Chapter 13
Verse 1 – “Now before the feast of the passover.” The preposition pro indicates that the prior date is found in John 12:1. John is not always chronological and every now and then it is necessary to throw in something which indicates the chronology of things. This is six days before the Passover. Since then we have been covering various pieces of information during those six days. Now, the word before takes us from six days before the Passover to the night before the Passover—Tuesday evening, 13 April, 30 AD. Jesus Christ was crucified on Wednesday morning at 9 am. The preposition pro indicates this piece of chronology.
The feast of the Passover is the first in the Levitical series. It is described in Exodus 12 and mentioned doctrinally in 1 Corinthians 5:7. It portrays the death of Christ on the cross. With the feast of the Passover Jesus Christ is terminating His public ministry. By nine o’clock the next morning Jesus Christ will be on the cross. So what we have in chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 all occurs approximately 16 hours before the crucifixion. Jesus Christ at this point stops all public teaching and focuses His attention on the disciples. The discourse—called the upper room discourse—begins at this point with some historical information. The actual upper room discourse—John chapters 14 and 15. Then we have the Gethsemane discourse—chapters 16 and 17.
Jesus Christ is going to give two messages on this evening. The first message will be given in the upper room; the second message will be given after they departed from the upper room and went out to Gethsemane. One is given in a banquet hall on the second floor and the second is given in a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives. These two discourses are the prophetical preparation for the Church Age. The recipients of these two messages are the eleven born-again disciples, and part of it was heard by Judas Iscariot.
“Jesus [always refers to the humanity of Christ] knew” – prefect active participle of o)ida used as a present tense for His omniscience. Jesus is always the name for the humanity of Christ; o)ida is used for His omniscience. Here we have the hypostatic union, the God-Man. Knowledge also resided in His right lobe—in His frame of reference, vocabulary and categorical area of His humanity. Also He had an ECS, He GAPed to supergrace, so that in His humanity, as well as in His deity, was thoroughly cognisant of the plan of God the Father. Now, in His cognisance He is going to communicate.
“that his hour” – reference to the cross, John 12:23; 17:1; Mark 14:41. The word hour is not used for 60 minutes here. The word is often used in a dramatic time of victory and that is exactly the way that God the Holy Spirit uses it from the pen of John the Apostle. It took six hours but it was the Lord’s finest hour, His hour of victory in the angelic conflict.
“was come” – aorist active indicative of e)rxomai. This is a culminative aorist—had come; “that” – purpose clause, i(na plus the subjunctive.
“he should depart” – aorist active subjunctive of metabainw which means to go from one place to an entirely different place. It refers to the physical death of Christ when His body went into the grave—Luke 23:53; His soul went to Paradise in Hades—Psalm 16:10; Luke 23:43; Acts 2:27; Ephesians 4:9; His spirit went to the Father—Luke 23:46. To indicate that these are all out of the world we have e)k plus the ablative of kosmoj—“out from the world.” Therefore the emphasis is on His soul and spirit. His body went into a grave and the grave was on the earth. So out of the trichotomous disposition of Christ at His physical death it is the soul and the spirit which are emphasised and definitely not the body.
“unto the Father” – proj means face to face with the Father.
“having loved his own [possessions]” – aorist active participle of a)gapaw. The amazing thing about a)gapaw is the fact that while Jesus Christ also had filew this indicates His mental attitude love, the love of His soul for the disciples—eleven born-again believers—even though in the next 16 hours not only did they not hear His discourse, were very poor in their attention, but as soon as they got out into the action all of them, with the exception of John, really blew it. They were a total and complete flop. Only John managed to come through with anything that looked like honour, and a)gapaw expresses His mental attitude toward those whom He knows are going to fail completely—and that is grace. “His own [possessions, i.e. people/disciples]” is the accusative masculine plural of i)dioj.
“in the world” – His mental attitude toward them was relaxed; “he loved them to the end” – in other words, Jesus Christ went all the way to His death and yet His attitude never changes toward the disciples. That is grace. This indicates that Jesus Christ on the cross was totally relaxed. He loved these disciples as God in eternity past, so He was willing to become true humanity. He loved these disciples in time; He was willing to go to the cross for them and for the entire human race. He loved them on the cross while He was being judged for their sins. His love never changed. And while the other type of love could have been mentioned it is the mental attitude love that is the basis for the other.
Verse 2 – some opposition to the Father’s plan. “The supper being ended” is incorrect. This is the Passover supper and it is the present middle participle of ginomai. It means being in progress. The supper was not over, it was in the process. The present tense means they were dining at the time. The middle voice means they themselves were still dining. The best way to bring this out in the English is, “the supper being in progress,” or “the supper having started.” They were now partaking of the Passover feast. And the chief opponent among all fallen angels and the greatest genius among creatures was there—the devil. The devil needed a temple there, and since the eleven disciples were born-again he couldn’t possess them. He was looking for someone to possess at that minute.
“having now put” is not correct. This is a perfect active participle of ballw which means to throw or to cast. It should be, having cast. The perfect tense means there will be permanent results, such as declared in Luke 22:3ff.
“into the heart [right lobe] of Judas Iscariot” – the only unbeliever among the disciples, therefore the logical person to form the base of attack.
“to betray” is incorrect, it is “that he might betray him.” It is a purpose clause: that is i(na, plus the aorist active subjunctive of paradidomi. Remember that the subjunctive mood is used here with i(na to indicate a purpose clause. This was the devil’s avowed purpose when he entered the room. The devil’s objective was to help the Sanhedrin fulfil their policy—John 11:49-57. Satan wanted to keep Christ from going to the cross and being judged for our sins and what better way to frustrate the cross than to turn Jesus over to the Sanhedrin. They will have a quick trial and then stone Him to death. It will be impossible for Jesus Christ to bear the sins of the world if He is bearing the weight of stones and dying physically. The devil’s objective is to get Jesus to die physically. What the devil is afraid of (because he knows theology better than most on this point) is that somehow Jesus will get on that cross where He will bear the sins of the world and die spiritually. The purpose of the devil is to get Judas to so betray Jesus that Jesus will never get to the cross. If Jesus dies physically without first dying spiritually, then the whole purpose of the incarnation is destroyed. The whole ministry of Christ depends upon getting on the cross and bearing our sins.
Verse 3 – “Jesus” refers to the humanity of Christ; “knowing” is o)ida; “the Father” is God the first person, author of the divine plan; “had given” – aorist active indicative of didomi; “all things” – culminative aorist in eternity past. The aorist means occurrence, and in this case it is an occurrence in eternity past. It was settled in eternity past as a part of the divine decrees. The active voice: the Father produced the action at the time of the divine decrees. The indicative mood is the reality of the eternal life conference in eternity past.
“all things” is the ultimate triumph of the angelic conflict. It refers to the second advent, operation footstool, the Millennium, the Gog and Magog revolution, the ultimate disposition of fallen angels and unbelievers, and the ultimate eternal destiny of all born-again believers and all elect angels—all things are put in His hands. Judgment is put into His hands and a perfect eternity is put into His hands. And that is as it should be because in the Bible the hands of Jesus Christ are called the hands of creation in Psalm 19:1. In Colossians 1:16 we have the principle. The hands of creation are also the hands of salvation. His hands were nailed to the cross—Psalm 22:16; John 20:19-28. And His hands are also said to be the hands of security—Psalm 37:24; John 10:28.
“and that he was come from God” – aorist active indicative of e)cerxomai which means to proceed forth, and it is used for the first advent. The incarnation was not only necessary for man’s salvation but also for solving the angelic conflict. The first Adam set us back in the angelic conflict; the last Adam solves everything, and He solves it in two advents. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist of time. The word from is a)po—ultimate source. The Father designed the plan and Jesus Christ comes from the ultimate source of the Father.
