Thesis:
This paper will examine part of Jesus farewell discourse to His disciples, John 14:1-15, in order to show the main purpose of this passage being to draw Jesus followers, (past, present, and future) closer to Him, and to explain His expectations concerning their manner of obedience.
Main Idea & Outline
John 14:1-15. The main purpose of this passage is to draw Jesus followers, (past, present, and future) closer to Him, and to explain His expectations concerning their manner of obedience.
An Introduction To The Gospel Of John
The Background Context Of John 14
I. Troubled Hearts & Trusting God (John 14:1-3)
II. The Way (John 14:4-6)
III. The Father (John 14:7-11)
IV. I Tell You The Truth (John 14:12-14)
V. If You Love Me (John 14:15)
Conclusion
An Introduction To The Gospel Of John
What comes to mind when one thinks of the term “Gospel”? For most, it probably brings images to mind of “something in the Bible” or absolutely nothing. While those who grew up with a religious background in Christianity will have at least a brief knowledge of what the term “Gospel” means most without this background won’t know or understand the term.
So what does “Gospel” mean? “The English word gospel (from the Anglo-Saxon god-spell, i.e., God-story) is the usual New Testament translation of the Greek evangelion.”[1] This gospel normally implied the telling of good or joyful news. This is fitting in that “In Christianity, a gospel is to be generally one of the first four books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. The four canonical texts are the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John, probably written between 65 and 100 AD.[2] They appear to have been originally untitled; they were quoted anonymously in the first half of the second century (i.e. 100 - 150) but the names by which they are currently known appear suddenly around the year 180.[3]” [4]
For the purposes of this study, the Gospel of John will be the main focus. “The Gospel of John unceasingly inspires and fascinates students and scholars”[5] This paper will examine part of Jesus farewell discourse to His disciples, in John 14:1-15, in order to show the main purpose of this passage being to draw Jesus followers, (past, present, and future) closer to Him, and to explain His expectations concerning their manner of obedience.
While there is little question that the author of the Gospel of John is in fact John, there are some who disagree with John’s authorship. One such scholar, William Domeris does not hold that “the Beloved Disciple” is in fact John. Nor does he believe that John necessarily wrote the Gospel of John. Rather, Domeris simply refers to the author of the Gospel as “The Evangelist”. Referring to the purpose of the Farewell Discourse, Domeris writes, “…the Evangelist added the Farewell Discourse to the Gospel so as to legitimate not only his presentation of Jesus, but to secure his position in the community as the rightful successor of the Beloved Disciple.”[6] While this opinion of John’s authorship is not the common view it is a one to mention.
The Gospel of John was written during a period of time in which the temple had been destroyed in the earthquake that took place at the crucifixion of Jesus. “The question of what would now become of Judaism was in everyone’s mind. John’s answer is clear: he hoped to encourage Diaspora Jews and proselytes to turn to Jesus, the Messiah who fulfilled the symbolism embodied in the temple and the Jewish feasts. For John, the temple’s destruction this becomes and opportunity for Jewish evangelism.”[7] This is why John is the only gospel in which so many of the Jewish feasts are included. Jesus is shown as the fulfillment, or the perfection of those feasts. John is using cultural context to point the Jewish people toward Jesus as the Messiah. He “considered this to be an opportunity to present Jesus as fulfilling the void left”[8] by the destroyed temple.
This mindset of drawing people to Jesus as the Messiah is one of the major themes in the gospel of John.
The Background Context Of John 14
John 14 takes place immediately following the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, the washing of the disciple’s feet, and Jesus talking heavily about his death quickly approaching.
The Eucharist refers to the institution, which began:
at the Last Sapper, Christ took bread in his own hands, blessed it and said these words over it: "Take this, all of you and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you". And the broken Bread, which had become in a sacramental way his own Body he distributed to the Apostles. In a similar way he brought about the transubstantiation of the wine into his own Blood, and distributing it to the Apostles, said:
Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all men so that sins may be forgiven". And then he added: "Do this in memory of me".
