Origen, one of the early Church Fathers, taught that when a person died he or she first lived in a place called "Paradise" to be instructed properly before entering heaven. Then the saint, once instructed, ascended through a series of mansions or stations ("halting places") on his or her way to God. The mansions were stages that saints passed through on their way to glory according to Origen (Bernard, St. John, II:532). Death was the beginning of a journey to heaven that passed through many tarrying places.
Origen's interpretation flies in the face of what we know about the meaning of this word and other Scripture that promises us immediate entry into heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8). The Greek word is μοναι which means abiding places, abodes, rooms or a dwelling places not stages of life (BAGD, p. 527). The Latin word "mansio" and the old English word "mansion" meant a dwelling place not a palatial residence as we use the word today. The Jews believed that heaven had many compartments where people lived (Brown, New International Dictionary of NT Theology, 3:229). These compartments corresponded to the degrees of reward earned through life on earth. The early Church Father, Ireneaeus, citing the "Elders," used John 14:2 to suggest that the dwelling places in heaven corresponded to the thirty, sixty and hundredfold harvests in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:23). Clement of Alexandria taught that the dwelling places in heaven were given to saints according to their service on earth (Bernard, St. John, II:532).
The best way to understand the word is to see heaven as a condominium complex with many rooms, suites or apartments. These are permanent residences not temporary motels we pass through on our journey. Jesus is telling us that heaven is one house (οικια) with many apartments (μοναι). The only other place in the New Testament where this word is used is a few verses later in John 14:23. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode (μομην) with him." This is clearly a permanent residence - a home - not a temporary tarrying place nor a stage in a journey.
Heaven is one giant condominium complex with many suites or apartments where we shall rest after our long journey on earth. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in the Grand Condominiums of Heaven! These heavenly "condos" are not open wards but individual suites designed for each of us as our permanent abiding places in heaven. God loves us individually not just collectively!
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