Wednesday, November 3, 2010

John 14: A Different Perspective

Written By Rev. James Groce

Thoughts on the "we" and "our" of John 14:23-24

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
KJV


The nouns and pronouns can easily be mixed up in John 14:23 and a wrong rendering of them can change the complete meaning of the verse.

First notice that Jesus' discussion is "If a man" and "love Me" -- this is a one-on-one discussion.

Notice also "My words" - again a singular possessive state.

Now read the verse while obeying the grammatical rendering of the comma enclosed phrases. "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words" -- thus far this is VERY plain. One-on-one.

Now the remainder of the verse ended in a colon (a mark indicating an effect or a logical conclusion of the former statement.)

:and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Now the sequence is: My Father will love "him" -- the individual that "keeps My words."

and "we" -- the only TWO persons in the discussion - Jesus and the one who keeps His words.

... will come unto HIM -- indicating the Father (No one can come to God but through Jesus Christ).

... and make OUR (Jesus and the keeper of His words) abode with Him (The Father).

Why? Because of the CONTEXT...... remember this is a continuation of:

Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: (ABODE) if it were not so,I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place (ABODE) for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

The first 3 important parts of scripture interpretation is
1 - context
2 - context
3 - context

Jesus Christ did not only have actions in 2 different realms as God and as Man .... but His language was often coming forth from either of the two.... that is why, to understand the duality of Jesus Christ, it is imperative to understand from which realm He is speaking from when we read the scriptures. It is obvious that "I thirst" was from the human realm while "Peace, be still!" was from the authority of God. Trinitarians never sense these differences at all.

1 comment:

  1. As I heard that passage today, it seemed to jump out at me that (after) someone loves (sees and believes) Jesus THEN we (Father, Son, HOly Spirit) will come. If you wouldn't mind to elaborate, it would be great, thanks.

    ReplyDelete