---
title: John 14:11
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-14-11/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-14-11.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 14:11
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 14:11

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Believe me that I am in union with the Father and the Father is in union with me; otherwise, believe because of the works themselves."

## JW Usage

Continues the agency reading: Jesus's request that Philip believe him on the strength of his works is read as proof that the works of God flow through Jesus the agent — not that Jesus and the Father share one nature. The Watchtower's NWT inserts "in union with" once more, consistent with v.10.

## Protestant Usage

The fallback evidence Jesus offers — "believe because of the works themselves" — is the same evidence pattern John highlighted in 12:37 ("although he had performed so many signs before them"). Jesus is asking Philip to trust the mutual-indwelling claim of v.10 on the strength of the works that have already declared it. Pair John 14:11 with the works lists across John's gospel (raising Lazarus, sight to the man born blind, multiplying loaves, walking on water, calming the sea) and the cumulative testimony is to a person whose works do what only the God of Israel does.

## NWT Issue

Same "in union with" expansion as v.10 — the simple Greek "in" is paraphrased as "in union with," softening the mutual-indwelling language that grounds Trinitarian Christology.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Seeing the Father in Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john14-9-seen-the-father.md) — John 14:9 / Hebrews 1:3 / Colossians 2:9 [Deity of Christ]
- [Perichoresis — Three Persons Sharing One Will, Not Three](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-perichoresis-one-will.md) — Mutual indwelling, not a committee of gods [Deity of Christ]