This is how the mystery of Christ remains among us through the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The mystery of the Redeemer of the world who gave himself up for us all, offering his Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Cross.[9]
Jesus is telling His disciples that He is leaving them and that the Paraclete, or the Helper sometimes translated the Comforter, will be coming in place of Him. There’s no doubt that for the disciples many of them are confused and scared, many may have still not understood that Jesus was speaking of His own death. It is in this setting that the characteristics of the Paraclete, paraklētos, are revealed. One learns that:
The Spirit has been sent by the Father in Jesus’ Name (14:26) and, as proceeding from the Father, the Spirit of truth was also sent by the Son (15:26; 16:7). There is a most remarkable unity in the three divine Persons to answer all our needs: God the Father is "the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort" (2 Cor. 1:3). God the Son is the Comforter, and God the Holy Spirit is the other Comforter, who provides "the comfort of the Holy Ghost" to the assemblies (Act. 9: 31) and brings also to every Christian the consolation in Christ, the comfort of love and the fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2: 1).
But there is more: the Holy Spirit takes that which is the Lord's to give it to the disciples (and in turn to us), for the Lord's own glory (16: 14-15); He guides us into all truth (16: 13). He teaches us all things (in the NT epistles; 14: 26); He brings all things to our remembrance, whatsoever the Lord had said (in the gospels; 14: 26); He testifies also of Christ (in the Acts of the apostles, which are in fact the acts of the Holy Spirit; 15: 26); finally, He will show us things to come (in the book of Revelation; 16: 13). Altogether, the Spirit bears witness concerning Christ, the rejected Son of Man, but now glorified in heaven (15: 26). As a consequence, the disciples will bear witness about Christ, being themselves eyewitnesses of His sufferings. [10]
It is not Jesus intention to leave His disciples unattended and alone. This is why we see Him explaining the role of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter here. “Jesus departure will not leave them as orphans; just as God was present with them through Jesus, he will continue to be present with them through his Spirit.”[11] It is by this that the modern reader is also comforted in knowing that God has not abandoned mankind without hope. Instead He has provided the ultimate sacrifice for sin through Jesus and the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of those who know and love and worship Him.
It is in the hearts of those people that Jesus longs to reside and hold position in. Jesus longs for all to know Him and have a relationship with Him that is growing and moving and shaping them to become more like him. He longs to draw us close to Himself and He longs to show us how to live lives that are rooted in His truth.
Troubled Hearts & Trusting God
“1 Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me.”2 There are many rooms in my Father's house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
Imagine sitting down to dinner with some close friends, this dinner is really more about the company kept and the conversation than any meal; though the basics of hot bread and drinks are there for all, when suddenly your host who you’ve known for three years and have built a strong bond with stands up and announces, I want you to know I’m leaving and you’ll never see me again. I’m going to die. It is with a similar scenario that John and the rest of the disciples found themselves in at the last supper.
Even though “It is Jesus who is heading for the agony of the cross; it is Jesus who is deeply ‘troubled’ in heart and spirit… on this the night of nights, when of all times it would have been appropriate for Jesus’ followers to lend him emotional and spiritual support, he is still the one who gives, comforts, instructs. For they too are troubled,”[12] It is with this emotional weight in mind that one must approach Jesus, words to them following this statement. In a room filled with troubled hearts Jesus chooses his words carefully. “1 Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me.”[13]
Jesus understood completely the millions of questions running through the minds of His friends. The first thing He does is to comfort them. He takes them back to the foundation of their faith in Him, trusting God. Jesus gives His followers hope in knowing that though He is leaving, it’s not forever. He is merely leaving for a while to prepare a place for them when He returns.
This places, rooms in His Father’s house, which Jesus has gone to prepare; are often called “mansions” in some translations of this passage.
“The Greek word for “room is monai (from monos, “alone, single”), designating a single dwelling unit.” “In Jesus day, many of these dwelling unites were combined to form a mansion. It was customary for sons to add to their father’s house once marries, so that the entire estate grew into a large compound (called insula) centered around a communal courtyard.”
