A Study of John 14:8-14

“Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 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’? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “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. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

John 14:8-14 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

Philip asked Jesus to show him and the other disciples the Father and it would be enough for them. Then Jesus asked Philip if he still did not know Him after being with them for so long. To see Jesus is to see the Father, so how could Philip say, “Show us the Father”? Jesus also asked Philip if he believed Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. The words Jesus spoke were not said in only His authority but by the authority of the Father Who is in Christ and performed His works in Christ. Jesus then told Philip to believe that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, or at the very least to believe because of the miraculous works He did.

After this Jesus said whoever believes in Him will do the works He does; in fact they would do even greater works because Jesus was returning to the Father. Whatever the followers of Jesus ask in His Name, Jesus will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If we ask anything in Jesus Name, He will do it.

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

In the previous verses Jesus told the disciples He alone is “the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” After hearing this, in verse 8, Philip responded to Jesus saying, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Because Philip and the other disciples had come to know Jesus they had seen the Father (Jesus and the Father are one), but they did not realize it yet. While they loved and greatly respected Jesus they had not come to fully understand that in Jesus God has made Himself fully known. So, while they knew Jesus by now, they still did not know Him well; certainly not as well as they thought they did. With this being the case, Philip asked Jesus to reveal God to them more fully.

In doing this Philip joined with the masses of humanity throughout the ages who have come to understand there is no higher or more transcendent experience possible than to come face to face with God our Creator. This desire is etched onto all of our hearts, because we have all been made in God’s image. And while we have all fallen short of His glory we still eagerly yearn for the communion we were made to enjoy with Him. As Augustine put it, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Moses expressed this desire in Exodus 33:18 saying to Yahweh (God), “Now show me your glory.” But he was only allowed to glimpse the trailing edge of God’s back as He passed by. However, in the opening verses of this gospel account, John made it clear that now, in Jesus Christ, God has made Himself known to mankind visibly. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God incarnate as fully God and fully human.

In verse 9, to begin His response to Philip, Jesus said, “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’?”. These words from Jesus may have a bit of sadness in them. The opponents of Jesus may not have recognized Him as God, but they had not listened to Him and spent the time with Him that Philip and the other disciples had. Philip had been very close to Jesus, but He and the others still did not really understand who He is. This exhibited their remaining spiritual blindness, and this blindness is no less common today.

For this reason Jesus reiterated teaching He had given on numerous occasions before, which is that to know Him is to know God the Father. To witness Jesus’ love is to witness God’s love, and to see Jesus act is to see God act. No mere human has the right to describe themselves the way Jesus does; He described Himself as being one with the Father because He is God incarnate (John 10:30). God is one Being Who exists as three separate but perfectly unified Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and Jesus is God the Son incarnate as man.

As the theologian Merril Tenney put it, “No material image or likeness can adequately depict God. Only a person can give knowledge of him since personality cannot be represented by an impersonal object.” This idea does away with the notion that the Old Testament represents a harsh, cruel God, while the New Testament represents a different God of love. Jesus reveals the same God of love, mercy and compassion that has always existed. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and passages such as Exodus 34:5-9, where God’s loving character is extolled are seen in Jesus.

Next, in verse 10, Jesus continued on to say, “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.” Jesus’ question, “Do you not believe?” implies the disciples should have understood and believed Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. This describes the mutual indwelling of Jesus and the Father, and these words from Jesus again harken back to John 10:30 (“I and the Father are one.”).

However, this does not remove the distinction between Jesus and the Father. Jesus and the Father are one Being, but also separate Persons, hence why Jesus says His words and works are given to Him by the Father (John 5:19, 8:28, 12:49), but the opposite cannot be said. The Father does not receive His words and works from Jesus (the Son). The Father and Son are equal in divinity but they are distinct Persons Who fulfill different roles within the Triune Godhead. Because of their perfect unity, Jesus visibly and fully reveals God to us, but while Jesus, God the Son, is God, the Father is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, the Son is not the Father, The Father is not the Son, nor is the Holy Spirit the Father or the Son. They are one Being but three distinct Persons. God’s triune nature is complex but not illogical. We should expect the nature of the infinite God of all creation to present some complexities our finite minds struggle to fully comprehend.

For this reason verses 9-11 cannot be understood as Jesus speaking of Himself as merely an ambassador or envoy of God. His words leave no room for such an interpretation. Jesus said “everything” He does and says is what the Father gave Him to say and do. This is not the language of simply a human prophet. No purely human prophet perfectly represents God. Jesus is using Divine sonship language. No prophet or envoy would call the God Who sent them their Father, or claim that to see and hear them is to see and hear the Father. Jesus is no mere human prophet; He is God incarnate as fully God and fully human. God is fully revealed to mankind in Jesus and the supreme event of God’s revelation to man in John’s gospel is the death/exaltation of Jesus on the cross, after which, following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the disciples will receive the indwelling Holy Spirit (God in them) Who will enable them to finally grasp this knowledge which they still struggle to comprehend.

After this, in verse 11, Jesus said, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Jesus called the disciples to believe what He said, and told them even if they had trouble fully comprehending the meaning of His words, to believe because of the miraculous works they had witnessed. Jesus made a similar appeal in John 5:36 and 10:37-38, and here explains these miracles are meant to be understood as signs of His divinity. Considering His many miracles, such as the turning of water into wine, the multiplication of loaves and fish, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead, should lead one to conclude that the kingdom of God is at work in the ministry of Jesus and that Jesus is the head of this kingdom. As D.A. Carson puts it in his commentary on this passage, “The miracles are non-verbal Christological signposts.”

