Expert: Tyler Eldred (formally known as DarkBlue) - 7/28/2008

Question
Dark - Hoping for definitive answer rather than opinion please. What is the everyday, simple translation of:
'In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.' [John 14:2]
(IE  could this be an allusion to a compartmentalised heaven, other worlds than ours, other states of being, a  heaven luxuriously outfitted, or what?)
Regards
Tony

Answer
   Thanks for writing me Tony, it's been really great to zoom in on this piece of scripture and consider the various ideas you discussed in your e-mail. I wrote four different sections for you. The first section is a literal, piece by piece analysis of the Greek language that makes up the verse, and some explication on what sort of meanings can be possibly interpreted from it. The second section mentions a rare interpretation propagated by a Christian writer named Rob Bell on this exact piece of scripture. Section three simply looks at the possibilities of the sort of things you describe above, a compartmentalized heaven, for example, and some introductory comments we may be able to surmise about those ideas. Section 4 mentions two historical figures, Plato and St Theresa of Avila who wrote on topics similar to what you briefly described in your e-mail. For the simplest and most direct answer to your question, I recommend that you read the third and sixth (the last) paragraphs of section one.

Section 1- The Greek and the Grammar of the Matter

   A good resource for basic analysis of the original language of scripture can be found at scripturetext.com, and this is where my language analysis comes from. In most English translations of this verse there are three distinct parts to it, always in the same order. They are:
1. In my Father's house are many mansions.
2. If it were not so, I would have told you.
3. I go to prepare a place for you.
   In part 1, the word "house" come from the Greek noun "oikia" which means in the most abstract form "residence," as in, "a place where something typically resides," but is most often used to means a human dwelling place, as in a family "house" or "home." Here we can say "house," since the Father resides there without particularly worrying about whether or not Jesus was trying to imply the term "home," because typically imagine the Father's house being very much like a home anyways. The Greek for "Father" here is "pater" which is a word that can be translated either figuratively or literally, but in either case it is the same reference that is used throughout the Gospels which we typically interpret here as the God of Jesus. The Greek words "polus" and "eisi" together make the words "there are many," with "polus" meaning either "many in number" or many of a certain dimension or quality, much like "far," "long," or "a while." "Eisi" simply means "there are" in the way one could say "'there exists' a" or "yes, 'there is.'" This term that is translated here as "mansion" is in Greek "mone," which means a "staying" or "residence" and that meaning either "the action of staying" or "a place to stay." My interpretation of the word "mansion" existing as a possible translation is that if "mone" means "a place to stay" but not necessarily a "house," then this could imply a place specifically intended for the "staying" of other people, which could be something like a hotel or an apartment complex, yet since in those days those things did not exist at the time the only place intended for others to stay would be a really big house with extra rooms, i.e. a mansion. While "mone" is not plural, its plural form is used here, which gets you "mansions" instead of "mansion."