The point in talking about the future rooms is to encourage His disciples that the rewards beyond this life are many! The cost of following Jesus for the disciples would go on to cost many of them their lives. Jesus knew this would be the case. He had even taught whoever followed Him would be persecuted and hated by the world. He knew how difficult the future would be for His friends and wanted to encourage them.
Jesus’ promise to come back for his followers is one of the central cruxes to the Christian faith. If Jesus never returns and isn’t who He says he is there will be a large number of people who have devoted their lives to a lie. The disciples trust in Jesus. They’ve learned that He is God and has their best interests at heart. He beckons them to follow Him to this place He’s prepared for them, remarking that they “know the way”. It is from this point that Jesus begins to explain “the Way”.
The Way
“5 Thomas said to Jesus, "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. The only way to the Father is through me.[14]
Though Thomas is asking Jesus the way, or the directions, to where Jesus is going; Jesus is saying something completely different. Jesus is saying that the way to the Father is in fact a relationship with Him through the shed blood of the Son, Jesus Christ. Obviously Jesus had not yet been to the cross, but after the conversation He had just had with them over dinner it seemed that Jesus was hoping some bells would go off someplace in their minds to connect two and two.
Jesus says that he himself is the way. Tellingly, the early Christians we initially called the followers of “the way. Jesus claim of himself being the way (with the implication that no one can come to the Father but through him) is as timely today as it was when our Lord first uttered this statement. For when we live in an age of religious pluralism, when Christianity’s exclusive claims are considered inappropriately narrow, even intolerant, and when pluralism itself has ironically, become the dogma by which all truth claims are judges It has been said that pluralism accepts no absolute truth claims other than it’s contention that there are no absolute truth claims.[15]
Jesus is the way to the Father by the salvation of the soul from spiritual death. It is through this act of conversion from death to life that all people are able to come into a relationship with the Father. “Conversion is a single entity that has two distinguishable but inseparable aspects: repentance and faith. Repentance is the unbelievers turning away from sin and faith is his or her turning toward Christ.”[16]
Jesus says that He is the Truth. There’s no other truth outside of Him. He is exclusive. This flies in the face of those who claim Jesus could be one of many Gods or that there are many paths to heaven.[17]
Seeing that there’s a bit of confusion as to how Jesus could be the way to the Father among the disciples Jesus explains a little bit more about His own relationship with the Father.
The Father
“7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father, too. But now you do know him, and you have seen him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need." 9 Jesus answered, "I have been with you a long time now. Do you still not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you don't come from me, but the Father lives in me and does his own work.11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or believe because of the miracles I have done.”[18]
Jesus here clarifies the way to the Father. He claims that if one really knows Jesus and has a true relationship with him then they will also know the Father as Jesus. How discouraging it must have been to hear Philip say, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.” These were the men Jesus has poured the last three years into and still they don’t get it. They don’t see Him as the Messiah. Jesus frustration is evident in his reply in verse 9; “I have been with you a long time now. Do you still not know me Philip?” Jesus then explains that the authority in the words He speaks come not just from Him, but also from God the Father.
There have been many different interpretations of who exactly “the Father” is in Scripture and why God is referred to in this light. Postmodern culture has only fuel the fire of these questions. Scholar Gail O’Day has covered the basics of the various views on “the Father” in John 14:8.
O’Day “reviews four dominant approaches to the study of God as "Father" in John: historical Jesus research, feminist inquiry, the relationship of John to early Christian doctrine, narrative critical studies of God as character.”[19] O’Day uses John 14:8 as a starting point for her reviews of the approaches of study. In John 14:8 there is a conversation that takes places between Phillip and Jesus in which Phillip asks Jesus “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
Jesus seems to be a little bit offended by Phillip’s question. How could he have spent so much time with Jesus and still not know that He was the Father in flesh! It is from this point that O’Day begins her review of the other approaches. It comes across that how we view “Father” in these passages changes how we view everything else about Him.
