The context says that “things” means “works.” Here are commentaries and my take on this issue.
I use the NIV. If you would like to see more translations go to biblegateway.com. For my translation and commentary on John 14, please go here:
That link also gives the context of v. 12.
In the next table, you can ignore the Greek on the left, if you don’t read it.
I put things in outline form for clarity and sermon material.
Let’s begin.
I. Translation of Verses
| 10 οὐ πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν; τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ μένων ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. 11 πιστεύετέ μοι ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί· εἰ δὲ μή, διὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτὰ πιστεύετε. 12 Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ τὰ ἔργα ἃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ κἀκεῖνος ποιήσει καὶ μείζονα τούτων ποιήσει, ὅτι ἐγὼ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα πορεύομαι. | 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words which I have spoken to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father dwelling in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If not, believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:10-12, NIV) |
II. Introduction
A. What Renewalists Believe about Verse 12
Renewalists love v. 12 because they believe that miracles happen today. The context says that “things” means “works” that Jesus had been doing throughout the Gospel of John (and the Synoptics) because the Father was dwelling in his Son. So can believers do the same works and even greater works than these because the Son goes to the Father? Obviously yes, because that is the plain reading of the verse.
To emphasize, let’s not overlook the truth in v. 12 that we will do the same works Jesus did: healings, deliverances, and even nature miracles, like miraculously feeding the multitudes and walking on water.
B. But What Does the Verse Actually Mean?
It’s time to temper the enthusiasm of the Renwalists and ask tough questions.
In what sense are the works greater than these? And why is the Son going to the Father so important? Does “greater” mean more numerous because the entire body of Christ teams up together and in unity do the works? Or are the works more grand and glorious and awe-inspiring than the works that the Father did through Jesus? Are the works greater because they go beyond biblical precedence? Or does it mean preaching the infilling of the Spirit and rebirth and spiritual resurrection, crossing over from death to eternal life, right now while we live this life?
III. Professional Commentators
We need to belong to a community of Bible teachers to keep us safe from outlandish interpretations which constantly sweep across the global church. But we do not have to believe everything commentators say. Let’s use discernment. But I do learn a lot from them. For me there is safety in numbers.
A. Mounce:
He says that we have the privilege of preaching the gospel and see people born again or regenerated. Carson agrees and goes farther (see below). Mounce’s interpretation makes a lot of sense (see below My Comments and John 5:20-29).
B. Klink:
The disciples “are invited—no, commissioned (cf. Matt. 28:18-20)—to participate in the ongoing and powerful ministry of God the Father, the exalted Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit. The ministry of the church is truly the work of God in the world” (comment on v. 23).
C. Carson:
He reminds us of John 5:20: “For the Father loves the Son and shows to him everything that he himself is doing, and he will show him greater works than these, with the result that you will be amazed” (emphasis added).The Father shows greater works to the Son, who will in turn show them to the disciples. This refers to the life-giving power of the Son, which depends on the death, resurrection, and exaltation.
Carson writes:
In short, the works that the disciples perform after the resurrection are greater than those done by Jesus before his death insofar as the former belong to an age of clarity and power introduced by Jesus’ sacrifice and exaltation. Both Jesus’ words and his deeds were somewhat veiled during the days of his flesh; even his closest followers, as the foregoing verses make clear, grasped only part of what he was saying. But Jesus is about to return to his Father, he is about to be gloried, and in the wake of his glorification his followers will know and make known all that Jesus is and does, and their every deed and word will belong to the new eschatological age that will then have dawned. (comment on v. 12)
Then Carson looks at the next two verses about asking in Jesus’s name and the new age of the kingdom. Thus he sees the greater works as summed up or revealed in the veiled quality of the pre-resurrection and pre-ascension works and greater clarity of post-resurrection and post ascension works. The greater works are done by the disciples in the post-resurrection, post-ascension era.
My take: Carson is profound, but it is not clear whether he applies the works of Jesus all the way to us, who are still proclaiming the kingdom of God after the resurrection and ascension. Renewalists today apply these “greater works” to themselves. But the Son going to the Father has to guide our interpretation, so Carson is right about this.
D. Beasley-Murray:
He says the works are for us today, but he says that the limitation of the Incarnation (Jesus becoming flesh; cf. 1:14) no longer applies; redemption will have been won for the world at the cross, and the disciples are equipped to do power ministry to the nations. The disciples are in the service of the “saving sovereignty of God” (comment on vv. 12-14). In other words, the cross means that the disciples can do greater works by offering redemption and salvation to the world, after the ascension.
E. Morris:
During Jesus’s life “he was confined in his influence to a comparatively small sector in Palestine. After his departure his followers were able to influence much larger numbers of people and to work in widely scattered places. But they did it all on the basis of Christ’s return to the Father. They were in no sense acting independently of him. On the contrary, in doing their ‘greater things,’ they were but his agents” (comment on v. 12). So Morris believes that the greater things is the worldwide outreach and more souls saved.