“and went to God” -- present active indicative of u(pagw which means to depart. This brings us to the ascension and session. That was the first triumphal procession in which all of the fallen angels preceded Him as those who were defeated. Then came Jesus Christ, and then the elect angels came as His own troops, He was seated at the right hand of the Father, and the devil and all fallen angels at that point got the picture. He “went face to face with God” – proj plus the accusative.
These first three verses are background for the next five chapters. But in addition to that we get just a quick resume of some of the doctrinal issues as we come to this table. As we come to this table there is a terrible breech of manners. In the ancient world they always came into a room barefooted. They kicked off their sandals at the door. There is a pool of water there and they are supposed to go through the pool and have their feet dried by someone on the other side. But they came in with dirty feet. They skipped the pool of water. And they were now sitting down at the table. Jesus has clean feet; everyone else has dirty feet. So the Lord Jesus Christ was not going to teach anything until He taught the importance of rebound before you can take in Bible doctrine, and at the same time correct the manners of the disciples.
Verse 4 – “He riseth from supper,” present middle indicative of e)geirw. This will be used for resurrection: rising from the dead. Here it is used for getting up from the table. He gets up because there is a breech of etiquette. The disciples have entered the upper room with dirt on their feet. They had been so busy arguing about who was the greatest—Luke 22:24—that they forgot their manners. Good manners demand that they wash their feet before entering but since there was no servant present to do so they extended the debate by refusing to wash each other’s feet. So this present active indicative is about as dramatic as you could find. Jesus stands up in the midst of the stench of mental attitude sins and dirty feet.
Analogies
1. The disciples had bathed before coming to the last supper. But that was before their mental attitude sins had been fired up. The taking of a bath is analogous to salvation. So already we can begin to anticipate: one bath but many washings.
2. It was customary, therefore, to wash the feet before entering. The custom of foot washing is analogous to rebound. If you come with dirty feet, what do you do before you sit down with the Lord and dine? Before you eat the Lord’s food [Bible doctrine] you wash your feet.
3. The disciples in walking through the streets have accumulated filth on their feet. This is analogous to being a believer out of fellowship.
4. The dinner was fellowship with the Lord in which food was involved. Our greatest fellowship with the Lord is when we meet to dine upon Bible doctrine. The believer cannot take in Bible doctrine with dirt on his feet. If you are out of fellowship you cannot take it in.
5. The feet also represent service. It is impossible to serve the Lord with dirty feet.
6. At the beginning of the previous chapter the feet of Jesus had been anointed, while at the beginning of this chapter the feet of the disciples are washed. Oil of nard on the feet of the saviour indicates the sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit; water on the feet of the disciples indicates the cleansing of the rebound technique.
7. Jesus did not have to have His feet washed—This is analogous to the doctrine of impeccability—but the disciples needed to have their feet washed. They had old sin natures and perpetual carnality.
8. Jesus washed their feet. This is a picture of Christ providing the basis of rebound on the cross. Rebound is taught in 1 John 1:9 but the basis of it is 1 John 1:7.
9. Again, the bath prior to coming is a picture of salvation—Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18,19; Revelation 1:5. Foot washing is analogous to rebound after salvation as a means of GAPing it and producing divine good.
“and laid aside his garments” – dramatic present active indicative of tiqhmi, which means to place them in a neat pile. It doesn’t say He took off His clothing.
It means having taken them off He placed them or hung them up. Active voice: Jesus placed His clothing, His outer garments. Indicative mood: the reality of it. The analogy: Christ becomes the servant of all on the cross. They are all dressed up with dirty feet; He is all undressed and clean, looking like a servant.
“and took” – aorist active participle of lambanw, having taken; “a towel” – the word here is a special one: lention which is like a beach towel and is an article belonging to a servant in which he uses one end of the towel to wash the feet and the other end to dry, and he strings it around his neck. That is why He didn’t wear His garments, because He would get dirty in the process.
“and girded himself” – diazwnnumi means He tied it around His neck.
Verse 5 – “After that he poured water into a basin.” Ballw means to throw. The devil ballw s into the heart of Judas; Jesus Christ ballw s water into a basin. The devil is trying to throw his influence into the souls of people while Christ throws water into a basin—water representing the Word.
“and began” – aorist middle indicative of a)rxw; “to wash” – niptw, which means to wash an extremity, e.g. hands or feet. The word louw means to wash the whole body. This is present active infinitive, He went from one to the other of the disciples’ feet. Salvation is not the issue here; rebound is the issue.
Principle: Rebound is necessary for GAP; rebound is necessary for service. Christ became our servant in salvation so that we could be His slave in phase two.
“and to wipe” – present active infinitive of e)kmassw which means to wipe off clean. The infinitive expresses the result: they were clean.
In this passage the Lord Jesus Christ is not teaching humility. He is showing eleven disciples who are all going to have the gift of communication that in order to be a communicator you have to study—study and teach. The studying is humiliation. The reaction to the teaching is humiliation.
Verse 6 – we always have a little help in whatever we are illustrating from the apostle Peter. Whenever the Lord needed to drive home a point Peter was there with his mouth open. He was a very noble, impetuous type of person. When he opened his mouth he always made the right noises from the human viewpoint.
Principle: Before one can eat food, enjoy food, and fulfil the principle in eating—the sustaining of life—the food must be clean and the one who is eating the food must be clean.
“Then he cometh” – present active indicative of e)rxomai; “to Simon Peter” – proj plus the accusative of Petroj, “face to face with Peter.”
“Peter saith unto him, Lord [deity]” – kurioj. He recognises Him by His title of deity. He recognises the authority of the one who is taking the place of a servant.
“dost thou wash my feet?” – you can see Peter pulling his feet back as he says it. This is the present active indicative of niptw.
Verse 7 – “Jesus had an answer,” literally, “What I do thou knowest not now.” What I do is the present active indicative of poiew, but the present tense here is not linear aktionsart, it is a dramatic present. This only happened once and would never be repeated. Even though Jesus is going to tell the disciples to go out and do some foot-washing on their own He doesn’t mean literal feet; thou knowest not – the perfect o)ida is used as a present tense plus o)uk—“You do not understand now.”
“but” – adversative conjunction setting up a contrast between Peter’s present ignorance and his future understanding of the doctrine; “thou shalt know” – future middle indicative of ginwskw—“you will learn.” This is the experience of learning doctrine. He will know from the experience of study. Peter will learn doctrine in the future, including the principle of GAP, how it relates to the rebound technique, and the lesson the Lord was teaching by washing the feet. The middle voice: Peter will be benefited by learning this doctrine and understanding it at a future time. The indicative mood is the reality of Peter’s future knowledge of how GAP functions and how the washing of feet represents the communication of Bible doctrine. You cannot communicate doctrine until you study, until you learn, until you know. Then you must be clean when you communicate, the recipients must be clean as they listen, and that is the rebound technique. Rebound is for communicators; rebound is for those who listen to the communication of Bible doctrine.
Principle: Ignorance of doctrine both shocks and confuses the believer in his disorientation to the grace of God. Ignorance of doctrine results in disorientation to God’s grace. It also results eventually in reversionism.
Notice that Peter’s statement would be commended by many because of its sincerity—“You are not going to wash my feet Lord.” Sincere people are always stupid and always wrong. Sincerity is not a part of the Christian way of life, it is a façade of human viewpoint. There is no virtue in sincerity. Bible doctrine produces something greater than the hypocrisy of sincerity. Peter is very sincere, he wants to do the right thing. However again, sincerity is no substitute for knowledge of doctrine or for GAPing it. Sincerity is no substitute for doctrine in the right lobe, for the ECS, and for the discernment of the supergrace life. Sincerity never accomplishes the will of God.
Verse 8 – “Thou shalt never wash” is the aorist active subjunctive of niptw plus a double negative, o)u mh. The aorist plus the double negative is as strong as you can get. As a matter of fact only the Lord can wash Peter’s feet. If Peter refuses he will sit at the table with dirty feet. This is like trying to serve the Lord while you are out of fellowship, and like trying to GAP it while you are out of fellowship. When out of fellowship the believer can only produce human good at best, and he cannot produce anything on the basis of Bible doctrine.
