from each other, they provide for the settling of a correspondence; thus, when Christ was going to his Father, he tells his disciples how they might write to him upon every occasion, and send their epistles by a safe and ready way of conveyance, without danger of miscarrying, or lying by the way: "Let me hear from you by prayer, the prayer of faith, and you shall hear from me by the Spirit." This was the old way of intercourse with Heaven, ever since men began to call upon the name of the Lord; but Christ by his death has laid it more open, and it is still open to us. Here is, (1.) Humility prescribed: You shall ask. Though they had quitted all for Christ, they could demand nothing of him as a debt, but must be humble supplicants, beg or starve, beg or perish. (2.) Liberty allowed: "Ask any thing, any thing that is good and proper for you; any thing, provided you know what you ask, you may ask; you may ask for assistance in your work, for a mouth and wisdom, for preservation out of the hands of your enemies, for power to work miracles when there is occasion, for the success of the ministry in the conversion of souls; ask to be informed, directed, vindicated." Occasions vary, but they shall be welcome to the throne of grace upon every occasion.
2. In what name they were to present their petitions: Ask in my name. To ask in Christ's name is, (1.) To plead his merit and intercession, and to depend upon that plea. The Old Testament saints had an eye to this when they prayed for the Lord's sake (Dan 9:17), and for the sake of the anointed (Psa 84:9), but Christ's mediation is brought to a clearer light by the gospel, and so we are enabled more expressly to ask in his name. When Christ dictated the Lord's prayer, this was not inserted, because they did not then so fully understand this matter as they did afterwards, when the Spirit was poured out. If we ask in our own name, we cannot expect to speed, for, being strangers, we have no name in heaven; being sinners, we have an ill name there; but Christ's is a good name, well known in heaven, and very precious. (2.) It is to aim at his glory and to seek this as our highest end in all our prayers.
3. What success they should have in their prayers: "What you ask, that will I do," Joh 14:13. And again (Joh 14:14), "I will do it. You may be sure I will: not only it shall be done, I will see it done, or give orders for the doing of it, but I will do it;" for he has not only the interest of an intercessor, but the power of a sovereign prince, who sits at the right hand of God, the hand of action, and has the doing of all in the kingdom of God. By faith in his name we may have what we will for the asking.
4. For what reason their prayers should speed so well: That the Father may be glorified in the Son. That is, (1.) This they ought to aim at, and have their eye upon, in asking. In this all our desires and prayers should meet as in their centre; to this they must all be directed, that God in Christ may be honoured by our services, and in our salvation. Hallowed be thy name is an answered prayer, and is put first, because, if the heart be sincere in this, it does in a manner consecrate all the other petitions. (2.) This Christ will aim at in granting, and for the sake of this will do what they ask, that hereby the glory of the Father in the Son may be manifested. The wisdom, power, and goodness of God were magnified in the Redeemer when by a power derived from him, and exerted in his name and for his service, his apostles and ministers were enabled to do such great things, both in the proofs of their doctrine and in the successes of it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–14 Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long…
Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you,.... Conversing familiarly with you, instructing you by my ministry, and performing so many miraculous works among you, for so long a time; see Heb 5:11;
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? Surely you cannot be so ignorant as this comes to; as you have seen me with your bodily eyes, as a man, you must, know that I am God by the doctrines I have taught you, and the miracles I have wrought among you: and
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he that hath seen me; not with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his understanding; he that has beheld the perfections of the Godhead in me:
hath seen the Father; the perfections which are in him also; for the same that are in me are in him, and the same that are in him are in me: I am the very image of him, and am possessed of the same nature, attributes, and glory, that he is; so that he that sees the one, sees the other:
and how sayest thou then show us the Father? such a request is a needless one, and betrays great weakness and ignorance.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–12 I am in the Father - The words that…
I am in the Father - The words that I speak, &c. - That is, I am one with the Father, in essence, in speaking, and in acting.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13 Verse 9. He that hath seen me hath seen…
Verse 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father] Could any creature say these words? Do they not evidently imply that Christ declared himself to his disciples to be the everlasting God?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v12 Joh 14:12-14. Verily, he that believeth on me, &c.…
