by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Jesus said: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you<\/em>” (John 14:2)<\/p>\n Dwelling places: Mansions (KJV), or ‘rooms’ (ESV\/NIV), or ‘dwelling places’ (NASB95)?<\/p>\n This is translated from the Greek noun ‘mone’; and the verb form ‘menw’ means to stay, remain, or abide. Hence the noun means<\/p>\n Jobes remarked: Since mone is used in the context of ‘the house of my Father,’ rooms is an appropriate translation.<\/p>\nWhat about the KJV “Mansions”? That comes from the Latin Vulgate: mansions. When the King James was translated, it meant simply a place to stay, without the connotation of opulence. But <\/strong>that understanding is almost unknown for the English word ‘mansion’ today. Floyd Thompson once explained this passage, saying: “No one really thinks that Jesus went to do a remodel job on heaven!”<\/p>\n His coming again, reuniting, and abiding is through the resurrection. Hence, in John 14:23, the Father and the Son will come and make their home with us. And so it is!<\/p>\n Does that then ‘exclude’ any understanding of ‘heaven’? No, for Gundry points out that the “concept of heaven as a house is found elsewhere in Jewish writings.<\/p>\n Abide (the related verb menw) appears 16 times in the NASB95 version of John.<\/p>\n His word is to abide in us (John 5:38). Those who feed upon him are the ones who abide in him and he <\/strong>in us (John 6:56). It is by abiding in his word that we are His disciples (John 8:31). Then the discourse on the vine, the branch, and the need of fruit-bearing uses the concept of ‘abiding’ many times: John 15:4, 5, 6, 7, 9,10, 16.<\/p>\n The Way? His death, burial, and resurrection is the way<\/strong>, and there is no other way! Thus He is the way<\/strong>, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). When we are converted, we then have our relationship with Jesus, and we must abide <\/strong>in Him- and He in us.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Jesus said: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2) Dwelling places: Mansions (KJV), or ‘rooms’ (ESV\/NIV), or ‘dwelling places’ (NASB95)? This is translated from the Greek noun ‘mone’; and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[46,76],"class_list":["post-99112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-heaven","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":99112,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":99112,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. 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But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":99112,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":99112,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99112"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99116,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99112\/revisions\/99116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nNote also John 14:23: “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home<\/em> (Greek: ‘mone’) with him.’<\/em>”\u00a0Here we have the second use of the Greek word ‘mone’. Here it is a mutual or reciprocal relationship: the disciples will ‘abide’ (have an abiding place in Christ), and the Father and Son have an abiding place in the disciples.\nGundry: “The plural form monai in verse 2 emphasizes the individuality of the places which all believers have in Christ.” The church is the temple, a dwelling place for God in His people.
\n“I go”<\/strong> to prepare.\u00a0It is, in fact, the\u00a0act\u00a0<\/strong>of his going that prepares the abiding place, i.e., His coming-announced death.\n