“In historical Jesus research, to begin with, "Father" is primarily investigated for what it has to say about the prayer language of the historical Jesus and Jesus' mode of addressing God.”[20]
In the review of the feminist approach to “Father”, O’Day looks mainly at the work of a woman named Dorothy Lee. O’Day sums up Lee’s thoughts on “Father” this way, “Her reading represents a type of feminist reading in which patriarchal images are not rejected as antithetical to feminist interests but are reinterpreted as supportive of the most basic feminist values.”[21]
The use of “Father” in early Christian doctrine was thought of this way:
They recognize "Father" as the metaphor that is "most appropriate" for God in this Gospel because "it focuses on the single issue on which everything else depends—God's relationship to Jesus" (52). They conclude that together the two creedal affirmations about "Father" and "Maker of heaven and earth" capture the heart of Johannine theology: for John, the creator of the world, that is, Israel's God, and the Father—the one who is in relationship with the Son—can only be one and the same God (52).[22]
In the narrative view O’Day examines that “This approach has tended to focus on God as a character in the Johannine narrative (e.g., Thompson, Tolmie) and on "Father" as one, if not the main, clue to God's character.” [23]
O’Day concludes with these thoughts, “"Father" is not simply the Gospel's preferred name for God; it is the Gospel's primary metaphor for shaping theological discourse. This larger role of "Father" needs to be examined throughout the Gospel.”[24]
Regardless of the true meaning of “Father” was remains clear is that Jesus is the way to the Father and Jesus is the only way for mankind to see God the Father.
I Tell You The Truth
“12 I tell you the truth, whoever believes in me will do the same things that I do. Those who believe will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you so that the Father's glory will be shown through the Son. 14 If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.”[25]
In these last few verses Jesus is continuing in giving a proof that He is indeed from the Father. He encourages the disciples to remember His miracles or to ask Him anything and He would do it in order to point them to the Father’s glory. “Jesus’ audience is encouraged to “believe the miracles that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and that I in the Father.”[26] The words that Jesus uses when he’s speaking here are almost identical to words that He speaks in John 10:38 to the Jewish leaders that didn’t believe in His Messiahship.
Jesus wants His relationship with His disciples to be “characterized by the kind of intimacy he himself enjoys with the Father.” [27]
If You Love Me
“15 "If you love me, you will obey my commands.”[28]
In recent years there are many Christ-followers who have come into the thought process, through false teaching, that following Christ means a one-way ticket out of Hell and nothing more. These Christ-followers, if you can call them that, are content to sit in a plush seat in an air conditioned building doing nothing but “soaking up the rays” of light and truth that come from the mouth of their pastor.
Jesus calls His followers too more than this. If that is all following Christ has been limited to one will find themselves in a rather uncomfortable position upon reading the apostle Paul’s writings in Romans 12:1-2 and Ephesians 4:17-20. Paul lays down a picture of how one is to follow Christ that doesn’t line up with much of what is seen in the modern church. To simply sit doesn’t cut it according to these writings. If one truly loves Jesus they will obey his commands.
The apostle Paul elaborates on this in Ephesians 4:17-20
“In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are with nothing. They do not understand, and they know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. They have lost all feeling of shame, and they use their lives for doing evil. They continually want to do all kinds of evil. But what you learned in Christ was not like this.” [29]
Paul lays out some hard things to swallow in this passage for those who are Christ-followers and not obeying the commands of Christ. He calls them ignorant and stupid people, saying that their thoughts are worth nothing of value. Paul abrasively reminds them that this type of living is not what Christ called them to. This could be the case for the modern church in our current culture. Christ-followers have become immersed in the idea that they “go to church” to “get something from it” rather than becoming immersed in the truth that they should “be the church” and “give God their lives in worship”.
Some might align this with what is called the Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle says that 20% of the people in the church do all the work and are actually growing active members of the church body; they are “being the church”. Then the other 80% are consumers, like sucker fish on the side of an aquarium they gorge themselves on all they can get until they have doubled in size but done little more than slide around sucking glass. This is not how this passage calls the Christ-follower to live.
In the book of Romans Paul shows the Christ-follower the type of life that Jesus has called him to live.
