John 14:22

Joh_14:22-24

Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us and not unto the world?

How may the Lord disclose or reveal Himself to His disciples, and not to others?

Disclosure, or revelation, is at least a double process. It consists in the presentation of an object of knowledge, and a mental reception of what is presented; a clear manifestation, and an object of this who is capable of apprehending it. Again, different objects of knowledge manifest or disclose themselves through diverse channels of apprehension. There is demonstration through the senses, as when we report, upon the authority of the sense of touch, that an object is hard, soft, smooth, or rough. There is also the declaration of the reason, as when we candidly consider the professions of a political party and decide upon their merits. And there is the revelation of the affections, as when we discern the bitterness of ingratitude or the sweetness of fidelity. Each kind of truth has its own channel and method of getting at the mind. Moreover, different truths or objects manifest themselves in various degrees, according to the capacity of the recipient. Not long ago I visited one of my colleagues in his mineralogical cabinet. Opening one of the drawers, I took in my hands two specimens with the remark, These are duplicates. Oh, no, was the reply, they are quite different minerals. How do you know that? I said; they look just alike. No, was the response, they look extremely unlike. To my sight the specimens were identical. To his critical vision, although casting the same rays of light upon his eye as upon mine, and presenting the same surface, they made an incomparably more definite revelation. There are said to be men employed in the wine vaults connected with the London docks who are able by taste not only to distinguish between a sherry, a claret, and a port, but also to tell the district in which a given wine was produced. It is even asserted that in many cases they can name the year of the vintage. To each of us is given the share of revelation which his capacities can apprehend. Men say, Let us understand these so-called spiritual truths; let them be explained, demonstrated. Let us be convinced. The demand is fair; but the explanation, the demonstration, the conviction, must be to a capacity appropriate to this special kind of truth. A truth has not been revealed to us unless we have experienced the emotions which it is fitted to arouse. Any of us may read accounts of what is seen by the astronomers who are using the Lick telescope, but only they who have gazed through that splendid glass, to resolve nebulae into clusters of hitherto undistinguished worlds, have known experimentally, have personally received the revelation of these hitherto unknown worlds. To one who does not possess it already, words cannot convey experimental knowledge. They simply name our ideas. Any new knowledge which they seem to give is simply a rearrangement of ideas previously in the mind. Looking into the kaleidoscope, you see gaudy colours. Turn the kaleidoscope: something new has apparently entered it. In fact the same light is there as before, so are the same bright pieces of glass; but they now have a different arrangement, and therefore reflect and transmit the light in a different way. Words are simply the power to turn the kaleidoscope of our experiences. If we lack the experiences, words cannot give them. All you who are parents had many times heard the words describing parental feelings before you yourself became parents. You thought you knew their meaning; but in fact it was a totally new experience when your first helpless child was placed in your arms. Let us seek to apply all this to the Masters words. The Lords manifestation becomes revelation to some and not to others, not because of differences in God, or in His manifestations, but because of differences in men. To expect that the result shall be to all of us a revelation, it is necessary to assure ourselves that we have that spiritual sense to which the Lord alluded in His reply to Judas. There must be not only an exhibition of the Divine self, there must also be the human capability of apprehending this. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. The heart is not the sensitive plate upon which the manifestations of the Father can become the visible image, until it is prepared by the chemistry of love. With such preparation, the Divine manifestation meets a human capacity to receive, and revelation is complete. You read in the Bible a passage as familiar to you as the alphabet. Hitherto it has seemed to contain very little meaning, and certainly has been no mediator between you and God. Now, however, it scintillates with new meaning, and seems weighty with unsuspected value. Every high-school scholar is familiar with the experiment by which the agency of the air in the phenomena of sound is proved. A silver bell is suspended upon a spiral spring in a glass globe. The bell is kept in vibration, and its sound is at first clearly heard. But now an air pump is set in motion beneath the globe. The impact of the bells tiny tongue upon its sides goes on as before, yet as the air is exhausted the sound grows fainter and fainter, and at last completely dies away. The ocular manifestations are exactly as before, but the receptive medium of the air, without which sound cannot exist, is gone. In the Masters explanation, love is that medium, that condition of the heart, within which alone the manifestations of the Divine presence and of Divine truth can transmute themselves into revelation. The mysticism of this chapter is transcendent realism. There is a touch more delicate than touch, a vision more penetrating than vision, a hearing more acute than hearing. Jesus Christ was not a physical but a spiritual revelation. The physical senses of hundreds of men came into relation with the manifestations of Christs physical existence, but, for lack of that eighth sense, of love, discovered in him no divinity. Jesus Christ presents a body of spiritual facts adapted to human apprehension. He is not spiritual fact made discernible by physical faculty. The whole life of Christ, as written in the Scriptures, is the Holy Spirits canvas. If we go to it sympathetically, the Spirit of God will glorify Himself in us. He will cause us to see and feel and know the facts of spiritual life. It is our right to have just as authentic evidence that the grace of God changes the heart, as stands in the records of the apostles. It is given us to have a spiritual insight for ourselves, and to be able to testify, not that there is an old chronicle which reports that a Pharisee of Tarsus was spiritually blind and somehow gained spiritual eyesight, but to testify that we were blind, yet now see. It is our privilege to know that the Spirit of Christ is the vital power of our spiritual nature, and from immediate knowledge to testify of its operation. (History, Prophecy, and Gospel.)

Christ manifesting Himself to His people

What a blessed Master Jesus Christ was! How familiar did He allow His disciples to make themselves with Him! He was none of your dignitaries who pride themselves on that dignity; but He talks to His disciples just as a father would to his children--even more kindly than a master might to his pupils. Here is

I. A GREAT FACT: that Jesus Christ does reveal Himself to His people, but He does not unto the world. The fact is implied in the question, and there are many who have a Bible of experience--which teaches us that it is true.

1. The favoured people to whom Jesus Christ manifests Himself. Us. It appears that they do not belong to the world. They are men who are not worldly in principle, in action, in conversation, in desires, in object, or in end.

2. Special seasons of manifestation. When. These highly favoured men do not always see Jesus Christ alike. There are special times when God is pleased to reveal Himself to His people.

(1) Times of duty. I never found a lazy or indifferent Christian have a manifestation of Jesus Christ; I never heard one who gave himself wholly to business talk much of spiritual manifestations. Those who do but little for Christ, Christ does but little for them in the way of special favours. The men who are the most zealous for their Master discern the most of His loving kindness, and enjoy His richest blessings.

(2) In seasons of trial. Do not complain then; for it is in the time of trouble we see most of Jesus. Previous to trial you may generally expect a season of joy. But when the trial comes, then expect to have delight with it.

3. The wondrous display. Jesus manifests Himself. There are many manifestations of God to His children; but this is the most precious of all. He does this in different ways. You have seen Jesus with the eye of faith hanging on the cross. At other times you have had a manifestation of Christ in His gifts. Then, again, you will see Him in His triumph.

4. The effects of this manifestation.

(1) Humility. God has respect unto the humble, but the proud he knoweth afar off.

(2) Happiness: for he must be happy who lives near to God.

(3) Holiness. Some men profess a great deal; but do not believe any man unless you see that his deeds answer to what he says.

II. AN INTERESTING INQUIRY.

1. It was suggested by

(1) Ignorance. Judas thought: If we see Him the world must see Him too.

(2) Kindness. He wanted it all to be given to everybody. Ah! we never need be more benevolent than God.

(3) Love to his Master. He wished Christs dominion might be universal.

(4) Admiration. Who are we that we should have it?

2. The answer. The question was not answered; for it was unanswerable. Is it not enough that He should do so? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Who bring and who repel Christ

The real meaning of the question is, Lord! What has come to pass to induce you to abandon the course on which we entered when you rode into Jerusalem with the shouting crowd?

His question is no better in intelligence, though it is a great deal better in spirit, than the taunt of Christs brethren, If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world. Judas, too, thought of the simple flashing of His Messianic glory, in some visible vulgar form, before else blind eyes. How sad and chilling such a question must have been to Jesus! Slow scholars we all are; and with what wonderful patience He reiterates His lesson.

I. WHAT BRINGS CHRIST AND WHAT CHRIST BRINGS. Note two significant changes in the form of expression.

1. He had formerly said, If ye love Me; now, as against Judass complacent assumption, He says, Anybody may have the vision if He observes the conditions.

2. Christs Word is wider than commandment. It includes all His sayings as in one vital unity and organic whole. We are not to go picking and choosing among them; they are one. And every word of Christs, be it revelation or be it a promise, enshrines within itself a commandment.

Note

1. That Christ will show Himself to the loving heart.

(1) Every act of obedience to any moral truth is rewarded by additional insight. Every act of submission to His will cleans the lenses of the telescope, and so the stars are brighter and larger, and nearer. As we climb the hill we get a wider view.

(2) But in our relation to Him we have to do not with truths only, but with a Person. There is only one way to know people, that is, by loving them. They tell us that love is blind. No! There are not such a clear pair of eyes anywhere as the eyes of love. Sympathy is the parent of insight into persons, as obedience is the parent of insight into duty.

(3) Our loving obedience has not only an operation inwards upon us, but has an effect outwards upon Christ. Too commonly is it the case that even good Christian people have a far more realizing faith in the past work of Christ on earth than in the present work of Christ on themselves. They think the one a plain truth, and the other something like a metaphor, whereas the New Testament teaches us plainly that there is an actual supernatural communication of Christ, which leads day by day to a fuller knowledge, a larger possession, of a fuller Christ. And one piece of honest loving obedience is worth all the study and speculation of an unloving heart when the question is, How are we to see Christ?

