Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Judas, not Iscariot, asks how Jesus will show Himself to His own disciples and not to the world. The disciples are perplexed by this, taking His promise in an outward visible sense and struggling to grasp a spiritual presence unseen by the world. The answer is that the showing is limited and conditional, given only to those who love Him by having His commandments and keeping His words. Whoever so loves is loved by the Father, and Christ loves him and shows Himself to him, and the Father and Son come and make their home with him by the indwelling through the Comforter, the Holy Spirit sent in Christ's name to teach and remind. The world cannot receive this Spirit and does not see or know Him, being absorbed in earthly gain and rejecting light, so all are divided into only two classes of the obedient and the disobedient, while the obedient receive spiritual power, peace, guidance and growth into eternal life.
Words and Setting
The inquiry comes from Judas, expressly distinguished as not Iscariot, put to Jesus in the upper chamber after Judas Iscariot had gone out, when Christ was left alone with the eleven just before His crucifixion. It forms part of His farewell teaching, given before He led them out through the city toward the Mount of Olives. The question asks how He will make Himself known to His own and not to the world, following His promise to reveal Himself to those who love Him and keep His commandments and words.
It stands within the farewell comfort of John 13-17, and of John 13:31-38 with John 14-17, opening with the call not to let the heart be troubled. It was spoken near the close of Christ's earthly ministry, when a cruel death lay before Him, to give courage and hope for coming betrayal, trials and temptations. In that setting He assured the disciples He would not leave them ignorant but would make His purposes and plans and love known, leaving evidence for their future work and counsel.
The verse belongs to God's will plainly outlined in John 13-17 and in John 14-17, given when the disciples were about to be separated from Him and would no longer have Him as visible counselor to take responsibility in all matters. It teaches that unless divine power is combined with human effort their future work would prove a failure and they would not accomplish the work appointed them to bless humanity. Ministry must therefore build upon a divine Christ in partnership with God, in which man works because God works in him, all efficiency and power is of God yet all responsibility rests with the human instrument, a partnership to be maintained still as the Holy Spirit works through human agencies. That requires power from on high and improvement of the facilities God has provided to reach the highest standard and uplift fallen humanity, with workers studying John 14 with open hearts to receive divine guidance and looking to Jesus as source and completer of faith, acquainted with present truth, converted to believe every verse in those chapters and living them out before fellow ministers as the philosophy of genuine missionary work, so that living Christ's prayer in practical life cures dissension and brings unity with one another and with Christ.
Disciples Perplexity Over Manifestation
The question expresses the perplexity of the disciples as they struggled to understand how Jesus could make Himself known to them while remaining unseen and unrevealed to the world. They asked how He could reveal Himself to them without revealing Himself to the world, how He could manifest Himself to His followers without manifesting Himself to the world. The answer lies in a spiritual manifestation, not an outward display, in which Christ is revealed by His Spirit to those who love Him, keep His words and walk in the light, while He remains unknown to those who love the world and reject the light. The world does not know Christ or the Father and therefore does not recognize this manifestation, so the question marks a distinction between those who love and obey God and those who do not.
They took His words in an outward, visible sense and could not understand them in their spiritual sense. They were slow to understand His teaching and did not grasp what a spiritual manifestation meant. They could not take in that they could have the presence of Christ with them while He was unseen by the world, and could not understand how they could have His unseen presence while the world did not. That understanding would come afterward, when the Holy Spirit would bring His words back to their minds and teach them their meaning, and after the resurrection He opened their understanding of Scripture.
Condition for Manifestation
Judas's question is why Christ will make Himself known to His own and not to the world, and the answer is that the manifestation is limited and conditional. It is given only to those who love Him by having His commandments and keeping His words and sayings. Those who so love are loved by the Father, and Father and Son come to make their home and abode with them, with the Holy Spirit teaching them and bringing Christ's words to remembrance and imparting power to those who believe. This manifestation belongs to Christ's teaching about loyalty to God's kingdom and obedience to its laws and about love proved by keeping His words.
Love for Christ is proved and tested by willing, humble obedience put into practice by faith. Mere claim to keep the commandments does not prove obedience, for love to God and neighbor is required, and genuine discipleship is shown by obedience and not by self-indulgence or following one's own desires. Keeping His commandments in this way is the asked evidence of love for Him, and keeping them is possible. Those who have had the light presented before them in regard to the perpetuity of the law and who obey it evidence that they love Jesus.