Jesus answered with a 3rd class condition [maybe yes, maybe no], showing that Peter does have volition—e)an plus the subjunctive. “If I wash thee not” – aorist active subjunctive of niptw, analogous to rebound.
“thou hast no part” – meroj, which means business, partnership, function; “with me” – in association with me: meta, the preposition of association. “If I don’t wash your feet you have no business in association with me.” The principle He is emphasising is that rebound precedes the correct function of GAP.
So Peter comes out once again with a beautiful impulsive statement.
Verse 9 – “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” What Peter wants to do is take a second bath, and this is like doubting your salvation. This is a case of sincerity plus ignorance. Peter doesn’t need to bath. It is his feet that touched the filth of the streets as he was coming to the upper room. It is only his feet that need to be washed and to be cleansed. The issue after salvation for cleansing is rebound.
Verse 10 – Jesus uses foot-washing to distinguish between regeneration and rebound.
“He that is washed” – the perfect passive participle of louw which means to wash the entire body, to take a bath. Perfect tense: once saved, always saved. Passive voice: the believer receives salvation. He receives the bath, as it were, at the point of salvation. The participle sets up a concept. The entire body is washed once—“He having been washed.” The principle: Saved once; rebound many times. Louw is used as the illustration of salvation; niptw is used for rebound. Sin and carnality do not mean that a believer must be saved again.
“needeth not” is literally, does not have a need; “save” is e)i mh and means “except.”
“to wash” – aorist middle infinitive of niptw, to wash the extremities, the feet. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety every time rebound is necessary. The middle voice benefits the subject. This is a reflexive middle and it indicates that every believer priest must rebound for himself, and therefore is benefited. The infinitive expresses purpose, this rebound in the part of the plan of God.
“the feet” – there is no fellowship when the believer is defiled by sin. You cannot eat with God and have dirty feet; “but is clean” – present active indicative of e)imi, the predicate nominative singular kaqoroj; “every whit” – o(loj, which means all over.
“and you are clean” – present indicative of e)imi, plus kaqaroj. This time it is linear aktionsart: you keep on being clean. That is eternal salvation.
“but not all” – there is one exception and this refers to Judas Iscariot. This message is not for him. In the analogy, the others came with dirty feet but Judas came without a bath. In other words, Judas is unsaved and therefore this particular message and all the messages in the upper room discourse are not pertinent to Judas at all.
Verse 11 – “For he knew,” the past perfect of o)ida used as an imperfect tense. The pluperfect [in the English, the past perfect] of o)ida is used as an imperfect to indicate that Jesus always knew that Judas Iscariot would remain an unbeliever.
“who should betray” – present active participle of paradidomi. This is a futuristic present. The betrayal hasn’t occurred even yet, but He always knew that it would.
“therefore” – lit. because of this – “he said, Ye are not all clean.” Judas Iscariot is an unbeliever. Principle: Bible doctrine/teaching is not for the unbeliever. The only issue for the unbeliever is that portion of doctrine called the gospel, made up of Christology and soteriology.
Verse 12 – an explanation of foot-washing. “After he had washed their feet” – Jesus won out! This is the aorist active indicative of niptw. This in effect provides cleansing for the eleven born-again believers. As clean they can take part in the last Passover; as dirty they could not. Same principle in the communion.
“and had taken his garments” – take is the aorist active indicative of lambanw and means to receive. It is analogous to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the way, washing the feet is the provision of Christ by His death on the cross. Remember that Jesus Christ stripped off His clothes to do this job (He was also stripped at the cross), a picture of providing for rebound on the cross. Then He puts His clothes back on again—resurrection. Then He sits down at the table, a picture of ascension and Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. And with Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, God the Father is now able to do something that He has not been able to do in all of human history: once again, to open up the floodgates of heaven; this time not with rain, but with Bible doctrine that has been held in reserve, held in secret for the entire course of the human race. Now all of this doctrine is brought from heaven—the doctrine of the Church Age, the mystery doctrine, the doctrines that we have recorded in the New Testament. These things are now available to us, after He was seated at the right hand of the Father.
“Know ye what I have done to you?” Present active imperative of ginwskw. In the present tense it means to keep learning. Active voice: eleven disciples who all have the gift of communication. Imperative mood: they are commanded to keep learning what He has done: “Keep learning what I have done,” perfect tense. What He has done is release to them the greatest doctrine the world has ever known.
Verse 13 – He explains. “You call me Master,” didaskaloj—teacher, teacher of a group. This group of eleven has a didaskaloj. Jesus Christ is the right pastor while He is on earth to these eleven apostles.
“and ye say well” – you speak accurately. The adverb kaloj here means accurately. ‘I am your teacher; I am your Lord. My life isn’t the issue but my message is the issue, my authority is the issue’—Now listen to what I say.
“for I am” – present active indicative of e)imi, ‘I keep on being.’
Verse 14 – “If I,” 1st class condition [if and it is true]; “then, Lord and teacher [of doctrine]” – kurioj and didaskaloj; “have washed your feet” – aorist active indicative of niptw. Now He gives them the obligation that is going to be theirs as the Church Age begins.
“ye also ought” – present active indicative o)feilw, a verb of obligation. It means to discharge an obligation, to have a total responsibility.
“to wash” – niptw; “one another’s feet” – one another of the same kind refers to the believers of the first generation of the Church Age. And how will they wash their feet? They will study and teach. You have to have a bucket full of water before you can wash feet. The water of the Word cleanses. No pastor can communicate from an empty bucket. So He says, You have the responsibility to wash one another’s feet. Not literally their feet but the communication of doctrine.
Verse 15 – “I have given,” aorist active indicative of didomi. He gave all preachers right here, “an example.” This is a gift: grace. He graced us all out right here. The word example is u(podeigma which means a model or a pattern. He set up a mould and we are never to get out of that mould—study and teach, study and teach….that is didaskaloj. The word u(podeigma precludes the idea of a ritual here. The heritage of grace is perpetuated through the communication of Bible doctrine, and grace is passed from one generation to another because God raises up pastor-teachers to communicate Bible doctrine.
“that” introduces a purpose clause; “you should do as I have done” – the present active subjunctive of poiew is addressed to communicators. The first generation of communicators were the apostles who were seated there, minus the apostle Paul who will fill in later. The aorist tense of poiew is a culminative aorist. Poiew—you do it, present linear aktionsart; poiew—present active subjunctive, you disciples do it [keep on doing it]. Active voice: you communicate. Subjunctive mood: that is the purpose, it goes with i(na.
“as I have done” – culminative aorist, I did it once, that is all. Active voice: Jesus did it once. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that He did wash their feet as a training aid to command them to communicate Bible doctrine. Jesus taught doctrine to the disciples; the disciples, in turn, who have the gift of communication will communicate to the first generation. After that it will be pastor-teachers appointed by God.
This next section deals with the five principles derived from foot-washing.
Verse 16 – the first principle. “Verily, verily” means point of doctrine.
“servant” – douloj refers to the disciple from the standpoint of his discipleship. He is a slave. A disciple is a student under strict discipline. The English word discipline is taken from the same word as disciple. The disciple’s objective is to be under academic discipline and receive information. So the word servant is used interchangeably with the word disciple. The servant and the disciple are two sides of the same coin.
“is not” – present active indicative of e)imi plus the negative; “greater” – the comparative adjective of meizwn. It is followed by an ablative of comparison, the word kurioj for “Lord.” It connotes deity and it also indicates a great contrast between the disciple and Jesus Christ. A disciple is under strict discipline with no privileges and no rights. A slave is exactly the same thing. Why does the Lord use interchangeably the words slave and disciple? If the Lord is actually teaching He calls them disciples, or if He is giving them some principle related to His teaching. But if they are out of school they are still not out from His discipline, therefore they are called slaves.