2. Jesus shows Himself to the obedient heart in indissoluble union with the Father. Look at the majesty and, except upon one hypothesis, the insane presumption of such words as these: If a man love Me My father will love him. As if identifying love to Christ with love to Himself. And look at that wondrous union, the consciousness of which speaks in We will come. Think of a man saying that. Just as in heaven there is but one throne for God and the Lamb, so on earth there is but one coming of the Father in the Son. And this is the only belief that will keep this generation from despair and moral suicide. The world has learned half of that great verse, No man hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him. If the world is not to go mad, if everything higher and nobler than the knowledge of material phenomena and their sequences is not to perish from the earth, the world must learn the next half, The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Christ shows Himself in indissoluble union with the Father.

3. Christ shows Himself to the obedient love by a true coming.

(1) That coming is not to be confounded either with mere Divine Omnipresence, nor of increased perception on our part of Christs fulness. That great central Sun draws nearer and nearer to the planets that move about it, and, having once been in an almost infinitely distant horizon, approaches until planet and Sun unite.

(2) That coming is a permanent residence. Very beautiful is it to notice that our Lord here employs that same sweet and significant word, In My Fathers house are many mansions. Yonder they dwell forever with God; here God in Christ forever dwells with the loving heart. It is a permanent abode so long as the conditions are fulfilled, but only so long. In the last hours of the Holy City a great voice said, Let us depart hence; and tomorrow the shrine was empty, and the day after it was in flames. Brethren, if we could keep the Christ in whom is God, remember it is by the act of loving obedience.

II. WHAT KEEPS AWAY CHRIST AND ALL HIS BLESSINGS (Joh_14:24)?

1. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings. No love, no obedience. That is plainly true, because the heart of all the commandments is love, and where that is not, disobedience to their very spirit is. No power will lead men to Christs yoke except the power of love. It was only the rising sunbeam that could draw music from the stony lips of Memnon, and it is only when Christs love shines on our faces that we open our lips in praise, and move our hands in service. Those great rocking stones down in Cornwall stand unmoved by any tempest, but a childs finger, put at the right place, will set them vibrating. And so the heavy, hard, stony bulk of our hearts lies torpid and immovable until He lays His loving finger upon them, and then they rock at His will. That makes short work, does it not, of a great deal that calls itself Christianity? Reluctant, self-interested, constrained obedience is no obedience; outward acts of service, if the heart be wanting, are rubbish.

2. Disobedience to Christ is disobedience to God. Paul has to say, So speak I, not the Lord. And you would not think a man a very sound or safe religious teacher who said to you to begin with, Now, mind, everything that I say, God says. The personality of Jesus Christ is never, through all His utterances, so separated but that God speaks in Him: and, listening to His voice, we hear the absolute utterance of the uncreated and eternal wisdom.

3. Therefore follows the conclusion, which our Lord does not state, but leaves us to supply. What brings Him is the obedience of love; what repels Him is alienation and rebellion.

Conclusion:

1. It is possible for men not to see Christ, though He stands there close before them.

2. Christs showing of Himself to men is in no sense arbitrary. It is you that determines what you shall see. The door of your hearts is hinged to open from within, and if you do not open it it stops shut, and Christ stops outside.

3. You do not need to do anything to blind yourselves. Simple negation is fatal. If a man love not; that is all. The absence of love is your ruin.

4. You ask how can I get this love and obedience. There is only one answer. We know that we love Him when we know that He loves us; and we know He loves us when we see Him dying on His cross. So here is the ladder, that starts down in the miry clay of the horrible pit, and fastens its golden hooks on His throne. The first round is, behold the dying Christ and His love to me. The second is, let that love melt my heart into sweet responsive love. The third is, let my love mould my life into obedience.

And then Christ, and God in Him, will give me a fuller knowledge and a deeper love, and make His dwelling with me. And then there is only one step left, and that will land us by the throne of God, and in the many mansions of the Fathers house where we shall make our abodes with Him forever more. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

If a man love Me, he will keep My words

Love and obedience

I. THE LOVE OF CHRIST WILL PRODUCE OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORDS. Because

1. It presupposes a sense of the evil of sin and a desire for righteousness.

2. Love desires to please, and ever shrinks from grieving its object.

3. Love is essentially imitative. To love evil is to be debased; to love goodness is to be ennobled.

4. The affections exert a strong influence on the will. The strength of evil lies in the love of it, and so the strength of goodness.

II. WHOSOEVER LOVES AND OBEYS CHRIST WILL SECURE TO HIMSELF THE FATHERS LOVE.

1. This is natural. There is no nearer passage to a parents heart than to love his child.

2. God loves Christ in a manner and degree of which we can form no conception; and if you love Him, too, although your love may differ in manner it is the same in kind. So you are partakers of the Divine nature, which is love, and as God loves and delights in Himself, He will love and delight in you.

3. To love Christ is to be like Him, and for the same reason that God loves Christ will He love us. God loves us in our unholiness, and if He so loved us when we were enemies as to give His Son to die for us, how much more will He love us now we are His friends?

III. LOVE TO THE SON AND THE LOVE OF THE FATHER WILL RESULT IN THE INDWELLING OF BOTH. Love ever seeks to dwell with its object. The effect of its indwelling is

1. Peace and satisfaction. Gods presence constitutes the joy of heaven, and where He comes He brings heaven.

2. Hungerings and thirstings after righteousness and God. So sweet is Gods love that appetite grows on what it feeds upon. The tasted drop begets a longing for the ocean.

3. Privilege and honour. (F. J. Sharr.)

Love the source of obedience

1. There is nothing that a sincere Christian more desires than to keep the commandments of Christ. But human nature is human nature still; and lapses occur daily. The more anxious we are to stand in all the ordinances of the law blameless, the more we are convicted of failure; and failure at last makes us indifferent or despondent.

2. But may it not be that our ill success is due to misunderstanding the philosophy of the subject, and failure to appropriate the forces which would have surely pushed us on toward success? What, then, is this Divine energy, which, were it constantly in our hearts, would, with an authority that we should gladly recognize and yield to, command obedience? It is love to Christ.

I. LOVE IS A PASSION.

1. The strongest and most unconquerable forces in human nature are the passions. Like rivers in spring time, when the snows are melting on the mountains, and the clouds, driven by south winds, are emptying their waters upon the earth, they rise and swell, and overflow, submerging the whole nature.

2. God is the Parent of our passions: He begat love, and said, It is the fulfilling of the law, i.e., the force out of which all obedience comes, just as we say, That mans fortune is in his brains. Not that it is in dollars and cents actually there; but that within his brain are the forces that shall win his fortune.

3. Now, Christ, the greatest and wisest of all Teachers, knew the use of passion; for it was His own child. He created man with it. He knew, too, its potency; for, when a man was begotten, He supplied it to him in due measure and force. When He began to teach, He did not go to the conscience, and say, Convict; not to the reverential faculty, and say, Adore; nor to the reason, and say, Argue, speculate. No: He went straight and at once to the great central force in nature--to that engine-like power in man, which has power not merely to propel itself, but to start all the long train of faculties that are dependent upon it into motion, and to say, Love. Christ used it everywhere. In the case of the poor wicked woman, whose tears fell at His feet when He was at dinner with the Pharisee, He made it the measure of forgiveness. He made it the source of all obedience, as in our text. The Apostle John made it the test of regeneration. And, as if he would put it so that all eyes must see it, he wrote, God is love.

II. LOVE REQUIRES A PERSON TO ELICIT IT.

1. Regarded as a sentiment, love is possible in respect to principles; but, regarded as a passion, it is possible only touching a person. A patriot does not lay down his life for liberty in the front rank of battle with the same feeling which fills a frontiersman when he dies fighting at the door of his log cabin in an heroic attempt to defend his wife and children from the murderous savages. We admire beauty, we reverence virtue, we praise modesty as elements of character; but never until the eyes behold them clothed in physical form do we love them. The qualities we admire, the woman we love.

2. Here, at this point, you see how love educates one in worthy directions. The man loves the woman, the woman the man, and each the qualities that the other represents. Each educates the other into a finer appreciation. They grow to be each more like the other. In this great love of assimilation going on between those who truly love, based on the apprehension of embodied virtues, I find the true source of that gratitude in my heart, that God took flesh and dwelt among us. Before Christ came, God was an abstraction, a collection of powers and principles, august and lovely, known to the reason, the conscience, the reverential faculties, but not to the warm, passionate side of human nature. And may God forgive us, who, having this living, breathing, personal Saviour revealed to us, love Him so little! If ye love Me, said Christ: not the principles I represent, the truth I teach, My virtue, but Me.

3. Is it not just at this point that we are able to see why religion is so cold and unexpressive? Our philosophy is at fault. We have put truth in front of Him who revealed it. We keep the principles, but lose the Person, of Christ. We have lost sight of the sun in our eager chase to capture the sunbeams.

