Sermon Tone Analysis

*JOHN 15:12-17  *

The previous question: ‘How shall we know your joy when you are gone?’

§         The disciples will know the “/joy/” [15:11] of the Lord by “/abiding in me/” [15:4].

§         The disciples will “abide” on Christ by “/abiding in his love/” [15:10] and by “/my words abiding in you/” [15:7].

§         This results in a holy life: “/you keep my commandments/” [15:10], and in a life transformed into the likeness of Christ: “/my words abide in you/” [15:7].

In this way, the disciples’ “/joy will be full/” [15:11].

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*THE PRESENT DUTY *

Jesus goes on to give an explanation of the commandment.

*1.        **The Commandment  *

*a.        **The Commandment *

The “/commandments/” [15:10] of Jesus in order to “abide in his love” [15:10] are now encapsulated in one command: “/This is my commandment/…” [15:12].

§         Αὕτη - “/this/” [15:12], demonstrative pronoun,

§         ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμή - “/my/ /commandment/” [15:12], a derivative of ἐντέλλω, ‘to give instruction to’; ‘order, commission, command’, usually of a king or official.

*i.        **Covenant & Commandment *

The concept of “commandment” is found within the context of covenant relations:

§         The relationship: “/if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love/” [15:10].

§         The covenant of Sinai: “/Behold the blood of the covenant/…” [Exo.24:8].

§         The commandments of the covenant: “/And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them/” [Exo.24:12].

§         The covenant reminder: “/For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off/” [Deu.30:11].

*b.        **The Duty of Love *

The content of Jesus’ commandment is described for the first time in this passage:  “/that you love one another/…” [15:12].

§         ἀγαπᾶτε - “/love/” [15:12], present active subjunctive, ‘an attitude of appreciation resulting fr. a conscious  evaluation and choice’;

§         The /present/ tense points to what the disciples are habitually to do: ‘keep on loving one another’.

§         Love in the Old Testament, אַהֲבָה, is basically a spontaneous feeling which impels to self-giving or, in relation to things, to the seizure of the object which awakens the feeling, or to the performance of the action in which pleasure is taken’.

§         Love is an inexplicable power of soul given in the inward person: “/thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all one’s heart and soul and strength/” [Deu.6:4-5].

§         The existence of this principle in supremacy, in a well-informed intelligent being, secures the performance of all duty: “/Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death/…” [SoS.8:6];

*c.        **The Particular Love *

According to Paul: “/love is the fulfilling of the law/” [Rom.13:10].

§         This is the duty laid upon the disciples toward Jesus: “/if you love me keep my commandments…/” [14:15].

§         To “love” is the summary of the law of God: “/thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart…and thy neighbour as thyself/” [Luk.10:27].

*i.        **Love within the Circle of Discipleship  *

The duty of love is the love that is focussed on the disciples only: “/love one another/…” [15:12].

§         ἀλλήλους - “/one/ /another/” [15:12], genitive of the reciprocal pronoun, ‘mutually’;

§         The love is a particular love; it is a “love” that is less extensive in its range than: “/you shall love your neighbour as yourself/” [Luk.10:27-37].

§         This “love” is one of which none but a disciple can be either the object or the subject of.

*ii.

**Authentic Discipleship *

This is the mark of authentic Christian discipleship: “/by this shall all men know that you are my disciples/” [13:35].

§         The natural thing to do: “/Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God/” [1Joh.3:18].

§         The family thing to do: “/Everyone that loves him that begat loves him also that is begotten of him/” [1Joh.5:1].

§         The evidence of authentic discipleship: “/We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren/…” [1Joh.3:14].

*Application*

The love they are called on to cherish for each other is love, as between persons connected with Christ, and in consequence of being connected with him connected with each other.

§         “/Love suffers long and is kind/…” [1Cor.13].

*2.

**The Motive & The Example *

*a.        **The Love of Jesus *

The motivation and the example is that of Jesus: “/as I have loved you/” [15:12].

§         καθὼς - “/as/” [15:12], comparative, ‘just as’; ‘in the same way’;

§         ἠγάπησα - “/loved/” [15:12], aorist active indicative, ‘an attitude of appreciation resulting fr. a conscious  evaluation and choice’;

§         The use of the aorist tense is a clear reference to the cross: ““/Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us/…” [1Joh.3:16].

§         ὑμᾶς - “/you/” [15:12], ‘the disciples’;

*b.        **The Ideal of Jesus *

*i.        **The Supreme Love *

The greatest display of love on the cross: “/greater love has no man than this/…” [15:13].

§         μείζονα - “/greater/” [15:13], ‘much in degree, quantity, size’;

§         ἀγάπην - “/love/” [15:13], ‘an attitude of appreciation resulting from a conscious  evaluation and choice’;

§         ἔχει - “/has/” [15:13], present active indicative, ‘to possess, own’; ‘to hold onto’;

*ii.

**The Extent of Love *

The greatest proof of love: “/a man lay down his life for his friends/” [15:13].

§         τις – “/a man/” [15:13], indefinite pronoun,

§         θῇ - “/lay down/” [15:13], aorist active subjunctive, from the verb τίθημι, ‘to put or place in a location’; ‘to appoint’;

§         ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ - “/his life/” [15:13], from /psúchō/, ‘to breathe, blow’; ‘inner self’; ‘life’;

§         The Hebrew term for ψυχή is נֶפֶשׁ: “/breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul/” [Gen.2:7].

§         ὑπὲρ - “/for/” [15:13], ‘in the place of’; ‘for the sake of’; “/I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep/” [10:11];

*Application*

To “/lay down my life/” [15:13] for a friend is the final demonstration of true friendship;

§         The eternal divine love reached its complete and unsurpassable expression in the death of Christ, which was at the same time the death of a man for his friends;

§         The chain: genuine love for God ensures genuine love for the Son; genuine love for the Son ensures obedience to him [14:15]; obedience to him is especially tested by obedience to the new commandment [15:12; 13:34-35]; by an unbreakable chain, love for God is tied to and verified by love for believers: “/beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another/…” [1Joh.4:11-17].

§         The holiness that results from “/keeping my commandment/” [15:10] and the Christlikeness that develops from “/my word abiding in you/” [15:7] finds expression in personal relationships.

§         They will show themselves to be Jesus’ friends, who love as He did, by their laying down their lives for one another.

 Hence the saying about supreme love (v.

13) applies to the disciples as it does to Jesus.

The friend-saying has twofold significance; it is first soteriological and then hortatory.

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*THE PRESENT RELATIONSHIP *

John now employs the noun /philoi/ to spell out the implications or basic requirements of such friendship.

*1.        **The Status *

*a.        **Friends *

The intimacy of the relationship is set forth by Jesus: “/you are my friends if you do/…” [15:14].

§         ἐστε - “/are/” [15:14], present active indicative, ‘to be’; ‘to exist’;

§         φίλοι μού - “/my/ /friends/” [15:14], ‘to show affection, love, hospitality’; ‘intrinsic, belonging to, proper to’;

*b.        **The Definition *

The idea of /philos/ had the original meaning ‘dear, expensive, valuable’, became the ordinary expression for a ‘friend or relative’.

§         Closely connected with φίλος from an early time is συγγενής 

§         The adjective συγγενής, formed from σύν and γένος, refers to one who has the same γένος.

It thus means “of common origin,” “related”;

§         It can then have the broader sense of “related in disposition and manner,” “compatible”.

§         The ‘obedience requirements’ of [15:14], where we have the concept /philein/, and that of [15:10], where the concept described is “love”, /agapē/, are exactly the same.

*c.        **The Jewish Tradition *

There was a Jewish tradition which surrounded the idea of ‘the friends of God’:

§         Abraham: “/thou Israel art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend/” [Isa.41:8].

§         Moses: “/the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend/” [Exo.33:11].

*d.        **John the Baptist *

John alone in the NT uses φίλος in the specific sense of the special friend: “/friend of the bridegroom/” [3:29].

§         As a metaphor for John the Baptist this brings out both his close relationship and also his unselfish subordination to Jesus; the tasks of the best man presuppose most unselfish friendship’.

§         The picture of friendship:: “/He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voive/…” [3:29].

*2.        **The Mark of Friendship *

The mark of friendship: “/if you do whatsoever I command you/” [15:14].

§         ποιῆτε - “/do/” [15:14], present active subjunctive, ‘to make, perform, carry out’;

§         ἐντέλλομαι - “/command/” [15:14], present middle~/passive indicative, ‘to give orders, instructions’;