John 15:15 Commentary and Bible Study

The menial servant did not know what his lord’s great plan for the household was. He did not know his master’s business affairs. He was told only his narrow part. It was the same in military matters traditionally. The infantryman does not know the battle plan, he knows only what he has got to do, his duties. It might alarm him if he knew the plan. He might not cooperate. Anyway, for whatever reason he does not know.But Christ has told us everything. We are intimate, friends of God. What a privilege! He told his disciples what he had come for, what he would do, why it was necessary for him to do it. Why he must suffer and die, and we all know the basis of salvation, the plan of salvation, the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the impossibility by our own merit of earning salvation, the need of a sin-bearer, the need of the righteousness of Christ. We have all these things revealed to us: that he would rise, that he would ascend into heaven, that he would be at God’s right hand, that he would come again, and what would happen through the unfolding ages of the world. The disciples were told that their yoke would be easy. What did Christ mean by that when he told the disciples that their yoke would be easy? It seems instead that it was very hard, especially if some of them had to suffer martyrdom. He meant that their yoke would be easy by comparison with the Old Testament saints. They would not have the rigours of the ceremonial law, the keeping of all those meticulous rules and instructions that were signs and symbols of things to come. They would be liberated from all forms of works-righteousness, ceremonial and moral as an absolute condition for salvation. Christ would bear the punishment of sin and offer up his perfect righteousness for them.