4. Whence comes the charm of love and loving life? Is it not grouped around some person, as fragrance around a flower? Does it not come from the eye, the voice, the face, the form, of one beloved? Let the loved form be stricken, the voice silent and where is the charm of your love gone? It has gone out, with the personal life that expressed it; gone as the fragrance goes when you shake the leaves of the rose from their fastenings; gone back to God who gave it; and your house is left unto you desolate. What is domestic life now? And what is religious life when the face and form of Jesus are gone from the chamber of your heart, but a cold, silent, embarrassed, constrained, and mournful state?

5. You hear people say that the absence of religious emotion in our churches and among the upper classes is due to their culture and refinement. It is not so. The argument proves too much. Love is not subject to such modification. Who would say that a cultivated person cannot love as intensely as a rude one? Must a young man marry an ignorant girl in order to be loved? This sublime passion has but one voice, one touch, the world over. Like some bird, true to its species, that inhabits every clime, its food, its plumage, its mode of birth and growth, its note, are everywhere the same.

III. THE POWER OF LOVE.

1. Obedience is the hardest of all things for those naturally inclined not to obey, to do. It is so with a child. And it is therefore necessary to bring the strongest possible motive to bear upon the child, that he may obey. You say, My children love me, but they do not mind me. That motive does not make them obedient. But have you ever shown your child the connection between your heart and his wrong conduct? Have you made the little fellow understand how his behaviour hurts you? Have you sought to restrain him as you would a young dog, by the stamp of your foot and the glance of your eye? or as a parent should, by moral education? Some people appeal more to brute fear in their children than they do to human love.

2. Love is the strongest passion known to mortals. It is stronger than hate, for death checks its cry. Leaving the bloody body on the sand, it returns content to its kennel. But love is not checked, is not weakened by death. There is no power like love. It will carry heavier burdens, endure more buffeting, do more service, face more perils, live on under the sense of deepest shame, beyond any other emotion that the heart of man is able to feel. (W. H. H. Murray.)

On obeying Christ

I. THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO OBEY CHRIST BECAUSE THEY SEE FOR THEMSELVES THAT HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE LOFTY AND GOOD. But this is not the same thing as obeying Christ.

1. If a man over whom you have no authority consults you about a piece of work, and does not take your advice, you may think him a dull or a lazy man, but not a disobedient one. There can be no obedience or disobedience where there is no authority. But if the man is your servant the case is different. He may think that his own way is better than yours, but he has to accept yours. You are his master. So if I recognize the authority of Christ, I shall obey Him before I recognize that His commandments are good and wise. His words are laws to be fulfilled, not ethical treatises the soundness of whose principles I find by study.

2. In the training of children we do not explain everything before we expect obedience. A child of six does not easily understand why he should take offensive medicine, or a child of ten why he should learn the Latin declensions. He has to do it first, and to discover the reasons afterwards. And so if a child be not disciplined to truthfulness, industry, etc., before he can see for himself the obligation of these virtues, he will never see that lying and indolence are vices. Compel him to be industrious and he will discover the obligations of industry.

3. And so if we obey Christ His commandments will shine in their own light. It is not by meditation but by practice that we see the beauty of His words.

II. THERE ARE OTHERS WHO ACCEPT CHRISTS JUDGMENTS ON ALL MORAL QUESTIONS AGAINST THEIR OWN BECAUSE HE KNOWS SO MUCH MORE ABOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS THAN THEY DO. This is a great advance, but it is not enough. It is only faith in Christs larger moral wisdom, not in His authority. It sometimes happens that a young man finds himself in a position in which it is hard for him to reconcile his personal interests with the claims of others. There are three or four courses open to him; one of them he dismisses as involving quite unnecessary sacrifice; he is perplexed about the rest. He consults an older man in whom he has perfect faith. His friend tells him that he is bound to take the course which he has dismissed from his mind. The young man cannot see why, but trusts his older friends judgment rather than his own. This is a great proof of confidence, but it is not obedience. Christ does not come asking only for our confidence. He comes asserting authority.

III. WE MUST OBEY GOD BECAUSE WE OUGHT.

1. There is a light which lighteth every man, and however broken and obscured is a light from heaven. It is the revelation of the eternal law of righteousness, and whatever obedience I owe that law which is revealed to conscience I owe to God. That God is my Creator, is good, can punish, imposes on me many obligations; but if He were not my God, though I should be bound to be grateful to Him, or should fear Him, yet my conscience would determine the measure of my duty towards Him, and I might not find absolute obedience to be due to Him. But in that He is God, He has an authority over me that is unique and unlimited; and you might just as well ask, Why should I obey conscience? as, Why should I obey God? The only answer in each case is, I ought. There is nothing more to be said.

2. And in Christ God comes and claims my obedience. He is the eternal law of righteousness incarnate. He does not counsel; He commands.

IV. THIS POSITION IS CHALLENGED ON THE GROUND THAT EVEN IN CHRISTS PRESENCE CONSCIENCE IS SUPREME. It is true that conscience must determine whether or not the claims of Christ are valid; but when conscience has once discovered that He is the personal revelation of the law of righteousness, it has discovered its Master. But am I to obey Christ against the dictates of my own conscience? Wait and see whether the conflict arises. It may happen that some of Christs precepts impose duties which conscience has not discovered, for conscience is not omniscient, and often discovers duties when too late to discharge them. What would we now give if we had recognized filial objections, which are now so clear, thirty years ago? Christ enables us to anticipate experience. He does not command what conscience condemns; but in the early years of Christian life it is very commonly found that He commands many duties which as yet conscience does not enforce.

V. THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST PROVOKE RESENTMENT not only speculative criticism, but.

1. It is one thing to submit to an abstract law which conscience discovers, in this there is no humiliation; it is quite another thing to submit to the government of a Person. Nor is the claim resisted, because made by one who has been made flesh There are many who suppose they believe in God, but who refuse Him all authority over conduct. They regard Him as nothing more than an hypothesis to account for the universe. While He is nothing more than this the personal life is free; as soon as He claims authority the freedom seems lost.

2. But those to whom the great discovery of God in Christ has come, know that in His service there is perfect freedom. The rule of law is the real tyranny. The law can only command; but when Christ becomes Lord of conduct, He stands by us in every conflict; gives strength as well as defines duty. Christ becomes our Comrade, but yet He is our Ruler, and we are under the government of a higher Will than our own.

3. We have to obey God in Christ. But when the real secret of the Christian revelation is mastered, the obedience assumes an unique character. The fountains of our life are in Him. He is our higher, truer self. Not until we abide in Christ, and He in us, are we able to keep His commandments. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Loved of God

An oak tree, as it stands in the open forest, presents one of the most perfect forms of sturdy independence. So fitted is that tree to stand alone, that the architect of the Bell Rock lighthouse copied the work of a greater Architect, and took as the model of a building that was to resist the sweep of waves and winds the trunk of an oak tree. In striking contrast with this, there are plants in nature, and some of them the most beautiful and fragrant, that cannot stand alone. Yet these are not doomed to be trodden under foot. No; types of him who is strong in his weakness, exalted in his humility, these may overtop the loftiest oak, and laugh at the storm that lays its head in the dust. And how? They are made to attach themselves to other objects; and when they have had no other objects to attach themselves to, they entwine their arms within each other--embrace their own body: like a selfish man, whose affections are all fixed upon himself. As these plants are, so are we; what their tendrils, and arms, and instruments of attachment are to them, our affections are to us. Man is not made to be independent. Constituted as I and you are, we can no more fling off our affections than we can fling off any other part of our nature, the object good or bad, be it the earth or be it heaven, man can no more live without loving than he can live without breathing. Obedience to the command love not the world had been an impossibility, unless there had been this other command--love the Lord thy God. I must love something; and if you would put the love of the world out of my heart, you must pour the love of God into it. Note

I. THE FATHER LOVES THOSE WHO LOVE HIS SON. How God should have loved those who hated Him--but that God should love us, so soon as through grace we come to love His Son--I as a father, you as parents, can easily understand. I love all that love my children. Do my child a good, and it has a double value than if it were done to myself; do my child an injury, and I know nothing in this world that would so soon lash and goad a father into madness. I have heard of good people who have been greatly distressed to know whether God loved them. The way to know that is just to see and know, Am I loving Christ? Can you appeal to Him who searches all your heart, and taking up the language of a man who, if he belied his Master, afterwards most bravely died for Him. Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee? Then, you can add, I know that God loves me; and if God loves me, happy am I, I can afford to dispense with the love of others. With my back at the throne of God I can defy the world. And even if they hate me who should love me, I am not miserable: with the sun in the sky, I can afford to dispense with the twinkling stars. The love of God is like the life of God, the covenant of grace standeth sure, and, whom He loveth He loveth to the end.

II. IF WE LOVE CHRIST, GOD AND CHRIST WILL COME TO US. David was so offended at the cold-blooded murder of Amnon, that although he permitted Absalom to return to Jerusalem, for two years he would not see him. And when the sin of Eden was committed, God was so offended that He withdrew. Intercourse between God and man after the Fall was mainly continued through servants, until at length His Son came, and He came to reconcile them that were at enmity, and has done it. And I take that to be expressed in, We will come unto Him. That implies that the offence has been removed; that the friendly visits are renewed. Having faith in Christ, we have peace with God. You may ask me how God and Christ come to us. I need not tell you, that they come in the Word, by daily grace, by the communications of the Spirit: so much so, that there are no lovers meet so often as Jesus and His bride; and there is no mother goes so often to her nursery, to see her children, as I believe our Father comes to visit His children upon earth. You see your neighbour once a day; you see your friend or brother once or twice a year; but if you are Gods people, there are none you meet so often as God. He comes at the time of prayer; takes the mercy seat at the family worship; and into that closet where the good man goes, goes along with him. The believer finds every morning a letter from home on his table, in his Bible--a letter from His Father. He may be humble, poor, despised; but there is not a man on earth moves in such high society as the humblest of Gods poor ones.

