“Greater Works than These” was a Promise to the Apostles Together and Victory is Promised to the Church Together

The promises of victory, of spiritual gifts, and of works greater than those Jesus did, were not made to us individually, but as members of a functioning Body. They are given for the express purpose of building us up together, in unity, and so revealing Christ to the world. They only function properly in that context.

One of the promises Jesus stated in John 14 was the promise that anyone who believes on Him–that is, relies entirely on Him–will do the works He did and even greater works of the same kind.¹ As has already been shown, the context of this statement strongly emphasized our oneness, the keeping of Jesus’ command to love each other. It does not take any stretching of the language of the language of Jesus’ discourse in John 13 through 16 to conclude that anyone who truly believes on Jesus will keep His command to love other believers. Thus, the promise that believers would do greater works than Jesus is, at least by inference, tied to his command to love each other.

This connection, though only implied by the context in John 14:12, is made explicit by the grammatical person and number used in Acts 1:8. This verse, like its immediate context, is stated in the second person plural. This is a grammatical form that is almost completely lost to Standard English, although it is captured well by the “you all” (or “y’all”) of the southern American dialect. It is used in statements that concern, or are directed to, a group of people collectively. Though modern translations uniformly follow the individualistic preference of the Western church by rendering the second person plural as the generic second person “you,” which is normally understood as a singular, the King James is accurate when it renders this verse with the archaic English second person plural “ye.” What the risen Christ was really telling his disciples was that they—all of them collectively—would together receive power after the Holy Spirit came on them, and that they—again collectively—would be witnesses to Him throughout the earth.

And that is exactly how it happened. All of the disciples, numbering about one hundred twenty were waiting together as Jesus had told them to do.² Then the Holy Spirit came on all of them—He came to them each individually, but at the same time, with the result that they were all simultaneously filled. God even gave them a picture of the process—first there was a sound like the blowing of a mighty wind that filled the house, then they saw tongues of fire that started single but separated and rested on each of them. One Spirit came to rest in all of them.³ The result of this was that they all began to speak of the wonderful works of God, thereby drawing together a crowd to hear a message delivered by Peter “and the Eleven” for all of them.⁴ And thus was the Church born, when all of the disciples, gathered with one accord, received the Holy Spirit together.

The Holy Spirit, writing to the Church through the Apostle Paul, also promised victory and power to the Church, collectively. This point that our victory is a collective victory is clearly demonstrated by Ephesians 1:22 and 23. In context, Paul had just set forth in the most sweeping terms the great power, authority and lordship that has been given to Christ, who is above all other authorities and above every name that is named, in heaven or on earth⁵. He then states Christ’s victory: God has “put all things under his feet.”⁶ However, Paul then applies this to us: “and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”⁷

As was explained at length in an earlier post, he is the Head, but the Church is His Body. We are, collectively, His Body. If everything is under Christ’s feet, and we are His body, everything is under our feet, together. Ephesians 1: 22-23. This is as clear as statement as will be found in Scripture that we have the victory over the world.

But it does not say that each of us individually has the victory. It does not say that all things are under my feet. It says that all things are under Christ’s feet, and that we, the Church, are, collectively, His body. All things are under our feet, if Christ is our Head. This is emphasized again by the last half of verse 23, which states that the Church, Christ’s Body, is the “fullness” of Him who fills everything.   

1 Corinthians 12 also makes clear that the reason the Holy Spirit gives his various gifts to the Church, giving different gifts to different members, is to build us up together, making us all dependent on each other for survival and growth, so that we will recognize we are one Body and care for each other accordingly. The gifts that are given to the Church bring victory over various effects of sin in the world when they function properly. But they only function properly when we function as one Body. Similarly, in Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul clarifies that the purpose for which God gives the Church people in leadership roles is not to glorify the leaders, but to prepare us all so that the whole Body may be edified, until we “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (NASB).

So, the promises of victory, of spiritual gifts, and of works greater than those Jesus did while he was with us in the flesh, were not made to us individually, but as members of a functioning Body. They are given for the express purpose of building us up together, in unity, and so revealing Christ to the world. They only function properly in that context.

Next: Of Abiding, Growth and Fruitfulness