John 14:31 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 14:31

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‘But that the world may know’; who is the world? Well, throughout the chapter the world has always been unbelievers. That the unbelieving, the chief priests, the scribes and Pharisees, the persecutors – ‘But that they may know that I love the Father’ I am going to Calvary.Now we know the first reason why Christ went to Calvary was to die for our sins. The second reason he went was to carry out the supreme act of obedience to the Father’s will, because it is by his obedience that we obtain access to heaven. But there is another reason also. It is a lesser reason, but it is a very important one and he tells us here – ‘I also went to Calvary so those persecutors may know that I love the Father.’ This is how it works. When they arrested him, they did not admit it, but they knew in their hearts they had only succeeded because he let them. He had voluntary given himself into their hands. On every other occasion it proved impossible. So that the unbelieving world may know that I love the Father and obey him in everything while I am here, I will go. When he was hanging on Calvary, even as they were shouting abuse at him, they were very uncomfortable. They knew in their hearts that he had gone voluntarily through this out of love for his Father. After he rose from the dead and the church was established, even those who remained in unbelief and hostile to him and to the young church, when they went to bed at night, they knew in their hearts that he had done this voluntary, that he was carrying out his Father’s will. They had uneasy consciences tormenting them to their dying day.Love gives itself voluntarily. We are not thinking about money; that is included obviously. We are thinking about energy, devotion, time. Love gives itself. When you marry, you give yourself to your husband; you give yourself to your wife. You do not want to think anymore just about number one. You are together. When a mother has her baby, she gives herself to the care and nurture of the baby. That is the most important thing in the world. Love gives.

Application

Questions

We may be thrown a little by the concluding words of this chapter – ‘Arise, let us go hence.’ Some people think that chapters 15 and 16 were certainly spoken in the upper room but a little earlier, but John tends to be, with one or two exceptions, very chronological in his account, so it is more likely that the discourse follows the order we have in chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, culminating in the great High Priestly prayer. It seems that although they arose from reclining at the Lord’s Supper meal and the first part of the discourse, the disciples then stood ready to leave the upper room in that house for their journey to the Mount of Olives. But at that time the discourse did not actually end. It goes on, and it goes on through chapter 15 and chapter 16, and then ends in prayer. You can imagine the final discourse, and finally the Lord takes up his posture for prayer and he prays that great High Priestly prayer in chapter 17. And then they proceed and leave.

Outline

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Introduction

John 14:31 Commentary and Bible Study