As the disciples of Jesus expect some measure of hatred and rejection from the world, they should live in such a way that it is also without a cause. Peter communicated some of this heart in his letter: If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. He does not require us to wrench out love from Him. i. i. c. I have called you friends: Jesus descried the measure and quality of His love for them as a love that treats servants as friends. Christ's love is a divine love that emanates from the womb of God to His children. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. My joy: Not joy concerning Me, nor joy derived from Me, nor My joy over you, but My joy, properly speakingHis own holy exultation, the joy of the Son in the consciousness of the love of God. (Alford), ii. A failure to see prayer answered means something is not right in the disciples relationship. This should cause sympathy in the persecuted for their persecutors. We cannot separate one from the other. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. Help me toremain in Your love and to rest in Your love, moment by moment. i. Perhaps they expected minute, detailed instructions such as they had received when first sent out (Matthew 10). Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. At the same time it is their witness. Friendship with Jesus cant be disconnected from obedience to His commands. That you should go and bear fruit: The word go probably merely expresses the activity of living and developing principle; not the missionary journeys of the Apostles, as some have explained it. (Alford). i. When Jesus spoke to Saul of Tarsus on the Road to Damascus, He asked Saul: Why do you persecute Me? We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. We should not overlook the importance of the reference to my words. Jesus showed love for the Father by appropriating His plan and following His protocols in the incarnation. even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Some think it is quite sufficient if they avoid what he forbids. But did He then give us a long list of commandments to keep? Of these two He puts His words foremost, as being a deeper and more precious and brilliant revelation of what God is than are His miracles. (Maclaren). . Although the coming of the Advocate is clearly stated to be dependent upon the initiative of the Son, He is only said to proceed from the Father. i. It is an obedience of love, a joyful response to who and what He is. Jesus did among them the works which no one else did, and they still hated and rejected Him. The earliest Christians would know the hatred of the world. | Powered by WordPress. a. The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them: You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page. Jesus kept His Fathers commandments out of an abiding motivation of love for Him. e. I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you: They were friends because Jesus didnt keep secrets from them, but openly revealed what He had received from God the Father. d. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit: The purpose of fruit bearing is to bring glory to God, not to the disciple. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also: The force of the last clause in this verse is well brought out by Knox they will pay the same attention to your words as to mine; that is, none. (Tasker), But all these things they will do to you for My names sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. Our Lord does not try to bribe love from us. The very suggestion fills the soul with the sense of profound depths which cannot be fathomed. (Morgan), iii. This proof of my love for you I shall give in a few hours; and the doctrine which I recommend to you I am just going to exemplify myself. (Clarke). b. Note that this passage does not assert that our obedience to Jesus earns His love. We can only love others as Christ loved us, when He loves them through us. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. i. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. Abiding in Jesus means abiding in His words, and having His words live in the disciple. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. c. And you also will bear witness: The disciples were not left in the world merely to endure the worlds hatred. It hated Me: The perfect tense of the verb hate (memiseken) implies that the worlds hatred is a fixed attitude toward him an attitude that carries over to his disciples as well. (Tenney), iii. The disciples Jesus spoke to that night would know the hatred of the world. i. i. It was not they who chose Him, as was normally the case when disciples attached themselves to a particular Rabbi. Required fields are marked *, Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. His disciples, wearied at last with the constant repetition of the same words, asked him, Why he constantly said the same thing? b. How did Christ love the Church? To remain in Christ and to allow his words to remain in oneself means a conscious acceptance of the authority of his word and a constant contact with him by prayer. (Tenney). He will testify of Me: Jesus had told them that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, would continue the teaching work of Jesus (John 14:26). Amazing explanation. Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. The teaching of Christ is important and is not lightly to be passed over in the interests of promoting religious feeling. (Morris), ii. This verse alludes to the historical witness which the Holy Ghost in the ministers and eye-witnesses of the word, Luke 1:2, should enable them to give, which forms the human side of this great testimony of the Spirit of truth, and OF WHICH OUR INSPIRED GOSPELS ARE THE SUMMARY: the Divine side being, His own indwelling testimony in the life and heart of every believer in all time. (Alford). We know that Jesus loved His disciples by teaching them, protecting them, guiding them, sacrificially serving them, and using His power and authority to do these things. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. We measure the extent of His love toward us by His giving His life for His friends.

