Articles
My Fathers House - John 14:2
My Fathers House - John 14:2
Jesus said: “In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2)
Dwelling places: Mansions (KJV), or ‘rooms’ (ESV/NIV), or ‘dwelling places’ (NASB95)?
This is translated from the Greek noun ‘Mone’; and the verb form ‘menw’ means to stay, remain, or abide. Hence the noun means 1) a state of remaining in an area, 2) a place in which one stays.
Jobes remarked: Since mone is used in the context of ‘the house of my Father,” rooms is an appropriate translation.
What about the KJV “Mansions”? That comes from the Latin Vulgate: mansions. At the time the king James was translated, it meant simply a place to stay without the connotation of opulence. BUT that is almost an unknown understanding of the English word ‘mansion’ today.
Note also John 14:23: “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home (Greek: ‘mone’) with him.”
Here we have the 2nd use of the Greek word ‘mone’. Here it is a mutual/reciprocal relationship: the disciples will ‘abide’ (have an abiding place in Christ) and the Father and Son have an abiding place in the disciples.
Gundry: “The plural form monai in verse 2 emphasizes the individuality of the places which all believers have in Christ.” The church is the temple, a dwelling place for God in His people.
“I GO” to prepare. It is in fact the ACT of his going that prepares the abiding place, i.e., his coming announced death.
Floyd Thompson once explained this passage saying: “no one really thinks that Jesus went to do a remodel job on heaven!”
His coming again and reuniting and abiding is through the resurrection. Hence vs. 23, the Father and the Son will come and make their home with us. And so it is!
Does that then ‘exclude’ any understanding of ‘heaven’? No, for Gundry points out that the “concept of heaven as a house is found elsewhere in Jewish writings.
Abide (the related verb menw) – appears 16 times in the NASB95 version of John.
His word is to abide in us (5:38). Those who feed upon him are the ones who abide in him and HE in us (6:56). It is by abiding in his word that we are His disciples (8:31). Then the discourse on the vine, the branch, and the need of fruit bearing uses the concept of ‘abiding’ many times.. 15:4, 5, 6, 7, 9,10, 16.
The Way? His D/B/R IS THE WAY, and there is no other way! Thus He IS THE WAY, the truth and the life (John 14:6). When we are converted, we then have our relationship with Jesus and we must ABIDE in Him– and He in us.
Hugh DeLong
