"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." (John 14:15)That is an interesting statement. Some translations phrase it to place the cause of the second clause on the basis of the first: "If you love Me, obey My commandments." Others (like the NASB or the ESV) reverse that. In the end, it doesn't really matter which way you say it; it ends up the same.
In this text Jesus ties "love Me" to "obey Me." Looking at it in the negative, if you negate one, you negate the other: "If you do not love Me, you will not obey Me." Looking at it from a cause-and-effect perspective, we find something very striking. Jesus is putting "love" as the deciding factor for "obey." It's helpful, if a bit disturbing, to see what's really going on. Our obedience is not conditioned on our fortitude, our wills, our strength, or our humility. It is conditioned on ... our love for Christ. Or, to put that in the negative, our failure to obey isn't a failure of effort, but a failure to love Christ as we should. John picked this up in that upper room and repeated it elsewhere.
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. (1 John 2:3-6)Every genuine Christian fails to obey at times. It's a given (1 John 1:8-10). What do we do with that? Well, confess, of course (1 John 1:9), and repent, but the direction we repent toward isn't "Work harder." It is "Love Christ better." It is "lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us" (Heb 12:1) by "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith" (Heb 12:2). Pursuing obedience is elusive, but pursuing a love for the Savior is a singular direction, especially when we realize that obedience is contingent on that love.
2 comments:
This is one of the distinctives of Christianity. Every other religion says that you must obey the commandments (whatever their particular set are) in order to be loved by God and get into heaven (whatever version of that they hold). Christianity holds the order different. We don't obey for a hope of salvation or earn the love of God. We obey out of a reaction to being loved by God in Christ. Our obedience is an act of gratitude. And thank you for the reminder that we don't need to "shalt or shalt not", but we need to love. The obedience will spring forth from that love.
Love and obey--it’s the age-old struggle. Just as today’s women balk at promising that degree of commitment in their wedding vows, so too we resist that full submission to Christ in our hearts. My love for and trust in Him should naturally produce the closest following on my part--not in view of earning His love but in gratitude for it. As a follower of Christ, I must follow Christ, plain and simple.
Post a Comment