Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 14:8
Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
8. Philip ] For the fourth and last time S. Philip appears in this. Gospel (see notes on Joh 1:44-49, Joh 6:5-7, Joh 12:22). Thrice he is mentioned in close connexion with S. Andrew, who may have brought about his being found by Christ; twice he follows in the footsteps of S. Andrew in bringing others to Christ, and on both occasions it is specially to see Him that they are brought; ‘Come and see ’ (Joh 1:45); ‘We would see Jesus’ (Joh 12:21). Like S. Thomas he has a fondness for the practical test of personal experience; he would see for himself, and have others also see for themselves. His way of stating the difficulty about the 5000 (Joh 6:7) is quite in harmony with this practical turn of mind. Like S. Thomas also he seems to have been somewhat slow of apprehension, and at the same time perfectly honest in expressing the cravings which he felt. No fear of exposing himself keeps either Apostle back.
Lord, shew us the Father ] He is struck by Christ’s last words, ‘Ye have seen the Father,’ and cannot find that they are true of himself. It is what he has been longing for in vain; it is the one thing wanting. He has heard the voice of the Father from Heaven, and it has awakened a hunger in his heart. Christ has been speaking of the Father’s home with its many abodes to which He is going; and Philip longs to, see for himself. And when Christ tells him that he has seen, he unreservedly opens his mind: ‘Only make that saying good, and it is enough.’ He sees nothing impossible in this. There were the theophanies, which had accompanied the giving of the Law by Moses. And a greater than Moses was here “that Prophet whom Moses had foretold. He looked, like all the Jews of his time, to see the wonders of the old dispensation repeated. Hence his question.” S. p. 225.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lord, show us the Father – Philip here referred to some outward and visible manifestation of God. God had manifested himself in various ways to the prophets and saints of old, and Philip affirmed that if some such manifestation should be made to them they would be satisfied. It was right to desire evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, but such evidence had been afforded abundantly in the miracles and teaching of Jesus, and that should have sufficed them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 14:8-11
Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us
Mans cry and Christs response
I.
THE SPIRITUAL CRY OF MANKIND. Philip represents all men in their deepest spiritual experiences. What is this but the cry of spiritual orphans for a lost Father. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him. The cry implies an underlying belief
1. In the existence of a great Father. In the human heart
(1) there is no atheism; that is a phantom of the brain. The idea of God is at the root of all ideas.
(2) There is no pantheism. The heart craves a person.
(3) There is no molochism. The heart craves a Father, not the representation of God in certain theologies. This belief is instinctive; you cannot reason it away. It is the hope of the sinner on his death bed. The heart turns to it as the flower to the sun.
2. In the sufficiency of the Fathers manifestation. Until the Father comes the soul will have a gnawing hunger and an aching void. It will satisfy
(1) The intellect. Solving the problems insoluble to reason, and whose crushing weight philosophy but augments.
(2) The affections. It will unfold, purify, harmonize, and centralize them. The prodigal was flooded with joy in the warm caresses of his fathers love. As the genial sun of May sets the choristers of the grove into music, the presence of the Father will not only hush all the cries of the child, but fill the heart with filial rapture.
II. THE SATISFACTORY RESPONSE OF CHRIST. In Christ the Father of man appears to man in mans nature.
1. This was now amply attested (Joh 14:10-11). Who but the Father could have wrought those works which He accomplished, inspired the doctrines He proclaimed, produced such a character as He manifested?
2. This was now practically ignored (Joh 14:9). Note here
(1) A criminal neglect of means. Have I, the medium of His power, the organ of His thoughts, the image of His character–been so long with you, etc.
(2) The finality of the revelation. How sayest thou then, etc. There is no other revelation of the Father to come. No man hath seen God, etc. If you cannot find the Father in Me, you will never find Him, neither in the universe nor in the speculations of philosophy. Conclusion: Without this, whatever else thou hast, thy destitution is terrible. No amount of worldly wealth, social influence, intellectual culture will be of real and lasting service without this revelation of the Father. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Mans deep cry for the paternal in religion
I. THAT THE DEEP CRY OF MAN IS FOR THE UNFOLDING OF THE PATERNAL IN RELIGION. Men cry for the paternal rather than
1. The historical in religion. Religion has a history both interesting and significant. It comes down to us from the earliest times.
(1) It unfolds the inner life of humanity.
(2) It introduces to our attention the most remarkable and beautiful characters that the world has ever known.
(3) It is connected with worship and religious thought. And this is made known to us by a Divine inspiration. Such a history must be interesting to man, yet, after he has perused it, his cry is rather, Show us the Father. And men read history in search of the Divine Fatherhood.
2. The philosophical in religion. Religion has not merely a history, but also a philosophy. It is at the basis of all philosophical questions. It has given rise and importance to them all. The philosophy of evil, of mediation, of salvation, of futurity, is inseparably connected with the religion of Jesus Christ. These problems are perplexing. They have taxed the best minds. They are still unsolved. Heaven can only give the solution of them. Man studies the philosophy of religion in order to get at the Great Father of the universe, and of His being.
3. The theological in religion. Religion has not merely a history, a philosophy, but also a theology. This theology has been systematized by councils, and crystallised in creeds. The development of Christian doctrine is interesting. But in the study of the Bible, man seeks more to catch the smile of his Father, than to see the sceptre of his legislator, or to hear the voice of his teacher. This is the present direction of human sentiment. Men are everywhere seeking the paternal; they are doing so to an unwarrantable extent; to the overbalance of theology; to the destruction of the moral government of God, in utter forgetfulness, or neglect of other attributes equally involved in His existence. Let men see the Father, but let them also see the King, and the Judge.
II. THAT THE DEEP CRY OF MANS HEART IS FOR A SENSUOUS UNFOLDING OF THE PATERNAL IN RELIGION.
1. Some mens ideas of religion are thoroughly sensuous. Such was the case with Thomas and Philip. It would seem that the religion of these two men was confined to what they knew and saw. Some men cannot interpret the spiritual meaning of imagery, nor understand symbolism. They remain in its outer court, and appear unable to enter its holy of holies. We want the power to see heavenly meanings in earthly words. There is another vision than that of sight, even that of faith.
2. We should strive to correct the sensuous ideas associated with the religious life of men. Have I been so long time with you, etc. Christ was the manifestation of the Divine Father. Philip, in seeing Him, ought to have risen to a vision of the Father.
3. We should strive to lead men into the bright vision of faith. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Some only see half of the things they look at. They look at mountains, and see nothing but crags; at trees, and see nothing but sticks and leaves; at stars, and see nothing but candles; at Christ, and see nothing but manhood. Whereas, to other men all nature is a revelation of God. They penetrate into the inner meaning of things; they behold the invisible. When such men look at Christ, they also see the Father.
III. THAT MAN HOPES TO OBTAIN, FROM A VISION OF THE PATERNAL, DEEP SATISFACTION OF HEART.
1. A sensuous vision of the paternal in religion will never satisfy the human heart. Man cannot with bodily eye behold the Father. If he were to see Him, he would doubt the accuracy of his sense immediately the glad vision were gone. This would be but a glimpse of Fatherhood. It would not give satisfaction.
2. A view of the paternal, obtained by faith, will give constant satisfaction to the soul of man. From this vision the Divine Father will never withdraw. The vision shall be co-extensive with the faith. It will produce the satisfaction of peace, of hope, and of joy. The soul will want no other vision. Lessons:
1. To cultivate the inner sense of the soul.
2. To make Christ the interpretation of all our heavenly relationships.
3. To obtain heart rest from a consciousness of the Divine
Fatherhood. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Show us the Father
The mystery of going away was deepened when the Master declared that through Him they were to know the Father. The surprise of Thomas, whose faith was dull, but whose love was, nevertheless, genuine–was natural; while the sentiment of Philip was a sort of desperate clutching at something very glorious, but very difficult of obtaining. For an absent Son he asked, as the only compensation, a manifested Father. His words show us
I. THE GREAT WANT OF MANKIND. God has not left Himself without witness, and not the least of His evidences is that our nature is ever seeking Him. The question of Philip
1. Asserts the knowledge of the Father as that which suffices. It is an assertion of our grandeur. Ours are not glow worm faculties; ours no owl-like souls. No dim vision, no starlight manifestations can content us. Our capacity takes in the universe, and then cries, Show us the Father, etc. Less than such a desire is a degradation of man. Less is to make his nature a dwarfed and sickly thing.
2. Echoes the cry of the races. Our nature is not always conscious that it is after Him; but it reaches and calls after what is in Him alone. The savage approaches the conception of power by his adoration of strength; the sage the worship of infinite understanding through study of the truth; the artist through his vision of the beautiful; the poet through his dream of the right and good. The world swings round, and men catch single gleams of Godhead, and know not what it is–only something great and noble.
3. Is the instructed soul asking for the Father. It is not scepticism searching for a deity–an insensate principle. It is not half convinced doubt feeling along the links of creation after a first cause. It is not amiable optimism out in immeasurable extension of beneficent actuality asking for a Creator. It is awakened faith seeking its author; a hungry soul searching a satisfying love.
II. WANT, UNCONSCIOUS OF NEAR SUPPLY.
1. Men go afar for the knowledge at their doors; nay, at their very feet. They search after the mystery of God. They sound for Him in depths; they climb for Him in the heights! Yet His footprints are on every green, His hand touches on each flower and shrub and spire. Gentle and Titanic forces alike declare Him. Could I give the atom a tongue, it would cry, Have I been so long time with you, and have I not spoken to you of God? The river sings as it hastens oceanward, Have I been so long time with you, and have you not seen God reflected in my silver beauty? Oh, blindness, which can fail to discern Him I Has that word lain by you so long with promise, covenant, and command, and yet have you not known the God it discloses?
2. Philips error was, that he had looked elsewhere than to Christ for the vision of the Father. God had been described. He had been promised. For the first time he was manifested. His love came out in Christs Divine human voice, and was in the touch of those human fingers. It was the Fathers authority in the Go in peace and sin no more. It was the Fathers majesty in the awakening voice at the grave of Lazarus. Yet it was God incarnate, and Philip knew it not.
Conclusion: There is profound significance to us in the lesson of Jesus to Philip.
1. We are to find the Father in the Only-begotten, who dwelt in His bosom, and hath declared Him. You can neither understand Him in His works or word until you study both through the Incarnation. Around that, as we look steadily, both a theology and a theodicy must crystallise. Our knowledge of Jesus is through faith, and through that our knowledge of the Father becomes experimental.
2. It is hence that we know the infinite. Christs mediation stretches a cord between heart-love and God-love, soul-life and God-life, human nature and Divine nature. It answers nothing as to mysteries it oversweeps. It is silent as to riddles of theology and questions of schoolmen. But it touches us here, God there; we touch it with our guilt, He with His compassion. We apprehend the Infinite we can never comprehend. Jesus came to reveal the Father who hears prayer, who governs in providences, who smiles upon His child; who sees the prodigal, foot sore and tattered, yet trying to come home, and runs to meet him. (T. M. Eddy, D. D.)
The true vision of the Father
Philip knew that Moses had once led the elders up to the mount where they saw the God of Israel, and that to many others had been granted sensible manifestations of the Divine presence. As a disciple he longed for some similar sign to confirm his faith. As a man he was conscious of the deep need which all of us have for something more than an unseeable and unknowable God. The peculiarities of Philips temperament strengthened the desire. To all Nathanaels objections he had only the reply, Come and see. And here he says, Oh! if we could see the Father it would be enough. His petition is child-like in its simplicity, beautiful in its trust, noble and true in its estimate of what men need. He meant a palpable manifestation, and so far he was wrong. Give the word its highest and its truest meaning, and Philips error becomes grand truth.
I. THE SIGHT OF GOD IN CHRIST AS ENOUGH TO ANSWER MENS LONGINGS. There is a world of sadness and tenderness in the first words of our Lords reply. He seldom names His disciples, When He does there is a deep cadence of affection in the designation. This man was one of the first disciples, and thus had been with Him all the time of His ministry, and the Master wonders that, before eyes that loved Him as much as Philips did, His continual self-revelation had passed to so little purpose. Learn
1. That we all need to have God made visible to us. The history of heathendom shows us that. And the highest cultivation of this nineteenth century has not removed men from the same necessity. A God who is only the product of inferences, the creature of logic or of reflection, is very powerless to sway and influence men. The limitations of our faculties and the boundlessness of our hearts both cry out for a God that is nearer to us than that, and whom we can see and love and be sure of.
2. Christ meets this need. How can you make wisdom visible? How can a man see love or purity? By deeds. And the only way by which God can ever come near enough to men to be a constant power and smile in their lives is by their seeing Him at work in a man. Christs whole life is the making the invisible God visible.
3. That vision is enough. The mind settles down upon the thought of God as the basis of all being, and of all change; and the heart can twine itself round Him, and the seeking soul folds its wings and is at rest; and the troubled spirit is quiet, and the accusing conscience is silent, and the rebellious will is subdued, and the stormy passions are quieted; and in the inner kingdom is a great peace. We are troubled because we see not God, our Father, in the face of Jesus.
4. Our present knowledge and vision are far higher than the mere external symbol of a presence which this man wanted. The elders of Israel saw but some symbolical manifestation of that which in itself is unseen and unattainable. But we who see God in Christ see no symbol but the reality.
II. THE DIVINE AND MUTUAL INDWELLING BY WHICH THIS SIGHT IS MADE POSSIBLE (Joh 14:10). There are here
1. Christs claim to the oneness of unbroken communion. I am in the Father indicates the suppression of all independent will, consciousness, thought, action: And the Father in Me, indicates the influx into that perfectly filial manhood of the whole fulness of God.
2. The claim, that because of this there is perfect cooperation. Jesus Christ in all His words and works is the perfect instrument of the Divine will, so that His words are Gods words, and His works are Gods works.
3. And from all this follow
(1) The absolute absence of any consciousness on Christs part of the smallest deflection or disharmony between Himself and the Father. Two triangles laid on each other are in every line, point, and angle absolutely coincident. That humanity is capable of receiving the whole inflow of God, and that indwelling God is perfectly expressed in the humanity.
(2) If this was what Christ said, what did He think of Himself? If Jesus had this consciousness, either He was ludicrously, tragically, blasphemously, utterly mistaken and untrustworthy, or He is what the Church in all ages has confessed Him to be, the Everlasting Son of the Father.
III. THE FAITH TO WHICH CHRIST INVITES US ON THE GROUND OF HIS UNION WITH, AND REVELATION OF, GOD (Joh 14:11). Observe that the verb at the beginning of this verse passes into a plural form. Our Lord has done with Philip especially. He bids us believe Him.
1. The true bond of union between men and Jesus Christ is faith. We have to trust, and that is better than sight. We have to trust Him. He is the personal Object of our faith. Faith is the outgoing of the whole man–heart, will, intellect and all–to a person whom it grasps. But the Christ that we have to trust is the Christ as He has Himself declared to us. If He be not God manifest in the flesh, I ought not to trust Him. I may admire Him, reverence Him, have a kind of a love to Him. But what in the name of common sense shall I trust Him for? And why should He call upon me to exercise faith in Him unless He stand before me the adequate object of a mans trust–namely, the manifest God?
2. Believing in the sense of trusting is seeing and knowing. Philip said, Show, etc. Christ answers, Believe! and thou dost see. If you look back upon the previous verses of this chapter you will find that in the earlier portion of them the keyword is know; that in the second portion of them the keyword is see; that in this portion of them the keyword is believe. The world says, Ah! seeing is believing. The gospel says, Believing is seeing. The true way to knowledge, and to a better vision than the uncertain vision of the eye, is faith.
3. Faith, even if based upon lower than the highest grounds, is still faith and acceptable to Him, Or else believe Me for the very works sake.
(1) And so we are taught that if a man has not come to that point of spiritual susceptibility in which the image of Jesus Christ lays hold upon his heart and obliges him to trust Him and to love Him, there are yet the miracles to look at; and the faith that by help of that ladder climbs to Him, though it be second best, is yet real. Imperfect faith may be the highway to perfection. Let us follow the light if it be but a far-off glimmer, sure that it will bring us into perfect day.
(2) On the other hand, no faith avails itself of all the treasures laid up for it which does not lay hold upon Christ in the character which he presents Himself. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The vision of God
This request of Philip touches the heart of all religion. It is a question as old as humanity. Sometimes, indeed, the soul becomes so debased, that the desire ceases to be eager, or even conscious; a perversion of natural law as disastrous as if the flame were not to seek the sun, the magnet not to turn to the pole, the solid not to fall to the earth. But in a normal state of human feeling, it has no yearning so spontaneous and strong. This last discourse of our Lord–the greatest and profoundest of His teachings–is simply His answer to this inquiry. It would indeed be a fatal invalidation of the religion of Christ, if it had no answer to this fundamental quest of men. Indeed, the exhaustive definition of Christs salvation is the Christian way of seeing God.
I. THE CRAVING FOR GOD WHICH IS CHARACTERISTIC OF ALL MORAL NATURES.
1. To those who deny God, I am justified in putting the question–Why do I concern myself about religious things? Why do I crave some vision of God? As well ask why my physical body craves food, or my intellectual soul seeks knowledge. By persistent sin, a man may practically disable his soul; just as by drunkenness or licentiousness he may disable his body, or reduce to idiocy his mind. So also he may reason down his religious instincts by material philosophies; just as by fanciful notions concerning his body he may make himself a hypochondriac. But it is part of him still. He may damage, but he cannot kill it. And sometimes–it may be after years of sin,. or scepticism–there shall be a sudden rolling away of the stone, and a coming forth of the entombed soul, and it shall cry out for God, and refuse to be comforted if it cannot find Him.
2. But this, we are told, is only traditional superstition, educational influence, social environment. But how account for the superstition, the social sentiment? Its universality and uniformity point to something inherent and ineradicable. The soul may be befooled, Men take advantage of it when ignorant or morbid, and urge upon it religious sacrifices, services, and ceremonies, sacraments, penances, and prayers. But even those do not suffice. No religious things can satisfy, the living soul cries out for the living God. True, in Philip the desire shaped itself in ignorant forms; but in which of us does it not? Sometimes it is only a feeling of blind unrest, a craving for we know not what. We moan and toss like men in a fever.