Your email address will not be published. It is simple obedience. This is not some mystical experience. A branch that bears much fruit brings honor to one who cares for the vine, and a disciple who bears much fruit in a spiritual sense brings honor to God. We see the implications of this more in 1 John. (1 Peter 4:14-16), But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. The love of Jesus for His people is so remarkable, that this is the analogy or illustration that He must make. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. As noted previously (John 14:15) what Jesus did and taught that evening in the upper room emphasized the commandments of Jesus mainly in love for fellow disciples, sacrificial service for fellow disciples, and trusting love for God the Father and Jesus the Son. Because the Son loved the Father, therefore He kept His commandments, and in this love He abode in the Fathers love. His love is always first, prior, and unconditional (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:10). We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You will ask what you desire: Jesus connected abiding to the idea of answered prayer, as previously mentioned in John 14:13-14. Prayer comes spontaneously from those who abide in Jesus Prayer is the natural outgushing of a soul in communion with Jesus. (Spurgeon), i. Click on the different category headings to find out more. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. Hence the long controversy between East and West over the filoque clause in the Nicene Creed. (Tasker), iii. But Jesus disciples did not hold the initiative. Their unreasonable hatred both of Himself and His Father is inexplicable except as a corroboration of the truth of the Psalmists words They hated me without a cause (Psalm 35:19; 69:4). (Tasker), ii. Their witness is linked with that of the Holy Spirit. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. We can have that joy we can have Hisjoy and have it as an abiding presence. It shall be done for you: It becomes safe for God to say to the sanctified soul, Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be done unto thee. The heavenly instincts of that man lead him right; the grace that is within his soul thrusts down all covetous lustings and foul desires, and his will is the actual shadow of Gods will. a. In the previous verse Jesus challenged His followers to abide in His love. We cannot measure that love, but our enjoyment of His love toward us depends on abiding in His love. i. The only true idea of Him is to be got from The Son. (Trench). It is the same Christ to whom they bear witness, and it is the same salvation of which they bear witness. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. As I have loved you: His love was at once the source and the measure of theirs. (Dods), iv. In the relationship between a disciple and his rabbi of that time, it wasnt expected to be a friendship. The connection is maintained by obedience and prayer. Both sequences are interchangeable. Christ's command to us is to love one another in the same way that Christ loves us, His Body, the Church. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. e. That My joy may remain in you: The joy of Jesus isnt the same as what is commonly understood as happiness or excitement. He perceives that his rebellion is iniquitous, but obedience seems distasteful. i. When He departed from them their experience of asking and receiving would not end but would change, and Jesus prepared His disciples for this. The western expansion of the clause, who proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque), could be justified by the fact that the Son as well as the Father is said to send the Spirit; the basic objection to it was that it was unwarranted for one part of the church to make such an alteration in the wording of the ecumenical creed without reference to the rest of the church. (Bruce). If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. You can also change some of your preferences. Previously Jesus said that loving Him would result in appropriating His word to experience. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. d. Because you have been with Me: The disciples were qualified to bear witnessof Jesus because they trusted Him, had the Holy Spirit, and had simply been with Jesus they were part of His life and He was part of their life. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. Love for Him shows itself by our taking His teaching seriously, by appropriating His percepts to our experience. And HOW did Christ love us? By this My Father is glorified: Or, honoured. c. Because you are not of the world: Jesus said this both as a fact and an explanation.

i. That your joy may be full: Or, complete-plhrwyh, filled up: a metaphor taken from a vessel, into which water or any other thing is poured, till it is full to the brim. God made human beings, as he made his other creatures, to be happy. The religion of Christ expels all misery from the hearts of those who receive it in its fulness. c. That whatever you ask: Again, Jesus connected fruit bearing with answered prayer. The Lord Jesus told us that if we keep His commandments, we would abide in His love we would remain in His love we would rest in His love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Fathers commandments and abide in His love. It is the honour of the husbandman to have good, strong, vigorous vines, plentifully laden with fruit: so it is the honour of God to have strong, vigorous, holy children, entirely freed from sin, and perfectly filled with his love. (Clarke). Jesus does not change His love toward us. b. That you love one another as I have loved you: As Jesus spoke these words to the disciples as they stood in the upper room, having risen from the table, we sense the emphasis created by repetition. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN. Jesus attracted attention from great multitudes and devotion from individuals of all kinds; yet as a whole, the world hated Jesus. b. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. d. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full: When the disciple fails to abide in the love of Jesus and thereby fails to keep His commandments, that disciple will not experience the fullness of joy Jesus promised to those who do abide in His love and obedience.