John 14:1-31
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
C .S. Lewis argued that accepting Jesus solely as a Great Moral Teacher presents a logical inconsistency when considering Jesus' Own claims about His Identity...Many people are initially drawn to Jesus' ethical teachings, such as love, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and great empathy, finding them profound and universally appealing, even without embracing His Divinity...This perspective often focuses on the practical wisdom of His words, viewing Him merely as a historical figure akin to other moral philosophers...However, Lewis contended that Jesus' moral teachings cannot be divorced from His extraordinary claims about Himself, which far surpass those of any other moral leader...He spoke with Divine Authority, forgave sins, and made statements about His nature that, if untrue, would render Him either a deliberate deceiver or a deluded madman...Claims like being the sole path to the Father or existing before Abraham are not the words of a mere human teacher...Furthermore, Jesus accepted worship, an act a truly moral but non-divine person would typically reject...Thus, Lewis presented his trilemma: Jesus was either the LORD He claimed to be, a liar of the worst kind, or a lunatic profoundly out of touch with reality...He concluded that the option of Jesus being simply a Great Moral Teacher is not logically sustainable given the weight and nature of His self-assertions...If His Divine claims are false, His moral teachings are either compromised by His deceit or undermined by His delusion of thinking that He was God, leaving Him no credible middle ground...
The Apostle John, in the fourteenth chapter of his Gospel, records Jesus making profound statements that directly support the "LORD" aspect of Lewis's trilemma, revealing His Divine Nature and Unique Relationship with the Father...John writes about Jesus speaking of going to the Father and preparing a place for His disciples, implying a direct and intimate connection to His Father’s house and the authority to prepare a future for His followers there...Then Jesus declares such a powerful statement saying, "I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life...No one comes to the Father except through Me," claiming an exclusive and Divine Role...This is one of the most direct claims of His unique and indispensable role in humanity's relationship with God...By stating "I AM," He uses language reminiscent of God's self-declaration in the Old Testament ("I AM WHO I AM," Exodus 3:14)...He positions Himself as the only path to the Father, asserting an exclusive and divine mediation...
Further solidifying these claims to Divinity, Jesus unequivocally states, "I and the Father are One" (John 10:30), a declaration implying shared Divine Essence and equality with God...Revealing the very Nature of the Godhead through Himself, Jesus declared, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9), asserting that His Being perfectly manifests the Divine...To know Him is to know the Father, for He and the Father share an inseparable Divine Identity...Furthermore, He claims to be the exclusive Way, the very Truth – the Ultimate Reality of the Godhead – and the Life, the very essence of Divine Existence offered to humanity...These profound declarations, asserting His intrinsic connection to the Godhead, demand a choice, echoing Lewis's trilemma...Either Jesus was speaking the Truth about His Divine Nature and His Oneness with the Father, or He was profoundly mistaken or intentionally deceptive, undermining any claim to being simply a "Great" Moral Guide...His words compel us to consider the weight of His Divine pronouncements...
These passages in John 14 collectively and powerfully articulate Jesus' claim to a special, unique, and Divine Relationship with God the Father, going far beyond that of a prophet or mere human being...They form a cornerstone of the theological understanding of Jesus' Divinity, compelling believers to recognize Him not just as a Teacher, but as God Incarnate...