Chapter 14
Verse 5 – we have seen that while Peter knows doctrine he has failed to apply it. Thomas is ignorant of doctrine and cannot apply it. Peter had a problem of application but Thomas has a fundamental problem of ignorance. Ignorance of doctrine can never orient to the plan of God. So now we move to the question of Thomas.
“Thomas” is a transliteration from the Hebrew. In the Greek it is Qwmaj and it means “twin.” He was possibly born in Antioch. He is previously mentioned in John 11:16. After the resurrection of our Lord and the beginning of the Church Age he was one of the missionary disciples. History says he went to Parthia, or Persia, and was eventually killed by a Persian lance. It is Thomas, not Peter, who renews at this point the doubt with regard to the plan of God.
“Lord” – kurioj indicates deity, and it also indicates the fact that here is a saved disciple.
“we know not” – Thomas is really speaking for himself but apparently it makes it a little easier for him to ascribe his ignorance to everyone else. Thomas is not inherently stupid; he is simply ignorant of Bible doctrine. Once a person becomes a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and neglects or rejects or becomes negative toward doctrine he appears to be stupid because he is in reversionism. No matter how smart a person is from the standpoint of human IQ reversionism puts him in the category of being just plain stupid. Disorientation to the plan of God results in disorientation to everything else in life. “We do not understand” – the perfect of o)ida plus the negative. Thomas was ignorant of doctrine. His question is taken from an interrogative particle which generally is used as an adverb. It is translated “whither,” but pou means where or to what place.
“thou goest” – are you going, present active indicative of u(pagw which doesn’t mean to go so much as it means to leave. “Where are you leaving us?” is really what says. “Where are you going that we cannot go, but where we will eventually go?” Thomas is ignorant of the resurrection, ascension, and session through which the humanity of Christ is going to be glorified. This is why the apostle Paul had to write this doctrine in 2 Corinthians chapter three. Paul understood the unveiled glory of the Church Age which Thomas at this point did not.
“and how can we know the way?” – the adverb pwj means by what means. When used is an interrogative sense it is “by what means can we know the way?” The word for way here is o(doj which ordinarily means entrance or approach. However, it also means a systematic course of planning or action. Jesus has just said in a previous verse that Peter knows the way, but Peter failed to apply what he knew. Thomas is ignorant of the doctrine and you cannot apply what you do not know to any situation and come up with anything.
Verse 6 – the answer is given. “Jesus saith” – present active indicative of legw; “unto him” – dative of advantage; “I am” – present active indicative of e)imi, absolute status quo verb, “I keep on being.”
Now He says three things: “the way” – the entrance into the plan of God; “the truth” – this is what Thomas should be doing after he enters the plan of God; “the life” – this is the function that comes from the truth or doctrine.
First of all, o(doj is used here for entrance into a systematic course of planning and action. Therefore it refers, of course, to the whole plan of God. It has to have an entrance and everyone enters at the same place. Because everyone enters at exactly the same place this sets up a principle. In the Church Age there is no excuse for anyone not becoming a supergrace hero. Everyone has the same chance and the same opportunity and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only entrance into the plan of God. This is a plan which has already been laid out, a plan for which everything is provided, plan which is categorised by one word: grace. Everything depends on who and what God is. God does it all.
The second thing that Jesus said has to do with what happens after you enter the plan of God. The word “truth” is a)lhqeia. It refers to the embodiment of knowledge and truth, therefore absolute truth, therefore doctrine. Doctrine is the mind of Christ – 1 Corinthians 2:16; Psalm 138:2. The most important thing after you enter the plan of God is Bible doctrine.
The third thing: “and the life.” The word for life here is zwh. There are two Greek words found in the NT: a) zwh; b) bioj. Zwh, used here, means the function of life; bioj means the pattern of life. The one we have here refers to the supergrace life. The objective of all doctrine is to take the believer to the supergrace life.
So: “I am the entrance; I am the doctrine; I am the function of life.” At the entrance Jesus Christ is our saviour. As the doctrine: Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ. As the life: once we enter supergrace our greatest function is occupation with the person of Christ and/or maximum category #1 capacity for love.
“no man” is no one, o)udeij; “cometh” – present active indicative of e)xomai; “to the Father” – proj plus the accusative, face to face with.
“but by me” – except through me, dia plus the genitive.
Translation: “Jesus communicated to him, I keep on being the entrance, the doctrine, the function of life: no one comes/approaches face to face with the Father, except through me.”
Verse 7 – “If” is a 2nd class condition: “If you had known me, but you didn’t.” This is a pluperfect, the past perfect active indicative of ginwskw. The pluperfect indicates that Thomas had opportunities so as to be able to answer his own questions by now. The omniscience of Jesus Christ X-rays the soul of Thomas and finds a reversionist. Here is the principle of the pluperfect: Every minute, every hour, hour, month, year, you log in reversionism there is something you could have understood, some question that you had, that you could have answered through doctrine in your own soul. In other words, if you avoid reversionism there will never be a question or a problem in your soul for which your soul will not give you the answer from Bible doctrine as your grace provision. Many times when you have questions they are questions you could have answered if you had avoided reversionism. The more you live in reversionism the more complex become the questions in your soul. Every minute that you log in reversionism is time not redeemed, it is time wasted. Principle: The amount of wasted time in reversionism produces x-number of questions which cannot be answered, and so you must impose upon the time of someone else seeking answers. Every believer was designed to be spiritually self-sustaining, and every believer was designed by God, through Bible doctrine and the daily function of GAP, to be able to answer his own questions, resolve his own problems, and to know the will of God for his life at any moment. Therefore, when you waste time in reversionism you create in your soul a question box. And some of these things will come back to plague you, to distract you, to disturb you, to turn you into a rather weird person from time to time. It is the believer who has a soul full of questions, a weighted down question box, who is in trouble, unstable all the time.