The commandments to be kept are all of God's commandments, the old commandment and law given in Eden with binding claims on all mankind. Those who have had this light presented and obey it evidence love for Jesus and abide in His love as He kept His Father's commandments and abides in His love. He who does not love Christ does not keep His sayings and words, which are from the Father who sent Him, and this disobedience shuts out grace and leaves the person without the indwelling presence. Obedience is the first price of eternal life, while unbelief shuts out the richest endowment of grace and prevents God's mighty works, and decisions made during probation with works reviewed before God have consequences for time and eternity.
Promise to the Obedient
The one who loves Christ by having His commandments and keeping His words and sayings is loved by the Father, and Christ loves him and manifests Himself to him. To that obedient lover the Father and the Son come and make Their home and abode with him through an inward indwelling. This manifestation is known by those who so love and obey, while the world does not see or know Him in this way, and His followers see Him by faith. That indwelling presence is the mystery of godliness, received by humble reliance on God whose divine aid is promised in the Scriptures.
This promised presence includes the sending of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, in Christ's name. Sent as His representative and Advocate pleading for the fallen race, He teaches all things and brings Christ's words back to remembrance. He keeps faith from failing under trial and gives power by One mightier than all enemies of God and man to overcome spiritual foes. Heaven thus imparts power through the Holy Spirit to those who believe, not in any specified precise way that man marks out, but in the order of God in unexpected times and ways that honor His name. With this gift comes Christ's peace that leaves the heart untroubled and unafraid, pure unadulterated truth bringing eternal life when received and properly digested, given to individuals, families, and church members as God's family to represent to others, though not yet half comprehended.
He fulfilled this coming by appearing to the disciples after His humiliation and death. The disciples had been slow to understand His teaching, taking His words in an outward, visible sense, but the Holy Spirit would bring His words back to their minds and teach them their meaning. After the resurrection He opened their understanding of Scripture as the Spirit taught them what they had been slow to understand.
Contrast With the World
The manifestation is spiritual, received by disciples and not by the world, because the world does not see Him and does not know Him, and cannot receive the Spirit of truth, seeing Him not and knowing Him not. This is because the world is absorbed in earthly gain and loves the world, rejects the light, and does not recognize its need of a Redeemer, and so does not know Christ or the Father. By contrast He is revealed by His Spirit to those who love Him and keep His words and commandments and walk in the light, enlightening their minds, leading them to pray, making Himself and His love known to them, and guiding the faithful through life's dangers and trials, with each step of faith and consecration bringing further knowledge of Him. The promise is limited and conditional, joined to the Father and Son coming to the obedient believer and making their home and abode with him through the indwelling Spirit, while he who loves Christ not keeps not His sayings and is left without this presence.
The question therefore marks a clear distinction between those who love God and keep Christ's commandments and those who do not. Those who have His commandments and keep them are those who love Him, and those who do not love Him do not keep His sayings, which are from the Father. This divides all people now and in the Judgment into only two classes, those who obey God's law and those who violate it. Decisions made during probation have consequences for time and eternity, and every person's works are reviewed before God. Because the world does not recognize Christ, its judgment cannot be trusted over the faithful.
Power for Life and Ministry
The inward life made fragrant by loving obedience gives needed spiritual power and brings God's help in trouble. Those in whom Christ thus abides receive comfort, peace, hope and assurance by putting His words into practice by faith. Instead of being on the mountaintop one day and in the shadow the next, they have a calm, trusting faith in the Redeemer's love. He enlightens their minds, leads them to pray, and makes Himself and His love known to them, guiding them through life's dangers and trials. God still reveals His glory to His people as He does not to the world, as their religion becomes intelligent and the wisdom from above strengthens, establishes and settles them while they go forward and upward from light to still greater light.
That indwelling makes a person one with Christ, giving the mind of Christ so that he is no longer opposed to God's law but lives in obedience to all the commandments and walks in the Saviour's footsteps in self-denial and self-sacrifice. All who so receive Him are adopted into the royal family as sons and daughters of God, made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance. These words contain pure, unadulterated truth that brings eternal life when received and properly digested, given to individuals, families and church members as God's family to represent to others, though not yet half comprehended. The promise is to be kept in mind when tempted to doubt, and it leaves no excuse for failing to perfect Christian character.
The teaching calls for living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour, coming to Him as they are, trusting Him to forgive, make pure and keep obedient in cooperation with God. That is the right kind of faith, believing that the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ, the faith without which it is impossible to please God, to be cultivated under every circumstance and brought into practical life by believing Christ is the only Saviour. Those deciding to follow the light they have received will be given greater light, and this is the condition of acceptance with God. The attractions of the world can absorb the heart, but God's love, working with human effort and keeping the better world in view, can displace love of the world.
