John 14:2, here from the KJV:
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.
A long time ago I saw a video on That the World May Know series by Ray Vanderlan. He explained that in light of the culture of Jesus’ day and archeological remains of houses from the same time period, what was meant when Jesus said “in my father’s house are many mansions…” should really be rooms. He said that the NIV had the translation right, using the correct word “rooms” when most translations use the word “mansions.”
Am curious as to what words were used in the original Greek and if digging into it could provide some insight I hadn’t had before.
The greek word used for rooms/mansions is “monai” or “moné” which means an abiding, an abode. It has the short definition of lodging, dwelling-place, room. Its definition is lodging, dwelling-place, room, abode, mansion. “Room” is listed twice, “mansion” only once. So the word weighs more to meaning room than mansion. To me, it sounds like a permanent place to live, as opposed to a temporary place like a tent.
Jesus starts off the verse saying “In my father’s house…” How can there be mansions inside a house? The Greek used there is oikia, meaning a house, dwelling, household.
Also, interestingly enough, the word “place” – used later towards the end of the same verse where Jesus says “prepare a place for you?” – is the Greek word “topon” or “topos – which means “a place.” The NASB has translated the same Greek word throughout scripture (just 3 verses) as “room.”
So Jesus basically says “In my Father’s household there are many permanent places to live…I prepare a room for you.”
Let’s see what popular Bible translations use for these 3 words:
KJV: house, mansions, place
NIV: house, rooms, place
NLT: home, room, place
ESV: house, rooms, place
NASB: house, dwelling places, place
Message: home, room, room
ASV: house, mansions, place
“Rooms” does seem to win out in the arbitrary translations listed above. I’d paraphrase the verse to say:
Where my Father lives (heaven), there’s lot’s of room. It’s true, why else would I say am getting room ready for you?
Other than proving that we’re not getting mansions in heaven, it also says that there’s lots of room (space) there.
Also, going back to something I mentioned earlier, I find it interesting that the words have a feeling of permanence. They describe structures that are built for a lifetime. Tents or skéné, as used in Hebrews 11:9 talking about Abraham living in tents, means a tent, booth, tabernacle, abode, dwelling, mansion, habitation. The last few definitions mean the exact same thing, but the first few give a sense of temporance. To me it just speaks of how heaven, the Father’s house, is our permanent place of living. Everything else is temporary. It’s related to how Jesus asks us to store treasures in heaven – in a permanent place, not a temporary place where things fade. We’re not to be of this world but are citizens of heaven. A place with plenty of room, which Jesus is getting ready for us.