The Lord Jesus Christ has just washed the disciples’ feet. To do so He took upon Himself the form of a servant to perform this humiliating task. Even though Jesus took the place of a slave and washed their feet it did not take the rank of His shoulders. It did not make Him inferior to them, nor did it rob Him of His authority. His is still kurioj and He is still didaskaloj. Kurioj is His authority over the disciples called douloj—slave, and didaskaloj is His authority over the disciples when they are called disciples. Do even though He has done a very humiliating thing He has not traded place with the disciples. Principle: In life there is authority of all kinds. At times we are tempted to put down the people who are in authority. We may succeed in business, in social life, in some establishment relationship, but we never take away the authority of those we put down. A woman who puts down her husband has not changed a thing, he is still the authority over her. Authority is designed for a purpose and under God no matter how you try or what you do you never gain by undermining authority.
“neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him” – in this case He is recognising the authority of the Father in the first advent, the incarnation. Jesus Christ is Lord over the disciples and, now speaking from His humanity, the Father is over the Son. “He that is sent” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was sent by God the Father. The aorist active participle: “the one having sent” – pempw; “he that is sent” – a)postoloj.
Principle: Occasionally, spiritual service is accomplished in a very humble capacity but it does not rib the one who has the authority from God of His authority.
Verse 17 – the second principle. “If” – 1st class condition; “ye know” – the perfect o)ida used as a present tense for doctrine in the right lobe; “there things” – principles of doctrine taught by our Lord: special emphasis on freedom from mental attitude sins, the RMA based on knowledge of doctrine, these are some of the things the Lord taught in washing the disciples’ feet. Knowledge of doctrine not only produces a relaxed mental attitude but it orients the believer to both grace and the plan of God. Therefore even in humiliation one does not lose the grace perspective, and by the understanding of doctrine one understands that authority is not tampered with. When authority is given by God only God can remove it. That is why God always takes the believer to whom He has given authority and, if He has to, removes the person. He cannot remove the authority from the apostle. Paul was always an apostle. He cannot take back the gift of pastor-teacher. All He does is take the pastor-teacher out of the world. God never removed the kingship from Saul; He removed Saul from the world. God does not remove the authority; He removes the one having the authority. God never reneges on the authority which he has given.
“happy” – the nominative masculine plural of makarioj, happinesses[1] (pl.); “are you” – present active indicative of e)imi, “you are,” not “you have.”
“if” – 3rd class condition; “you do them” – actually, you do the same, the accusative plural of a)utoj, which means the same. The verb here is poiew, “if you keep on doing the same thing.” This means that by taking in doctrine consistently you are accumulating a concentration of happiness. Divine happiness is shared with you to the extent that you take in doctrine. The plural indicates that you can go all the way to having a maximum happiness from God based upon your entrance into the supergrace life.
There is another principle here. Jesus also is using foot-washing to illustrate the communication of Bible doctrine, because He also told the eleven disciples they were going to go out sand wash other people’s feet. Washing feet has to do with teaching Bible doctrine. So if you know the things that you teach you have happiness, you are in a state of happinesses – “if you do them.” Doing them is communicating them to others.
Verse 18 – the third principle: the omniscience of God does not hinder or violate human volition. Human volition is an extension of the angelic conflict and can never be violated by God.
“I speak not of you all” – present active indicative of legw, used here for communication, plus the preposition peri, “concerning you all.”
“I know whom I have chosen” – aorist middle indicative of e)klegw which means to choose or to elect. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist and means it is axiomatic. I have elected, Jesus says. The middle voice is reflexive: Jesus Christ Himself did it. It also gives more emphasis on the subject – I myself. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that every believer shares the election of Christ by union with Christ.
“that the scripture may be fulfilled” – aorist passive subjunctive of plhrow which here means implementation. The scripture cannot lie. It is impossible for God to lie; it is impossible for God’s Word to lie with regard to a principle, a concept or a promise.
“He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me” – a reference to Judas Iscariot. So we learn the principle that while omniscience does not violate human volition the traitor is still there.
“he that eateth” – present active participle of trwgw, not the usual word. The ordinary word for eating is e)sqiw. Trwgw means the traitor is crunching his food. Apparently, this indicates that Judas has bad table manners. The other disciples are said to e)sqiw but Judas chomps his food.
“hath lifted up” – e)pairw which means to reject the authority of. This is a part of an idiom. The raising up of the heel means to overthrow, to seek one’s destruction, or to reject authority. There is one there who has rejected the authority of Jesus Christ. This one has pretended to love the Lord but ignorance of doctrine means pseudo love.
Verse 19 – the fourth principle. Doctrine prepares the believer for shocking behaviour, e.g. traitorship. Sin, as such, is not shocking; traitorship is. Principle from the foot-washing: Doctrine prepares the believer for the shocking behaviour pattern of traitorship.
“Now” – the adverb a)rti which means “at the present moment.” Right now something has come upon us. Doctrine presented at that moment oriented the disciples to the shocking and vicious modus operandi of Judas.
“I tell you” – I communicate to you, dative of advantage; “before” – doctrine anticipates the shocking traitorship of Judas Iscariot; “it come to pass,” aorist middle subjunctive of ginomai, which means to become something that was not before: before it comes to pass that the traitorship of Judas is revealed.
“that” introduces a purpose clause; “you may believe I am” – in other words, how do you avoid shocks in life? The reality of the person of Jesus Christ – e)imi, and pisteuw means where you begin with your occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ prevents a believer from being shocked.
Verse 20 – the fifth principle: Bible doctrine is perpetuated after the death of Christ. Christ taught verbally; He will send others to teach verbally after His ascension and there will be no generation of believers left without a Bible teacher or teachers.
“Verily, verily”—point of doctrine; “he that receiveth” – present active participle of lambanw. This sets up the authority for Bible teachers. They must be received if you are going to learn doctrine. You can never learn doctrine from anyone whose authority you reject.
“whomsoever I send” – aorist active subjunctive of pempw. Christ is today seated at the right hand of the Father. In the first generation He sent apostles and pastor-teachers. After the canon of scripture is completed to every generation He sends pastor-teachers. The subjunctive mood portrays a purpose. He sends for the purpose of communicating doctrine.
“receiveth me” – if you receive a pastor-teacher it is like receiving Jesus Christ, present active indicative of lambanw. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ is represented today by the pastor-teacher. When a congregation receives the authority of a pastor-teacher they are receiving the authority of Jesus Christ.
“receiveth him that sent me” – in other words the chain of command goes right up to God the Father.
Verse 21 – “When Jesus had thus said,” i.e. all of them aren’t accepting Him; “he was troubled” – aorist passive indicative of tarassw. Jesus in His deity is not troubled. It says that He was troubled “in spirit,” and this refers to His human spirit. Sometimes, though rarely, the word means life in general, and sometimes the combination of soul and spirit. But the point is that the inner life of His humanity was disturbed as would be the case in any organisation which had a traitor in its midst.
“and testified” – aorist active indicative of marturew, which means to bear witness. In modern English we would probably say, “gave evidence.” Jesus now presents evidence or a testimony.
“Verily, verily” means point of doctrine.
“one of you” – Judas Iscariot, the only unbeliever in the room. Since the upper room is for believers only obviously Jesus is not going to go on with His discourse until the traitor/unbeliever has been removed. Being an unbeliever doesn’t make Judas a traitor but being an unbeliever makes it easy for Judas to become a traitor because he is the first recorded case of Satan possession.
“shall betray me” – future active indicative paradidomi, indicating that he has not betrayed Him as yet, but this will occur before the night is concluded.
Verses 22-25, the disciples’ reaction.
Verse 22 – “looked one on another.” The word looked is the imperfect active indicative of blepw, which means that there wasn’t any prolonged staring. It means a quick glance; “doubting” – present passive participle of a)porew [a = negative; poroj = way: ‘no way’], which means to be without means, to be without means to cope, to be perplexed, to be at a loss or confused. So doubting here is not quite a good translation; confused is a little better. The passive voice of a porew should be translated, “they were at a loss,” or “they were confused.”