In effect, Jesus is saying to Thomas, “You have had time to learn these things.” The use of the pluperfect indicates that Thomas has had opportunities to understand the very questions he is asking, and to answer them from his own soul. Therefore there comes a time when the asking of questions is obviously a sign of reversionism.
“ye should have known” – pluperfect of o)ida, inherent knowledge. In other words, if you had after salvation taken in the doctrine you had been taught then you would not only know Me (occupation with Christ) but you would have understood the whole function of God the Father: “you would have known my Father also” – author of the divine plan.
“from henceforth” – a)po having as the object of the preposition the adverb a)rti. It means from the ultimate source of this moment. Once you understand you are a reversionist that is the moment when things have to change.
“ye know” – you have the issue before you; present active indicative from ginwskw. The present active indicative is not linear aktionsart. This is a progressive present, you can begin to know and keep on knowing. It can also be construed as an iterative present in which you begin now to reverse the process, and instead of going on in reversionism you start moving toward supergrace.
“and have seen” – perfect active indicative of o(raw, the panoramic view. It means to have a panoramic view of the Father, the Son and the plan through doctrine. The Son reveals both the Father and the Father’s plan—John 1:18; 6:47; 1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 4:12. However, Jesus Christ is about to depart, but they are not to be concerned. He is also the truth, He will leave His thinking behind. The canon of scripture will be completed and the New Testament scriptures will become the thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son departs but He leaves doctrine in its permanent form. The departure of Jesus Christ to be at the right hand of the Father does not remove the possibility of occupation with Christ. Once Christ ascends the plan of God is seen through His Word.
This doesn’t mean that Thomas suddenly learned all doctrine, far from it, but it does mean that he now sees the principle and has the issue clearly before him.
Verse 8 – Philip is one of the disciples or apostles, as per Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14. He was tested by Jesus in John 6:5-7.
“Lord” – he recognises the deity of Christ; “show us” – Philip has a slightly different problem. He is the kind of a person where if you don’t illustrate it in 25 ways he doesn’t get it. He is still wrestling with this and the Lord simply has not used any parables. Philip can only think in terms of simple illustrative matter.
“shew us” – demonstrate. This is an imperative mood of deiknumi. “Demonstrate the Father!”
“it sufficeth” – present active indicative of a)rkew which means to be content, satisfied or be very well pleased. In other words, “Demonstrate the Father and I will be very pleased.” The objective of communication is not to please, it is to teach, to inculcate, to indoctrinate. In effect, Philip only learns when he is being entertained. Philip’s problem is inability to concentrate.
Verse 9 – the Lord rebukes Philip.
“Have I been” is a present active indicative of e)imi, I keep on being; “so long” – accusative of the extent of time; “with” – the preposition meta of association, relationship, i.e. in effect, in association whereby in three years you could have known all these things.
“and yet you have not known me, Philip?” Perfect active indicative of ginwskw. Philip was impressed with the miracles but never concentrated on the doctrine. He was so occupied with the Lord’s life that he didn’t concentrate on the message. That is lack of concentration. It isn’t the life of the Lord that counts, it is His message. “I keep on being so long a time in association with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip?”
“he that hath seen me” – perfect active participle of o(raw. Philip has been around for three years and has had a panoramic view. The perfect tense indicates that ‘having seen me you have seen the Father.’ In other words, I am the revealer of the Father, is what He is saying.
“and how can you say, Demonstrate” – aorist active imperative of deiknumi again. Philip has had three years!
Verses 10-12, the dynamics of the application of doctrine. This means that doctrine has to be in the right lobe and it gets there through the daily function of GAP. We get into the plan of God by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Once we are in the plan of God we are then expected to orient to the plan of God, to understand the plan of God and to function under the plan of God. We live in the devil’s world. He is the ruler of this world, the guiding influence of this world, and it is only through Bible doctrine that we can fulfil the very reason for our existence under grace in phase two. The Lord Jesus Christ rebukes Philip, and Philip’s recovery from the rebuke is very rapid. This is an important principle. No matter how you get hit in life by what, when, where, or how it is imperative that you get on your feet as soon as possible and keep moving. The problems, failures, difficulties and the disasters of life are not meant to keep you down. Philip snapped right back into it so that the Lord recognised that Philip recovered and was ready to GAP it. So he now challenges him to GAP it.
Verse 10 – “Believest thou not,” present active imperative of pisteuw. It means to believe and is used here for the faith-rest technique in the inhale of doctrine as well as its exhale. This is really the inhale part. In GAP in it faith-rest is a part of the picture. The positive volition which transfers Bible doctrine to the left lobe and the human spirit is faith-rest. It is used here for the believer learning doctrine so that he can move on.
“that I am in the Father, and the Father in me” – here immediately is something Philip needs to know. Failure to learn doctrine, and doctrine that pertains to the very person of God, leads to this kind of trouble. If he had just understood the character of God he would not have asked this question and would not have got himself into the jamb.
