John 14
The chapter in full, then what it says, what the Greek or Hebrew decides, and where readers have disagreed.
John 14 WEB
- 1 "Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
- 2 In my Father's house are many homes. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
- 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
- 4 You know where I go, and you know the way."
- 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?"
- 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him."
- 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
- 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, 'Show us the Father'?
- 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake.
- 12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.
- 13 Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- 14 If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
- 15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
- 16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever:
- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive, for it doesn't see him and doesn't know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
- 18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
- 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
- 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
- 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.
- 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
- 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
- 28 You heard how I told you, 'I am going away, and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said 'I am going to my Father;' for the Father is greater than I.
- 29 Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.
- 30 I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
- 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let's go from here.
What is happening
John 14 opens the section of John's Gospel usually called the Farewell Discourse (chapters 13–17), Jesus' last extended teaching to his disciples on the night of his arrest. The Last Supper is finished; Judas has already left to betray him (13:30); Jesus has just told Peter that before dawn he will deny knowing him (13:38). Into that room — men who have just heard their leader is about to die and one of their own has denied he'll stand by him — Jesus begins to speak. Everything in chapter 14 is spoken to eleven frightened men in the hours before the cross, not as abstract doctrine but as address to grief.
The chapter has a simple shape: a word of comfort (14:1–4), two interruptions from confused disciples — Thomas and Philip — that Jesus answers with two of the most-quoted claims in the Gospel (14:5–11), a set of promises about prayer, the Spirit, and love (14:12–24), and a closing return to peace and departure (14:25–31).
The passage, walked through
"Don't let your heart be troubled" (14:1–4). Jesus opens by naming the thing in the room: fear. "Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία" — the verb ταράσσω is the same word used of Jesus' own inner turmoil at Lazarus's tomb (11:33) and before his arrest (12:27). This is not a command to feel nothing; it is a command addressed to people whose trouble Jesus knows from the inside. The remedy he offers is not technique but a person: "Believe in God. Believe also in me" (14:1). He then speaks of his Father's house with "many homes" (μοναὶ πολλαί) and says he is going "to prepare a place for you" (14:2–3) — the going is not abandonment but preparation, and the return ("I will come again") has "that where I am, you may be there also" as its stated purpose.
Thomas: "we don't know where you are going" (14:5–6). Thomas's honest confusion draws out the chapter's most famous line: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me" (14:6). The three nouns are not separate qualities but one claim stated three ways: Jesus is not a teacher who shows a way, states a truth, or offers a kind of life — he identifies himself as all three. The exclusivity in "no one comes to the Father, except through me" (οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ) is stated, not implied, and answers Thomas's specific question about the road to where Jesus is going — it is not a stray remark but the hinge of the whole discourse.
Philip: "show us the Father" (14:7–11). Philip's request assumes the Father is something separate that could be produced on demand. Jesus' answer is startling in its directness: "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (14:9). This is not a claim to resemblance but to identity of revelation — "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (14:10). The works themselves are offered as evidence if the words are not believed on their own: "believe me for the very works' sake" (14:11).
Promises: prayer, Spirit, obedience (14:12–24). Jesus promises that believers will do "greater works than these" (14:12) — tied explicitly to his going to the Father, not to a general spiritual ambition. Prayer "in my name" (14:13–14) is not a formula appended to requests but asking that aligns with who Jesus is and what glorifies the Father. Love and obedience are bound together, not sequential: "If you love me, keep my commandments" (14:15) states a fact about love's shape, not a bargain for earning it. Jesus then promises "another Counselor" (ἄλλον Παράκλητον, 14:16) — "another" of the same kind, implying Jesus himself has been a paraklētos to them — identified as "the Spirit of truth" who will not merely visit but abide: "he lives with you and will be in you" (14:17). This Spirit will teach and "remind you of all that I said" (14:26), which is part of why the church has read this chapter as underwriting the reliability of the apostolic memory behind the Gospels themselves. Judas (not Iscariot) asks why Jesus will reveal himself to them and "not to the world" (14:22); the answer is not secrecy but love and obedience as the condition of that revealing — "we will come to him and make our home with him" (14:23), the same word for "home" (μονή) used of the Father's house in 14:2, so that the promised dwelling place is not only future and heavenly but present and personal.
Peace, and departure (14:25–31). Jesus repeats the opening command, now specified: "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives" (14:27) — a peace distinguished from the world's by its source, not merely its intensity. He names what is coming — "the prince of the world comes" — and states plainly that the cross is not something done to him against his will but obedience: "as the Father commanded me, even so I do" (14:31). The chapter ends mid-motion: "Arise, let's go from here."
Where readers have disagreed
The chief historic dispute is over 14:6's exclusivity claim — whether "the way" excludes all other paths to God or simply describes Jesus' own path among others. The text itself gives no room for the second reading; "no one comes to the Father, except through me" is stated as fact, not preference, and the church has read it that way since the earliest creeds. A modern desire for religious pluralism does not change what the sentence says, though it may make it harder to hear.
A second point of debate concerns "the Father is greater than I" (14:28) — used by fourth-century Arians to argue Jesus is a lesser, created being. The historic answer, worked out at Nicaea, distinguishes the Son's eternal equality of nature with the Father from his voluntary subordination in the incarnation: the Son who has just said "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (14:10) is not contradicting himself but speaking, in 14:28, as the one who has taken the form of a servant and is now returning to the glory he had.
What it asks of a reader
The chapter does not ask for the suppression of fear but for fear to be met with a specific claim: that the one speaking is going somewhere for the disciples' sake, and is coming back. It presses the reader past admiration of Jesus as teacher toward the harder claim that he is the sole way to the Father — a claim either true or false, and not softened by the chapter into one option among several. It ties love to obedience without separating them, and it locates peace not in the absence of trouble but in a person who has already met trouble and is not defeated by it. Teresa of Ávila's prayer catches exactly what the chapter opens with: "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you… Whoever has God lacks nothing" — not a technique for calm, but the same reorientation Jesus asks for in his first sentence: away from the trouble in the room, toward himself.
