John 14 begins, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
“Many mansions”
John 14:2 and 3 contains one of the more difficult passages to understand. If heaven were the place of man’s reward, we could say that Jesus is going to heaven to prepare dwelling places for all of his saints. He would then come back, gathering them to himself and returning with them to heaven where their places will be waiting for them. But such an explanation cannot be right, for scripture is perfectly clear, “the upright shall inherit the earth and dwell therein for ever” (Psa. 37:9,11,18,22,29,34; Matt. 5:5).
A possible explanation is that Jesus ascends to the Father, where he is given a position at God’s right hand. Together, the Father and Son intervene in the affairs of the world, preparing individuals through circumstance to be fit to stand before Jesus when he returns. When Jesus returns, he judges the living and the dead, rewarding the faithful with places in the kingdom that he has been preparing for them. He then takes them unto himself where they “will ever be with the Lord.”
This sounds reasonable enough, but in what follows we propose an alternative which may be a better fit to the Greek words used and to the Lord’s own expressions throughout John.
Consider the Greek words used
“Come” — First, note John’s use of the common Greek word for “come,” which is erchomai or a derivative thereof. In John 13:33, Jesus said to the disciples that as he had said to the Jews, “Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” In 13:36,
Peter determinedly questioned him, “Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now: I will lay down my life for thy sake.”
In John 14, Jesus tells the 11 that he will be going somewhere. He then tells them he will come back again, and that when he does, he will “receive” them. He tells them, “Whither I go ye know.” In verse 18, he seems to be telling them that even though he is going to leave to “prepare a place” for them, in some way he “will come to” them.
“House” — The term “house” is from the Greek oikia, which can mean either the physical dwelling place or the family.
“Mansions” is from mone, with the corresponding verb being meno. These words can refer either to the act of residing or to the place of residence. The Greek may be rendered as abide, abode, dwell or dwelling.
“Place” — is from topon which can mean “place in a general sense” as well as “sanctuary” or “opportunity or occasion.” An interesting use of the word in the Greek Old Testament (the LXX) is found in Genesis 13:14, were it refers to the “place where his tent was.” In other words, the place where he lived. (Definitions are from Strong’s Concordance and Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.)
While the word oikia (“house”) is used only six times by John, mine (“mansions”) and meno are found 68 times including several instances in this chapter: “the Father that dwelleth in…he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…the Spirit of truth…he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you…we [the Father and Son] will come unto him and make our abode with him…These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you” (John 14:10,16,23,25).
“Comforter” — We should also note Christ’s use of the term parakletos, which is used only five times by John in the gospel and his three epistles. Four times it refers to the “comforter” and once to Jesus as the “advocate.”
In John 14:16, Jesus states he will approach the Father in prayer so that the Father will provide them with “another comforter.” This indicates that Jesus had filled that role himself. He did so when he called his disciples to him in order to explain his words, parables and miracles. Essentially that is what parakletos means — para, along side; kletos, to call or one called in to help as an advocate.
Later, when Jesus has gone “to prepare a place for them,” God sends the “Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom [He] will send in my [Jesus’] name.” Jesus explains that, through the Spirit, they will be able to remember things they may have forgotten, and they will be taught all things.
Because of this function, the “Comforter” is also termed “the Spirit of truth:” “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” (John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7; I John 2:1).
A suggested paraphrase
The repeated use of these terms in a concentrated area by a single writer is probably not accidental. Based on the use of the words and ideas elsewhere in John, John 14:2 and 3 and associated verses could be paraphrased as follows:
“My Father dwells in me; He abides in me, for at this time, I am His house. His purpose is to dwell in others: if it were not so, I would have told you. Earlier, I told you that you could not follow me; at this time, you can’t. I am going to go — I am going to die. But that won’t be the end; that will just be the beginning. It is necessary that I die, that I might taste death for every man. When I am raised from the dead some three days later, I will begin to effect a change in you and others who choose to follow me. This change will affect your minds and hearts for now; later, it will affect you physically, for you shall be changed, you shall become like me, you shall be made immortal. In that way, the Father will be able to fully abide in you. That change will occur when I return, when I come back for you to establish my kingdom.
“But for now, when I come back following my resurrection, I will have to leave you. But I will not leave you alone.
“My Father and I have determined to give you a means to face the intense, immediate challenges you will have to face. I have been your comforter; it is fitting we give you another comforter.
“I will be in the heavens, at the right hand of my Father, working as your advocate on earth; we will offer you the strength of His spirit, even the spirit of truth. I am the living word; I am the truth. The spirit of truth lives in me. When I leave, it will become necessary for me to leave that spirit of truth with you, or you might be lost. The spirit of the Father which dwells in me will in measure abide in you. That spirit will be your comforter now, as long as you abide in truth.
“I told you that the world cannot receive the spirit of truth because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
“You will not be left alone! Don’t be troubled, don’t worry. I’ll be there for you. There will come a time when I will not be evident to the world. As far as the world is concerned, I will be gone. But I won’t really be gone. Because I live, ye shall live also. At that instant, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. My Father lives in me. I’m going to make it possible for Him to live in you as well. Then, you will live in me and I will live in you.
“This same thing will be true of all those who will follow me, to those in whom my word lives. That word will also enlighten and encourage you all to do my works; that word will also preserve you all at my coming. Then, all of us will be together in the kingdom of the God and Father of us all.”
The use of the Greek terms in this manner does not violate the meaning of the words. Throughout this section, the stress appears to be on the intention of the Father to dwell or to abide not only in His Son, Jesus Christ, but also in a multitude. The life and death of His Son set an example of obedience that should serve to motivate us to overcome our natural inclinations and be more like him. If we are, we too will rise to a newness of life. We will become Yahweh Elohim!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One