The principle has to do with the divine essence. The essence of God is perfect—essence box. Jesus says, “I in the Father,” and that means that Jesus Christ has the exact same characteristics. In other words, in essence the Father and the Son are the same. Philip’s problem was that he had failed to go back to the fact of the essence of God. The words, “the Father in me” turns it all around and says in effect that Jesus Christ is just as much God as the Father is, and that God the Father is just as much God as Jesus Christ. So both ways you slice it the Father and the Son have identical essence. There is one other who has the same essence and who will be introduced a little later in the paragraph under the title “Comforter,” but right now He wants Philip to concentrate on a very simple principle from which Philip should be making application as a relatively new believer. The simple principle is the fact that God never let anyone down, and that God never became petty, never changed His attitude. Therefore you cannot superimpose upon God human characteristics of people who have disappointed you, let you down, hurt you, or done something that is in some way considered maltreatment. In other words, no matter what people do to you, you can’t turn around and blame it on God. The problem with Philip was that although he knew the essence box but he had not believed it. He had essence in his left lobe and there it was understood objectively, but you cannot apply essence in the left lobe. The essence has to be in the right lobe on the launching pad. “Believest thou” is where there must be pisteuw. There is Philip’s hang-up, Philip’s problem. He is loaded up with doctrine in his left lobe but has never transferred it to his right lobe. There is such a thing as understanding something academically and objectively but not being able to use it. Bible doctrine is no good to you until you get it in your right lobe. Philip understood the essence box but he could not apply it. So Jesus challenges him to apply it: “Believest thou not?”
“the words that I speak” -- words is doctrines: the doctrines I communicate, present active indicative of legw. Present tense, linear aktionsart, He has been communicating them all along. Active voice: Jesus Christ was the communicator to Philip. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that Jesus Christ had been teaching Philip.
“unto you” – dative of advantage. It is to the advantage of Philip to get these things.
“I do not communicate from myself” – present active indicative of lalew, which indicates that these had been constantly taught to Philip; “of myself” is the preposition a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. ‘I do not communicate from the ultimate source of myself.’ Now the humanity of Christ is speaking as a teacher. The Father gave the humanity of Christ this information. So what Jesus taught He had first GAPed Himself. You can’t communicate doctrine to others until you have GAPed it yourself. “I am in the Father” – the deity of Christ; “the words that I speak” – the humanity of Christ. He is not teaching from His deity.
“but the Father that dwelleth in me, he keeps on doing the works” – the Father is the one who provided this. He is said to dwell or abide – present active participle of menw; “he doeth” – poiew, which means here to produce: He produces the production. In other words, it is God the Father who taught the humanity God the Son—deity did not need teaching. It is God the Son in His humanity who GAPed it and became a supergrace person in His humanity, and as such He has sufficient information so that all this time He had been teaching these doctrines to Philip. And Philip had only gone as far as the doctrine in the left lobe, he was out of gas in his right lobe.
Verse 11 – the two imperatives: “Believe me.” The two imperatives are designed to break up the road block in Philip’s soul so that he can transfer doctrine from his left lobe to his right lobe and begin to utilise what he is learning.
“Believe me” – a present active imperative indicating what Philip’s problem is. Philip has the doctrine but it has not believed it so that it could be cycled into the spirit and up into the right lobe. You cannot use doctrine which is not found in your right lobe.
“or else believe me for [because of] the very works sake” – dia plus the accusative of e)rgon is “because of the works.” This means because doctrine only works in the right lobe.
“He that believeth on me” – present active participle of pisteuw. This is not for salvation, this is what will break down the log jamb. The present active participle is really explaining how Philip is going to start getting with it, to break the log jamb and start believing these doctrines. This is not linear aktionsart because the present tense is an iterative present, and it means to believe when the Word is being taught. It doesn’t mean to believe all the time. Bible doctrine is not transferred from the left lobe to the right lobe unless you believe it. That is what moves it out of receptive comprehension. Receptive comprehension is not applicable. This is an iterative present and only refers to those occasions where the doctrine is being taught.
Notice He doesn’t say “believeth on me [salvation]” because on is not on, it is e)ij which is directional and means toward. It doesn’t have anything to do with salvation, it has to do with everything that Philip has been taught for three years now. So He says, “Believe toward me.” This is breaking the log jamb in the soul of Philip.
“the works that I do” – ta e)rga refers to Bible doctrine in the right lobe being applied in production; “I do” is a present active indicative of poiew and, again, it is an iterative present.
“shall he do” – future active indicative of poiew. The future tense anticipates that throughout the Church Age believers will not only take in doctrine in the classroom, the local church, the communication of the didaskaloj, but will actually believe the things they have been taught so that they will become productive. Active voice: the believer with doctrine in the right lobe and on the launching pad is the one who applies. The indicative mood is the reality of the function of doctrine from the launching pad, the reality of the ECS, the reality of entrance into the supergrace life.
“also” is kaikeinoj, is a crasis for kai and e)keinoj and means “and that also.”
“greater” – neuter plural comparative from megaj which means greater in quantity but not quality. The quality is the same whether it is Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the humanity of Christ, Bible doctrine in the right lobe of Philip who is now going to break the log jamb, or Bible doctrine in your right lobe. The quality of doctrine is always the same. In other words, there will be many, many believers in the Church Age who will get it, who will transfer it, who will have it in the right lobe, who will function and use it, apply it. Not in quality but in quantity—because there are more people producing in more places.
“because I go” – present active indicative of poreuomai which means to go from one place to another, and it refers to the ascension and session. This is a gnomic present, and absolute.
“unto my Father” – proj plus the accusative case, “face to face with my Father.”
At this point we have the intensification of the angelic conflict anticipated. Once Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, glorified, as per John 7:39, the Holy Spirit will produce through Bible doctrine the impact to meet the intensified angelic conflict. There will be the function of GAP, the erection of the ECS, entrance into the supergrace life, but above all there will be doctrine on the launching pad.
Verse 13 and 14, the absence of Jesus Christ from the earth is going to shake up the disciples, except for one thing: His absence is not going to change the prayer factor. So, ascension does not hinder the power of prayer.
Verse 13 – “And whatsoever ye shall ask,” aorist active subjunctive of a)itew which means to request or demand or to ask. This is a constative aorist which gathers up into one entirety the prayer life of Philip from this time onward every time he prays. The active voice: Philip will become at the beginning of the Church Age a believer priest as well as an apostle. The subjunctive mood indicates the potentiality of prayer.
