Love and Obedience
For many years, having grown up in the church, I had always read and understood Jesus' words in John 14:15 in what seemed to be a pretty straightforward way. In that verse Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." These words were so important to the Apostle John that he repeated them in his epistles numerous times (1 John 3:23, 1 John 5:2-3 & 2 John 5). It seemed plain enough to me, that if we really love God then we will prove it by obeying what He commanded of us. Maybe many of you have had similar thoughts regarding these verses.
Jesus Himself said that the greatest commandment was to love God and the second greatest commandment is like it, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Naturally we realize that the greatest commandments were summary statements and that the implications of them are quite far reaching. Elsewhere Jesus would say that the love believers are to have for one another should cause the world to recognize that we are His disciples (John 13:35 & 17). And His half brother James was very clear when saying that loving someone in word only is not love at all, but that real love for others would lead us to action such as clothing the poor and feeding those in need (James 2:14-17).
Even based off of these couple of brief references it would seem that my original understanding of John 14:15 (and John's repeats elsewhere) was quite reasonable, that we prove our love by being more and more obedient to His commandments.
While at first glance this seems to be a very reasonable interpretation of Jesus' words, there is a huge problem with this interpretation. To fully illuminate this we need to go back to the Covenant of Works (as it is often called) that God made with Adam in the Garden. God created Adam and Eve perfect, and in the Garden God 'walked' with them which was only possible because they were not stained with sin. From this we understand a principle that the only way for men to come into God's presence is to be perfect (to work perfection, hence the Covenant of Works). After the fall the human race was now stained with sin and unable to enter into God's presence, so God initiated the sacrificial system to cover (atone) for sins. However the sacrificial system was never anything more than a divine bandaid because it could not make sinful people perfect.
Along with initiating the sacrificial system God gave the Sinaitic Covenant (law) which Paul tells us in Galatians was meant to lead us to our need for grace. The law demanded perfection, Jesus made this abundantly clear when he said that if a person is angry with their brother they are essentially guilty of murder, and looking at someone lustfully was committing adultery with that person in their heart.
Though far too brief, this glance at the covenants should highlight one key thing for us, that sinful man can NEVER perfectly obey. Adam and Eve were created perfect and they still fell! This should also give us a key to the correct interpretation of Jesus' words in John 14:15. Jesus' mission was to come and live perfectly in our place, and then pay for our sins by dying in our place. Jesus knew better than anyone of the utter inability of men to perfectly adhere to the standards of the law, and with this in mind we must ask, "Did Jesus really mean to say that we prove our love for Him by obeying Him?"
Now some may respond that it is only the unregenerate man that is unable to keep the law, but this seems untenable especially considering Paul's words in Romans chapter 7 that even he, the great apostle, deeply struggled with sin. Along with numerous other verses talking about our inability to perfectly keep the law, this would seem to negate the possibility that Jesus was saying that 'born again' believers are now capable of keeping the law.
Considering this information it seems that there is really only one other interpretation that makes sense. Since Christ worked perfectly in our place, there are no works left for us that can in anyway add to what He has already accomplished. Obeying His commandments, especially the great commandment of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is not something that we can manufacture, it must be a response, an act of worship and adoration. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." Any love that we have for the Lord is always a response to His incredible love for us. First in creating us, and then in coming to die in our place as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." This among other verses were used as references in the Westminster Shorter Catechism when it says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
We will never be able to 'prove' our love for Christ by manufacturing obedience, that was the whole reason why Jesus came, because we are unable to obey. And even in the regenerate state we are unable to obey as we should. That is why salvation had to be of grace! The very definition of salvation by grace is that it is completely undeserved. We will never be able to obey enough to prove our love for Him. But the more we remember and think on the gospel, that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), and the more deeply we are amazed with His unfailing love for us, then our obedience will be the fruit of our love for Him.
Or to put it more succinctly, the more we love and adore and worship Him, the more we will come to obey Him.
Jesus Himself said that the greatest commandment was to love God and the second greatest commandment is like it, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Naturally we realize that the greatest commandments were summary statements and that the implications of them are quite far reaching. Elsewhere Jesus would say that the love believers are to have for one another should cause the world to recognize that we are His disciples (John 13:35 & 17). And His half brother James was very clear when saying that loving someone in word only is not love at all, but that real love for others would lead us to action such as clothing the poor and feeding those in need (James 2:14-17).
Even based off of these couple of brief references it would seem that my original understanding of John 14:15 (and John's repeats elsewhere) was quite reasonable, that we prove our love by being more and more obedient to His commandments.
While at first glance this seems to be a very reasonable interpretation of Jesus' words, there is a huge problem with this interpretation. To fully illuminate this we need to go back to the Covenant of Works (as it is often called) that God made with Adam in the Garden. God created Adam and Eve perfect, and in the Garden God 'walked' with them which was only possible because they were not stained with sin. From this we understand a principle that the only way for men to come into God's presence is to be perfect (to work perfection, hence the Covenant of Works). After the fall the human race was now stained with sin and unable to enter into God's presence, so God initiated the sacrificial system to cover (atone) for sins. However the sacrificial system was never anything more than a divine bandaid because it could not make sinful people perfect.
Along with initiating the sacrificial system God gave the Sinaitic Covenant (law) which Paul tells us in Galatians was meant to lead us to our need for grace. The law demanded perfection, Jesus made this abundantly clear when he said that if a person is angry with their brother they are essentially guilty of murder, and looking at someone lustfully was committing adultery with that person in their heart.
Though far too brief, this glance at the covenants should highlight one key thing for us, that sinful man can NEVER perfectly obey. Adam and Eve were created perfect and they still fell! This should also give us a key to the correct interpretation of Jesus' words in John 14:15. Jesus' mission was to come and live perfectly in our place, and then pay for our sins by dying in our place. Jesus knew better than anyone of the utter inability of men to perfectly adhere to the standards of the law, and with this in mind we must ask, "Did Jesus really mean to say that we prove our love for Him by obeying Him?"
Now some may respond that it is only the unregenerate man that is unable to keep the law, but this seems untenable especially considering Paul's words in Romans chapter 7 that even he, the great apostle, deeply struggled with sin. Along with numerous other verses talking about our inability to perfectly keep the law, this would seem to negate the possibility that Jesus was saying that 'born again' believers are now capable of keeping the law.
Considering this information it seems that there is really only one other interpretation that makes sense. Since Christ worked perfectly in our place, there are no works left for us that can in anyway add to what He has already accomplished. Obeying His commandments, especially the great commandment of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is not something that we can manufacture, it must be a response, an act of worship and adoration. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." Any love that we have for the Lord is always a response to His incredible love for us. First in creating us, and then in coming to die in our place as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." This among other verses were used as references in the Westminster Shorter Catechism when it says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
We will never be able to 'prove' our love for Christ by manufacturing obedience, that was the whole reason why Jesus came, because we are unable to obey. And even in the regenerate state we are unable to obey as we should. That is why salvation had to be of grace! The very definition of salvation by grace is that it is completely undeserved. We will never be able to obey enough to prove our love for Him. But the more we remember and think on the gospel, that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), and the more deeply we are amazed with His unfailing love for us, then our obedience will be the fruit of our love for Him.
Or to put it more succinctly, the more we love and adore and worship Him, the more we will come to obey Him.
Amen! :)
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