Next, in verse 12, Jesus went on to say, “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.” In the previous verses Jesus taught the disciples to have faith in Him and now in verses 12-14 He will discuss the sort of fruitfulness that comes about as a result of their faith in Him. Importantly, these promises of fruitfulness apply to everyone who has faith in Jesus, not just the apostles. And the promise Jesus makes is monumental. Not only will those who have faith in Him do what He does, but they will do even “greater works” because Jesus is going to the Father.

The Greek word translated in the ESV as “works” can also be translated as “things.” Both are legitimate translations but “things” might be a little more helpful for us to understand Jesus’ meaning. The word is meant to describe a wide range of things including humble deeds, acts of love, proclamation of truth and even sometimes miracles. But the phrase “greater works” does not mean more supernatural or spectacular deeds, because it is hard to imagine any believer (and indeed none can be named) who performed more numerous and spectacular works than Jesus, Who in His earthy life changed water into wine, healed scores of sick and lame, multiplied loaves and fish, and raised at least 3 people from the dead. While believers have been used by God to perform miracles, none have done more than Jesus. So what does Jesus mean?

Jesus’ “going to the Father” gives us a clue. There is a sense in which Jesus’ glory was somewhat veiled before the cross, but now that He has died and rose again, His glory can be more clearly manifested through His followers by the power of His Spirit. Jesus expects His followers to carry on His work, and His return to the Father signals the initiation of a new world order wherein God begins to establish His kingdom on earth amongst all peoples of the world. The works done by Jesus’ followers become greater than the works He did in His earthly life because His followers now receive the Holy Spirit Who enables them to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations thus bringing more people to true, saving faith in Jesus than ever came to faith in Jesus during the time of His earthly life. While the “greater works” does not exclusively describe the greater numbers coming to Jesus, greater numbers coming to Jesus is a result of these greater works enabled by the Spirit of Christ working in and through His church.

Continuing on, Jesus finished this thought in verses 13-14 by saying, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Here, Jesus further explains why greater things will be done now that He has gone back to the Father. The fruitfulness of Jesus’ followers will come about as a result of our prayers in Jesus’ name. Notice that these verses further Jesus’ claim that prayers to Him are prayers to God i.e. Jesus is God and Jesus and the Father are one. Therefore, prayers to God may be directed to the Father or to Jesus in Jesus’ name, and Jesus is the Person of the Trinity Who fulfills the role of granting these prayers. This shows that the “greater works” Jesus spoke of describes the difference between the works Jesus did during His earthly life and the “greater works” Jesus performs through His followers around the world to this very day.

Since Jesus’ death, resurrection and exaltation He has returned to the glory He enjoyed with the Father from eternity past and is no longer subject to the human limitations He willingly chose to endure for the duration of His earthly ministry. Jesus’ redemptive work has been accomplished and His victory over sin, death and the evil ruler of this world has been completed. Now His kingdom is triumphantly advancing day by day in the hearts of men and women around the world as they come to faith in Him and no power of sin or Satan can stop His kingdom’s advance. And this advance of the Lord’s kingdom is spearheaded by the Holy Spirit working in and through His redeemed followers around the world.

Crucially, Jesus says He will do whatever we ask in “His name.” But what does this mean? Firstly, Jesus’ name is not some magical incantation that provides us with whatever we want, whenever we want. To ask for something “in Jesus’ name” means to pray in accordance with all Jesus’ name stands for, and to pray in accordance with His will and purposes. This means sometimes we may even ask for good things in Jesus’ name and not receive them, because Jesus has a larger plan in mind to bring about greater good than we can comprehend. He knows all and sees all, so when we pray and Jesus does not give us the answer we want, He does answer us, but because He is all-powerful, all-knowing and good, He answers our prayer in the way we would have asked if we knew what He knew. And importantly He answers our prayers in such a way that, “the Father may be glorified.” Prayers in Jesus’ name that prioritize the glory of Jesus and the Father will be answered in accordance with God’s will.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

Firstly, in this passage we learn what Philip and the other apostles needed to learn, which is, Jesus and the Father are One; Jesus is God. Jesus is not merely a messenger from God, He is God incarnate as fully God and fully human. The words and works of Jesus are the words and works of God. Therefore, to know Jesus is to know God, and to reject Jesus is to reject God.

From this passage we also learn that after His death and resurrection Jesus did not abandon us. He returned to the right hand of the Father, but He also dwells inside all believers. God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity is in every believer, and just as Jesus and the Father are one, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. Now, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we, the followers of Jesus, perform “greater works” than He did in His earthly ministry because He is working through us and bringing millions, even billions, more people to faith in Him than ever came to faith during His earthly life. And as we fulfill our Lord’s commission to make disciples on Earth, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name and He will hear and answer us. We don’t possess the perfect knowledge and wisdom of Jesus, so we don’t always ask for the right and wise things, but Jesus always hears us and always answers us in such a way that He will be maximally glorified.

Self Reflection:

1. Do I make my requests to God with His glory as a priority?
2. Have I come to understand that “unanswered prayers” are not truly unanswered? God answers in the way I would have asked if I knew what He knows.
3. What are some of the many reasons I have to keep trusting God when He doesn’t answer my prayers in the way I asked Him to? Will not He Who died on a cross for me remain faithful even unto and through death itself?