“in my name” – Jesus Christ is absent from the earth as the high priest. He is at the right hand of the Father so we ask through the person of Christ.
“that [this]” – touto, reference to the prayer[1] petition; “I will do” – aorist active subjunctive of poiew. The aorist tense means in that same point of time. Active voice: Christ initiates the action. As high priest He will process the prayer on to the Father. The subjunctive mood: whether the prayer is answered or not is potential based upon other facts. Furthermore, this is a subjunctive meeting a subjunctive to indicate that the whole concept of the answer of prayer depends upon other factors beside the one’s mentioned. Therefore you must have a subjunctive plus a subjunctive in both verbs.
“the Father may be glorified” – aorist passive subjunctive of docazw. The constative aorist refers to a point of time. Passive voice: the Father receives glory. Subjunctive mood: a part of the purpose clause, i(na plus the subjunctive introduces a purpose clause; e)n plus the instrumental, “by means of the Son.”
Verse 14 – “If,” 3rd class condition, e)an plus the subjunctive; “ye shall ask” – aorist active subjunctive of a)itew; “in my name, I will do it.” “In my name” in the context means there must be doctrine in the right lobe, and the more doctrine in the right lobe the sooner you get to supergrace, sand a supergrace believer is highly effective because he is occupied with the name which is above every name, with the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore Philip is partially straightened out on this point. The ascension of Jesus Christ will not hinder Philip’s future prayer life.
Verse 15 – this passage begins with the fact that the ascension leads to a new ministry of God the Holy Spirit (vv. 15-17).
“If” is a 3rd class condition (maybe you do and maybe you do not). All believers do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Capacity to love Jesus Christ is based on the intake of Bible doctrine. If you are not taking in Bible doctrine on a consistent basis you have no capacity to love the Lord Jesus Christ.
“ye love me” – present active subjunctive of a)gapaw which is a mental attitude love. It has two sides to it. First, a total mental concentration on the object of love and absence of any mental attitude sins directed toward the object of love. The other side of it is mental occupation. This includes fragrance of memories. When you love someone under a)gapaw you concentrate on them. Concentration on the Lord Jesus Christ is based upon the intake of Bible doctrine. This is your capacity for love. The 3rd class condition says, maybe you do and maybe you do not, and with it is the subjunctive mood which is a part of that 3rd class condition. The present tense is used here for consistency. It isn’t linear aktionsart, it is simply being consistent in loving the Lord Jesus Christ. The active voice: the believer through the intake of Bible doctrine initiates the action. He has the capacity to love Jesus Christ because of the daily function of GAP.
“keep” – aorist active imperative of terew, which means to guard something that belongs to you. You have a perfect and eternal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the aorist active imperative means guard it. This is a constative aorist which indicates that you guard your love for Jesus Christ by the daily function of GAP. Active voice: every believer must do this for himself. No one else can do it for him. It must come from his soul and from no one else’s. You cannot have a relationship with the Lord on the basis of someone else’s soul capacity. He must have his own soul capacity which means he must have his own Bible doctrine, not someone else’s. Therefore the believer must have his own intake—the daily function of GAP. The imperative mood is a command.
“my commandments” – e)ntolh refers to Bible doctrine presented categorically. “Guard my categorical doctrine.” To do this requires a lot of things. It requires the function of GAP, but the emphasis in this passage will be on the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ explains now just how this will be accomplished.
Verse 16 – “And I will pray the Father,” future active indicative of e)rwtaw which means to ask. The future tense means the petition will be made when Jesus Christ gets into the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies for this High Priest is heaven, the right hand of the Father. Active voice: Jesus Christ as our High Priest will initiate the request. The indicative mood is the reality of the request after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. All prayer requests go to the Father.
“and he shall give you” – our High Priest prays from the mentality of His soul. You don’t pray from your emotions. This is the future active indicative of didomi. This is a gnomic future: the prayer will be answered. Active voice: the Father will perform the answer Himself. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that when Jesus Christ goes to the right hand of the Father He is going to say, “Father, send them a help.” And the Father will send the Holy Spirit, so the first advent of Christ is followed by the first advent of the Holy Spirit.
“another” – a)lloj which means another of the same kind. This indicates that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are God; “Comforter” – paraklhtoj which means someone to assist. In this case it is God the Holy Spirit who is going to do the assisting. Sometimes this is transliterated “Paraclete.” Unfortunately, sometimes transliterations are misleading. There are two advents of the Holy Spirit, both are given in prophecy and both are fulfilled. In the first advent the prophecy of the Holy Spirit is given here in John 14:16, and also in John 16:14. The fulfilment of this is the day of Pentecost – Acts 2:1ff; 11:15, 16; Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16. The Second Advent: it was predicted prophetically in Joel 2:28,29 and is fulfilled in Zechariah 12:10.
“that” – purpose clause; “he may abide” – the present active subjunctive of e)imi means “that he may be,” not abide. The subjunctive is a part of the purpose clause, it is not potential.
“for ever” – this means forever in you.
Translation: “I will request the Father, and he will give you [for your advantage] another assistant [of the same kind, i.e. God], that he may be forever in you.”
Verse 17 – “The Spirit of truth” – there is no even there, as in the KJV. Spirit, pneuma, plus a)lhqeia indicates the primary function of God the Holy Spirit in this age. A)lhqeia is doctrine, so this is a functional title. “Holy Spirit” is the title of His person; “Spirit of truth [doctrine]” is a functional title. It is the function of God the Holy Spirit to make Bible doctrine real in your soul. The Holy Spirit is the prime mover in GAP.
