John 14:28

You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

Verse 27 Read Chapter 14 Verse 29

Alexander of Alexandria

AD 250

For it is clear that He is the image fully containing all things by which the greatest similitude is declared, as the Lord Himself hath taught us, when He says, "My Father is greater than I.". But we must say that to the Father alone belongs the property of being unbegotten, for the Saviour Himself said, My Father is greater than I."

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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637

Let not your heart be troubled, &c. Christ adds this because He saw that the Apostles were sad at His departure, and fainthearted on account of the hatred of the Jews, and the battles which were impending, says S. Chrysostom. Lest the wolf should attack the sheep when the Shepherd was absent, says S. Austin. Therefore He consoles them, and lifts them up, saying, "Be not troubled nor fearful because of My departure, as though ye were about to be sheep without a Shepherd. For I, as I have said, go away indeed to death, but I will rise again on the third day, and then I will come, i.e, I will return, to you." If ye loved Me, &c. The apostles did love Christ, and therefore they were troubled at His going away. When therefore Christ says, If ye loved Me, He speaks after the manner of men. It is the way of consoling friends when they are sad at the departure of a friend. If you showed Me, 0 ye Apostles, what true and sincere love demands, ye would not grieve but rejoice at My departure, for... Read More

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

Also according to John: "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I."

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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444

If ye loved Me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father; for My Father is greater than I. CHAPTER I. That in nothing is the Son inferior to God the Father, but rather equal to and like Him in nature. He turns the occasion of sorrow into a source of solace, and plainly rebukes them because they do not rather rejoice at what now gives them pain: and at the same time tries to teach them, that those who practise an unaffected and sincere love towards others, must not merely seek their own pleasure and advantage, but rather to benefit those they love, when an opportunity to do this gives them inducement. Therefore also Paul exhorts us in the words: Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own. He speaks of some who seek not their own but others' good. For true love shows itself in our not only providing for our own advantage but also considering our neighbour's benefit. For our Saviour, in the words before us, persuades ... Read More

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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444

You learnt, He says, from no other lips than Mine My departure hence, for you heard My sayings with your own ears, and what have I, Who cannot lie, promised unto you? I go away, and I come unto you. If then His words had threatened that His departure would leave them comfortless, and that their bereavement would be eternal, it was very likely that they would thereupon be dreadfully dismayed, and find it unbearable, and fall into excess of despondency. And whereas I said unto you not simply that I would go away, but that I would come again in due season, why then, He says, do you let into your hearts only the cause of grief, and slight by your forgetfulness that which is able to cheer. Let that which knows how to succour arise in you to combat that which affrights: and let the power of the Comforter wrestle with the incitements to grief. For it has been ordained that I should ascend to God the Father, but I have promised to come again. He allays then the agony of grief He found in His d... Read More

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

The Father is greater than I. According to the common exposition, Christ here speaks of himself, as made man, which interpretation is drawn from the circumstances of the text, Christ being at that time, going to suffer, and die, and shortly after to rise again, and ascend into heaven, all which agree with him, as man, and according to his human nature. But the Arians can take no advantage from these words, (though with divers of the ancient Fathers, we should allow them to be spoken of Christ, as the Son of God:) the Father may be said in some manner to be greater than the Son, if we consider the order of the divine processions, that is, that the Father is the first person, and proceeds from no other; whereas the Son proceeds from the Father. If any one, says St. Chrysostom, will contend, that the Father is greater, inasmuch as he is the cause, from which the Son proceedeth, we will bear with him, and this way of speaking: provided he grant that the Son is not of a different substance,... Read More

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Gregory The Dialogist

AD 604

Hear Him. If He shall say, He that hath sent me is greater than I,

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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202

For if any one should inquire the reason why the Father, who has fellowship with the Son in all things, has been declared by the Lord alone to know the hour and the day

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

4. And what joy would this bring to them? What consolation? What then mean the words? They did not yet know concerning the Resurrection, nor had they right opinion concerning Him; (for how could they, who did not even know that He would rise again?) but they thought that the Father was mighty. He says then, that If you are fearful for Me, as not able to defend Myself, and if you are not confident that I shall see you again after the Crucifixion, yet when you heard that I go to the Father, you ought then to have rejoiced because I go away to One that is greater, and able to undo all dangers. You have heard how I said unto you. Why has He put this? Because, He says, I am so firmly confident about the things which come to pass, that I even foretell them, so far am I from fearing.  This also is the meaning of what follows.

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Methodius of Olympus

AD 311

For it was fitting that He who was greater than all things after the Father, should have the Father, who alone is greater than Himself,

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

As He Himself acknowledges: "My Father is greater than I.". , "is greater than I."

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