Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 14:9
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then,] Show us the Father?
9. so long time ] Philip had been called among the first (Joh 1:43).
hast thou not known me ] Or, hast not recognised Me, as in Joh 14:7. The Gospels are full of evidence of how little the Apostles understood of the life which they were allowed to share: and the candour with which this is confessed, confirms our trust in the narratives. Not until Pentecost were their minds fully enlightened. Comp. Joh 10:6, Joh 12:16; Mat 15:16; Mat 16:8; Mar 9:32; Luk 9:45; Luk 18:34; Luk 24:25; Act 1:6; Heb 5:12. Christ’s question is asked in sorrowful but affectionate surprise; hence the tender repetition of the name. Had S. Philip recognised Christ, he would have seen the revelation of God in Him, and would never have asked for a vision of God such as was granted to Moses. See notes on Joh 12:44-45. There is no reference to the Transfiguration, of which S. Philip had not yet been told; Mat 17:9.
and how sayest thou then ] The ‘and’ is of doubtful authority; ‘then’ is an insertion of our translators.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So long time – For more than three years Jesus had been with them. He had raised the dead, cast out devils, healed the sick, done those things which no one could have done who had not come from God. In that time they had had full opportunity to learn his character and his mission from God. Nor was it needful, after so many proofs of his divine mission, that God should visibly manifest himself to them in order that they might be convinced that he came from him.
He that hath seen me – He that has seen my works, heard my doctrines, and understood my character. He that has given proper attention to the proofs that I have afforded that I came from God.
Hath seen the Father – The word Father in these passages seems to be used with reference to the divine nature, or to God represented as a Father, and not particularly to the distinction in the Trinity of Father and Son. The idea is that God, as God, or as a Father, had been manifested in the incarnation, the works, and the teachings of Christ, so that they who had seen and heard him might be said to have had a real view of God. When Jesus says, hath seen the Father, this cannot refer to the essence or substance of God, for He is invisible, and in that respect no man has seen God at any time. All that is meant when it is said that God is seen, is that some manifestation of him has been made, or some such exhibition as that we may learn his character, his will, and his plans. In this case it cannot mean that he that had seen Jesus with the bodily eyes had in the same sense seen God; but he that had been a witness of his miracles and of his transfiguration – that had heard his doctrines and studied his character – had had full evidence of his divine mission, and of the will and purpose of the Father in sending him. The knowledge of the Son was itself, of course, the knowledge of the Father. There was such an intimate union in their nature and design that he who understood the one understood also the other. See the notes at Mat 11:27; also Luk 10:22; Joh 1:18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father] Could any creature say these words? Do they not evidently imply that Christ declared himself to his disciples to be the everlasting God?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our Saviour still insists upon the oneness of himself with his Father, and the personal union of the Divine and human nature in him; for otherwise the apostles might have been with Christ a long time, and known him, and yet not have seen nor known the Father. But that supposed, none that had seen Christ, but must have seen the Father also, there being but one God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you,…. Conversing familiarly with you, instructing you by my ministry, and performing so many miraculous works among you, for so long a time; see Heb 5:11;
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? Surely you cannot be so ignorant as this comes to; as you have seen me with your bodily eyes, as a man, you must, know that I am God by the doctrines I have taught you, and the miracles I have wrought among you: and
he that hath seen me; not with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his understanding; he that has beheld the perfections of the Godhead in me:
hath seen the Father; the perfections which are in him also; for the same that are in me are in him, and the same that are in him are in me: I am the very image of him, and am possessed of the same nature, attributes, and glory, that he is; so that he that sees the one, sees the other:
and how sayest thou then show us the Father? such a request is a needless one, and betrays great weakness and ignorance.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
So long time ( ). Accusative of extent of time.
And dost thou not know me? ( ;). Perfect active indicative of . Jesus patiently repeats his language to Philip with the crisp statement: “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” ( ). Perfect active participle and perfect active indicative of , state of completion.
Thou (). Emphatic–After these years together.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Have I been [] . Literally, am I
Known [] . Come to know.
Sayest thou [] . Emphatic. Thou who didst say, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write” (i. 46). Omit and before how sayest thou.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Jesus saith unto him,” (legei auto ho lesous) “Jesus responded to him directly,” because Philip seemed to have a longing or craving to see the Father.
2) “Have I been so long time with you,” (tousoton chronon meth’ humon eimi) “Am I so long a time with you,” existing with and near you, for an extended period of continuing time. How much longer has He been with you and me personally, through the clearer revelation and
help of the Holy Spirit? And in and through His church, as He promised, Mat 28:20; Joh 14:16-17.