3. Who, conscious of a living soul, can be contented with mere laws of nature instead of the living God? If there be no God, our nature, as it is, is the greatest solecism in the universe. All things else have their purpose and harmony. But for man, this spiritual nature is a waste, and a mockery. Robespierre was right. If there be no God, then it behoves man to make one.
4. The strength of this craving is attested by the credulities of scepticism as much as by the confidences of faith. Let men reject the Christian revelation of God, and as surely as they succeed, wild and incredulous imaginations will break forth and in pitiful forms give the lie to all their philosophy. The fantasies of modem spiritualism are as conclusive attestations as the convictions of Paul. Blind to spiritual truth, men are by the very strength of their spiritual nature given over to strong delusions, and believe a lie.
II. THE MISCONCEPTIONS INTO WHICH, IN THEIR QUEST AFTER GOD, EVEN GOOD MEN FALL.
1. The disciples generally had but a very confused and imperfect conception of Christ and His work. Their persistent dream of a restoration of Davids throne and dominion hung like a yell between them and Christ. We find few things more difficult than to believe in purely spiritual forces and processes. It is a poor spiritual teaching that can be fully comprehended. Our Lord has to speak of the highest spiritual things to men of low spiritual type; and after vain attempts to make them understand, He has to content Himself with a promise of the Holy Spirit, who should teach them all things.
2. Probably Philip thought of some visible manifestation, such as the Shekinah symbol or of Isaiahs vision. How rarely men recognise manifestations of God in purely spiritual forms, in true religious ideas, in holy actions, in Godlike character. For three years Christ had been with these men, and they were utterly unconscious that, in all His moral glory, they were looking upon the truest and highest manifestation of God. When we think of Divine manifestation we think of supernatural miracle, of inspired fervours, of signal conversions, of ecstatic services. How difficult we find it to realize that in the sublime faith, the unselfish love of a quiet saintly life, there is a far higher manifestation of God than in all miracles! The great aim of our Lords teaching was to turn mens quest after God from signs and wonders to His spiritual workings in religious hearts. Philip asked some theophany–the Lord coming suddenly to His temple, as Malachi had predicted–which he thought would give certainty to his faith and precision to his idea. Christ replies by directing him to a living spiritual Person, full of grace and truth.
3. If, then, this manifestation of purely moral and spiritual glories be the true vision of God–the glory of His goodness which God caused to pass before Moses–may we not, in the light of it, test the various ways of seeking God which men pursue?
(1) Men come with their intellectual methods of analysis and reasoning. The astronomer brings his computations; the geologist his hammer; the chemist his crucible; and the philosopher his laws of sequence, order, and causation. They resolve substances into atoms, or ether; they trace back all developments to a common protoplasm; they follow up sequence to its last term, and then they gravely tell you that they cannot find God. How should they, when they have brought only physical tests to the mere material universe of God? His spiritual character they have never attempted to essay. Even on their own physical ground they confess that their atoms are pure imaginations, that when they have traced all organisms to their common protoplasm, the mystery of life is utterly inscrutable; that they can throw no light upon the genesis of mind, or of moral feeling, or of religious idea, or even suggest how vegetable life develops into animal intelligence, or animal intelligence into reason or conscience. Before these primal mysteries, the profoundest philosopher stands as utterly ignorant as the dweller in an African kraal. How should men find God by such processes? As well may the antiquary who unwraps an Egyptian mummy, or the surgeon who conducts a post-mortem examination, demur because he cannot find the heroism of the patriot, the genius of the poet, the affections of the lover, the piety of the saint. All that these processes can lead to is a rational presumption that a universe so wonderful must be the creation of an Infinite Intelligence. The supreme manifestation of God is in the moral sphere of things. Let men ask their moral consciousness whether the scriptural ideas of God are not true and transcendent? whether they do not satisfy the highest thoughts and yearnings and wants of their own spiritual nature? whether they can think anything greater or holier, more congruous and satisfying? While God is supremely and characteristically a moral
Being, it must in the necessity of things be that the world by its mere intellectual wisdom cannot know God.
(2) The other way in which men seek God is through creeds and churches, priesthoods, sacraments, and rituals.
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD THAT MEN CRAVE IS THAT OF A FATHER. In our Lords day, as in our own, men had been told much about God as the Creator, the Ruler, the Judge of men. But it did not satisfy the soul. They yearned for something else in God–for pity, patience, help, love. Let the thought come that this great and holy God is also the Father. How our hearts leap towards Him! As a Father, He is precisely the God we need; our sins crave the forgiveness, our weakness and imperfections the patience, our sorrows the sympathy of a Father; our yearnings His fatherly love and bosom. We kneel down to pray to Him how gladly we catch up the great word put into our lips, and say, Our Father who art in heaven. Some glimpses of this the old Jew had. But, as with all religious truths, the realization of God as a Father depends not upon intellectual ideas merely, but upon religious experiences. It is the experience of what, as a Father, God does for us, that enables us to understand what He is.
IV. GOD AS A FATHER IS REVEALED TO US ONLY IN CHRIST.
1. Christ claims this as His distinctive revelation of God. Like a refrain it rings through the Sermon on the Mount at the beginning of His ministry; like an atmosphere it suffuses this last great discourse on the night that He was betrayed. It is the one unvarying representation of all His intervening teaching. But, in this great word to Philip much more than a teaching is meant It would be a cold and meagre paraphrase of it to say, He that hath received My teaching hath received a true doctrine of the Father. It is a vision of God, not a theory of God, which He gives.
2. I do not think that the explanation is to be found in the Incarnation. Men saw Him, the veritable incarnate Son, and yet they did not see the Father. Nor does He refer to His miracles, the displays of His supernatural power: these He always put in disparaging contrast with His spiritual glories. Clearly His idea is of a purely spiritual conception of God, a vision of Gods spiritual character such as God proclaimed to Moses when He made all His goodness pass before him. There is no sense in which, as distinguished from His almighty works, the spiritual God can be seen but in manifestations of His holiness, goodness, and love. And these can be adequately embodied and expressed only in a personal moral life–the life of the only begotten Son. This is the true incarnation–the embodiment in a human life of these Divine moral qualities. As we conceive of the spiritual God, there is nothing else in Him that could be incarnated.
3. May we venture a speculation upon Gods peculiar Fatherhood in its relation to the Incarnation? Is there not an essential oneness between the spiritual nature of God and the spiritual nature of man, as between fire and the sun, the father and the child? Is there not something in the Divine nature of which the Incarnation is the supreme expression?–something in human nature which makes the Incarnation possible in virtue of affinity? Does He not love us because a father must love his children? And does He not in the Incarnation of Christ show us how closely our nature is allied to His?
4. I need not dwell here upon the inevitable inference from all this, as to who or what this transcendent Personage really is. No creature may claim Divine glories, least of all Gods spiritual perfections. Deliberately and emphatically this calmest and most ingenuous of men claims to have perfectly embodied them. No other interpretation of the claim is rationally possible than the accepted interpretation of the Christian Church. I and my Father are one. This conception of the Christ is much more than a theological dogma. It is a great religious inspiration full of practical uses. Nothing so assures our hearts, nothing gives us such a feeling of Christs practical sufficiency as a Redeemer. We can trust such a Christ, pray to Him, worship Him, realize His presence and help.
V. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE FATHER IN CHRIST IS A PERFECT SATISFACTION TO THE SPIRITUAL SOUL. Philip was right. He who really can show us the Father does suffice us. Let the claims of Jesus be submitted to this test. He who really shows us God must be of God. No one has revealed God to men as Christ has done. And is not this the true and sufficient test of every religious teacher: How truly and in what degree can He show us the Father? Is it not the sufficient authentication of every teaching–does it bring us face to face with the spiritual God? Is it not in this that so much religious teaching is defective? Men tell us about God, but it is doctrine only, they fail to make us see God. About means of grace, again, they have much to say: upon these they insist as the appointed, the indispensable means of seeing God. But we see only the means, not God Himself. Whatever its theological truth, no teaching is really and spiritually such if it do not reveal God to us. This was the supreme characteristic of the teaching of Christ. The sum of all religion is to see the Father; and by whomsoever and by whatsoever the Father is most fully revealed to us, and we are but made to stand in the pure white light of His spiritual glory, there is the truest teacher and the highest worship. It sufficeth us.
VI. HOW THEN MAY WE PERSONALLY REALIZE ALL THIS?
1. The Father can be seen only by men of spiritual vision. The pure in heart see God. Christ does not demonstrate God, He simply manifests Him. The process is not a theological, it is a religious one. We can know God as a Father only by religious experience of Him. All life, all great passions of life, are understood only by experience. It demands the poets eye to see poetic beauty; the artists eye to see art beauty. We do not see light through the demonstrations of the astronomer; we know love only by loving; and life only by living. In the essential nature of things God cannot manifest Himself to an impure unspiritual soul, any more than the sun can shine into a blind mans eye. We know God only by the indwelling of God.
2. The Father is revealed to us in processes and experiences of common religious life. If any man love Me he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, etc. The obedient in life see God, obedience is practical experience of God.
3. The process is somewhat prosaic: men of great fervours and of ecclesiastical enthusiasm get somewhat impatient with it. But here, as everywhere, the divinest wisdom lies in common place methods. And how transcendent the visions of God which the man attains who thus, by patient processes of purity and obedience, develops all the faculties of his religious life! (H. Allon, D. D.)
The revelation of the Fatherhood of God in Christ
Modern theology recognizes two Fatherhoods in God–the extrinsic and intrinsic; first arising from His relation to the external world, the second, from the depths of His eternal nature. Now, the first did not require the Incarnation to disclose it. It depended on the doctrine of creation. Let us make man, etc., and as the extrinsic Fatherhood was involved in the creation of man in Gods image, it was reasonably to be expected that a close and exhaustive analysis of our nature would ultimately discern the likeness, and that an inference should be made therefrom of our sonship and His Fatherhood. As indeed, one of the Greek poets said, We also are His offspring. But not till men saw the Son coming out from the Father did they understand that He was always with the Father. In the coming out they perceived what was always in, and a new truth thus dawned upon the world, to eclipse all others with its grandeur and brightness. A Son has come out from the Father! Then it was understood that Sonship and Fatherhood must have existed from eternity within the inner circle of the incomprehensible Godhead. God is Father in the profoundest abysses of His essential nature. There is no room for this intrinsic Fatherhood in Unitarian theology, because there is no place in it for the Incarnation. The God of Unitarianism, therefore, is not a Father in the profoundest sense; He is not a Father in the deepest essence of His being; He is simply a Father in relation to the world. We are not begotten by Him, of the same substance with Him; He is therefore a Father to us by creation, not by generation. But a Father by creation is only a figurative Father; the Father by generation only is genuine, real Father. According to Unitarianism, before creation God was not a Father; destroy creation and He will again cease to be a Father. His Fatherhood, therefore, is a variable, accidental, extrinsic quality. He can take it up and lay it down when He pleases. With it He is God; without it He is God just the same. But believe in the Incarnation of the Son, and you believe in the truest, deepest Fatherhood of God. Here you have clear, positive, I may say, infinite gain. If the highest, noblest aspect in which we can contemplate God is that of a Father, a real, true Father, then the God of Trinitarianism is immeasurably superior to that of Unitarianism. One is a Father really, truly, intrinsically, forever and ever; He cannot help being a Father: the other is a Father simply in relation to His creatures; let the universe collapse, and His Fatherhood vanishes the same moment. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
The sufficiency of Christs revelation of the Father
When the pitiless power and fixity of nature seems to oppress our little individual life and we faint under the sense of our vanity and selfishness; or when we groan under the pressure of the burden, and cry madly, Why hast Thou made me thus, and with this passion, this propension to the dust, this enmity to God, this deadness to the true, the beautiful, the Divine? Christ shows to us the Father, and strengthens us to endure. When the heartstrings are tensely strained, and every touch of things external is anguish, when all that makes life beautiful and dear is vanishing in the darkness, and we look round on what seems a cold drear prison house of a world, He shows us the Father and it comforts us. And when at last the shadows fall round us thicker, deeper, when heart faints and flesh fails, when the dews of death gather on the brow, and the chill steals into the inmost pulses of the life, He will show to us the Father, and make us more than conquerors over Death and Hell. And when we stand up at last in the great assembly and Church of the first-born, when we gaze on the splendours of the New Creation, when we see the shining hosts in their radiant circles, sphere beyond sphere, and catch the music of their mighty hymn as it floats on a bright sea of harmony around the eternal throne; when the soul faints before the beatific Vision, trembles at its beauty, and shrinks from its splendour, then Saviour, show to us the Father, and it shall suffice us forever more. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
The heart longs to know God
The greatest hunger of the human soul is for a knowledge of its God. The unknowable never takes hold, and never can take hold, of human experience. The orphaned heart yearns for its Divine Father, and will not be content in its orphanage. It looks on the sunset or the flower, and sees the Artist. It looks on the ocean or the forest, and sees the Divine Mechanician. It looks on the manifestations of force and law, and sees the Divine Governor. But it looks in vain in nature for a disclosure of the personal God; of a heart that loves and that can be loved. It is true that the finite soul can never comprehend its God; as the babe can never comprehend its mother. But it longs for a personal presence–for a real interpreter–for a face that shows where the uninterpretable heart is, and a word that speaks the lava that transcends speech. (Christian Union.)
A sight of God in Jesus Christ
A forlorn woman, discovered by one of our missionaries in the depths of Central Africa, is reported by him to have broken out in the most affecting demonstrations of joy, when Christ was presented to her mind, saying, Oh, that is He who has come to me so often in my prayers. I could not find who He was.
Have I been so long with you and yet hast thou not known Me
The patient Master and the slow scholars
The question carries a lesson
I. AS TO WHAT IGNORANCE OF CHRIST IS. Our Lord charges Philip with not knowing Him because Philip had said, Lord! show us the Father. And that question betrayed Philips ignorance of Christ, because it showed that he had not understood that He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Not knowing that, all his knowledge of Christ–howsoever full of love, and reverence, and blind admiration–is but twilight knowledge, which may well be called ignorance.
1. Not to know Christ as the manifest God is practically to be ignorant of Him altogether. This man asked for some visible manifestation, such as their old books told them of. But if such a revelation had been given–and
Christ could have given it if He would–what a poor thing it would have been when put side by side with that mild and lambent light that was ever streaming from Him, making God visible to every sensitive and responsive nature! The revelation of righteousness and love could be entrusted to no flashing brightnesses, and to no thunders and lightnings. Not the power, not the omniscience, are the Divinest glories in God. These are but the outermost parts of the circumference; the living Centre is a Righteous Love, which cannot be revealed by any means but by action; nor shown in action by any means so clearly as by a human life. Therefore, above all other forms of manifestations of God stands the person of Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh.
2. This is His own claim, not once or twice, not in this Gospel alone, but in a hundred other places. And we have to reckon and make our account with that, and shape our theology accordingly. So we have to look upon all Christs life as showing men the Father. His gentle compassion, His meek wisdom, His patience, His long-suffering yearning over men, His continual efforts to draw them to Himself, all these are the full revelation of God to the world. They all reach their climax on the cross. Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us. There are some of you who admire and reverence this great Teacher, but who stand outside that innermost circle wherein He manifests Himself as the God Incarnate, the Sacrifice, and the Saviour of the world. But not to know Him in this His very deepest and most essential character is little different from being ignorant of Him altogether.
3. Here is a great thinker or teacher, whose fame has filled the world, whose books are upon every students shelf; he lives in a little remote country hamlet; the cottagers beside him know him as a kind neighbour, and a sympathetic friend. They never heard of his books, his thoughts, his worldwide reputation: do you call that knowing him? You do not know a man if you only know the surface, and not the secrets of his being. You may be disciples, in the imperfect sense in which these apostles were disciples before the Ascension, but without their excuse for it. But you will never know Him until you know Him as the Eternal Word, and until you can say, We beheld His glory, etc. All the rest is most precious; but without that central truth, you have but a fragmentary Christ, and nothing less than the whole Christ is enough for you.
II. AS GIVING US A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAINED AND LOVING HEART OF OUR LORD. We very seldom hear Him speak about His own feelings or experience, and when He does it is always in some such incidental way as this. So that these glimpses, like little windows opening out upon some great prospect, are the more precious to us.
1. In another place we read: He marvelled at their unbelief. And here there is almost a surprise that He should have been shining so long and so near, and yet the purblind eyes should have seen so little. But there is more than that, there is the pain of vainly endeavouring to teach, to help, to love. And there are few pains like that. The slowness of the pupil is the sorrow of the honest teacher. If ever you have bad a child, or a friend, that you have tried to get by all means to take your love, and who has thrown it all back in your face, you may know in some faint measure what was at least one of the elements which made Christ the Man of Sorrows.
2. But this question reveals also the depth and patience of a clinging love that was not turned away by the pain. How tenderly the name Philip comes in at the end! It bids us think of that patient love of His which will not be soured by any slowness or scantiness of response. Dammed back by our sullen rejection, it still flows on, seeking to conquer by long suffering. Refused, it still lingers round the closed door of the heart, and knocks for entrance. Misunderstood, it still meekly manifests itself. Surely in that we see the manifested God.
3. Remember that the same pained and patient love is in the heart of the throned Christ today. We cannot understand how anything like pain should, however slightly, darken His glory; but if it be true that He in the heavens has yet a fellow feeling of our pains, it is not less true that His love is still wounded by our lovelessness, and His manifestation of Himself made sad by the slowness of our reception of Him.
III. AS BEING A PIERCING QUESTION ADDRESSED TO EACH OF US.
1. It is the great wonder of human history that, after eighteen hundred years, the world knows so little of Jesus Christ.
(1) The leaders of opinion, of literature, the men that profess to guide the thoughts of this generation, how little they know, really, about this Master! Some people take a great deal more trouble to understand Buddha than they do to understand Christ.