Joh 14:12-14. Verily, he that believeth on me, &c. — Having mentioned his miracles, Jesus proceeds to promise, that he would endow his apostles with a power of performing even greater wonders than any they had ever seen him do. He made them this promise to animate them in their work, and that they might not despond in his absence, when they received such tokens of his remembering them, and such proofs of his power with the Father. “How fully,” says Macknight, “Jesus performed this promise, is plain from the history of the Acts throughout, particularly Joh 5:15, where we find, that the very shadow of Peter, passing by, cured the sick on whom it fell, and who were laid in the streets for that purpose: also from Joh 19:12, which informs us, that handkerchiefs and aprons, which had touched the body of Paul, being applied to the sick and possessed, banished both the diseases and the devils. Nor should we, on this occasion, forget the gift of languages bestowed on the apostles, and which they were enabled to communicate unto others. Yet if these miracles are not thought to show greater power than Christ’s, we may refer the greatness, whereof he speaks, to the effect which they were to produce on the minds of men. For, in that respect, the apostles’ miracles were vastly superior to Christ’s; converting more people in one day, than was done by all the miracles that Jesus performed during the course of his ministry. They converted thousands at once, made the gospel to fly like lightning through the world, and beat down every thing that stood in opposition to the faith of their Master.” And whatsoever ye shall ask — Under the influence of my Spirit, and subservient to the great end of your life and ministry; that will I do — Although the promise is here conceived in general terms, yet the subject treated of directs us to understand it especially of miracles wrought in confirmation of the gospel; that the Father may be glorified in the Son — Who, when he is ascended up to heaven, will from thence be able to hear and answer prayer, and, even in his most exalted state, will continue to act with that faithful regard to his Father’s honour, which he has shown in his humiliation on earth. If ye ask any thing, &c. — I repeat it, for the encouragement of your faith and hope, that I will be as affectionate and constant a friend to you in heaven, as I have ever been on earth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9–13 So long time - For more than three years…
So long time - For more than three years Jesus had been with them. He had raised the dead, cast out devils, healed the sick, done those things which no one could have done who had not come from God. In that time they had had full opportunity to learn his character and his mission from God. Nor was it needful, after so many proofs of his divine mission, that God should “visibly manifest” himself to them in order that they might be convinced that he came from him.
He that hath seen me - He that has seen my works, heard my doctrines, and understood my character. He that has given “proper attention” to the proofs that I have afforded that I came from God.
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Hath seen the Father - The word “Father” in these passages seems to be used with reference to the divine nature, or to God represented “as a Father,” and not particularly to the distinction in the Trinity of Father and Son. The idea is that God, as God, or as a Father, had been manifested in the incarnation, the works, and the teachings of Christ, so that they who had seen and heard him might be said to have had a real view of God. When Jesus says, “hath seen the Father,” this cannot refer to the essence or substance of God, for He is invisible, and in that respect no man has seen God at any time. All that is meant when it is said that God is seen, is that some manifestation of him has been made, or some such exhibition as that we may learn his character, his will, and his plans. In this case it cannot mean that he that had seen Jesus with the bodily eyes had in the same sense seen God; but he that had been a witness of his miracles and of his transfiguration - that had heard his doctrines and studied his character - had had full evidence of his divine mission, and of the will and purpose of the Father in sending him. The knowledge of the Son was itself, of course, the knowledge of the Father. There was such an intimate union in their nature and design that he who understood the one understood also the other. See the notes at Mat 11:27; also Luk 10:22; Joh 1:18.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13 He that seeth me, seeth the Father also:[2] that…
He that seeth me, seeth the Father also:[2] that is, he seeth him, who is not a man only, but who also, by my divine nature, am one and the same with the Father: so that he who believes, and as it were sees, or knows by faith, who I am, cannot but know, that I am one with my eternal Father; not one person, as the Sabellians fancied, but one in nature and substance. The ancient Fathers take notice against the Arians, that these words, and others that follow in this chapter, could not be true, if Christ was no more than a creature, though ever so perfect, there being an infinite distance betwixt God and the highest of his creatures. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Qui videt me, videt & Patrem. See St. John Chrysostom, Greek: om od. p. 435. Nov. Ed. si alterius esset substantiæ, non hoc dixisset, Greek: ei de eteras ousias en, ouk an touto eipen. See St. Cyril, p. 777.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v13 whatsoever ye . . . ask in my name--as…
whatsoever ye . . . ask in my name--as Mediator.
that will I do--as Head and Lord of the kingdom of God. This comprehensive promise is emphatically repeated in Joh 14:14.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9–14 9. Hath seen me hath seen the Father—For the…
9. Hath seen me hath seen the Father—For the reasons just above mentioned, that the Father dwells in the fulness of his attributes of power, wisdom, and goodness concentrated into the human person, and made as fully visible to man as man’s sense can grasp.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–14 9. so long time] Philip had been called among…
9. so long time] Philip had been called among the first (Joh_1:43).