3) “And yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” (kai ouk egnokas me Philippe) “And you have not known me, Philip?” This appears to be a matter of regret to Jesus, after having taught Philip for so long a time; And yet he did not seem to understand that Jesus was the Son of God, or that to have seen and accepted Him, was to have seen and received His heavenly Father.
4) “He that hath seen me hath seen the father; (ho heorakos eme heoraken ton patera) “The one who has seen me has seen the Father,” for the godhead dwelt in Him bodily, Col 1:15; Col 2:9. This is another clear statement of His oneness and unity with the Father.
5) “And how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (pos su legeis deikson hemin ton patera) “Just how do you say or can you say, show us the Father?” since I am His express image, through which He shines in you, Heb 1:3; 2Co 4:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. Have I been so long time with you? Christ justly reproves Philip for not having the eyes of his faith pure. He had God present in Christ, and yet he did not behold him. What prevented him but his own ingratitude? Thus, in the present day, they who, in consequence of not being satisfied with Christ alone, are hurried into foolish speculations, in order to seek God in them, make little progress in the Gospel. This foolish desire springs from the meanness of Christ’s low condition; and this is very unreasonable, for by that humiliation he exhibits the infinite goodness of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?More exactly, . . . hast thou not recognised Me, as in Joh. 14:7. Comp. the reference in Joh. 14:8, from which it will be seen that Philip was one of the first-called disciples, and had occupied a prominent position in the band of Apostles. There is in our Lords words a tone of sadness and of warning. They utter the loneliness of a holiness and greatness which is not understood. The close of life is at hand, and Philip, who had followed Him from the first, shows by this question that he did not even know what the work and purposes of that life had been. They speak to all Christian teachers, thinkers, workers. There is a possibility that men should be in the closest apparent nearness to Christ, and yet have never learnt the meaning of the words they constantly hear and utter; and have never truly known the purpose of Christs life.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.Comp. Note on Joh. 14:7, and Philips own answer to Nathanael, Come and see (Joh. 1:46). The demand of Philip is one which is constantly being read, and the answer is one that constantly holds good. Men are ever thinking and saying, Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us. Give us something in religion upon which the soul can rest. We are weary of the doubts, and strifes, and dogmas which are too often called religion. We want something which can be real food for the soul. We cannot feed upon the husks which the swine do eat; and we believe that in the Fathers house there is, even for the hired servants, bread enough and to spare. We are not irreligious, but we are impatient of what is put before us as religion. Give us truth! Give us life! Let it be free and open as the air of heaven, and we will gladly accept it, embrace it, live it. All this is the heart of the child seeking the presence of the Father. That Father has been manifested in the person of the Son. In the Life and Truth revealed in Him is the full revelation of God. In Him is the Bread of Life to satisfy every want of every man. He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. How then can men say, Shew us the Father? (Comp. Note on Joh. 12:44-45.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Hath seen me hath seen the Father For the reasons just above mentioned, that the Father dwells in the fulness of his attributes of power, wisdom, and goodness concentrated into the human person, and made as fully visible to man as man’s sense can grasp.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Jesus says to him, “Have I been with you all (plural) so long and yet you (singular) do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How then can you say ‘show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from myself. But the Father, dwelling in me, carries out his works”.’
Jesus corrects his false impression, and in doing so makes clear that to have seen Him is genuinely to have seen God. He points out that He is not just talking about them gaining a general impression of the Father from Him, but that they have actually seen the Father at work because the Father and Jesus are one in essence and being. That was why to have seen Him at work was to have actually seen the Father at work. It was taking the disciples a long time to recognise the truth before their eyes, and we should not be surprised. They have thought of Him as ‘Teacher and Lord’, the great prophet and teacher, the supreme man of God, even the Messiah, although in a puzzling way. But the full truth had not yet dawned, and now they were faced with it with all the covers taken off. No wonder it was taking them time to grasp it.
And yet, like us, they should have known. Philip is rightly rebuked, even though gently, as the use of the singular reveals. Jesus is disappointed. He has been speaking God’s own actual words, He has been revealing God through His life, and has been revealing the uniqueness of His relationship with the Father to such an extent that the Father is being seen at work in Him. Have they not seen His life? Have they not listened to what He has said? Who else could have done the works that He has done but God Himself? These works were clearly uniquely the work of God. (This does not just refer to the miracles, wonderful though they were, but to the whole of what He has done and been). Let them recognise that God has plainly walked on earth, revealed in a human body, ‘God openly revealed in the flesh’ (1Ti 3:16). For ‘in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form’ (Col 2:9). And Philip really ought to have seen, and known.