III. GOD AND CHRIST WILL ABIDE WITH US. What else will? Who else will? Not your parents, pastors, health, prosperity, family. A good man deprived of His all is left God, his Bible, grace, a throne of grace. Conclusion: Cultivate the love of Christ. It is a fire that will go out unless it is fed; it is a plant that will die unless it is cultivated. There are two sayings that should stir us up to this, Seeing is believing; Out of sight out of mind. Why is it that in heaven they ever love? Because they ever see? Now, as you cannot see Christ, there is the more need that you should make up by faith for want of sight. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The Fathers love felt

The sun was shining in the heavens, revealing to the world the infinite beauty of form and colour, for untold ages before its rays were analyzed by the prism. It was bringing forth verdure by its warmth for untold ages before it was found out that oceans of hydrogen served upon his surface, and that heat, like light, is a mode of motion. What you and I want, and what you and I have, is not the bare truth that there is a sun, but the sense of its warmth. What we want, and what we have is not an analysis of what the idea of God means, but the sense that there is a Father who loves us, and has communion with us. (E. Hatch, D. D.)

Christ and His words

I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS WORDS.

1. Christ and His words are both very fully made known to us. This is not always the case with the teachers of the race.

(1) Sometimes we may have a great personality who has stirred his own and subsequent generations, but we have few or none of his words. His secret has died with him, as in the case of Pythagoras, Noah, Enoch, Abraham.

(2) We may have great and noble words from a man, but we may know little of his personality--as in the case of Homer, Shakespeare, Plato, Isaiah, and many of: those prophets.

(3) But in Christ both the personality and the words have been brought out into the clearest and fullest illumination. We should have felt unsatisfied unless we had heard the law of love from His own lips, and our wish is met. And with the words God has given us the life, as never a life was given, by those four, each different, yet each the same, a separate mirror to take in the side presented to it, but all disclosing in life-like harmony the one grand person--each so absorbed in his theme that he himself is forgotten.

(4) The words of Christ, then, and Christ Himself, are both fully made known to us. The gospel has its expression in His words, but its power and spirit are in His life. He is Himself the Word made flesh--the greatest utterance in the greatest person.

2. There is a perfect harmony between Christ and His words.

(1) He and His words are in agreement, else they could not co-exist and coalesce as He says they must do. This is not always the case with a man and His words.

(a) Sometimes we can love and esteem a man, and yet his words carry neither conviction to the understanding nor moving power to the soul.

(b) Or, we may admire the words, but we cannot love the man. It is with pain that we turn from the words of Bacon to his life, and from the scorn of worldly ambition by the author of the Night Thoughts to his eager pursuit of it in courtly circles. One of the most melancholy contrasts is between the words of the wisest of men and the exemplification which he himself gave of wisdom. How different when we come to Christ! Our deepest moral nature sets the seal of approval on His words. Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips. When He inculcates humility, He Himself is among the disciples as one that serveth. When He speaks of purity, He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. When He urges the law of kindness, He goes about doing good.

(2) While the words and life are in harmony, yet the life is greater than the words. A man should always be more than his expression. We feel that whatever some men may say or do, they are capable of something above it. This is preeminently true of Jesus. This superiority of the person to the words of Christ is not destructive of harmony; it is the highest reach of it. In all things that perfectly agree there must be a great and a greater, in some such way as God agrees with His universe, which is His expression of Himself, while yet He remains an infinity behind it. It is one of the most important steps a man can take in his spiritual history when he passes from listening to the sayings to looking up into the face of Christ, and learns that the words are only rays from the countenance of the Eternal Life, the natural breathings from Him who is the Word made flesh. Now we believe, not because of thy saying, but because we ourselves know that this is indeed the Christ.

II. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN LOVING CHRIST AND KEEPING HIS WORDS. Note

1. The central truth of Christian doctrine, viz., that there must be a change of heart before there is a change of life. Christ is the lawgiver of Gods world, and before we can obey His laws we must be on terms of amity with Himself. Gods friendship must come before Gods service. Now, it is frequently taught--that there must be service before there can be friendship, and that peace can only be purchased by obedience. But who can do anything that will bear the look of service in a spiritual sense until the heart is in it? Love to Him, however, can face every duty, dare every danger, endure every sacrifice, when it sees His self-sacrifice to save him from the most terrible of all evils, exclusion from the favour and life of the God. Less than this cannot explain either the Epistles or Gospels, neither can it, in the last extremity, bear the weight of what Christ requires of those who own His allegiance.

2. The Christian philosophy of morality.

(1) The superiority of the morality of Christianity, candid men who profess to stand outside generally admit. But what is often overlooked is that this superiority does not consist so much in its details as in its central principle of action. There is no system but Christianity that has gathered all the grand motives to morality round a person, and made the strength and essence of them spring from love to Him.

(2) There would be a fatal objection to this if Christ were less than God. For then His claim of implicit obedience would be impious, and if He had done less for man than save him from the lowest depth, He could not require all his nature to be given up to Him. Here, again, the morality of the gospel is seen to be closely connected with its doctrines. The Divinity of Christ forbids the charge of assumption on His part, and His atonement prevents the feeling that there is over-exaction from us. This view makes Christian morality and doctrine cohere; and those men who speak of detaching the gospel morality from the gospel doctrine are as rational as the men who would pluck a blossom from a tree and think to have it come to fruit.

Conclusion: There are only three conceivable ways in which morality can be thought of as springing up in man.

1. By instinct. But how feeble, fluctuating, contradictory, this is when left to itself; and if it were perfect, morality by instinct would be morality mechanical.

2. By reason. But reason can never furnish sufficient motive power; it becomes weakest when passion is strongest. Hence reason, in morality, is much more a thing for the philosopher in his closet than for the mass of men in the struggle and strain of life.

3. By love, and love going forth to a person. It is this way that Christianity has chosen. (J. Ker, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Query of Judas, and the reply, Joh_14:22-26.

Thrice has the steady stream of our Saviour’s discourse been interrupted by the respectful freedom of his disciples. Thomas has stated his difficulty; Philip has made his request; and now Judas propounds an investigation.

This announcement of a new thing, the coming of the Spirit, and the special manifestation of Christ and the Father with him to his chosen ones, awakens an inquiry.

22. Judas… not Iscariot—John is here careful to exclude Iscariot from the honour of making this deep inquiry. Indeed it does not appear that Iscariot ever propounded an inquiry to Jesus regarding the deep things of his mission and doctrine.

Unto us, and not unto the world—In the body Christ was visible alike to his apostles and to the world. It is a query then with Judas of what nature is this manifestation, which is limited to Christ’s followers alone. Jesus can only reply by reaffirming with more distinct emphasis the spirituality of that manifestation.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John

WHO BRING CHRIST

Joh 14:22 - Joh 14:24.

This Judas held but a low place amongst the Apostles. In all the lists he is one of the last of the groups of fours, into which they are divided, and which were evidently arranged according to their spiritual nearness to the Master. His question is exactly that which a listener, with some dim, confused glimmer of Christ’s meaning, might be expected to ask. He grasps at His last words about manifesting Himself to certain persons; he rightly feels that he and his brethren possess the qualification of love. He rightly understands that our Lord contemplates no public showing of Himself, and that disappoints him. It was only a day or two ago that Jesus seemed to them to have begun to do what they had always wanted Him to do, manifest Himself to the world. And now, as he thinks, something unknown to them must have happened in order to make Him change His course, and go back to the old plan of a secret communication. And so he says, ‘Lord! what has come to pass to induce you to abandon and falter upon the course on which we entered, when you rode into Jerusalem with the shouting crowd?’

His question is no better in intelligence, though it is a great deal better in spirit, than the taunt of Christ’s brethren, ‘If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world.’ Judas, too, thought of the simple flashing of His Messianic glory, in some visible, vulgar form, before else blind eyes.

How sad and chilling such a question must have been to Jesus! Slow scholars we all are; and with what wonderful patience, without a word of pain, or of rebuke, He reiterates His lesson, here a little and there a little, and once more unfolds the conditions of His self-revelation, and the fullness of the blessings that He brings. He moulds His words so as to meet both the clauses of Judas’s foolish question-’To us, not to the world’; and quietly tells them the positive conditions and the negative disqualifications for His self-revelation. So my text deals with two things, the crown of loving obedience in the possession of a fuller Christ, and the impassable barrier to His manifestation which unloving disobedience makes. Or to put it into briefer words, we have in one of the verses-first, what brings Christ and what Christ brings; and, in the other, second, what keeps away Christ and all His gifts. Now let us look at these two things.