hast thou not known me] Or, hast not recognised Me, as in Joh_14:7. The Gospels are full of evidence of how little the Apostles understood of the life which they were allowed to share: and the candour with which this is confessed, confirms our trust in the narratives. Not until Pentecost were their minds fully enlightened. Comp. Joh_10:6, Joh_12:16; Mat_15:16; Mat_16:8; Mar_9:32; Luk_9:45; Luk_18:34; Luk_24:25; Act_1:6; Heb_5:12. Christ’s question is asked in sorrowful but affectionate surprise; hence the tender repetition of the name. Had S. Philip recognised Christ, he would have seen the revelation of God in Him, and would never have asked for a vision of God such as was granted to Moses. See notes on Joh_12:44-45. There is no reference to the Transfiguration, of which S. Philip had not yet been told; Mat_17:9.
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and how sayest thou then] The ‘and’ is of doubtful authority; ‘then’ is an insertion of our translators.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–14 (9) Have I been so long time with you,…
(9) Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?—More exactly, . . . hast thou not recognised Me, as in Joh_14:7. Comp. the reference in Joh_14:8, from which it will be seen that Philip was one of the first-called disciples, and had occupied a prominent position in the band of Apostles. There is in our Lord’s words a tone of sadness and of warning. They utter the loneliness of a holiness and greatness which is not understood. The close of life is at hand, and Philip, who had followed Him from the first, shows by this question that he did not even know what the work and purposes of that life had been. They speak to all Christian teachers, thinkers, workers. There is a possibility that men should be in the closest apparent nearness to Christ, and yet have never learnt the meaning of the words they constantly hear and utter; and have never truly known the purpose of Christ’s life.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.—Comp. Note on Joh_14:7, and Philip’s own answer to Nathanael, “Come and see” (Joh_1:46). The demand of Philip is one which is constantly being read, and the answer is one that constantly holds good. Men are ever thinking and saying, “Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us.” “Give us something in religion upon which the soul can rest. We are weary of the doubts, and strifes, and dogmas which are too often called religion. We want something which can be real food for the soul. We cannot feed upon the husks which the swine do eat; and we believe that in the Father’s house there is, even for the hired servants, bread enough and to spare. We are not irreligious, but we are impatient of what is put before us as religion. Give us truth! Give us life! Let it be free and open as the air of heaven, and we will gladly accept it, embrace it, live it.” All this is the heart of the child seeking the presence of the Father. That Father has been manifested in the person of the Son. In the Life and Truth revealed in Him is the full revelation of God. In Him is the Bread of Life to satisfy every want of every man. He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. How then can men say, Shew us the Father? (Comp. Note on Joh_12:44-45.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–14 Christ"s reply is, Have I been so long a…
Christ"s reply is, Have I been so long a period (cronon) with you, and hast thou not come to know (egnwkav) me, Philip? (Compare the aorist deixon , suggesting one great complete sufficing act, with the perfect forms, egnwkav me ewrakwrake , implying a process continuing from the past into the present,) The revelation of the Father, rather than an unveiling of the absolute God whom no man hath ever yet seen, (see Joh_1:18) had been constantly going on before their eyes. Our Lord first of all appeals to that fact; and yet fact, reality as it was, the disciples had failed even to know him, inasmuch as they had not seen in him the Father. He thus confirms the statement of Ver. 7. There is an evident pathos in this personal appeal the only partial parallels in St. John are cf. Joh_20:16 (Mary); Joh_21:15 (Simon, etc.)" (Westcott). There is no right understanding of Jesus Christ until the Father is actually seen in him. He is not known in his humanity until the Divine Personality flashes through him on the eyes of faith. We do not know any man until we know the best of him. How far more true is it of God and of the Father-God revealed in the Christ? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. The "seeing" here must be adequate, comprehensive vision. Howsayest thou emphaticShow us the Father? Philip, by the hints already given of him, might have discarded the Jewish and crude idea of a physical theophany. "How sayest thou?" reveals that sense of failure which Christ experienced when he sought to realize in the poor material of our human nature his own ideal.
Acquaintance and yet ignorance.
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I PHILIP"S ACQUAINTANCE WITH JESUS. Philip would have spoken with the utmost sincerity and not without justification if he had said that certainly he knew Jesus. In Bethabara beyond Jordan he had heard the voice, "Follow me," and he had followed wherever he was allowed to follow. In a certain sense it was perfectly true that Philip knew Jesus. In the darkness he would have recognized the Master"s voice and even his footsteps. In that which is the mere surface of humanity the knowledge was ample enough, but the moment Jesus seeks the depths, Philip"s knowledge fails him. Philip says, "Show us the Father," in the simplicity of most utter and guileless ignorance. He is looking on the very thing he wants to see, and yet knows it not.