(2) How little, too, the mass of men know about Him! It is enough to break ones heart to look round one, and think that He has been so long time with the world, and that this is all which has come of it. The great proof that the world is bad is that Christ has stood before it for nearly nineteen centuries now, and so few have been led to turn to Him with the adoring cry, My Lord and my God.
2. But let us narrow our thoughts to ourselves.
(1) Many of you have known about Jesus Christ all your lives, and yet, in a real, deep sense you do not know Him at this moment. Do you know Christ as a man knows his friend, or as you know about Julius Caesar? Do you know Christ because you live with Him and He with you, or do you know about Him in that fashion in which a man in a great city knows about his neighbour across the street, that has lived beside him for five and twenty years, and never spoken to him once all the time? Is that your knowledge of Christ? If so, it is no knowledge at all. People that live close by something, which men come from the ends of the earth to see, have often never seen it.
(2) And, to you who know Him a little, this question comes with a very pathetic appeal. If we know Him at all as we ought to do, our knowledge of Him will be growing day by day. But how many of us stand at the same spot that we did when we first said that we were Christians! We are like the Indians who live in rich gold countries, and could only gather the ore that happened to lie upon the surface or could be washed out of the sands of the river. In this great Christ there are depths of gold, great reefs and veins of it, that will enrich us all if we dig, and we shall not get it unless we do. He is the boundless ocean. We have contented ourselves with coasting along the shore, and making timid excursions from one headland to another. Let us strike out into the middle deep, and see all the wonders that are there. This great Christ is like the infinite sky with its unresolved nebulae. We have but looked with our poor, dim eyes. Let us take the telescope that will reveal to us suns blazing where now we only see darkness.
(3) This knowledge ought to be growing every day; and why does it not? You know a man because you are much with him. And if you want to know Jesus Christ, there must be a great deal more meditative thoughtfulness, and honest study of His life and work than most of us have put forth. We know people, too, by sympathy, and by love, and by keeping near them. Oh, it is a wonder, and a shame, and a sin for us professing Christians, that, having tasted the sweetness of His love, we should come down so low as to long for the garbage of earth. Who is fool enough to prefer vinegar to wine, bitter herbs to grapes, dross to gold? Who is there that, having consorted with the king, would gladly herd with ragged rebels? And yet that is what we do. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father
The Father manifested in the Son
Our Lord meant that in His person, as well as by His doctrine, miracles, benevolence, life, death, resurrection, ascension, God is manifested, as far as could be, even to our senses, as well as to our understanding, and that this is the clearest manifestation God has been pleased to make of Himself to man on earth. Hence, to such as wish to know God, we must say, Behold, and consider, not only His works of creation; look not only at the dispensations of Providence, which manifest such attributes as the works of creation were not calculated to discover; nor read and consider only His Word, which shows Him still more; but behold the person of His Son, who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature (Col 1:15; Heb 1:3; Joh 1:18). Would we discover the Fathers wisdom? let us hearken to Him who was the wisdom and word of God incarnate. Would we know the Fathers power? let us observe it in the miracles of Christ. Would we know how holy God is, and the nature of His holiness? let us observe the spirit which Jesus breathed and the conduct He maintained. Would we know whether God be a kind and compassionate Being, and what is the nature of His benevolence and love? we must look how these qualities were displayed in the character of Jesus Christ. Would we see His meekness, patience, forbearance, and long suffering? let us observe how these dispositions shone forth in Christ. Would we have a display of His justice? let us see sin condemned and punished in Him who gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. Do we wish to see the love of God exemplified? observe Christ dying for us, dying for the ungodly; when we were enemies, reconciling us to God by His death. Would we know God as our Creator? observe Christ secretly and insensibly multiplying the loaves and fishes; observe Him giving sight to the blind, and life to the dead. Would we know God as our Preserver? let us contemplate Jesus upholding Peter while walking on the water. As our Governor? let us observe Him controlling the powers of nature, rebuking the winds and the sea, and producing a great calm. As our Redeemer? see Him giving His life a ransom for us. As our Saviour? consider Him coming to seek and to save that which was lost. Would we know God as a Friend? mark the familiarity and tenderness with which Jesus conversed with His disciples. As a Father? observe Jesus begetting us again by His Gospel, and see His parental care for His disciples. In a word, if we wish to know the mind, dispositions, and intentions of God towards man, we must see them delineated and exhibited in the doctrine, example, and works of Christ. In order to this, however, it is necessary we should be enlightened by the Divine Spirit (1Co 2:11); that we be taught and learn of the Father (Joh 6:45; Mat 11:27; Mat 16:17). (J. Benson.)
The effect of Christs manifestation of the Father on individuals
A sick woman said to Mr. Cecil, Sir, I have no notion of God; I can form no notion of Him. You talk to me about Him, but I cannot get a single idea that seems to contain anything. But you know how to conceive of Jesus Christ as a man, replied Mr. Cecil; God comes down to you in Him, full of kindness and condescension. Ah! sir, that gives me something to lay hold on. There I can rest. I understand God in His Son. God was in Christ.
The effect of Christs manifestation of the Father on history
The great mass of mankind must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and nations to idolatry can be explained on no other principle. The first inhabitants of Greece, there is every reason to believe, worshipped one invisible Deity. But the necessity of having something more definite to adore produced, in a few centuries, the innumerable crowd of gods and goddesses. In like manner the ancient Persians thought it impious to exhibit the Creator under a human form. Yet even these transferred to the sun the worship, which speculatively they considered to be due only to the supreme mind. The history of the Jews is the record of a continual struggle between pure theism, supported by the most terrible sanctions, and the strangely fascinating desire of having some visible and tangible object of adoration. Perhaps none of the secondary causes which Gibbon has assigned for the rapidity with which Christianity spread over the world, while Judaism scarcely ever acquired a proselyte, operated more powerfully than this feeling. God the uncreated, the incomprehensible, the invisible, attracted few worshippers. A philosopher might adore so noble a conception; but the crowd turned away in disgust from words which created no image in their minds. It was before the Deity, embodied in a human form, walking among men, partaking of their infirmities, leaning on their bosoms, weeping over their graves, slumbering in the manger, bleeding on the cross, that the prejudices of the synagogue, and the doubts of the academy, and the pride of the portico, and the forces of the lictors, and the swords of thirty legions were humbled in the dust. (Lord Macaulay.)
Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?
I. CHRIST IN THE FATHER. In the Fathers
1. Affections. He loves Christ more than He loves the universe. This is My beloved Son. As a loving child lives in the affections of his parents, so Christ, only in an infinitely higher degree, lives in the heart of God.
2. Thoughts. What an intelligent being loves most he will think most about.
(1) Christ is the Loges, the Revealer of the Divine thought. As the word is to the mind before it is sounded, Christ is in God.
(2) He is the Executor of the Divine thought. By Him His creative, redemptive, governing, statutory thoughts are carried out.
II. THE FATHER IS IN CHRIST as in His special
1. Temple. He whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain has a special dwelling in Christ. In Him He manifests Himself in a fulness and glory seen nowhere else.
2. Organ. As the soul dwells in the body, God dwells in Christ and works by Him.
3. Revealer. The brightness of His glory, etc.
the Revealer of His power, wisdom, character, as all that is pure, just, tender, and compassionate.
4. Devotee. God is the object of Christs supreme love. All His thoughts, powers, and aims, were subordinate to Him. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
God in Christ
But is not the Father in all? In every tree, stream, and star? Yes. There is no life where He is not. But He is in Christ in a higher sense. He is in nature as an animating principle, in holy souls as an inspiring influence, in Christ as a Divine Personality. In Him He is God manifest in the flesh. The Father is in Him as
I. An APPRECIABLE personality. It is difficult, if not impossible, to realize the Divine Personality in nature. He seems so vast and boundless. But in Christ He comes within the range of our
1. Senses.
2. Sympathies.
3. Experiences.
II. An ATTRACTIVE personality.
1. Does wonder attract? He is the Wonderful.
2. Does love attract? His is the tenderest, strongest, most self- sacrificing, and unconquerable love.
3. Does beauty attract? He is the altogether lovely. In Christ there is power to draw all men to Him.
III. An IMITABLE personality. Our obligation and well being require us to become like God, partakers of the Divine nature–holy, even as He is holy. In Christ He appears preeminently imitable.
1. His love wins our hearts.
2. His principles command our consciences.
3. His moral glories inspire our admiration. Thus we can imitate Him. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Show us the Father] As if he had said, We have seen and adored thee, and our happiness will be complete if thou show us the Father. The demand of Philip was similar to that made by Moses, Ex 33:18. He wished to see the glory of God. In Peter, James, or John, this would have been inexcusable; but Philip had not seen the transfiguration on the mount. The Jewish history is full of the manifestations which God made of himself, and especially when he gave the law. As Christ was introducing a new law, Philip wished to have an additional manifestation of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Still Philip understandeth not our Saviour, and further discovereth a very gross conception of the Divine Being, as if it could be seen with mortal eyes; whereas God had told Moses, Exo 33:20, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live. It is a hard thing to determine what degrees of ignorance are consistent or inconsistent with saving grace in souls; the resolution of which doth much depend upon those degrees of revelation and means of knowledge which men have.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8-12. The substance of thispassage is that the Son is the ordained and perfect manifestation ofthe Father, that His own word for this ought to His disciples to beenough; that if any doubts remained His works ought to remove them(see on Joh 10:37); but yetthat these works of His were designed merely to aid weak faith, andwould be repeated, nay exceeded, by His disciples, in virtue of thepower He would confer on them after His departure. His miracles theapostles wrought, though wholly in His name and by His power, and the”greater” worksnot in degree but in kindwere theconversion of thousands in a day, by His Spirit accompanying them.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Philip saith to him, Lord,…. Another of his disciples addresses him in a reverend and becoming manner, as Thomas before had done, calling him Lord, and saying to him, “show us the Father, and it sufficeth us”: he speaks in the name of them all, seems to own their ignorance of the Father, and expresses their desire of seeing him:
shew us the Father; it was a corporeal sight of him he asked for; such a sight of the glory of God as Moses desired, and the elders of Israel had at Mount Sinai; and signifies, that if this could be obtained, it would give them full satisfaction:
and it sufficeth us; we shall be no more uneasy at thy departure from us; we shall have no doubt about thy Father’s house, and the many mansions in it; or of thyself, as the way unto it, and of our everlasting abode with thee in it; we shall sit down easy and contented, and trouble time no more with questions about this matter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Show us ( ). Philip now speaks up, possibly hoping for a theophany (Ex 33:18f.), certainly not grasping the idea of Jesus just expressed.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Phillip saith unto him;” (legei auto Philippos) “Philip replied directly to him,” in earnest sincerity. Yes, one of the twelve apostles yet wavered in understanding, Joh 5:39.
2) “Lord, show us the Father,” (kurie deikson hemin ton patera) “Lord, show to us the Father,” as you would show us a man, supposing some visible manifestation of the person of God the Father might be caused to appear, not realizing that that was who He was, Heb 1:3.
3) “And it sufficeth us.” (kai arkei hemin) “And it suffices or is enough for us,” just meet our terms, set all our fears at rest by visibly showing us the Father, Like the Jews who doted on signs, then rejected supernatural prophetic and miraculous signs that were given them, so were the disciples often dull in the flesh and requiring new standards be met by the Lord to convince them of His trustworthiness, 1Co 1:22-24. Let men see God the Father in His Son, and receive His message, else they would not believe though He came down from heaven, Joh 8:24; Luk 16:31.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Show us the Father. It appears to be very absurd that the Apostles should offer so many objections to the Lord; for why did he speak but to inform them on that point about which Philip puts the question? Yet there is not one of their faults that is here described that may not be charged on us as well as on them. We profess to be earnest in seeking God; and when he presents himself before our eyes, we are blind.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh. 14:8-21. The request of Philip and the response of Jesus.Philip, catching at the word (seen), misapprehended its meaning, and thought of some theophany, some manifestation of the glory of God. This would suffice them, would remove their anxiety.
Joh. 14:9. The Lords answer is that He is the revelation of the Father, in Him alone is the Father revealed. There is sadness in the words in which He recalls the fact that Philip had been a disciple almost from the beginning, and yet the disciple did not understand Him! Compassionate, pitying love speaks in these words. Seen the Father.I.e. as the Father can be seen in His wisdom, holiness, goodness, truth, etc. Not that I am both Father and Son (the error of the Patripassians and Noetians and Sabellians), but because the Son is coequal with the Father (Augustine in Wordsworths Greek Testament).
Joh. 14:10. .Believest thou not from all thou hast heard and seen (Joh. 10:38) that there must be an intimate indwelling of Me in the Father and of the Father in Me? This is, as Luthardt says, a relation of unconditioned communion. The first sign of community of life and action between Jesus and God, to prepared hearts, is His teaching; to those who are not so well disposed, it is His works (Godet). (, B, D).Doeth His own works. This is proof not only of the mutual indwelling of Father and Son, but of the loving willingness of the Son in our redemption to carry out the Fathers will. There is room for hesitation between the readings and in the first clause of the sentence. In the second the term is in any case perfectly suitable. God says; Jesus declares (Godet).
Joh. 14:11. Or else, etc.So Joh. 10:37-38. His miracles are an objective proof not only confirming, but, in the case of those whom prejudice, etc., had blinded, going beyond His words. But they are a powerful testimony to all, especially when we include miracles of spiritual healing, etc.
Joh. 14:12. Whilst still answering Philips request Jesus now addresses again all the disciples, in His answer leading them back to the interrupted discourse. Verily, etc.The expression used when He calls attention to some deeper aspect of truth. He that believeth, etc.These works the disciples were enabled to do (Act. 3:1-10, etc.) in the name of Jesus. The greater works refer to the marvellous effects of their activity after the outpouring of the Spirit. Few had been attracted by our Lords ministry; but under the ministry of the Pentecostally gifted apostles spiritual and moral miracles abounded. Every revival of a truly religious spirit has been an instance of (the fulfilment of this prophecy); every mission field has been a witness to it (Watkins). The works were greater because they were of a higher, a spiritual order. In them are fulfilled such glorious promises as those of Isaiah 60. Because I go unto the Father.His exaltation will be the signal of an accession of power to the disciples, enabling them to do these greater works. They are still from Him. On earth He began to do and teach (Act. 1:1); in heaven He continues to do so.
Joh. 14:13-14. In My name, etc.I think we must hold by the explanation of Hengstenberg, Keil, Westcott (with shades of difference): asking a thing from God as Father on the foundation of the revelation which Jesus has given of Himself and of His work; or, as Keil says, while immersed through faith in the knowledge which we have received from Him as the Son of God humbled and glorified. This meaning corresponds with that of the term name in Scripture, for the name sums up the knowledge we have of a being; it is the reflection of Him in our thought (Godet). I will do it.A proof of the unity of mind and action between Father and Son.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Joh. 14:8-14
The revelation of the Father.The disciples of our Lord, even at the close of His ministry, were still far from understanding fully either Himself or the import of His mission. Their faith rose and fell as now one side, now another, of His purpose and work became known to them. They secretly cherished in their hearts, nay, often showed openly that they entertained the idea, that Jesus would yet manifest Himself in temporal Messianic glory. So that when He spoke of death and departure, the barometer of faith fell, the sky of hope was overclouded. Especially now that He spoke of immediate departure, and that the disciples could not then follow Him, sorrow filled their heartstoken of their personal affection for Jesus, but also of the imperfection of their faith. Thus Jesus sought to comfort them, told them of the Fathers house, etc., and, in reply to the pessimistic question of Thomas, pointed to Himself as the way to the Father, and thus to the Fathers house, closing His answer with the memorable words (Joh. 14:7), If ye had known Me, etc. Catching at the word seen, Philip puts forward his request: Lord, show us, etc.
I. Philips request echoes the longing of humanity.
1. To know God, to see Him, some manifestation of His glory, visible, palpable, unmistakable, that is what even the noblest of the race have longed for (Exo. 33:18). And if not some visual manifestation, then at least some audible voice speaking from heaven. Is not this desire and craving at the base of the world-idolatry? of the ecstatic dreams of mystic contemplation? And it has been well said, The desire would be well founded if the essence of God consisted of power; the true theophany might then be found in some splendid appearance.
2. But would this at once, even were it granted, disperse the mist and darkness of error and unbelief? It may be doubted. There are glorious manifestations of God in nature: The heavens declare His glory, etc. His glory was manifested in an especial fashion to Israel (Psalms 68; Psalms 107, etc.). But even these manifestations did not suffice to banish unbelief, etc. Men in such a way alone could not come to the true vision of God. But this longing is a true and heavenly longing; it is the Godlike in mans heart seeking to find its source and end. Therefore such a desire is not to be repressed as wrong, but rightly directed.
II. In Jesus is the full revelation of the Father.
1. Our Lord did not chide Philip for his request, but for his slowness of heart in not realising that it had already been granted. It showed the depth of Philips love; for it was in view of Jesus departure that he desired this vision, so that their faith in Jesus and the divinity of His mission might be fully established. Such a manifestation as he asked would at once set their doubts at rest. But it was a melancholy proof also of the weakness and uninstructedness of Philips faith.
2. And it was in view of this that Jesus said in sadness, Have I been so long time? etc. So long! Since the beginning of My ministry, when in the ardour of new-born faith you brought Nathanael to Me as the Messiah! Thou, who hast accompanied Me throughout these years, who hast seen My life unfolded in the world, and hast heard My repeated declarations of My heavenly origin (Joh. 10:30; Joh. 8:19; Joh. 6:27-40, etc.),hast thou not known Me sufficiently to know that He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father? How sayest thou then? etc. God can only be seen aright when we recognise in Him the loving Father of the incarnate Son. Believest thou not? etc. Is it not evident from all you have seen and heard that I am in the Father, etc., that each dwells in each, that the Son is the expression and object of the Fathers eternal love (Joh. 17:24), and that the same eternal life is in the Son that is in the Father? Surely none but the eternal Son would use such language as this!
III. That Jesus is the revelation of the Father is confirmed by His teaching and works, and the works which those who believe in Him shall do.
1. He reminds Philip and his fellows of His teaching in confirmation of His claimnot merely His teaching on this special subject, but the whole scope and tenor of it, as showing His divine origin (Joh. 7:16-17; Joh. 12:49) and His oneness with the Father.
