Sunday, 10th May 2026, Easter 6
John 14: 15-21
Christ our advocate
14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
14:17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
14:18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.
14:19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.
14:20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
14:21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
15 Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσατε,
16 καὶ ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν, ἵνα μένῃ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα,
17 τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει αὐτό· ὑμεῖς δὲ γινώσκετε αὐτό, ὅτι παρ’ ὑμῖν μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται.
18 Οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς· ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
19 Ἔτι μικρὸν καὶ ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ με, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσεσθε.
20 Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε ὑμεῖς ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.
21 Ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου καὶ τηρῶν αὐτάς, ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με· ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ ἐγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν.
Comments
The pericope begins with the verb ‘to love’ and culminates with an interlacing of the verb in various forms. By means of the three parallel and concentric statements in v. 20, the syntax itself stages the mutual interpenetration of Jesus with his Father and of his audience with him.
[14] ἀγαπᾶτέ με: pres. subj., ἀγαπῶ (άω), ‘love’ (in its Christian sense). The vb is already attested in Homer (Od. 23.214) in the weaker sense ‘to welcome, show affection to’. (‘Love’ as a passion was denoted in ancient Greek by ἐρῶ (άω) and related words. That said, a red-figure vase of the classical period depicts an attractive woman, perhaps a courtesan, who is labelled Ἀγάπη.) Cf. v. 21 for various forms of ἀγαπῶ.
[16] παράκλητον: παράκλητος, a legal term in cl. Gk, means ‘defender, advocate’ < παρακαλῶ (έω), ‘I summon’ (cl. Gk) , hence ‘I call someone (acc.) to my defence’ (Herodotus 34.29). The juridical noun is endowed, of course, with another meaning in NT.
[17] τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας: In its root sense in Archaic Greek poetry, the ‘truth’, ἡ ἀλήθεια (< privative ἀ-/ NON + λήθη, forgetting, oblivion), is the preserve of the Muses and poets, and is immune to oblivion. As G. Nagy remarks, ‘one must not be unmindful of whatever is true, and such truth must be not only memorable but also absolutely unforgettable.’ See https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/about-greek-aletheia-truth-marcel-detienne-challenges-martin-heidegger/
οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει αὐτό: θεωρῶ (έω), in cl. Gk fetches to mind theatre-going (cf. θέατρον, ‘theatre’), hence can mean ‘attend as a spectator’. It can also mean (e.g., in Plato) ‘I contemplate’ (cf. ‘theory’). Already in Aristotle and koine Greek, θ. = ‘I observe, see’, the meaning here.
γινώσκω (koine for γιγνώσκω) = ‘know, perceive’, c. acc. obj. The vb means ‘know by observation’, cf. ‘discern’, and is distinct from οἶδα, ‘I know by reflection’. The connection of γινώσκω with perception/ sensation is confirmed by οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ.
[18] Οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς· ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς: ὀρφανός, ‘orphan’, already in Homer. Its root sense ‘deprived of’ (cf. Latin orbus, ‘deprived of’) becomes a frequent metaphorical sense in Greek, as in our passage. (Mythic Orpheus, separated by death from his wife, may just be a generic ‘deprived’ figure.)
ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς: the vb, in the present, may be taken as a prophetic future (‘I shall come to you’); cf. v. 19, Ἔτι μικρὸν καὶ ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ. ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, not connected by a conjunction to the preceding sentence, is an instance of asyndeton, and explanatory (‘for I shall come to you’).
[19] ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσεσθε: ζῶ, ‘I live’, which can refer to animals, human beings, and plants. The inclusion of the personal pronouns lends emphasis (‘I live and you live’).
[20] ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν: ἐν ‘is by far the most frequent prep. in the NT’ (EDNT s.v., p.448); it always governs a dat. It can be, among other usages, spatial (‘in, at or on’) or instrumental.
The subjects ἐγὼ and ὑμεῖς are emphatic; εἰμί is understood in the first and third statement; ἐστέ is understood in the second (middle) statement. The three short parallel statements are concentric; the 2nd and 3rd statements evoke a chiasm, an AB ~ ba crosswise interlacing.
3rd May 2026
John 14: 1-14
14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.
14:2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
14:4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
14:5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
14:7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
14:12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
14:13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14:14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
1 Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία· πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε.
2 Ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν· εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν· πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν·
3 καὶ ἐὰν πορευθῶ καὶ ἑτοιμάσω ὑμῖν τόπον, πάλιν ἔρχομαι καὶ παραλήψομαι ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε.
4 Καὶ ὅπου ἐγώ ὑπάγω οἴδατε, καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν οἴδατε.
