John 14:2

John 14:2-4 . In my Father’s house — From whence I came, whither I am going, and to which place I am conducting you; are many mansions — or apartments (he alludes to the palaces of kings) sufficient to receive the holy angels, your predecessors in the faith, and all that now believe, or shall hereafter believe, even a great multitude, which no man can number. Our Lord means by the expression, different states of felicity in which men shall be placed, according to their progress in faith and holiness. If it were not so — If there were no state of felicity hereafter, into which good men are to be received at death, I would have told you so, and not have permitted you to impose upon yourselves by a vain expectation of what shall never exist; much less would I have said so much as I have done to confirm that expectation: but as it is in itself a glorious reality, so I am now going, not only to receive my own reward, but to prepare a place for you there. By passing into the heavens, as your great High-Priest, through the merit of my sacrifice, and by appearing in the presence of God as your Advocate and Intercessor, I shall procure for you an entrance into that place, which otherwise would have been inaccessible to you.

And if I then go and prepare a place for you — You may depend upon it that this preparation shall not be in vain; but that I will certainly act so consistent a part as to come again and receive you to myself, that where I am — And shall for ever be; ye — After a short separation; may be also — To dwell for ever with me, and partake in my felicity. And — Surely I may say in the general, after all the instructions I have given you; that whither I go ye know, &c. — That ye cannot but know the place to which I am going, and the way that leads to it; for I have told you both plainly enough.

John 14:2 . As an encouragement to this trust, He adds, ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ … ὑμῖν . He is going home to His Father’s house, but had there been room in it only for Himself He would necessarily have told them that this was the case, because the very reason of His going was to prepare a place for them, ὅτι assigns the reason for the necessity of explanation: the reason being that His purpose or plan for His future would require to be entirely altered had there been no room for them in His Father’s house. “My Father’s house” is used in John 2:16 of the Temple: here of the immediate presence of the Father and of that condition in which His love and protection are uninterruptedly and directly experienced. This is most naturally thought of as a place, but with the corrective that “it is not in heaven one finds God, but in God one finds heaven”. Cf. Godet. In this house, as in a great palace, cf. Iliad , vi. 242, μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν . μονή ( μένειν ), only here and in John 14:23 , means a place to abide in, and was used of a station on a journey, a resting place, quarters for the night, and in later ecclesiastical Greek a monastery. See Soph., Lexicon . “Mansions” reproduces the Vulgate “mansiones”. See further Wright’s Bible Word-Book . εἰ δὲ μὴ … “were it not so, I would have told you,” “ademissem vobis spem inanem,” Grotius.

Had there been no such place and no possibility of preparing it, He necessarily would have told them, because the very purpose of His leaving them was to prepare a place for them. ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον , a figure derived from the custom of sending forward one of a party to secure quarters and provide all requisites. Cf. the Alcestis , line 363: ἀλλʼ οὖν ἐκεῖσε προσδόκα μʼ , ὅταν θάνω , καὶ δῶμʼ ἑτοίμαζʼ , ὡς συνοικήσουσά μοι . What was involved in the preparation here spoken of is detailed in Hebrews. Cf. Selby’s Ministry of the Lord , 275.

House (οἰκίᾳ) The dwelling-place. Used primarily of the edifice (Matthew 7:24; Matthew 8:14; Matthew 9:10; Acts 4:34). Of the family or all the persons inhabiting the house (Matthew 12:25; John 4:53; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Matthew 10:13). Of property (Matthew 23:14; Mark 12:40). Here meaning heaven. Mansions (μοναὶ) Only here and John 14:23. From μένω to stay or abide. Originally a staying or abiding or delay. Thus Thucydides, of Pausanias: "He settled at Colonae in Troas, and was reported to the Ephors to be negotiating with the Barbarians, and to be staying there (τὴν μονὴν ποιούμενος, Literally, making a stay) for no good purpose" (i., 131). Thence, a staying or abiding-place; an abode. The word mansion has a similar etymology and follows the same course of development, being derived from manere, to remain. Mansio is thus, first, a staying, and then a dwelling-place. A later meaning of both mansio and μονή is a halting-place or station on a journey. Some expositors, as Trench and Westcott, explain the word here according to this later meaning, as indicating the combination of the contrasted notions of progress and repose in the vision of the future. This is quite untenable. The word means here abodes.

Compare Homer's description of Priam's palace: "A palace built with graceful porticoes, And fifty chambers near each other, walled With polished stone, the rooms of Priam's sons And of their wives; and opposite to these Twelve chambers for his daughters, also near Each other; and, with polished marble walls, The sleeping-rooms of Priam's sons-in-law And their unblemished consorts." "Iliad," vi., 242-250. Godet remarks: "The image is derived from those vast oriental palaces, in which there is an abode not only for the sovereign and the heir to the throne, but also for all the sons of the king, however numerous they may be." continued...

