Where then love is, what can be wanting? Where it is not, what can profit? But this love is distinguished from men’s love to each other as men, by adding, As I have loved you. To what end did Christ love us, but that we should reign with Him? Let us therefore so love one another, as that our love be different from that of other men; who do not love one another, to the end that God may be loved, because they do not really love at all. They who love one another for the sake of having God within them, they truly love one another. Having said, This is My commandment: that you love one another, even as I have loved you (1 Jn 3);it follows, as John said in his Epistle, that as Christ laid down His life for us, so we should laydown our lives for the brethren. This the martyrs have done with ardent love And therefore in commemorating them at Christ’s table, we do not pray for them, as we do for others, but werather pray that we may follow their steps. For they have shown the same love for their brother, that has been shown them at the Lord’s table. From one and the same love, we love God and our neighbor, but God for His own sake, our neighbor for God’s. So that, there being two precepts of love, on which hang all the Law and the Prophets, to love God, and to love our neighbor, Scripture often unites them into one precept. For if a man love God, it follows s that he does what God commands, and if so, that he loves his neighbor, God having commanded this. Wherefore He proceeds: You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. Great condescension! Though to keep his Lord’s commandments is only what a good servant is obliged to do, yet, if they do so, He calls them His friends. The good servant is both the servant and the friend. But how is this? He tells us: Henceforth I call you not servants, forthe servant knows not what his Lord does. Shall we therefore cease to be servants, as soon asever we are good servants? And is not a good and tried servant sometimes entrusted with his master's secrets, still remaining a servant? We must understand then that there are two kinds of servitude, as there are two kinds of fear. There is a fear which perfect love casts out; which also has in it a servitude, which will be cast out together with the fear. And there is another, apure fear, which remains forever. It is the former state of servitude, which our Lord refers to, when He says, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does; not the state of that servant to whom it is said, Well done, you good servant, enter you into the joy of your Lord (Matt 25:21), but of him of whom it was said below, The servant abides not in the house for ever, but the Son abides ever. Forasmuch then as God has given us power to become the sons of God, so that in a wonderful way, we are servants, and yet not servants, we know that it is the Lord who does this. This that servant is ignorant of, who knows not what his Lord does, and when he does any good thing, is exalted in his own conceit, as if he himself did it, and not his Lord; and boasts of himself, not of his Lord. But how did He make known to His disciples all things that He had heard from the Father, when He forebore saying many things, because He knew they as yet could not bear them? He made all things known toHis disciples, i.e., He knew that He should make them known to them in that fullness of which the Apostle said, Then we shall know, even as we are known (1 Cor 13:12). For as we look for the death of the flesh, and the salvation of the soul, so should we look for that knowledge of all things, which the Only-Begotten heard from the Father. Ineffable grace! For what were we before Christ had chosen us, but wicked, and lost? We did not believe in Him, so as to be chosen by Him: for had He chosen us believing, He would have chosen us choosing. This passage refutes the vain opinion of those who say that we were chosen before the foundation of the world, because God foreknew that we should be good, not that He Himself would make us good. For had He chosen us, because He foreknew that we should be good, He would have foreknown also that we should first choose Him, for without choosing Him we cannot be good; unless indeed he can be called good, who has not chosen good. What then has He chosen in them who are not good? you can not say, I am chosen because I believed; for had you believed in Him, you had chosen Him. Nor can you say, Before I believed I did good works, and therefore was chosen. For what good work is there before faith? What is there for us to say then, but that we were wicked, and were chosen, that by the grace of the chosen we might become good? . They are chosen then before the foundation of the world, according to that predestination by which God foreknew His future acts. They are chosen out of the world by that call whereby God fulfills what He has predestined: whom He did predestine, them He also called (Rom 8:30). Observe, Hedoes not choose the good; but those, whom He has chosen, He makes good: And I have ordained you that you should go, and bring forth fruit. This is the fruit which He meant, when He said, Without Me you can do nothing. He Himself is the way in which He has set us to go. Love then is one fruit, now existing in desire only, not yet in fullness. Yet even with this desire whatever weask in the name of the Only-Begotten Son, the Father gives us: That whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He may give it you. We ask in the Savior’s name, whatever we ask, that will be profitable to our salvation.

