"I will not leave you as orphans"
Jesus has been answering a question from the Apostle Philip, a request to show God the Father to them. Jesus' answer showed the union of God the Father and God the Son, and it's a legitimate question for any Christian to ask, what about God the Holy Spirit? It is to the Third Person of the Trinity that Jesus now turns.
JOHN 14:15
15 Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσετε:
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με "If you love me" is the protosis of a future more vivid condition. ἀγαπάω "to love (unconditionally)" is a New Testament meaning given to an older word without much emphasis. Jesus and the apostles gave it the emphasis of the unconditional love given by God to mankind; Jesus wants us to love him in the same way. We don't hold God at ransom for our desires and demands (I won't increase my offerings until God does this or that for me).
τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς "the commands that are mine." ἐντολάς is the accusative plural of ἐντολή "command, commandment, instruction."
τηρήσετε "you will obey." There is a variant reading for the future indicative τηρήσετε "you will keep" (τηρέω, "keep, observe"). Several ancient manuscripts including Papyrus 66 and Codex Siniaticus (א) have the aorist subjunctive τηρήσητε "(if) you keep," and others including Codex Alexandrinus and a great many Church fathers have the aorist imperative τηρήσατε "keep." These are all examples of a future more vivid ("third class") conditional sentence. In my judgment, the aorist τηρήσατε appears to be the most widespread with incidents occurring in all six ancient church regions (Egypt, North Africa, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor and Gaul) during or prior to the fifth century. The other readings are more ancient but less widespread. Any of them could be correct, and I agree with the UBS committee that a "C" reading is the best we can do here.
JOHN 14:16
16 κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾖ,
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
The Greek word for Counselor is παράκλητoς (parakletos) or Paraclete. A Paraclete is someone called to one's side for help, so "Counselor," "Comforter" (KJV), "Advocate" (NRSV) are all good translations. He is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as a separate individual within the Godhead; and theologically we use the term "person" to show that while he is united with the Father and the Son as one God, the Spirit also says and does things within his own existence that the Father and the Son do not do. For example, the Spirit is sent or given by the Son (verse 16 above). He intercedes on our behalf before God (Romans 8:26). He judges for himself what is best for us (Acts 15:28). He himself speaks to individuals (Acts 10:19; 13:2) and to the churches of all the ages (Rev. 22:17). It was the Holy Spirit who caused the authors of the Bible to write what they wrote -- to him belongs Divine Inspiration (Acts 28:25; 2 Peter 1:21).
JOHN 14:17
17 τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει: ὑμεῖς γινώσκετε αὐτό, ὅτι παρ' ὑμῖν μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται.
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The reading μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται has some minor variations; the corrector of P66 seems to have been right in making the original scribe's ἔστιν into ἔσται.
Jesus tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit meets with as much opposition as that of both the Father and the Son, and that shouldn't surprise us. The world hates the truth and fights against the truth, and glibly asks "What is truth?"
We need to remember that Jesus doesn't just tell us to know about the truth and keep it locked away in our hearts like a secret, but to live our faith and obey his command to love. His command isn't motivated through fear or retribution, but through love for him and thanks for what he has done. What has he done? He has taken our sin on himself and paid the price for it with his blood. What should we do? We should lay our lives aside and give everything to him; our time, our egos, our fears, our comfort zones, our habits, our list of friends -- all of it should be transformed into service for him as if we have put on a uniform and a cross like the knights in the high Middle Ages. Except that we will not kill for him, but we will reach out with the gospel of forgiveness to wipe out the power of the devil forever, beginning today, with our own lives.
JOHN 14:18
18 Οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς, ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Here we have come to one of the places in John's Gospel where the Lord's words soar so far over our heads that it's too easy to let them wash over us like music. But we will discover a great truth if we pay close attention to what he is saying: He will come back to "you" (ὑμᾶς...ὑμᾶς) and we should remember that he is talking directly to his eleven apostles (Judas left before the Lord's Supper was given). He has just said that soon he would be gone, and that they could not follow him, but that he would send the Paraclete, that is the Holy Spirit. So when he also says in the next breath, I will come to you, does he mean that he and the Holy Spirit are the same? Is the Holy Spirit another aspect of Jesus himself, but with something like an actor making a costume change? There were Christians in past centuries who made that connection, that the Father was the God of the Old Testament, that Jesus was the God of the Gospels, and that the Holy Spirit is the God for the rest of us until the end of time like a Greek actor changing masks. These folks thought that these were "modes" of God's appearance, and were sometimes called Modalists (more about this in the note below).
Jesus' words in verse 18 are not about his return on the Last Day, and they are not about his brief resurrection appearances. Neither views explain Jesus' assurance that he would not leave the apostles "as orphans." Rather, he is talking about the union they will have through hearts of faith because of his suffering on the cross, now just a few hours away. They would have a connection that would transcend the unseeing vision of the world. They would know that he is with them always (Matthew 28:20).