“whom the world cannot receive” – only the believer can receive God the Holy Spirit. “Whom” is a relative pronoun referring to the Spirit; kosmoj [world] refers to the unbelievers; “cannot receive” is actually not able to receive, present active indicative of dunamai plus the aorist active infinitive of lambanw – not ever able, present linear aktionsart. The aorist infinitive is an ingressive aorist: he can’t even begin to have a relationship with the Spirit because he is an unbeliever. There is no gift of the Holy Spirit before the cross.
“because it seeth him not” – it refers to the Holy Spirit who does not observe or contemplate them [the unbeliever].
“but ye know him” – ginwskw, present active indicative. This indicates that as believers in the Age of Israel they have already had some knowledge of the 3rd person of the Trinity. What they know of Him is now given.
“for [because] he dwells [menw = abide] with you” – para, the preposition means beside you. That is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to certain individuals [believers] in the Age of Israel. God the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers in the Jewish dispensation. He was beside them; He came alongside to help.
“and shall be” – future active indicative of e)imi and is a prophecy regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit for the Church Age; “in you” – e)n plus the locative means inside you.[2]
Verse 18 – “I will not leave” is a future active indicative of a)fihmi, used in this passage to leave behind. That means every moment that we are in this life.
“comfortless” – o)rfanoj, from which we get the English word orphans. The word orphan means no father, no mother, therefore without comfort. The concept here is, I will not leave you behind comfortless—help, blessing, and everything necessary to sustain you. Jesus Christ is about to depart from the earth through ascension. He is aware of the fact that the disciples are already on the panic button: What are we going to do now? So he is spelling out to them the Church Age. This refers to all of the provision we have right now as believer priests in the Church Age.
“I will come [face to face with] to you” – present active indicative of e)rxomai. “I will not leave you behind comfortless”—the beginning of the Church Age; “I will come face to face with you”—that is the Rapture of the Church or the end of the Church Age. So we have bracketed a principle given by the Lord Jesus Christ in anticipation of His resurrection, ascension and session. We will never be left without provision. The provision He has left us is going to be stated here in the form of two things: God the Holy Spirit and the Word. This is our blessing no matter what the circumstances of life may be. Here the reference is to the ministry of the Holy Spirit during the formation of the body of Christ; it will also refer later on specifically to Bible doctrine.
Verse 19 – “Yet a little while,” is the accusative of the extent of time of mikroj, which means in a short time, specifically in 43 days: three days for death, burial and resurrection, and forty days on the earth in a resurrection body followed by the ascension, Acts 1:3.
“the world [i.e. people living on this planet] seeth me no more” – present active indicative of qeorew which means to observe Jesus Christ actually functioning on the earth.
“but ye see me” – this really has them for a moment because they thought that Jesus was going to ditch them and go find another crowd. But actually, He is going to ascend and be seated at the right hand of the Father as a part of God’s plan. He was going on with God’s plan and the very fact that He is gone bothers Him. They want Him right there. We have here the present active indicative of qeorew again which means to perceive with the mind here. You are going to observe me in your soul. This is achieved by Bible doctrine in the soul. It makes the believer aware of who and what Christ is. Bible doctrine in the soul is the capacity for category #1 love. The object of category #1 love is someone you can see, the only member of the Godhead who is revealed—Jesus Christ. We can have Him all the time in the sense of category #1 love.
“because I live, ye shall live also” – Jesus Christ is alive, present active indicative of zaw, referring to the function of life; future tense, you will too. There is phase three: I have a resurrection body, you will have one too. In the meantime there is an absence. The Church Age is the age of the absence of Christ from the earth, so He leaves something of Himself with us: Bible doctrine. So therefore we can orient to God’s plan in the absence of Christ on the earth through knowledge of doctrine.
Verse 20 – “At that day” is literally in that day; “ye shall know” – future middle indicative of ginwskw, it means when you take in doctrine you are going to realise the reality of what I am telling you; ginwskw means the experience of GAP. The future tense means that right now the disciples are a bunch of knuckle-heads. They didn’t know nearly as much as we know right now about the plan of God, because we have been exposed to a lot of doctrine. Jesus had two jobs to do. He had to present Himself as the King of Israel and He had to present a kingdom platform. Therefore He had to do a lot of teaching about the Millennium. He also had to do a lot of gospel teaching and had to present Himself as a person, the God-Man, the only saviour. Therefore He did not even try to teach the Church Age until the very end of His ministry. The night before He went to the cross is the first time they heard any of this information. These disciples who were going to be the apostles of the Church at this time didn’t know as much as we know. That is why Jesus put this in the future tense—“Ye shall know.” Some of them were going to learn a lot of doctrine but they didn’t know a thing at this stage. Within 53 day Peter is going to be standing up spouting doctrine. That is the beginning of learning some things. The middle voice: the disciples will be benefited by the action of the verb, by learning doctrine. The indicative mood is the reality of the disciples orienting to the plan of God through Bible doctrine.
“that I in my Father” – Jesus Christ and God the Father have identical essence. Also, because of their essence they have a relationship. This does not mean the Son indwells the Father but it means that they are identical in essence. “I in my Father” is a statement of a perfect relationship.
“and ye in me” – Jesus Christ wants us to have the same relationship. That is Christianity; it is not religion. “Ye in me” is a reference to positional sanctification. It refers to one of the things that God the Holy Spirit does at the point of salvation—the baptism of the Spirit whereby God the Holy Spirit enters every believer into union with Christ. Jesus Christ has a perfect relationship with the Father; He always has had. Now, at the point of regeneration, we enter into union with Christ and we are a part of a permanent grace relationship. When we start out we don’t have any grace in us, that comes with doctrine. But we are in a perfect grace relationship from the day we were saved. Our grace relationship with the members of the Godhead will never be improved; positional truth cannot be improved. The problem is that we are imperfect without capacity to appreciate it.