2. Yes, more than that, The Father which dwelleth in Me doeth His own works (Joh. 14:10, etc.). These works confirm My teaching; these words and works are surely the Fathers, such as God alone can utter and perform. They are all actions of divine love, pity, mercy, benevolence, attributes of the divine character, and thus testify to their origin.
3. More than this also, I solemnly say to you that a further proof will be forthcoming of My oneness with the Father. I go to the Father, but it will be as the Son of God with power, etc. (Rom. 1:4-6), a power that will be manifested in My communicating to you power to do these works that I doyes, greater works than these. In answer to believing prayer in My name shall this power be given you from Me, that the Father may be glorified, etc. Those works which after My ascension I shall enable others to do, thus showing My divine power and co-equality with the Father (Augustine). Greater worksthose moral miracles of redeeming grace, wrought through the instrumentality of believing men, in answer to the prayer of faith, in which the sinful are led to peace, etc. True, they were also wrought by Jesus: Thy faith hath made thee whole, etc. (Mat. 9:22, etc.). But not to the extent in which they would be manifested when Jesus was exalted, and under the dispensation of the Spirit. For then the old prophecies, so glorious and far-reaching, would be fulfilled (Isa. 66:8, etc.).
IV. Believest thou not? etc.This is a question for the present day. The thoughts of the whole world to-day, as well as of the followers of Jesus, are directed to Him. What think ye of Christ? is daily becoming ever more a universal inquiry. And as Jesus asked Philip in sadness, Have I been so long? etc., so might He say to many in the Christian Church, in whom the spirit of rationalism has dimmed their vision of the true unity and equality of Christ and the Father. Would statements such as these, teaching such as Christs, come from one who was not one with the Father? Is not the Father manifestly revealed in Him? And are not those greater works still manifest in answer to believing prayer in the name of Jesus? The whole course of the Churchs history, the power of the gospel to convert the individual and elevate the race, the triumphs of modern missionsall these testify to the living power of the living, loving Christ, and His oneness with the Father.
Joh. 14:12. Greater works.The works Christ did on earth were a proof and evidence of the truth of His claims. They were works worthy of the Son of God, not only because they were works of mercy and love, but also of superhuman power. They did contribute to manifest forth His glory. They were, at the founding of His Church, a necessary link in the chain of testimony which pointed to Him as the promised Messiah and the Son of God. The remembrance of those mighty works, therefore, would make His words to the disciples, If it were not so I would have told you, more convincing and comforting. But here our Lord says that not only shall His disciples do His works, but greater works. What does this mean?
I. Christs disciples were to do the same works that He did.
1. At the founding of the Christian faith the ambassadors for Christ needed to be unmistakably authenticated. It must be clearly evident that they came with the authority of the King of kings.
2. Hence they did the same works as Christ did; they healed the sick, etc., and raised the dead, in His name. And without doubt those works of power in Christs name drew the attention of those who saw them wrought to the gospel, and were a testimony that the apostles were armed with divine authority.
3. And yet another wonderful work done by Christ was carried out by the apostles. The gospel was preached to the poor (Luk. 17:22).
II. But the disciples were also to do greater works than the Master.
1. Was this possible? Could any works possibly be greater than those typical miracles related by John, culminating in the raising up of Lazarus? Yet these were not the Saviours greatest works. Christ might have cured humanity at large and for ever from physical disease, etc., and yet the world might have been brought no nearer God and eternal life.
2. Christ recognised the spiritual works He did to be the most important. It was higher to lead men to spiritual healing, and for this end He came to earth (Luk. 4:18).
3. But His sphere on earth, so far as those works went, was limited. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Whereas the disciples, after being enlightened and strengthened by the Spirit at Pentecost, had no limit set to their working: Jerusalem, Juda, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. Indeed, the continued history of the acts of these apostles and other ministers and teachers of the Church shows how grandly this promise was fulfilled. With power they preached to Jew and Gentile, and multitudes through their instrumentality became new creatures.
III. This promise was not confined to the early Church.
1. The Christian civilisation in which we live is the outcome of that promise. How has the face of the moral world changed since those words were spoken! The sweeter manners, purer laws of Christian countries are the results of the working of Christs true disciples from that hour to this. These are the greater works given them to do.
2. And as great or greater works remain to be done by the Church, the disciples of to-day. Higher reaches of faith and attainment lie still before us. Vast tracts of heathendom still await the gospel. To our own or some future age will be given a crowning and glorious work, when a nation shall be born in a day.
3. But to this end we need the same spiritual power. Therefore should faithful prayer ascend for Pentecostal blessing.
Joh. 14:13-14. Praying in order to working.Ora et Labora. This is the divine order. Prayer and work must go together, or our work in the end will be in vain. And those greater works especially, which Christs disciples are to do, must be begun and continued in believing prayer. And it has been the experience of the Church in all ages that where faithful prayer has abounded there the works of God have been manifest. In regard to the prayer here enjoined there is a condition attached.
I. It is prayer in the name of Jesus.
1. These prayers are the prayers of workers in the vineyard, of those therefore who are fellow-labourers in promoting Christs kingdom. They are in close and intimate fellowship with Christ, are indeed members of His body; they are of the household of God.
2. They must therefore come in the name of their living Head. For not only has He opened up a new and living way of access to the throne of grace, but they would not desire to approach that throne unless they could take Him with them and feel that He would present their feeble petitions to the Father.
3. And this implies asking in accordance with the will of Jesus. No Christian would care to ask the Father for anything out of harmony with the mind and will of the Saviour. And thus our Christian prayers are in this view conditioned. But within this limit
II. It is in reality unconditioned prayer.
1. Whatsoever ye shall ask, etc. If ye shall ask anything, etc. He who speaks these words is the King of kings and Lord of lords, by and for whom all things in heaven and earth were created. The boundless riches and resources of the universe are His. And out of this fulness whatever is for our good, and that by which we can be strengthened and aided for His work, will be given. For prayer is a key which, turned by the hand of faith, unlocks all the treasuries of God.
2. But at the basis of this asking there must ever be faith. All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive (Mat. 21:22).
3. How faithful did the apostolic band and the early Church find this promise to be when, after the Ascension, they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication (Act. 1:14). As they waited with one accord on the day of Pentecost, how gloriously were they answered! Christian history and biography can bring forward manifold proof that this promise has been yea and amen.
III. This promise is sure for every time and for the humblest of Christs saints.
1. Christ Himself fulfils this promise, and He is the same yesterday, etc., and His infinite fulness may be drawn upon by the poorest and feeblest of His disciples.
2. And He encourages us to ask, and to ask frequently, for it will all tend to one great purpose, the highest in the universe, that the Father may be glorified, for He will thus be glorified in the Son. How marvellously the consciousness of His divine dignity is seen with Gethsemane and the cross in view!
3. Is not the secret of much of the Churchs weakness want of waiting on God in unity of supplication in the name of Jesus? Why are her spiritual gifts often so low and so few? Why might not her power be a thousandfold increased, since there is the infinite fulness of Jesus to draw from through believing prayer? Perhaps we labour and scheme and plan too much, guided only by our own ideas, illumined by our own wisdom. Might there not be more of believing, earnest, united prayer, and thus more blessing?
Joh. 14:13-14. A gracious promise.What a marvellous spectacle it is when we look abroad on the world to see, amid all diversities of race and occupation, men, whether in highly civilised nations or amid savage tribes, all acknowledging in prayer their dependence on the Unseen! Whether it be in Christian temples and at Christian family altars, or in mosque or home at the call of the Muezzin, or at the prayer-mills and flags of the Buddhist, or in the idolaters temple, or by the fetich stone of the dark and ignorant savage, there is this sense of dependence and the going forth of the thoughts and desires of men to powers invisible, which seem at once to point to mans high origin and to tell of his fall from his original high position. Very superstitious and very childish, very routine and perfunctory, are the prayers of men oftentimes. But even the most superstitious and perfunctory prayer is a witness to the universal human sense of need, and the equally universal conviction that there is a Power unseen which controls our destinies, and which alone can satisfy our deepest needs. Scepticism and infidelity may for a time turn some away from faith in the Christian creed; they have never been able to obliterate the need which drives men to prayer. In hours of deep distress and trial even the sceptic and infidel have been known to bow the knee and utter a cry, though wild and despairing, for help. The necessity of prayer is one of the grandest proofs of the original dignity of our nature; and our Lord, recognising the fact, lays down for His disciples in all ages rule and direction to guide them in prayer. Those who cannot command anything or claim it as a right must ask for it. Those who will not comply with this requirement must not complain if they do not attain.
I. It is they that ask that shall receive.
1. In warning His disciples against formal prayers with vain repetitions our Lord said to them, Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him (Mat. 6:8). What need then of asking? it may be said, as it often has been said.
2. It is true that God does not need that we should come to Him with our petitions as if He must first learn through us what we lack But we need to pray. It is only through prayer that we can come into the right position toward God, in which we can alone receive the fulness of His goodness to our true blessedness (Dr. J. Stockmeyer).
3. When a man does not ask for any special gift that others are anxiously seeking, it means that he does not see his need of that gift, that there is no place in his nature for the reception of it. And thus it is in prayer. God knows mens needs; but for the heavenly gifts He is so willing to bestow there may be no room in the lives of many. Their hearts and lives may be so filled with the things of earth that they are conscious of no desire for better things. The heart may be so filled with Mammon, or some other earthly idol, that there may be no room in it for God.
4. Therefore the first requisite in prayer is the sense of needknowledge of the lack of those gifts which God can bestow, driving us to Him with the feeling of dependence on Him, and thus leading us to ask so that it may be given unto us. Then this asking that we may receive shows further that we have attained to a just conception of
II. The true spirit of prayer.
1. The true suppliant comes to the throne of grace in deep humility. And why? Because those who come to ask confess that they have not what they ask, that they cannot obtain it for themselves, and that He whom they ask can alone bestow the blessing.
2. And not only so: the true suppliants approach also conscious of unworthiness in themselves, and that they must rely alone on the grace and mercy of Him to whose throne they come with their entreaties. It is not to demand reward for labour done, or gifts to be conferred because of merit, that servants of God approach His throne. Not even as beggars do they come; for the indigent man who seeks alms at my door may never have done me harm. They come rather as rebels to the throne of their offended Sovereign, realising that every gift they ask and receive is of the grace and free favour of their offended, but now reconciled, King.
3. This spirit of humility will also be shown in the condition observed in all true supplication. At first sight it would appear as if our asking were unconditioned. Whatsoever ye shall ask. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you (Joh. 14:13; Joh. 15:7); or simply, Ask, and it shall be given you (Mat. 7:7-8). But there is, and must be, this condition in true prayer by Gods children, If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us; or, as Christ said, Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name (Mat. 18:20). True suppliants will have the humble consciousness of their own limitations, of their unwisdom, their want of true foresight, the limitations of their knowledge. Therefore they will come to God convinced of His unerring wisdom, His absolute knowledge, as well as of His power to bestow the gifts they seek. And they will realise that He is not only to be asked for material gifts, as being the Governor of the material universe, holding in His almighty hand all the powers and forces that control and move it; but as the bestower also of spiritual gifts, that men cannot acquire these for themselves, any more than they can command the sunshine or rain, health or sickness. But asking, etc., implies also
III. Loving and trustful confidence in prayer.
1. Asking that we may receive is the childs attitude in prayer. It is the son who looks up with loving confidence to the Father that alone can come in this attitude to God.
2. Here then another reason meets us why God requires His children to come to Him in prayer. As the divine Father, it is well pleasing to Him that His children should draw near to ask Him for such things as they need, even though there is not a word still unuttered that He does not know it altogether (Psa. 139:4). It is true He bestows many things which we do not ask for specially, just as a father on earth provides many things for his children for which they simply rely on his love. But even an earthly father does not like that those gifts should be received merely as a matter of course and without thankful gratitude. And more especially when a son embarks in some enterprise, or meditates some course of action, will a father delight to be asked for counsel and guidance. And do not the attributes of a fathers heart hide behind, or rather manifest themselves in, this endearing name assumed by God?
3. In order that we may so ask as to receive we must come to God in the spirit of loving confidence, with unwavering trust.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh. 14:10-12. The miracles acts of the humility of Christ.The miracles of Jesus appear, indeed, as very great events, extraordinary, unheard of, and almost incredible if we compare them with the course of the old dispensation of the world (Alten Welton); and this is the common view. But if we measure them according to their number, appearance, and importance, by the infinite fulness of the power of Christs life, a saving power which restores the whole sinful world even to the resurrection, we must regard them as indeed small beginnings of the revelation of this living power, in which it comes forth as secretly, modestly, and noiselessly as His doctrine in His parables; and we learn the meaning of Christs saying, by which He led His disciples to estimate this misunderstood phase of His miracles, Ye shall do greater works than these (Joh. 14:12). But Christs miracles served in manifold ways to reveal His life-power to the world in subdued forms of operation. Often has it been attempted to find in the miracles of Jesus an ostentatious display of Christianity. But a time must come when men will learn to regard them as acts of the humility of Christ. Still, much of the wonderful that is from beneath must be set aside, before the wonderful from above is entirely acknowledged as the first interposition of Christs eternal life-power for the world. For this power is holy even as the spiritual light of Christ, as His title of Messiah, and as His blessedness in the vision of God; therefore, it veils itself to the captious, while it unveils itself to the susceptible, and even that measure of it which has become manifest in miracle appears to them as too much. But we must not misapprehend either the one side or the other of the miracles in which this power finds its medium of communication to men.J. P. Lange.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Joh. 14:13. The naturalness of prayer.There is something in the very act of prayer that for a time stills the violence of passion, and elevates and purifies the affections. When affliction presses bard, and the weakness of human nature looks around in vain for support, how natural is the impulse that throws us on our knees before Him who has laid His chastening hand upon us! and how encouraging the hope that accompanies our supplications for His pity! We believe that He who made us cannot be unmoved by the sufferings of His children; and in sincerely asking His compassion, we almost feel that we receive it.Jeremy Taylor.
Joh. 14:13. Continual readiness for prayer.
If we with earnest effort could succeed
To make our life one long connected prayer,
As lives of some perhaps have been and are;
If never leaving Thee, we had no need
Our wandering spirits back again to lead
Into Thy presence, but continued there,
Like angels standing on the highest stair
Of the sapphire throne,this were to pray indeed.
But if distractions manifold prevail.
And if in this we must confess we fail,
Grant us to keep at least a prompt desire,
Continual readiness for prayer and praise,
An altar heaped and waiting to take fire
With the least spark, and leap into a blaze.
R. Ch. Trench
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
GOING TO MAKE THE DISCIPLES CO-LABORERS
Text 14:8-14
8
Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
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?
10
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak riot from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works.
11
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works sake.
12
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.
13
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14
If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do.
Queries
a.
How fully did Jesus expect Philip to know Him as God Incarnate?
b.
What are the greater works which believers shall do?
c.
To whom were the promises of Joh. 14:13-14 made?
Paraphrase
Philip said to Him, Lord, give us a manifestation of the Father which we may see with our eyes and we shall be satisfied. Jesus turned to Philip and said, Have I been such a long time with you and you do not really know Me and see the Divine Personality of the Father in Me, Philip? Any man who has come to recognize My deity has seen the revelation of the Person of the Father which is far better than a physical manifestation; why, therefore, do you still say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am abiding in the Father and the Father is abiding in Me and We are One? The words that I speak to you are not of human origin, but the Father dwelling in Me is performing His redemptive works by speaking in Me, the Son. Take Me at My word and believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. But if my Person, my life, my words do not command trust, then at least follow the way of reasonableness, and from the supernatural character of My works realize My supernatural Personality. I say to you truly, he who believes in Me, the works which I am doing he will do also. And even greater works than these miracles of nature will my disciple do, because I am going to the Father and My going supplies an even greater power. And whatever you shall ask, if it be in accordance with the will of God and in my name, I will do it in order that the Father may be glorified in what the Son does. If you shall ask Me anything, in My name and according to My will, I will answer your request.
Summary
Jesus speaks plainly and lovingly to a despairing and misunderstanding band of disciples of His intimate oneness with the Father. He tells them plainly that He is the Incarnate God. He points them to His teaching and His works and promises to do for them anything that the Father can and will do. These are designed to be words of strength.
Comment
The preceding words of Jesus about the house of the Father and the dwelling places being prepared there have stroked a familiar heartstring within the bosom of Philip. All men who believe in God (and those who believe in many gods, for that matter) have longed to see Him with the physical eye. Especially would a Jew desire to be so honored with a manifestation of God to his sensory perceptions as had some of his ancestors (Moses and Isaiah) (cf. Isa. 24:9-11; Isa. 33:18; Isa. 6:1-13).
The heart of Jesus was grieved at Philips little faith just as the heart of God was grieved at the unbelief of the Israelites in the desert (cf. Psa. 78:40; Psa. 95:10; Isa. 63:10). Yet one can almost feel the pathos and tenderness of Jesus as he answers Philip. God has been in their midst in the person of His Son and yet they ask to see God; they have eyes to see but they see not. They have seen Jesus and His Messianic kingdom only through earthly eyes. They have not opened their spiritual perception and looked at Him with eyes of faith. They were walking by sight and not by faith (cf. 2Co. 5:7). Have all the long days and nights spent teaching this select group of disciples been in vain? Do they still not see that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him? We have no right to question the loyalty and understanding of the disciples so far as it has come. They have confessed His Messiahship (cf. Joh. 6:68-69; Mat. 16:15-16, etc.). But, due to their Jewish background, they still separated the Messiah from any equality with Jehovah-God. As wonderful as Peters confession is (Mat. 16:16), we do not believe Peter understood the oneness of Jesus and the Father at that time as he did after the resurrection of Jesus. None of the disciples comprehended the Incarnate God in Jesus until after. His glorification.