II HOW FAR ARE WE INCLINED TO MAKE PHILIP"S REQUEST? If it were possible for Philip to do so, we may be sure he would press on us the need of making this request. So far as we can judge, he was a man who delighted in bringing others to Jesus. Philip himself came to make the request because so very often he had heard Jesus speak concerning the Father. According to Jesus, so much depended upon the Father, and the Father had a right to ask so much. How, for instance, could the disciple pray, "Our Father which art in heaven," as a real prayer unless first of all the Father had been shown to him? Philip must often have used the words of the Lord"s Prayer. And yet here is proof of how little he had entered into the meaning. After the Father had been shown to Philip, only then would he begin to feel how great a thing true prayer is. There would be in it a power and a gladness it never had before. Thus it is clear we all need to have the Father shown to us. Not all our regularity in prayer and not all our importunity can bring down on us the highest blessings, if we know not to whom we are praying. Successful asking, successful seeking, successful knocking, implies that we ask from the right person, seek in the right place, and knock at the right door.
III HOW FAR ARE WE EXPOSED TO THE ANSWER OF JESUS? The word of Jesus, be it observed, is not a word of blame. The natural man is riot to be blamed that he cannot see what is only to be seen by the spiritual man. The answer is rather meant to make plain to us very important truth.
1. How easy it is to think we know Jesus! Know about him, at least. And it is easy to know a great deal, in a certain way.
2. But to know Jesus, as he wants to be known, is not easy. Philip"s experience proves that. If length of acquaintance and closeness of intimacy count for anything, Philip had enjoyed these. But time is only an element in real knowledge, when some part of the knowledge, at all events the alphabet and rudiments, is known from the beginning. Mere lapse of time by itself will not bring knowledge. Through what years of need and struggle some of us may have been ignorant of him, who came that he might help us in our need and struggle! Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Believe Me … for the very works sake
Joh_14:11
Believe Me … for the very works sake
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The miracles
I.
SHOULD WE BELIEVE THE MIRACLES?
1. Are miracles possible? Hume, Spinosa, and others say, No: reason pronounces them impossible. But whose reason? Theirs? Then that contradicts the all but universal reason, which affirms that with God all things are possible.
2. Are miracles improbable and incredible? Yes, say the same authorities. But did they live when they are alleged to have been performed? One ground of disbelief is, that it is impossible to believe what contradicts experience. But what remains to be proved is, Did miracles contradict the experience of the professed witnesses? The denizens of the equator never saw ice. Their experience contradicts that of the Greenlanders. But which shall we accept? Another ground is that it is unlikely that the Creator would disturb the beneficent order of events. Granted, except for the best and wisest purposes, and in such a way as not to derange the order of the universe. This is what is claimed for Christ; and, indeed, on behalf of the freedom and beneficence of the Creator. The anti-miraculous position is the dethronement of God in favour of natural law.
3. Have we satisfactory ground to believe that Christ performed miracles? There is the same evidence for them as that Caesar entered Gaul and
Britain. Upon this evidence the Christian Church is built; the witnesses died to support their testimony. The fabrication of this testimony would be more miraculous than what it records.
II. SHOULD WE BE INDUCED BY THEM TO ADMIT CHRISTS DIVINE CLAIMS? Yes, for
1. They are the acts of a Creator. We recognize the same Voice saying, Let there be light! that said, Lazarus, come forth! We believe Him for the works sake.
2. Christ is the efficient Agent in all miracles. He promised, and gave to, the apostles their supernatural power; and they referred the effects of it back to Him, and exerted it to produce faith in Him.
3. Christ performed miracles by His own power and in His own name, which the apostles never did.
Conclusion:
1. The blessedness of belief in Christ.
2. The peril of disbelief. (E. N. Kirk, D. D.)
The reasonableness of the evidence of miracles, and its impotence alone
It is quite consistent with Gods wisdom to reveal Himself to the senses,as well as to the soul; and if the gospel were utterly deficient in this latter kind of proof, one great evidence that it is from God would be wanted--an evidence that we are fortified in expecting from the analogies of nature. God has written His glory--e.g., in the heart--at the same time, He has so constructed the visible universe, that the heavens declare the glory of God. And when the eternal Word is manifested into the world, we naturally expect that Divine power shall be shown, as well as Divine beneficence. Miracles, therefore, are exactly what we should expect; and I acknowledge a great corroboration and verification of His claims to Sonship. Besides, they startled and aroused many to His claims who otherwise would never have attended to them. Still the great truth remains untouched, that they, appealing only to the natural man, cannot convey the spiritual certainty of truth which the spiritual man alone apprehends. However, as the natural and spiritual in us are both from God, why should God not have spoken to both, and why should not Christ appeal to natural works, subordinate always to the spiritual self-evidence of Truth itself? (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the…
9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Philip wanted a literal sight of God with the natural eyes, when God incarnate had been present with him for three years, manifesting the mind, the purity, the saving power, the fatherly tenderness, the unutterable love of the Father.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v12 Joh 14:12 - Joh 14:14.