I. We have what brings Christ and what Christ brings.

‘If a man love Me, He will keep My word’ {not ‘words,’ as our Authorised Version has it}, ‘and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.’ Now notice how here, in the first part of this verse, our Lord subtly and significantly alters the form of the statement which He has already made. He had formerly said, ‘If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments,’ but now He casts it into a purely impersonal form, and says, ‘If a man,’ anybody, not ‘you’ only, but anybody-’If a man love Me, he,’ anybody, ‘will keep My word.’ And why the change? Why, I suppose, in order to strike full and square against that complacent assumption of Judas that it was ‘to us and not to the world’ that the showing was to take place. Our Lord, by the studiously impersonal form into which He casts the promise, proclaims its universality, and says this to His ignorant questioner, ‘Do not suppose that you Apostles have the monopoly. You may not even have a share in My self-manifestation. Anybody may have it. And there is no “world,” as you suppose, to which I do not show Myself. Anybody may have the vision if he observes the conditions.’

Now I need not dwell at any length upon the earlier words of this text, because we have had to consider them in previous sermons on the former verses of this chapter. I need only remark that here, as there, our Lord brings out the thought that the very life-blood of love is the treasuring of the word of the beloved One; and that there is no joy comparable to the joy of the loving heart that yields itself to the Beloved’s will. That is true about earth, and it makes the sweetest and selectest blessedness of our ordinary existence. And it is true about heaven, and it makes the liberty and the gladness of the bond that knits us to Him.

But I would like just to notice, before I come to the more immediate subject of my discourse, that remarkable expression, ‘He will keep My word.’ That is more than a ‘commandment’ is it not? Christ’s ‘word’ is wider than precept. It includes all His sayings, and it includes them all as in one vital unity and organic whole. We are not to go picking and choosing among them; they are one. And it includes this other thought, that every word of Christ, be it revelation of the deep things of God, or be it a promise of the great shower of blessings which, out of His full hand, He will drop upon our heads, enshrines within itself a commandment. He utters no revelations, simply that we may know. He utters no comforting words, simply that our sore hearts may be healed, but in all His utterances there is a practical bearing; and every word of His teaching, every word of His sweet, whispered assurances of love and favour to the waiting heart, has in it the imperativeness of His manifested will, and has a direct bearing upon duty. All His words are gathered into one word, and all the variety of His sayings is, in their unity, the law of our lives. So much by way of observation on the mere language of my text. And now let us look at what, as He says to us here, are the rewards and crown of loving obedience.

Christ will show Himself to the loving heart. That is true on the very lowest level. Every act of obedience to any moral truth is rewarded by additional insight. Every act of submission to His will cleanses the lenses of the telescope from some film that has gathered upon them, and so the stars look brighter and larger and nearer. All duty done opens out into a loftier conception of duty, and a clearer vision of Him. ‘To him that hath shall be given.’ As we climb the hill we get a wider view. Obedience is in all things the parent of insight.

But in reference to our relation to Him, we have to do not with truths only, but with a Person. How do we learn to know people? There is only one way-that is, by loving them. Sympathy is the parent of all true knowledge of one another. They tell us in the foolish old proverb that ‘love is blind.’ No! There is not such a pair of clear eyes anywhere as the eyes of love; and if we want to see into a man, the first condition is that we feel kindly towards him. Sympathy is the parent of insight into persons, as Obedience is the parent of insight into duty.

But both of these illustrations are only imperfect preparations for the great truth here, which is that our loving obedience to the discerned will of Jesus Christ has not only an operation inwards upon us, but has an effect outwards upon Him. I am afraid that Christian people in this generation have but a very imperfect belief in the actual, supernatural, and, if you like to call it so, miraculous manifestation of Jesus Christ, His very Self, to men that love Him and cleave to Him. Do you believe as a simple revealed truth, plain as a sunbeam in such words as these, that Jesus Christ Himself will do something on you, and in you, and for you, if you love Him and trust Him; that His hand will be laid on your eyes as it was laid of old; that He will indeed, in no metaphor, but in reality, show Himself to you? I may be mistaken, but I think that too commonly it is the case, that even good Christian people have a far more vivid and realising and real faith in the past work of Christ on earth than in the present work of Christ in themselves. They think the one a plain truth, and the other something like a metaphor, whereas the New Testament teaches us, as plainly as it can teach us anything, that, far above all the natural operations of truth upon our understandings, hearts, and wills, there is an actual, supernatural, continuous communication of Christ to hearts that love Him, which leads day by day, if they be faithful, to a fuller knowledge, a sweeter love, a larger possession, of a fuller Christ. And it is this that He tells us of, to fire our ambition to attain, in such words as these.

Brethren, one piece of honest, loving obedience is worth all the study and speculation of an unloving heart when the question is, ‘How are we to see Christ?’

Again, Jesus shows Himself to the obedient heart in indissoluble union with the Father. Look at the majesty, and, except upon one hypothesis, the insane presumption, of such words as these: ‘If a man love Me, My Father will love him’; as if identifying love to Christ with love to Himself. And look at that wondrous union, the consciousness of which speaks in ‘We will come.’ Think of a man saying that. It is blasphemous insanity; or else the speech of Him who is conscious of union with the Father, close and indissoluble and transcending all analogies. ‘We will come,’ together, hand-in-hand, if I may so say; or rather, His coming is the Father’s coming. Just as in heaven so closely are they represented as united, that there is but one throne ‘for God and the Lamb,’ so on earth so closely are they represented as united, that there is but one coming of the Father in the Son.

And this is the only belief, as it seems to me, that will keep this generation from despair and moral suicide. The question for this generation is, Is it possible for men to know God? Science, both of material things and of inward experiences, is more and more unanimous in its proclamation; ‘Behold! we know not anything’; and the only attitude to take before that great black vault above us is to say, ‘We know nothing.’ The world has learned half of a great verse of the Gospel: ‘No man hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him.’ If the world is not to go mad, if hearts are not to be tortured into despair, if morality and enthusiasm and poetry and everything higher and nobler than the knowledge of material phenomena and their sequences is not to perish from the earth, the world must learn the next half of the verse, and say, ‘The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.’ Christ shows Himself in indissoluble union with the Father.

Lastly about this matter, Christ shows Himself to obedient love by a true coming. ‘We will come and make our mansion with him.’ And that coming is a fact of a higher order, and not to be confounded either with the mere divine Omnipresence, by which God is everywhere, nor to be reduced to a figment of our own imaginations, or a strong way of promising increased perception on our part of Christ’s fullness. That great central Sun, if I might use so violent a figure, draws nearer and nearer and nearer to the planets that move about it, and having once been far off on an almost infinitely distant horizon, approaches until planet and Sun unite.

Dear brethren, if we could only get to the attitude of simple acceptance of this as a literal truth, and believe that, in prose reality, Christ comes to every heart that loves Him, would not all the world be different to us?

That coming is a permanent residence: ‘We will make our abode with him.’ Very beautiful is it to notice that our Lord here employs that same sweet and significant word, with which He began this wonderful series of encouragements, when He said, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions.’ Yonder they dwell for ever with God; here God in Christ for ever dwells with the loving heart. It is a permanent abode so long as the conditions are fulfilled, but only so long. If self-will, rising in the Christian heart from its torpor and apparent death, reasserts itself and shakes off Christ’s yoke, Christ’s presence vanishes. In the last hours of the Holy City there was heard by the trembling priests amidst the midnight darkness the motion of departing Deity, and a great voice said: ‘Let us depart hence’; and to-morrow the shrine was empty, and the day after it was in flames. Brethren, if you would keep the Christ in whom is God, remember that He cannot be kept but by the act of loving obedience.

II. Now, in the next place, my text gives us the negative side, and shows us what keeps away Christ and all His blessings.

An unloving disobedience closes the eyes to the vision, and the heart against the entrance, of that dear Lord. Our Master lays down for us two principles, and leaves us to draw the conclusion for ourselves.

The first is, ‘He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings.’ No love, no obedience. That is plainly true, because the heart of all the commandments is love, and where that is not, disobedience to their very spirit is. It is plainly true, because there is no power that will lead men to true obedience to Christ’s yoke except the power of love. His commandments are too alien from our nature ever to be kept, unless by the might of love. It was only the rising sunbeam that could draw music from the stony lips of Memnon, as he gazed out across the desert, and it is only when Christ’s love shines on our faces that we open our lips in praise, and move our hands in service. Those great rocking-stones down in Cornwall stand unmoved by any tempest, but a child’s finger, laid on the right place, will set them vibrating. And so the heavy, hard, stony bulk of our hearts lies torpid and immovable, until He lays His loving finger upon them, and then they rock at His will. There is no keeping of Christ’s commandments without love. That makes short work of a great deal that calls itself Christianity, does it not? Reluctant obedience is no obedience; self-interested obedience is no obedience; constrained obedience is no obedience; outward acts of service, if the heart be wanting, are rubbish and dung. Morality without religion is nought. The one thing that makes a good man is love to Jesus Christ; and where that is, there, and only there, is obedience.

‘Talk they of morals? O Thou Bleeding Lamb!

The grand morality is love of Thee.’

‘If a man love Me not, he will not keep My words.’

Then the second principle is, disobedience to Christ is disobedience to God. ‘The Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s.’ Christ’s consciousness of union so speaks out here as that He is quite sure that all His words are God’s words, and that all God’s words are spoken by Him. Paul has to say, ‘So speak I, not the Lord.’ And you would not think a man a very sound or safe religious teacher who said to you, to begin with, ‘Now, mind, everything that I say, God says.’ There are no errors then, no deterioration of the treasure by the vessel in which it lies. The water does not taste of the vase in which it is carried. The personality of Jesus Christ is never, through all His utterances, so separated from God but that God speaks in Him; and, listening to His voice, we hear the absolute utterance of the uncreated and eternal Wisdom.