“of whom” should be concerning whom; “he spake” – of whom he kept on speaking. Only part of what Jesus said is recorded—the gist of it.
Verse 23 – “leaning” is the present active participle of a)nakeimai, which cannot really be translated in one word. It has to be taken with the word kolpoj, which is translated bosom in the KJV, but which means chest. The two words mean to recline at a table during a meal. They didn’t sit at tables in the ancient world. The Romans had a couch on which they semi-reclined, feet at one end and head at the other. It means to recline at a table during a meal with one’s head at the level of someone’s chest. There is no leaning on a chest. Kolpoj doesn’t even have to refer to the chest, it also refers to the fold of the garment over the chest. So John’s head is where the garment folds over the chest.
“whom Jesus loved” – He loved all of His disciples. This is the imperfect active indicative of a)gapaw, and it must be understood what this is. If John was loved more than the others it would have to be a culminative aorist of filew. Remember that a)gapaw is mental attitude love, which in essence is minus mental attitude sins. Since Jesus Christ is not a sinner and does not have mental attitude sins it also means relaxed mental attitude, and Jesus was more relaxed toward John than toward any of the disciples. It is the inchoative imperfect to indicate that Jesus had less problem, as it were, from John than from any of the disciples.
Verse 24 – “beckoned to him,” present active indicative of neuw, which means to nod, to signal with a gesture. It is often used of a face signal. Since Peter knew that he himself was not the traitor he wanted to know who the traitor was.
“he should” is not in the original. This should be, Tell me who it is concerning whom he speaks. That is the literal Greek here.
Verse 25 – “Lord, who is it?” So John apparently also is confident.
Verse 26 – in answering John only Jesus now gives this information. How is Jesus going to give Judas his privacy until he acts? “He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.” This is a second grace act on the part of our Lord. “I shall give” – He hasn’t come to this part of the meal, but there was a point in the meal when someone was given a special reward, unfortunately translated “sop.” The word is ywmion and it refers to a special piece of bread dipped in some meat sauce, and it was always a part of the centre of the table. It was sort of between the main meal and the desert. No one ever touched this plate until the host picked up a piece of bread and dipped it into this delicious sauce, and then offered it to some person. This was a high honour, a special honour. When the person accepted it then the others were free to dip into the sauce themselves.
“And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot” –this is the fulfilment of it. Whether it occurred in the next few seconds or not is not clear but it is clear that Jesus at this time or very shortly thereafter went through the “ywmion ceremony,” the ceremony of honouring someone at the table. The principle: This was a grace appeal the like of which had never been seen or recorded before. Jesus knew that Judas was a traitor and was already making arrangements to betray Him, and yet Jesus not only gave this man his privacy but in offering him the ywmioj He offered him the highest honour from the host. And in effect whoever receives the swmion becomes an honoured guest. Judas Iscariot was the honoured guest at the last supper! That it grace. This was the final invitation to salvation, the greatest of all grace appeals, but Judas Iscariot is an unbeliever in reversionism. By accepting the honour of the sop Judas perpetuated the hypocrisy of reversionism to the last degree. He accepted this high honour with negative volition in his soul. Jesus offered him this last chance and when he turned down this one he is the first recorded person to be indwelt personally by Satan.
Verse 26 – the “sop” was a special token of honour and friendship. This was our Lord’s last appeal to Judas Iscariot. Here is the final invitation salvation. By accepting the honour of the sop Judas perpetuated the hypocrisy of his soul down to the wire. He accepted this high honour and at the same time was on negative volition. God’s love, God’s grace never gave up on Judas Iscariot, nor does it give up on anyone else. But God is
a “gentleman” and He cannot go counter to the volition of the individual. Judas was negative to the end and is a typical illustration of scar tissue leading to emotional revolt, leading to reversionism. By taking the sop we have the hypocrisy of reverse process reversionism in category #1 love.
The doctrine of
Judas Iscariot
1. His opportunities:
a. He was from the tribe of Judah, the same tribe as our Lord Jesus Christ—in effect, the ruling tribe of Israel. John 6:71.
b. Judas was called by Jesus Christ—Luke 6:16.
c. He was therefore numbered as one of the twelve—Matthew 10:4.
d. He was the treasurer—Luke 12:6.
e. He was also present at the last supper—John 13:26. The implications are that he was present at all of the discourses of our Lord between the time of his call and the time of the last supper.
2. His sowing:
a. He was covetous—John 12:4-6.
b. He was a thief—John 12:6.
c. He was Satan-possessed—Luke 22:3.
d. He bargained to betray the Lord Jesus Christ—Mark 14:10.
e. He was bribed to become a traitor—Matthew 26:14-16.
3. His reaping:
Matthew 27:3, 4—“when he saw that he was condemned,” katakrinw, by his own standards he was a louse; “repented”—he himself repented, literally. This is metamelomai rather than metanoew. He felt sorry; he was sincere in his sorrow for what he had done. He made restitution: he brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He confessed his sin—“I have betrayed innocent blood.” Confession is for believers only. Judas Iscariot is an unbeliever and is not forgiven because he confesses his sin. Verse 5 –“and went and hanged himself.”
Judas was a reversionistic unbeliever. He got that way by going negative toward e)pignwsij gospel. That put scar tissue on the left bank of his soul. He kept saying, no, no, no. That opened up mataiothj so that there was an attack upon his norms and standards in his right lobe, upon his frame of reference, his memory centre, his vocabulary, categories, and on his launching pad.
Verse 27 – “And after the sop.” After the indictment of the previous verse in which Judas accepted the highest honour at the banquet, while being n negative volition and in reversionism. Reversionism had created a total disillusion which had put him from psychopathic into psychotic so that he killed himself. Remember that as a result of his reversionism as an unbeliever he came into direct contact with Satan. Judas could not drink the cup of the Lord and at the same time drink the cup of Satan. He rejected the cup of the Lord—Matthew 20:22, the cup of the Lord is the cross and salvation. Therefore, before the cup is served and before Jesus makes an issue out of the cup (which represents His blood) Judas must be eliminated from the last supper.
“Satan entered into him”—the case of Satan possession here is quite unusual. Literally it is. “Then Satan entered,” and the word tote is an adverb of time which means “at which time.” After the last offer, when the sop was offered to Judas, he had the greatest opportunity to accept Christ as saviour, right then and there. He took the honour but he did not take Christ as saviour.
“Satan entered into him” – aorist active indicative of e)iserxomai which means to come inside. The last thing necessary for Judas Iscariot to be Satan possessed had occurred. It needed one more negative signal and he was qualified. It came when he took the sop and refused to believe in Christ as saviour.
Summary
1. There are two cases of Satan possession recorded in the Word of God.
2. The first case is here and the second is the dictator of the revived Roman empire in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12.
3. Satan possession does not occur during the Church Age, only demon possession.
4. This is because of the restraining ministry of God the Holy Spirit during this stage of the intensified angelic conflict—2 Thessalonians 2:6,7.
5. Demon possession, however, does continue throughout the Church Age.
6. Judas Iscariot surrendered not only his soul but his body also to Satan.
7. For this reason two men in history will have maximum reversionism and live. Therefore they are called “sons of perdition”—Judas Iscariot in John 17:12, and the dictator of the revived Roman empire in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
8. The word “perdition” is a)poleia which means destruction or ruin. It is derived from the verb a)pollumi. There is another word that comes from a)pollumi—Apollyon in Revelation 9:11, used for Satan himself. So the word perdition indicates being alive but totally ruined because you are no longer your own master, you are controlled by Satan.
“Then said Jesus unto him”— after He dipped His hand in the sop.
“That thou doest” – present active indicative of poiew, and it should be translated, “What you are doing [you are already betraying me in your soul].”
“do quickly” – aorist active imperative of poiew, “begin to do it.” This is an ingressive aorist. Plus the comparative adverb taxion—“more swiftly.” In other
words, Jesus commands Judas who is under the personal control of the devil to act more quickly than originally planned. When Jesus commanded Judas to leave He was commanding the devil to leave, and the principle is quite obvious: the Lord Jesus Christ in His humiliation is infinitely more powerful than all of the power that Satan has or ever will have, and right now Satan is the ruler of this world.