John
CHRIST’S WORKS AND OURS
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Joh 14:12 - Joh 14:14.
I have already pointed out in a previous sermon that the key-word of this context is ‘Believe!’ In three successive verses we find it, each time widening in its application. We have first the question to the single disciple: ‘Philip! believest thou not?’ We have then the invitation addressed to the whole group: ‘Believe Me!’ And here we have a wholly general expression referring to all who, in every generation and corner of the world, put their trust in Christ, and extending the sunshine of this great promise to whosoever believeth in Him. Our Lord has pointed to believing as the great antidote to a troubled heart, as the sure way of knowing the Father, as the better substitute for sight; and now here He opens before us still more wonderful prerogatives and effects of faith. His words carry us up into lofty and misty regions, where we can neither breathe freely nor see clearly, except as we hold to His words. Therefore He prefaces them with His ‘Verily, verily!’ bidding us listen to them with sharpened attention as the disclosure of something wonderful, and receive them with unfaltering confidence, on His authority, however marvellous and otherwise undiscoverable they may be.
What is it, then, that He thus commends to our acceptance? If I may venture a paraphrase which may at least have the advantage of being cast into less familiar words, it is just this, that because of, and after, Christ’s departure from earth, He will, in response to prayer, work upon faithful souls in such a fashion as that they will do what He did, and in some sense will do even more.
I. We have here the continuous work of the exalted Lord for and through His servants.
These disciples, of course, were trembling and oppressed with the thought that the departure of Jesus would be the end of His ceaseless activity for them, on which they had depended implicitly for so long. Henceforward, whatever distress or need might come, that Voice would be silent, and that Hand motionless, and they would be left to face every storm, uncompanioned and uncounselled. Some of us know how dreary such experience makes life, and we can understand how these men shrank from the prospect. Christ’s words give strength to meet that trial, and not only tell them that after He is gone they will be able to do what they cannot do now, and what He used to do for them, but that in them He will work as well as for them, and be the power of their action, after He has departed.
For, notice the remarkable connection of the words with which we are dealing. ‘He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do,’ and the ground of that is ‘because I go to My Father,’ and whatsoever the believer ‘shall ask, I will do.’
So, then, there are here two very distinct paths on which Christ represents to us that His future activity will travel; the one, that of doing for us, in response to our prayers; the other that of working on us and in us, so that our acts are His and His acts are ours. We may look at these two for a moment separately.
Here, then, there is clearly stated this great thought, that Christ’s removal from the world is not the end of His activity in the world and on material things, but that, absent, He still is a present power, and having passed through death, and been removed from sense, He can still operate upon the things round us, and move these according to His will. We are not to water down such words as these into any such thought as that the continuous influence of the memory and history of His past will be a present power in all ages.
That is true, gloriously and uniquely true, but that is not the truth which He speaks here. Over and above that perpetual influence of past recorded work, there is the present influence of His present work, and to-day He is working as truly as He wrought when on earth. One form of His work was finished on Calvary, as His dying breath proclaimed; but there is another work of Christ in the midst of the ages, moving the pawns on the chessboard of the world, and presiding over the fortunes of the solemn conflict, which will not be ended until that day when the angel voices shall chant, ‘It is done! The kingdoms of the world are the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.’ The living Christ works by a true forth-putting of His own present power upon material things, and amidst the providences of life. And therefore these disciples were not to be cast down as if His work for them were ended.
Now it is clear, of course, that such words as these do demand for their vindication something perfectly unique and solitary in the nature and person of Jesus Christ. All other men’s work is cut in twain by death. ‘This man, having served his generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption,’ that is the epitaph over the greatest thinkers, statesmen, heroes, poets, the epitaph for the tenderest and most hopeful. Father, mother, husband, wife, child, friend, all cease to act when they die, and though thunders should break, they are silent and can help no more. But Christ is living to-day, and working all around us.