Therefore follows the conclusion, which our Lord does not state, but leaves us to supply. If it be true that the absence of love of Him is disobedience to Him, and if it be true that disobedience to Him is disobedience to God, then it plainly follows that what keeps away Christ and all His gifts, and God in Him, is unloving obedience. What brings Him is the obedience of love; what repels Him is alienation and rebellion. If the heart be full of confusion, of the world, of self, of unbridled inclinations, of careless indifference to His bleeding love, He ‘can but listen at the gate and hear the household jar within.’

And so, dear friends, from all this there follow one or two points, which I touch very briefly. One is, that it is possible for men not to see Christ, though He stands there close before them. It is possible to grope at noonday as at midnight, to see only ‘bracken green and cold grey stone’ on the hillside, where another man sees the chariots of fire and the horses of fire. It is possible for you-and, alas! it is the condition of some of my hearers-to look upon Christ and to turn away and say, ‘I see no beauty in Him that I should desire Him,’ whilst the man beside yon, looking at the same facts and the same face, can see in Him the ‘Chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.’

Another thought is, that Christ’s showing of Himself to men is in no sense arbitrary. It is you that determine what you shall see. You can hermetically seal your heart against Him, you can blind yourself to all His beauty. The door of your hearts is hinged to open from within, and if you do not open it, it remains shut, and Christ remains outside.

Another thought is, that you do not need to do anything to blind yourselves. Simple negation is fatal. ‘If a man love not’; that is all. The absence of love is your ruin.

And the last thought is this, that my text does not begin at the beginning. Jesus Christ has been speaking about manifestations of Himself to the loving and obedient; but there are manifestations of Himself made that we may become loving and obedient. You can build a barrier over which these sweeter revelations, of which loyal love and docile submission are the conditions, cannot rise. But you cannot build a barrier over which the prior revelations to the unthankful and disobedient cannot rise. No mountains of sin and neglect and alienation can be piled so high but that the flood of pardoning grace will rise above their crests, and pour itself into your hearts. You ask, How can I get the love and obedience of which you have been singing the praises now? There is only one answer, brethren. We know that we love Him when we know that He loves us; and we know that He loves us when we see Him dying on His Cross. So here is the ladder, that is planted in the miry clay of the horrible pit, and fastens its golden hooks on His throne. The first round is, Behold the dying Christ and His love to me. The second is, Let that love melt my heart into sweet responsive love. The third is, Let my love mould my life into obedience. And then Christ, and God in Him, will come to me and show Himself to me; and give me a fuller knowledge and a deeper love, and make His dwelling with me. And then there is only one round still to roach, and that will land us by the Throne of God, in the many mansions of the Father’s house, where we shall make our abode with Him for evermore.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:22 Several men are named Judas in the New Testament. Judas, the brother of Jesus, (Mark 6:3) wrote the epistle of Jude. Judas, the son of James, whom John is referring to here, is listed as an apostle in Luke 6:16; he is elsewhere identified as Thaddaeus (Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18). • Lord, why? Judas posed an important question. If Jesus planned to return mightily from death, why not use the opportunity to reveal himself definitively to the world and validate his power and identity?

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 14:22. Οὐκ ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης, not Iscariot) He distinguishes the godly Judas, not by his own surname, but by setting aside (by the negation of) the surname of the other Judas; marking at the same time the traitor as present again after his negotiation with the Lord’s adversaries, but as alien to such a question.—τί γέγονεν, what hath happened that? [“How is it that?”]) The godly Judas seems to have supposed that something has happened, because of which the world would be deprived of that revelation of Jesus: but through modesty he had no remembrance of his own peculiar privilege above the world.—ἡμῖν, unto us) who love Thee.—οὐχὶ τῷ κόσμῳ, not to the world) Joh 14:17; Joh 14:19. So the opinion of a worldly kingdom, generally entertained by the disciples, is cut off.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_14:22. Judas (Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus, Mat_10:3; not, however, a brother of the Lord, Act_1:13-14, but son of one James, Luk_6:16)[154] expects a bodily appearance of Christ in Messianic glory, has in this view misunderstood Jesus, and is therefore surprised that He has spoken of His ἐμφανίζειν ἑαυτόν as having reference only to the man who loves Him, and not also to the world of the unbelieving, on whom the Messiah when He appeared was in truth to execute judgment.

τί γέγονεν] What has come to pass, in respect to the fact that, etc.? What occurrence has determined Thee, etc.? See Kypke, I. p. 403 f. The foregoing καί as in Joh_9:36.

The addition οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκαρ. was indeed, after Joh_13:30, quite superfluous, but is to be explained as an involuntary outflow of the deep loathing felt at the traitor of like name. The latter is not to be thought of as again present (Bengel).

[154] Nonnus correctly remarks: υἱὸς ʼΙακώβοιο, κ. οὐ θρασὺς ʼΙσκαριώτης.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 14:22-24 . A fourth interruption, by Judas .

Joh 14:22 . All that Jesus has said has borne more and more clearly in upon the mind of the disciples the disappointing conviction that the manifestation referred to is not to be on the expected Messianic lines. Accordingly Judas, not Iscariot, but Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus (Mat 10:3 ; Luk 6:16 ), says: τί γέγονεν κ . τ . λ . “What has happened that,” etc.? or, “What has occurred to determine you,” etc.? Kypke quotes from Arrian apposite instances of the use of this expression. Judas expresses, no doubt, the thought of the rest. Was there to be no such public manifestation of Jesus as Messiah, as would convince the world?

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We must not ask why the Gospel is revealed to some rather than to others, but we must rather take heed, that we embrace Christ who is offered unto us, and that we truly love him, that is to say, that we give ourselves wholly to his obedience.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Judas saith . . . not Iscariot--Beautiful parenthesis this! The traitor being no longer present, we needed not to be told that this question came not from him. But it is as if the Evangelist had said, "A very different Judas from the traitor, and a very different question from any that he would have put. Indeed [as one in STIER says], we never read of Iscariot that he entered in any way into his Master's words, or ever put a question even of rash curiosity (though it may be he did, but that nothing from him was deemed fit for immortality in the Gospels but his name and treason)."

how . . . manifest thyself to us, and not to the world--a most natural and proper question, founded on Joh 14:19, though interpreters speak against it as Jewish.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. Judas] The same as Thaddeus and Lebbeus, the brother of James, and author of what is called the epistle of Jude.

How is it] Or, how can it be - τι γεγονεν, what is to happen? - on what account is it? Judas, who was probably thinking that the kingdom of Christ should extend over all the earth, wonders how this can be, and yet Christ manifest himself only to his disciples and not to the world, Joh 14:19. To this our Lord, in a more express manner than he had done before answers:-

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. Judas (not Iscariot) saith to him. It is not without reason that he asks why Christ does not cause his light to be imparted to more than a few persons; since he is the Sun of Righteousness, (Malachi 4:2) by whom the whole world ought to be enlightened; and, therefore, it is unreasonable that he should enlighten but a few, and not shed his light everywhere without distinction. Christ’s reply does not solve the whole question; for it makes no mention of the first cause, why Christ ‘manifested himself to a few,’ conceals himself from the greater part of men; for certainly he finds all men at first alike, that is, entirely alienated from him; and, therefore, he cannot choose any person who loves him, but he chooses from among his enemies those whose hearts he bends to the love of him. But he did not intend, at present, to take any notice of that distinction, which was far from the object he had in view. His design was, to exhort his disciples to the earnest study of godliness, that they might make greater progress in faith; and, therefore, he is satisfied with distinguishing them from the world by this mark, that they keep the doctrine of the Gospel.

Now, this mark comes after the commencement of faith, for it is the effect of their calling. In other passages, Christ had reminded the disciples of their being called by free grace, and he will afterwards bring it to their recollection. At present, he only enjoins them to observe his doctrine, and to maintain godliness. By these words, Christ shows in what manner the Gospel is properly obeyed. It is, when our services and outward actions proceed from the love of Christ; for in vain do the arms, and the feet, and the whole body toil, if the love of God does not reign in the heart, to govern the outward members. Now, since it is certain that we keep the commandments of Christ only in so far as we love him, it follows that a perfect love of him can nowhere be found in the world, because there is no man who keeps his commandments perfectly; yet God is pleased with the obedience of those who sincerely aim at this end.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(22) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot.—That he was “not Iscariot” is mentioned to distinguish him beyond all possibility of confusion from him who had gone out into the darkness, and was no longer one of their number (Joh_13:30). He is commonly identified with “Lebbæus whose surname was Thaddæus” (comp. Note on Mat_10:3), and was a brother or son of James (Luk_6:15).

How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?—The word “manifest” has brought to the mind of Judas, as the word “see” had to the mind of Philip (Joh_14:7), thoughts of a visible manifestation such as to Moses (Exo_33:13; Exo_33:18), and such as they expected would attend the advent of the Messiah (Mal_3:1). But it was contrary to every thought of the Messiah that this manifestation should be to a few only. His reign was to be the judgment of the Gentiles, and the establishment of the Theocracy.

