John 14:1

The supper with its tragic revelations was over. Judas had departed, and all of the disciples were in a state of shock and grief following the announcement that even Peter would deny the Lord. The greatest tide of evil ever known on earth was already rising around that little company huddled in the upper room. The forces of darkness, with God's permission, were in command; and there was no moon in the blackness of that spiritual night which settled like some evil fog over the Holy City. It was a time of doubts and fears and falling tears. The unaided strength of natural man was no match for the desperate frustrations and shattered hopes of that critical hour; but Jesus was more than a match for that satanic storm moving so ominously upon them. In words of supernatural calm and confidence, the Lord reassured his chosen ones, loving them, encouraging them, and protecting them in every way possible. Before leaving the scene of the supper, he spoke the words of this chapter concerning: (1) the Father's house, (2) the Way, the Truth, and the Life, (3) the Comforter, and (4) the eternal necessity of what he was about to do.

Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1)

Let not your heart be troubled ... is the theme of this chapter, the same words being repeated in John 14:27.

Believe in God ... in me ... One of the difficulties of translating the Greek New Testament is that certain sentences are capable of more than one rendition, as here. These words mean either: "Ye believe in God" (indicative affirmation of fact), or "Believe (ye) in God" (imperative commandment to be obeyed). The English Revised Version (1885) rendition is preferred because the indicative that the disciples truly believed in God would seem to have been more than Jesus would have credited to them in the circumstance of their doubts and fears. Reynolds noted that:

This (the English Revised Version (1885) rendition) is approved by the great majority of interpreters from the early Fathers to Meyer and Godet ... the different order of the words in the Greek, bringing the two phrases, "in God" and "in me," together, gives potency to the argument of the verse, which is that of the entire Gospel.[1]

Thus, one of the overtones of this passage is that believing in God and believing in Jesus are one and the same thing.