Now, brethren, it is of the last importance for the joyousness of our Christian lives, and for the courage of our conflict with sorrow and sin, that we should give a very prominent place in our creeds, and our hearts, to this great truth of a living Christ. What a joyful sense of companionship it brings to the solitary, what calmness of vision in contemplating the complications and calamities of the world’s history, if we grasp firmly the assurance that the living Christ is actually working by the present forth-putting of His power in the world to-day!
But that is not all. There is another path on which our Lord shows us here a glimpse of His working, not only for us, but on and in and therefore through us, so that the deeds that we do in faith that rests upon Him are in one aspect His, and in another ours.
‘The works that I do shall He do also’; because ‘whatsoever ye shall ask I will do it.’
We have not to think only of a Lord whose activity for us, beneficent and marvellous as it is, was finished in the misty past upon the Cross, nor have we only to think of a Lord whose activity for us, mighty and comforting as it is to all the solitary and struggling, is wrought as from the heights of the heavens, but we have to think of One who is beside us and in us and knows the hidden paths that no eye sees, and no foot but His can tread, into the inmost recesses of our souls, and there can enter as King and righteousness, as life and strength. This is the deepest of the lessons that He would teach us here. ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,’ and through me, if I keep close to Him, will work mightily in forms that my poor manhood could never have reached. The emblem of the vine and the branches, and the other emblem of the house and its inhabitants, and the other of the head and the members, all point to this one same thing which shallow and unspiritual men call ‘mystical,’ but which is the very heart of the Christian prerogative and the anchor of the Christian hope. Christ in us is our present righteousness and our hope of a future glory.
And now mark that a still more solemn and mysterious aspect of this union of Jesus Christ and the believer is given, since it is set forth as resulting in our doing Christ’s works, and Christ doing ours; and therein is paralleled with the yet more wonderful and ineffable union between the Father and the Son. It is no accident that in one clause He says, ‘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’; and that in the next He says, ‘The works that I do shall he do also’; and so bids us see in that union between the Father and the Son, and in that consequent union of co-operation between Him and His Father, a pattern after which our union with Him is to be moulded, both as regards the closeness of its intimacy and as regards the resulting manifestations in life. Christ is in us and we in Christ in some measure as the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son. And the works that we do He does in some fashion that faintly echoes and shadows the perfect co-operation of the Father and the Son in the works that the Christ did upon the earth.
All the doings of a Christian man, if done in faith, and holding by Christ, are Christ’s doings, inasmuch as He is the life and the power which does them all. And Christ’s deeds are reproduced and perpetuated in His humble follower, inasmuch as the life which is imparted will unfold itself according to its own kind; and he that loves Christ will be changed into His likeness, and become a partaker of His Spirit. So let us curb all self-dependence and self-will, that that mighty tide may flow into us; and let us cast from us all timidity, distrust, and gloom, and be strong in the assurance that we have a Christ living in the heavens to work for us, and living within us to work through us.
There is no record of the Ascension in John’s Gospel, but these words of my text unveil to us the inmost meaning of that Ascension, and are in full accord with the great picture which one of the Evangelists has drawn-a picture in two halves, which yet are knit together into one. ‘So then, after He had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God; and they went forth and preached everywhere.’ What a contrast between the two-the repose above, the toil below! Yes! But the next words knit them together-’The Lord also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.’
II. Note, in the next place, the greater work of the servants on and for whom the Lord works.
‘Greater works than these shall he do.’ Is, then, the servant greater than his Lord, and he that is sent greater than He that sent him? Not so, for whatsoever the servant does is done because the Lord is with and in him, and the contrast that is drawn between the works that Christ does on earth and the greater works that the servant is to do hereafter is, properly and at bottom, the contrast between Christ’s manifestations in the time of His earthly limitation and humiliation, and His manifestations in the time of His Ascension and celestial glory.
