Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary
This week’s lection, John 14:23-29, is again taken from Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” in which he prepares his disciples for his imminent departure. Jesus speaks of three promises, or divine gifts, each as crucial for sustaining faith in our day as they were for the disciples. First, Jesus promises that the Father and Son will “make their home” with believers (v 23). Next, Jesus announces for the first time in this discourse the critically important role of the Holy Spirit in Christian faith, as advocate and teacher (v 26). Third, Jesus confers peace upon his disciples—a peace unlike any the “world,” or cosmos, can offer (v 27). We find echoes of these assurances in ensuing chapters. Any one of these assurances can become the main theme of a sermon; one can indicate along the way its interrelationship with the other two.
That the Creator and Redeemer shall “make their home” or “dwell alongside” believers is an astonishing promise, suggesting a profoundly level of divine immanence only dimly seen in the Hebrew scriptures. (One thinks of Gen 5:24, which speaks of Enoch “walking with” God.) A preacher might reflect on the striking claim that God refuses to stand aloof from us, making God’s own the full range of human experience, how ever mundane or transcendent.
The “dwelling alongside” of the Trinity with us is mediated by the Holy Spirit; yet the Spirit’s role is also described by Jesus as distinctive. The Spirit shall remind believers of Jesus’ teachings, impart new knowledge, and guide the community of faith. Of all Jesus’ farewell promises, this one has surely engendered the most difficult questions . How does one distinguish between one’s own wishful thinking and the promptings of the Spirit? When a community of faith is divided over a pressing issue, how shall we discern whose position is “more” Spirit-led? In chs 14-16, Jesus elaborates on this promise. At times, the Spirit’s teaching will remind believers of Jesus’ words (v 26c). Yet, Jesus also suggests that the Spirit will introduce new insights—ones that his disciples cannot yet “bear” (Jn 16:12-13). Across the centuries, some church polities have limited discernment of the Spirit’s guidance to the discretion of select ecclesiastical leaders; others see discernment as a local, grassroots responsibility. For some, ancient precedent is paramount, while others consider the impact of a shifting historical context. It is helpful to make listeners aware of these differences, and to suggest, as well, that even in personal quandaries, the community aids our discernment.
Finally, Jesus imparts to us a peace the world cannot give. Whether we are beset by personal pain and anxiety, or caught up in widespread socio-political upheaval or military conflict, we are held in trustworthy divine hands. Forbears in faith bear witness: though the foundations shake, Christ grants a peace stronger than our bone-rattling fear, and a love strong as death.
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St John 14:23-29
The Father will send the Holy Spirit
14:23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
14:25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.
14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
14:28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
[23 ] ἀπεκρίθη ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ με, τὸν λόγον μου τηρήσει, καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ἀγαπήσει αὐτόν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα καὶ μονὴν παρ᾽ αὐτῷ ποιήσομεν.
[24] ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν με τοὺς λόγους μου οὐ τηρεῖ· καὶ ὁ λόγος ὃν ἀκούετε οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με πατρός.
[25] Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν μένων·
[26] ὁ δὲ παράκλητος, τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ῞Αγιον ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνος ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα καὶ ὑπομνήσει ὑμᾶς πάντα ἃ εἶπον ὑμῖν.
[27] Εἰρήνην ἀφίημι ὑμῖν, εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν· οὐ καθὼς ὁ κόσμος δίδωσιν, ἐγὼ δίδωμι ὑμῖν. μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία μηδὲ δειλιάτω.
[28] ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν, ὑπάγω καὶ ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς· εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ με, ἐχάρητε ἂν ὅτι εἶπον, πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· ὅτι ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστι·
[29] καὶ νῦν εἴρηκα ὑμῖν πρὶν γενέσθαι, ἵνα ὅταν γένηται πιστεύσητε.
Comments
[23] ἀπεκρίθη: 3rd pers. sg., pass. aor. <ἀποκρίνομαι, ‘I answer’; the LXX almost always and the NT freq. uses the pass. aor. ἀπεκρίθην (LSJ s.v. IV. 1 &3; EDNT s.v. 1). ‘The preposition ἀπό in the sense of “suitable, based upon (an evaluation)” underscores the element of circumspect selection and judgment’ (EDNT ibid.). By virtue of its etymology this vb betokens a well thought out answer; but it freq. seems to be simply formulaic for ‘to answer, reply’.
μονὴν: μονή, ἡ, ‘dwelling’, cf. the vb μένω, ‘remain, abide’; cf. the pres. part. μένων, v. 25.
[24] καὶ ὁ λόγος ὃν ἀκούετε οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με πατρός: the conj. καὶ (‘and’) is contrastive here (=’and yet’).
The possessive and emphatic pronominal adj. ἐμός (‘MINE’) rhymes with πατρός, sg. genitive of πατήρ, ‘father’. (The end-rhyming of successive phrases or sentences is called homoioteleuton.) ‘MINE’ and ‘of the father’ are harmoniously bound in sound and theological meaning.
[26] ὁ δὲ παράκλητος: παράκλητος, substantive, ‘(legal) advocate’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., I.1); not found in LXX. In St John it has a different meaning, which he explains in the same verse through apposition.
τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ῞Αγιον ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνος: ‘the Holy Spirit’ (grammatically neuter in Gk) stands in apposition to ‘Paraclete’, and is explanatory (epexegetical). The demonstr. pron. ἐκεῖνος (‘that one’) is grammatically masculine, and picks up ’Holy Spirit’. So ‘Paraclete’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ are aligned with the masculine person ‘that one’.
[27] μηδὲ δειλιάτω: δειλιάω, ‘to be afraid’, ‘be fainthearted’ (LSJ & EDNT, s.v.); koine. Jesus personifies ‘heart’ when he urges ‘Don’t let your heart be afraid’. The adj. δειλός can mean ‘cowardly’ in Homer & cl. Gk (LSJ s.v. I.1).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 