Jesus plainly declares that to see Him is to see the Father. Here, we believe, the word see is used in a sense to mean spiritual comprehension and not sensory perception. To learn and come to know the character and nature of the Personality of Jesus is to learn and come to know the real character and nature of the Personality of God. To know Jesus is to know Godto know God as completely as it is possible to know Him this side of eternity. Furthermore, to know the Personality of God as He has revealed it is to know Him more fully than any physical manifestation could afford. We may look physically at the outward appearance of our fellow mortals day after day and never really know them until they take us into their confidence and reveal their innermost personalities (cf. 1Co. 2:9-16). But Jesus knew that He had made sufficient revelation through His teaching and His works that these men should have recognized the Incarnate God in Him! Why, then, should they still say, Show us the Father?
Joh. 14:10 arid 11 are basic to a true understanding of the nature of Christianity as a revealed religion. As Mr. Hendriksen says, This passage shows that all knowledge with respect to the facts of redemption is based on genuine, Christian faith. The redemptive purposes of God for man are revealed. The oneness of Jesus Christ and God the Father is revealed. Reason unaided by revelation could not possibly have discovered this. The existence of God, and perhaps certain attributes of His nature, may be revealed in nature (cf. Rom. 1:1-32), but redemption is known only as it is revealed in His Son and the Holy Spirit guided apostles.
Whenever Jesus speaks, the Father works by means of this speaking. And for men to believe the words of Jesus is to do the work of God (cf. Joh. 6:28-29). Jesus implies here that He expected the disciples to believe in His oneness with the Father through the words which He spoke for never a man spake like this man. He spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes. His words, charged with authority, tender with compassion, astounding in their truth and wisdom, should have, on their own, commanded the belief of the disciples that He was one with the Father. But if His person and His words do not engender faith in His oneness with the Father, then let these disciples at least follow the reasonable consequences of the supernatural signs and wonders which He performed before their very eyes. Let them believe in His oneness with the Father by the miracles which He did (cf. Joh. 5:36-37; Joh. 10:37-38). The Christian religion is founded squarely upon the deity of Jesus Christ which has been proven by supernatural, miraculous deeds, performed in history witnessed by the eyes and ears of men. Having thus established empirical proof of His deity Jesus demands that all other truths and doctrines which He taught be believed, trusted and obeyed by FAITH!
In Joh. 14:12 Jesus gives another of the purposes in His soon going away. Using the discussion of His works as a springboard, He proceeds to promise the disciples that they will carry on His work in a much greater way. He promises that the disciples will do miraculous works of a supernatural character just as He did during His earthly ministry, But greater works than these miracles of nature would they do because of His going to the Father. By His going He means, of course, His death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit of Truth. The greater works which they would do were the works of preaching the gospel to thousands of people, both Jews and Gentiles, and winning the surrender of their hearts to Jesus by the power of the gospel. There is power in the gospel far more commanding and revolutionary than any miracle over nature, for it is a power that is capable of bringing the free will of man into harmony with the will of God. This power in the gospel came in its fullness only after the going away by Jesus (His complete glorification).
He promises further that anything they shall ask in His name will be granted. He not only promises that they shall do great and wonderful things by the power of God, He sets up the power lines through which this power shall flow. The power is not in prayer, per se, but is in the Holy Spirit who shall come and grant every request made in the name of Jesus. Prayers are the communication lines to the source of power. To pray in the name of Jesus means far more than the utterance of a ritualistic formula. It means the prayer must be first and foremost in the interest of the kingdom of God. Their requests must be in harmony with the will of God (cf. Luk. 11:2; 1Jn. 5:14-15). Lenski says, In all the connections in which this important phrase occurs (to onoma) (the name), denotes the revelation by which we know Jesus. This revelation covers his person as well as his work. To pray in His name does not mean on the basis of My name, but it means in UNION with My (name) person and My revelation.
A major question of interpretation of this passage is to whom is Jesus speaking here? There is no doubt that He speaks primarily to the 11 disciples in the upper room. We believe that according to other New Testament Scriptures portions of these promises are for all believers.
Hendriksen says, It is certainly worthy of notice that, according to this great saying of our Lord, the greater works are the spiritual works. The miracles in the physical realm are subservient to those in the spiritual sphere; the former serve to prove the genuine character of the latter. Does Jesus, perhaps, by means of this very comparison, which places the spiritual so far above the physical, hint that miracles in the physical sphere would gradually disappear when they would no longer be necessary?
We believe that 1Co. 13:1-13, taken in the context of chapters 12 through 14 (all three chapters speaking of the same thingmiraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit) teaches that very thing. When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. Thus we believe that the promise of Jesus that anyone who believes in Him will do greater works than physical miracles applies to all believers who by preaching and teaching the gospel convert sinners. Love and preaching the gospel are greater works than speaking in tongues and healings.
In 1Jn. 5:14-15 the promise is made to all believers that if they ask anything according to His will they shall have it. There are enough parallel passages in the New Testament to show the discerning reader that Jesus made certain promises of powers and miracle to His chosen apostles which He did not intend that all believers should exercise.
Jesus going away meant that believing disciples would forever after become His co-laborers in Gods purpose of redemption. Some (the chosen apostles) would need for awhile to do works (miracles of nature) similar to the ones which Jesus did. But these were secondary and only foundational for the greater works which would be done, not only by the chosen apostles, but by all believers. All believers are stewards of the power resident in the gospel and are admonished to administer it wisely (cf. 1Pe. 4:10-11; 2Ti. 2:1-2).
Again, the words of Jesus are pointed toward strengthening the disciples there who shall soon be without His bodily presence and for the strengthening of all disciples down through the ages who must walk by faith and not by sight. These things are spoken by Jesus and recorded by the apostles that men might truly believe (trust) in Jesus and believing have eternal life (Joh. 20:31).
Quiz
1.
Why might we expect Philip to long for a physical manifestation of God?
2.
How was the heart of Jesus probably touched by Philips request?
3.
How may we see God if we see Jesus?
4.
In what way does man know the redemptive purposes of God?
5.
Primarily, how did Jesus expect the disciples to recognize His oneness with the Father?
6.
How important are the historically witnessed miracles of Jesus and the apostles?
7.
What are the greater works promised by Jesus? Who would do them?
8.
What does in My name mean?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) Philip saith unto him.Comp. for the character of Philip Joh. 1:44 et seq.; Joh. 6:5 et seq.; Joh. 12:21 et seq. He is joined with Thomas at the head of the second group of the Apostles, in Act. 1:13.
Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.He catches at the word seen and thinks of some revelation of the glory of God as that vouchsafed to Moses, or it may be of a vision like that which three of their number had seen, and of which others had heard, in the Mount of Transfiguration. One such vision of the Father, he thinks, would remove all their doubts; and would satisfy the deepest longings of their hearts.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Philip saith Doubting Thomas had expressed his query, and now materialistic Philip would have his sight gratified.
Show us the Father Either thicken the substance of the Father’s spirit so that our eye can see it, or quicken our eye with a supernatural sharpness so that we can see him as he is.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Philip says to him, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be sufficient for us”.’
As yet they were not fully enlightened and could not grasp this. Philip, for example, had not yet had time to contemplate the wonder of Christ, and he therefore did not quite appreciate what Jesus meant by their having seen the Father in Him. Like some today he thought that Jesus was simply referring to a kind of general ‘seeing of the Father’ by analogy. But he wanted something more. He wanted actually to see God. He wanted some wonderful revelation of God, some theophany, some manifestation of deity, like Abraham (Gen 15:17), Moses (Exo 3:2; Exo 33:23), the elders (Exo 24:9-10), the people of Israel (Exo 24:17) and Isaiah of old (Isa 6:1-2). He wanted to truly ‘see the Father’. That, he knew, would confirm his and the disciples’ faith. He has not yet realised that he had in fact seen greater things than those men of old, for he has walked with God and had watched Him reveal Himself daily.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
An interruption by Philip:
v. 8. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
v. 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?
v. 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.
v. 11. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the very works’ sake. The remark of Philip, requesting to be shown the Father, in order that he might see Him with the eyes of his body, showed just as much spiritual denseness and blindness as that of Thomas. His words imply that such a demonstration would be all that was necessary to establish their faith for always. Jesus makes His reproof very gentle, but repeats, in substance, the arguments which He had used in the case of the unbelieving Jews. For so long a time Jesus had been with the disciples, and yet Philip had not gained the proper and complete knowledge of Him. The manifestation which Philip desired had been made for as long a time as He had been in the company of Jesus, for seeing Christ in faith is identical with seeing the Father. It was a matter of surprise and regret to Jesus that Philip needed to be told this great truth once more, in order to correct his foolish notion of a physical, sensible demonstration of the Father. In the tone of intimate, loving admonition, which Jesus used throughout the last discourses, He continues His instruction. If He had put the question directly whether the disciples believed that He was in the Father and the Father in Him, the answer of Philip would undoubtedly have been positive. Philip should therefore consider that the words of Christ are not His own, just as His works are not His own, are not performed separately from the Father. The Father is and remains in Him from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus is the eternal Son, the eternal Logos. He that sees, hears, takes hold of, the man Jesus Christ incidentally sees, hears, and takes hold of God the Father. The essence of the Father and of the Son is the same, identical. What this man Jesus speaks with His human lips, that is the speaking, the voice of God. And he that refuses to believe the words has the additional, unquestionable testimony of the works, the great miracles. The omnipotence of God was revealed to man in the person of Jesus Christ. Every Christian that reads and studies his Bible in the right way and hears the preaching of the Gospel, hears and sees God Himself, is a witness of the great miracles. The belief in the Son is identical with the belief in the Father. The fact of the union between Father and Son cannot be doubted, the manner can never be adequately explained. Jesus repeats before His disciples what He had told the unbelieving Jews some time before, to impress it upon their minds, chap. 10:38. On account of His works, which are evidently divine, they should believe, if they refused to believe His mere words.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 14:8. Lord, shew us the Father, Philip, hearing our Lord’s words, says to him with a pious ardour becoming his character, “Lord, do but shew us the Father, and bring us to the sight and enjoyment of him, and it is happiness enough for us. We desire no more, and resign every other hope, in comparison of this.” This seems a very probable sense of this passage. One cannot apprehend that Philip, or any other of the Apostles, thought the Father visible, and therefore asked for a vision of the Father in a corporeal form. If Philip desired any thing more than what is asserted in the paraphrase above given, it could have been only to see, like Moses, the inaccessible light wherein God dwells, the acknowledged symbol of his presence in heaven.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 14:8-9 . Philip , like Thomas in a certain hesitation, corresponding to his want of apprehension, has not yet understood the ; instead of seeing it fulfilled in the manifestation of Jesus Himself, it excites in him the wish that the Lord would bring about a Theophany , perhaps such as Moses once beheld (Exo 24:9-10 ), or desired to see (Exo 33:18 ), or the prophets had predicted for the inauguration of the Messianic kingdom (Mal 3:1 ff.).
] and then are we contented ; then we see the measure of the revelation of the Father, given to us by Thee, fulfilled to such a degree that we do not covet a further until the last glorious appearance.
On the dative of duration of time, (see critical notes), comp. Buttmann, N. T. Gram . p. 161 [E. T. p. 186]).
. ] And thou hast not known me? A question of melancholy surprise, and hence also in loving emotion, He addresses him by name . Had Philip known Jesus, he would have said to himself, that in Him the highest revelation of God was manifested, and the wish to behold a Theophany must have remained foreign to his mind. Hence: He who has seen me has seen the Father ; for He reveals Himself in me, I am , Nonnus. The proposition is to be left in objective generality , and . is not to be limited to believing seeing (Luther, Lcke, De Wette, and many others). Every one has, if he has seen Christ, seen the Father objectively ; but only he who has known Christ for that which He is, subjectively also, “according to the sight of the Spirit and of faith,” Luther. Comp. Joh 1:14 , Joh 5:37 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1685
CHRIST ONE WITH THE FATHER
Joh 14:8-11. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 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? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works sake.
IT was a great advantage to the Apostles, that, at the close of his daily ministrations, they were admitted to a more intimate and familiar intercourse with their Lord: for by this means they received a much fuller instruction than others, and gained a deeper insight than others into the discourses which had been publicly delivered. Nor do we derive less benefit from this than they: because the explanations which were given to them in private are handed down to us, and unfold to us many things which we should not otherwise have been able to comprehend. We behold, too, their errors rectified. They were greatly mistaken in many things. Their spirit was far from being, on some occasions, what God would approve; as for instance, when they would have called fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village; and also when they disputed amongst themselves which of them should be the greatest. Their views, also, of the Messiahs kingdom were extremely erroneous; insomuch that, when our blessed Lord told them what was coming upon him, Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, That be far from thee, Lord [Note: Mat 16:22.]. In like manner, they could not conceive aright of his divine character. Sometimes, indeed, they spake well respecting it: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God [Note: Mat 16:16. Joh 6:69.]: but, at other times, they shewed that their judgment respecting it was very wavering and ill-informed. When our Lord spake of his equality with the Father, they knew not how to understand him: and though he told them, that, in having seen and known him, they had seen and known the Father [Note: ver. 7.], Philip, in the name of all the rest, contradicted him, and said, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And this brought from our blessed Lord an answer, which is of the greatest importance to the Church in all ages, inasmuch as it establishes the doctrine of the divinity of Christ beyond all contradiction.
In opening to you this passage, we will consider,
I.
The desire expressed
This, in part, was good
[To desire a manifestation of the Fathers glory could not but be pleasing to God himself. After the giving of the law, such a revelation had been vouchsafed to Moses, and Aaron, and the nobles of Israel [Note: Exo 24:9-11.]; as, at a subsequent period, it had been in a more especial manner to Moses alone, in answer to that request of his, Lord, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. Of this request God had expressed his approbation, by proclaiming to him his name, and causing all his goodness to pass before him [Note: Exo 33:18-19; Exo 34:6.]. Now, therefore, at the first introduction of the Gospel, the Apostles conceived it possible that their Divine Master might favour them with somewhat of a similar manifestation; more especially because he had, without any solicitation on their part, spoken to them on the subject of seeing the Father [Note: ver. 7.].
The satisfaction, too, which they expressed, at the expected result of such a manifestation, could not but be pleasing to their Lord and Master: Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. It must not be forgotten here, that the Lord Jesus had been speaking to them of his expected departure, an event which they could not but contemplate with extreme pain [Note: ver. 2. with chap. 16:5, 6.]. Yet, in the very prospect of such an overwhelming loss, Philip says, Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us; that is, there is no bereavement which we shall not readily submit to, if only this extraordinary token of the Divine favour may be conferred upon us.
In this view, I cannot but consider the request as expressing a piety like that of David, when he said, Many say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou the light of thy countenance upon us. That is the good, the only good, that my soul desires. But]
In some respects it was faulty
[Our blessed Lord had often represented the Father as speaking in him, and working by him, and as, in reality, one with him. Indeed, so plainly had he spoken on this subject, that his enemies had repeatedly taken up stones to stone him for blasphemy. They understood him to be affecting an equality with God, yea, and an identity with God: and they were filled with indignation against him on account of it, as an usurpation of the Divine prerogative [Note: Joh 5:17-18; Joh 10:30; Joh 10:33.]. And well they might be indignant, if he was not really God: for, after they had brought the accusation against him, he demanded, in yet stronger terms, their acquiescence in his claims, and their acknowledgment of him under his true and proper character. He told them plainly, that God required all men to honour the Son, even as they honoured the Father; that the works which he performed bore ample testimony to him as equal with the Father, because they were wrought, not, like the miracles of others, by a power derived from above, but by a power inherent in himself [Note: Joh 5:19; Joh 5:23; Joh 5:36; Joh 10:36-38.].
Now, of this the Apostles ought to have been aware: they should not have suffered things of such infinite importance to escape from their memory, or to pass without more minute inquiry into their true meaning: and least of all should they, when informed by their Divine Master in plain terms, Henceforth ye know the Father, and have seen him, have questioned the truth of his assertion.
Inasmuch, therefore, as their reply argued a blameable ignorance and inadvertence, it may justly be considered as deserving of reproof.]
Yet nothing could be more mild than,
II.
The reproof administered
Here let us mark,
1.
How decisive was our Lords assertion
[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? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? What words could our Lord have used more clearly declarative of his identity with the Father, than these? The way to estimate the force of them aright will he to put them into the mouth of any of his Apostles, or of any creature whatever. Can we suppose that any created being would use such words, and use them too in a way of reproof, and in answer to such a desire as was here expressed? No: if any creature in the universe dared to arrogate to himself such an identity with the Father, we should instantly unite with the Jews in denouncing him a blasphemer. Moreover, the very circumstance of its being a reply to such a request, and of its being uttered in so emphatical a manner; not as a mere assertion, but a reproof; and not in a way of simple affirmation, but in an appeal to the person reproved; this, I say, gives a weight and force to the words, which nothing can withstand. And, if they do not prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, the divinity of our Lord, we shall in vain look for words capable of expressing such an idea.]
2.
How strong the testimony with which it was confirmed
[Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works sake. The repetition of the point before asserted, and of the very words in which it had been asserted, shews the earnestness with which our Lord sought to establish and confirm it. And, if his own testimony to this mysterious truth was thought not sufficient, he was willing to abide by that which was given in his works. Here it is of importance to observe, that, in this appeal to his works, we must clearly understand him as referring to the manner in which they had been wrought: for otherwise there would be no force in his appeal to them; since, if the mere working of miracles were of itself a proof of his identity with the Father, it would prove the same in reference to his Apostles; who, as he foretold, would soon work even greater miracles than any which he had wrought. But no Prophet or Apostle ever professed to work miracles by any power of his own: they utterly disclaimed any such vain and impious conceit [Note: Act 3:12; Act 3:16.]: whereas, Jesus, though he spoke of his Father as doing the works, spoke of himself as concurring with the Father, in a way of personal and independent exertion [Note: Compare ver. 10. with Joh 5:17; Joh 5:19; Joh 5:21.]. And as this had been his habit from the beginning, he might well expect that his Apostles should have comprehended his meaning, and have been fully satisfied, that he was indeed the brightness of his Fathers glory, and the express image of his person [Note: Heb 1:3.].]
We may see from hence,
1.