The verses this turns on
"Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία· πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε.
- Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- ταρασσέσθω ταράσσω verb · present middle or passive imperative, 3rd person singular G5015
- ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- καρδία· καρδία noun · nominative singular feminine G2588
- πιστεύετε πιστεύω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G4100
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- Θεόν, θεός noun · accusative singular masculine G2316
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- ἐμὲ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Isaiah 26:3 You will keep whoever's mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.
- John 16:22 Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
- Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation."
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- John 14:27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
In my Father's house are many homes. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν· εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν· ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν·
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- οἰκίᾳ οἰκία noun · dative singular feminine G3614
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
- Πατρός πατήρ noun · genitive singular masculine G3962
- μου ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- μοναὶ μονή noun · nominative plural feminine G3438
- πολλαί πολύς adjective · nominative plural feminine G4183
- εἰσιν· εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G1510
- εἰ εἰ conditional G1487
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- μή, μή particle · nominative G3361
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
- John 13:36 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you can't follow now, but you will follow afterwards."
- Hebrews 13:14 For we don't have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
- Revelation 21:2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
- Hebrews 11:10 For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?"discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Λέγει αὐτῷ Θωμᾶς Κύριε, οὐκ οἴδαμεν ποῦ ὑπάγεις· πῶς οἴδαμεν τὴν ὁδὸν;
- Λέγει λέγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- Θωμᾶς Θωμᾶς noun · nominative singular masculine G2381
- Κύριε, κύριος noun · vocative singular masculine G2962
- οὐκ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- οἴδαμεν οἶδα verb · perfect active indicative, 1st person plural G1492
- ποῦ ποῦ adverb G4226
- ὑπάγεις· ὑπάγω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person singular G5217
- πῶς πῶς adverb G4459
- οἴδαμεν οἶδα verb · perfect active indicative, 1st person plural G1492
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- ὁδὸν; ὁδός noun · accusative singular feminine G3598
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Mark 9:19 He answered him, "Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me."
- John 11:16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's also go, that we may die with him."
- John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
- Luke 24:25 He said to them, "Foolish people, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
λέγει αὐτῷ Ἰησοῦς Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι’ ἐμοῦ.
- λέγει λέγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- Ἰησοῦς Ἰησοῦς noun · nominative singular masculine G2424
- Ἐγώ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- εἰμι εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 1st person singular G1510
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- ὁδὸς ὁδός noun · nominative singular feminine G3598
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- ἀλήθεια ἀλήθεια noun · nominative singular feminine G225
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!"
- John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and will find pasture.
- Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
- John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him."discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
εἰ ἐγνώκειτέ με, καὶ τὸν Πατέρα μου ἂν ᾔδειτε· ἀπ’ ἄρτι γινώσκετε αὐτὸν καὶ ἑωράκατε.
- εἰ εἰ conditional G1487
- ἐγνώκειτέ γινώσκω verb · pluperfect active indicative, 2nd person plural G1097
- με, ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- Πατέρα πατήρ noun · accusative singular masculine G3962
- μου ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἂν ἄν particle G302
- ᾔδειτε· οἶδα verb · pluperfect active indicative, 2nd person plural G1492
- ἀπ’ ἀπό preposition G575
- ἄρτι ἄρτι adverb G737
- γινώσκετε γινώσκω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G1097
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
- John 8:19 They said therefore to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
- Luke 10:22 Turning to the disciples, he said, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him."
- John 17:8 for the words which you have given me I have given to them; and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
- John 17:6 "I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, 'Show us the Father'?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς Τοσοῦτον χρόνον μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωκάς με, Φίλιππε; ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακεν τὸν Πατέρα· πῶς σὺ λέγεις Δεῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν Πατέρα;
- λέγει λέγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Ἰησοῦς Ἰησοῦς noun · nominative singular masculine G2424
- Τοσοῦτον τοσοῦτος demonstrative pronoun · accusative singular masculine G5118
- χρόνον χρόνος noun · accusative singular masculine G5550
- μεθ’ μετά preposition G3326
- ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- εἰμι εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 1st person singular G1510
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- οὐκ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- ἔγνωκάς γινώσκω verb · perfect active indicative, 2nd person singular G1097
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
- John 12:45 He who sees me sees him who sent me.
- John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him."
- Hebrews 1:3 His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
- John 10:30 I and the Father are one."
Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οὐ πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν; τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ· ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ μένων ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ.
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- πιστεύεις πιστεύω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person singular G4100
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ἐγὼ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Πατρὶ πατήρ noun · dative singular masculine G3962
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Πατὴρ πατήρ noun · nominative singular masculine G3962
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἐμοί ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 5:19 Jesus therefore answered them, "Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
- John 10:38 But if I do them, though you don't believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
- John 10:30 I and the Father are one."
- Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
- John 8:28 Jesus therefore said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
πιστεύετέ μοι ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί· εἰ δὲ μή, διὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτὰ πιστεύετε.
- πιστεύετέ πιστεύω verb · present active imperative, 2nd person plural G4100
- μοι ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ἐγὼ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Πατρὶ πατήρ noun · dative singular masculine G3962
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Πατὴρ πατήρ noun · nominative singular masculine G3962
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἐμοί· ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 10:25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you don't believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these testify about me.
- John 10:38 But if I do them, though you don't believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
- John 5:36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.
- John 14:10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- Hebrews 2:4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?
From the interpretive tradition
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass away; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing.
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.