While Satan is gone Jesus gives chapter 14, the upper room discourse, and then chapters 15 and 16, Gethsemane discourse; and Satan himself does not get back to the scene until Judas comes leading the Romans and the Jewish temple guard to Gethsemane. That means from sundown until about midnight the Lord Jesus Christ will be alone with the disciples. Satan will not be there and neither will Judas Iscariot. Satan has to stay with his reversionist until the betrayal and therefore he stays inside Judas Iscariot during the critical time when the Lord Jesus Himself will present the whole outline of the Church Age. He will introduce the mystery doctrine; He will introduce the Church. Remember that the Gospels do not contain Church doctrine, except John chapters 14-17.
Verses 28, 29, Jesus has a respect for a traitor’s privacy.
Verse 28 – “No man at the table” indicates complete privacy to Judas Iscariot. The word to know is an aorist active indicative of ginwskw which means to understand the action, to perceive what is going on. Apart from Peter and John the disciples did not know from the observation of the sop incident exactly what was going on, and they didn’t have any clue that Judas was a traitor. Jesus respected both the volition and the privacy of Judas even though he was a traitor, and He did not publicly rebuke him nor condemn him.
“for what intent” is literally for what reason; “he spake unto him” – aorist active indicative of legw, a reference to the command, and therefore is a culminative aorist: “he had spoken.”
“unto him” – proj plus the accusative is “face to face with him.”
Verse 29 – “For some of them thought.” The word for thinking here is the imperfect active indicative of dokew which means subjective thinking. The disciples themselves in trying to stick their nose into it became subjective. The imperfect active indicative means continuous subjective thinking.
“Buy” – this is what they thought Jesus had said. In other words, they are trying to intrude and to speculate.
“against the feast” – e)ij plus the accusative means “with reference to the feast.”
Verse 30 – the departure of Judas Iscariot.
“having received the sop” – aorist active participle of lambanw, This is a culminative aorist, he had received it. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb: “went out” – aorist active indicative of e)cerxomai, he went outside. First of all he received the highest honour and then he departed to betray Jesus Christ.
“immediately” – adverb e)quj; “and it kept on being [imperfect of e)imi] night.”
Summary
1. The afternoon events of the upper room have terminated.
2. Judas, the Satan-possessed unbeliever, has been eliminated and has departed into the night. (The night is portrayed by John 1:4,5).
3. Therefore with the only unbeliever removed mystery doctrine can be unfolded to the disciples.
4. The plan of God the Father with regard to the Church age is now outlined.
5. At this point the upper room discourse actually begins.
6. Emphasis will be placed on the Father’s plan of glorifying Jesus Christ, plus the intensification of the angelic conflict.
7. Satan is also removed from hearing both the upper room and the Gethsemane discourse.
8. Therefore the Church Age will come as a shock to Satan (he cannot be in two places at one time, he has now made his command post in Judas Iscariot). Satan is doing something from which he will never recover; he is going away from doctrine. Doctrine will be taught in the upper room and then in Gethsemane.
Verses 31-35, the intensification of the angelic conflict.
Verse 31 – the advance of the Father’s plan. “Therefore” – because Satan and Judas have now departed.
“when he was departed, Jesus said, Now” – the adverb nun, which indicates the approaching crisis: now, at this time. It indicates the approaching crisis to
which Jesus will go and fulfil the Father’s plan by going to the cross.
“the Son of man” – emphasis on the humanity of Christ; “is glorified” – aorist passive indicative of docazw, which means to honour, to glorify, to magnify, to beautify, to clothe with splendour. This is a constative aorist, a period of time gathered into one entirety, starting with betrayal, the cross, resurrection, ascension, session—from nun to the ascension. Passive voice: Jesus Christ receives the glorification. The indicative mood is the reality of the glorification of Christ. Same concept is found in Hebrews 2:9-15. With the glorification of Christ the angelic conflict shifts gears and enters into an intensified stage. There are two periods to the intensified stage of the angelic conflict: the mystery stage [Church Age]; the overt stage [Tribulation]. The Church Age is the most intensive part of the conflict because it is hidden.
“and God is glorified in him” – should be “the God is glorified by him” – e)n plus the instrumental. This is a culminative aorist, it indicates that the God receives glorification by Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father; it sees that moment of time when the Father said to the Son, ‘Sit down at my right hand.’ Passive voice: the Father receives honour in that His plan is completed in glorifying Christ. The indicative mood is the reality of the glorification of Christ.
Verse 32 – “If the God be glorified by him, the God shall also glorify him in himself.”
“If the God [the Father] be glorified” – gnomic aorist passive indicative of docazw. The gnomic aorist means this is an absolute.
“God shall also glorify” – future active indicative of docazw, a very rare type of future, a gnomic future. A gnomic aorist followed by a gnomic future is a very rare construction and it indicates that both the Father and the Son are mutually glorified at the point at which Jesus Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father as the God-Man.
“in himself” – in the sphere of him, literally. This means that God the Father glorifies Christ and Himself in the sphere of that moment at the right hand of the Father.
“and shall straightway glorify him” – the adverb e)uquj, immediately, and the immediate glorification is another gnomic future, the future active indicative of docazw. This refers to the fact that the resurrection will be immediate. Gnomic future: it is an absolute.
Verse 33 – the new stage of the angelic conflict.
“Little children” – the vocative of teknion. This means they have a lot of discipline and training ahead of them, to be under training and discipline.
“yet a little while” – the accusative of the extent of time. Our Lord will only be on the earth another 43 days; “I am [keep on being] with you.”
“Ye shall seek” – future active indicative from zetew. This is a predictive future. Jesus will be absent from the earth through ascension.
“as I said unto the Jews” – John 7:33; 8:21.
“Whither I go” – the adverb o(pou means to what place: ‘to what place I depart.’ Since the fall of Adam to the ascension of Christ, Jesus Christ and His seed were the target for the angelic conflict. Now it is going to switch. Neither Jesus Christ nor His seed are any longer the target in the angelic conflict, the new demon target will be those left behind, the teknion. So they must have great training and discipline to withstand the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
“you cannot” – present active indicative of dunamai, you are not able; “come” – aorist active infinitive of e)rxomai. This is an ingressive aorist, you are not able to begin to come is what it really means. In other words, you will come eventually but not when I go.
“so now” -- the adverb a)rti means at this juncture. Because of the intensification of the angelic conflict a new set of instructions must be given.
“I say [communicate]” – present active indicative of legw. He will now begin the doctrine of the mystery as it relates to the Church Age. Hidden from the Old Testament, people and angels, and from Satan himself, and now to be revealed.
Verse 34 – “A new.” The adjective kainoj means new in contrast to old.
Verse 34 – “A new commandment.” The adjective kainoj means new in contrast to old. This adjective means also new in species and that is exactly what this commandment is. It is new in contrast to anything ever given before. Kainoj immediately tells us that this is not the same commandment as found, for example, in the Mosaic law—sometimes called the eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” It has nothing to do with that because this is new [kainoj], new in contrast to any old commandment in this area. There is another word, neoj, which also means new, but it means new in time, it has a temporal connotation. But to be new in species or new in contrast to old is the adjective we have here. So we have a new commandment for a new species. The double connotation of the adjective—new in contrast to the old, and new in species—gives us a perfect picture of what we can anticipate in the rest of this sentence. The new species is the born-again believer. At the moment of salvation every person becomes a new creature in Christ. He is a new species. Being a new creature, being in union with Jesus Christ, demands a new set of instructions/commandments. These are going to be summarised under two key words. One is love and the other is discipleship. The new commandment is based on the fact that Christ is glorified, He is absent from the earth, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, awaiting operation footstool, and therefore we have entered into the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
The new commandment is obviously based upon some new provisions that did not exist before this dispensation. For example, the baptism of the Holy Spirit whereby every believer at the point of salvation is entered into union with Jesus Christ. This means that he has the life of Christ—eternal life, the righteousness of Christ—perfect righteousness, the sonship of Christ, the heirship of Christ, the priesthood of Christ, the election of Christ, the destiny of Christ, and eventually he will reign with Jesus Christ. The indwelling of Christ is also another factor. For the first time in all of history every believer is indwelt by God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For the first time in history every believer is a priest, is an ambassador and therefore the personal representative of Jesus Christ. Ambassadorship could not exist until after the incarnation, until Christ was absent from the earth, and therefore every believer is now in fulltime Christian service. The new commandment in this verse is designed to meet the exigencies of the intensified angelic conflict.
