John 15:9 - Meaning and Application

Christ, who is love itself, is speaking here about love, and he mentions four kinds of love. First, he speaks about the Father’s love for him. He says that the Father loved him, as in John 15:9: “As the Father has loved me.” The Father loved him as Mediator, that is, as the One who stands between God and man. He said of him, “This is my beloved Son.” He was the Son of the Father’s special love. The Father loved him and gave all things into his hand. Yet the Father also loved the world enough to give him up for us all.

When Christ was about to suffer, he comforted himself with the thought that his Father loved him. Those whom God loves as a Father can look down on the hatred of the whole world. Christ also remained in his Father’s love, as John 15:10 says. He always loved his Father and was loved by him. Even when he was made sin and a curse for us, and it pleased the Lord to crush him, he still stayed in his Father’s love. See Psalm 89:33. Because he kept loving his Father, he went through his sufferings willingly. For that reason, his Father continued to love him.

Christ stayed in his Father’s love because he kept his Father’s commands. “I have kept my Father’s commandments,” he says, as Mediator, and so he remains in that love. This showed that he still loved his Father, because he went on with the work he had taken up and finished it. Therefore the Father kept loving him. His soul delighted in him, because he did not fail or lose heart, as in Isaiah 42:1-4. We broke God’s law when we were created and threw ourselves out of his favor. Christ made satisfaction for us, that is, he paid for our guilt by obeying the law that brings redemption. In that way he remained in the Father’s love and brought us back into it.

Second, Christ speaks about his own love for his disciples. Even though he is leaving them, he still loves them. The pattern of this love is striking: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” What a lowering of himself in Christ’s grace! As the Father loved him, who was most worthy, so he loved them, who were most unworthy. The Father loved him as his Son, and he loves them as his children. The Father gave all things into his hand, and in the same way, together with himself, he freely gives us all things. The Father loved him as Mediator, as the head of the church and the great trustee of God’s grace and favor, not for himself alone but for the good of those he represented. Christ is saying, in effect, “I have been a faithful trustee. As the Father gave his love to me, I pass it on to you.” So the Father was pleased with him, so that he could be pleased with us in him. He loved him, so that in him, as the Beloved, he might make us accepted, as in Ephesians 1:6.

The proofs and results of this love are four. First, Christ loved his disciples because he laid down his life for them, as John 15:13 says: “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down his life for his friends.” This is the love with which Christ has loved us. He is our substitute, giving body for body and life for life, even though he knew our inability to repay and saw how costly it would be for him. Here we see how far human love can go. The highest display of it is to lay down one’s life for a friend, to save that friend’s life. There have even been some heroic examples like that, greater than plucking out one’s own eyes, as in Galatians 4:15. If a man will give all he has for his life, then the one who gives his life for a friend has given everything. He can give no more. This may sometimes be our duty, as in 1 John 3:16. Paul was eager for that honor, as in Philippians 2:17. “For a good man someone would even dare to die,” as Romans 5:7 says. This is love in its highest form, strong as death.

But Christ’s love is better than every other love. He did more than equal the most famous acts of love, he surpassed them. Others have laid down their lives, willing for them to be taken from them. Christ gave up his life himself. He was not just passive, he chose it and made it his own act. The life that others have laid down has only been equal in worth to the life for which it was given, and maybe less valuable. But Christ is worth infinitely more than ten thousand of us. Others have died for their friends, but Christ laid down his life for us while we were still enemies, as Romans 5:8 and Romans 5:10 say. Hearts must be harder than iron or stone if they are not softened by the unmatched sweetness of such divine love, as Calvin says.

Second, Christ loved his disciples by bringing them into a covenant of friendship with himself, in John 15:14-15. “If you show by your obedience that you are my disciples indeed, you are my friends, and you will be treated as friends.” The followers of Christ are the friends of Christ, and he gladly calls them that. Those who do the work of his servants are raised to the honor of being his friends. David had one servant in his court, and Solomon had one in his court, who was in a special way the king’s friend, as in 2 Samuel 15:37 and 1 Kings 4:5. But all Christ’s servants have this honor. We may help a stranger in one case, but a friend receives our full care and support. In the same way, Christ takes believers as his friends. He visits them and speaks with them as friends, bears with them, and sees the best in them. He feels their afflictions and rejoices in their success. He pleads for them in heaven and looks after everything that concerns them there. Do friends have only one soul? The one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, as 1 Corinthians 6:17 says. Though believers often act like unfriends, he remains a friend who loves at all times.