Of course it is true that the Father is Spirit (Joh 4:24). Thus He cannot be literally seen in any bodily way either now or in the future. He is rather manifested through activity and truth. And it His activity and truth that has been revealed through Jesus to its fullest degree, so that every act of Jesus was the act of the Father. Thus He has actually manifested Himself through His Son. Jesus is saying that He IS a full manifestation of the Father, for they are One (Joh 10:30).
Notice Jesus’ whole point here. He is answering a question in which the questioner wanted actually to literally SEE the Father, and He tells him that he has actually done so, not as a veiled reflection, but in actual fact. If Jesus had merely been saying that something of what the Father was could be seen in Him (something which can be said of many Christians) his rebuke to Philip would have been unjustified. For Philip’s point was precisely that they were not wanting just some reflection of the Father, but an actual sight of the Father. And Jesus is saying that if Philip had really come to know Him he would have recognised that that is precisely what he had had.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then , Shew us the Father?
Ver. 9. Have I been so long, &c. ] May not Christ justly shame and shent us all for knowing no more of him all this while? Ignorance under means of knowledge is a blushful sin, 1Co 15:34 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9. ] The Son is the only Exponent of the Father to men: see ch. Joh 12:44-45 : Col 1:15 ; Heb 1:3 ; 1Ti 6:16 . This seeing of the Father in Him, is not only seeing His bodily presence, but knowing Him ( ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 14:9 . Jesus corrects the error, and guides the craving to its true satisfaction. [ may be a gloss for the dative which is found in [85] [86] [87] . The manifestation which Philip craves had been made, and made continuously for some considerable time; for so long that it was matter of surprise and regret to Jesus that Philip needed still to be taught that he who saw Jesus saw the Father. It is implied that not to see the Father in Jesus was not to know Him.
[85] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[86] Codex Bezae
[87] Codex Regius–eighth century, represents an ancient text, and is often in agreement with and B.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
so long time. Philip, one of the first called. See Joh 1:43.
with. Greek. meta. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] The Son is the only Exponent of the Father to men: see ch. Joh 12:44-45 : Col 1:15; Heb 1:3; 1Ti 6:16. This seeing of the Father in Him, is not only seeing His bodily presence, but knowing Him ( ).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 14:9. , saith) The reply to, Show us, is contained in Joh 14:9-11; the answer to, it sufficeth us, is contained in Joh 14:12, etc., The works that I do, shall ye do also-If ye ask anything in My name, I will do it.- , hast thou not known Me?) This is expressed by the consequent. Since thou dost deny that the Father is known to thee, thou virtually [by consequence] deniest that I am known to thee. But thou dost know Me, therefore by that very fact thou knowest the Father; by reason of the consummate unity which subsists between us.- , , he who hath seen Me, hath seen the Father) Just as the soul, which by itself is not perceived, is perceived by means of what it does through the instrumentality of the body: so he sees the Father, who sees Christ. In every thought concerning God, we ought to set Christ before us. See Col 1:15, note, The image of the invisible God. That expression, , Angel of His face, Bechai interprets The Angel who is His face. Comp. Psa 139:7, Whither shall I flee from Thy presence? Chrysostom remarks, He who seeth the creature, doth not also see the essence of God ( ). If any man seeth Me, saith He, he seeth My Father: but if He were of another and distinct essence, He would not have said this,-No one, who is ignorant of gold, can see the essence of gold in silver.- ) appears to be repeated from Joh 14:5. N. I., almost all the Latin MSS., Iren. and Augustine, omit the in Joh 14:9.[346]
[346] BQabc Vulg. Iren. 200, Hil. 939, 941, omit the in ver. 9: AD and Rec. Text retain it. Also at ver. 5, Bab omit : D, with Vulg. and Rec. Text, retains it. AQc and Rec. Text and Vulg. read in ver. 5 ( ) ; but BDab .-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 14:9
Joh 14:9
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father?-[He, like the rest of the apostles, did not comprehend that the Son came to reveal the Father. He wanted a literal sight of God with the natural eyes. Natural eyes cannot behold God who is a Spirit no more than they can see the soul of man. Man cannot see God and live, but he can see and understand God manifested in the flesh. Christ was not an ambassador from God, but Immanuel, God with us, the Godhead in bodily form.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Have: Mar 9:19
he: Joh 14:7, Joh 14:20, Joh 12:45, Col 1:15, Phi 2:6, Heb 1:3
how: Gen 26:9, Psa 11:1, Jer 2:23, Luk 12:56, 1Co 15:12
Reciprocal: Exo 23:21 – my name Exo 24:10 – saw Num 14:14 – art seen Psa 24:10 – The Lord Isa 40:28 – thou not known Mic 5:4 – in the majesty Zec 13:7 – the man Mat 10:3 – Philip Mat 17:4 – it is Mat 23:39 – Ye shall not Mar 3:18 – Philip Mar 8:21 – How Mar 9:5 – it is Luk 9:41 – how Joh 1:14 – we Joh 1:18 – he hath Joh 1:44 – Philip Joh 2:11 – manifested Joh 5:13 – he that Joh 5:18 – God was Joh 5:37 – Ye have Joh 6:46 – any Joh 10:30 – General Joh 10:38 – that ye Joh 12:21 – Philip Joh 12:41 – saw Joh 15:24 – but Joh 17:3 – the only Joh 17:5 – glorify Joh 17:21 – as Act 1:13 – Philip 1Co 8:6 – one God 2Co 4:4 – the image 2Co 4:6 – in the Col 2:2 – of the Father Col 2:9 – in 1Ti 6:16 – whom 2Pe 1:17 – God 1Jo 2:13 – ye have known 1Jo 2:23 – denieth 1Jo 5:20 – This is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
POWER THROUGH CHRIST
Because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:9
This was the word of comfort in the ears of the disciples, and the new and added sense and joy in a certainty of personality beyond the grave strengthened their wills, purified their characters, and uplifted them with a sense of wonderful dignity.
