Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: An Exploration Into John 14

We will begin our study by breaking into the text of John 14. We should first be familiar with our setting. Jesus has come to Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover. The lamb has been slaughtered, the table has been set, and the meal has been eaten. Jesus is now addressing his followers as He prepares to give His life for the elect. In 13:36 Peter asks Christ where He is going and the famous conversation of Jesus’ foretelling of Peter’s denial takes place. Peter proclaims he will give his life for the Lord if need be, but Jesus stops him short by noting that Peter will deny Him three times before the cock crows. Yet, before this, Jesus informs His disciples that they are unable to follow Him to where He is going at this time, but they will be able to follow Him afterward. Clearly, the disciples were still confused about the notion that the Lord would give His life in less than 24 hours.

The Gospel of John is one of the last books written within the New Testament (c. 90-95). The historical setting in which John wrote his Gospel is an interesting one. The temple in Jerusalem had fallen (70ce), the persecution of the Christians was in full swing, and many different heretical groups had begun to disrupt the theological landscape of the believing communities. Most notably Gnosticism had risen to a place of prominence. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what the Gnostics believed since there were so many differing views under the name “Gnosticism.” However, it seems that most of the groups believed that the physical world was evil and corrupt and there was a spiritual truth titled “gnosis” (meaning knowledge) that could only be attained by the enlightened.

John’s Gospel displays significant differences from the other three Gospels. John’s writing seems to be more theological and many believe he is writing to combat heretical groups such as the Gnostics. In other words, John is not writing to record history in the same way as the synoptic Gospels, rather, John is writing to highlight the words of Jesus that may have seemed odd at the time but shed light on the theological understanding of His Work now that He ascended. This belief becomes more solid when we realize that John expects his readers to be familiar with the synoptic accounts.