822
τόπον ὑμῖν.
e Mt. xvii. 'ἔρχομαι καὶ 11. Acts ο πα,
f Song viii. 2. Mt. XVli I.
a ς A 4. καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε. οἴδατε.. 1
3. καὶ ἐὰν πορευθῶ καὶ ἑτοιμάσω ὑμῖν τόπον, πάλιν Σπαραλήψομαι Suds πρὸς ἐμαυτόν : ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, 4. καὶ ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω οἴδατε, καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν 5. Λέγει αὐτῷ Θωμᾶς, “' Κύριε, οὐκ οἴδαμεν ποῦ ὑπάγεις ' καὶ πῶς δυνάµεθα”. τὴν ὁδὸν εἰδέναι ;
/ alia, 3 A 6. Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς,
«Εγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή: οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς
1 Omit και before and οιδατε after την οδον with NBLX. The words occur in ΑΓ,
probably inserted for clearness.
2 Instead of δυναµεθα ειδεναι Tr.Ti.W.H.R. read οιδαµεν with BC*D.
for His future would require to be entirely altered had there been no room for them in His Father’s house. ‘“ My Father’s house”’ is used in ii. 16 of the Temple? here of the immediate presence of the Father and of that condition in which His love and protection are un- interruptedly and directly experienced. This is most naturally thought of as a place, but with the corrective that “‘ it is not in heaven one finds God, but in God one finds heaven”. Cf. Godet. In this house, as in a great palace, cf. Iliad, vi. 242, μοναὶ πολλαί εἶσιν. µονή (µένειν), only here and in ver. 23, means a place to abide in, and was used of a station ona journey, a resting place, quarters for the night, and in later ecclesiastical Greek a monastery. See Soph., Lexicon. ‘‘ Mansions” reproduces the Vuigate ‘“‘mansiones”. See further Wright’s Bible Word-Book. et δὲ μὴ . . . “were it not so, I would have told you,” ‘“‘ademissem vobis spem inanem,” Grotius. Had there been no such place and no possibility of preparing it, He necessarily would have told them, because the very purpose of His leaving them was to prepare a place for them. ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον, a figure derived from the custom of sending forward one of a party to secure quarters and provide all requisites. Cf. the Alcestis, line 363: ἀλλ᾽ οὖν ἐκεῖσε προσδόκα μ’, ὅταν θάνω, καὶ Sap” ἑτοίμαί, ὡς συνοικήσουσά µοι. What was involved in the preparation here spoken of is detailed in Hebrews. Cf. Selby’s Ministry of the Lord, 275. —Ver. 3. Neither will He prepare a place and leave them to find their own way to it.—Kal ἐὰν πορευθῶ ... ἦτε “If I go’; that is, the commencement of this work as their forerunner was the pledge of itscompletion. And its completion is effected by His coming again and receiv- ing them to Himself, or ‘‘to His own home,” πρὸς ἐμαυτόν. Cf. xx. 10.— πάλιν ἔρχομαι καὶ παραλήμψομαι, “I
come again and will receive”. The present is used in ἔρχομαι as if the coming were so certain as to be already begun, cf. v. 25. For παραλήμψομαι see Cant. viii.2. The promise is fulfilled in the death of the Christian, and it has changed the aspect of death. The personal second coming of Christ is not a frequent theme in this Gospel. The ultimate object of His departure and return is ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε. Cf.1 Thess. iv. 17, 2 Cor. ν. 8, Phil. i. 23. The object of Christ’s departure is permanent reunion and the blessedness of the Christian.
Vv. 4-7. A second interruption occa- sioned by Thomas.—Ver. 4. καὶ ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω οἴδατε τὴν ὁδόν. The ἐγώ is emphatic: the disciples knew the direc- tion in which He was going.—Ver. 5. But this statement bewilders the despondent Thomas, who gloomily interjects: Κύριε ... εἰδέαι; Thomas’ difficulty is that not knowing the goal they cannot know the way. In the reply of Jesus both the goal and the way are disclosed.—Ver. 6. ἐγώ εἰμι . . . ἐμοῦ. ‘I am the way and the truth and the life: no one comes te the Father save through me.” I do not merely point out the way and teach the truth and bestow life, but I am the way and the truth and thelife, so that by attach- ment to me one necessarily is in the way and possesses the truth and the life. ‘‘ The way” here referred to is the way to the Father. He is the goal of all human aspiration: and there is but one way to the Father, “πο one comes,” etc.—kat ἡ ἀλήθεια, ‘and the truth,” primarily about God and the way to Him, but also as furnishing us with all knowledge which we now require for life. Thomas craved knowledge sufficient to guide him in the present crisis. Jesus says: You have it in me.—xat ἡ ζωή, “ and the life’ ; the death which casts its shadow over the eleven and Himself is itself to be swallowed up in life. Those who