My Notes
What Does John 15:17 Mean?
"These things I command you, that ye love one another." After the extended teaching about the vine, the branches, and abiding — Jesus reduces everything to a single command: love one another. The vine imagery, the fruit-bearing instruction, the warnings about pruning — all of it culminates in this. The fruit the vine is supposed to produce is love.
The word "command" (entellomai) means to order, to charge, to direct with authority. Love isn't suggested. It's commanded. The most voluntary emotion is treated as an imperative. You don't wait until you feel it. You do it because you're told to.
The scope — "one another" (allelous) — limits the command to the community of believers. This isn't the universal love-your-enemies command of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the internal command for the family: love each other. The disciples' love for one another is the identifying mark Jesus gives the world (13:35).
Reflection Questions
- 1.How are you doing with the single command to love one another?
- 2.Why does Jesus command love rather than suggest it?
- 3.What makes loving actual people harder than loving the idea of people?
- 4.What does the watching world conclude about Jesus based on how you treat fellow believers?
Devotional
Love one another. That's the command. After everything Jesus has said in the upper room — after the foot washing, the farewell discourse, the vine and branches, the promise of the Spirit — it comes down to this. Love each other.
The simplicity is deceptive. The command sounds easy until you try to live it with actual people. Not hypothetical people. The ones sitting across from you right now. The ones who annoy you. The ones who misunderstand you. The ones who compete with you, disagree with you, and disappoint you. Love them.
Jesus commands love the way a general commands a charge: it's not a suggestion to consider when you feel like it. It's an order to execute now. The commanding of love means love is an act of will, not just an emotion. You can be commanded to act lovingly even when you don't feel loving. The feeling may follow the action, but the action doesn't wait for the feeling.
The "one another" scope matters: this is the family command. Love the people in your community. The world watches how Christians treat each other and draws conclusions about whether the gospel is real. Your love for your fellow believers is the billboard the world reads.
How are you doing with the one command Jesus gave? Not the complicated theological questions. Not the disputed doctrinal issues. The simple one: do you love the people sitting next to you?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
If ye were of the world,.... Belonged to the world, were of the same spirit and principles with it, and pursued the same…
Christ, who is love itself, is here discoursing concerning love, a fourfold love.
I. Concerning the Father's love to…
These things I command you, &c. More literally, These things I am commanding you, in order that ye may love one another.…