“I in you” is a reference to the indwelling of Jesus Christ. There are two indwellings in the Church Age: the indwelling of Christ for the purpose of fellowship and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of production.
Verse 21 – the relationship calls for love. “He that hath” – “he” is the believer; “that hath” is resent active participle of e)xw, having and holding. It means to have doctrine and to keep it, not lose it through reversionism. “The one that keeps on having and holding.”
“my commandments” – the accusative plural of e)ntolh does not mean the Ten Commandments, it means categorical doctrine. E)ntolh means an edict, an official decree, and it means Bible doctrine presented categorically here. You have Bible doctrine through GAP—every day!
“and keepeth them” – and guards what belongs to him. Once you have e)ntolh you have to guard it, and this means to be positive toward doctrine daily. As a result you get an ECS, and you guard what belongs to you.
“he it is” – present active indicative of e)imi; “that loveth me” – present active participle of a)gapaw, strictly a mental attitude love in the soul. This is the way you start, you don’t start with filew. Filew belongs to the believer who gets to supergrace; a)gapaw is what you have through the various stages of growth until you reach supergrace.
“shall be loved of my Father” is literally, under the authority of my Father—u(po, which means under the authority of or by my Father.
“and I will love him” – the relationship is perfect. In other words, when you take in Bible doctrine you have the capacity to love the Father, the Father loves you, and Jesus Christ loves you. This is a dramatic future here.
“and will manifest myself to him” – in other words, you learn more doctrine; e)mfanizw does not mean to manifest, it means to communicate, to make one’s self or one’s attitude known.
Notice: Philip had requested a manifestation of God in verse 8. Jesus now declares to Philip that the manifestation of God resides in a relationship, and that God has provided understanding of the relationship and capacity in the same thing: Bible doctrine. Jesus Christ is the manifest person of the Godhead—John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 4:12. Bible doctrine makes Jesus Christ manifest to the believer in any generation.
Verse 22 – the Judas here is Judas Labbaeus, also called Thadaeus. He is also found in Mark 3:18; Matthew 10:3; Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13.
Judas saith” – present active indicative of legw; “Lord” – kurioj, indicating deity and the fact that he is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“how is it” is incorrect – the perfect active indicative of ginomai means “how has it happened.”
“that thou wilt” – i.e. that you are about to, literally; “manifest” – present active infinitive of e)mfanizw. The word means to communicate, to report, to reveal, to make known. “How has it happened that you are about to communicate [make yourself known] yourself unto us, and not to the world?” Not to the world means to be manifest to believers and not to those who are unbelievers. Unbelievers cannot understand the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in teaching the reality of Jesus Christ. And at this point we have a parenthetical principle before Jesus answers: Attitude toward doctrine determines the believer’s attitude toward the Lord. That is the principle of verses 23-25, and that also is the principle which answers the question of Judas. How is it possible that we can understand what Jesus Christ is really like and yet the world cannot? In order to bring out just exactly how this is going to be answered love is used as the background.
Verse 23 – “If” is the 3rd class condition, e)an plus the subjunctive; “a man” – the word for man is not man at all, it is tij, the enclitic impersonal pronoun, and it means category homo sapien: “If anyone.”
“love” – present active subjunctive of a)gapaw. The present tense is linear aktionsart for category #1 love in phase two. The active voice: the believer filled with the Spirit an taking in Bible doctrine on a daily basis finally comes to the point of occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. But this occupation with the person of Christ is first of all a relaxed mental attitude. “If anyone loves” – 3rd class condition, maybe yes and maybe no. It depends on whether they take in doctrine or not.
“he will keep my words” – the future active indicative of terew is a gnomic future which has nothing to do with tenses as we understand them. We think of the future tense as something in the future, in other words a time connotation. But the gnomic future indicates something which is an absolute fact. This is axiomatic. “He will keep” means to guard something that belongs to self; “my words” refers to Bible doctrine. How do you guard the words of God? By taking it in daily constantly. None of us can afford to go more than 24 hours without spiritual food. Remember that terew means to guard what belongs to you, and the only doctrine that belongs to the believer is what he GAPs into the right lobe or the heart, the doctrine he has in his ECS.
“and my Father” – this is spoken from the humanity of Jesus Christ; “will love” – and notice the change in a)gapaw. This time it is present active indicative. The indicative replaces the subjunctive. In other words, God the Father does love us. The future tense, again, is a gnomic future. The active voice indicates that the Father loves every believer in the Church Age with maximum love—we have all passed the point of propitiation. The indicative mood is the reality of the Father’s love.
“and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” We will come is a reference to the deity of the Father, plus Christ [His deity], a reference to the fact that both of them are going to indwell.
“unto him” is proj plus the accusative, face to face with him; “make” is poiew, present active indicative. It is used for the Hebrew word asah. It means to make something out of something. We will come face to face with Him and manufacture something out of something. What? “Our abode” – monh, which means a mansion. The mansion here is the edification complex [ECS]. It is in the soul and it comes from keeping His Word on a daily basis—the daily function of GAP.
Verse 24 – “He that loveth me not.” This is the present active participle of a)gapaw plus the negative mh. This is still talking about a believer. The present active participle is linear aktionsart, and plus the negative means constantly not doing something. “He that keeps on not loving me.” Here is the believer in reversionism. When the believer gets into reversionism the last thing he wants to hear is Bible doctrine. This is the believer who does not love Jesus Christ.
“keepeth not” – present active indicative of terew plus the strongest single negative o)uk; “my sayings” is literally, my words. As in the previous verse it is a reference to Bible doctrine.
