Pastor Bill's Blog - Jesus’ Final Conversation Blog

To begin this blog about Jesus' Final Conversation, I have to admit there's a concept I have yet to get my head around. It has to do with the interpretation of "mone" as "mansions" in John 14:2:

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

When considering something as non-descript as "Heaven" we likely lean heavily on our personal mental models. "Mansion" certainly suggests some loaded imagery.

As I mentioned, "mone" is the greek root of "mansions" - pronounced "mon-ay".

What's curious about this is that various forms of "mone" appears in this conversation, but none of them are translated "mansions" - always as "abode" or "abiding":

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever" John 14:16

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." John 15:4

"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15:6

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." John 15:7

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love." John 15:9

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." John 15:10

"... If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23

This last one is perhaps the most intriguing because of it's direct tie to our original reference:

"In my Father's house are many mansions (mone): if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

"... If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home (mone) with him." John 14:23

The Apostle John is big on "mone", here's a parallel section of One John showing the greek root:

"Let that therefore abide (mone) in you, which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain (mone) in you, you also shall continue (mone) in the Son, and in the Father." 1. John 2:24

Candidly, I'd say the King James interpreters got a bit 'cultural' when they interpreted "mone" as "mansions" - sort of a culturally relevant application of the Lord/Manor concept, which would have set well with their early 17th century readers.

Q. So what's your take on John 14:2?

Click "comments" and join the conversation.

Comments

Joan Anderson wrote on Jan 14, 2010, 10:47:29 AM:
Ilike the Revised Standard take on this. It says "rooms", and that ties in with what, I understand,was the Jewish custom of that day: that the groom, after becoming engaged, builds a room onto his father's house for his bride and himself to live in. So,Jesus is in process of building a room for me in His house, and when it is finished, He will come to get me and take me there to live with Him forever. I can't wait.

Timothy Henley wrote on Jan 14, 2010, 11:02:33 AM:
I have not checked on the Greek application for "meno" as it appears here, but an immediate thought strikes me: John emphasizes the abiding relationship we are to develop with Jesus in his gospel. In this 14th chapter portion of Jesus' conversation the "mansions" may not be exclusively future oriented. Perhaps the promise of "meno" applies as much to the here and now as to the future in eternity. I am already to some degree, living in my "meno", or mansion, every time I abide with Jesus in an intimate way here and now. Jesus' going away to prepare this for me may not have been entirely for the hereafter. He is now in the dimension we call eternity -- no time restraints; past, present or future.

Bill Jastram wrote on Jan 14, 2010, 11:14:48 AM:
All the references to "meno" should read "mone" thus the pronunciation of "mon-ay". Sorry about that. Blog will soon be edited to reflect this. Pastor Bill

Susan Ginter wrote on Jan 14, 2010, 4:20:13 PM:
What struck me while reading above references, is that we are the mansions that God dwells in as we abide in Him. The picture I saw, was the Lord going from house to house to abide as we abide.

David Ediger wrote on Jan 15, 2010, 1:27:21 AM:
Any "room" in God's environment has got to be at "least" a "mansion". I have never been to a better place than in "HIS" company.

Mike Walsh wrote on Jan 16, 2010, 6:23:19 PM:
The verses referring to abiding seem very relational where as Jn 14:2 seems to be referring more to a place like a final destination. I'm curious .....have you looked at Spiros Zodhiates to see if he sheds any light on it from a grammatical perspective?