   So to recap the first section, "In my Father's house" is a pretty standard translation, while "are many mansions" could possibly mean a variety of things. Most literally, "My Father's house," simply means "the place where my Father resides," but in the Gospel, "my Father" usually means God, therefore making a nature interpretation of this residence "heaven." As you pointed out, however, it needs not connotate heaven, but most generally, anywhere where God is. Based on the grammar of the Greek, possible translations of "are many mansions" include "there is abundance of mansion," "there are many places to stay," or "there exists many stayings (that are happening here)." The key points here are that "polus," the word for many, does not necessarily mean many individual units, nor does "mone" mean "mansion" in the sense of a structure of walls, rooms, and flooring, which would be two key interpretations necessary to describe "compartmentalization" as a characteristic of heaven or any other metaphysical construction where God might be. However, the word "polus" can easily connotate the number of something, which in itself can describe a "distinction" or "individuality" that could connotate a compartmentalized heaven, but that definition of "polus" would not be sufficient to explicitly describe "division" or "separation" in these units of heaven. (The reason why I say that the concept there being an 'amount' to something can imply a "distinction" or "individuality" comes from the qualities necessary for you to be able to 'count' something. You can count apples, for example, because they are in separate units and shapes, but you cannot count the number of apple sauce without some sort of unit of measure, because it's just one big pool of the stuff.)
    The second part is pretty straight forward. The translation above is fine, though the grammar might be closer to "If it were at all the case that it was untrue, I would have communicated that to you (all of you)." The key word to note in this statement is "me" the Greek word for the "not so" part of the statement, doesn't seem to be imply an opposite but a rather a deviation from a perfect statement; Thus, He would not only tell us if His Father had no mansions, but also If His Father had any less than what He said, "many." The English translation "if it were not so, I would have told you" seems to be a less wordy solution that get's the same point across.
   Part three (not included in your question, but usually included in that verse,) seems to be an 'answer' to the other two parts. The word "place" is assumed to be connected to the location previously identified, which is "my Father's house," and the fact that 'He goes' is an affirmation of the fact that it is true that 'in His Father's house are many mansions.' The Greek here is "poreuomai" (go), meaning to "travel," "journey," or "depart," "hetoimazo" (prepare) meaning to "prepare," "provide," or "ready," and "topos" (place) connotating an empty lot or location with either geographical connotations such as "coast," "plain," or "rock," or domestic connotations such as "quarter" or "room." Note that "poreuomai" doesn't connotate much about the 'to or from' of the matter, as "visit" or "escape" does, nor does is connotate an particular action, as "run" or "swim" does, but simply connotates a travel of some sort. Since we already said "topos" is likely to refer to the first part of the verse, it is natural assume that the location He is preparing for us is one of the same type as one of these "mansions." The "going" and "preparing" are typically interpreted to mean His death on the cross (perhaps his resurrection as well), that a) leads Him to travel (if only briefly) to death in the tomb, and b) constitutes our bridge to God (or where He is). It could be that when He does this, He goes "to the Father" as He says in verse 12 of that chapter.
   The most basic and literal translation is "In the dwelling place of my Father, there are many places to stay; If this were at all untrue, I would have told you that: I am traveling to prepare a place for you there." His Father is assumed to imply God, and His Father's house is assumed to be heaven. His travel seems to be His death on the cross, and perhaps His resurrection as well. The fact that he is preparing a place is assumed to be connected to His role as Savior and Redeemer of the human race. The context of His discourse would imply that a) He is saying this to comfort us, b) it has to do with His eminent death, and/or c) this information is among some of His final and most important instructions and commands for His disciples.

Section 2- Rob Bell's Claim

   According to what I've heard from Contemporary Christian Writer Rob Bell's book entitled "Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality," this verse has a very deliberate meaning the context of Jewish custom at the time. He says the marriage custom of the time was that the man would propose to his wife by saying a special line, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." After saying this, he would literally go back to his father's house (or the house of his oldest direct ancestor) and build an extra room on it, and when they got married, he would take her back to this room and she would live there. Thus you would get these great big family houses that keep on being built on every time someone gets married, and with everyone living under the same roof. If this is the case, then this means that Jesus is proposing to his disciples. Obviously, if this were the case, he means marriage not in an earthly sense but a spiritual sense, which fits with metaphors in the Gospel, in Revelations, in the writings of the Old Testament prophets about marriage. I didn't give this to you as the first and foremost meaning of the scripture, because I haven't heard of this claim made anywhere except by this man, so it is by no means a typical interpretation.  

Section 3- Basic Abstract Impressions

   In this section I will look at some of the suggestions that were mentioned in your questions, and, while not making any opinions, evaluate what such a thing could mean and how it might be the case. The possible concepts that you briefly suggested as possible interpretations of this concept of "many mansions" are "a compartmentalized heaven,” “other worlds than ours,” “other states of being,” and “a heaven luxuriously outfitted." My analysis of these concepts will be separate of what the verse at hand specifically implies, but rather according to basic theological thought.
   If we were to refer to a compartmentalized heaven, we must ask ourselves what that compartmentalization might mean. A compartment could imply "individuality," "distinction," "division," or "separation." Such language could a describe difference in personal identity, function, righteousness or holiness, closeness to God, heavenly experience, or honor in heaven. The nature of our personal identity in a place like heaven is a mystery amongst theologians. It seems natural to think we would still have a concept of self, but we also know that we will be part of God and through God, part of everyone else in heaven, and that our connections and closeness will be unlike anything on earth. Variation in function amongst Christians is established for this world by Paul is 1 Corinthians 12 when he talks about Christians all being different parts of the same body and it would be easy to suppose that it follows for heaven as well. Difference in holiness amongst individuals is interesting. In heaven there is this notion that everyone will be made perfect, and therefore perfectly actualized for their fullest possible holiness, but whether different people have different potentials remains to be seen. The answer to the 'closeness to God' question is like the 'holiness' question it should be said that about heaven it is said we will be a closest to God that is conceivable. Scripture has said that it is possible to store up treasures in heaven, which would imply a difference in heavenly experience. Honor in heaven would correspond to, one would think, holiness in this life and the next, and therefore nearly identical to the previously established 'holiness’ question. I would summarize the distinctions of the afterlife in this way: it is unknown what the concept of self will be like in heaven, it is yet to be seen how differences in holiness will matter (if at all so), we could imagine a distinction between different types of things, although all connected, such a perceivable difference between us and angels, and there has been made a distinction between people in the afterlife of heaven and hell.
   Worlds other than ours certainly seem possible. One might use an aquarium analogy: there could exists in one room, several aquariums, kept apart for any number of reasons, all being taken care of by the same owner, with each aquarium unaware of the other aquariums and their owner's interaction with them. Now as for the reasons that there might be separate aquariums, that is, separate worlds, reasons could include different schemes for the same purpose (as different colors have a function in the same painting), different levels of intended glory (think of the distinctions between us and the angels), or separation for our own good (think of two types of fish that don't play nicely together). There might also be an infinite amount of other worlds simply because if it were part of God's ability and desire to make separate worlds, that nothing would hinder him from making a limitless number.
   Other states of being is a tricky one to speculate about, because one of the things that could change in our state of being is the way we perceive and understand the world around us, and if that were the case, then that means that we might not have the facilities to describe what a certain state of being is like until we are in that state of being. But without being as abstract as all that, we can say that the obvious frontier for a change in state of being seems to be the afterlife, where it is typically believed we will exist as a spirit or soul only, leaving our body behind. Some people believe in the resurrection of the body at the end of the world, that we will have a physical self once again when the world ends. If that's the case, then we can expect a third state of being. It should be said that the only states of being that Paul is concerned about in his letter to the Romans are "dead" and "alive," seeming to imply that that both are possible in this life and the next, and that being the most important distinction in our nature, for this life and the next.
   Our connotations of a luxuriously fitted heaven depend on what sort of body we will have but also what makes heaven, "heaven." There cannot exist luxury in any tangible sense unless we have physical bodies, if we don't have physical bodies, then this would be luxury of another type. The luxury of heaven, would presumably be describing the "paradise" characteristic of heaven, on which there's mostly two schools of thought. One is that heaven will be very much like our world, only perfect. Thus we could have conversations with others people in heaven, for example, and move around in the different parts of heaven, although admittedly our new life of full righteousness would dramatically change our schedule and outlook. The other school of thought is that heaven will simply be the reality of being united with God, and that our entire sense of self and of consciousness will be radically different. Most people accept a combination between the two, but all the same, the paradise aspect of heaven is usually taken to be our life with others and with God.

Section 4- Related Ideas and Topics

   While you never explicitly asked about these things, there are two thinkers that you might find interesting or relevant to this discussion because of their writings on the metaphysical. Plato, one of the great ancient Greek philosophers, wrote the Republic, a book which describes an ideal city where everything is just. In his discussion of this, he talks a lot of the nature of justice, but also has a lot of interesting theories about ideal forms that exists above and beyond our world. St Teresa of Avila was a Catholic Saint who lived in the 16th century, who wrote two different texts about the stages of the soul, one description contained four stages, in Chapters 10-22 in her Autobiography, and the other description contains seven stages, literally described as rooms or chambers, contained in the book El Castillo Interior.

   Thanks Tony! I Hope that helped.