“So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.”[30]
Paul begs the believer in light of God’s great mercy, which is the salvation through Jesus Christ death on the cross, to offer their lives as living sacrifices. Sacrifices in the minds of these men and women would have meant something very different that what may come up in the mind of the modern church. Sacrifice to these people meant finding a lamb or a bull and slaughtering it. In the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament there is a long list of various rules and regulations and sacrificial ordinances that the followers of Yahweh were to adhere to. What did this word sacrifice mean under the new covenant that Jesus had set up when he died on the cross? How were they to offer themselves, as sacrifices, yet remain alive?
It’s no doubt that this way of thinking through the original readers for a bit of a loop. Paul tries to clarify a bit by stating that this living sacrifice is the spiritual way for them to worship. Before Jesus, the only way they could worship Yahweh the infinitely almighty God, was through the system of sacrifices that had been set in place. Jesus changed everything. He made a way for God become “intimately approachable”[31] by His people. It is through this that Christ made a way for the living sacrifice to be possible. This sacrifice wasn’t about the shed blood of bulls and lambs it was a bout the shed blood of Jesus and how to live a life that followed his teaching.
The problem with this living sacrifice thing is that some people thought they could take a break from the hard part of sacrifice, take the modern church and the Pareto Principle, and just cost on through. Or they felt as if they could do certain things saying it was for the glory of God when really it was to draw attention to them. Paul reminds these types of thinkers that this living sacrifice is meant to be “only for God”. He challenges them to a “new way of thinking” this requires taking the natural state of selfishness humans dwell in and giving that desire over to God as a sacrifice.
Christ-followers in the modern church seem to be thinking way too much about themselves than their sacrifices to God. Is this giving God everything? It doesn’t appear to be so. It seems like Christ-followers prefer to be fat and happy to growing in their relationship with their God and Savior. Jesus calls his people too more than this.
So what is the solution? How does the Church fix this problem? A dramatic rethinking of what “the church” is and how it operates must come into focus for Christ-followers. They must stop going to church and start being the church. It begins with asking questions like: “If a church shuts down, would the community know? Or care? Or be different? If the answer to those questions is NO, then the church isn't fully being the church... Hopefully this is changing.”[32]
John, in this final verse, is driving the nail in the board of everything that’s just been said. Jesus just spent time explaining His deity, how because of His love he came to this earth to die for all people. He taught how to know the Way, the Truth and the Life. He opens the door and shows the way to salvation and He finishes with, if you love me… Jesus has just given evidence of all the ways He has loved mankind and why He is deserving of love. The qualifier for Jesus followers is not just to acknowledge this but also, to obey His teachings and commands. It’s implied then on the opposite thinking that if one does not follow these commands loving Jesus is not truly possible.
Conclusion
There is no greater thing in this life than knowing Jesus Christ and having a relationship with Him that is growing. A relationship with Jesus grows and blossoms like flowers. There is some tilling of soil, the planting of the bulb, watering, fertilizing, and eventually growth and new life begin.
The apostle John hopes to communicate, in John 14:1-15, Jesus own words about how to have this type of relationship with Him. This relationship is explained beautifully in a sermon entitled Eternity Is Now by pastor Eugene Ensley:
You see, heaven is where God is, and we are in heaven when we join our life to his in intimate communion and fellowship. As one theologian has put it, "It is not in heaven one finds God, but in God one finds heaven" (Godet). Heaven, therefore, is not a place to go to, but a relationship to participate in. It is not a state of existence we anticipate beyond this life; it is an encounter and fellowship open to us today. [33]
It is the apostle John’s hope that all would experience this life changing daily relationship with an infinitely almighty and intimately approachable God. The only way to this God is through Jesus Christ, who is in fact God. John beckons us to see the Jesus he and the other disciples ate, walked, and entered into relationship with. He doesn’t want anyone to miss out.
There is a song by the alternative punk band, The Wedding, entitled Say Your Prayers that has a line that sums up this passage. “You wanna walk with me? Do ya? Wanna walk with me? Well if you love Me then just love Me don’t just give me pretty words. Lay your life down at the altar, let Me see how serious your are.”[34] The thing that remains then is simple the question, “Will you give Jesus more than pretty words?”
