ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

John 14.23

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

There are ads on our codex that pay for hosting and keep the codex free. If you can, please consider whitelisting ris3n.com or allowing scripts to support the work.

Sponsored

ASV:

"23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John 14:23, ASV)

WEB:

"23. Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him." (John 14:23, WEB)

KJV:

"23. 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." (John 14:23, KJV)

YLT:

"23. Jesus answered and said to him, 'If any one may love me, my word he will keep, and my Father will love him, and unto him we will come, and abode with him we will make;" (John 14:23, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. 22. Judas (not Iscariot) saith unto him, Lord, what is come to pass that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my words: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. 25. These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you." (John 14:21-25, ASV)

WEB:

"21. One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.” 22. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23. Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. 24. He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me. 25. I have said these things to you, while still living with you." (John 14:21-25, WEB)

KJV:

"21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23. 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. 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you." (John 14:21-25, KJV)

YLT:

"21. he who is having my commands, and is keeping them, that one it is who is loving me, and he who is loving me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.' 22. Judas saith to him, (not the Iscariot), 'Sir, what hath come to pass, that to us thou are about to manifest thyself, and not to the world?' 23. Jesus answered and said to him, 'If any one may love me, my word he will keep, and my Father will love him, and unto him we will come, and abode with him we will make; 24. he who is not loving me, my words doth not keep; and the word that ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. 25. 'These things I have spoken to you, remaining with you," (John 14:21-25, YLT)

Setting

  • Speaker: Jesus, in the Upper Room Discourse (John 13:31-16:33), responding to a question from Judas (not Iscariot, identified in Luke 6:16 as Judas son of James / Thaddaeus)
  • Audience: the eleven remaining disciples (Judas Iscariot has already left, per John 13:30)
  • Location: Jerusalem, the upper room of the Last Supper, evening of Maundy Thursday
  • Time period: the night before the crucifixion, c. Nisan 14, AD 30 or 33 (depending on chronology); composed c. AD 85-95
  • Narrative context: the mutual indwelling discourse. Judas-not-Iscariot has just asked Jesus why He will manifest Himself to the disciples but not to the world (v. 22). Jesus's response (vv. 23-24) reframes the question: the manifestation is conditioned on love-and-obedience. To the one who loves Jesus and keeps His word, the Father AND the Son come and make their monē (abode, dwelling) with him. The verse contains a striking plural pronoun: "WE will come unto him, and make OUR abode with him", the Father and the Son together indwelling the believer. The Holy Spirit indwelling is the immediate companion (vv. 16-17, 26).

Theological reading

John 14:23 is the Johannine summary statement of the Father-and-Son mutual indwelling of the believer. The verse contains three theologically charged claims: (a) the condition, love-and-obedience to Jesus's word; (b) the agents, the Father AND the Son ("WE will come"); (c) the action, the making of a monē (abode, dwelling, permanent residence) WITH the believer.

The plural pronoun

The verse's most striking feature is Jesus's use of the first-person plural: "we will come... our abode." Jesus speaks of Himself and the Father together coming to indwell the believer. The plural is one of the strongest Trinitarian / distinction-of-Persons texts in the Upper Room Discourse. Even in the Oneness reading, the plural-language requires explanation (typically: the Father-source and the Son-manifestation as two relational modes of the one God).

The Trinitarian reading is straightforward: the Father, Son, and Spirit (the Spirit is the companion-indweller from v. 16-17, 26) all dwell with the believer. The mutual indwelling reflects the inner-Trinitarian perichoresis (the mutual interpenetration of the divine Persons) opened to embrace creatures.

The conditional structure

The indwelling is conditioned on loving-and-obeying. Verse 21 has just said "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Love and obedience are paired throughout the Upper Room: love expresses itself in obedience; obedience is the evidence of love. The mutual indwelling is therefore not promised indiscriminately to every human being (universal indwelling) but specifically to those who love-and-obey Jesus.

This forecloses two readings:

  • Universalism, God indwells everyone regardless of response
  • Mere-intellectual-assent, affirming Christological propositions without obedience suffices

The companion text v. 24 makes the negative case explicit: "He that loveth me not keepeth not my words."

The monē, the abode

The Greek monē (μονή) appears only twice in the NT, both in this chapter: v. 2 ("In my Father's house are many mansions/abodes") and v. 23 ("we will make our abode with him"). The parallel is striking: v. 2 promises the believer a monē with the Father; v. 23 promises the believer that the Father and Son will make their monē with him. The two-direction movement (heavenly monē prepared for the believer; divine monē established within the believer) is foundational to Johannine theology.

Patristic reading

Augustine (Tractates on John 76, c. AD 416): the mutual indwelling text is one of the principal Johannine grounds for the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the love that proceeds from the Father and the Son and unites the believer to the Trinitarian life. The Father-Son indwelling is mediated through the Spirit's presence.

John Chrysostom (Homilies on John 75): the plural-pronoun is the trinitarian inflection of what the Synoptic Gospels say about the kingdom-of-God within (Luke 17:21). The kingdom IS the indwelling triune presence.

Reformed and contemporary reading

John Calvin (Commentary on John ad loc.): the verse is the union-with-Christ text that grounds Reformed soteriology. The indwelling is not merely metaphorical or influential; it is the genuine presence of the divine Persons within the regenerate. The unio mystica of Reformed dogmatics derives from texts like this.

Karl Barth (Church Dogmatics IV/2, 1956): the mutual indwelling is the ground of the Christian's participation in the inner-trinitarian life. The eternal Son's incarnation extends the trinitarian fellowship to creatures.

Oneness Pentecostal reading

In the Oneness framework, John 14:23's plural "we" is explained by the Father-source / Son-manifestation distinction, the one God's two relational modes both indwelling the believer. The pronoun does not establish two divine Persons but two relational ways the one God meets the believer (as Father in eternal source, as Son in incarnational expression, both via the Spirit's actual indwelling). See Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism for the multi-position comparison.

The Oneness reader also notes that the indwelling Spirit of v. 16-17 is the practical mode through which the Father-Son indwelling is realized, consistent with the Acts 2.38 Oneness-baptism-and-Spirit-reception soteriology.

Apologetic deployment

The verse defeats:

  1. Deism (God is distant; doesn't actively engage humans), the verse promises the active, personal, ongoing presence of God within the believer.

  2. Pantheism (everyone has God within them as the cosmic substrate), the indwelling is conditioned on love-and-obedience-of-Jesus; it is not the universal cosmic-ground.

  3. Salvation-by-rationalist-affirmation (it's enough to believe propositions about Jesus), the verse requires loving-and-obeying Jesus, not just affirming propositions about Him.

Canonical-theological connections

  • John 14:2, "In my Father's house are many mansions", the companion monē text
  • John 14:16-17, the Spirit's indwelling
  • John 14:18-20, "I will come to you... ye in me, and I in you", companion indwelling claim
  • John 15:4-7, "Abide in me, and I in you", the vine-and-branches mutual abiding
  • John 17:23, "I in them, and thou in me", high-priestly indwelling
  • Romans 8:9-11, "the Spirit of God dwell in you... Christ in you", Pauline parallel
  • Ephesians 3:17, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith"
  • Revelation 3:20, "if any man hear my voice... I will come in to him", apocalyptic-letter parallel

Key words

See also

Quoted in