Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles (May 3, 2021) Joh 14:6-14

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.

9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. ISA 35:8-9

John Gill

No lion shall be there—That is, in the way before described; no wicked persons, comparable to lions for their savage and cruel dispositions towards the people of God; for those who have been as such, as Saul before conversion, yet when brought into this way become as tame as lambs. The Targum interprets it of tyrannical kings and princes,

“there shall not be there a king doing evil, nor an oppressive governor”;

And Jarchi applies it to Nebuchadnezzar, as in Jer 4:7 and the sense may be, that when this way shall be more known on earth, in the latter day, there will be no persecutor of the church and people of God: or else Satan, the roaring lion, is here meant, who has no part nor lot in this way of salvation; and all that are in it are out of his reach; and though he may disturb in the paths of duty and ordinances, yet he can never destroy those who are in Christ the way:

Nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it—Upon the high way; the same may be intended as before:

They shall not be found there—Walking, ravaging, and destroying:

But the redeemed shall walk there—Without fear, as Kimchi adds, since no lion, or any beast of prey, shall be found upon it: the “redeemed” are the redeemed of the Lord, and by him, and are peculiarly his, being bought with his precious blood, redeemed from among men, and unto God, and from sin, the law, its curse, and condemnation; these “shall walk” in the way of life and salvation by Christ, in consequence of their being redeemed; which supposes life, strength, and wisdom, which are given them, and a proficiency or going forward: they “shall” walk here; though they have been blind, their eyes shall be opened to see this way; and, though weak, they shall have strength to walk in it; and, though foolish, they shall have wisdom to guide their feet with discretion; and, though they may stumble and fall, they shall rise again, and shall keep on walking to the end.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

John Gill

If you had known me—Christ having made mention of his Father’s house, and of himself, as the way there, and the way of access to the Father, was willing to inform his disciples better concerning him before his departure from them, which he introduces, saying: “if you had known me”; that is, more fully and perfectly; for that they knew Christ to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and true Messiah, is certain, though they were not so thoroughly acquainted, as afterwards, with his person, power, and office:

You would have known my Father also—For the knowledge of the Father, and of Christ, go together; he that sees the one, sees the other; he that believes in the one, believes in the other; and the knowledge of both is necessary to eternal life; and as a person increases in the knowledge of the one, so of the other. The disciples had some knowledge of them both, but what was very small and obscure, in comparison of what they afterwards had:

From now on you do know him and have seen him—Some read these words, “henceforwards you shall know him, and see him”; that is, in a very short time, when the Spirit is poured down from on high upon you, and you have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you shall then have an enlarged knowledge both of me and my Father. Others render them, as an exhortation, “henceforward know him”; acknowledge the Father in all that I have done, believing that you see the Father in me, and in all my works; though they are rather to be considered as an assertion, declaring, that they then had some knowledge of the Father; “and now you do know him and,” or “because you have seen him”; in me, who am “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

John Gill

The Lord descended in the cloud—The same with the cloudy pillar, which was now gone up from the door of the tabernacle, and was on high in the air over the mount, and on which the Lord now descended in it, as he had before (Exo 19:9, 16, 18):

And stood with him there—Not Moses stood with the Lord, as the Vulgate Latin version; but the Lord, or the cloud in which the Lord was, stood near to Moses:

And proclaimed the name of the Lord—Jehovah declared with a loud voice out of the cloud, that the Lord was there; the Targum of Jonathan is,

“and Moses called on or in the name of the Word of the Lord;”

and so the Vulgate Latin version refers it to Moses, and renders the words, “calling on the name of the Lord”; but the following verse clearly shows that it must be understood of the Lord, and not of Moses.

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Rashi

The Lord, the Lord—This is the attribute of divine mercy. It is repeated, once for before the person sins, and once for after he sins and repents (Rosh Hashanah 17b).

God—This is also an attribute of divine mercy, and so he the Psalmist says: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psa 22:2). One cannot say to the attribute of stern justice, “Why have you forsaken me?” I found this in Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 15:2:2.

Slow to anger—He defers his anger and does not hasten to punish—it may be that the sinner will repent.

And abounding in steadfast love—To those who need steadfast love because they lack sufficient merits.

And faithfulness—Faithfully rewarding those who perform his will.

7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” EXO 34:5-7

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

John Gill

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long”—Conversing familiarly with you, instructing you by my ministry, and performing so many miraculous works among you, for so long a time; see (Heb 5:11-12);

And you still do not know me, Philip? Surely you cannot be so ignorant as this comes to; as you have seen me with your bodily eyes, as a man, you must, know that I am God by the doctrines I have taught you, and the miracles I have wrought among you: and

Whoever has seen me—Not with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his understanding; he that has beheld the perfections of the Godhead in me:

Has seen the Father—The perfections which are in him also; for the same that are in me are in him, and the same that are in him are in me: I am the very image of him, and am possessed of the same nature, attributes, and glory, that he is; so that he that sees the one, sees the other:

How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Such a request is a needless one, and betrays great weakness and ignorance.

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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

John Gill

Do you not believe that I am in the Father? This surely is, as it must needs be, and ought to be, an article of your faith, “that I am in the Father,”

And the Father is in me—Phrases which are expressive of the sameness of nature in the Father and the Son; of the Son’s perfect equality with the Father, since the Son is as much in the Father, as the Father is in the Son; and also of the personal distinction there is between them; for nothing with propriety can be said to be in itself. The Father must be distinct from the Son who is in him, and the Son must be distinct from the Father, in whom he is; the Father and Son, though of one and the same nature, cannot be one, and the same person:

The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority—The doctrines which I preach among you are a proof of what I assert, and to them I appeal; for these are not of myself, as man,

But the Father who dwells in me—And so prove that I am truly God, of the same nature with my Father; that he is in me, and I in him; since they are such as none but the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, could ever have declared and made known to you; Likewise, the works which I do, as man, I do not of myself; but

Does his works—For so this passage must be understood and supplied, in which Christ proceeds to another argument, taken from his works, proving the Father to be in him, and that he is in the Father, which, is enlarged on in Joh 14:11.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

12 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John Gill

Whatever you ask in my name—Whether it be for assistance in preaching of the gospel; or for the performance of miraculous operations in confirmation of it; or for success to attend it; or for any blessings whatever, whether for themselves or others:

This I will do—He does not say, that he would be a mediator between God, and them, an advocate with the Father for them, and would intercede, and use his interest with him that it might be done, which would have been saying much, and all which he does; but he declares he will do it himself, which is a proof of his deity, and an instance of his omnipotence:

That the Father may be glorified in the Son—This may be referred either to the petition, which must be made with this view, that the Father may be glorified by, or in the Son, in whose name it is put up, and for whose sake it is made; or to Christ’s promise to do it; who in doing it, seeks not his own glory, at least not singly; but as the good of his people, so the glory of his heavenly Father.

14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

John Gill

If you ask me anything in my name—These words are much, the same with the former, and have been thought, by some, to have crept into the text from the margin; though they seem rather to be repeated by Christ, the more to strengthen and confirm the faith of his disciples in this matter; that whatever they asked

In my name—Either calling upon it, he being equally the object of prayer with the Father, or making mention of it, pleading the merits of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; whatever was according to the will of God, was for his glory, and their real good, he would do it for them, as well when absent from them, as present with them.