Church Fathers Commentary John 14:18-21

"I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 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." — John 14:18-21 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: So that no one would think that because our Lord was about to give the Holy Spirit, He would therefore not be present Himself in the Spirit, He adds, I will not leave you comfortless. The Greek word for this means “orphans.” Therefore, although the Son of God has made us the adopted sons of the Father, here He Himself shows a Father's affection toward us.

St. John Chrysostom: At first He said, Where I go you will come; but since this was a long way off, He promises them the Spirit in the meantime. And as they did not know what that was, He promises them what they most desired—His own presence: I will come to you. But He also indicates that they should not expect the same kind of presence again: Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more. It is as if He said, “I will come to you, but not to live with you every day as I did before.” And by saying, I will come to you alone, He prevents any inconsistency with what He had said to the Jews: From now on you will not see Me.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For the world then saw Him with the physical eye, manifest in the flesh, though it did not see the Word hidden within the flesh. But after the resurrection, He was unwilling to show even His flesh except to His own followers, whom He allowed to see and handle it: Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more; but you will see Me.

However, since the world—by which is meant all who are strangers to His kingdom—will see Him at the last judgment, it is perhaps better to understand Him here as pointing to that time when He will be taken forever from the sight of the wicked, to be seen from then on only by those who love Him. He says, a little while, because what seems like a long time to men is but a moment in the eyes of God.

Theophylact of Ohrid: It is as if He said, “Though I will die, I will rise again. And you will live also; that is, when you see Me risen again, you will rejoice and be like dead men brought back to life.”

St. John Chrysostom: To me, however, He seems to refer not only to the present life but also to the future, as if to say, “The death of the cross will not separate you from Me forever, but will only hide Me from you for a moment.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: But why does He speak of life as present for Himself, but future for them? Because His resurrection came first, while theirs was to follow. His resurrection was to take place so soon that He speaks of it as present; theirs, being deferred until the end of the world, He does not say “you live,” but you will live. Because He lives, therefore we will live: As by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:21). It follows: In that day—the day of which He said, you will live also—you will know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you. This means that whereas you now believe, then you will see. When we have attained that life in which death is swallowed up, then what is now begun by Him—that He is in us, and we are in Him—will be completed.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, in that day—that is, the day on which I will rise again—you will know. For it was His resurrection that established their faith. Then the powerful teaching of the Holy Spirit began. His statement, I am in the Father, expresses His humility; the next, And you in Me, and I in you, expresses His humanity and God’s assistance to Him. Scripture often uses the same words in different senses when applied to God and to men.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Or He means by this that while He was in the Father by the nature of His divinity, and we are in Him by means of His birth in the flesh, He, on the other hand, should be understood to be in us by the mystery of the sacrament, as He Himself testified earlier: Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him.

Alcuin of York: By love and the observance of His commandments, what He has begun will be perfected in us—namely, that we should be in Him, and He in us. And so that this blessedness may be understood as promised to all, not only to the Apostles, He adds, He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He who has them in memory and keeps them in his life; he who has them in words and keeps them in his works; he who has them by hearing and keeps them by doing; he who has them by doing and keeps them by persevering—he it is that loves Me. Love must be shown by works, or it is merely a barren name.

Theophylact of Ohrid: It is as if He said, “You think that by sorrowing for My death, as you are doing, you prove your affection; but I consider keeping My commandments to be the evidence of love.” And then He shows the privileged state of one who loves: And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: I will love him—as if He does not love him now. What does this mean? He explains it in what follows: And will manifest Myself to him. That is, “I love him to the extent that I will manifest Myself to him,” so that the reward of his faith will be sight. Now He loves us so that we believe; then He will love us so that we see. And while we now love by believing what we will one day see, then we will love by seeing what we have believed.

He promises to show Himself to those who love Him as God with the Father, not in the body He had on earth, which the wicked also saw.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Since He was to appear to them after the resurrection in a body more conformed to His divinity, He tells them beforehand not to have misgivings when they see Him, lest they mistake Him for a spirit or a phantom. Rather, they should remember that He shows Himself to them as a reward for keeping His commandments. Therefore, they are always bound to keep them so that they may always enjoy the sight of Him.