The words rendered, “How is it that . . .?” mean literally, What has happened that . . .? The words of our Lord, speaking of His manifestation, take Judas by surprise. He wonders whether anything has occurred to cause what he thinks a departure from the Messianic manifestation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot,.... This was Judas Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus, the same with Jude the apostle, the author of the epistle which bears his name; and is said to be "not Iscariot", to distinguish him from the betrayer. The question put by him, Lord,

how is it, , which answers to , or , or with the Talmudists, "what is this thou sayest"; what is the meaning of it? how can it be? or what is the reason of it,

that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world? arises either from ignorance of what Christ was speaking, imagining he meant a spectre, or some apparition of himself after his death, which should be visible to his disciples, and not to others; and how this could be, he wanted to know; or from that national prejudice which Judas and the rest of the apostles had given into, of a temporal kingdom of the Messiah, the glory of which should be visible to all the world; and therefore he wonders that he should talk of the manifestation of himself, only to some, or from an honest hearty desire that the glory of Christ might not be confined to a few only; but that the whole world might see it, and be filled with it: or rather from his modesty, and the sense he had of his own unworthiness, and of the rest of the apostles, to have such a peculiar manifestation of Christ to them, when they were no more deserving of it than others: the question is put by him with admiration and astonishment; and as not being able to give, or think of any other reason of such a procedure, but the amazing grace of Christ, his free favour and sovereign will and pleasure.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Ver. 22. How is it that thou wilt manifest, &c.] Many a wise question the disciples ask him in this chapter; and yet our Saviour bears with their rudeness, and gently instructs them, preaching as they were able to hear, Mar 4:33. So did Paul, 1Co 9:22. So must all ministers, 2Ti 2:25, if they mean to do good on it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Judas saith unto him - This was the same as Lebbeus or Thaddeus. See Mat 10:3. He was the brother of James, and the author of the Epistle of Jude.

How is it ... - Probably Judas thought that he spake only of his resurrection, and he did not readily see how it could be that he could show himself to them, and not be seen also by others.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lord, how is it? Literally, what is done, or, what will be done, that thou art about to manifest thyself to us, and not to the world? This apostle imagined, that the Messias would make manifest his glory of a temporal kingdom, not to them only, but to all the world. But Christ, by his answer, lets him know, that he spoke only of a manifestation of his love to those that loved him. If any man love me, my Father will love him, and we will come to him, that is, the three divine persons, will come to his soul, in a special manner, so as to bless him with an infusion of graces, and make our abode in his soul. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Jude the brother of James, Jud 1:1, the son of Alphaeus; not Judas the son of Simon, who, from the city whence he was, was called Iscariot, and was the traitor; asks our Saviour, how it was, or wherefore it was, that he would manifest himself to them, and not to the world? This question either proceeded out of ignorance, not aright understanding of what manifestation of himself Christ here spake; or out of a pious desire that all might be made partakers of the same grace with them; or out of the apostle’s modest opinion of himself and his brethren; as if he had said, Lord, what are we that thou shouldest speak of any more special manifestation of thy love to us, than to the rest of the world? Or out of a deep admiration of God’s unsearchable judgments in leaving some of the world, while he made choice of others to dignify with such special distinguishing favours, hiding those things from the wise and prudent which he revealed to babes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 22-31. (6) The question of Judas, and the conditions of our Lords self-manifestation, followed by appeals, promises, and the gift of PEACE.

This reference to "manifestation" once more occasioned another anxious inquiry. Thomas bad not known whither the Lord was going, and was ignorant of the true meaning of that way of departure from them; and the Lord had told him that he was going to the Father, and that he himself was the Way for them to find their access to the Father"s heart. Philip had longed for some vision of the Father which would suffice for the "whither" and "way," and was surprised to find that he had had already, in the Savior"s own Person, a sufficient revelation of the Father; but that he and others had not known him nor his Father; and now Jesus promises a fuller manifestation of himself, and therefore of the Father. Here Judas, not Iscariot (the Lebbaeus, or Thaddaeus, of Mar_3:18 and Mat_10:3; the Judas brother of James of Luk_6:16 and Act_1:13 all the several cognomina intended to keep this apostle"s name entirely distinct from that of the traitor), saith to him, What has come to pass that thou art about to manifest thyself unto us, and not to manifest thyself to the world? Hast thou altered thy plan? Is the world to be left unvisited by thy glory? This question, in some form or other, is constantly pressed upon the Lord. This seeking for a sign, this eager desire for a great display of power, or judgment, or glory, this restoration of the kingdom to Israel, was the cry of the Jewish heart. Christ"s sublime reply to it is given in the restatement of the spiritual law of the kingdom and glory of God. Once more he goes back to the law of love, issuing in obedience.

Vers. 22-24. The nature and conditions of Christ"s manifestation.

The last sentence of our Lord suggests the question of Judas.

I THE QUESTION OF JUDAS. "Lord, and what has happened, that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world?

1. The questioner, who is otherwise known as Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus, mistakes the nature of Christs manifestation. He imagined that it would be a theophany associated with the establishment of a temporal kingdom.

2. He imagines that Jesus has made some sudden change in the scope or sphere of the Messianic manifestation. He knew that it would affect the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Tic is at a loss to understand the change in the Messianic program.

II OUR LORD"S EXPLANATION OF THE CONDITIONS OF HIS MANIFESTATION. "If any man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

1. The conditions are love to Jesus, proved by obedience, and crowned with the love of the Father. The power of receiving the revelation depends upon loving obedience. Thus the Divine fellowship is always conditioned.

2. The want of love in the world made the manifestation impossible to it. "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings." This was the true answer to the question of Judas.

3. The manifestation of Christ is spiritual rather than temporal. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; the kingdom of God is within you." God dwells with the believer; the believer dwells with God. The first is the condition of the second.

Vers. 22-24. What makes the true manifestation possible.

I THE QUESTION OF JUDAS. This question shows how much the disciples had yet to learn; for without doubt all shared the perplexity of the one. How one fundamental error stops a true understanding of all the words of Jesus! In a sense, Jesus had been seen of all men who had eyes to see, but what they had seen had just been the human form. That Jesus should have kingly honor and kingly power they had not discerned. But the disciples seem to have thought that one day he would assume outward royal pomps, and then everybody would be forced to recognize him for what he truly was. A glory that could be manifested to some and not to all was beyond the comprehension of the disciples. The question of Judas was only the world"s own habitual and self-conceited question, amounting to this that if there was anything in Christianity, the world would have seen it long ago. The world"s delusive notion is that it can know everything that is to be known, if only the manifestation is made intense enough.

II THE EXPLANATION OF JESUS. An explanation, indeed, and yet not an explanation to be understood in the moment of utterance. For these very disciples had yet to have stirred up in their hearts a true spiritual affection. They did love Jesus as human friend loves human friend; but doing this, what did they more than others? The mutual bond of friendship requires no high stretch of human virtue. But the disciples had yet to attain the agaph , that agaph which is specially affirmed as the crowning gift of the Holy Spirit. God so loved the world as to give his Son for the world"s redemption, and there is a continual effort through many and ever multiplying agencies to manifest himself in saving power to the world. But this is done by all arts of persuasion and warning by persistent shaking of those who are asleep till they open their eyes, which many of them never do. There is, of course, an increase of manifestation in the glory of God in Christ Jesus, so that those able to see the manifestation at all see more and more, and have an increase of joy the longer they look. But just as the same eye beholds the sun in its noonday glory and in its earliest dawn, so the same eye beholds all the manifestations of God in Jesus. If We cannot see the beginning, we cannot see the continuing. To those spiritually blind, all comforting manifestations of the Trinity are alike impossible. There must be a breaking down of selfishness, an opening up of the streams of love, and a gradual increase of them into copious flow. How many indulge selfishness, well knowing the claims that press on them from every side! Shut your eyes and keep them closed; it is true then that you cannot see; but you are not therefore reckoned blind. Only when you are penitent, and profoundly troubled because of deep-rooted selfishness, can the manifestation of Jesus begin to you. Selfishness is what makes the world the world; and as soon as a counter-current is set up in any human heart, that is a sign of salvation begun, and if only there be no Demas-lapse into the love of the temporal and the visible, then manifestations from above will more and more increase. The more we fit ourselves to see, the more we shall see. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

world

kosmos = world-system. Joh 15:18; Joh 15:19; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield "Rev 13:8").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Some understand these words of a temporal manifestation, and thing that Judas the brother of James, who spake them, still expected that Christ should be a temporal prince, and have such a kingdom as should be conspicuous to all the world, and therefore puts the question. How he could possibly shew himself to his disciples, and the world not see him? Others understand it of a spiritual manifestation; as if he had said, "Lord! who or what are thy disciples, that we should enjoy more special manifestations of thy love to us, than to the rest of the world? Why should we be dignified by such distinguishing favours above others?"

Learn hence, 1. That there is a real difference put by Christ betwixt his own children and the world, in the matter of special manifestations.

2. That there being no cause from the creature why Christ should make this difference, his discrimination grace is matter of just and great admiration. Well might the apostle out of a deep admiration say, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. Ἰούδας. Excluding the genealogies of Christ we have six persons of this name in N.T. 1. This Judas, who was the son of a certain James (Luk 6:16; Act 1:13): he is commonly identified with Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus (see on Mat 10:3). 2. Judas Iscariot. 3. The brother of Jesus Christ, and of James, Joses, and Simon (Mat 13:55; Mar 6:3). 4. Judas, surnamed Barsabas (Act 15:22; Act 15:27; Act 15:32). 5. Judas of Galilee (Act 5:37). 6. Judas of Damascus (Act 9:11). Of these six the third is probably the author of the Epistle; so that this remark is the only thing recorded in the N.T. of Judas the Apostle as distinct from the other Apostles. Nor is anything really known of him from other sources.