Judas, not Iscariot, asks how Jesus will show Himself to His own disciples and not to the world. The disciples are perplexed by this, taking His promise in an outward visible sense and struggling to grasp a spiritual presence unseen by the world. The answer is that the showing is limited and conditional, given only to those who love Him by having His commandments and keeping His words. Whoever so loves is loved by the Father, and Christ loves him and shows Himself to him, and the Father and Son come and make their home with him by the indwelling through the Comforter, the Holy Spirit sent in Christ's name to teach and remind. The world cannot receive this Spirit and does not see or know Him, being absorbed in earthly gain and rejecting light, so all are divided into only two classes of the obedient and the disobedient, while the obedient receive spiritual power, peace, guidance and growth into eternal life.
Words and Setting
The inquiry comes from Judas, expressly distinguished as not Iscariot, put to Jesus in the upper chamber after Judas Iscariot had gone out, when Christ was left alone with the eleven just before His crucifixion. It forms part of His farewell teaching, given before He led them out through the city toward the Mount of Olives. The question asks how He will make Himself known to His own and not to the world, following His promise to reveal Himself to those who love Him and keep His commandments and words.
It stands within the farewell comfort of John 13-17, and of John 13:31-38 with John 14-17, opening with the call not to let the heart be troubled. It was spoken near the close of Christ's earthly ministry, when a cruel death lay before Him, to give courage and hope for coming betrayal, trials and temptations. In that setting He assured the disciples He would not leave them ignorant but would make His purposes and plans and love known, leaving evidence for their future work and counsel.
The verse belongs to God's will plainly outlined in John 13-17 and in John 14-17, given when the disciples were about to be separated from Him and would no longer have Him as visible counselor to take responsibility in all matters. It teaches that unless divine power is combined with human effort their future work would prove a failure and they would not accomplish the work appointed them to bless humanity. Ministry must therefore build upon a divine Christ in partnership with God, in which man works because God works in him, all efficiency and power is of God yet all responsibility rests with the human instrument, a partnership to be maintained still as the Holy Spirit works through human agencies. That requires power from on high and improvement of the facilities God has provided to reach the highest standard and uplift fallen humanity, with workers studying John 14 with open hearts to receive divine guidance and looking to Jesus as source and completer of faith, acquainted with present truth, converted to believe every verse in those chapters and living them out before fellow ministers as the philosophy of genuine missionary work, so that living Christ's prayer in practical life cures dissension and brings unity with one another and with Christ.
Disciples Perplexity Over Manifestation
The question expresses the perplexity of the disciples as they struggled to understand how Jesus could make Himself known to them while remaining unseen and unrevealed to the world. They asked how He could reveal Himself to them without revealing Himself to the world, how He could manifest Himself to His followers without manifesting Himself to the world. The answer lies in a spiritual manifestation, not an outward display, in which Christ is revealed by His Spirit to those who love Him, keep His words and walk in the light, while He remains unknown to those who love the world and reject the light. The world does not know Christ or the Father and therefore does not recognize this manifestation, so the question marks a distinction between those who love and obey God and those who do not.
They took His words in an outward, visible sense and could not understand them in their spiritual sense. They were slow to understand His teaching and did not grasp what a spiritual manifestation meant. They could not take in that they could have the presence of Christ with them while He was unseen by the world, and could not understand how they could have His unseen presence while the world did not. That understanding would come afterward, when the Holy Spirit would bring His words back to their minds and teach them their meaning, and after the resurrection He opened their understanding of Scripture.
Condition for Manifestation
Judas's question is why Christ will make Himself known to His own and not to the world, and the answer is that the manifestation is limited and conditional. It is given only to those who love Him by having His commandments and keeping His words and sayings. Those who so love are loved by the Father, and Father and Son come to make their home and abode with them, with the Holy Spirit teaching them and bringing Christ's words to remembrance and imparting power to those who believe. This manifestation belongs to Christ's teaching about loyalty to God's kingdom and obedience to its laws and about love proved by keeping His words.
Love for Christ is proved and tested by willing, humble obedience put into practice by faith. Mere claim to keep the commandments does not prove obedience, for love to God and neighbor is required, and genuine discipleship is shown by obedience and not by self-indulgence or following one's own desires. Keeping His commandments in this way is the asked evidence of love for Him, and keeping them is possible. Those who have had the light presented before them in regard to the perpetuity of the law and who obey it evidence that they love Jesus.
