The Word
Vol.
9 No. 1
Upper Room Discourse
John 14:28-29
The next section of
POREUOMAI is a verb in the Present, Middle
Deponent, Indicative, First Person, Singular of POREUO that means “go, proceed,
travel, or to go from one place to another.” This
same word was used in
PROS is the Accusative
Preposition giving us direction that means “to or toward” or with emphasis it can be
translated, “face to face.”
TON PATERA is the Accusative
Article “the”, plus the Noun in Accusative Masculine, Singular of PATER that
means “Father”, here meaning God the
Father. So we have “that I am about to
go to (face to face with) the Father.”
The last section of verse 28
is HOTI
HO PATER MEIZON MOU ESTIN.
This introduces the
mentality of Jesus. He is subordinating Himself to God the Father even though
He is God and equal to God the Father.
MEIZON is the Irregular Comparative Adjective in the Nominative,
Masculine, Singular of MEGAS that means “greater.” This is a declaration of the
humanity of Christ from the humanity of Christ. The Deity of the Father is
greater than any humanity. The Deity of the Father is greater than the humanity
of Jesus Christ and Jesus is recognizing that fact in humility.
So
we have “because the Father is greater
than I.”
As noted above, the humanity
of Christ is obedient to the will and plan of God the Father. His plan calls
for death, resurrection, ascension, session and glorification,
Our complete translation is, “You heard (previous doctrine taught) that I said to you all, “I will depart (crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension
and session) and I myself will come
again face to face with you all (Rapture,
Second Coming). If you had loved Me, yet you did not, you would have rejoiced (in the fact) that
I am about to go to (face to face with) the Father, because the Father is greater than I (a reference
to His submission to the Father’s Plan).”
Jesus is telling the disciples
and all Church Age believers to rejoice because He was about to fulfil the
Father’s Plan with the result that the body of Christ, (the Church), is about
to be formed. Once it is formed the Lord Jesus Christ has a bride which
includes the disciples in the Upper Room. Therefore, the Church will share the
glory of Christ forever. So they ought to be very happy about the fact that He
was going to go to the Father at this time. He was going to sit down at the
right hand of the Father and be glorified. But they didn’t have the capacity to
understand the Plan of God at this time because they had not yet reached
spiritual maturity.
Principle: The submission of
Jesus Christ to the Father’s plan was the key to winning the Strategic Victory
of the Angelic Conflict. As a result of Jesus’ victory He is glorified. As a
result of His glorification the Church Age believer shares in His victory and
glory as His bride. Therefore, we should REJOICE because of Christ’s humility.
So we will note the Doctrine of Humility
1.
Humility is freedom from pride and arrogance,
2. Arrogance has so many facets that sooner or later
people are captured by its temptation from their Sin Nature unless they remain
in fellowship with God inside of His Power System –
3. The virtue of all believers is humility. Humility
is total freedom from cosmic thinking. Humility includes enforced humility and
genuine humility, plus objectivity and teachability.
a. No
believer in the cosmic system can learn Bible doctrine; GNOSIS never becomes
EPI-GNOSIS when you are operating under arrogance. Without humility there is no
teachability. Teach-ability demands enforced humility
and genuine humility.
4. Humility is maintained only by learning Bible
doctrine utilizing the three R's.
a. Reception,
in which the Pastor communicates Bible doctrine to a group of believers, and
the information goes to the believer's human spirit and becomes EPIGNOSIS.
b. Retention
is EPIGNOSIS transferred to the KARDIA, right lobe of your soul. It is stored
Bible doctrine by which we grow in grace, the basis for momentum.
c. Recall
is the application of EPIGNOSIS doctrine to experience, the basis for creating
invisible heroes, the objective of the spiritual life.
5. The
mandate for humility is found in
6. Enforced humility is submission to legitimate
authority.
7. Genuine humility is the virtue of complete grace
orientation to all situations through perception and application of Bible
doctrine.
8. Humility is distinguished from humiliation.
a.
Humility is the virtue of freedom from arrogance.
b.
Humiliation is to reduce your view of self to a lower status in your own eyes
or in the eyes of others. Humiliation is being mortified, while humility is
being grace‑oriented.
9. Humility is the quality or status of being humble.
While the noun “humble” has many definitions, ranging from “feeling of
insignificance and feeling of inferiority” to “low in rank or low in
importance,” none of these definitions relate to the Biblical word.
10. Humility or being humble in the Plan of God is
recognition of the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Word) and submitting
to that authority. Humility is recognition of authority.
11. Since the Bible is the mind of Christ, submission
to the authority of our Lord is tantamount to consistent post-salvation
renewing of your mind,
12. If we become neglectful of Bible doctrine, we are
in a state of rebellion. The result of post-salvation renewing of your mind
should be grace orientation and humility, Luke
14:11.
13. Through consistent perception, metabolization,
and application of Bible doctrine arrogance is brought low or humbled, while
the filling of the Holy Spirit, grace orientation, personal love for God the
Father, impersonal love for all mankind, a personal sense of destiny, and
occupation with Christ are raised to the highest level of function,
14. In Biblical humility, the independence of human
power and ability is reduced to zero, so that dependence on the power and
ability of God are increased to the maximum through the function of grace. This becomes grace effectiveness in the
Christian way of life. At the point of faith in Christ, you reduced yourself to
a state of total humility.
