Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Fourteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 7-12

Jesus taught His disciples that because they knew Him, they also knew His Father, and when they saw Him, they also saw their Father. Jesus' disciples, represented by Philip, had trouble believing how that could be true. Much heresy arose in the days of the early Church, and in today's cults, about this very question. How could a man be both man and God at the same time? It is a paradox. Heresy can arise because humans cannot believe this truth. Jesus and His Father are united into One Being through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit who inhabits an infinite eternity. Psalm 147:5; John 10:28-30; John 1:1. This fact must be simply accepted by faith. Heresy and error can arise because humans try to understand that which only God can understand. True faith in God means that the Church should also believe those scriptures that teach that God's thoughts happen to be far beyond human understanding. Romans 11:33; Psalm 147:5.

Other errors have arisen within the Church because humans try to understand that which only God can understand. Has God predestined the history of the human race to unfold strictly according to His Will, making free will invalid, or does human history unfold according to the choices humans make, making predestination invalid? Believers should simply accept by faith that both of these doctrines are true at the same time. But only God can understand how. Acts 15:18; Genesis 2:17. One possible explanation could be that when God planned the history of humanity He knew all of the good works that He would give humans to do, but He also gave all humans the free will to choose to obey or disobey Him. When humans obey Him and put their faith in Him, then those acts will be a part of the good works He has given humans to do, but when humans disobey Him, then that sin lies beyond God's understanding within a realm of absolute nothingness underneath infinity. God cannot understand evil. Habakkuk 1:13. But that does not mean that God is not Omniscient because He understands everything within the realm of positive knowledge. Evil lies within a realm of absolute nothingness which is anti-knowledge and anti-creative. Nevertheless, God's inability to understand sin and evil does not prevent Him from having the knowledge and power necessary to be able to counter and eliminate all sinful and evil choices that humans will ever make until a day will come when He will purge all sin and evil from all of His creations and recreate it all to be wholly righteous. II Peter 3:9-13; John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12.

Philip requested that if Jesus would show them the Father, then they would be satisfied. Jesus became a little put out with Philip. Jesus wanted to know how He could have been with them for such a long time, and yet, they had not seen their Father. They should have seen the Father in all of the good works that Jesus did. They also saw that Jesus never did anything that was wrong. Only God could do that. Jesus often became put out by a lack of faith in humans. But by this teaching to His disciples, Jesus desired to make certain that His Church would believe the paradox that He was both man and God at the same time. Jesus knew that much heresy would arise because of this doctrine, but He wanted to make sure that His true Church would nevertheless believe this doctrine.

Jesus taught His disciples that His Church would do the same kinds of good works that He did, and His Church would do a greater number of such good works. While physical healing seldom happens in the Church of today, the Church has led millions to Christ for His salvation by His grace which happens to be far more than Jesus led to Himself while He was on the earth. But the Church can only deliver the message of salvation. The Holy Spirit accomplishes the actual salvations. I Corinthians 6:11.