The Mansions Come to You

some thoughts on the 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. John 14:2, King James Version

There are a lot of emotional ties to this passage, so please don’t let me ruin that for you. If thinking of a mansion in heaven fills you with peace and joy and hope, then sing on my friend.

But I personally believe that this passage has a lot more to offer than just a post-death hope. In fact, I don’t even think Jesus had in mind the afterlife when he promised that his disciples would live in “many mansions.”

So let’s walk down the streets of gold and across the crystal sea together as we think about that pearly white city where the soul of man never dies.

Just a heads up: I’ve included some “mansions” hymns in quotes below. They aren’t related to the post; they simply demonstrate the prevalence of this theme in our worship.

There are great mansions in that City above, eternal…
There are great mansions filled with beauty untold, in Glory,
Marvelous mansions in that City of gold, and jewels…

W. D. Jeffcoat (composed 1973; fun note: the bluegrass song “Prayer Bells of Heaven” by Jimmy Martin was composed in 1963 and has the same tune; cf. “Help Thy Brother”)

Bible Versions and Background

Bible Versions

So the first thing we need to point out is that the word “mansions” can be found in a few translations, namely the KJV, NKJV, ASV, YLT, and D-R (Douay-Rheims Bible). Besides the NKJV, most of these translations are over one hundred years old, which isn’t a bad thing or good thing; it’s just a thing.

But this does suggest a potential trend—that the translation is a bit antiquated. Commentators in the 19th century already laid the groundwork for the shift.

Albert Barnes (1798-1870) and John Peter Lange (1802-1884) both interpret “many mansions” as “ample room.” That is, there is plenty of space in the Father’s house.

Adam Clarke (1762-1832), on the other hand, interprets this phrase as a “great number of chambers” within the Messianic temple.

Here is a sampling of translations from across translation philosophies.

“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, NASB95 (formal equivalence)

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14:2, ESV (formal equivalence)

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? John 14:2, NIV (dynamic equivalence)

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14:2, NRSVue (dynamic equivalence)

There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? John 14:2, NLT (paraphrase)

There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? John 14:2, The Message (paraphrase)

Above, we learn that there isn’t much difference between the “word for word translations” and “thought for thought translations,” and the paraphrases of the Bible generally agree with the interpretation of the commentators. In other words, the idea that the translation “mansions” conveys the wrong idea to a modern audience converges towards unanimity.

Here I labor and toil as I look for a home,
Just an humble abode among men,
While in heaven a mansion is waiting for me
And a gentle voice pleading "Come in."

There's a mansion now empty just waiting for me
At the end of life's troublesome way,
Many friends and dear loved ones
Will welcome me there
Near the door of that mansion some day.

Beuna Ora Bryant Karnes (composed 1937)

Background

There are basically two ideas on the background of the passage. One treats John 14 as Jesus’s marriage proposal to his disciples while the other sees this as an invitation to the priesthood and home in the Messianic temple. Given my own personal studies in John, I lean towards the temple imagery, but here’s some information on both takes.

Andreas J. Köstenberger in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary on John (2002) observed,

In Jesus’s day, many dwelling units (“rooms”) were combined to form an extended household. It was customary for sons to add to their father’s house once married, so that the entire estate grew into a large compound (called insula) centered around a communal courtyard…

Rather than elaborating on the characteristics of his Father’s house, Jesus is content to stress that there is plenty of room and that the believers’ future is bound up with a homecoming comparable to a son’s return to his father’s house.

(see also The Expositor’s Bible Commentary by Merrill C. Tenney, 1981)

Craig Keener, in the IVP Biblical Background Commentary on the New Testament (2014), said,

The “Father’s house” could evoke the Father’s household (8:35) or the temple (2:16), where God would forever dwell with his people (Ezek 43:7, 9; 48:35); in any case, it designates the place of his presence…The “dwelling places” (NASB, NRSV) might allude to “rooms” (NIV, GNT) in the new temple, where only undefiled ministers would have a place (Ezek 44:9–16; cf. 48:11). Whatever the particular background of the image (perhaps simply an ordinary house), John presumably understands this language figuratively for being in Christ, where God’s presence dwells (2:21)…

So it looks as if it could go either way, but as I said, I lean towards one and not the other, but I’ll cover that below. First, let’s talk about how “mansions” can be a bit problematic.

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we'll never grow old
And some day yonder we'll never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Ira Stanphill (composed 1949)

Consumerism, the American Dream, and Heaven

The other lyrics aren’t really related to the words in the article, but these are:

I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory,
And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;

E. M. Bartlett (composed 1939)

Again, all of these songs are fine to sing. I love to sing them still myself.

But if we literalize the imagery of heaven being filled with gold and jewels, are we replacing our affection for God with a desire to live in splendor? Are we replacing Love with riches? Are we trying to serve both God and wealth?

In a world where consumerism and materialism are running rampant, is it prudent to chiefly think of heaven as a place of gold, pearly gates, and all different kinds of jewels? Should our main picture of heaven be a place with individual mansions waiting for us?

Would we be more than satisfied with a little shack by the road in heaven, or would we disappointed that there wasn’t more?

The thing about all of this imagery is that it is just imagery. It is the best human language can do to describe what being in the unfiltered presence of God is like. And because it is imagery, we should use it wisely and not be married to any particular image, especially if that image may be problematic in our culture of relative comfort and riches compared to the first century disciples.

We aren’t members of the body of Christ to reserve a mansion filled with gold and silver in heaven; we are members of the body of Christ because we have been captivated by the Love of God.

But did Jesus even have heaven in mind when he gave his disciples this promise?

My Savior’s gone a mansion to prepare, In yon fair lands;
Adorned it will be with jewels rare, Not made, not made with hands.

James D. Vaughan (composed 1908)

The Mansions Come to You

The word translated “mansions” in the KJV is monē, which I’m sure is about as helpful to you as it is me, but I promise it is helpful. If you were to search this word in the Greek New Testament, which I’ve done for you here, then you’ll find that it’s only used in one other place, and that is John 14:23, which says (in three different translations),

Jesus answered and said to 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 abode with him…” John 14:23, NASB95

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them...” John 14:23, NRSVue

Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them…” John 14:23, NLT

So you could say…

“In my Father’s house are many mansions…”

“We’ll come to them and make our mansions with them…”

In other words, when Jesus promised to build his disciples rooms or mansions, he wasn’t saying that he was preparing a place for them to go way off somewhere out there, but that he was going to bring the mansions or rooms to them, and he would receive them to himself—that is, to relationship with himself and the Father.

Gail R. O’Day writes in the New Interpreter’s Bible (1995),

It is critical to the interpretation of Jesus’ words here that the reference to “my Father’s house” not be taken as a synonym for heaven. Instead, this reference to the Father’s house needs to be read first in the context of the mutual indwelling of God and Jesus, a form of “residence” that has been repeatedly stressed from the opening verse of the Gospel (e.g., John 1:1, 18)…It is in this relationship, as much as in any heavenly dwelling per se, that there are “many rooms.”

Instead of postponing this promise to beyond our death, Jesus is saying that his death and resurrection would mean the realization of these promises in our lives now.

God isn’t out there somewhere. God isn’t far off. Instead, God is as close to you as your very breath; the kingdom of God is at hand. And when we enter into this relationship through a faith that expresses itself in love, we become part of Jesus’s answered prayer that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So, the next time you sing about mansions or streets of gold at church, instead of thinking about a place you will one day inhabit after you die, imagine where are you are now spiritually: in the presence of Divine Love. And if you are dwelling there now, what would the world look like if your neighbors woke up to the reality of Love’s presence too?