1. You have just heard, beloved, the Lord saying to His disciples, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be full. And what else is Christ's joy in us, save that He is pleased to rejoice over us? And what is this joy of ours which He says is to be made full, but our having fellowship with Him? On this account He had said to the blessed Peter, If I wash you not, you shall have no part with me. His joy, therefore, in us is the grace He has bestowed upon us: and that is also our joy. But over it He rejoiced even from eternity, when He chose us before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 Nor can we rightly say that His joy was not full; for God's joy was never at any time imperfect. But that joy of His was not in us: for we, in whom it could be, had as yet no existence; and even when our existence commenced, it began not to be in Him. But in Him it always was, who in the infallible truth of His own foreknowledge rejoiced that we should yet be His own. Accordingly, He had a joy over us that was already full, when He rejoiced in foreknowing and foreordaining us: and as little could there be any fear intermingling in that joy of His, lest there should be any possible failure in what He foreknew would be done by Himself. Nor, when He began to do what He foreknew that He would do, was there any increase to His joy as the expression of His blessedness; otherwise His making of us must have added to His blessedness. Be such a supposition, brethren, far from our thoughts; for the blessedness of God was neither less without us, nor became greater because of us. His joy, therefore, over our salvation, which was always in Him, when He foreknew and foreordained us, began to be in us when He called us; and this joy we properly call our own, as by it we, too, shall yet be blessed: but this joy, as it is ours, increases and advances, and presses onward perseveringly to its own completion. Accordingly, it has its beginning in the faith of the regenerate, and its completion in the reward when they rise again. Such is my opinion of the purport of the words, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be made full: that mine might be in you; that yours might be made full. For mine was always full, even before you were called, when you were foreknown as those whom I was afterwards to call; but it finds its place in you also, when you are transformed into that which I have foreknown regarding you. And that yours may be full: for you shall be blessed, what you are not as yet; just as you are now created, who had no existence before. 2. This, He says, is my injunction, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Whether we call it injunction or commandment, both are the rendering of the same Greek word, entolé (ἐντολή). But He had already made this same announcement on a former occasion, when, as you ought to remember, I repounded it to you to the best of my ability. For this is what He says there, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And so the repetition of this commandment is its commendation: only that there He said, A new commandment I give unto you; and here, This is my commandment: there, as if there had been no such commandment before; and here, as if He had no other commandment to give them. But there it is spoken of as new, to keep us from persevering in our old courses; here, it is called mine, to keep us from treating it with contempt. 3. But when He said in this way here, This is my commandment, as if there were none else, what are we to think, my brethren? Is, then, the commandment about that love wherewith we love one another, His only one? Is there not also another that is still greater—that we should love God? Or has God in very truth given us such a charge about love alone, that we have no need of searching for others? There are three things at least that the apostle commends when he says, But now abide faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 Corinthians 13:13 And although in charity, that is, in love, are comprehended the two commandments; yet it is here declared to be the greatest only, and not the sole one. Accordingly, what a host of commandments are given us about faith, what a multitude about hope! Who is there that could collect them together, or suffice to number them? But let us ponder the words of the same apostle: Love is the fullness of the law. Romans 13:10 And so, where there is love, what can be wanting? And where it is not, what is there that can possibly be profitable? The devil believes, James 2:19 but does not love: no one loves who does not believe. One may, indeed, hope for pardon who does not love, but he hopes in vain; but no one can despair who loves. Therefore, where there is love, there of necessity will there be faith and hope; and where there is the love of our neighbor, there also of necessity will be the love of God. For he that loves not God, how loves he his neighbour as himself, seeing that he loves not even himself? Such an one is both impious and iniquitous; and he that loves iniquity, manifestly loves not, but hates his own soul. Let us, therefore, be holding fast to this precept of the Lord, to love one another; and then all else that is commanded we shall do, for all else we have contained in this. But this love is distinguished from that which men bear to one another as such; for in order to mark the distinction, it is added, as I have loved you. And wherefore is it that Christ loves us, but that we may be fitted to reign with Christ? With this aim, therefore, let us also be loving one another, that we may manifest the difference of our love from that of others, who have no such motive in loving one another, because the love itself is wanting. But those whose mutual love has the possession of God Himself for its object, will truly love one another; and, therefore, even for the very purpose of loving one another, they love God. There is no such love as this in all men; for few have this motive for their love one to another, that God may be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:28

And the Lord has bidden us with His own voice, saying, "This is my command, that ye love one another.". Discord cannot attain to the kingdom of heaven; to the rewards of Christ, who said, "This is my commandment that ye love one another even as I have loved you: ". Also in the same place: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love than this has no man, than that one should lay down his life for his friends."

