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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
John 14:10-11
John 14 [8.] Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
John 14 [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?’ 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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 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. Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
John 14 [15.] If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,— the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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.”
Meaning:
Philip had asked, “Lord, show us the Father,” and Jesus had answered, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In these two verses Jesus explains why this is true. He and the Father share a unique, mutual indwelling, shown in his words and confirmed by his works.
- “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?”
Jesus describes a relationship deeper than any human closeness. The Son lives in the Father and the Father lives in the Son. This is not a merging of persons, for Jesus still speaks of “the Father” and of “me,” yet they are so united that to meet one is to meet the other. Jesus had already said publicly, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Christians later expressed this truth in the doctrine of the Trinity: one God, eternally existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus’ question to Philip expects the answer “yes.” After all their time together, the disciples should have recognised that Jesus’ life was the Father’s life shown in human form.
- “The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself”
Jesus never claimed to be an independent teacher with his own ideas. His teaching came from the Father. He said in the temple, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me” (John 7:16). Through Moses, God had promised a prophet to whom he would say, “I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus is that prophet and more: the eternal Word who perfectly speaks the Father’s mind.
- “But the Father who lives in me does his works”
Jesus’ miracles were not displays of personal power apart from the Father. After healing the man at the pool of Bethesda he explained, “the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19). His words and works came from the same source. Speaking and acting, he was always doing the Father’s will.
- “Or else believe me for the very works’ sake”
Jesus invites belief on two levels. Ideally the disciples would trust his word. But if they struggled, they had the evidence of his works: water turned to wine, the sick healed, the blind given sight, Lazarus raised. Jesus had said the same to his opponents: “believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:38). God does not ask for blind faith; he gives reasons to believe. John wrote his Gospel for this purpose: “these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
The Significance of John 14:10-11
- Knowing God through Jesus
The unity of the Father and the Son means that we never need to wonder whether God is different from Jesus. Jesus’ compassion, holiness and truth are the Father’s own.
- Faith supported by evidence
Doubt does not have to be the end of faith. Jesus pointed honest doubters to his works. Believers today can look at the witness of the Gospels, the resurrection and the changed lives of his followers.
- Living from the Father, like the Son
Jesus lived in total dependence on the Father. In a smaller way his followers are called to do the same, so that their words and actions flow from God’s life in them.
Cross-References:
John 10:30: "I and the Father are one." The unity of the Father and the Son.
John 5:19: "the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing." The Son's works come from the Father.
John 10:38: "believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." The same appeal to his works.
Deuteronomy 18:18: "I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him." The prophet who speaks God's words.
Conclusion: Jesus told Philip that he is in the Father and the Father is in him, so that his words and his works both come from the Father. He invited the disciples to believe his word, and if they found that hard, to believe because of the works they had seen. In Jesus the Father is fully present and fully revealed.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible