15 14:15“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 14:16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 14:17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 14:18“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 14:19Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 14:20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 14:21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 14:22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 14:23Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 14:24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 14:25“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 14:26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 14:27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 14:28You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 14:29And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 14:30I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 14:31but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”
Jesus has announced his departure and has begun to explain what the disciples will continue to do in his name once he has gone. In John 14:15–31 Jesus promises to send the Spirit of truth to those who love him and keep his commandments. The Spirit will indwell them, establishing them as the place of God’s presence (vv. 15–17). Jesus also promises to manifest himself to his followers after his resurrection (vv. 18–21) and explains that the Spirit will mediate both his and the Father’s presence (vv. 22–24), teaching them and reminding them of all that Jesus has said (vv. 25–31). The indwelling presence of the Spirit will empower the followers of Jesus to love him and to do all that he has commanded.
In verse 15, Jesus returns to the love command from 13:34–35, explaining that if his disciples love him, they will keep his commandments. The commandments most nearly in view are those to love one another (13:34–35), to trust him (14:1), and to believe that he is in the Father and the Father in him (v. 11). Our actions demonstrate what we truly care about. Jesus declares in verse 15 that the actions of his followers will show whether or not they love him. If they love him, they will obey him.
Jesus also promises that he will intercede with the Father on behalf of those who love him (v. 16). The specific request Jesus will make of the Father will result in the Father’s giving the disciples “another Helper.” This implies that Jesus has been their helper, and with Jesus’ departure the Spirit will be sent to be with them forever. Jesus has just referred to himself as “the truth” (v. 6), and so when he identifies the other helper as “the Spirit of truth” (v. 17), he implicitly declares that those who love him will receive his Spirit.
Jesus intercedes for those who love and obey him, with the result that the Father gives them the Spirit (vv. 15–16). The world does not love or obey Jesus, and Jesus does not intercede on its behalf (cf. 17:9). In keeping with this, the world cannot receive the Spirit that Jesus promises to his followers (14:17). Just as those who have not been born again cannot see the kingdom of God (3:3), so also those who have not been born again can neither see nor know the Spirit (14:17).
The Spirit came down upon Jesus to remain upon him (1:33), and by being with Jesus the disciples have been with the Spirit. That is the sense in which the Spirit dwells with them (14:17). Whereas the world cannot receive the Spirit (v. 17), when Jesus appears to his disciples on the day of the resurrection in chapter 20, he will breathe on them and tell them to receive the Holy Spirit (20:22). This Spirit will take up residence within them, constituting them the temple of the Holy Spirit (cf. 14:23).
Jesus has just promised the disciples that they will continue to do the works he has done, and even greater ones, because he goes to the Father (v. 12). In verses 15–17 Jesus explains that not only will his answering their prayers enable them (vv. 13–14); his own prayers will result in the Father’s giving the Spirit to indwell and remain with the disciples of Jesus.
14:18–21 I Will Come to You. Having spoken of what the disciples will do while he is gone (vv. 12–14) and of the Spirit that will indwell them during that time (vv. 15–17), Jesus again asserts that he will come back for his disciples (v. 18), saying that he will not leave them as orphans (cf. vv. 2–3).
Jesus explains that after he is crucified, the world will not see him, but the disciples will (v. 19), and from what he says at the end of verse 19 about his disciples’ living because he does, he seems to be referring to the way he will appear to his disciples but not to the world after the resurrection. Verse 20 also seems to refer to the time after the cross when Jesus has been raised. John indicates at several points that the disciples were enabled to understand after Jesus completed his work (2:22; 12:16; 20:9), and in keeping with this, Jesus says that the disciples will understand what he has been teaching “in that day” (14:20). The day in view is the day when the disciples see him again, after his resurrection. At that point the disciples will understand the relationship between Jesus and the Father, between Jesus and themselves, and between themselves and the Spirit. Specifically in verse 20, they will know that Jesus is in the Father, that they are in him, and that he is in them. Here again Jesus mediates the kind of relationship he has with his Father to his disciples (cf. 1:18 and 13:23; 13:20).
In 14:20 Jesus indicates that the disciples will understand the Trinity and their own union with Christ. In the Trinity, three persons share one nature. In Christ, one person shares two natures, human and divine, and Jesus says in verse 20 that just as he is contained in the Father, so the disciples will be contained by Jesus yet also will contain him at the same time. The Spirit of truth will be in the disciples (v. 17), mediating the ongoing presence of Jesus to them. The indwelling Spirit will create a living, continual, empowering relationship uniting Jesus to his disciples.
In verse 21 Jesus restates the thought of verse 15: Those who love, trust, and believe what Jesus taught will also do as Jesus taught, thereby demonstrating their love for him. Those who love Jesus will be loved by the Father. God is pleased by those who obey, those who love, those who trust, those who believe what Jesus taught. In the same way, those who obey Jesus will be loved by him. There is no greater motivation for obedience than the love of God. If the love of God does not motivate us to obey, nothing will.
Jesus does not say these things because people must earn God’s love. This is not the way love works, and it would be against the logic of 3:16, where God loves a hostile world by sending his Son to save it. Rather, Jesus is communicating the outcome of obedience in order to motivate obedience. We understand this by analogy to our own experience. Anyone with responsibility for other people appreciates those who follow instructions. We grow in affection for those who make sacrifices for the causes we lead. We feel love for those who trust us and take risks because they believe what we have said. The same holds in this case: those who love Christ and obey him win the favor and love of God and Christ.
