Yohanes 14:20

14:20 You will know at that time ¹  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.

Yohanes 14:23-24

14:23 Jesus replied, ²  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ³  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ⁴  14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey ⁵  my words. And the word ⁶  you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

Yohanes 14:28

14:28 You heard me say to you, ⁷  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ⁸  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ⁹ 

Yohanes 14:31

14:31 but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know ¹⁰  that I love the Father. ¹¹  Get up, let us go from here.” ¹² 

[14:20]  ¹ tn Grk “will know in that day.”

[14:20]  sn At that time could be a reference to the parousia (second coming of Christ). But the statement in 14:19, that the world will not see Jesus, does not fit. It is better to take this as the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples (which has the advantage of taking in a little while in v. 19 literally).

[14:23]  ² tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[14:23]  ³ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:23]  ⁴ tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.

[14:24]  ⁵ tn Or “does not keep.”

[14:24]  ⁶ tn Or “the message.”

[14:28]  ⁷ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ⁸ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ⁹ sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[14:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “may learn.”

[14:31]  ¹¹ tn Grk “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, thus I do.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to conform to contemporary English style.

[14:31]  ¹² sn Some have understood Jesus’ statement Get up, let us go from here to mean that at this point Jesus and the disciples got up and left the room where the meal was served and began the journey to the garden of Gethsemane. If so, the rest of the Farewell Discourse took place en route. Others have pointed to this statement as one of the “seams” in the discourse, indicating that the author used preexisting sources. Both explanations are possible, but not really necessary. Jesus could simply have stood up at this point (the disciples may or may not have stood with him) to finish the discourse before finally departing (in 18:1). In any case it may be argued that Jesus refers not to a literal departure at this point, but to preparing to meet the enemy who is on the way already in the person of Judas and the soldiers with him.