“and the word which ye hear is not mine” – logoj, referring to doctrine. Through Bible doctrine Christ will manifest Himself to believers and not to the world. This answers the question of Judas. “The word which ye hear” is the present active indicative of a)kouw. In other words, they are GAPing it right now in the upper room. Jesus enucleates doctrine in the upper room discourse. Christ is the communicator of this doctrine but the source is God the Father.
“but the Father’s which sent me” – aorist active participle of pempw, having sent me. In other words, the Father sent the Son to the earth and now that He is on the earth he reveals the Father. The aorist active participle precedes the action of the main verb: He doesn’t reveal the Father until He comes and speaks about Him.
Verse 25 – “These things have I spoken”: things about the Father, things about the plan. “Have I spoken” is a perfect active indicative of the verb lalew which means to communicate; “to you” – dative of advantage. It is to the advantage of the disciples to be briefed about the Church Age. The Church Age is a radical departure from the dispensation of Israel and they are going to find out some things they never knew before.
“being yet present with you” – the word for present is pareimi but this is not what we have here, we have menw which means to endure, to abide. The present active participle means that Jesus Christ is sticking it out: “with you” is beside you – para.
This answers the question of Judas in verse 22. How will Christ manifest Himself to believers and not be in the world? Through the Word of God, Bible doctrine. All we know about God is contained in writing.
Now it is one thing to have the Word of God is writing but it is something else to learn it.
Verse 26 – the means of learning doctrine. “But the Comforter” – paraklhtoj. This refers to God the Holy Spirit; “the Holy Ghost” – a(gioj pneuma. Pneuma means “spirit.” He is called the Comforter, but the word also means the Exhorter, the Trainer. God the Holy Spirit is not just the Comforter.
“whom the Father will send” – here is the first advent of God the Holy Spirit. He has a ministry in three dispensations: the Age of Israel, the Age of the Church, and the Age of the Millennium. This precludes the fact that God the Holy Spirit has a ministry all throughout human history to all unbelievers. He is the agent of making the gospel a reality. But here we have a specialised ministry to believers. Luke 11:13 describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the dispensation of Israel; it was a specialised ministry to a few people. Ephesians 5:18 describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age. In the Millennium we have yet a different ministry of the Holy Spirit because Jesus Christ returns to the earth. He is present and reigns on the earth under perfect environment.
“will send” is the future active indicative of pempw. Just as the Father sent the Son, so He is going to, send the Holy Spirit—John 14:16. The Holy Spirit is also said to be sent by the Son – John 15:26.
“in my name” – this means that Jesus Christ is absent from the earth but does not leave us comfortless, and He provides the ministry of the Holy Spirit for the intensification of the angelic conflict.
“he shall teach” – future active indicative of didaskw. This is a gnomic future. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit is a teaching ministry, and didaskw means to teach in public assembly, to teach a group. It means that the Holy Spirit teaches through the ministry of the pastor-teacher. The Holy Spirit teaches the mystery doctrine of the Church Age to believers – John 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14; 1 John 2:27.
“all things” – reference to the various doctrines of the Church Age; “and bring to your remembrance” – future active indicative of u(pomimnhskw [mimnhskw = remember; u(po = under the authority of someone]. U(po indicates how you learn doctrine; it refers to authority. To learn something you have to hear it again and again and again. This lodges in the frame of reference and it becomes a category, a part of the norms and standards, doctrine in the launching pad. As this is communicated again and again God the Holy Spirit brings these things to your remembrance under the authority of the one who teaches.
“whatsoever I have said unto you” – aorist active indicative of legw, used here for teaching. The aorist is a constative aorist. Jesus taught over a period of three years. They don’t remember all the things he said, but later on when they are taught these things again and again they will finally take hold in the memory centre.
The principle is that you don’t learn something the first time you hear it. You may understand it or have some concept of it, but you have to hear it again and again so that eventually it will take hold in your soul. All of this is the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
Verse 27 – “Peace,” e)irhnh means tranquillity, benefit, happiness. It refers to the supergrace life. Supergrace benefit I leave behind, literally. This is the present active indicative of a)fihmi, to leave behind. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to leave us supergrace benefit. How are we going to get it? Doctrine! There is no other way to get it.
“my peace” – supergrace happiness; “I give you” – present active indicative of didomi. Present tense: He keeps on giving it. He gives it through the Word.
“not as the world gives” – the world is a system. Kosmoj means an organised system for recognising merit, ability, success, wealth, benefit. The word has a way of providing things that are attractive and wonderful because they are things that people normally want. It has a system of recognising greatness. Worldly standards have given greatness to many. They are bona fide standards and therefore people want to be great like great people in the past. The organised kosmoj has assigned to them something that you want today, that you desire today. The world says, in that sense, I can give you something. But if you take your success from the kosmoj you take your success from his majesty the devil who runs the kosmoj. What comes from God is worth having and cannot be lost.
“Let not your heart [right lobe] – where all that doctrine is stored; “be troubled” – present passive imperative of tarassw which means to be worried or be in a state of anxiety. “Do not keep on receiving agitation of mind,” literally.
“let it not be afraid” – present active imperative of deiliaw which means to be timid or cowardly. Here it means to be cowardly. You are not going to miss anything. God will keep you alive. Then promises of God remove fear, Isaiah 41:10; Deuteronomy 31:6,8. Doctrine removes fear, 2 Timothy 1:7. Faith-rest removes fear, Psalm 56:3.
Verse 28 – “Ye have heard,” indicates the fact that they have received Bible doctrine along the line that Jesus is discussing but they haven’t paid much attention to it. The aorist active indicative of a)kouw means to be exposed, to hear under GAP conditions. The word is used for learning doctrine under the principle of two factors: to listen and accept the authority of; to listen and concentrate. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, which indicates you don’t GAP it all the time but it gathers into one entirety all of the times that you do GAP it. At this point the disciples have had three years of constant exposure to Bible teaching and this is what Jesus is pointing out.
