John 15:8,9 - As the Father has loved me

15:8

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” We need to appreciate how committed the Father is to our success. Not success in worldly terms, but in our being fruitful servants of Christ. So there are two main sources of opposition to this. One is our own weakness and sinfulness; the other is opposition from the world and the devil. In both cases God has given us all that we need for “life and for godliness” (2 Pet 1:3). In fact the whole passage 2 Pet 1:3-11 is highly relevant.

15:9

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Jesus has spoken a lot about the relationship between Himself and the Father. In these latter chapters He develops this to show how it extends to His love for us. The word used for “has loved” is aorist, meaning it is a completed and perfect action. Likewise, Christ’s love for us is perfect and completed. In saying it is completed we do not mean that it has stopped. It is the perfection of the love that is the point, and its eternal effect, going both backwards and forwards. We are more deeply loved than we can ever imagine and we need to abide in that love. This means both following Christ, but also knowing the security that we have.