We need not be afraid that such great words as these in any measure trench on the unique and unapproachable character of the earthly work of Christ in its two aspects, which are one-of Revelation and Redemption. These are finished, and need no copy, no repetition, no perpetuation, until the end of time. But the work of objective Revelation, which was completed when He ascended, and the work of Redemption which was finished when He rose-these require to be applied through the ages. And it is in regard to the application of the finished work of Christ to the actual accomplishment of its contemplated consequences, that the comparison is drawn between the limited sphere and the small results of Christ’s work upon earth, and the worldwide sweep and majestic magnitude of the results of the application of that work by His servants’ witnessing work. The wider and more complete spiritual results achieved by the ministration of the servants than by the ministration of the Lord is the point of comparison here. And I need only remind you that the poorest Christian who can go to a brother soul, and by word or life can draw that soul to a Christ whom it apprehends as dying for its sins and raised for its glorifying, does a mightier thing than it was possible for the Master to do by life or lip whilst He was here upon earth. For the Redemption had to be completed in act before it could be proclaimed in word; and Christ had no such weapon in His hands with which to draw men’s souls, and cast down the high places of evil, as we have when we can say, ‘We testify unto you that the Son of God hath died for our sins, and is raised again according to the Scriptures.’ Nor need I do more than remind you of the comparison, so exalting for His humility and so humbling for our self-exaltation, between the narrow sphere in which His earthly ministrations had to operate and the worldwide scope which is given to His servants. ‘He laid His hands on a few sick folk, and healed them’; and at the end of His life there were one hundred and twenty disciples in Jerusalem and five hundred in Galilee, and you might have put them all into this chapel and had ample room to spare. That was all that Jesus Christ had done; while to-day and now the world is being leavened and the kingdoms of the earth are beginning to recognise His name. ‘Greater works than these shall he do’ who lets Christ in him do all His works.
III. Lastly, notice the conditions on which the exalted Lord works for and on His servants.
These are two, faith and prayer.
‘He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also.’ Faith, the simple act of loving trust in Jesus Christ, opens the door of our hearts and natures for the entrance of all His solemn Omnipotence, and makes us possessors of it. It is the condition, and the only condition, and plainly the indispensable condition, of possessing this divine Christ’s power, that we should trust ourselves to Him that gives it. And if we do, then we shall not trust in vain, but to us there will come power that will surpass our desire, and fill us with its own rejoicing and pure energy. Faith will make us like Christ. Faith is intensely practical. ‘He that believeth shall do.’ It is no mere cold assent to a creed which is utterly impotent to operate upon men’s acts, no mere hysterical emotion which is utterly impotent to energise into nobilities of service and miracles of consecration, but it is the affiance of the whole nature which spreads itself before Him and prays, ‘Fill my emptiness and vitalise me with Thine own Spirit.’ That is the faith which is ever answered by the inrush of the divine power, and the measure of our capacity of receiving is the measure of His gift to us.
So if Christian individuals and Christian communities are impotent, or all but impotent, there is no difficulty in understanding why. They have cut the connection, they have shut the tap. They lack faith; and so their power is weakness. ‘Why could we not cast him out?’ said they, perplexed when they had no need to be. ‘Why could you not cast him out? Because you do not believe that I, working in you, can cast him out. That is why; and the only why.’ Let us learn that the secret of Christians’ weakness is the weakness of their Christian faith.
And the other condition is prayer. ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name I will do it,’ and He repeats it, for confirmation and for greater emphasis. ‘If ye shall ask anything in My name,’ or, as perhaps that clause ought to be read with some versions, ‘If ye shall ask Me anything in My name I will do it.’
Three points may be named here. Our power depends upon our prayer. God’s and Christ’s fullness and willingness to communicate do not depend upon our prayer. But our capacity to receive of that fullness, and so the possibility of its communication to us, do depend upon our prayer. ‘We have not because we ask not.’
The power of our prayer depends upon our conscious oneness with the revealed Christ. ‘If ye shall ask in My name,’ says He. And people think they have fulfilled the condition when, in a mechanical and external manner, they say, as a formula at the end of petitions that have been all stuffed full of self-will and selfishness, ‘for Christ’s sake. Amen!’ and then they wonder they do not get them answered! Is that asking in Christ’s name?
Christ’s name is the revelation of Christ’s character, and to do a thing in the name of another person is to do it as His representative, and as realising that in some deep and real sense-for the present purpose at all events-we are one with Him. And it is when we know ourselves to be united to Christ and one with Him, and representative in a true fashion of Himself, as well as when, in humble reliance on His work for us and His loving heart, we draw near, that our prayer has power, as the old divines used to say, ‘to move the Hand that moves the world,’ and to bring down a rush of blessing upon our heads. Prayer in the name of Christ is hard to offer. It needs much discipline and watchfulness; it excludes all self-will and selfishness. And if, as my text tells us, the end of the Son’s working is the glory of the Father, that same end, and not our own ease or comfort, must be the end and object of all prayer which is offered in His name. When we so pray we get an answer. And the reason why such multitudes of prayers never travel higher than the roof, and bring no blessings to him who prays, is because they are not prayers in Christ’s name.