“I give unto you” – present active indicative of didomi. God in His grace is providing for us this wonderful thing. “Unto you” is the intensive dative which relates the subject to the individual and it becomes a dative of advantage as well.
“that” – i(na plus the subjunctive introduces a purpose clause. The purpose clause is the present active subjunctive of a)gapaw which is strictly a mental attitude love. This is a restricted love, a mental love; filew is really the greatest love in the Greek language, it has to do with soul love related to all other aspects of love. A)gapaw basically means to be free from mental attitude sins toward anyone. The present tense is linear aktionsart, it means to keep on loving. Active voice: the subject produces the action of the verb. The subjunctive mood indicates the purpose clause, with i(na. So we have the purpose for this command stated very clearly.
1. At the point of salvation every believer passes the point of propitiation which places him under maximum divine love – 1 John 2:2.
2. Therefore God can love every believer with maximum love in spite of the believer’s spiritual status in phase two.
3. There are three general categories of love. These categories are based upon the direction of love. a) Toward God; b) Toward a member of the opposite sex—right man, right woman; c) Friendship.
4. Relationship-type love also exists under several Greek words: storgh and e)roj. Both of these have Attic Greek origins. Storgh connotes the love of parents for their children. E)roj is strictly a word for sexual love to the exclusion of everything else. Relationship love dies exist, except where doctrine divides a family, for example—Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:51-53.
5. The New Testament vocabulary for love. The Koine Greek of the NT presents two words in both their verb form and noun form.
a. a)gapaw, the verb form. The cognate is a)gaph. By definition this is a specialised love related to the mentality of the soul. When used in connection with God it has a broader expanse, it means that God loves us in spite of the fact that He knew ahead of time what we were like. So it is related to the omniscience of God.
b. Filew, the verb, and the cognate filoj. This is a very general type love in that it relates to all facets of the soul. It is also used in physical expression of love. This type of love is more mature and expresses greater capacity for love. Cf. John chapter 21, the indignation of Peter.
6. Documentation: Archbishop Trench, Synonyms of the Greek Language, p. 41.
7. The summary of the distinction. The noun a)gaph is mental attitude love. The noun filoj is stronger and connotes a general soul love with more capacity. The noun a)gaph is found in several areas of the NT, specifically the filling of the Spirit—Romans 5:5; 1 John 2:5, as the 3rd floor of the ECS. Filoj is the fourth floor of the ECS and is the great capacity for love.
8. All believers are commanded a)gaph love—it is a mental attitude. It is fulfilled under the principle of Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22; 1 Corinthians 13. Filoj is not commanded for all believers because it is a grace capacity for love and no normal, sane person will love everyone under filoj, it is impossible.
9. In mankind a)gaph is limited to the mentality; filoj extends to every facet of the soul.
10. Erroneous conclusion: a)gaph refers only to divine love. While God is the subject of a)gaph many times, we have also the fact that man is the subject—man is commanded to love. In John 3:19 even the unbeliever is capable of a)gapaw. The unbeliever’s a)gapaw is darkness rather than light.
11. God must be the subject of any verb before that verb connotes divine love. God is the subject of a)gapaw in John 3:16. God is also the subject of filew in John 16:27.
12. God as the motivating factor in category #1 love found in 1 John 3:11; 4:19.
“ye love one another” – a)gapaw. This is strictly a mental attitude only. “One another” is a reciprocal pronoun. It is in the genitive case here—a)llhlwn means one another of the same kind. The genitive case is objective genitive to show we belong in the same family. The accusative is not used (which would indicate we are not in the same family). The genitive case says we belong together because we are all members of the family of God when we believe in Christ.
“as I have loved you” – a)gapaw, gnomic aorist. A gnomic aorist is used to indicate something that is an absolute and becomes axiomatic. The fact that God loves you as a believer is an absolute.
“that” introduces a result clause.
“ye love one another [of the same kind]” – keep on loving, present active subjunctive. The subjunctive is not only potential but introduces a result clause. Every word for love that is used in this verse is for mental attitude love only.
Verse 35 – “By this,” the preposition e)n plus the instrumental: “By means of this [RMA].”
“shall all” – pantej, from the nominative plural of paj, “shall all people know,” future middle indicative of ginwskw. This is a gnomic future, the RMA is the great impact for Christianity, not what you say. Middle voice: the believer is benefited by a RMA, and it overflows to others. Indicative mood: the reality of the RMA, free from mental attitude sins.
“that you are” – present active indicative of e)imi, keep on being; “my disciples” – maqhthj, a student under discipline and authority.
“if” – 3rd class condition, maybe yes, maybe no, e)an plus the subjunctive; “ye have” – present active subjunctive of e)xw, have and hold, present tense is linear aktionsart. Active voice: the believer’s soul’s RMA. The subjunctive mood goes with the 3rd class condition.
“love” – a)gaph, mental attitude love; “one for another.”
We now come to the four inquisitive disciples. Number one on the list is Peter; #2 is Thomas; #3 is Philip; #4 is Jude. The four disciples really launch us into the upper room discourse, which is not nearly as great as the one in Gethsemane because it is basically a question and answer type of thing. But once we get out into the garden of Gethsemane we have a phenomenal discourse which is strictly monologue. Nothing can be accomplished in dialogue, it is monologue which is designed to teach the Word of God. So the disciples now open fire with questions, and the Lord in answering these questions prepares the way to reveal the mystery doctrines of the New Testament. Each of these disciples asks a question and in the answer to these questions we get the upper room discourse. Peter asks his question in verse 36-14:4; Thomas in John 14:5-7; Philip in John 14:8-21; Jude in John 14:22-31.
Verse 36 – Peter’s question. “Lord” – kurioj. Peter recognises the deity of Jesus Christ. Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3. Jesus is Lord because of the baptism of the Spirit, not because of the filling of the Spirit.
“whither” – the interrogative particle pou, which means “where,” “in what place?”; “do you go” – when the Lord starts talking about going somewhere Peter with his natural curiosity wants to know where He is going. Peter followed the Lord closely, everywhere He went. The trouble with Peter was that he didn’t learn the doctrine. So following the Lord geographically is not the issue; following the Lord in the function of GAP is the issue. Your attitude to Bible doctrine and the amount of exposure you get to it determines just what you would have done had you lived in Jesus’ time! It is one thing to keep Jesus in sight; it is something else to take in doctrine into the soul. “Lord, to what place do you go [depart]?” Present active indicative of u(pagw which does not mean to go, it means to depart. In other words, Peter’s mind is wrestling with what the Lord said in verse 33.
“Jesus answered him, Whither I go,” – again the interrogative particle, pou. The significance of u(pagw in the present tense here is in the dramatic present—the certainty of the historical fact in the near future. It is very close to the futuristic present. The active voice: Jesus is going to do the departing.
“thou canst not” – you are not able, present active indicative of dunamai plus o)uk.