F. Keener:
He says that “greater works” means “greater magnitude” (see John 1:50 and 5:20). “The promise of ‘greater works’ calls John’s audience to look not only backward but also to the present, where Christ continues to remain active through his presence by the Paraclete and his proclaimed word” (vol. 2, p. 947). So it seems ‘magnitude’ means ‘greater numbers’ because the disciples are more numerous.
IV. My Comments
For what they’re worth …..
A.. First, Caution:
We have to be very cautious about believing that the works will be qualitatively greater than the works that the Father did through his Son, while dwelling in the Son. Jesus refused to perform signs or a sign from heaven or the sky (Matt. 12:38-39 and 16:1-4). In context, the demanded sign he refused to do seems to be a grand display.
Instead, Jesus told the religious leaders who were actually provoking him to show off that an evil generation seeks a sign of this kind. The only sign that he would give them is the one of Jonah—being three days and three nights in the belly of the big fish, his burial and resurrection, in other words. Jesus’s miracles in the four Gospels were purposed to help people, down here on earth, like healing their diseases and expelling demons and cleansing lepers and opening blind eyes and deaf ears and multiplying fish and bread actually to feed people and resuscitating the dead. And most of all they were designed to save their souls and give them resurrection life right now. These signs met the needs of the people and advanced the kingdom in real ways. (Yes, even turning water into wine helped a wedding and spared the host social shame, a big deal in that culture.)
It is true that God worked through Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:14-16), which did not happen in Jesus’s ministry (though a careful reading shows that healings and deliverance through Peter’s shadow are only implied, not clearly stated.) But even if you say they did happen by Peter’s shadow, my only point is that caution is in order. Don’t work hard at going beyond what Jesus did or try to coerce God’s hand. Don’t thirst and seek for “shadow” miracles. Follow Jesus. Let him heal and deliver.
B. Warnings about Demonic Signs:
In contrast, the people who witness anyone claiming to work—or actually performs—signs in the sky or heaven must be extra-cautious; the miracle worker may be drifting, unintentionally or intentionally, towards some sort of man of lawlessness, whom Satan will empower to perform false signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9). These signs do not actually help people in real-world ways and in their daily lives. These signs and wonders are intended to show off and awe the crowds. Yet even demonic healings can happen, so caution and wisdom are needed.
Also written by John, the Revelation says that the second beast can perform signs in the heavens:
13 And it [the second beast] performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. (Rev. 13:13-14, NIV)
Paralleling the two verses in the Revelation, Paul also warns of satanic signs:
9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thess. 2:9-10, NIV)
The antidote to this deception or “the lie” is to love saving truth.
In the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, Jesus was speaking to his own generation (Matt. 24:34; Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32), but I believe patterns of evil repeat themselves throughout history. This verse can be applied to our days and beyond:
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matt. 24:24, NIV).
Thus, if someone is actually healed of a disease by the miracle worker, what is the doctrine that the empowered healer teaches? Is it biblical, or does it cause a drift from the clear teaching of Scripture?
C. Jesus’s Miracles Have a Purpose:
More specifically, some of my co-Renewalists are extra-enthusiastic about watching gifted people perform signs and wonders and insist that the signs and wonders will be qualitatively and unprecedentedly greater than those performed by the Father in the Son. So, these Renewalists eagerly look for gold dust to drop from the ceiling or glory clouds to descend on an audience. Jesus never performed anything close to the falling gold dust miracle while he was alive, and he rejected any temptation to work a sign in the sky.
And as noted, the Son’s miracles helped people in their needs. Gold dust helps no one in that way. It just makes people say, “Ooo! Aahh!” Was the gold dust manufactured? I do not believe that the ascended Jesus performed the gold-dust miracle today. Instead, let’s minister to people as Jesus did. That’s the purpose of miracles.
D. God’s Presence Has a Purpose to Get Closer to God:
Is the “greater works” a glory cloud, that is, some sort of weighty presence of the Lord which descends on his people gathered together? God sovereignly did this in Solomon’s temple at its dedication (1 Kings 8:10).
Moses could not enter the mobile tabernacle at its dedication:
“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exod. 40:34-35, NIV).
It seems the presence of the Lord descended on the Mount of Transfiguration and Peter, James, and John felt something (Matt. 17:1-13 // Mark 9:2-13 // Luke 9:28-36).
Saul (later Paul) and his traveling companions all fell to the ground at a divine light (Acts 26:14).
Therefore, it may be possible to sense the presence of the Lord in an extra-strong way at a Christian gathering, particularly after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. His glory may descend in a manifest manner, if only perceived by our spirits, or sometimes even by our eyes. Our bodies may also react; some may fall down (commonly called “slain” in the Spirit). Sensing this power is legit, that is, Scriptural.
