SIL Translator’s Notes on John 14:23

14:23a

Jesus replied: This quote introducer introduces a long direct quotation, 14:23–31.

Jesus did not directly answer Judas’ question. Instead he implied his answer. Jesus would not reveal himself to unbelievers because they do not obey him. Therefore the Father and Son do not live inside them.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word: The clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word means that the result of love for Christ is obedience to him. This is a general rule. Express it in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

Those who love me will do what I say. (God’s Word)
-or-
If anyone loves me, they will obey me. (Contemporary English Version)

If anyone loves Me: This clause refers to anyone and everyone who loves Jesus. Express this in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

All who love me (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
If people love me (New Century Version)

he will keep My word: This phrase refers to obeying the things Jesus said. See how you translated “keep my commandments” in 14:21.

14:23b

My Father will love him: This clause means that God the Father will love all people who love God the Son, Jesus.

14:23c

We will come to him and make Our home with him: This clause indicates that Jesus and his Father would live with those who love him. God the Father and God the Son will have a personal, close, and permanent relationship with these people. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

we will come and make our home with each of them (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
my Father and I will come to him and live with him (Good News Translation)
-or-
we will come to them and live in them (Contemporary English Version)

We: This pronoun is exclusive here. It refers to God the Father and God the Son (and not the disciples). For example:

my Father and I

make Our home with him: This phrase is a figure of speech. It indicates that God and Jesus will form a permanent and close relationship with those who love Jesus. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as home is the singular form of the word translated as “dwelling places” in 14:2.

with him: God will live inside each person who loves him. Consider how you referred to these people in 14:23a and choose the singular or plural, whichever is suitable here. For example:

with each of them (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
with him (NET Bible)

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted