The Word
Vol. 9 No.
22
Upper Room Discourse
John 15:9
This week we continue chapter 15
of John’s Gospel in verse 9 with, “Just
as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”
“Just as” is KATHOS as a Subordinating Conjunction that means, “According as, or just as.”
Subordinating is a type of conjunction that introduces a dependent clause. A
dependent clause depends or relies upon a main clause. So KATHOS means an exact
analogy, therefore it should be translated “even as” or “according as.” This sets up an analogy to the family of God and the Plan of God.
“Has loved” is EGAPESEN from the Verb
AGAPAO which means “love”. It is in the Aorist, Active, Indicative, Third
Person, Singular. It is speaking of a mental attitude love that the Father has for
His Son which we call, “impersonal and unconditional love.” Here however the
impersonal and unconditional is not emphasized because of the perfect
relationship Christ has with the Father. Remember Christ was without sin and
continually resided in the Sphere of the Father and His love, and vice versa.
So this is a mental attitude love based on harmonious relationship.
The Constative Aorist
views the action as a whole and does not focus on the beginning or end of the
action. It stresses the fact of occurrence. So this is that timeless aorist
that goes into eternity past, focuses on the present and speaks of the future
too. There never was a time when Jesus Christ was not loved by the Father, or
the Father by Jesus Christ. The Active
Voice indicates that God the Father produces love from His own essence. The
Indicative Mood is the reality of
this love.
To gain the full realm of this love that the Father
has for his Son we will say, “has,
does and will forever love.” So far we have, “Even as the Father has, does
and will forever love Me,” which speaks of God the Father as the one
who expresses His love towards Jesus Christ. Once again Jesus Christ calls the first person of the Trinity
“the Father” because He (the Father) is the author of the Divine Plan,
(Authority Orientation).
The next
phrase is, “I have also loved you,”
which needs just a little correction. Jesus now turns from discussing the
Father’s love for Him to His love for those who are His disciples, see verse 8. Remember a disciple here means
more than just “all believers”, it means only those believers who are
consistently abiding in Christ.
“I have loved” is EGAPESA, again from AGAPAO but this time it is in the Aorist, Active, Indicative, First Person, Singular. Here we have the disciples brought in. The Constative Aorist refers to all the disciples who
abide in Christ and stresses the fact of occurrence not its nature. The Active Voice First Person Singular,
Jesus Christ is the one loving His disciples. The Indicative Mood states the reality of the fact that Jesus
absolutely loves those believers who are abiding in Him. So we say, “Love
(past, present and future)”. We
will not translate this as the
Principle: How is it possible
for Jesus Christ, who is just as much God as the Father, to love any member of
the human race, including the disciples? The answer is found in the principle
of propitiation. God the Father loves all believers on the basis of
propitiation; God the Son loves all believers on the basis of positional
truth/sanctification. So both God the Father and God the Son can love
impersonally and unconditionally any member of the human race who is a believer
without compromise of character. This is not amplified here but this is the
basis whereby Jesus Christ makes this statement.
This passage takes it a step
further, where the emphasis of Christ’s love is on the “disciple” not just all
believers. The basis for His love is impersonal and unconditional but the
context here brings out relational mental attitude love. It is emphasizing the
love of Christ for those who are abiding in Him, those who are occupied with
the person and Word of Jesus Christ. So we translate this portion as, “I also love you all (disciples).”
Our final phrase is “abide
in My love”. MEINATE is our word “abide” from MENO
in the Aorist, Active, Imperative, Second Person, Plural.
MENO means to, “abide or remain”. It is
also a Constative Aorist. The Active Voice Second Person Plural says “you all abide”, summing
up the whole. That means any believer can do it. The Imperative Mood is an order directly
from our Lord to remain in His love. So “abide” means to maintain the supergrace
status right then and there. Whether you continue
in supergrace depends on whether you abide every day
in Bible doctrine or not.
EN
is a Preposition in the Dative Case that introduces the following Dative
Clause. It’s a Dative of Sphere. So we say, “In the sphere of.” TE AGAPE is the article for “the” plus the noun for “love” which is AGAPE in the Dative of
Sphere, Feminine, Singular. This too is a mental
attitude love, which is free from all sinfulness; minus mental attitude sins. It is not stressing the action of love but the
category of love that Jesus has which we too must possess. TE EME is the
article for “the” plus the
Possessive Adjective EMOS that means “My
or Mine”, in the Dative, Feminine, First Person, Singular. So we have, “You
all abide in the sphere of My love.”
Our
complete translation is, “Even as the
Father has,
does and will forever love Me, I also
love you all; You all abide in the sphere of My love.”
Here we have
part three of the evidence of an “abiding life.” As we
previously noted, part one of the evidence for an “abiding life” was answered
prayer, vs. 7. Part two was
glorification of God the Father, vs. 8.
Part three then is residing in the sphere of the Savior’s love, vs. 9. Parts four and five come next
with obedience to His Word, vs. 10,
and +H, joy, Sharing the Happiness of God, vs.
11.
In
verse 9 we are brought back to the theme of love. How did all of this get
started? Jesus gives a new commandment in
In
this verse the love is relational, not positional. It is the experience of
love. Impersonal love is that which we exercise toward someone who may be, at
the time, offensive to us, obnoxious to us, not doing what we want, but we are
still going to do what is best for them. It is unconditional love. The Father
does not need to have that kind of love for the Son because they are in perfect
harmony, perfect fellowship, and perfect intimacy. Here Christ is viewing the
disciples as abiding disciples, at that point.
So
the pattern is the Son’s relationship to the Father. Jesus Christ has set the
precedent for the spiritual life, so “abiding in My
love,” therefore, indicates relationship. It indicates the relationship of the
“disciple believer” to the Savior. Finally, the standard for this love is given
in verse 10. “If (3rd class
condition: maybe yes, maybe no) you keep my commandments.” “My commandments” are all the mandates
and prohibitions given in the Scriptures for the spiritual life of the
believer. How do we know if we love the Lord? It is measured by obedience
God’s
Personal Love:
1. God's personal love emphasizes the object of
divine love. Remember that the three members of the Trinity each have identical
essence, including the same virtue (i.e., divine righteousness and justice), and
the same love. God is perfect, and therefore, His personal love can only be
directed toward perfect righteousness. The object of God's infinite, eternal,
unchangeable personal love must always be absolute perfection, (i.e., Divine
Righteousness). God's personal love cannot be directed toward anything less
than perfect eternal righteousness. Personal love demands integrity on the part
of the subject.
a.
Therefore, God the Father loves the divine righteousness of God the Son and the
divine righteousness of God the Holy Spirit. Personal love from a member of the
Trinity demands that the object of that love be perfect.
b.
When we believe in Christ, one of the forty things He gives to us is His
righteousness. This means that all three members of the Trinity can personally
love all who believe in Christ because they receive the imputation of Divine
righteousness. This eliminates all our arrogance, which assumes God loves us because of something we are or are doing. God
found a way in grace to love us personally by giving us His own divine
righteousness.
1)
a)
Verse 4, “But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us.”
b)
Verse 7, “That He might show in coming
ages (Millennium and Eternal state) the
surpassing riches of His grace in generosity toward us in Christ Jesus.”
c)
Verse 10, “For we are His creation
(new spiritual species), having been
created in Christ Jesus for good of intrinsic value achievements, which God has
prepared in advance that we might walk by means of them.”
2) God cannot personally love the unbeliever who
is in a state of real spiritual death.
2. There are three categories of Divine Love:
Divine personal love that emphasizes the object of love; Divine impersonal love
which emphasizes the subject who is loving; and Divine
self-esteem which is Love for yourself.
a. Love in the spiritual
life is patterned after Divine Love, not after human love, and therefore the
believer who abides in Christ’s love must:
1) Love himself first, (because of and based on God’s Word
resident within his soul), before being capable of loving others.
2) Always start with Impersonal love as the basis for any
relationship, which comes from the application of God’s Word within his soul.
3)
Have Personal love for God and others based on Divine Integrity resident within
his soul.
3. God’s love always depends on who and what God is never on who and what mankind is.
a. God’s love exists
with or without an object, since God’s love eternally exists and is
unchangeable with optimum capacity.
b.
God’s love is never sustained by attractiveness or worthiness of an object, nor
does it depend on the merit, works, sacrifices, flattery, or legalistic
modus operandi of human
beings.
c.
Divine holiness is the integrity envelope for man’s impersonal love for all
mankind.
d.
Divine personal love always functions in compatibility with divine integrity,
which means that God’s personal love never contradicts the justice and
righteousness of God.
e.
Divine love is always a source of God’s grace policy. This means that neither human works, worthiness, merit, nor good is the
basis of God’s love for us.
4. God’s love is based on His Integrity. To understand
His Love we must understand His Integrity. Therefore we note that,
a.
Righteousness is the principle
of Divine Integrity;
b.
Justice is the function of
Divine Integrity;
c. Love
is the motivation of Divine
Integrity,
d. All of which is expressed through the grace of God.
5. Integrity is
adherence to spiritual, moral, and ethical principles related to truth and
honesty (i.e., Bible Doctrine).
6. The believer who functions in
the Integrity of God, as also noted below, will truly be able to abide in the
love of Christ, which results in further personal application of Divine
Integrity in their lives.
a. Occupied with Christ,
b.
In fellowship with the Holy Spirit,
c.
Consistent in the perception, metabolization and
application of Bible doctrine,
d.
Applies the Royal Family Honor Code,
e.
Executes God’s Plan for their lives.
If you would
like more information on this subject,
you may order
lesson: # 10-058 and 10-059
A PERSONAL NOTE FOR YOU
If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell
you that Jesus loves you. He loves you
so much that He gave His life for you. God the Father also loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only
Son for you by sending Him to the cross.
At the Cross Jesus died in your place.
Taking upon Himself all of your sins and all of
my sins. He was judged for our sins and
paid the price for our sins. Therefore
our sins will never be held against us.
Right where you are, you now have the opportunity to make the greatest
decision in your life. To accept the free gift of eternal life by truly
believing that Jesus Christ died for
you. So wherever you are, pause to reflect on what Christ has done for you
and say to the Father:
"Father, I believe that Your Son,
Jesus Christ, died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins."
If you have done that, I welcome you to the Eternal
Family of God!
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