Bible Strands
John 14:28
You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples during the Upper Room discourse, immediately after promising them his peace (v. 27) and just before telling them he has spoken ahead of events so they will believe (v. 29).
The words — ὑπάγω (hupagō), "I am going away," is a present active indicative — an ongoing departure, not a single event — and it is the action that provokes the disciples' grief and the claim that follows.
The thread — The Father's superiority recurs in John 10:29 ("greater than all"), 1 Corinthians 15:24 (Christ hands the kingdom to the Father), and 1 Corinthians 11:3 (the head of Christ is God).
Why it lands — It asks the reader to accept a subordination claim without smoothing it over, and to reframe grief over departure as a reason for joy rather than a reason to grieve.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
Cross-references
- John 10:29 My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
- 1 Corinthians 15:24 Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- Psalms 47:5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD with the sound of the horn.
- John 13:16 Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
- John 20:17 “Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
- Philippians 2:6 Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
- Hebrews 1:2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
- Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
- John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.