5 Λέγει αὐτῷ Θωμᾶς· Κύριε, οὐκ οἴδαμεν ποῦ ὑπάγεις· καὶ πῶς δυνάμεθα τὴν ὁδὸν εἰδέναι;
6 Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι’ ἐμοῦ.
7 Εἰ ἐγνώκειτέ με, καὶ τὸν πατέρα μου ἐγνώκειτε ἄν. Καὶ ἀπ’ ἄρτι γινώσκετε αὐτὸν καὶ ἑωράκατε αὐτόν.
8 Λέγει αὐτῷ Φίλιππος· Κύριε, δεῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἀρκεῖ ἡμῖν.
9 Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· τοσοῦτον χρόνον μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωκάς με, Φίλιππε; Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα· καὶ πῶς σὺ λέγεις, δεῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν πατέρα;
10 Οὐ πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστι; τὰ ρήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λαλῶ ὑμῖν, ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ· ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ὁ ἐν ἐμοὶ μένων αὐτὸς ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα.
11 Πιστεύετέ μοι ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί· εἰ δὲ μή, διὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτὰ πιστεύετέ μοι.
12 Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, τὰ ἔργα ἃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ κἀκεῖνος ποιήσει, καὶ μείζονα τούτων ποιήσει, ὅτι ἐγὼ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου πορεύομαι,
13 καὶ ὅ,τι ἂν αἰτήσητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, τοῦτο ποιήσω, ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ.
14 Ἐάν τι αἰτήσητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐγὼ ποιήσω.
Comments
The two crisscross patterns (chiasmata) interlinking Jesus and the Father in vv. 3 and 10 are to my mind among the most telling and effective examples of this figure of speech in the NT. Syntax here expresses consubstantiality through image and sound (AB ~ BA). Jesus is the way, ἡ ὁδὸς; had he said simply ἐγώ εἰμι ὁδὸς, the sense would be ‘I am a way.’ Cyril of Alexandria (c. 379- 444), in his Commentary on John, Book ix, ch. 14 (on vv. 5-6) states that Jesus is the way, ‘for the Son is in nature and essence an Image of God the Father.’ (Cyril offers the most systematic treatment of John 14:1-14 in his comments.) The idea of motion and directionality is prominent in the pericope, beginning with ‘way’.
[1] πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε: πιστεύω, ‘trust, put faith in’ is construed with dat. in cl. Greek; in koine the dat. is still possible, as in v. 11, but πιστεύω + εἰς (‘to’) + acc. seems more usual.
πιστεύετε, twice repeated, may be an imperative or an indicative, or an alternation of these moods (the first vb being indicative, the second imperative, or vice versa). After the initial command (‘Do not be troubled’), it seems rather likely that ‘believe’ is also in the imperative. The two sentences form a chiaston, a crisscross pattern, ‘Believe in God~ in me believe’, which interlaces God and Jesus. A similar pattern occurs in v. 11, interlocking the Father and Jesus.
[2] Ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν· εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν· πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν: the asyndeton, i.e. absence of a conjunction or particle linking the second and third sentences, suggests that the statement πορεύομαι, etc. has a causal force (‘for I am going …’). Πορεύομαι + another vb is a Hebraism attested in the LXX, suggesting ‘determined and deliberate action’ (Muraoka s.v. πορεύομαι, 3); hence the construction here means ‘I am set to prepare…’ The same usage occurs in v. 3, ἐὰν πορευθῶ καὶ ἑτοιμάσω, etc. The idea of movement recurs throughout, e.g., in vv. 5, ὑπάγεις, and 10, πορεύομαι.
As it stands, the Greek text reads differently from the English translation: ‘In my father’s house there are many apartments; if it were otherwise, I would have told you; for I am set to prepare a place for you.’
μοναὶ: μονή (< μένω, ‘lodge, stay’) means ‘apartment’ (for the first time in John); it can also be mean ‘quarters’ (for soldiers) in later Greek.
τόπον: τόπος (m.), ‘place’ ‘district’ (cl. Gk.); ‘room in a house’ (2nd c. AD). Cf. Engl. topography.
[3] ἐὰν: the cond. conj. here means ‘when’; R.E. Brown, The Gospel according to John…, p.620 ad loc.
πάλιν ἔρχομαι καὶ παραλήψομαι ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν: πάλιν ἔρχομαι, in effect, ‘I shall return’, the pres. tense being prophetic since it express an absolutely certain futurity. (This can be matched in cl. Gk, as I have noted in previous comments.)
παραλήψομαι ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν: παραλαμβάνω, c. acc. pers., ‘to take along to some place (LXX: Muraoka s.v., 2). πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ‘to myself’, virtually refers to a place, and implies an intimate relationship between Jesus and his addressees.