Notice how warmly this is said. Christ will not call them servants, though they call him Master and Lord. Those who want to be like Christ in humility should not keep pressing their authority and rank at every chance, but remember that their servants are also fellow servants. Yet Christ will call them friends. He will not only love them, but make sure they know it, for kindness is on his tongue. After his resurrection, he seems to speak with even more tender affection to his disciples than before. “Go to my brothers,” he says in John 20:17. “Children, have you any fish?” he says in John 21:5. But although Christ called them his friends, they still called themselves his servants. Peter calls himself a servant of Christ, as in 1 Peter 1:1, and so does James in James 1:1. The more honor Christ gives us, the more honor we should seek to give him. The higher we are in his eyes, the lower we should think of ourselves.

Third, Christ loved his disciples because he was very open in making his mind known to them, as John 15:15 says. “From now on you will not be kept so much in the dark as you have been, like servants who are told only the work for the moment. When the Spirit is poured out, you will know your Master’s plans as friends. All things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” As for God’s secret will, there are many things we must be content not to know. But as for God’s revealed will, Jesus Christ has faithfully passed on to us what he received from the Father, as in John 1:18 and Matthew 11:27.

Christ told his disciples the great truths about human redemption so they could tell them to others. They were the men who had been given his secrets (Matthew 13:11). Christ loved his disciples because he chose them and appointed them to be the main means of his glory and honor in the world (John 15:16): “I have chosen you and appointed you.”

His love to them first appeared in their election, their being chosen to be apostles (John 6:70): “I chose you twelve.” This did not start on their side. “You did not choose me, but I chose you first.” Why were they brought into such closeness with him, sent out on such a mission for him, and given such power from heaven? It was not because they were wise or good enough to choose him as their Master, but because of his favor and grace in choosing them as his disciples. It is right that Christ should choose his own ministers, and he still does that through his providence and Spirit. Even if ministers choose that holy calling for themselves, Christ’s choice comes first and guides and settles theirs. Of all who are chosen for grace and glory, it can be said, They did not choose Christ, but he chose them first (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8).

His love also appeared in their ordination: “I have appointed you.” The meaning is, “I have put you into the ministry” (1 Timothy 1:12), and given you a commission. This showed that he counted them his friends when he gave them such honor and placed such trust in their hands. It was a great confidence to make them his ambassadors in this world, handling the affairs of his kingdom and serving as its chief officers. The treasure of the gospel was given to them, first, so it could spread. “That you should go” means they were to go as men under a burden, because ministry is real work, and those who take it on must expect much labor. They were to go from place to place throughout the world and bear fruit. They were appointed not to sit still, but to keep moving, to work hard, and to do good without tiring. They were not to waste their effort, but to be tools in God’s hand for bringing nations into obedience to Christ (Romans 1:13). Those Christ appoints should be fruitful, and they will be fruitful. They should labor, and they will not labor in vain.

Second, the gospel was to be passed on, so “the fruit may remain.” The good effect of their work was to continue in the world from one generation to the next, until the end of time. The church of Christ was not meant to be short-lived, like many schools of philosophy that were only brief fashions. It did not appear suddenly, and it would not disappear suddenly, but would last as long as heaven’s days. The sermons and writings of the apostles have been handed down to us, and we are still built on that foundation. Since the church was first founded through the ministry of the apostles and the seventy disciples, one generation of ministers and Christians has passed, and another has come after it. By that great commission (Matthew 28:19), Christ has a church in the world that, like a lawful body, does not die but continues through many members. So their fruit remains to this day, and it will remain while the earth lasts.

His love to them also appeared in the welcome they had at the throne of grace: “Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” This likely points first to the apostles’ power to do miracles, which would be received through prayer. Whatever gifts they needed for their work, whatever help from heaven they needed at any time, they only had to ask. Three things here encourage us to pray, and they are strong comforts. First, we have a Father to go to. Christ calls him the Father, mine and yours, and the Spirit teaches us to cry, “Abba, Father.” Second, we come in a good name. If we come according to God’s will, we may humbly and boldly use Christ’s name, claiming our connection to him and his care for us. Third, a peaceful answer is promised. What you ask for will be given. This great promise attached to this great duty keeps up a loving exchange between heaven and earth.