He now makes clearer by the illustration here given the meaning of the preceding passage; that is, the necessity of His disciples having His joy in them; and clearly says, "I give you this injunction, and teach those who think they ought to follow Me to do this, and be thus minded to practise such manner of love towards one another as I have heretofore shown and fulfilled." How great a measure can a man then find to the love of Christ, He Himself shows when He says that nothing can be greater than such love, which excites to forsake life itself for those one loves. And by all this He not only exhorts His own disciples that it becomes them so little to shrink from fearing to encounter dangers for those they love, but that also He Himself without shrinking held Himself in utmost readiness to undergo the death of the flesh. For the power of our Saviour's love attained so great a measure. And these words were borne out by His action, and by His encouragement to His disciples to attain an exceeding great and extraordinary courage, and by His exhorting them to the perfection of brotherly love, and fencing their hearts with the armour of enthusiasm and love of God, and raising them up into a zeal invincible and undaunted, so as impetuously to hasten to establish everything according to His good pleasure. Such a man Paul showed himself to us, when he said, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And again: For the love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge that one died for all, therefore all died. And besides: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Note how he promises that nothing shall be able to overcome it or prevail to cut us off from the love of Christ. But if tending the flocks and feeding the lambs of Christ be to love Him, is it not quite clear that he who preaches the word of salvation to those who know not God will prevail over death, persecution, and the sword, and will think distress of no account at all? And, if it be fitting to condense the meaning and to compress the words of our Saviour, and to express in a few words what He wishes His disciples to do, He bids them to keep their hearts undaunted and free from every fear, and minister the word of faith in Him, and to preach the Gospel to all who are in the world. And the selfsame command He gives by the word of the prophet Esaias: O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; be strong, fear not. And we shall find that the holy disciples themselves have power to do this aright, when they ask of God by earnest prayer: for on one occasion, accusing the madness of the Jews, they exclaimed: And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto Thy servants to speak Thy word with boldness. For those who resist and impiously rail against such as openly minister the Gospel are very many. But even if the terror be keen and the waves of evil counsel rise up most dreadfully, there will be no mention of suffering among His true disciples until the righteous acts that proceed from love attain their end----such love, I mean, as our Saviour set forth to us as a pattern, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, in order that He might accomplish salvation for those who have sinned. And if He had not been willing to suffer for us, we should be still dead, servants of the devil, fools and blind, and remaining in need of everything good, and slaves of pleasure and sin; having no hope, and without God in the world. But now the Saviour has even given His life for us from the love that He has unto us, and, exhibiting an incomparable love of mankind, has made us enviable and thrice-blessed, in want of no manner of thing that is good. The meaning then of the text as thus conceived will fit in with the inspired chapters of the disciples. And if the saying shall go forth to all the world, that is, This is My commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you, much profit will result to all from the investigation. For if love towards brethren keeps and works the fulfilment of the whole command of our Saviour, how will not he who tries as far as possible to accomplish this without laying himself open to censure and blame be very worthy of admiration, since the sum. of all the virtues, so to speak, is stored up in it? For love towards one another is next to love to God, and all the power of righteousness towards God is concluded as in this one word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

All things, i.e., all things that they ought to hear. I have heard, shows that what Hehad taught was no strange doctrine, but received from the Father.

Having said, If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, He shows what commandments they are to keep: This is My commandment, That you love one another. As if He said, The servant knows not the counsels of his lord; but since I esteem you friends, I have communicated my secrets to you.