“to follow” – aorist active indicative of a)kolouqew, which means in the ingressive aorist “you could not begin to follow.” Active voice: Peter is trying to produce the action and is not able to do so. The infinitive indicates Peter’s purpose. He has the objective and purpose of keeping the Lord in sight at all times, never letting Him get out of the range of his vision; yet he will not be able to stop this. In other words, it is impossible for Peter to follow Christ into heaven at the time of the ascension. Jesus Christ went to the cross alone; He was resurrected alone; He ascended alone as the God-Man. Christ has to fulfil the principle of the firstfruits and has to also finish out the principle of victory in the angelic conflict. Therefore, Christ is going to go it alone. Peter will not be resurrected until the Rapture. He would subsequently die and enter into the presence of the Lord in his soul form but eventually as a part of the body of Christ will also be resurrected. Now, the glorification of Christ does not call for Peter to be there. This is what Jesus is saying.
Peter is about to fall flat on his face because he is not prepared for what is about to occur in the plan of God. The only way to prepare for the moving of the plan of God is Bible doctrine in the soul. Peter has good intentions in the emotion of the soul—his heart is in the right place—but there is absolutely no way that Peter is going to handle this until he gets smart and gets Bible doctrine. It is a long way from Peter’s failure—coming up in this passage—to 2 Peter chapter one where in his dying moments he says the most important thing in life is Bible doctrine, and that Bible doctrine must be more real to you than people, things, and life itself. When that is true then you have it made. He is a long way from there now, but he will get there.
“now” – nun. This adverb indicates that Peter will join the Lord in heaven at a later time—a much wiser Peter, by the way.
“but thou shalt follow me afterwards” – future active indicative of a)kolouqew, this time a gnomic future. This is an absolute. Peter is going to go to heaven when he dies; “afterwards” is the adverb u(steron. This indicates that Peter will follow the Lord on two different occasions: on the occasion of his death his soul and spirit will leave his body and he will go to be with the Lord; on the occasion of the Rapture his soul and spirit will leave heaven, go to the place from which they departed, and in a resurrection body he will rendezvous with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air—1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. The plan of the Father calls for Jesus to ascend alone. No one is going to get in the glory, Jesus Christ is the only celebrity of the Church Age. Peter is not a celebrity, though he will eventually become a super-grace hero.
Verse 37 – “why cannot I follow thee now?” He really said, dia plus the accusative of tij, “because of why?”
“am I not able to follow thee now” – he doesn’t use the same word “now” as the Lord did. He uses the adverb a)rti, rather than nun. He uses the present active indicative of dunamai plus the negative, plus the aorist active infinitive of a)kolouqew, but when he gets to the adverb he switches to a)rti—at the present time, right now. Peter always has the idea of doing something now!
1. Jesus Christ is the only celebrity of the Church Age.
2. Jesus Christ is unique in the universe; He is the God-Man; He is undiminished deity and true humanity on one person forever.
3. Jesus Christ will do something on the cross that no one ever did before—He will die spiritually for salvation. Peter cannot be a part in all of what is involved.
“I will lay down my life for thy sake” – I will lay down is a future active indicative of tiqhmi, which means to put it on the line, die; the word for “life” is
yuxh—soul, a reference to physical death. Peter is now ready to die for the Lord, he says. There is a prepositional phrase—u(per, the preposition and the genitive of su. When you have u(per plus the genitive it is substitutionary—“I will lay down my life on behalf of you,” or, “as a substitute,” or “I will die instead of you.” There is nothing wrong generally with Peter, he is just dumb about the plan of God. Like so many believers today!
1. This is a case of sincerity plus ignorance. Sincerity plus ignorance equals disorientation to the plan of God and malfunction within it.
2. The plan of God the Father from eternity past calls for Jesus Christ to die spiritually on the cross for the sins of the world. His plan is perfect; Peter’s is
imperfect and the Father will not allow Peter’s plan to intrude upon His. The Father never has permitted human viewpoint, human ingenuity, human sincerity, to intrude upon His plan.
3. The plan of God the Father also calls for Peter to represent the glorified Christ on earth as an apostle, an ambassador, and as one of many priests. So the Father’s plan for Peter cannot advance until Jesus Christ is glorified. In effect, Peter is trying to keep the Lord from being glorified.
4. Jesus Christ must ascend before He can give spiritual gifts to the Church—Ephesians 4:8-13.
5. Peter’s sincerity and ignorance of doctrine makes him a producer of human good. There is no place in the plan of God for human good.
6. Peter’s admirable motivation and good intentions are neutralised by ignorance of Bible doctrine (which has led him into the early stages of reversionism).
7. Ignorance is not bliss! Happiness is bliss, not ignorance. Happiness in phase two is based upon knowledge of doctrine.
8. Peter is fearless; he is not a coward. His ignorance of doctrine, however, makes his courage and noble motivation useless.
9. Ignorance of doctrine neutralises the best of motives and destroys the nobility of the individual; it disorients the believer to the grace of God.
Verse 38 – our Lord’s answer. “Verily, verily” – point of doctrine. Phase two does not operate in the energy of the flesh. Human good and sincerity have no
part in the plan of God; God’s plan is grace. Grace excludes man’s plans, man’s nobility, man’s sincerity, man’s desire to do the right thing; all of the things concerning man are eliminated.
“The cock shall not crow until you have denied me three times.” The word crow is the aorist active subjunctive of fwnew; “denied me” – aorist middle subjunctive of a)rneomai which means to renounce, total renunciation or denial. The aorist tense is the culminative aorist, almost the same as a gnomic aorist. This is an absolute: Jesus said he is going to do it. The middle voice: you are going to do it all by yourself. Human good always leads to failure. The denial of Peter is described in Matthew 26:69-75. However, Peter even is going to have some phase two security because the Lord has some other things to say to Peter at this time. And this is for Peter to remember after he denies the Lord s that he will not be so discouraged he will quit. Here is a message to a man before his failure so that after his failure these things will be a source of comfort and blessing. This, then, is the encouragement never to quit. As long as you are alive God has a purpose for your life.
Chapter 14:1 – “Let not your heart be troubled.” Remember that in context this passage is not dealing with the future of heaven, it is anticipating future failures. This passage is for those who have failed.
“heart” – kardia, where you do your thinking, where you live. It is the very function of the soul; “not be troubled” is a present passive imperative of tarassw which means to be disturbed in your thinking, to be confused, upset, discouraged. Corrected translation: “Do not become discouraged in your heart.” This is the first of three imperatives in this verse.
“ye believe in God” – present active imperative of pisteuw, and it should be translated, “Believe in [the] God.” Peter is saved. This is a command to a believer. It means to believe His plan.
“believe me also” – present active imperative again. Whatever Jesus Christ has taught, believe it. This is the inhale of GAP.
Verse 2 – “In my Father’s house.” Jesus is going to His Father’s house. The word house here is o)ikia, used to describe the 3rd heaven.
“many” – pollai; “mansions” – monh, taken from the verb menw which means to abide or remain. It means an abiding place. There is plenty of room, “many places to live.”
“If not so” literally, there is no verb here. Jesus put this in a 2nd class condition, the second class condition of sarcasm. He cut down the flippancy of Peter with sarcasm. “If” and it is not true, but the 2nd class condition of sarcasm means you assumed it wasn’t true.
“I would have told you” – If there wasn’t a spot in heaven for Peter Jesus would have told him. “If not so” is the aorist active indicative of legw, used here for communication, teaching. This is a constative aorist. In effect, He is talking about Peter’s eternal security: Peter, when you get through denying me, don’t get shook in your right lobe. There is still a place for you in heaven.
“I go” – present active indicative of poreuomai which means to go from one place to another. He goes through the plan of God – the cross, resurrection, ascension and session.
“to prepare” – aorist active infinitive of e(toimazw, which means to make ready; “a place” – topoj, space.
1. Even though Peter will fail and culminate his reverse process reversionism with three repudiations of Christ Jesus Christ is departing to heaven to personally make ready a room/place for him.
2. This place does not depend on Peter’s success or failure, it depends entirely upon the plan of the Father and thew work of the Son.
3. Therefore (operation grace), Peter has eternal security. No matter what he does in time he can’t lose his salvation.
4. By His death on the cross Jesus Christ has propitiated the Father, reconciled man, and procures a right for every believer to live in heaven forever.