Now Christ turns to the disciples’ love for him, and he gives these commands because of the great love he has already shown them. He urges them, first, to remain in his love (John 15:9). This can mean, “Keep loving me, and keep receiving my love.” Both ideas fit. We must make our happiness depend on Christ’s continuing love toward us, and we must keep showing our love to Christ, so nothing draws us away from him or causes him to withdraw from us. All who love Christ should keep loving him, always looking for ways to show it, and love him to the end. The disciples were about to go out into Christ’s service, where they would face many troubles. But Christ says, “Remain in my love.” Keep your love for me alive, and then the troubles you meet for my sake will be easier to bear. Love made seven years of hard service easy for Jacob. Do not let suffering for Christ weaken your love to Christ, but let it stir up that love even more.

Second, he tells them to let his joy remain in them and fill them up (John 15:11). He said these commands and promises so that this would happen. The wording in the original can be read two ways. It can mean that his joy in them may remain. If they bear much fruit and keep in his love, he will keep rejoicing in them, as he already has. Fruitful and faithful disciples are a joy to the Lord Jesus; he delights in them (Zephaniah 3:17). Just as heaven rejoices when sinners are converted, so there is lasting joy in the perseverance of believers. Or it can mean that his joy, that is, their joy in him, may remain. It is Christ’s will that his disciples keep rejoicing in him (Philippians 4:4). The joy of a hypocrite lasts only a moment, but the joy of those who remain in Christ’s love is a lasting feast. Since the word of the Lord lasts forever, the joys that come from it and are built on it last too. He wants their joy to be full, not only that they may have much joy, but that their joy in him and in his love may rise higher and higher until it reaches perfection when they enter their Lord’s joy.

Only those who have Christ’s joy remaining in them have joy made complete. Worldly joys are empty, they spoil quickly, and they never truly satisfy. Only the joy that comes from wisdom fills the soul (Psalm 36:8). Christ’s purpose in this world is to fill his people with joy (John 1:4). He has said these things so that our joy may grow fuller and fuller, and be made perfect at last.

To show their love for him, they must keep his commandments. “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10). Their obedience would prove that their love was real and steady, and then they could be sure of his continuing love for them.

“Remain in my love” means to stay in it as in a home, a resting place, and a safe stronghold. They would keep enjoying his love, and they would also receive grace and strength to keep loving him. If the same hand that first poured Christ’s love into our hearts did not keep us there, we would soon drift away. The love of the world would pull us from loving Christ.

The condition of this promise is clear: “If you keep my commandments.” The disciples were to keep Christ’s commandments, not only by obeying them themselves, but also by faithfully passing them on to others. They were trustees of a great trust, since they were to teach all that Christ had commanded (Matthew 28:20). They were to keep this command without stain or loss of purity (1 Timothy 6:14), and in this way show that they truly remained in his love.

Christ urges them to obey by pointing to his own example: “As I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” Christ submitted to the law of mediation, that is, the law of acting as the go-between for God and people, and so he preserved both the honor and the comfort of that work. In the same way, we preserve the honor and comfort of our relation to him when we submit to his commands.

He also shows them that obedience is necessary if they want to have a place among his friends (John 15:14): “You are my friends if you do what I command you, and not otherwise.” Only those who prove themselves obedient servants will be counted as Christ’s faithful friends. Those who will not let him rule over them will be treated as his enemies. True friendship means sharing the same loves and the same dislikes. Universal obedience is the only obedience Christ accepts, obeying him in everything he commands, without leaving anything out and without arguing against any command.

He then turns to their love for one another, which is both an evidence of their love for Christ and a thankful return for his love to them. We must keep his commandments, and this is his commandment, that we love one another (John 15:12), and again (John 15:17). No duty is urged more often or more warmly by our Lord Jesus than mutual love, and for good reason.

Christ first recommends it by his own example: “As I have loved you” (John 15:12). His love for us should guide our love for one another, and his love should also move us to love that way. He gave them clear signs of that love, he called them friends, told them his mind, and was ready to give them what they asked. We should go and do likewise.

He also requires it by his command. He speaks with his authority and makes it one of the settled laws of his kingdom. Notice how strongly he says it in these verses, in both cases with great force. “This is my commandment” (John 15:12), as if this were the most needed of all the commands. Under the law, the ban on idolatry was stressed more than others because the people were so prone to that sin. In the same way, Christ knew the Christian church would be prone to lack of love, so he pressed this command especially hard. “These things I command you” (John 15:17). He speaks as though he were giving many commands, yet he names only this one, that you love one another. It includes many duties, and it has a good influence on all the rest.