John 14:15 Commentary and Bible Study

The next great lesson Christ teaches the disciples is about the giving of the Spirit. This blessing is exclusively and only for believers. Now this may seem very obvious to us, but it was not obvious to them. They were still really preoccupied by the idea that Christ when he came would be a political Messiah, who would set up a great kingdom and make his land great and victorious in a physical, earthly way. And they are continually being told, ‘No, the whole purpose is, the teaching of the Bible right through the Old Testament, is that the Messiah will be a spiritual Messiah to open the way to heaven for lost and condemned souls. The Holy Spirit will be given to them on the day of Pentecost. Jews will be saved, and Gentiles will be saved in the new order, but this blessing is only for believers. They still did not fully grasp that, that the church of Jesus Christ would be those who are called out of unbelief and the world, and the blessing of the Holy Spirit will be for them alone.It is as though he says to them, ‘If you love me, do not ask me to stay. If you love me, do not try to cling onto to me and my presence with you physically here on earth. If you love me, prepare for my departure.’ The very next day he would be crucified. If you love me, understand you are my apostles, and the purpose of my calling you is for you to represent me when I am gone. There will be the new order, the new church, ultimately it will be world-wide. So keep my special instructions. If you love me, do not just think about whether I am going to be present with you or absent. Think of taking up the Great Commission that I will give you and obeying my commandments.‘If ye love me,’ this is the sense, ‘keep my commandments.’ Our minds instinctively may go to the Ten Commandments, but why does the Lord say, ‘my commandments’? Well of course we are to keep all his commandments. When we are saved by him, we voluntarily and longingly take up the moral law of God in the Ten Commandments, explained throughout the Bible and amplified. Yes, it is the rule of life for us by his help. But ‘my commandments’ refer more distinctly and specifically to his instructions to them as apostles, and to us by extension also. So for example, they had just sat at the Lord’s Supper, the first Lord’s Supper, and in the Gospel of Luke it is recorded that Christ said to them, Do this, this do in remembrance of me. That is one of his commandments. We are not now talking about all the moral commandments of God generally. We are talking about Christ’s specific commandments. Another one in the previous chapter – ‘Love one another’ in the Christian church. As Christian people, you apostles must love one another. There are others also that are specific commands of Christ. Soon they will have the Great Commission after the resurrection – they have it in embryo in this chapter – to preach the Gospel to make it know to all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are the commands which Christ refers to here. And of course all moral rules are included. ‘If ye love me’ then set about carrying out my instructions as Lord of the church, and you are the apostles of the future.