How slow even the best of men are to apprehend and believe the truths of God
[After the day of Pentecost, the Apostles had juster views of their Lord and Saviour. They might then say with truth, We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father [Note: Joh 1:14.]. But, previous to that time, they did not even understand the true nature of his kingdom [Note: Act 1:6.]: and the answer of Philip clearly shewed that they did not yet fully see him as their incarnate God. And is there not reason to complain that multitudes in this day hear the Gospel, but understand it not; and have the whole counsel of God declared unto them, yet perceive it not? It is perfectly surprising, that persons should have line upon line, precept upon precept, repeated to them for many years together, and yet never attain a distinct knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. But so it is: and our adorable Lord may yet, with just displeasure, address himself to many amongst us, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip [Note: This may be illustrated either in the plainer or in the more hidden doctrines of the Gospel, as occasion may require.]? I pray you, brethren, be more attentive to the blessed truths which from week to week are brought before you; and give more earnest heed to them, lest in future, as in past times, you let them slip [Note: Heb 2:1.].]
2.
How much infirmity there is mixed even with our best services
[Certainly, upon the whole, the request of Philip must be considered as an expression of a pious mind. But yet it was full of imperfection. And who that examines his prayers, either in public or in private, must not blush at the recollection of the infirmities that have attended them? Were they all scrutinized, and weighed, as it were, in a balance, how defective would they all be found! Had Philips error not been pointed out, he would probably have taken credit to himself as deserving the highest commendation: whereas his words rather merited reproof. Let us not, then, be too confident respecting any of our services as pleasing and acceptable to God. At all events, let us bear in mind that they are attended with many imperfections; and that, if God were to call us into judgment for them, we could not answer him for one of a thousand.]
3.
What reason we have to bless our God, who has provided us with such a Saviour
[It is not a mere man, no, nor the first of all created beings, that is appointed to be a Saviour to us: but it is our incarnate God, Jehovahs Fellow [Note: Zec 13:7.], God over all, blessed for evermore [Note: Rom 9:5.]. Hear ye this, and rejoice, all ye who feel your guilt and helplessness! It is God who has purchased the Church with his own blood [Note: Act 20:28.]: it is God who has wrought out a righteousness for his believing people [Note: Dan 9:24. Jer 23:6.]: He, in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells [Note: Col 2:9.], has in him a fulness treasured up for us, out of which we are to receive, according to our diversified necessities, even grace for grace [Note: Col 1:19. with Joh 1:16.]. Have you, then, seen Christ, known Christ, received Christ? You have seen, and known, and received the Father also. If Christ be dwelling in you, then does the Father also dwell in you: and, if you are one with Christ, then are you one with the Father also. Know ye this, my brethren, that He who has said, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, has added, for your encouragement, for I am God, and none else [Note: Isa 45:22.]. Go on your way, therefore, rejoicing in him; and let this be your song and boast, In the Lord Jehovah have I righteousness and strength [Note: Isa 45:24.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. (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? (10) Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (11) Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me, for the very works’ sake. (12) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also: and greater works than these shall he do: because I go unto my Father. (13) And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. (15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.
The Church hath great reason to bless the Lord for so sweetly answering Philip’s question, and thereby removing all doubts on the great subject of Christ’s oneness with the Father. Oh! what a flood of light hath the Lord in this one verse, and by this one declaration, thrown upon it, when Jesus said, he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. Blessed oneness indeed! Not only one with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, in the essence of the Godhead, but one in the nature, purpose, and design of all the grand causes for which the Son of God took into union with himself the holy portion of manhood, and became God – Man-Mediator. So that in seeing Christ, as Christ, the believer sees God in all his perfections, attributes, graces, love, and the, purposes of his will and pleasure, in everything relating to the Church before the foundation of the world, in the whole time state of existence, and the eternity to follow. Christ is seen, when properly seen by the enlightened eye of the renewed mind, as the wisdom of God, and the power of God, 1Co 1:24 yea, the manifold wisdom of God. Eph 3:9-10 ; Col 2:3 the holiness of God, and the justice of God, Rom 3:25 the love of God, and the faithfulness of God, 1Jn 4:9-10 ; Deu 7:9 ; 1Jn 1:9 . In short, all that is communicable of God and his glory, can only be seen, and is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 2Co 4:6 .
Reader! do not pass away from this most interesting of all subjects, before that you have first enquired at your own heart, whether you yourself have so seen Christ? Every child of God, truly regenerated, can have no other views of Christ. Paul, for himself, saith, that when it pleased God, who separated him from his mother’s womb to call him by his grace, he revealed his Son (said Paul) in me. Gal 1:15-16 . And it must be the same in a greater or less degree in all.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Ver. 8. Lord, show us the Father ] They would have seen the Father face to face with their bodily eyes, as they saw the Son. But that no man can do and live,Exo 33:20Exo 33:20 . We cannot see the sun in rota, in its orbit, as the schools speak, in the circle wherein it runs, but only in the beams. So neither can we see God in his essence; in his Son we may, who is the resplendence of his Father’s glory, , Heb 1:3 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] Philip misunderstands . to mean ‘ seeing in a vision ,’ and intimates that one such sight of God would set at rest all their fears, and give them perfect confidence.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 14:8-14 . A third interruption by Philip; to which Jesus replies, appending to His answer a promise which springs out of what He had said to Philip .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 14:8 . . Philip, seizing upon the of Joh 14:7 , utters the universal human craving to see God, to have the same indubitable direct knowledge of Him as we have of one another. Perhaps Philip supposed some appearance visible to the eye would be granted. Always there persists the feeling that more might be done to make God known than has been done.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
THE TRUE VISION OF GOD
Joh 14:8 – Joh 14:11
The vehement burst with which Philip interrupts the calm flow of our Lord’s discourse is not the product of mere frivolity or curiosity. One hears the ring of earnestness in it, and the yearnings of many years find voice. Philip had felt out of his depth, no doubt, in the profound teachings which our Lord had been giving, but His last words about seeing God set a familiar chord vibrating. As an Old Testament believer he knew that Moses had once led the elders of Israel up to the mount where ‘they saw the God of Israel,’ and that to many others had been granted sensible manifestations of the divine presence. As a disciple he longed for some similar sign to confirm his faith. As a man he was conscious of the deep need which all of us have, whether we are conscious of it or not, for something more real and tangible than an unseeable and unknowable God. The peculiarities of Philip’s temperament strengthened the desire. The first appearance that he makes in the Gospels is characteristically like this his last. To all Nathanael’s objections he had only the reply, ‘Come and see.’ And here he says: ‘Oh! if we could see the Father it would be enough.’ He was one of the men to whom seeing is believing, and so he speaks.
His petition is childlike in its simplicity, beautiful in its trust, noble and true in its estimate of what men need. He longs to see God. He believes that Christ can show God; he is sure that the sight of God will satisfy the heart. These are errors, or truths, according to what is meant by ‘seeing.’ Philip meant a palpable manifestation, and so far he was wrong. Give the word its highest and its truest meaning, and Philip’s error becomes grand truth. Our Lord gently, lovingly, and with only a hint of rebuke, answers the request, and seeks to disengage the error from the truth. His answer lies in the verses that we have read. Let us try to follow them, and, as we may, to skim their surface, for their depths are beyond us.
First of all, then, we have the sight of God in Christ as enough to answer men’s longings. There is a world of sadness and tenderness, of suppressed pain and of grieved affection, in the first words of our Lord’s reply. ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?’ He seldom names His disciples. When He does, there is a deep cadence of affection in the designation. This man was one of the first disciples, the little original band called by Christ Himself, and thus had been with Him all the time of His ministry, and the Master wonders with a gentle wonder that, before eyes that loved Him as much as Philip’s did, His continual self-revelation had been made to so little purpose. In the answer, in its first portion, there lies the reiteration of the thoughts that I was trying to dwell upon in the last sermon, which, therefore, I may lightly touch now-viz., that the sight of Christ is the sight of God-’He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’-and that not to know Christ as thus showing God is not to know Him at all-’Thou hast not known Me, Philip.’ Further, there is the thought that the sight of God in Christ is sufficient, ‘How sayest thou, Shew us the Father?’ From all this we may gather some thoughts on which I lightly touch.
I. The first is, that we all do need to have God made visible to us.
Christ meets this need. How can you make wisdom visible? How can a man see love or purity? How do I see your spirit? By the deeds of your body. And the only way by which God can ever come near enough to men to be a constant power and a constant motive in their lives is by their seeing Him at work in a Man, who amongst them is His image and revelation. Christ’s whole life is the making visible of the invisible God. He is the manifestation to the world of the unseen Father.
That vision is enough-enough for mind, enough for heart, enough for will. There is none else that is sufficient, but this is. ‘How sayest thou, Shew us the Father?’ If we can see God it suffices us. Then the mind settles down upon the thought of Him as the basis of all being, and of all change, and the heart can twine itself round Him, and the seeking soul folds its wings and is at rest, and the troubled spirit is quiet, and the accusing conscience is silent, and the rebellious will is subdued, and the stormy passions are quieted, and in the inner kingdom is a great peace. The sight of God in Christ brings rest to every heart, and, Oh! the absence of the vision is the true secret of all disquiet. We are troubled and careful, and tossed from one stormy billow to another, and swept over by all the winds that blow, because we see not God, our Father, in the face of Jesus. ‘Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,’ is either a puerile petition, or the deepest and noblest prayer of the human heart. Blessed are they who have learned what it is to see, and know where that great sight is to be seen!
Our present knowledge and vision are far higher than that mere external symbol of God which this man wanted. The elders of Israel saw the God of Israel, but what they saw was but some symbolical manifestation of that which in itself is unseen and unattainable. But we who see God in Christ see no symbol but the Reality, and there is nothing more possible or to be hoped for here. Our present manifestation and sight of God in Christ does fall, in some ways unknown to us, beneath the bright hopes that we are entitled to cherish. But howsoever imperfect it may be, as measured against the perfection of the vision when we shall see face to face, and know even as we are known, it is enough, and more than enough, for all the questionings and desires of our hungering spirits.
II. Our Lord goes on to a further answer, and points to the divine and mutual indwelling by which this sight is made possible.
And then follows the other claim, that because of this continuous mutual indwelling there is perfect cooperation. This is also stated in terms corresponding to the preceding double representation. ‘The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself,’ corresponds to, ‘I am in the Father.’ ‘The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works,’ corresponds to ‘The Father in Me.’ The two put together teach us this, that by reason of that mysterious and ineffable union of communion, Jesus Christ in all His words and in all His works is the perfect instrument of the divine will, so that His words are God’s words, and His works are God’s works; so that, when He speaks, His gentle wisdom, His loving sympathy, His melting tenderness, His authoritative commands, His prophetic threatenings, are the speech of God, and that when He acts, whether it be by miracle or in the ordinary deeds of His life, what we see is God working before our eyes as we never see Him in any human being.
And from all this follow just two or three considerations which I name. Note the absolute absence of any consciousness on Christ’s part of the smallest deflection or disharmony between Himself and the Father. Two triangles laid on each other are in every line, point, and angle absolutely coincident. That humanity is capable of receiving the whole inflow of God, and that indwelling God is perfectly expressed in the humanity. There is no trace of a consciousness of sin. Everything that Jesus Christ said He knew to be God’s speaking; everything that He did He knew to be God’s acting. There were no barriers between the two. Jesus Christ was conscious of no separation-not the thinnest film of air between these Two who adhered and inhered so closely and so continuously. It is an awful assertion.
Now I pray you to ask yourselves the question: If this was what Christ said, what did He think of Himself? And is this a Man, like the rest of us, with blotches and sins, with failures to embody His own ideas, and still more to carry out in life the will that He knows to be God’s will? Is this a man like other men who thus speaks to us? If Jesus had this consciousness, either He was ludicrously, tragically, blasphemously, utterly mistaken and untrustworthy, or He is what the Church in all ages has confessed Him to be, ‘the Everlasting Son of the Father.’
III. Lastly, our Lord further sets before us the faith to which He invites us on the ground of His union with, and revelation of, God.
The true bond of union between men and Jesus Christ is faith. We have to trust, and that is better than sight. We have to trust Him. He is the personal Object of our faith. In all faith there is what I may call a moral and a voluntary element. A man believes a proposition because it is forced upon him, and his intelligence is obliged to accept it. A man trusts Christ because he will trust Him, and the moral and voluntary element carries us far beyond the mere intellectual conception of faith as the assent to a set of theological propositions. Faith really is the outgoing of the whole man-heart, will, intellect, and all-to a person whom it grasps. But the Christ that you and I have to trust is the Christ as He Himself has declared Himself to us. ‘Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.’ There is a bastard, mutilated kind of thing that calls itself Christian faith, that goes about the world in this generation, which believes in Jesus Christ in all sorts of beautiful ways, but it will not believe in Him as the Personal Revelation and making visible of the unseen God. Jesus Christ Himself tells us here that that is not the kind of faith which He invites us to put forth. If we put forth that only, we have not yet come to understand Him. Oh, dear friends! Christ as here declared to us by Himself is the only Christ to whom it is right to give our trust. If He be not God manifest in the flesh, I ought not to trust Him. I may admire Him as a historical personage; I may reverence Him for His wisdom and beauty; I may even in some vague way have a kind of love to Him. But what in the name of common sense shall I trust Him for? And why should He call upon me to exercise faith in Him unless He stand before me as the adequate Object of a man’s trust-namely, the manifest God?
And then, further, note that believing in the sense of trusting is seeing and knowing. Philip said, ‘Shew us the Father.’ Christ answers, ‘Believe, and thou dost see.’ If you look back upon the previous verses of this chapter, you will find that in the earlier portion of them the key-word is ‘know’; that in the second portion of them the key-word is ‘see’; that in this portion of them the key-word is ‘believe.’ The world says, ‘Ah! seeing is believing.’ The Gospel says, ‘Believing is seeing.’ The true way to knowledge, and to a better vision than the uncertain vision of the eye, is faith. In certitude and in directness, the knowledge of God that we have through faith in the Christ whom our eyes have never seen is far ahead of the certitude and the directness that attach to our mere bodily sight; and so the key to all divine knowledge, and the sure road to the truest vision of God, is faith.
Further, faith, even if based upon lower than the highest grounds, is still faith, and acceptable to Him: ‘Or else believe Me for the very works’ sake.’ The ‘works’ are mainly, I suppose, though not exclusively, His miracles. And if so, we are here taught that, if a man has not come to that point of spiritual susceptibility in which the image of Jesus Christ lays hold upon His heart and obliges him to trust Him and to love Him, there are yet the miracles to look at; and the faith that grasps them, and by help of that ladder climbs to Him, though it be second best, is yet real. The evidence of miracles is subordinate, and yet it is valid and true. So our Lord contradicts both the exaggerations of past generations and the exaggerations of this, and neither asserts that the great reason for faith is miracles, nor that miracles are of no use at all. Former centuries in the Christian Church reiterated the former exaggeration, and thus partly provoked the exaggeration of this day. Let us keep the middle course: there is a better way of coming to Christ than through the gate of miracles, and that is that He should stamp His own divine sweetness and elevation upon our minds and hearts. But if we have not reached that point, do not let us kick away the ladder that may help us to it. ‘Believe Him for the very works’ sake.’ Imperfect faith may be the highway to perfection. Let us follow the light, if it be but a far-off glimmer, sure that it will bring us into noontide day if we are faithful to its leading.
On the other hand, dear friends, let us remember that no faith avails itself of all the treasures laid up for it, which does not lay hold upon Christ in the character in which He presents Himself. The only adequate, worthy trust in Him is the trust which grasps Him as the Incarnate God and Saviour. Only such a faith does justice to His own claim. Only such a faith is the sure path to vision and to knowledge. Only such a faith draws down the blessing of a questioning intellect answered, a hungry heart satisfied, a conscience, accusing and prophetic of a judgment to come, cleansed and purified.
To each of us Christ addresses His merciful invitation, ‘Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.’ May we all answer, ‘We believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 14:8-14
8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. 12Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
Joh 14:8 “Philip said to Him” Apparently Philip (1) wanted a vision of God (Theophany) somewhat like Moses, Isaiah, or Ezekiel or (2) he totally misunderstood Jesus’ words. Jesus answers by affirming that when Philip had seen and known Him, he had seen and known God (cf. Col 1:15; Heb 1:3)!
NASB”it is enough for us”
NKJV”it is sufficient for us”
NRSV”we will be satisfied”
TEV”that is all we need”
NJB”then we shall be satisfied”
These disciples wanted some type of confirmation just like the Pharisees. However, believers must walk by faith and not depend on sight (cf. 2Co 4:18; 2Co 5:7) in spiritual matters. Trust is the issue!
Joh 14:9 “Have I been so long with you” Notice this is plural. Philip asked the question that all of them were thinking.
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” This is a perfect active participle and a perfect active verb which means “has seen and continues to see.” Jesus fully reveals Deity (cf. Col 1:15; Heb 1:3).
Joh 14:10 Jesus’ question in Greek expects a “yes” answer. See SPECIAL TOPIC: “ABIDING” IN JOHN’S WRITINGS at 1Jn 2:10.
“you. . .you” The first “you” is singular, referring to Philip. The second “you” is plural, referring to the Apostolic group (cf. Joh 14:7; Joh 14:10).
“The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative” Jesus was acting on the Father’s behalf in all things (cf. Joh 14:24; Joh 5:19; Joh 5:30; Joh 7:16-18; Joh 8:28; Joh 10:38; Joh 12:49). Jesus’ teachings are the very words of the Father (cf. Joh 14:24)
“but the Father abiding in Me does His works” This fellowship between the Father and the Son (i.e., Joh 7:14; Joh 8:28; Joh 10:38), which is emphasized in Jesus’ High Priestly prayer of chapter 17, becomes the basis for the “abiding” of believers in Christ in chapter 15. John’s Gospel reveals salvation as (1) doctrine; (2) fellowship; (3) obedience; and (4) perseverance.
Joh 14:11 “Believe Me” This is a present active imperative or a present active indicative (cf. Joh 14:1).