I. The graciousness of the truththat is, if we are in Christ, though death come and the dust fall upon our coffins, we shall be more powerfully alive to help our friends who remain on earthis one that is as stimulating to Christ-likeness and Christ-livingness as it is of cheer to those we leave behind us.
II. The personality of the risen Christ is guarantee of the living power of men who are His friends, to help their brethren here on earth, even after they have passed to the world of spirit beyond. The joy of the Resurrection morning is for us the joy of knowing that whatever in us men and women is of Christ shall not cease as an operative principle here on earth when we cease to live and move and serve the present hour, but shall still run on to the making of our earth fit for the coming of the Kingdom. The sting of death is not only sin, but it is fear lest all we hoped and toiled for have an end. But in the light of Easter morning we know that whatever is of Christ in our hope and toil shall live on, and help the coming of the better time which Christ spoke of as the Kingdom of God.
III. The aim and end of the risen Christ is the communication of vitality, contagion of personality, transmission of character. And we who would help forward that social idea which Jesus had before His eyes, and which He always spoke of as the Kingdom of God, must in this matter put on the mind of Christ, must pray to be in such living union with the Christ Whom we strive to follow that we may become sensible that His will is being done in or through us, as individual members of His body, for the helping of our timeHis will Who said, Because I live, ye shall live also.
Canon Rawnsley.
Illustration
What is to save the great industrial revolution that is going forward from pure materialism and ignoble and irreligious selfishness but the bringing back into the Labour movement and into the Socialist programme the personal Christ as Saviour of all our national society? We have, as Maurice once put it, either to Christianise Socialism or Socialise Christianity. It can, I believe, only be done by bringing back, not only the ethics of Christ, but His personality and the power of it into the problems that are ahead of us. We must preach and teach that the spirit work of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, is to set forth the principle of personality, to awaken the higher life of persons, to make a man come to himself, that so we may arise and go unto the Father and the Kingdom of that Father in the wealth and health of individual character.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
9
Been so long time with you. Jesus selected his apostles in the early part of his public ministry (Mat 10:1-4), and hence Philip had enjoyed the advantage of that association all that time. It is significant that when Philip asked to be shown the Father, Jesus asked him if he did not know Him. Not that God and Christ are one in person, but they are one in purpose and spirit, and no man can treat or mistreat either one without doing the same thing to the other.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 14:9. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not learned to know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father: how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Have I been with you, literally, Am I with you, the very words of Joh 14:3. The words are those of astonishment and sorrow that the effect of all this spiritual intercourse has failed; and the declaration of Jesus in the latter half of the verse rests upon the fact that He is the complete expression of the Father (comp. chap. Joh 1:18). He does not say my Father but the Father, because He speaks not of the personal relation between the Father and Himself, but of the light in which God is revealed as Father to all who learn to know Him in the Son.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Philip and the other disciples had not yet completely realized who Jesus was. They did not understand what John revealed in the prologue of this Gospel, namely, that the Son is the exact representation of the Father (cf. Joh 1:18). Long exposure to Jesus should have produced greater insight in these disciples. Still that insight is only the product of God’s gracious enlightenment (cf. Mat 16:17; 1Co 2:6-16).
"No material image or likeness can adequately depict God. Only a person can give knowledge of him since personality cannot be represented by an impersonal object." [Note: Tenney, "John," p. 145.]
This was another clear claim to deity.