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, {a} I would have told you. I go to {b} prepare a place for you. (a) That is, if it were not as I am telling you, that is, unless there was room enough not only for me, but also for you in my Father's house, I would not deceive you in this way with a vain hope, but I would have plainly told you so. (b) This whole speech is an allegory, by which the Lord comforts his own, declaring to them his departure into heaven; and he departs not to reign there alone, but to go before and prepare a place for them.

Our Lord’s first argument brought to comfort them, from the place whither he was going, and the end of his going thither. The place whither he was going was his Father’s house, so as they needed not to be troubled for him, he was but going home; nor was God his Father only, but theirs also, as he afterwards saith, I go to my Father, and your Father. And here he tells them, that in his Father’s house there was not only a mansion, that is, an abiding place for him, but for many others also. Our days on the earth (saith David, 1 Chronicles 29:15 ) are as a shadow, and there is no abiding; but in heaven there are monai, abiding places. We shall (saith the apostle, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 ) be ever with the Lord. And the mansions there are many; there is room enough for all believers. I would not have deceived you; if there had been no place in heaven but for me, I would have told you of it; but there are many mansions there. I go to prepare a place for you: the place was prepared of old; those who shall be saved, were of old ordained unto life. That kingdom was prepared for them before the foundation of the world; that is, in the counsels and immutable purpose of God. These mansions for believers in heaven were to be sprinkled with blood: the sprinkling of the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry, were typical of it; but the heaven things themselves with better sacrifices than these, saith the apostle, Hebrews 9:21,23 .

By his resurrection from the dead, and becoming the first fruits of those that sleep; by his ascension into heaven, as our forerunner, Hebrews 6:20 ; by his sitting at the right hand of God, and making intercession for us; he prepares for us a place in heaven. And thus he comforteth his disciples, (as to the want of his bodily presence), as from the consideration of the place whither he went, so from the end of his going thither, which was, to do those acts which were necessary in order to His disciples’ inheriting those blessed mansions which were prepared for them from before the foundation of the world.

John 14:2 . Οἰκίᾳ , house ) He shows already whither He is going .—V. g.] A rare appellation of the heavenly habitation: a house of residence, into which are admitted children, and in which the Father dwells. Jesus looks beyond His sufferings to the goal. Comp. Hebrews 12:2 , “Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross;” 2 Timothy 4:7 , [so Paul in a dungeon before his martyrdom] “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”— τοῦ Πατρός μου , of My Father ) In the beginning of this sermon, Jesus often adds the pronoun to the mention of His Father; but as He gets forward in it, and at its close, after that He has taken precaution to establish His own pre-eminence above believers, and has stirred up the disciples to faith, He speaks as it were more in common, calling God, the Father , namely, Mine, and at the same time also yours.— μοναί , mansions ) This refers to place, not to time [ places of abode; not times of abode]; and it is said in the plural, on account of the multitude of those whom that common mansion contains.— πολλαί ) many , so as to contain angels and your predecessors in the faith, and you, and very many more. By the plural number itself there appears also to be implied a variety of the mansions: for He does not say, a great mansion , but many mansions . Comp.

Revelation 21:16 , note, “The city lieth four-square,” etc.— εἰσίν , there are ) already now , and from the beginning.— εἰ δὲ μή , but if it were not so ) If there were not already [many mansions].— εἷπον ἄν ) I would tell , or rather, I would have told you. Concerning the pluperfect, comp. ch. John 4:10 , note [ σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας — καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν ]. “What would He have told them? This very thing, which follows, πορεύομαι , I go . Parodying [an adaptation of] the very similar passage, ch. John 16:26 , illustrates the sentiment here: I have not said to you, that I would prepare a place for you; for already there ARE mansions, and those numerous .— πορεύομαι , I go ) to the home of My Father.— ἑτοιμάσαι , to prepare ) He does not altogether deny that He prepares the place, with which comp. the following verse, where He Himself affirms it: but each of the two statements mutually qualifies the other. But see, what force there may lie in the order of the words: in John 14:2 it is said, τόπον ὑμῖν , a place for you ; in John 14:3 , ὑμῖν τόπον , for you a place : the first word in each instance respectively containing the emphasis, as in 1 Corinthians 7:22 , note [ κληθεὶς — ἀπελεύθερος ,— ἐλεύθερος κληθείς ]. The place itself is already prepared: but for you it has yet to be prepared. The one preparation is absolute, the other relative. The beginning of the third verse, καὶ ἐάν , and if , does not depend on εἶπον , I would have told you, but stands by itself.