Bibliography
Borg, Marcus J., Reading The Bible Again For The First Time: Taking The Bible Seriously But Not Literally. San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 2002.
Domeris, William R. "The paraclete as an ideological construct: a study in the farewell discourses." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa (June 1989): 17-23. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed February 13, 2009)
Elwell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary Of Theology (Second Edition). Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
Ensley, Eugene C. 1965. "Eternity is now: a sermon on John 14:1-11." Interpretation 19, no. 3: 295-298. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2009).
Giglio, Louie, The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2003.
John Paul II, Pope. "Through the Eucharist Christ invites us to." AFER 27, no. 5 (October 1985):310-314. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed February16, 2009).
O'Day, Gail R. 1999. ""Show us the father, and we will be satisfied" (John 14:8)." Semeia, no.85: 11-17. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2009).
[1] Elwell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary Of Theology (Second Edition) (Grand Rapids:Baker Academic, 2001), 512.
[2]Borg, Marcus J., Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002), 189.
[3] Sanders, E.P., The Historical Figure of Jesus, (New York: Penguin, 1995), 63 - 64.
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel Accessed 4/18/2009.
[5] Burge, Gary M., Interpreting the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House Co.,1992), 9.
[6] Domeris, William R. "The paraclete as an ideological construct: a study in the farewell discourses." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa (June 1989): 17-23. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed February 13, 2009) 21.
[7] Köstenberger, Andreas K., Encountering John (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2004), 27.
[8] Köstenberger, Andreas K., Encountering John (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2004), 28.
[9] John Paul II, Pope. "Through the Eucharist Christ invites us to." AFER 27, no. 5 (October 1985): 310-314. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed February 16, 2009) 310.
[10] http://www.biblecentre.org/topics/jm_the_holy_spirit_in_john.htm (Accessed 2/27/2009).
[11] Köstenberger, Andreas K., Encountering John (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2004), 157.
[12] Carson, D.A., The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1991), 487.
[14] The Holy Bible: New Century Version (Belgium: Thomas Nelson INC., 2005), 692.
[15] Köstenberger, Andreas K., Encountering John (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2004), 153.
[16] Carson, D.A., The Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1991.
[17] There is so much to say about the rise of postmodernism in our current culture. For more on postmodernism D.A. Carson has written a lengthy but well-versed book entitled Becoming Conversant With The Emergent Church.
[18] The Holy Bible: New Century Version (Belgium: Thomas Nelson INC., 2005), 692.
[19] O'Day, Gail R. 1999. ""Show us the father, and we will be satisfied" (John 14:8)."Semeia, no. 85: 11-17. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2009), 11.
[20] Ibid., 12.
[21] Ibid., 14.
[22] O'Day, Gail R. 1999. ""Show us the father, and we will be satisfied" (John 14:8)."Semeia, no. 85: 11-17. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2009), 14.
[23] Ibid. p. 15
[24] Ibid. p. 16
[25] The Holy Bible: New Century Version (Belgium: Thomas Nelson INC., 2005), 692.
[26] Köstenberger, Andreas K., Encountering John (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2004), 154.
[27] Ibid.,
[28] The Holy Bible: New Century Version (Belgium: Thomas Nelson INC., 2005), 692.
[29] The Holy Bible: New Century Version (Belgium: Thomas Nelson INC., 2005), 754.
[30] The Holy Bible: New Century Version (Belgium: Thomas Nelson INC., 2005), 729.
[31] “Infinitely Almighty” and “Intimately Approachable” terminology taken from Louie Giglio’s book The Air I Breathe.
[32] A comment on a Facebook status by Michael Larkin the pastor of Cinema Church in Hartford, CT.
[33] Ensley, Eugene C. 1965. "Eternity is now : a sermon on John 14:1-11." Interpretation 19, no. 3: 295-298. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2009), 297.
[34] Say Your Prayers by The Wedding is on the album “POLARITY” released on Brave New World Records in 2007. Other standout songs on the album include: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead and Rebound.
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