The commandments to be kept are all of God's commandments, the old commandment and law given in Eden with binding claims on all mankind. Those who have had this light presented and obey it evidence love for Jesus and abide in His love as He kept His Father's commandments and abides in His love. He who does not love Christ does not keep His sayings and words, which are from the Father who sent Him, and this disobedience shuts out grace and leaves the person without the indwelling presence. Obedience is the first price of eternal life, while unbelief shuts out the richest endowment of grace and prevents God's mighty works, and decisions made during probation with works reviewed before God have consequences for time and eternity.
Promise to the Obedient
The one who loves Christ by having His commandments and keeping His words and sayings is loved by the Father, and Christ loves him and manifests Himself to him. To that obedient lover the Father and the Son come and make Their home and abode with him through an inward indwelling. This manifestation is known by those who so love and obey, while the world does not see or know Him in this way, and His followers see Him by faith. That indwelling presence is the mystery of godliness, received by humble reliance on God whose divine aid is promised in the Scriptures.
This promised presence includes the sending of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, in Christ's name. Sent as His representative and Advocate pleading for the fallen race, He teaches all things and brings Christ's words back to remembrance. He keeps faith from failing under trial and gives power by One mightier than all enemies of God and man to overcome spiritual foes. Heaven thus imparts power through the Holy Spirit to those who believe, not in any specified precise way that man marks out, but in the order of God in unexpected times and ways that honor His name. With this gift comes Christ's peace that leaves the heart untroubled and unafraid, pure unadulterated truth bringing eternal life when received and properly digested, given to individuals, families, and church members as God's family to represent to others, though not yet half comprehended.
He fulfilled this coming by appearing to the disciples after His humiliation and death. The disciples had been slow to understand His teaching, taking His words in an outward, visible sense, but the Holy Spirit would bring His words back to their minds and teach them their meaning. After the resurrection He opened their understanding of Scripture as the Spirit taught them what they had been slow to understand.
Contrast With the World
The manifestation is spiritual, received by disciples and not by the world, because the world does not see Him and does not know Him, and cannot receive the Spirit of truth, seeing Him not and knowing Him not. This is because the world is absorbed in earthly gain and loves the world, rejects the light, and does not recognize its need of a Redeemer, and so does not know Christ or the Father. By contrast He is revealed by His Spirit to those who love Him and keep His words and commandments and walk in the light, enlightening their minds, leading them to pray, making Himself and His love known to them, and guiding the faithful through life's dangers and trials, with each step of faith and consecration bringing further knowledge of Him. The promise is limited and conditional, joined to the Father and Son coming to the obedient believer and making their home and abode with him through the indwelling Spirit, while he who loves Christ not keeps not His sayings and is left without this presence.
The question therefore marks a clear distinction between those who love God and keep Christ's commandments and those who do not. Those who have His commandments and keep them are those who love Him, and those who do not love Him do not keep His sayings, which are from the Father. This divides all people now and in the Judgment into only two classes, those who obey God's law and those who violate it. Decisions made during probation have consequences for time and eternity, and every person's works are reviewed before God. Because the world does not recognize Christ, its judgment cannot be trusted over the faithful.
Power for Life and Ministry
The inward life made fragrant by loving obedience gives needed spiritual power and brings God's help in trouble. Those in whom Christ thus abides receive comfort, peace, hope and assurance by putting His words into practice by faith. Instead of being on the mountaintop one day and in the shadow the next, they have a calm, trusting faith in the Redeemer's love. He enlightens their minds, leads them to pray, and makes Himself and His love known to them, guiding them through life's dangers and trials. God still reveals His glory to His people as He does not to the world, as their religion becomes intelligent and the wisdom from above strengthens, establishes and settles them while they go forward and upward from light to still greater light.
That indwelling makes a person one with Christ, giving the mind of Christ so that he is no longer opposed to God's law but lives in obedience to all the commandments and walks in the Saviour's footsteps in self-denial and self-sacrifice. All who so receive Him are adopted into the royal family as sons and daughters of God, made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance. These words contain pure, unadulterated truth that brings eternal life when received and properly digested, given to individuals, families and church members as God's family to represent to others, though not yet half comprehended. The promise is to be kept in mind when tempted to doubt, and it leaves no excuse for failing to perfect Christian character.
The teaching calls for living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour, coming to Him as they are, trusting Him to forgive, make pure and keep obedient in cooperation with God. That is the right kind of faith, believing that the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ, the faith without which it is impossible to please God, to be cultivated under every circumstance and brought into practical life by believing Christ is the only Saviour. Those deciding to follow the light they have received will be given greater light, and this is the condition of acceptance with God. The attractions of the world can absorb the heart, but God's love, working with human effort and keeping the better world in view, can displace love of the world.