τί γέγονεν. What is come to pass; what has happened to determine Thee to so strange a course? Ἐμφανίσω rouses S. Judas just as ἑωράκατε (Joh 14:7) roused S. Philip. Both go wrong from the same cause, inability to see the spiritual meaning of Christ’s words; but they go wrong in different ways. Philip wishes for a vision of the Father, a Theophany, a suitable inauguration of the Messiah’s kingdom. Judas supposes with the rest of his countrymen that the manifestation of the Messiah means a bodily appearance in glory before the whole world, to judge the Gentile and restore the kingdom to the Jews. Once more we have the Jewish point of view given with convincing precision. Comp. Joh 7:4.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22.] Ἰούδας, οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκ. = Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου of Luk 6:16: see note on Mat 10:2 ff. Meyer remarks that the οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης is pragmatically superfluous, after ch. 13:30, but is added by St. John from his deep horror of the Traitor who bore the same name.

The question seems to be put with the Jewish idea, that the Messiah, the King and Judge of the nations, must necessarily manifest himself to the world.

[καί preceding an interrogation, expresses astonishment at what has just been said, and, assuming it, connects to it a conclusion which appears to refute or cast doubt on it. So Eur. Med. 1388,—ὦ τέκνα φίλτατα! “μητρί γε, σοὶ δʼ οὔ.” κἄπειτʼ ἔκτας; See more examples in Hartung, i. p. 146, and cf. Kühner on Xen. Mem. p. 117.]

τί γέγ. ὅτι] What has happened, that …? i.e. how is it, that …?

23,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. λέγει αὐτῷ Ἰούδας κτλ. This is the fourth interruption of the discourse by an apostle anxious to understand what was being said (cf. 13:37, 14:5, 8); this time the speaker is Judas the son of James (Luk 6:16, Act 1:13, who is also called Thaddeus Mar 3:18, Mat 10:3; see on 2:12 above). Syr. sin. reads “Thomas” here for “Judas,” and Syr. cur. has “Judas Thomas,” which apparently was the personal name (Judas the Twin) of the doubting apostle. The Syriac vss. have confused the undistinguished apostle, Judas the son of James, with the better known Judas Thomas.

οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης. Judas Iscariot had left the company some time before (13:30), but Jn. is anxious that the name “Judas” shall not mislead. For “the Iscariot,” the man of Kerioth, see on 6:71.

καὶ τί γέγονεν κτλ., “What, then, has happened that, etc.” For the initial καί, which is retained by א, see on 9:36. It is omitted by ABDLΘ, but its omission is probably due to a mistaken correction of the text by scribes who did not understand the initial καί.

Jude catches at the word ἐμφανίζειν. This is what he has been waiting for. For this verb seemed to suggest (see Exo 33:13, Exo 33:18) a visible manifestation of Jesus in glory, which had been the hope of the Twelve. They clung to the thought of a Messianic theophany which should convince the world. There was a truth behind this Jewish expectation, as Jesus had said on former occasions (5:27, 28). But the promise to the faithful in these Last Discourses was not that of any speedy return of the Son of Man in the clouds, although it was misinterpreted thus by some. The ἐμφανισμός which Jesus promised was the illumination of the heart of the individual disciple: “I will manifest myself to him,” not to the world. Judas is perplexed by such a limitation, as it seems to him, of the Messianic hope. What, then, about your manifestation of your glory to the world? See on v. 8 for similar perplexity exhibited by his brother apostle Philip. Both of them desired the same kind of public vindication by Jesus of Himself as His incredulous “brethren” had demanded when they said φανέρωσον σεαυτὸν τῷ κόσμῳ (7:4).

Such vindication, however, was not given. Even after He had risen, Jesus was not seen by those who hated Him or were sceptical as to His claims. ὁ θεὸς … ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ἐμφανῆ γενέσθαι (Act 10:40), not to everybody, but only to the select few. And the only answer that Jesus gives to Jude is to repeat the assurance that He will, in truth, manifest Himself to every loving and obedient disciple: a promise which points forward to the illumination which the Spirit is to give.

No direct answer is given as to the manifestation in glory of Jesus to the world at large. This is in complete correspondence with the habit of Jesus when problems were put to Him by questioners as to the destiny or the duty of other people. He rebuked Peter for asking about John’s future career (21:22). “Are there few that be saved?” another asked Him (Luk 13:23). But His answer was to bid the man look to his own salvation: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” And so here, it is said (in effect) to Jude: “If you love and obey me, I will come and abide with you; that is enough for you to know.”

22. λέγει αὐτῷ Ἰούδας κτλ. This is the fourth interruption of the discourse by an apostle anxious to understand what was being said (cf. 13:37, 14:5, 8); this time the speaker is Judas the son of James (Luk 6:16, Act 1:13, who is also called Thaddeus Mar 3:18, Mat 10:3; see on 2:12 above). Syr. sin. reads “Thomas” here for “Judas,” and Syr. cur. has “Judas Thomas,” which apparently was the personal name (Judas the Twin) of the doubting apostle. The Syriac vss. have confused the undistinguished apostle, Judas the son of James, with the better known Judas Thomas.

οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης. Judas Iscariot had left the company some time before (13:30), but Jn. is anxious that the name “Judas” shall not mislead. For “the Iscariot,” the man of Kerioth, see on 6:71.

καὶ τί γέγονεν κτλ., “What, then, has happened that, etc.” For the initial καί, which is retained by א, see on 9:36. It is omitted by ABDLΘ, but its omission is probably due to a mistaken correction of the text by scribes who did not understand the initial καί.

Jude catches at the word ἐμφανίζειν. This is what he has been waiting for. For this verb seemed to suggest (see Exo 33:13, Exo 33:18) a visible manifestation of Jesus in glory, which had been the hope of the Twelve. They clung to the thought of a Messianic theophany which should convince the world. There was a truth behind this Jewish expectation, as Jesus had said on former occasions (5:27, 28). But the promise to the faithful in these Last Discourses was not that of any speedy return of the Son of Man in the clouds, although it was misinterpreted thus by some. The ἐμφανισμός which Jesus promised was the illumination of the heart of the individual disciple: “I will manifest myself to him,” not to the world. Judas is perplexed by such a limitation, as it seems to him, of the Messianic hope. What, then, about your manifestation of your glory to the world? See on v. 8 for similar perplexity exhibited by his brother apostle Philip. Both of them desired the same kind of public vindication by Jesus of Himself as His incredulous “brethren” had demanded when they said φανέρωσον σεαυτὸν τῷ κόσμῳ (7:4).

Such vindication, however, was not given. Even after He had risen, Jesus was not seen by those who hated Him or were sceptical as to His claims. ὁ θεὸς … ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ἐμφανῆ γενέσθαι (Act 10:40), not to everybody, but only to the select few. And the only answer that Jesus gives to Jude is to repeat the assurance that He will, in truth, manifest Himself to every loving and obedient disciple: a promise which points forward to the illumination which the Spirit is to give.

No direct answer is given as to the manifestation in glory of Jesus to the world at large. This is in complete correspondence with the habit of Jesus when problems were put to Him by questioners as to the destiny or the duty of other people. He rebuked Peter for asking about John’s future career (21:22). “Are there few that be saved?” another asked Him (Luk 13:23). But His answer was to bid the man look to his own salvation: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” And so here, it is said (in effect) to Jude: “If you love and obey me, I will come and abide with you; that is enough for you to know.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Judas. See on Thaddaeus, Mr 3:18.

Not Iscariot. The Rev. improves the translation by placing these words immediately after Judas. "He distinguishes the godly Judas, not by his own surname, but by the negation of the other's; marking at the same time the traitor as present again after his negotiation with the adversaries, but as having no sympathy with such a question" (Bengel).

How is it [τι γεγ ονεν] . Literally, what has come to pass. Implying that Judas thought that some change had taken place in Jesus ' plans. He had assumed that Jesus would, as the Messiah, reveal Himself publicly.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 22. “Judas, not Iscariot, says to him, Lord, and what is come to pass, that thou art to show thyself to us, and not to the world?”

The mode of the revelation of which Jesus had just spoken entirely perplexed the minds of the disciples, which were ever directed towards the outward manifestation, visible for all, of the Messiah-King and His glorious kingdom. It was especially in the lower group of the apostolic company, influenced by the carnal spirit of Iscariot, that such thoughts persistently continued. The Judas or Jude here mentioned bears this name only in Luke (Luk 6:16, Act 1:13). In the catalogues of Matthew (Mat 10:3) and Mark (Mar 3:18) he is designated by the names (surnames) Lebbeus and Thaddaeus: the bold or the cherished one. He occupies one of the lowest places among the apostles. The explanation: not Iscariot, is intended to remove the supposition of a return of Judas after his going out, Joh 13:30.

By saying: What is come to pass? Judas asks for the indication of a new fact causing the change of the Messianic programme, the proof of which he thinks he observes in the words of Jesus in Joh 14:21. The καί, and, before τί γέγονεν, is the expression of surprise; it was omitted in some MSS., as superfluous.— To us signifies here: “To us only.”

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.