Those whom God loves as a Father, may despise the hatred of all the world. As the Father loved Christ, who was most worthy, so he loved his disciples, who were unworthy. All that love the Savior should continue in their love to him, and take all occasions to show it. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ’s love is a continual feast. They are to show their love to him by keeping his commandments. If the same power that first shed abroad the love of Christ in our hearts, did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it. Christ’s love to us should direct us to love each other. He speaks as about to give many things in charge, yet names this only; it unequaled many duties.

With the commandment to love one another, the Lord returns to what He said earlier [John 13:34]. Love must permeate all relationships between the members of God’s family. The disciples must love one another with a love that is beyond all the weaknesses of the other. The Lord turns the spotlight on this commandment as “My commandment” because it is the summary of all other commandments. It is not the moral obligation to love one’s fellow man, but the reciprocal love of Christians, the standard of which is His love for them. We see this in the newly converted Thessalonians [1Thess 4:9].

The commandment of love is the commandment of the Divine nature of which we have become partakers [2Pet 1:4] and through which everything may be done. It is a commandment for the believer, because in his heart the love of God is poured out. To such nature, which can do nothing but love, the Lord Jesus says that he must love. It is like saying to a fish: ‘You must swim.’ It cannot and will not do otherwise; when it swims, it is in its element.

For our love for one another the love of the Lord Jesus is the norm. He has proven His love by laying down His life for us. He did this because He considers us His friends. We could say that giving up one’s life for enemies is an even greater proof of love, but that is not what this is about. The Lord calls His disciples His friends. Is there any greater proof of His love for those who are His friends than that He is laying down His life for them?

We, too, can provide no greater proof of our love for our friends, our brothers and sisters, than that we give our lives for them. We also ought to do this [1John 3:16]. However, what is the value of this theory if in daily life we close our hearts to the needs and concerns of God’s children? In his first letter John points to the practical expression of this love [1John 3:17]. Christ does this by emphasizing obedience to Him. Love for Christ and obedience to Him always go hand in hand.

He calls us His friends, but that does not mean that we should treat Him as a buddy. We have to be aware that we are His disciples and that He is our Lord. Incessantly the relationship between privilege and responsibility is presented to us.

The Lord addresses His disciples here as privileged people whom He wants to tell what He is going to do. A master does not explain his plans to a slave, but to a friend. A slave must simply obey without asking for an explanation. His master owes him no accountability for any task whatsoever. In His friendship the Lord Jesus emphasizes that He calls us friends by giving us the reason why. We see that in His friendship He goes much further than just calling us to obedience. Friend means lover. He speaks to His disciples in their love for the Father, a love He also has.

The hallmark of true friendship is that you can tell each other everything. A good friend has no secrets. Christ therefore introduces us into the depths of His heart. With a friend you share the most intimate thoughts, just as God does not hide from Abraham what He is going to do, and Abraham is called a friend or a lover of God [Gen 18:17-19]; [2Chr 20:7]; [Isa 41:8]; [Jas 2:23]. This is what Christ does here in relation to His disciples and even on a higher level.

As His friends, He has revealed to His disciples everything He has heard from His Father. What the Father has entrusted to Him, He has passed on to them as His friends. This is a special proof of friendship. And to think that they did not choose Him to be His friends, but He chose them. It is a great privilege that we have been chosen. It is also a great responsibility that we are set to bear fruit.

In order to enjoy the privilege and fulfill the responsibility, the heart is directed from the privilege and the blessing to Him Who blesses. We may ask Him for anything that will lead to lasting fruit. It all originates from Him. Here, praying in the Name of the Lord Jesus is the praying of a heart that is made one with the Son and that prays in line with the Father’s eternal counsels. Such prayer will definitely be answered.

The Lord concludes this part, which in [Verse 12] began with the commandment of loving one another, by again bringing up this commandment of loving one another in [Verse 17]. Love for one another is the new and repeated commandment of Christ for His own [John 13:34]. To love is the revelation of the Divine nature, as perfectly visible in Christ through the service of the Holy Spirit. It is the atmosphere in which the fruit can grow and blossom to the honor of the Father.

The Lord would soon leave His disciples. They would be left behind in a hostile world. As tension would rise, there would be the danger of strife among the disciples. And therefore, the Lord gives them this constant instruction: "Love one another, as I have loved you."