There is a manuscript variant of some significance in the opening phrase of this verse. Some early Greek texts (P66, P75, , D, L, and W) have just the verb “believe” followed by (hoti) “that,” which implies that they were to accept the truth about Jesus and the Father’s unity. Other ancient texts (MSS A and B) add the dative “in Me,” showing the personal object of the belief. The United Bible Societies’ Greek scholars believe that the first option was original (cf. Bruce M. Metzger’s A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, which gives this option a “B” rating [almost certain], p. 244). Most modern translations keep the “in me” but add “that” (which shows the content to be believed).
“otherwise believe because of the works themselves” Jesus tells them to believe in His works (cf. Joh 5:36; Joh 10:25; Joh 10:38). His works fulfilled OT prophecy. His works reveal who He is! The Apostles, like all of us, had to grow in faith.
Joh 14:12 “Truly, truly” See note at Joh 1:51.
“believes. . .he will do” Believing is not a mental activity alone but an action-oriented word. The phrase “he can do even greater things” is a future active indicative which should be translated “he will do greater things.” This possibly refers to
1. the geographical scope (cf. Mat 28:18-20)
2. the Gentile mission
3. the Spirit being with every believer
4. Jesus’ intercessory prayer (cf. Heb 7:25; Heb 9:24)
See SPECIAL TOPIC: PRAYER, UNLIMITED YET LIMITED at 1Jn 3:22, B. 2.
The last phrase “he will do” is crucial to biblical Christianity. As the Father sent the Son, the Son sends his disciples! Being “in Christ,” having “eternal life,” means an active “Great Commission” heart and mind. Christianity is not a creed or something we receive for a rainy day. It is a new orientation of life, a new worldview! It changes everything! It must become an intentional, daily, kingdom-oriented, sacrificial lifestyle.
The church must recapture
1. the ministry of every believer
2. the priority of the Great Commission
3. daily intentional selfless service
4. Christlikeness now!
Joh 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in My name that will I do” Notice that Jesus claims that He will answer our prayers based on His character. In Act 7:59 Stephen prays to Jesus. In 2Co 12:8 Paul prays to Jesus. In Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23 believers are to address the Father. To pray in Jesus’ name does not involve a magic formula, said at the end of our prayers, but praying in the will and character of Jesus.
This is a good example of the need to consult parallel passages before making dogmatic statements on biblical subjects. One must balance “whatever we ask” with
1. “in My name” (Joh 14:13-14; Joh 15:7; Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23)
2. “keep on asking” (Mat 7:7-8; Luk 11:5-13; Luk 18:1-8)
3. “two agreeing” ( Mat 18:19)
4. “believing” (Mat 21:22)
5. “without doubt” (Mar 11:22-24; Jas 1:6-7)
6. “not selfishly” (Jas 4:2-3)
7. “keep His commands” (1Jn 3:22)
8. “according to God’s will” (Mat 6:10; 1Jn 5:14-15)
The name of Jesus represents His character. It is another way of referring to the mind and heart of Jesus. This phrase appears often in John (cf. Joh 14:13-14; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23-26). The more like Christ one is, the more likely the prayers are to be answered in the affirmative. The worst thing God could do spiritually to most believers is answer their selfish, materialistic prayers. See note at 1Jn 3:22.
SPECIAL TOPIC: EFFECTIVE PRAYER
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NAME OF THE LORD
“if” This is a third class conditional sentence which means potential action.
“ask Me anything” Usually believers are encouraged to pray in the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. This verse is the only verse in John’s Gospel where Jesus directs prayer to Himself.
This may be the reason why some ancient Greek manuscripts omit “Me” (i.e. MSS, A, D, L, and some Old Latin, Vulgate, Coptic, Ethiopian, and Slavic versions). The UBS4 rates its inclusion as “B” (almost certain). It is included in MSS P66, P75, , B, W, and some Old Latin, Vulgate, and Syrian versions.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Philip. See Joh 1:43-48; Joh 6:5; Joh 12:21, Joh 12:22, and App-141.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] Philip misunderstands . to mean seeing in a vision,-and intimates that one such sight of God would set at rest all their fears, and give them perfect confidence.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 14:8. , it sufficeth) So that we may not desire to ask further questions, and may no more be troubled in mind. This , acquiescence [in Gods way], they attain to in ch. Joh 16:30, Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask Thee: by this we believe that Thou camest forth from God. Comp. Psa 17:15, I shall be satisfied, when I awake in Thy likeness; Psa 22:23; Psa 22:26, The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him; Psa 69:30; Psa 69:32, The humble shall see this and be glad; and your heart shall live, that seek God.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 14:8
Joh 14:8
Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.-Philip failed to take in the truth, and still asked to see the Father. [He perhaps expected such a manifestation as Moses saw on the holy mount. (Exo 33:8). He, like many now, wanted to walk by sight instead of by faith.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Philip: Joh 1:43-46, Joh 6:5-7, Joh 12:21, Joh 12:22
show: Joh 16:25, Exo 33:18-23, Exo 34:5-7, Job 33:26, Psa 17:15, Psa 63:2, Mat 5:8, Rev 22:3-5
Reciprocal: Mat 17:4 – it is Mar 3:18 – Philip Mar 9:5 – it is Luk 6:14 – Philip Luk 9:33 – it is Joh 1:44 – Philip Act 1:13 – Philip 2Pe 1:17 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ON KNOWING GOD
Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:8
Was it well or ill spoken, this word of St. Philip? It evidently came from his heart. It was no captious objection. Shall we then commend or blame him for his inquiry? We must blame him for the sad ignorance betrayed. But we commend him for the splendid faith evinced. And it sufficeth us, he says in the midst of his heaviness of heart.
I. Faith in God was the sheet-anchor of his soul.But his knowledge of God was so limited and indistinct. To really see God this would solve all his difficulties, lighten his burdens, and sweeten every bitter sorrow. Then the world could no longer deceive and ensnare, sin would be powerless to conquer and corrupt, the old enemy self would vanish out of sight. This was his splendid faith. Surely for this splendid faith, and for this sublime ambition in his hour of disappointment and suspense, St. Philip deserves all praise. In spite of the ignorance it betrays, we are glad that he made the appeal in such a tone of enthusiastic and confident expectation.
II. How do we compare with St. Philip?Nineteen centuries have passed since his day. We have had revealed to us the full meaning of all that was then troubling and perplexing those disciples. We know that their immediate loss was ultimate gain and the worlds salvationthat Christ went to the Father by the way of the Cross, that He might open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers, and return in the power of the Spirit to dwell in our hearts. We have learned to believe in and to draw near to the living God. In what spirit do we draw near? Have we St. Philips strong desire to see the Father? Is it our one ambition to know God? Have we the same sublime assurance that complete and lasting satisfaction is found in knowing God? Are we entirely freed from his sad ignorance? Or has the Saviour to utter the same sad reproach to some of His professed disciples to-day? Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?
III. To desire to know God should be the supreme longing in every Christian heart.This is the end of our redemption. Christ died to bring us to God. This is the object of the gift of eternal life. This is the condition of all spiritual progress, of all increase in likeness to God. This is the remedy for all earths sorrows and disappointments, the secret of abiding satisfaction and delight. It should be the constant cry of every believing heart, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Rev. F. S. Webster.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
[Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.] “When the law was given to Moses, the Israelites saw God in his glory: do thou, therefore, now that thou art bringing in a new law and economy amongst us, do thou shew us the Father; and his glory, and it will suffice us; so that we will have no more doubt about it.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 14:8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. The same bluntness of spiritual sight (that is, really the same weakness of faith) that had been exhibited by Thomas is now exhibited by Philip, though in relation to another point. Jesus had said (Joh 14:7) that the disciples had seen the Father, meaning that they had seen the Father in Him. Philip fails to understand; and, thinking perhaps of the revelation given to Moses in Exo 33:18-19, misusing also those words of our Lord which alone made his request possible, he asks that he and his fellow-disciples may have granted them some actual vision of the Father (comp. his spirit in chap. Joh 6:7). The reply of Jesus, Joh 14:9-21, falls into three leading parts, of which the first is found in Joh 14:9-11.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Joh 14:8-11. Philip One of the apostles, hearing these words; saith unto him With a pious ardour becoming his character; Lord, show us the Father Do but bring us to the sight and enjoyment of him; and it sufficeth us It is happiness enough for us; we desire no more, and resign every other hope in comparison of this. It is hard to say, whether Philip as yet understood who the Father was, of whom his Master spake. If he did, we cannot suppose that he asked a sight of the divine essence, which in itself is invisible, but, like Moses, he desired to see the inaccessible light wherein God dwells, it being the symbol of his presence in heaven. Jesus saith, Have I been so long time with you Now about three years conversing with you in a familiar manner; and hast thou not known me, Philip In my person and offices, my spirit and conduct, who I am, and what I teach and practise? Observe, reader, the longer we enjoy the means of knowledge and grace, the more inexcusable we are, if we be found deficient in grace and knowledge: Christ expects that our proficiency should be, in some measure, in proportion to our advantages, and the time that we have enjoyed them. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father For I am the image of the invisible God; and the wisdom of the Father hath shone forth in my discourses, his power in my miracles, his holiness in my spotless life, and his mercy, love, and goodness, in all my tempers, words, and works, and in all my proceedings day by day. And how sayest thou What reason hast thou to say; Show us the Father? As if I had not been showing him continually, from the time of my first entering upon my public ministry, to all that had the eyes of their understanding opened. Believest thou not Dost thou then call in question what I have before affirmed expressly; that the Father is in me, and I in him, (Joh 10:38,) by such an intimate union as sufficiently warrants such language as this? The words that I speak unto you From time to time; I speak not of myself That is, not merely; and the Father that dwelleth in me In all his fulness; he doeth the works Namely, the miraculous works that you have so often seen, works sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this assertion, mysterious as it is, and incredible as it might otherwise seem: for I speak and act not separate from, but in union with the Father, with whom I am one in essence and operation. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me And that there is such a union between us, that as the Father knows all the thoughts of the Son, so the Son revealeth to men all the thoughts of the Father, respecting their salvation; and is vested with his power and authority. This thou must acknowledge, if thou considerest the miracles whereby my mission is established.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 8, 9. Philip says to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. 9. Jesus says to him, So long a time am I with you, and thou hast not known me! Philip, he who has seen me, has seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Show us the Father?
On occasion of these interruptions which the disciples allow themselves to make,Gess observes how fully at ease they feel with the Lord, and how fully this sort of relation justifies the words: I have called you my friends, Joh 15:15.Peter had asked to follow Jesus. Thomas had desired at least to know whither He was going, and by what way. Since they can neither follow nor understand clearly, Philip would at least have a pledge of the glorious future which is reserved for them; and what pledge more sure than an appearance of God Himself! Is not the desire for the immediate sight of God an aspiration which dwells in the deepest recess of the heart of man? Comp. the request of Moses, Exo 33:18. It was the same point of view as that of the Jews when they asked of Jesus a sign from heaven. This desire would be well founded if the essence of God consisted in power; the true theophany might in that case consist in a resplendent manifestation. But God is holiness and love; the real manifestation of these moral perfections can only consist in a moral life such that in it, in its acts and words, the moral perfection of the divine character shall shine forth.
Now this unique spectacle, this perfect theophany, the visible resplendence of God, the disciples have had before their eyes for more than two years; how is it that they have not better appreciated the privilege which has been accorded to them? What majesty in this reply! The foundation of the human consciousness of Jesus is so thoroughly the feeling of His divinity, that He scarcely understands that the knowledge of His true nature has not formed itself in the hearts of His disciples.
The word of address: Philip, serves to recall this disciple to himself as he forgets himself at the point of making such a demand. We may, like Luthardt, write this vocative with the preceding sentence which is addressed to the disciple individually, or connect it with the following, which, as a general maxim, serves to bring back the apostle to the truth. The perfect tenses, , , , hast known, has seen, contrast the permanent state with the sudden and isolated act expressed by the aorist , show us.
The idea of the simple moral union of Jesus with God cannot exhaust the meaning of these words. A Christian, even a perfected one, would not say, He who has seen me has seen the Christ. How much less could a man, even a perfect man, say, He who has seen me, has seen the Father. This expression is understood only as the Son continues here below, under the form of the human life, the revealing function which He possesses, as the Word, in His condition of divine life.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
The request to reveal the Father 14:8-14
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Eleven regarded Jesus very highly. Notwithstanding they did not yet realize that He was such an accurate and full revelation of God the Father that to see Jesus was to see the Father. Philip asked for a clear revelation of the Father that would satisfy the Eleven. He apparently wanted Jesus to give them a theophany (Exo 24:9-10; Isa 6:1). People throughout history have desired to see God as He really is (cf. Exo 33:18). Jesus in His incarnation made that revelation of the Father more clearly, fully, and finally than anyone else ever had (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18; Joh 12:45; cf. Heb 1:1-2).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
X. THE FATHER SEEN IN CHRIST.
“Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so longtime 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? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me doeth His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’ sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask Me anything in My name, that will I do. If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth Me no more; but ye behold Me: because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him.”– Joh 14:8-21.
A third interruption on the part of one of the disciples gives the Lord occasion to be still more explicit. Philip is only further bewildered by the words, “from henceforth ye know the Father and have seen Him.” He catches, however, at the idea that the Father can be seen, and eagerly exclaims, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” In this exclamation there may be a little of that vexed and almost irritated feeling that every one at times has felt in reading the words of Christ. We feel as if He might have made things plainer. We unconsciously reproach Him with making a mystery, with going about and about a subject and refusing to speak straight at it. Philip felt that if Christ could show the Father, then there was no need of any more enigmatical talk.
Ignorant as this request may be, it sprang from the thirst for God which was felt by an earnest and godly man. It arose from the craving that now and again visits every soul to get to the heart of all mystery. Here in this life we are much in the dark. We feel ourselves to be capable of better enjoyments, of a higher life. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth, as if striving towards some better and more satisfying state. There is a something not yet attained which we feel we must reach. Were this life all, we should pronounce existence a failure. And yet there is great uncertainty over our future. There is no familiar intercourse with those who have passed on and are now in the other world. We have no opportunity of informing ourselves of their state and occupations. We go on in great darkness and often with a feeling of great insecurity and trepidation; feeling lost, in darkness, not knowing whither we are going, not sure that we are in the way to life and happiness. Why, we are tempted to ask, should there be so much uncertainty? Why should we live so remote from the centre of things, and have to grope our way to life and light, clouded by doubts, beset by misleading and disturbing influences? “Show us the Father,” we are tempted to say with Philip–show us the Father and it sufficeth us. Show us the Supreme. Show us the eternal One who governs all. Take us but once to the centre of things and show us the Father in whom we live. Take us for once behind the scenes and let us see the hand that moves all things; let us know all that can be known, that we may see what it is we are going to, and what is to become of us when this visible world is done. Give us assurance that behind all this dumb, immovable mask of outward things there is a living God whose love we can trust and whose power can preserve us to life everlasting.
To Philip’s eager request Jesus replies: “Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father?” And it is thus our Lord addresses all whose unsatisfied craving finds voice in Philip’s request. To all who crave some more immediate, if not more sensible manifestation of God, to all who live in doubt and feel as if more might be done to give us certitude regarding the relation we hold to God and to the future, Christ says: No further revelation is to be made, because no further revelation is needed or can be made. All has been shown that can be shown. There is no more of the Father you can see than you have seen in Me. God has taken that form which is most comprehensible to you–your own form, the form of man. You have seen the Father. I am the truth, the reality. It is no longer a symbol telling you something about a distant God, but the Father Himself is in Me, speaking and acting among you through Me.
What do we find in Christ? We find perfection of moral character, superiority to circumstances, to the elements, to disease, to death. We find in Him One who forgives sin and brings peace of conscience, who bestows the Holy Spirit and leads to perfect righteousness. We cannot imagine anything in God which is not made present to us in Christ In any part of the universe we should feel secure with Christ. In the most critical spiritual emergency we should have confidence that He could right matters. In the physical and in the spiritual world He is equally at home and equally commanding. We can believe Him when He says that he that has seen Him has seen the Father.
What precisely does this utterance mean? Does it only mean that Jesus in His holy and loving ways and in the whole of His character was God’s very image? As you might say of a son who strongly resembles his father, “If you have seen the one, you have seen the other.” It is true that the self-sacrifice and humility and devotedness of Jesus did give men new views of the true character of God, that His conduct was an exact transcript of God’s mind and conveyed to men new thoughts of God.
But it is plain that the connection between Jesus and God was a different kind of connection from that which subsists between every man and God. Every man might in a sense say, “I am in the Father and the Father in me.” But plainly the very fact that Jesus said to Philip, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?” is proof that it was not this ordinary connection He had in view. Philip could have had no difficulty in perceiving and acknowledging that God was in Jesus as He is in every man. But if that were all that Jesus meant, then it was wholly out of place to appeal to the works the Father had given Him to do in proof of this assertion.
When, therefore, Jesus said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” He did not merely mean that by His superior holiness He had revealed the Father as no other man had done (although even this would be a most surprising assertion for any mere man to make–that He was so holy that whoever had seen Him had seen the absolutely holy God), but He meant that God was present with Him in a special manner.
So important was it that the disciples should firmly grasp the truth that the Father was in Christ that Jesus proceeds to enlarge upon the proof or evidence of this. In the course of doing so He imparts to them three assurances fitted to comfort them in the prospect of His departure: first, that so far from being weakened by His going to the Father, they will do greater works than even those which had proved that the Father was present with Him; second, that He would not leave them friendless and without support, but would send them the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, who should abide with them; and third, that although the world would not see Him, they would, and would recognise that He was the maintainer of their own life.
But all this experience would serve to convince them that the Father was in Him. He had, He says, lived among them as the representative of the Father, uttering His will, doing His works. These works might have convinced them even if they were not spiritual enough to perceive that His words were Divine utterances. But a time was coming when a satisfying conviction of the truth that God had been present with them in the presence of Jesus would be wrought in them. When, after His departure, they found themselves doing the works of God, greater works than Jesus had done, when they found that the Spirit of truth dwelt in them, imparting to them the very mind and life of Christ Himself, then they should be certified of the truth that Jesus now declared, that the Father was in Him and He in the Father. “At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” What their understanding could not at present quite grasp, the course of events and their own spiritual experience would make plain to them. When in the prosecution of Christ’s instructions they strove to fulfil His commands and carry out His will upon earth, they would find themselves countenanced and supported by powers unseen, would find their life sustained by the life of Christ.
