John 14

The Way, the Truth, the Life

1 "Do not let your (pl) heart be distressed; you believe into God and you believe into me.*A Greek verb is ambiguous in the 2nd person plural between Indicative and Imperative, and since that form occurs in both clauses here, there are four possibilities—Ind. Ind., Ind. Imp., Imp. Ind., Imp. Imp. The choice is up to the translator, which is why you will find differences among the versions at this point. We have already been told, in John 6:64, that Jesus knew who did not believe; it follows that He also knew who did. He knew that the eleven believed, so it seems more likely to me that He spoke in the Indicative. He is appealing to them to be consistent with their belief. 2 In my Father’s house are many dwellings*‘House’ and ‘dwelling’ translate different words. I suppose that "my Father’s house" is a synonym for Heaven. (otherwise I would have told you).*You can find quite a variety of interpretations and translations of this clause. I assume that the Lord had certainly given them teaching on the subject of Heaven; He here assures them that if their expectations were false He would have warned them. I take it that over 95% of the Greek manuscripts do not have "that" introducing the next clause. I am going away to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.*He wants us. We are important to Him. So much so that before He created our race He had determined to pay the price for our redemption—1 Peter 1:19-20.