[4] τὴν ὁδὸν οἴδατε: οἶδα, a more general term than γιγνώσκω, means ‘to know’; properly it means ‘know by reflection’ (LSJ). In cl. Gk. the 2n pers. pl. is ἴστε.
ὁδὸν: ὁδὸς = ‘way, road’. The word, already in Homer and in cl. Gk., can denote direction esp. when combined with a prep. phrase, e.g. εἰς (‘to’) + acc.
[5] οὐκ οἴδαμεν: if Thomas were speaking cl. Gk he would have said ἴσμεν.
τὴν ὁδὸν εἰδέναι: εἰδέναι, inf. of οἶδα, shows that οἶδα (a perfective form) is etymologically related to εἶδον, ‘I saw, have seen’. οἶδα/cognition suggests mental vision. τῆς ἀληθείας ὁδός (‘the way to the truth’) occurs in a Eurpides fr. (LSJ). See on v. 6 immed. below.
[6] ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή: The assertion in this verse is a ‘revelation formula’ (EDNT s.v. ὁδὸς, p. 492).
ἐγώ, not being grammatically necessary in Greek, is an emphatic subject of the sentence, ‘I am…’ The definite article ἡ preceding each of the three nouns expresses a specific notion: Jesus is the way, etc., not a way. He is the way towards or to what? The juxtaposition of ‘way’, ‘truth’, and ‘life’ is a polysyndeton, and may (in my opinion) in effect mean ‘the way to the truth and life’. R. E. Brown, op. cit., pp.620-1 canvasses the various interpretations of this juxtaposition of nouns.
ἡ ἀλήθεια: In its root sense in Archaic Greek poetry, the ‘truth’, ἡ ἀλήθεια (< privative ἀ-/ ‘non’ + λήθη, forgetting, oblivion), is the preserve of the Muses and poets, and is immune to oblivion. As G. Nagy remarks, ‘one must not be unmindful of whatever is true, and such truth must be not only memorable but also absolutely unforgettable.’ See https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/about-greek-aletheia-truth-marcel-detienne-challenges-martin-heidegger/
ἡ ζωή: ‘life’, ‘way of life’ (cl. Gk). It can refer to the life of animals, human beings, and plants. I leave the theological meaning of ‘life’ in this passage to specialists.
οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα: πρὸς + acc. denotes motion or direction towards or to (LSJ).
δι’ ἐμοῦ: διά + genetive = ‘through’, ‘by means of’.
[7] Καὶ ἀπ’ ἄρτι γινώσκετε αὐτὸν καὶ ἑωράκατε αὐτόν: ἀπ’ ἄρτι = ‘now, just now’; ἄρτι without the prep. ἀπ(ό) would have sufficed.
γινώσκω (koine for γιγνώσκω) = ‘know, perceive’, c. acc. obj. The vb means ‘know by observation’, cf. ‘discern’. Thus in Greek you can say, οἶδ’ ὅτι γιγνώσκετε τοῦτον ἅπαντες, ‘I know by reflection that all of you know him by observation’ (Demosthenes 18. 276). The connection of γινώσκω with perception/ sensation is confirmed by ἑωράκατε αὐτόν, ‘you have seen him’.
[8] δεῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν πατέρα: δεῖξον, 2nd pers. sg., aor. imper., repeated in v. 9, < δείκνυμι, alternative form δεικνύω, ‘show, point out’; ‘make known’ (cl. Gk).
[10] ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστι: ἐν ‘is by far the most frequent prep. in the NT’ (EDNT s.v., p.448). It always governs a dat., and can be spatial (‘in, at or on’) or instrumental.
ἐγὼ is emphatic; εἰμί is understood. Not only are the two sentences parallel to one another, but they also form a chiasma i.e., a neat interlacing of ‘I’ and ‘the father’: ‘I in the father’ ~ ‘father in me’ (AB ~ BA). This crosswise pattern mirrors the mutuality between, and interlocking—the very consubstantiality of— Son and Father. Cf. v. 11.
ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ: ἀπό + gen. = ‘from, of’. Here the phrase = ‘of myself, of my own accord’.
[12] ἐγὼ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου πορεύομαι: πορεύομαι = ‘go, walk, journey’; cf. v. 6, ἔρχεται (‘come, go’). The prep. phrase πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου designates the destination (so also Exeg. Dict. NT s.v. πορεύομαι, p. 136).
[13] ὅ,τι ἂν αἰτήσητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου: the phrase ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου is instrumental. The preoccupation with a divine name in prayer does not appear to be Greek.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 