Jesus, then, speaks here of three grades of conviction regarding His claim to be God’s representative: three kinds of evidence–a lower, a higher, and the highest. There is the evidence of His miracles, the evidence of His words or His own testimony, and the evidence of the new spiritual life He would maintain in His followers.
Miracles are not the highest evidence, but they are evidence. One miracle might not be convincing evidence. Many miracles of the same kind, such as a number of cures of nervous complaints, or several successful treatments of blind persons, might only indicate superior knowledge of morbid conditions and of remedies. A physician in advance of his age might accomplish wonders. Or had all the miracles of Jesus been such as the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, it might, with a shade of plausibility, have been urged that this was legerdemain. But what we see in Jesus is not power to perform an occasional wonder to make men stare or to win for Himself applause, but power as God’s representative on earth to do whatever is needful for the manifestation of God’s presence and for the fulfilment of God’s will. It may surely at this time of day be taken for granted that Jesus was serious and true. The works are given Him by the Father to do: it is as an exhibition of God’s power He performs them. They are therefore performed not in one form only, but in every needed form. He shows command over all nature, and gives evidence that spirit is superior to matter and rules it.
The miracles of Christ are also convincing because they are performed by a miraculous Person. That an ordinary man should seem to rule nature, or should exhibit wonders on no adequate occasion, must always seem unlikely, if not incredible. But that a Person notoriously exceptional, being what no other man has ever been, should do things that no other man has done, excites no incredulity. That Christ was supremely and absolutely holy no one doubts; but this itself is a miracle; and that this miraculous Person should act miraculously is not unlikely. Moreover, there was adequate occasion both for the miracle of Christ’s person and the miracle of His life and separate acts. There was an end to be served so great as to justify this interruption of the course of things as managed by men. If miracles are possible, then they could never be more worthily introduced. If at any time it might seem appropriate and needful that the unseen, holy, and loving God should assert His power over all that touches us His children, so as to give us the consciousness of His presence and of His faithfulness, surely that time was precisely then when Christ came forth from the Father to reveal His holiness and His love, to show men that supreme power and supreme holiness and love reside together in God.
At present men are swinging from an excessive exaltation of miracles to an excessive depreciation of them. They sometimes speak as if no one could work a miracle, and sometimes as if any one could work a miracle. Having discovered that miracles do not convince every one, they leap to the conclusion that they convince no one; and perceiving that Christ does not place them on the highest platform of evidence, they proceed to put them out of court altogether. This is inconsiderate and unwise. The miracles of Christ are appealed to by Himself as evidence of His truth; and looking at them in connection with His person, His life, and His mission or object, considering their character as works of compassion, and their instructive revelation of the nature and purpose of Him who did them, we cannot, I think, but feel that they carry in them a very strong claim upon our most serious attention and do help us to trust in Christ.
But Christ Himself, in the words before us, expects that those who have listened to His teaching and seen His life should need no other evidence that God is in Him and He in God–should not require to go down and back to the preliminary evidence of miracles which may serve to attract strangers. And, obviously, we get closer to the very heart of any person, nearer to the very core of their being, through their ordinary and habitual demeanour and conversation than by considering their exceptional and occasional acts. And it is a great tribute to the power and beauty of Christ’s personality that it actually is not His miracles which solely or chiefly convince us of His claims upon our confidence, but rather His own character as it shines through His talks with His disciples and with all men He met. This, we feel, is the Person for us. Here we have the human ideal. The characteristics here disclosed are those which ought everywhere to prevail.
But the crowning evidence of Christ’s unity with the Father can be enjoyed only by those who share His life. The conclusive evidence which for ever scatters doubt and remains abidingly as the immovable ground of confidence in Christ is our individual acceptance of His Spirit. Christ’s life in God, His identification with the ultimate source of life and power, is to become one of the unquestioned facts of consciousness, one of the immovable data of human existence. We shall one day be as sure of His unity with the Father, and that in Christ our life is hid in God, as we are sure that now we are alive. Faith in Christ is to become an unquestioned certainty. How then is this assurance to be attained? It is to be attained when we ourselves as Christ’s agents do greater works than He Himself did, and when by the power of His spiritual presence with us we live as He lived.
Christ calls our attention to this with His usual formula when about to declare a surprising but important truth: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me shall do greater works than these.” Beginning with such evidence and such trust as we can attain, we shall be encouraged by finding the practical strength which comes of union with Christ. It speedily became apparent to the disciples that our Lord meant what He said when He assured them that they would do greater works than He had done. His miracles had amazed them and had done much good. And yet, after all, they were necessarily very limited in number, in the area of their exercise, and in the permanence of their results. Many were healed; but many, many more remained diseased. And even those who were healed were not rendered permanently unassailable by disease. The eyes of the blind which were opened for a year or two must close shortly in death. The paralysed, though sent from Christ’s presence healed, must yield to the debilitating influences of age and betake themselves again to the crutch or the couch. Lazarus given back for a time to his sorrowing sisters must again, and this time without recall, own the power of death. And how far did the influence of Christ penetrate into these healed persons? Did they all obey His words and sin no more? or did some worse thing than the disease He freed them from fall upon some of them? Was there none who used his restored eyesight to minister to sin, his restored energies to do more wickedness than otherwise would have been possible? In one word, the miracles of Christ, great as they were and beneficent as they were, were still confined to the body, and did not directly touch the spirit of man.
But was this the object of Christ’s coming? Did He come to do a little less than several of the great medical discoverers have done? Assuredly not. These works of healing which He wrought on the bodies of men were, as John regularly calls them, “signs”; they were not acts terminating in themselves, and finding their full significance in the happiness communicated to the healed persons; they were signs pointing to a power over men’s spirits, and suggesting to men analogous but everlasting benefits. Christ wrought His miracles that men, beginning with what they could see and appreciate, might be led on to believe in and trust Him for power to help them in all their matters. And now He expressly announces to His disciples that these works which He had been doing were not miracles of the highest kind; that miracles of the highest kind were works of healing and renewal wrought not on the bodies but on the souls of men, works whose effects would not be deleted by disease and death, but would be permanent, works which should not be confined to Palestine, but should be coextensive with the human race. And these greater works He would now proceed to accomplish through His disciples. By His removal from earth His work was not to be stopped, but to pass into a higher stage. He had come to earth not to make a passing display of Divine power, not to give a tantalising glimpse of what the world might be were His power acting freely and continuously in it; but He had come to lead us to apprehend the value of spiritual health and to trust Him for that. And now that He had won men’s trust and taught a few to love Him and to value His Spirit, He removes Himself from their sight, and puts Himself beyond the reach of those who merely sought for earthly benefits, that He may through the Spirit come to all who understood how much greater are spiritual benefits.
This crowning evidence of Christ’s being with the Father and in Him the disciples very soon enjoyed. On the day of Pentecost they found such results following from their simple word as had never followed the word of Christ. Thousands were renewed in heart and life. And from that day to this these greater works have never ceased. And why? “Because I go to the Father.” And two reasons are given in these simple words. In the first place, no such results could be accomplished by Christ because not till He died was the Father’s love fully known. It was the death and resurrection of Christ that convinced men of the truth of what Christ had proclaimed in His life and in His words regarding the Father. The tender compunction which was stirred by His death gave a purchase to the preacher of repentance which did not previously exist. It is Christ’s death and resurrection which have been the converting influence through all the ages, and these Christ Himself could not preach. It was only when He had gone to the Father that the greater works of His kingdom could be done. Besides, it was only then that the greater works could be understood and longed for. The fact is, that the death and resurrection of Christ radically altered men’s conceptions of the spiritual world, and gave them a belief in a future life of the spirit such as they previously had not and could not have. When men came experimentally into contact with One who had passed through death, and who now entered the unseen world full of plans and of vitality to execute them, a new sense of the value of spiritual benefits was born within them. The fact of being associated with a living Christ at God’s right hand has refined the spiritual conceptions of men, and has given a quality to holiness which was not previously conspicuous. The spiritual world is now real and near, and men no longer think of Christ as a worker of miracles on physical nature, but as the King of the world unseen and the willing Source of all spiritual good. We sometimes wonder Christ preached so little and spoke so little as men do now in directing sinners to Him; but He knew that while He lived this was almost useless, and that events would proclaim Him more effectually than any words.
But when Christ gives as a reason for the greater works of His disciples that He Himself went to the Father, He also means that, being with the Father, He would be in the place of power, able to respond to the prayers of His people. “I go unto the Father, and whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do.” No man in Christ’s circumstances would utter such words at random. They are uttered with a perfect knowledge of the difficulties and in absolute good faith. But praying “in Christ’s name” is not so easy an achievement as we are apt to think. Praying in Christ’s name means, no doubt, that we go to God, not in our own name, but in His. He has given us power to use His name, as when we send a messenger we bid him use our name. Sometimes when we send a person to a friend we are almost afraid to give him our name, knowing that our friend will be anxious for our sakes to do all he can and perhaps too much for the applicant. And in going to God in the name of Christ, as those who can plead His friendship and are identified with Him, we know we are sure of a loving and liberal reception.
But praying in Christ’s name means more than this. It means that we pray for such things as will promote Christ’s kingdom. When we do anything in another’s name, it is for him we do it. When we take possession of a property or a legacy in the name of some society, it is not for our own private advantage but for the society we take possession. When an officer arrests any one in the Queen’s name, it is not to satisfy his private malice he does so; and when he collects money in the name of government, it is not to fill his own pocket. Yet how constantly do we overlook this obvious condition of acceptable prayer! To pray in Christ’s name is to seek what He seeks, to ask aid in promoting what He has at heart. To come in Christ’s name and plead selfish and worldly desires is absurd. To pray in Christ’s name is to pray in the spirit in which He Himself prayed and for objects He desires. When we measure our prayers by this rule, we cease to wonder that so few seem to be answered. Is God to answer prayers that positively lead men away from Him? Is He to build them up in the presumption that happiness can be found in the pursuit of selfish objects and worldly comfort? It is when a man stands, as these disciples stood, detached from worldly hopes and finding all in Christ, so clearly apprehending the sweep and benignity of Christ’s will as to see that it comprehends all good to man, and that life can serve no purpose if it do not help to fulfil that will–it is then a man prays with assurance and finds his prayer answered. Christ had won the love of these men and knew that their chief desire would be to serve Him, that their prayers would always be that they might fulfil His purposes. Their fear was, not that He would summon them to live wholly for the ends for which He had lived, but that when He was gone they should find themselves unfit to contend with the world.
And therefore He gives them the final encouragement that He would still be with them, not indeed in a visible form apparent to all eyes, but in a valid and powerful spiritual manner appreciable by those who loved Christ and strove to do His will. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,” another Advocate, one called to your aid, and who shall so effectually aid you that in His presence and help you will know Me present with you. “I will not leave you comfortless, like orphans: I will come to you.” Christ Himself was still to be with them. He was not merely to leave them His memory and example, but was to be with them, sustaining and guiding and helping them even as He had done. The only difference was to be this–that whereas up to this time they had verified His presence by their senses, seeing His body, hearing His words, and so forth, they should henceforward verify His presence by a spiritual sense which the world of those who did not love Him could not make use of. “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also.” They would find that their life was bound up in His; and as that new life of theirs grew strong and proved itself victorious over the world and powerful to subdue men’s hearts to Christ and win the world to Christ’s kingdom, they should feel a growing persuasion, a deepening consciousness, that this life of theirs was but the manifestation of the continued life of Christ. “At that day they would know that Christ was in the Father, and they in Him, and He in them.”
Consciousness, then, of Christ’s present life and of His close relation to ourselves is to be won only by loving Him and living in Him and for Him. Lower grades of faith there are on which most of us stand, and by which, let us hope, we are slowly ascending to this assured and ineradicable consciousness. Drawn to Christ we are by the beauty of His life, by His evident mastery of all that concerns us, by His knowledge, by the revelation He makes; but doubts assail us, questionings arise, and we long for the full assurance of the personal love of God and of the continued personal life and energy of Christ which would give us an immovable ground to stand on. According to Christ’s explanation given in this passage to His disciples, this deepest conviction, this unquestionable consciousness of His presence, is attained only by those who proceed upon the lower grades of faith, and with true love for Him seek to find their life in Him. It is a conviction which can only be won experimentally. The disciples passed from the lower to the higher faith at a bound. The sight of the risen Lord, the new world vividly present to them in His person, gave their devotedness an impulse which carried them at once and for ever to certainty. There are many still who are so drawn by spiritual affinity to Christ that unhesitatingly and unrepentingly they give themselves wholly to Him, and have the reward of a conscious life in Christ. Others have more slowly to win their way upwards, fighting against unbelief, striving to give themselves more undividedly to Christ, and encouraging themselves with the hope that from their hearts also all doubts will one day for ever vanish. Certain it is that Christ’s life can only be given to those who are willing to receive it–certain it is that only those who seek to do His work seek to be sustained by His life. If we are not striving to attain those ends which He gave His life to accomplish, we cannot be surprised if we are not sensible of receiving His aid. If we aim at worldly ends, we shall need no other energy than what the world supplies; but if we throw ourselves heartily into the Christian order of things and manner of life, we shall at once be sensible of our need of help, and shall know whether we receive it or not.
Christ’s promise is explicit–a promise given as the stay of His friends in their bitterest need: “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him.” It will still be a spiritual manifestation which can be perceived only by those whose spirits are exercised to discern such things; but it will be absolutely satisfying. We shall find one day that Christ’s work has been successful, that He has brought men and God into a perfect harmony. “That day” shall arrive for us also, when we shall find that Christ has actually accomplished what He undertook, and has set our life and ourselves on an enduring foundation–has given us eternal life in God, a life of perfect joy. Things are under God’s guidance progressive, and Christ is the great means He uses for the progress of all that concerns ourselves. And what Christ has done is not to be fruitless or only half effective; He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied–satisfied because in us the utmost of happiness and the utmost of good have been attained, because greater and richer things than man has conceived have been made ours.
These utterances are fitted to dispel a form of unbelief which seriously hinders many sincere inquirers. It arises from the difficulty of believing in Christ as now alive and able to afford spiritual assistance. Many persons who enthusiastically admit the perfectness of Christ’s character and of the morality He taught, and who desire above all else to make that morality their own, are yet unable to believe that He can give them any real and present assistance in their efforts after holiness. A teacher is a very different thing from a Saviour. They are satisfied with Christ’s teaching; but they need more than teaching–they need not only to see the road, but to be enabled to follow it. Unless a man can find some real connection between himself and God, unless he can rely upon receiving inward support from God, he feels that there is nothing which can truly be called salvation.
This form of unbelief assails almost every man. Very often it results from the slow-growing conviction that the Christian religion is not working in ourselves the definite results we expected. When we read the New Testament, we see the reasonableness of faith, we cannot but subscribe to the theory of Christianity; but when we endeavour to practise it we fail. We have tried it, and it does not seem to work. At first we think this is something peculiar to ourselves, and that through some personal carelessness or mistake we have failed to receive all the benefit which others receive. But as time goes on the suspicion strengthens in some minds that faith is a delusion: prayer seems to be unanswered; effort seems to be unacknowledged. The power of an almighty spirit within the human spirit cannot be traced. Perhaps this suspicion, more than all other causes put together, produces undecided, heartless Christians.
What, then, is to be said in view of such doubts? Perhaps it may help us past them if we consider that spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and that the one proof of His ascension to God’s right hand which Christ Himself promised was the bestowal of His Spirit. If we find that, however slowly, we are coming into a truer harmony with God; if we find that we can more cordially approve the Spirit of Christ, and give to that Spirit a more real place in our life; if we are finding that we can be satisfied with very little in the way of selfish and worldly advancement, and that it is a greater satisfaction to us to do good than to get good; if we find ourselves in any degree more patient, more temperate, more humble,–then Christ is manifesting in us His present life in the only way in which He promised to do so. Even if we have more knowledge, more perception of what moral greatness is, if we see through the superficial formalisms which once passed for religion with us, this is a step in the right direction, and if wisely used may be the foundation of a superstructure of intelligent service and real fellowship with God. Every discovery and abandonment of error, every unmasking of delusion, every attainment of truth, is a step nearer to permanent reality, and is a true spiritual gain; and if in times past we have had little experience of spiritual joy and confidence, if our thoughts have been sceptical and questioning and perplexed, all this may be the needful preliminary to a more independent and assured and truer faith, and may be the very best proof that Christ is guiding our mind and attending to our prayers. It is for “the world” to refuse to believe in the Spirit, because “it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.”
It may also be said that to think of Christ as a good man who has passed away like other good men, leaving an influence and no more behind Him, to think of Him as lying still in His tomb outside Jerusalem, is to reverse not only the belief of those who knew Christ best, but the belief of godly men in all ages. For in all ages both before and after Christ it has been the clear conviction of devout souls that God sought them much more ardently and persistently than they sought God. The truth which shines most conspicuously in the experience of all the saved is that they were saved by God and not by themselves. If human experience is to be trusted at all, if it in any case reflects the substantial verities of the spiritual world, then we may hold it as proved in the uniform experience of men that God somehow communicated to them a living energy, and not only taught them what to do, but gave them strength to do it. If under the Christian dispensation we are left to make the best we can for ourselves of the truth taught by Christ and of the example He set us in His life and death, then the Christian dispensation, so far from being an advance on all that went before, fails to supply us with that very thing which is sought through all religions–actual access to a living source of spiritual strength. I believe that the resurrection of Christ is established by stronger evidence than exists for any other historical fact; but apart altogether from the historical evidence, the entire experience of God’s people goes to show that Christ, as the mediator between God and man, as the representative of God and the channel of His influence upon us, must be now alive, and must be in a position to exert a personal care and a personal influence, and to yield a present and inward assistance. Were it otherwise, we should be left without a Saviour to struggle against the enemies of the soul in our own strength, and this would be a complete reversal of the experience of all those who in past ages have been engaged in the same strife and have been victorious.