JOHN 14:19
19 ἔτι μικρὸν καὶ ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ με, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
ἔτι μικρὸν "before long." Jesus is now talking about his ascension into heaven. The crucifixion looms in the doorway of this upper room; the walk up the hill to Gethsemane would be followed by his arrest and crucifixion in a matter of hours. But Jesus is looking beyond this to the future of the gospel. He is leaving his apostles and his believers in the world to continue to spread the message about Christ in the world. And there is the comfort and motivation here: "Because I live" (ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ) "you also will live" (καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε). What he has, he gives. He has life, he gives life. He has holiness, he gives holiness. He has a place in heaven, he gives a place in heaven.
JOHN 14:20
20 ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε ὑμεῖς ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
The "day" of verse 20 is a reference to Pentecost, the day in which the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son and was given to the Apostles in Jerusalem. That was the day in which the Apostles would "realize" the unity of the persons of the Trinity and the connection that believers have to God through faith.
The word "realize" is the Greek word ginosko (γινώσκω), which means to know something by experiencing it rather than simply by intellectual understanding. For example, I know the concept that 2+4=6 because I learned addition tables by rote as a child, but I also know that 2+4=6 through my experience, because my wife and I must figure everything according to the needs of the four boys in our house: meals for six, a car that will haul six, family devotions that apply to six, and so on. In the same way, the Apostles would know by their experience at Pentecost that the Lord was working through them; that their love for Jesus and trust in Jesus were not in vain.
We will know it all on the Last Day, too, but in this lifetime we also have this assurance from Jesus: Because he lives, we have eternal life. We love him because he loved us first and gave himself up to gather us all to his Father in heaven.
JOHN 14:21
21 ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου καὶ τηρῶν αὐτὰς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με: ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, κἀγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν.
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου "Whoever has my commands" present participle (ἔχω); attributive adjectival; the article τὰς is of previous reference. What are the "commands" of Christ? Luther paraphrased the Lord: "You will administer My Word and commandments, be Christ’s apostles and preachers, and be baptized. You will hear and confess the Word publicly, in order that the world may see and hear that you are My Christians and adhere to My Word and commandments. When you do all this, you will surely experience that the devil and the world, as well as your own evil conscience and false brethren and schismatic spirits, will harass you, and that you will be surrounded by all sorts of trials, terror, anxiety, and distress." (LW 24 ad loc.) His commands are his Gospel Imperatives, to carry his word to the world.
καὶ τηρῶν αὐτὰς "and obeys them," The present participle is governed by the same article ὁ and is the same type of participle as ἔχων above.
ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με: "he is the one who loves me." ἐκεῖνός underlines the believer described by the participles.
ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με "He who loves me" The epithet "He who loves me" takes us to the recommissioning of Peter, "Do you truly love me?" (John 21:14-15). Jesus is telling us, in case we doubt, that we show our love for him by doing these things he has given to us, and that we who love Jesus are also loved by the Father. There is no disconnection between our love for Christ and the Father's love for us.
ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, "will be loved by my Father," Future passive ἀγαπηθήσεται comforts us with the knowledge that God's love for us is unconditional. ὑπὸ with the genitive shows agency.
κἀγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν "and I too will love him" Jesus doesn't do anything apart from the Father. Notice the way Jesus crafted this sentence, putting the Father above himself and yet showing the Father's love for him:
A. The one who loves me (our active love toward the Son)
B. will be loved by my Father (the Father's love toward us)
C. and I too will love him (the Son loving whom the Father loves)
Jesus' loves is not contingent on our love, but on the Father's love. And the Father loves all who put their faith in Jesus. That faith is also a gift, given by the Holy Spirit. The paradoxical mystery of God's love for us does not get easier to understand with closer scrutiny, but like fractal geometry it becomes more remarkable and mysterious as we examine it more and more closely. We are left to rejoice and sing God's praises by its intricacy. It is simple, but it is not simplistic. A child understands, and we pray for the faith of a child.
Jesus loves me; this I know.
καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν "and show myself to him." ἐμαυτόν "myself" is the reflexive pronoun (acc sg from ἐμαυτoῦ) formed by combining the personal ἐγω/ἐμoῦ with the intensive αὐτός (Robertson, Short Gram. §377 page 266-267).
More about Modalism: In the 200's AD (the third century), a Christian named Sabellius was not happy with the doctrine of the trinity and opposed it. He was following the non-Trinitarian teachings of two earlier men: Noetus and Praxeas. Tertullian, living at the same time, had attacked the teaching of Praxeas by saying that "he put to flight the Paraclete, and he crucified the Father" (Against Praxeas, Chap. 1). Some Sabellian teachings continue today in a branch of the Pentecostal church called the "Jesus' Name doctrine" or "Oneness Pentecostalism" that denies that "the words Father, Son and Holy Ghost were [ever] used in Christian baptism" (from a sermon by R.E. McAlister, April, 1913 at Arroyo Seco, California).
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