15. Biblical humility is neither derogatory nor undue
self-depreciation. The mandate of
a. This
means that humility is a system of Divine viewpoint thinking related to grace
orientation and occupation with Christ.
b. This
means that humility is a system of recognizing the authority of Jesus Christ as
the ruler of the Church, and that He has delegated all authority in the Church
Age to the Word of God, especially the mystery doctrine found in the Church Age
epistles, and the Pastor-Teacher as God's delegated authority to teach the Word
of God,
c. This
means that humility is a system of cognition of Bible doctrine, resulting in
the believer living in the directive will of God rather than the permissive
will of God,
16. The greatest testimony of humility was our Lord’s
sub-mission to the will of God found in
17. Summary:
a. Humility is recognition
and respect for legitimate authority in life.
1) It is function under
the laws of divine establishment for the unbeliever. Both believer and unbeliever can possess
humility.
2) It is recognition of
authority delegated by God in the Christian way of life. The Bible is the
authority, and the spiritual gift of Pastor-Teacher is the communicator of that
doctrine.
b. Humility is Divine
viewpoint thinking, which means that humility is related to grace orientation
and occupation with Christ.
c. Humility is poise and
courage under pressure.
d. Humility is teachability which recognizes the Plan of God for your
life.
1) Recognition of the authority of the Pastor-teacher who
communicates doctrine.
2) Recognition of the con-tent of the message of the Pastor who
communicates doctrine.
e. Therefore, humility is
the sum total of grace orientation and teachability.
f. Humility is capacity
for life, love, and happiness.
g. Humility is the basis
for gratitude and appreciation in life.
h. Humility is the
function of establishing right priorities in life.
i. Humility is the right function of self-determination
in life related to God's grace policy, right priorities, teachability
and self-determination related to spiritual growth.
j. Humility is making
right decisions from a position of strength.
k. Humility is the
recognition of failure in the Christian life and the willingness to recover
through Rebound,
l. Humility is the basis
for flexibility in life, the basis for God molding a vessel of honor which
glorifies Him.
Next in verse 29 we have “And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass you may believe.”
Transliterated it is KAI NUM EIREKA HUMIN
PRIN GENESTHAI, HINA HOTAN GE
EIREKA is a verb in the
Perfect, Active, Indicative, First Person Singular of LEGO that means, “to speak, say or tell”. The Perfect Tense is completed past action, something that happens in
the past with results that go on. The Perfect Tense sometimes emphasizes the past,
sometimes the results, and sometimes the whole thing. This introduces the
abiding character of Bible doctrine whose goal is faith in the heart of the
believer. “I have communicated in the
past with the result that you will have this communication in your soul.”
The Active Voice tells us Jesus
Christ did the teaching. The Indicative
Mood is for the reality of the unique communication gift of our Lord. So we
will say, “I have told”
GENESTHAI is the 2nd Aorist, Middle Deponent,
Infinitive of GINOMAI that means “to
come into being, to happen, or to become”. The Infinitive is an Infinitive of
Subsequent Time linked with PRIN above. In this structure it means “it comes to pass.” Literally, it means
“before it begins to come to pass.” This
is an Ingressive Aorist Tense for the
introduction of a new action. The Middle
Voice gives us the “it” which is referring to the mystery doctrines and
prophecies Jesus will be teaching. So we add “it” for the doctrines to be
taught. There is a comma here.
GE
PISTEUSETE is the Aorist, Active, Subjunctive, Second Person, Plural of PISTEUO that means “to believe”. This is not
“believing for salvation” they were already saved, and it isn’t really
“faith-rest” as such, it is an offshoot of faith-rest. Here is faith as a
capacity for living the unique spiritual life with confidence, peace, and joy
as a result of AGAPAO love for Jesus Christ, The Word of God. Verses 27 and 28 come to a head here. It’s the goal of Christ for them, and us,
to have faith so that we all can receive the blessings of God in life, His
peace and joy by means of AGAPAO love. The
Culminative Aorist tells us of the goal of Jesus’
teaching, to bring them to confident assurance by means of His Word and God’s
Plan. The Active Voice tells us the
disciples have a choice, to believe or not to believe in God’s Plan. The Subjunctive Mood is the key. Tied with
HINA above, the Subordinating Clause is a Purpose Clause. The purpose for
Jesus’ teaching is to bring them to faith and confident assurance yet they have
to apply positive volition to accomplish the goal. So we say, “You all might believe.”
Our translation of verse 29 is, “And now I have told you all before it (mystery doctrine and prophecies)
comes to pass, in order that when it does comes to pass (fulfilment of doctrine and prophecies), you all might believe, (with the result of peace and joy in your
hearts and souls).”
Compare this verse with
Thomas’ faith in John 20:28-29, “Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord
and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me,
have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed.””
If you would
like more information on this subject,
you may listen
to lessons 09-089 and 09-090.