“how I said unto you” – aorist active indicative of legw, used here for communication. Jesus taught them verbally by monologue; “unto you” is dative of advantage to be taught the Word of God.
“I go away” – the present active indicative of u(pagw means to depart. It is a reference to the ascension of Christ to glorification at the right hand of the Father. Active voice: the humanity of Christ does the ascending since the deity of Christ is omnipresent and can’t ascend. The indicative mood is the reality of resurrection, ascension and session of the Lord Jesus Christ.[3]
“and come again to you” – the word come is also a present active indicative of e)rxomai. This indicates here the Rapture of the Church, Second Advent. It just means to come, it has no unusual significance, the context determines the significance of the verb; “unto you” is proj plus the accusative, face to face with you. The word again has been supplied by the translator because he understood the passage but it is not in the original text. This is a reference to the rapture of the Church. Jesus is going to depart from the earth and the next time anyone on the earth is ever going to be close will be the Rapture when He will be face to face with those of the Church Age.
“If ye loved me, ye would rejoice” – the “If” is a second class condition because up to now they have not entered into the supergrace life. It is followed by an imperfect active indicative of a)gapaw. It is possible to expose one’s self to Bible teaching and not make supergrace. The imperfect tense is linear aktionsart in past time. Active voice: the disciples are producing the action—If and you don’t love me, 2nd class condition. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that they do not have the capacity to love the Lord at this time. If they did, they would rejoice, aorist passive indicative of xairw which means to have +H. This refers to the supergrace life. Under supergrace these people would be different at this time; that is what He is saying. “Ye would rejoice” is a culminative aorist, they should have arrived by now. Passive voice: they would receive this +H from seeing the plan of God advance. The indicative mood is the reality of it if they were in the supergrace bracket.
“because I said” is not found in the original. It is simply, “because I go to my Father.” This time the word I go is a present active indicative of poreuomai which means to go from one place to another. It is used here for the ascension; “unto the Father” is proj plus the accusative, face to face with the Father. The conjunction o(ti means because, not for.
“my Father” – notice that Jesus is using the word Father to designate the first person of the Trinity; “is” – present active indicative of e)imi, keeps on being.
“greater” – the comparative of megaj which means great. This is a declaration of the humanity of Christ. The deity of the Father is greater than any humanity. The humanity of Christ is obedient to the plan of the Father. His plan calls for resurrection, ascension, session and glorification.
In the Church Age the body is being formed. Once it is formed the Lord Jesus Christ has a bride. Therefore the Church will share the glory of Christ forever. That is why He said to the disciples that they ought to be very happy about the fact that He was going to go. He was going to sit down at the right hand of the Father and be glorified. But they don’t have the capacity for the plan of God because none of them have reached supergrace.
Verse 29 – orientation to the Church Age. “Now” is the adverb nun, but here the adverb means “at the present time” and is a reference to the upper room discourse.
“I have told” – perfect active indicative of legw. The perfect tense is something that happens in the past with results that go on. But the perfect tense sometimes emphasises the past, sometimes emphasises the results, and sometimes emphasises the whole thing. This is the abiding character of Bible doctrine. I have communicated in the past with the result that you will have this communication. Active voice: Christ did the teaching. Indicative mood: the reality of the unique communication gift of our Lord.
“before” – trin, an unusual adverb which means before or sooner. Jesus prophesied regarding the Church Age 53 days before it occurred.
“it come to pass” – aorist active infinitive. Literally, before it begins to come to pass; this is an iterative or ingressive aorist.
“that” – purpose clause; “when” – o(tan, whenever, on the occasion of its occurrence; “you might believe” – aorist active subjunctive of pisteuw. This is not believing for salvation and it isn’t really faith-rest as such, it is an offshoot of faith-rest. Here is faith as a capacity.
Verses 30, 31 – some opposition to the Father’s plan.
Verse 30 – “Hereafter” is the adverb o)uketi, no longer or no more. “I will no longer talk with you.”
“talk” is a future active indicative of lalew and it means to communicate doctrine—doctrine regarding the Church Age; “with you” – meta is the preposition which means “in association with you.” Jesus has been associated with them for three years.
“the prince of this world cometh” – e)rxomai is now used for the devil. It means here that he is back on the scene. He left with Judas Iscariot. Now that Judas has done his deed the devil can afford to leave Judas for a few moments and come back to see what is going on. When the devil arrives the Lord cuts it off. The devil can’t stay long and the Lord will have something to say out in the Garden of Gethsemane because Judas is a coward, and as a coward the devil is going to get back inside of him so that he will go through with this deal. So when they leave the devil has to go back to Judas and that is why the Lord cuts it off at this time.
“and hath nothing in me” – not one thing, literally; “in me” refers to the fact that Jesus Christ is sinless.
Verse 31 – “But that,” purpose clause; “the world may know that I love the Father” – ginwskw means to know from observation; “I love” – RMA.
“and as the Father gave me commandment” – aorist active indicative of e)ntelomai. It means a command to a person who is smart. This is a decree, a whole series of orders.
“even so I do [execute]” – present active indicative of poiew.
“Arise” – get up. E)geirw also means wake up.
“let us go” – present active subjunctive of a)gw, a hortatory subjunctive, the same as a command. We are finished here is what He is saying. He is the one who decided when the party was over.
John does not record the fact that they sang a hymn—Psalm 118—and then went out: Matthew 26:30. He simply indicates the point at which Satan arrived and the point at which they broke up.
The rest of this discourse, chapters 15 and 16, takes place on the way to Gethsemane. The actual prayer of John 17 occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane, so the rest of this will be called the Gethsemane discourse.