E. My Quick Story of a Balanced Church:
Back in the 1980’s I joined a Renewal and Church-Planting Movement, where healings and demon expulsion really happened. The pastors–most of whom were high quality in their character and who worked quietly behind the scenes–were not showoffs. They believed in biblical signs and wonders seen in Acts. And the kingdom of God was advanced. People’s lives were transformed. In that decade; most of them–or all of them as far as I know–did not go beyond what Jesus did through the church in Acts.
F. Greater Things Are Performed in the Community in Unity:
In John 14:12, then, our “things” (or works or signs or miracles) will be greater than those only in the sense that the Spirit has descended on all of us and we—the entire church, the entire Christian community—work together in unity and heal the sick, expel demons, cleanse the lepers, open blind eyes and deaf ears, see miraculous provisions of food, and raise the dead. Remember: the Paraclete—the Spirit of truth—will be with us forever. He had not yet been given before Pentecost (John 7:37-39), but he is about to be sent (14:16-17). In that sense our united works will be greater than these, by the power of the Spirit.
The outpouring of the Spirit comes from the Father and the ascended Lord, as he is seated at the right hand of the Father, directing his church. The Father worked in the Son while his Son was on earth, and now the Father and the Son work through the Spirit who permanently lives in us, his people, his church, his kingdom community. Now let’s watch and rejoice in the works that the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—performs through us, which will look like the works he did through his Son. All of us together will do greater works because we have the backing of the Trinity. Going beyond those biblical, modeled works which the Father did through his Son and claiming that unprecedented works are “the greater than these works” is much too risky. Are not the works that the Father did through his Son good enough for us, or do we eagerly seek for the sensational? Are not the Father’s and the Son’s works sufficient to meet the needs of people and advance the gospel?
G. Greater Things = Jews and Gentiles Making up People of God?
I may be going a little far afield, but I further add that Jews and Gentiles will do greater works, by being the united people of God, together, and this unity of one new human (Jew and Gentile) is the greatest work. Here is a long passage about revealing the mystery of Christ which is his ministry to open up the People of God to Gentiles:
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Eph. 2:11-22, NIV)
After Jesus was resurrected, he commissioned the disciples to go into all the world to make more disciples (Matt. 28:18-20). Only later did the disciples figure out that he intended to include Gentiles too (Acts 10). So the ‘greater works’ means that the mission has expanded beyond Jesus’s outreach to Israel.
H. Clarity from John 5:20-29:
After further study, I believe Carson and Mounce were on to something. The “greater things” may refer back to John 5:20-29, which, in context, means new life or new birth.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:20-29, NIV, emphasis added)
And so in John 5:20-29, Jesus speaks of two resurrections: (A) new life (“crossed over from death to life” in v. 24) and (B) a physical resurrection on the last day (“for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice” in v. 28). The first resurrection (eternal life right now after being reborn) will save them from a negative judgment at the physical resurrection (vv. 28-29). This new eternal life will secure the born-again believer in the final physical resurrection to undergo a positive final judgment.
I. Conclusion (of this section):
Therefore, it is most likely that the greater things in John 14:12 refers to new life or new birth or the spiritual resurrection from spiritual death to spiritual eternal life. The apostles whom Jesus is addressing in John 14 had never (yet) preached the new birth and receiving eternal life and being awakened from spiritual death to spiritual eternal life. They had not preached the new birth and crossing over from death to life even in their commissioning in Matthew 10, Luke 9, and 10. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, they will preach being born again–the new birth and spiritual resurrection. Paul, for example, does this in Ephesians. 2:5 and Titus 2:5, and so does Peter in 1 Peter 1:3.
But the ‘greater things’ must also include miracles of healing and deliverance to help people with their physical and other spiritual needs, like deliverance from demons.
V. Bottom line
A. Caution Again:
We have to be very cautious about believing we can outperform or outdo what the Father did through his Son. I agree with the gist of the above commentators who say that salvation and redemption were introduced while Jesus was on the cross and ratified (confirmed) at his resurrection and ascension. Together, we now preach salvation and redemption, and our preaching is numerically strong because we all preach in unity by the power of the Spirit.
B. Bruce:
I agree with F. F. Bruce: “The ‘greater works’ of which he now spoke to them would still be his own works but by the Spirit within them. And it was only by his going to the Father that the Paraclete would come to them (John 16:7)” (comment on v. 12).
C. Be Biblical
Let’s keep things biblical and follow Jesus and his precedence, by the power of the Spirit. Let’s not look for handwriting in the sky and gold-dust miracles. And if God heals people through our shadows (see Acts 5:15), then let the Spirit work as he determines.
D. Let’s Help People, Instead of Showing Off
However, we can do the same works that Jesus did–healings, deliverances, feeding the multitudes, and so on. But we must follow Jesus and keep to these main works which he did, in order to help people, and not look for sensationalism.
Go here for a fuller commentary and bibliographical data:
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