Jesus also promises at the end of 14:21 that those who love him and keep his commandments will receive further revelation of Jesus: he will manifest himself to those who love him. The way to experience more of Jesus is to obey his commandments.
14:22–24 My Father Will Make a Home with You. In verse 22, the not-Iscariot Judas asks Jesus about the final words of verse 21. The manifestation in view includes the promise that “you will see me” (v. 19), and there too Jesus had said that the world would not see him. What Jesus says about how he will manifest himself to those who love him (v. 21) applies first to his resurrection appearances to the disciples (cf. John 20–21). Beyond that, however, because Jesus has spoken of the disciples’ being in him and he in them (14:20), and because he will speak of himself and the Father as making a home with those who love Jesus (v. 23), the manifestation of Jesus in view goes beyond the resurrection appearances and includes the spiritual relationship between Jesus and those who love and obey him.
It seems that the Father and Jesus make their home with those who love and obey them (v. 23) by means of the indwelling Spirit of truth (vv. 16–17). Those who are indwelt by the Spirit are indwelt by the Father and the Son as well. The term used to describe the “home” of the Father and Son in verse 23 is the same term used for the “rooms” of the Father’s house in verse 2. Jesus goes to the Father to prepare the Father’s house, by means of his death and resurrection. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will indwell those who love and obey Jesus, constituting them the Father’s house, the temple of the Holy Spirit (v. 23).
The connection with the temple helps us understand why Jesus promises to reveal himself to those who love and obey: under the old covenant, the sacrificial system at the temple allowed the holy God to live among a sinful people. The sacrifice of Christ fulfills the old covenant sacrifices, but God is still holy. If God is to live among his people, to be present with them, they must keep the commands of Jesus and love, trust, and believe what Jesus has taught.
In verse 24, Jesus explains why people disobey him; they disobey because they do not love him. We choose what we desire most. Those who love Jesus are motivated by an overwhelming desire to love him and please him by their actions, and so they obey. Those who do not love Jesus are motivated by any number of other concerns, all of which result in disobedient sin.
Once again Jesus communicates his unity with the Father (v. 24), saying that the word he has spoken is in fact the Father’s own word. When Jesus speaks, the Father speaks.
14:25–31 The Spirit Will Teach You. The Spirit will not only be with the disciples to empower them by mediating God’s new covenant presence to them; he will also teach them. Jesus develops the idea of the Spirit as “another Helper” (v. 16), explaining that while he is with them he is teaching them (v. 25), but when he goes away, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will teach them (v. 26). Just as Jesus instructed the disciples to pray in his name (vv. 13–14), so will the Father send the Spirit in his name (v. 26). This means that the Holy Spirit will continue to minister in accordance with the message, purpose, and character of Jesus as he reminds the disciples of all that Jesus said.
Because Jesus has fully disclosed his destination and purpose (vv. 1–6), revealed the fullness of his relationship with the Father (vv. 7–11), and assured the disciples they will continue his ministry as he answers their prayers (vv. 12–14) and provides the presence and power of the Spirit (vv. 15–26), Jesus can say to them that he leaves peace with them (v. 27). This is a peace the world could never offer. Because of the unique provision Jesus makes for them and its surpassing quality, he again urges them not to let their hearts be troubled (v. 27; cf. v. 1).
Returning to the idea of his departure, Jesus says that if his disciples loved him, they would rejoice that he goes away (v. 28). This reference to Jesus’ going to the Father again alludes to the cross and the accomplishment of salvation. Jesus adds that the Father exceeds even him in greatness. Jesus seems to mean that if the disciples loved him, they would focus on all that God would accomplish by his departure—which would have prompted them to rejoice—instead of focusing on what they stood to lose by his departure.
Jesus again tells the disciples that he has predicted the future in order to strengthen their faith in him when his predictions come true (v. 29; cf. 13:19). In doing so, Jesus emulates the Father, who asserted his unique ability to declare the future, challenging the false gods to do the same while knowing full well that they never could (cf. Isa. 44:6–8).
Although there are three more chapters of Jesus’ speaking in John’s Gospel (chs. 15–17), he tells the disciples that he will not speak much more with them (14:30). In comparison with the three years he has spent with them, there is not much time left before he will be betrayed and arrested. Jesus alludes to this when he speaks of the ruler of this world’s coming (v. 30). Satan entered Judas (13:27), and with Judas on the way, Satan is on the way.
Jesus then asserts that Satan has no claim on him (14:30), and the only reason Jesus will be taken is that he is obeying the Father and demonstrating to the world his love for the Father by laying down his life (v. 31; cf. 10:17–18).
Perhaps at this point the Passover meal (which Jesus transformed into the Lord’s Supper) has ended, so that when Jesus invites his disciples to rise and depart they begin to make their way to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, where Judas and the soldiers will find him (“Rise, let us go from here”; 14:31). If this is the case, prior to the prayer in chapter 17, which Jesus perhaps prayed in Gethsemane, the content of chapters 15 and 16 could have been spoken with the disciples en route.
1 Or Advocate, or Counselor; also 14:26; 15:26; 16:7
2 Some manuscripts and is