Prayer in His name will pass into prayer to Him. As He not obscurely teaches us here {if we adopt the reading to which I have already referred}, He has an ear to hear such requests, and He wields divine power to answer. Surely it was not blasphemy nor any diversion of the worship due to God alone, when the dying martyr outside the city wall cried and said, ‘Lord Jesus! receive my spirit.’ Nor is it any departure from the solemnest obligations laid upon us by the unity of the divine nature, nor are we bringing idolatrous petitions to another than the Father, when we draw near to Christ and ask Him to give us that which He gives as the Father’s gift, and to work on us that which the Father that dwelleth in Him works through Him for us.
Trust yourselves to Christ, and let your desires be stilled, to listen to His voice in you, and let that voice speak. And then, dear brethren, we shall be lifted above ourselves, and strength will flow into us, and we shall be able to say, ‘I can do all things, through the Christ that dwells in me and makes me strong.’ And just as the glad, sunny waters of the incoming tide fill the empty places of some oozy harbour, where all the ships are lying as if dead, and the mud is festering in the sunshine, so into the slimy emptiness of our corrupt hearts there will pour the flashing sunlit wave, the ever fresh rush of His power; and ‘everything will live whithersoever it cometh,’ and we shall be able to say in all humility, and yet in glad recognition of Christ’s faithfulness to this, His transcendent promise, ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,’ ‘because the life which I live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The promise of greater works:
The promise of greater works:
v. 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 My Father.
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v. 13. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
v. 14. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.
In connection with the mention of works which He was performing to testify in His own behalf, Jesus here gives His disciples of all times a glorious promise of works which they should. do in their office as His ministers. Most solemnly He assures them, and comforts them by the assurance, that every believer in Him would be enabled to perform the same works that He had done, and even greater works than He had performed before them. The apostles and the disciples, especially of the early Church, performed miracles like those of Christ they healed the diseased, they cast out demons, they raised the dead; and all this to testify to the truth of their teaching. Every believer in Christ is, however, by that token, filled with power from on high not only to testify of Christ, but, in so doing, to do greater signs than the Master Himself, namely, to awaken men from spiritual death. To convert sinners, to rescue lost and condemned men from damnation, that is a greater, a more important miracle than healing from bodily infirmities and awakening from temporal death. Not as though Jesus had not converted men by His preaching. But the great work of the New Testament, the gathering of the Christian Church through the preaching of the Gospel, did not really begin until after Pentecost. And the reason why the believers can perform these great works of saving souls is found in the fact that Jesus is going to the Father. Also according to His human nature He will then make constant use of His divine power and majesty, and will be able to impart to the believers in Him this wonderful power which He here promises them. The great works of converting sinful men are in reality works of the exalted Christ. And in case the disciples, the believers, at any time feel their own weakness and inability perform the great works which have been given to them, they should merely ask, they should bring the matter to His attention; He will attend to the rest. He fixes no limit in giving this promise except that the prayer must be made in His name, which excludes all sinful and arrogant petitions. Jesus hears every true prayer, but in His own manner and at His own time. And by doing so, since the Father works in Him, the Father is glorified in the Son. The final purpose of all the great works which Jesus promises to His believers is the glory of God. But He repeats His promise to hear their prayers; for the repetition is intended to impress the great truth upon them more strongly. Note: The fact that a Christian’s prayer must be made in the name of Jesus cannot be emphasized too often. Only such prayers are acceptable as are made in faith in the Redeemer, the one Person whose complete atonement has given us the right to address God as our Father, and as are made in the name of the exalted Son of Man, whose providence and rule now extends over the whole world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus asks Philip a question and then he continues to speak to all of his disciples.
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Do you not believe ... in me?
This remark appears in the form of a question to emphasize Jesus' words to Philip. AT: "You really should believe ... in me." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Father
This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
The words that I say to you I do not speak from my own authority
"What I am telling you is not from me" or "The words I tell you are not from me"
The words that I say to you
Here "you" is plural. Jesus is now speaking to all of his disciples.
I am in the Father, and the Father is in me
This is an idiom that means God the Father and Jesus have a unique relationship. AT: "I am one with the Father, and the Father is one with me" or "my Father and I are just as though we were one" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
believe
God the Father
authority
life
works
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 10, 12 14:9 Anyone who has seen me has seen the…
14:9 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! Cp. 1:1-2. Jesus Christ is God-in-the-flesh (1:14), which explains his capacity to accomplish divine works. Jesus did not simply teach about God; in him God can be found. Jesus’ remarkable statement echoed what he had said at Hanukkah: “The Father and I are one” (10:30). This claim is at the root of the world’s opposition to Christ (5:18).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.