Will Kynes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
A Life of Love
John 15:9–14
On the border of the Promised Land, Moses speaks his final words to the ragtag assemblage of formerly enslaved people he led out of Egypt and through the wilderness. The theme of the message is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (see Deut. 6, 7, 10, 11, 30).
What should that love look like? Moses doesn’t describe it as fuzzy or mystical but as keeping and teaching God’s commandments. He repeatedly associates loving God with keeping His commandments.
In these verses, Jesus is speaking His final words to His ragtag assemblage of disciples, formerly enslaved to sin, who have followed Him throughout the challenges of His ministry. His message is the same: remain in the love He shares with the Father and do so by obeying His commandments.
However, Jesus emphasizes an aspect of that love and obedience not explicit in Deuteronomy: they will be expressed and result in love for others.
Remain in Jesus’ love and experience His joy. (9–11)
The love between the Father and the Son in the Trinity is perfect and complete. Jesus has expressed that same love to the disciples and now invites them to “remain” (CSB, NIV) or “continue” (KJV). He associates this love with complete “joy,” but the two are linked by a surprising concept: obedience to divine commands. We tend to think of commands as an obstacle to both love and joy — they enter a relationship when the natural incentives of love and joy are missing. However, Jesus claims, as Moses had, that obedience fosters love and leads to joy.
Love calls for personal sacrifice. (12–14)
The command Jesus asks His disciples to obey is both simple and radical: “Love each other as I have loved you.” When Jesus is asked to choose the greatest commandment in the law, thereby summarizing its purpose (Matt. 22:36–40; Mark 12:28–31), He chooses two: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Deut. 6:5) and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18).
Similarly, Jesus pairs vertical love between humans and God and horizontal love among humans, though He emphasizes His love for the disciples and not their love for God. The love to which Jesus calls us is the self-sacrificing, life-giving love He has demonstrated for us. Though this love will require great sacrifice, it also will lead to greater joy — “complete” joy (v. 11).
Produce spiritual fruit by loving others. (15–17).
Though He had called them “servants” earlier that night (John 13:16) and Moses also referred to God’s people as His servants (Deut. 32:36), Jesus now calls them “friends” because He has revealed His Father’s will to them. He has chosen these friends to bear lasting fruit through loving each other. Jesus’ promise that the Father will give them whatever they ask in His name comes in this context, suggesting that prayers to this purpose are assured of positive responses.
In Deuteronomy, Moses envisions future generations asking about the meaning of God’s law (6:20–25). When they do, he instructs parents to answer that the Lord delivered former slaves from Egypt by His might to give them the land He had promised and then commanded them to obey His instructions so they might prosper, find life and be righteous.
Here Jesus tells how through His death He has delivered the disciples from slavery to sin (John 8:34–35), and gives His command to love each other so they might prosper, find life and be righteous. Does the Lord’s deliverance motivate you to obedience expressed in love? Is that connection clear to your children and others who see your life?
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